[X] Stay the night at Ilya's, if she'll let you.
5
[X] Stay until the rain clears up, then go back to the temple.
4
[x] Check if the weather is due to let up before long
-[x] If yes, then hang out with Illya until the rain stops, then go back to the Temple.
-[x] If not, explain circumstances and arrange a ride home after staying a little while longer.
1
After staring out the window for a moment, you turn back to Ilya. "Umm … Ilya? Would it be alright if …?" She looks away and nods before you can finish.
"Yes, Flan. I'll ha-!" You squeal delightedly and dart toward her, catching her in a tight hug and floating into the air with her. You spin around and she clutches you tightly, and then you flip so the two of your are upside-down, but when you go to nuzzle her you pause, because she looks ….
"Ilya? Is something wrong?" You tilt your head to the side inquisitively, and Ilya's mouth works for a moment before her cheeks start to redden and she jerks her head to the side, looking away from you. Your wings draw closer to your back - did you do something wrong?
"Um, maybe I … er, Flan, what were you going to ask me?" You blink in surprise as her blush deepens.
"I was asking if I could stay the night, of course. … What did you think I was asking?" Sella clears her throat to gather your attention, and when you look at her she makes a small circle with her finger. You stare uncomprehendingly for a moment, and she points at her head and makes the circle again. You look back at Ilya as you flip upright again and lower her to the couch. Headless laughs hysterically in the back of your mind.
"Um … well, I thought you were asking for a ride back to the temple, because it's raining," she mumbles, and you cluck your tongue.
"Now why would I do that? I don't need their permission to stay here, and they aren't my minders. Besides, the only Servant they can't beat is Berserker, and he's here - and that assumes that anyone would be foolish enough to try attacking the place I'm supposed to be staying at." You sit up and lightly tap your finger on her nose, drawing an undignified squeak. "You're being silly, Ilya." She makes a face and sticks her tongue out at you and you giggle.
You spend the next hour playing word games and riddles, and making her some more Spell Cards, and long after the rain ended you take her outside to show her danmaku lights. Eventually, however, she tires, and after she has to shake herself to keep awake for the second time you call it a night. You go to her room,, spacious and elegant and full of comfortable furniture, and Ilya gets ready for bed.
"… Then, Sella will show you to your room," she says, a little sadly, and you mock-pout.
"Aww~ … I can't sleep here with you?" You meant it mostly as a joke, but Ilya seems to withdraw a little and shakes her head slightly.
"Not … not tonight, at least. Good night, Flan." You look worriedly at her for a moment - nothing seems wrong, not that you can see - then nod and curtsy.
"Good night, Ilya. I'll see you in the morning." You feel a little hurt, but you're mostly just confused, and you look up at Sella as she takes you down the hall to a guest room.
"Will you need anything else for the night, Lady Flandre?" You shake your head and walk toward the bed. "… I believe Lady Illyasviel wishes to avoid hurting you. Please do not be worried." She bows and leaves. You're not sure how sleeping with Ilya could lead to her hurting you, but … maybe there is something. You turn off the lights, luxuriating in the darkness, and climb into the bed.
"… How does it feel?" You frown at Headless's question and project your confusion at her. "Heh. Well, Illyasviel's your friend, right? But you've already got a mage in Deis, and she's already got her Berserker, right? So the two of you can't shore each other up, and there's no common problem to solve, right?" So logically … you shouldn't be friends, right? You scratch your head. Hmm … and you didn't even notice! You make a note to get Remilia's opinion on friendship when you see her again and fall asleep, Headless's laughter providing a soothing lullaby.
"I think at this point we can safely say that she is no longer 'late,' but is simply not coming back tonight," Caster said. Deis winced and shrugged.
"Then she's not coming back tonight and we can make upset noises when she does come back," she replied. "She likes the Einzbern girl, probably decided to play around a bit too much." Caster shot her a look.
"Or she won't come back." Deis leaned back against Ershin, exulting in the sheer feeling, and shrugged again.
"Well, if Flan lost to Berserker, I don't think there's much we can do against him. I mean, maybe taking out that Archer and Lancer hurt her worse than any of us could tell, but …." She reached out for a light green apple and bit into it, shuddering in ecstasy at the tart flavor.
"That … is not what I fear," Caster said, and Deis closed her eyes, frustrated. She swallowed and looked at her hostess.
"Listen, girl, Flan wouldn't do that. If she does decide to help Illyasviel win instead of holding to her agreement with you, then she'll give you a fair warning and some time to prepare. That's just who she is and how she looks at the world. The only way I can see her turning around and just attacking is if she thinks she's already been betrayed - and even then, she'd probably at least let you try to explain before deciding whatever you're saying isn't good enough." Caster scowled and Deis bit into her apple again. "She'll be back tomorrow night, all bubbly and happy and probably gushing about what fun she had doing this and that, and then we'll make disappointed faces at her and she'll feel bad, but she'll get over it." She sighed happily as she went back to work on the apple. Caster watched her in silence.
"… You have a very ... carefree attitude. It is not a suitable temperament for a mage." Deis shrugged and smiled at Caster, her blue eyes flickering.
"What will be, will be. Don't always agree with it, but it's good to recognize when something is inevitable and you can't do anything about it. Besides, if Flan is fine and we barge into the castle and interrupt her and her friend's bubble-bath time, do you really think she'll just forgive us?" They matched gazes for a moment, then Caster sighed, admitting defeat. Before another exchange could be made, however, they both jerked upright and looked toward the temple gate, astonished at the sudden appearance of a mass of power.
"Assassin! -Ah." Caster's eyes widened in shock. "He's gone. Just -!" They flinched as brute power slammed into the defenses Caster had erected against the rogue Servant, made them buckle.
"Shit. You get your Master safe, then get the humans out of the way, then see if you can help me any." Caster raised a hand, too surprised to speak, and Deis hauled herself upright, cursing the body and its too-frequent surges of lag that made moving quickly difficult. "Come on, Ershin." She ran as best as she could, the armor keeping pace with her easily.
"What will we do, Deis? Hahaha. … Was it appropriate to laugh at that juncture?" Deis shook her head in amusement.
"As good a spot as any, I guess. Anyway …." She stumbled to a halt in the courtyard as the power ahead finally broke through the outer defenses. It wasn't quite what she had thought, not exactly a hex, but something fueled by hate and curses nonetheless. "Ershin, I'm going to hold it as best I can. I want you to go in and see if it has a center of some kind. If it does, see if you can beat it senseless; if it doesn't, come back here and we'll see what else we can do." The animated armor, fortified against every curse she knew and not exactly alive to begin with, seemed to swell with pride.
"Yes, Deis! Hi-yah!" Ershin charged forward as Deis pressed her power and will into barriers of magic and light, her own defenses and ones that mimicked the Purifiers' wards that drained hexes of power. A shadow at the center of the mass of power lashed out, a ragged tentacle slamming against her hastily-erected protections, and she sighed in relief as they held. Then she poured more power into them as more tentacles lashed out toward her.
"… Why did I tell Caster to get the humans out of the way before coming to help me?" She shook her head and tried to figure out if Flandre's absence was a help or a hindrance.
Breakfast is simple but delicious, much as dinner was, and Ilya insists on driving you back to the temple afterward. You don't ask about last night, but she seems to be in good spirits and health. As Sella drives the two of you back to the temple, Ilya plays a searching game with you. Naturally, she wins; not only is she slightly taller than you, but she's also sitting on your lap, so your field of view is greatly constrained compared to hers. You're a good loser, of course, and take it in stride, only stopping your tickling of Ilya when Sella complains that the thrashing and gasping for breath are affecting her driving. As you approach the temple, however, they both stiffen, and then even you can feel something wrong. Sella pulls up well back from the vehicles with their flashing lights and goes to see what happened.
"Ilya …." She nods and looks back at you.
"I'm sure they're fine, Flan. You should turn invisible so you don't cause a fuss." You nod quickly and undo the safety belt as she opens the door to get out. Before you can leap past her, however, she grabs onto your wrist. "Flan, please. After Sella comes back I'll let you go." She pulls you out and lets you lean against her. There's a great crowd of people, but you're staring at the damage you can see - trees torn out of the ground, the steps half-melted in places, gone in others, the marks of widespread fire damage …. Ilya stiffens and starts to turn.
"Quite a sight, isn't it?" Tohsaka glowers up at the ruined stairway before turning a cool expression on Ilya.
"Oh? Quite brave, Rin, to walk before your enemy without a Servant at your side." The other mage shakes her head.
"Archer, remember? Just because he's not by my side doesn't mean he's not watching over me. Besides, in the middle of the day with all these people around? Even she wouldn't be stupid enough to attack me." Your eyes narrow, and it's only Ilya's hold on your wrist that keeps you from lunging forward.
"'She?' You know who did this?" Tohsaka nods at Ilya's question.
"Who else but that vampire? Probably decided to turn on Caster once she recovered … or maybe we got lucky and Caster started it, and they're both gone." You bite down on your tongue, nearly bite through it, but Ilya just nods noncommittally.
What do you do?
[ ] Make your presence known to Tohsaka.
[ ] Yes, you are 'stupid' enough to attack her in broad daylight with all those people around!
[ ] Keep silent and listen to what they talk about.
[ ] Leave and go see if Deis and Caster are alright.
- [ ] Follow the people.
- [ ] Check Deis's cave.
@Entropy Judge do you start writing before you lock the votes, if it's unanimous enough?
Because I refuse to believe you wrote all of that in 2 minutes.
[X] Leave and go see if Deis and Caster are alright.
- [X] Check Deis's cave.
-- [X] Tell Ilya you want to find Deis and Caster are check whether their are alright.
--- [X] Ask Ilya to gather information on what happen.
[X] Leave and go see if Deis and Caster are alright.
-[X] Check Deis's cave.
Ilya would recon Rin for us.
The whole point is to let Rin dig nice deep hole blabbing how all the clues point to Flan before Ilya bursts her bubble with "we were having tickle wars all morning"
It's why I voted to go home to the temple, although I forgot about Dark Sakura too. I just had an inkling something bad was gonna happen.
On the other hand, Ilya probably would've gotten hit, so it was probably a lose either way. I just value Deis more atm.
I like Sakura, but I would feel immense joy if we could somehow show Rin the truth. Unfortunately, this probably requires too much meta-knowledge.
[X] Wait till Sella comes back then leave and go see if Deis and Caster are alright.
- [X] Check Deis's cave.
-- [X] Tell Ilya you want to find Deis and Caster are check whether their are alright.
--- [X] Ask Ilya to gather information on what happen.
The only way I would consider voting to make our presence known to Rin is if you guys also vote to kill her. Why mess around? Rin is a constant thorn in our side.
@Entropy Judge do you start writing before you lock the votes, if it's unanimous enough?
Because I refuse to believe you wrote all of that in 2 minutes.
No, I usually start writing some time around the 'Votes are not locked' announcement. Sometimes I do it the morning of the update; like with this one, I started writing ~9 this morning (off and on until ~1130 or so) because I wasn't sure if the votes would swing ... or if they would tie *grumble*.
[] Leave and go see if Deis and Caster are alright.
- [] Check Deis's cave.
-- [] Tell Ilya you want to find Deis and Caster are check whether their are alright.
--- [] Ask Ilya to gather information on what happen.
[X] Wait till Sella comes back then leave and go see if Deis and Caster are alright.
- [X] Check Deis's cave.
-- [X] Tell Ilya you want to find Deis and Caster are check whether their are alright.
--- [X] Ask Ilya to gather information on what happen.
[X] Wait till Sella comes back then leave and go see if Deis and Caster are alright.
- [X] Check Deis's cave.
-- [X] Tell Ilya you want to find Deis and Caster are check whether their are alright.
--- [X] Ask Ilya to gather information on what happen.
Guys? calm down, as much as I want to go on killing spree against Rin right now I don't want us to lose our advantage. Rin thought that we and Caster are dead, let her think that is the case for a while "then" we go surprise motherfucker on her later.
[X] Wait till Sella comes back then leave and go see if Deis and Caster are alright.
- [X] Check Deis's cave.
-- [X] Tell Ilya you want to find Deis and Caster are check whether their are alright.
--- [X] Ask Ilya to gather information on what happen.
[X] Wait till Sella comes back then leave and go see if Deis and Caster are alright.
- [X] Check Deis's cave.
-- [X] Tell Ilya you want to find Deis and Caster are check whether their are alright.
--- [X] Ask Ilya to gather information on what happen.
Or just save Rin's words for later, and parrot them back as we talk down at her so that she realizes that A. we were there the entire time, and B. we were capable of enough self-restraint to not annihilate her on the spot.
Cause come to think of it...that may be one of her plans. Bad mouth Flan under the watchful eye of Archer so that he can try and OHKO Flan as soon as she makes her presence known. It's also pretty much the same plan she was gonna use for Gilgamesh, after a fashion.
Maybe this is Rin's way of checking for Flan; trash talk her, assume Flan will show up if she's present.
Or just save Rin's words for later, and parrot them back as we talk down at her so that she realizes that A. we were there the entire time, and B. we were capable of enough self-restraint to not annihilate her on the spot.
Cause come to think of it...that may be one of her plans. Bad mouth Flan under the watchful eye of Archer so that he can try and OHKO Flan as soon as she makes her presence known. It's also pretty much the same plan she was gonna use for Gilgamesh, after a fashion.
Maybe this is Rin's way of checking for Flan; trash talk her, assume Flan will show up if she's present.
Thing is Berserker is right there, if that's her plan then she's pretty much going to died after Archer make the first moves since 1. He's no where near her and 2. anything less than Caladbolg is going to do nothing to Berserker's God Hand.
Although I must ask, is Rin always a bitch like this? because she's much more annoying here than her canon counterpart.
Thing is Berserker is right there, if that's her plan then she's pretty much going to died after Archer make the first moves since 1. He's no where near her and 2. anything less than Caladbolg is going to do nothing to Berserker's God Hand.
True, although she may be banking on Archer killing Flan and killing Ilya with collateral damage. Not impossible, but pretty unlikely.
Still, Rin's chances of surviving this War are alarmingly small, and she seems pretty quick to latch on to explanations that favor her continued survival.
Although I must ask, is Rin always a bitch like this? because she's much more annoying here than her canon counterpart.
Hmm. Seems roughly right to me, maybe a little more bitchy? But she has reasons to bitch these days.
Examples of canon bitchiness include her attacking Shirou at school in Fate and UBW. It's part of Fate route's Band End but it's legit in UBW. Notably, Flan also never sees Rin's were side, which makes her seem more unpleasant than usual.
No, I usually start writing some time around the 'Votes are not locked' announcement. Sometimes I do it the morning of the update; like with this one, I started writing ~9 this morning (off and on until ~1130 or so) because I wasn't sure if the votes would swing ... or if they would tie *grumble*.
