Fate/Final Dark (Game Thread)

[CJ1145]

"I'll fire! I will!"

"Ah-buh-buh--"

The entire room froze, the hairs on Archer's neck standing on end. He'd come here trying to protect what sounded like a young woman in danger. And now that young woman had a weapon in his face. Truthfully, the weapon was all but useless against a Servant. But there were two much squishier humans that were also in her sights. That meant if she fired, there was a 66% shot that whoever she fired at was going to die. He couldn't allow that, but how was he supposed to handle this? He was no negotiator. Hell, he'd started more wars than he'd ended. Luckily, his Master had jumped onto the diplomacy side of things, and he was slowly waving his hands disarmingly.

"P-please, young miss!" he pleaded, sweat dripping down his face. His bulging, panicked eyes were transfixed on the little girl. "We don't mean any harm! My Servant and I were simply investigating the sound of a young woman in distress!"

He gulped, and added, "I believe we've gotten off on the wrong foot. Please, my name is Alexander. What is yours?"

Archer could only stand in silence and watch, trying to retrieve an arrow without drawing attention to himself. Diplomacy was good, but a backup plan was better.

 

[Ruedyn]

A lot became a grey haze of pain for the Russian master. His arm took the blow from the kick, and the kick itself managed to rotate Yuri enough to make his armored arm bounce of the wall as well. However, the whiplash of getting his head both grazed on the floor and then banged into a wall knocked him out cold for a second. He groaned after a second, and looked around.

What he saw was a giant cowering in front of a girl, while some kid pulled out an arrow. Perhaps he was right, but then he noticed the girl was holding something. Upon closer inspection, it was a gun of some sort. Yuri mumbled something and raised his arms, making air stairs under each. He used them to pull himself to his knees, and felt his head swim.

"I believe we've gotten off on the wrong foot. Please, my name is Alexander. What is yours?"

"Urgh. I'm fine, by the way. I'm Yuri Matou, a fellow master." Yuri blinked hard, and rubbed his eyes with his unarmored hands, getting himself to his feet. He looked at the girl, and smiled.

"I heard a cry, and thought you needed help of a sort. If you'd allow, I can help with your summoning." He took a step forward, holding up his hands and smiling as innocently as he was capable of. Then he frowned, and looked between the girl and giant. He felt the big man held big power, but he couldn't sense much of anything from the girl. Was she even a mage?
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Cassius noticed the hairy giant enter the room. He looked strong enough, though it seemed it was another muscular giant. She was getting tired of those, at least one more with actual thought could be nice. She sighed, and looked at the Mage's assembled. The new mage, partner of Berserker, was official looking. The two named Clay and Daria were chatting about old times... the boy was writing.

She snuck up on him, and read over his shoulder. "It seems odd to me that so many pick up on my gender so quickly." Cassius muttered, though the kid could likely hear her.

"You're the master of Saber, right? Why are you writing about me, first?" She cast a glance over at the giant of a woman, talking to a man more of Cassius' stature than the rest of these leviathans of history. Though it seemed everyone here was infinitely more hairy than Assassin.

 

[Pappytech]

"Hey! Boy! Be civil and introduce yourself!"

As he etched the last of Berserker's parameters into his notebook, Matt noted Saber's words, shouted at him from across the room. Glancing up, he noted that, immediately after telling him off, his Servant had already gone back to her conversation. There wasn't any real need to listen to her, especially not when it came to something as pointless as conversing with the other Masters and Servants. If Saber wanted to spend all night talking, then he wouldn't stop her, but Matt had no intention of leaving this meeting without an idea of what the other Servants could do. And if he knew their Masters as well, then that was all the-

"It seems odd to me that so many pick up on my gender so quickly."

"Gah!"

Unable to hold back a startled shout, the boy spun around, reflexively scrunching his hands into fists. His heart pounding away in his chest, Matt stared wide-eyed at Assassin's amused smirk, his frantic thoughts attempting to piece together how he'd managed to entirely miss her approach.

Ah. Right. Presence Concealment. So this was how effective Assassin could be at stealth.

If the Servant was at all put off by his reaction, Matt couldn't tell. As the young man raised a hand to his chest in an attempt to slow his racing heartbeat, Assassin simply continued on, showing no reaction to his little outburst. "You're the master of Saber, right? Why are you writing about me, first?"

Staying silent, Matt took a few long, deep breaths, exerting strict control over his lungs. The pattern helped to calm his body down, and the youth took a few seconds to ensure that he was in a steady state of mind.

Heh. Of course he wasn't in a steady state of mind. He was terrified out of his wits; it took all his concentration just to put on that calm facade, and apparently it only took one good scare to tear the whole thing down.

Tonight was going to be great.

"I can see it," Matt said, after taking a bit longer to find his voice again. He glanced in Assassin's general direction as he spoke, not quite making eye-contact, but looking somewhere in the general vicinity of the Servant's face. "Your gender, I mean. Being Master and all that." He believed it was neither necessary nor polite to explain to the woman how a Servant's stats were available to any Master within eyesight. She already knew that information, obviously, by virtue of being summoned by the Grail.

"And yes," he continued, stuffing his now slightly crumpled notebook back into his jacket's inner-pocket, "I'm Saber's Master."

His voice's wary, guarded tone made it quite clear that he was intentionally not answering Assassin's final question.

 

[Arcanist]

"Oh, yeah. It was: 'Don't trust him. If you have to trust him don't be alone with him. And if you have to be alone with him, take something important of his as insurance first.'"

Clay couldn't help but chuckle. Some things never change, it would seem. "Orihara's still scared of me? I don't know if I should be insulted or flattered." He accepted Daria's outstretched hand, giving it a firm shake. "I'll tell you what I tell him - 'trust' is unnecessary with me. If I mean you ill, you'll be the first and last to know." The current line of conversation had, against all odds, managed to perk up his dour mood. Perhaps these people wouldn't be such a chore to work with after...

"Nice meeting you, Mister Marks. And I guess that makes you... Maria? Diana? Bro didn't say much to tell you apart, sorry." Clay's rising mood fell straight back down with Daria's followup greeting. His end of the handshake tightened as his smile turned to a frown. Diana, for her part, reacted with a small modicum of grace. "It's Diana, dear." She shifted her attention nervously to her older brother, as though she expected more of a reaction. Eventually, he calmed down, releasing his grip on Daria's hand. Taking a cigarette from his coat pocket, he sat on one of the pews on the far end of the church, lighting it with a snap of his fingers.

Diana gave Daria an apologetic look, making sure to keep an eye on her brooding brother. "I'm sorry about that. Family's a touchy subject with him."

 

[HellsingerAngel]

She couldn't stop her hands from shaking. It was the only thing she could focus on. Despite needing to keep scanning each target for movement, to keep her senses sharpened for any sort of quick movement, all her mind could revolve around was her unsteady hands. Of course they weren't steady - she was in the middle of a Mexican stand-off with a beefcake mage, a heroic figure brought back from the dead and a swordsman who had just been kicked through a wall and seemed relatively okay. Compared to her they were gods amongst men! Yet for all their capabilities they still had some sensibilities. Even the towering behemoth seemed genuinely worried about the handgun the schoolgirl was brandishing about in a flustered manner.

"P-please, young miss! We don't mean any harm! My Servant and I were simply investigating the sound of a young woman in distress!"

It was a lucky break for master and servant that Machiko was a far more empathetic and trusting individual than your average magus. Where as the latter were raised to mistrust those around them, likening those of their creed to nothing more than petty thieves that wished only to horde power, she had never experienced what it was like to be on this side of the fence. She was about as normal a child as one could be in this world, worrying more about her next exam and if the school soccer star had just winked at her rather than if the person sitting next to her was attempting to swipe her magic crest to add her family's cumulative knowledge to their untold amounts of previously questionably achieved library of reality shattering talents. In fact, this entire scenario would have been a figment of her imagination six months ago, before she had stumbled across a dark secret she knew was never meant for her to uncover. She shook her head slightly, her eyes closing shut before lowering her weapon. She felt dizzied from the rush she had just experienced and staggered to her left a step before catching herself on the table. How had she gotten herself into all of this?

"O-o-oh... Okay..." she resigned, her fear reverting back into her shell of unassured shyness.

"Urgh. I'm fine, by the way. I'm Yuri Matou, a fellow master."

Machiko's eyes fluttered open a moment later as she watched the third man enter the room behind the pairing. The shame of leaving that poor man to pick himself back up was almost unbearable and she immediately looked away. The teenager couldn't imagine what he thought of her right now. She tried to say something in her defense, explain the situation but when she opened her mouth the words simply wouldn't take shape. The only noise that she could produce was a weak formless stammer that went on for several seconds before she decided to cut her loses.

"I heard a cry, and thought you needed help of a sort. If you'd allow, I can help with your summoning."

"That-that would be nice," she said, still avoiding eye contact with the man named Yuri. She had already begun fiddling with the shoulder holster she had purchased for the Endless Trace, sliding it safely back inside before twirling around and taking a deep bow. "Thank you Alexander-sama, Yuri-sama, Servant-hakase..."

 

[CJ1145]

"Thank you Alexander-sama, Yuri-sama, Servant-hakase..."

"You're welc--"

Archer was cut off by his Master raising a hand and telling her, "Think nothing of it. And 'Archer' will do referring to my Servant." Archer glared at him in silence, returning his arrow to its quiver, but said nothing. He crossed his arms and patiently waited as Alexander stood back up and walked over to her circle, kneeling down and examining it.

"Hrm... shaky construction, and a few of these symbols here are meaningless." He pointed at the corresponding runes in her construction. He quietly instructed, "I believe you were trying to use an archaic version of "gate", but you've forgotten a piece of the rune. It's just gibberish as is. Be that as it may..." he rubbed his chin, baffled by the situation Machiko seemed to find herself in. "The Grail is responsible for the summoning, not the Master. So long as you have a stable circle--and yours is sufficient, albeit rough--all that is necessary is to perform the ritual, and supply prana to your Servant. It shouldn't be failing like it is."

A low groan of some sort rumbled up for his gut, and his eyes, too small for his tough face, drifted over to the girl. "It seems impossible to think, but..."

"Young miss," he said, addressing her seriously. "Do you possess a magic circuit at all?"

[hr]

"I'm sorry about that. Family's a touchy subject with him."

Daria looked at Diana like she was speaking in tongues, and confusedly asked "What do you mean? Did something happen?"

I should have noticed that earlier. Dirk always mentioned Clay had two sisters! But only one of 'em is here... what happened to Maria? What did the dossier say again? She was supposed to be the head of her family, but something went wrong. So Clay took over instead. Yeah, she should definitely be here.

"Did she...?" Daria hesitated to finish her sentence, catching on at the last possible second that it might be best left unsaid.

Rider, for his part, was letting her deal with the Marks on his own, and was still chatting with Saber. He introduced himself to Berserker cordially, and turned the topic to the massive woman's Master.

"You seem to have been paired with an interesting magus, Saber. What's his name?"

 

[Ruedyn]

"That-that would be nice."

Yuri noticed she wouldn't look him in the eye. His entrance WAS him drawing a sword on someone then getting kicked into a wall. Perhaps he scared her? He took off his sword and placed it on the table as she turned to the rest and bowed.

"Thank you Alexander-sama, Yuri-sama, Servant-hakase..."

"[It's no problem, truly.]" Yuri said, in Japanese. He didn't want her to be forced to use a language he barely used, anyways. He watched as Alexander went about his inspection. It seemed the giant was also knowledgeable on these matters. Then he made the suggestion that she had no magic circuits...

"Hrm." The Russian slowly and silently strolled up to the circle. He did another quick once over before stretching his hand out, and circling the rough shape.

"... Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill. Repeat five times, but destroy each when filled." He began, feeling the familiar flow of Prana. He looked over to Machiko, wondering if she wanted him to continue.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I can see it, Your gender, I mean. Being Master and all that."

"Hm. Good to know my life and skills are on display for anyone to see." Cassius said, a bit bitterly though with a sarcastic edge. She found that little ability... invasive, but not much she could do about it aside from eye removal. She noted his inability to look her in the eye. Seemed the cowardly and weak sort to her, and that wouldn't do in her ranks. His tone turned quite guarded as well, and he didn't even answer her final question.

"And yes, I'm Saber's Master."

She stuck her hand under his chin, forcing him to at least look at her face. She had to note just how much she was holding back to not accidentally snap his neck.

"We're to be allies, here. As such I think we should make a few things clear. Look me in the eye when I speak to you. Refer to me by name, not by title, even if the enemy have us surrounded." Cassius removed her hand and gave her usual wry smile,

"And please, if you need anything at all, ask. I'll see what I can do to help you. You've no need to truly fear me, I promise I will not kill you." She held out her hand for him to shake, to cement the truce.

 

[Pappytech]

"You seem to have been paired with an interesting magus, Saber. What's his name?"

"Hmm? Oh, him?" Saber replied, jerking a thumb over her shoulder in her Master's general direction. "Umm... Shoot, he told me his name, now what was it..."

Stroking her chin thoughtfully, the Servant tried to remember a few minutes back, when she and the boy had formed their pact. He had introduced himself formally, with his full name as she recalled, so she'd certainly heard it. It was just that she couldn't remember it off the top of her head.

"Well, this is awkward," she muttered, mostly to herself. Then, to Rider. "Mmmm-something Heller. Started with a M, I know that much. Mark maybe?"

The swordswoman didn't deign to comment on if she thought the boy was interesting or not. There was no need to take the conversation in that direction.

"And you seem to have quite the handful yourself, Rider," Saber commented, glancing over at Daria as the girl conversed with Lancer's Master. "Daria, right? Heh, looks like you're stuck with a bit of a live wire."

[hr]

"Hm. Good to know my life and skills are on display for anyone to see."

It was all but impossible for Matt to miss the biting sarcasm in Assassin's words, but he was wise enough not to comment on it. It was just a part of the Holy Grail War, as intrinsic to the ritual as, well, the Grail itself. And a good thing it was; without such a tool, Masters would be demoted to mere batteries for their Servants.

The boy felt Assassin's eyes sweeping over him, analyzing him, judging him. Well, it wasn't like there was much he could do to stop her, or anyone else for that matter, not unless he was willing to just vacate the church. And that would hardly make for the best impression. No, for now the best course of action would simply be to avert his gaze and wait for Assassin to-

"Ghk!"

-Grab him by the chin and wrench his face around.

"We're to be allies, here," Assassin said plainly, much to the boy's chagrin. "As such I think we should make a few things clear. Look me in the eye when I speak to you. Refer to me by name, not by title, even if the enemy have us surrounded."

The instant the Servant let go of him, Matt retreated a few steps, and his glare was full of disbelief, fear, and just a bit of anger. What was he supposed to do in a situation like this?

The young man continued to glower at Assassin as she kept speaking. If she was reacting at all to his actions, she was doing a stupendous job of hiding it. "And please, if you need anything at all, ask. I'll see what I can do to help you. You've no need to truly fear me, I promise I will not kill you."

"Well, that's good to hear," Matt muttered in reply, lowering his eyes once more. He didn't want to keep looking at Assassin, not until he could keep the worry and ire out of his gaze. "So I guess it's true that we're all on the same team. Good, I was almost certain you were going to tear my head off there."

Damn. Apparently he was still too off-balance to keep his voice level. He had to fix that before he made the situation even worse.

"The legate Cassius, right?" the youth finally continued, his words empty and devoid of emotion. "Can't say I'm too familiar with Roman history myself, but I take it your full name shouldn't be too hard to find. I'll try to use it from now on."

A lie. Completely and utterly false. He didn't care what kind of an egomaniac decided to simply upend the advantages of the class-system simply because she didn't like being referred to by a title, but Matt refused to be the one to reveal one of his "ally"'s identities to the other faction. Once they were out in public, he had no intent of ever calling her anything but Assassin.

Of course, she didn't need to know that just yet.

Reaching forward, Matt took Assassin's proffered hand, shaking it a few times before letting go. "And as for requests," he simply continued, his voice artificially calm.

Don't go around revealing your identity to anyone and everyone with ears.

Don't sneak up on me, or anyone else on the team for that matter, like that.

Don't you ever touch me like that again.

"I don't have any. Please, just act as you see fit."

 

[HellsingerAngel]

"You're welc-"

"Think nothing of it. And 'Archer' will do when referring to my Servant."

"[It's no problem, truly.]"

Machiko nodded quickly in response to all three men, noting the name of the first Servant she had ever met. So that was the great knight Archer? She supposed that Saber would be the knight to cut that classic manly figure atop a hill rather than the lither and more agile Lancer and Archer classes, but even still she was starting to notice that this particular Servant wasn't as blindingly majestic as she had imagined them to be. Her mouth screwed itself a little at the realization, now speculating upon how much of reality was going to bog down the epic grandeur she imagined the heroes reborn to have.

"Hrm? shaky construction, and a few of these symbols here are meaningless. I believe you were trying to use an archaic version of 'gate', but you've forgotten a piece of the rune. It's just gibberish as is."

The schoolgirl looked a little more relaxed as Alexander went over the construction of her circle. This was her element, the role of a student, and she played the part immaculately. Every word Alexander said was absorbed like a sponge by the teenager as she listened intently, hanging onto them like precious gems. Nodding adamantly a few extra times, she even had the confidence to respond back to the behemoth mage.

"The gate symbol might be a bit older but it was said to be a much more stable grounding rune," she piped in with the tone, presence and stature of a professor. "You might be remarking the sequencing line to the focus being poorly executed..." Suddenly that presence of mind slipped away as Machiko bashfully looked towards the ground, fiddling with her skirt. "...I?m a poor artist."

It would be the comments to come from Alexander that would fill the girl with absolute dread.

"Be that as it may... The Grail is responsible for the summoning, not the Master. So long as you have a stable circle ? and yours is sufficient, albeit rough ? all that is necessary is to perform the ritual, and supply prana to your Servant. It shouldn't be failing like it is. It seems impossible to think, but... Young Miss, do you possess a magic circuit at all?"

"I-I-I..."

This was it ? they both knew. All Machiko could do was stammer out the same sorry letter, trying to conjure up some sort of plausible excuse as to why she was having trouble casting spells. But there wasn't one, simply the hard truth and it was that she couldn't. She hadn't been born with circuits, the vital network of ethereal connections to channel prana through her body. Her lineage was mundane, as muddled and plain as a commoner's could be. She had no idea what would become of her now, knowing secrets that she had no right to bare.

"Hrm."

Yuri seemed to have other plans, already heading towards the summoning circle she had crudely drawn on the floor. He inspected it with the scrutiny of a veteran detective, tracing over each line with his eyes. She could tell just by his movements that he disapproved of the handiwork but agreeing with Alexander's original statement of it being serviceable enough. As he rounded the blood stain pattern a second time he outstretched his hand, muttering to himself words that brought about the most revile sense she had ever experienced, as if each one was some perverted form of their former selves.

"...Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill. Repeat five times, but destroy each when filled."

"NO!!!"

With an uncanny speed the young woman dashed at Yuri and tore his hand away from the spell circle and tossed it back to his side. Before she knew it she was standing in front of him, breathless and confused at her sudden reaction. The young man seemed just as puzzled for a moment before nodding awkwardly and backing up a step to create some room between the two. Machiko could only stare straight ahead, almost horrified with herself as her arms closed in on her chest, becoming very guarded. As her eyes finally tore themselves away from the man, her pained look was cast to her side. She wasn?t sure what had come over her but that longing inside her heart, to be a Master in the Holy Grail War, was far too powerful a force to let another magus steal her Servant away.

"I just... No..." she finally said, shaking her head for emphasis in response to Alexander's question.

 

[Arcanist]

"Did she...?"

Diana looked away, seeming to be holding back tears. "We don't know." She shook her head, trying to dispel such unpleasant thoughts - such things could only be a distraction. She had to be strong, if only for her brother. "In any case, it's nice to meet you. He'd never admit it himself, but Clay speaks highly of Dirk, so I hope you are as skilled."

Lancer, seeming to grow bored with pacing about the chapel, then rushed over to Diana's side. "So, you're Rider's Master, eh?" His face was mere inches from Daria's, looking her over with a blank expression. "You don't look anything special." He concluded, before leaping back with a cackle. "And that makes it all the more interesting! I wonder how long it'll be before you get yourself killed!"

 

[CJ1145]

"I just... No..."

Alexander leaned back from her a bit, nodding. "I see." He was silent and let the thought linger in his mind, fresh for a moment longer. A girl with no magic circuit, attempting magecraft of such a high caliber. In theory, any magi would be able to perform the ritual, but at least a pittance of innate talent was still necessary. This girl lacked even that. An anomaly, he might say. Someone with no right to know of magic, yet still attempted it. Academic questions cropped up, questioning what might occur if she attempted the more accessible, ritual-based magecraft that witches and the like once preferred. Alexander set them aside to ponder another time, as the current conundrum demanded his attention. He got down on one knee and came eye level with Machiko. He spoke to her in a firm, but friendly tone.

"There's no need to be so defensive. The fact of the matter is, if you have no magic circuit, then you are incapable of magecraft. No matter how perfect you make your summoning ritual, it will never work. You simply lack the fuel it needs to run."

Carefully, he placed one hand above her circle.

"That means if you're going to summon your Servant, you'll need to borrow prana from one of us. I can supply the ritual with the amount it needs, if you wish. But you'll still need to recite the aria."

[hr]

"Daria, right? Heh, looks like you're stuck with a bit of a live wire."

"That's certainly one way to put it," Rider said with a nervous chuckle. Right now, his Master seemed to be busy alienating the others through an astounding lack of social skills. And unlike his last companion, she lacked the natural charisma to make up for her inability or unwillingness to read social cues. Rider crossed his arms, and his face straightened up. "Still though, I think her heart's in the right place. I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do." He smiled, completely earnest in his expectations. A moment passed, and his eyes drifted towards Saber again, lingering for a moment until she caught him looking.

"Erp--" his face reddened, and he turned away. "Sorry! It's just, I've never seen a woman as tall as you! Do you have giant's blood, or maybe a demigod's?"

 

[Ruedyn]

It was tough keeping himself on his feet when she pushed him, but he managed. It took a bit to regain balance, and back up for her as well. She was very shy, it would seem.

"I just... No..."

"[Yes. That would be the problem.]" Yuri tried to look her in the eyes with his usual blank expression, but gave up and looked back to the circle. Having a normal person in their ranks seemed more trouble than it was worth, but this one might have some talent. Normal people shouldn't have even known of the war...

"[Hm. Assuming you can handle the war... I can-]"

"That means if you're going to summon your Servant, you'll need to borrow prana from one of us. I can supply the ritual with the amount it needs, if you wish. But you'll still need to recite the aria."

"[Yes. That one.]" Yuri said with a smile. "I believe both of us can supply a second servant, Alexander, though don't you plan to use Archer here? I have no idea if Cassius will ever be forced into combat, but an Archer can be useful."
________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I don't have any. Please, just act as you see fit."

"If you could assert yourself just once, I think you'd find it liberating." Cassius deadpanned, before simply shrugging and moving on. She decided to go talk to the other so called Servants, to see if any of them were worth writing home about. The tall woman was saber, he remembered, and the hairy one of her stature was Rider.

"Sorry! It's just, I've never seen a woman as tall as you! Do you have giant's blood, or maybe a demigod's?"

"I can only hope no one here is arrogant enough to think themselves a god of me..." She muttered, more to herself than anyone else. She looked up and smiled warmly at the two, "Hello you two."

 

[Pappytech]

"Still though, I think her heart's in the right place. I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do."

"Mmmmm," Saber grunted in reply, keeping her tone vague and neutral. While she could certainly appreciate Rider's sentiment, she couldn't exactly sympathize with it herself. It wasn't that she was unsatisfied with the boy who'd summoned her (though, going by first impressions and her instincts, he was a far cry from impressive). No, he'd done his job admirably, drawing her here and providing her with a host. But that was really all she needed from him; all he had to do now was just sit back and let her do her job.

Her job, for the record, consisted of thoroughly crushing any foe that might try to stand between her and the Grail.

The swordswoman was shaken from her brief reverie by Rider's sidelong glances. A little awkwardly, she cleared her throat, hoping to break the silence.

"Erp-- Sorry! It's just, I've never seen a woman as tall as you! Do you have giant's blood, or maybe a demigod's?"

"Eh?" Caught off guard, Saber could only stare, bewildered, at Rider's reddening face for a moment. "...Heh." Then, as a smile stretched across her face, she began to laugh. "Hehe, jeez, haven't heard that one before! Sorry to disappoint, Rider, but my blood's nothing special. I'm pureblooded human through and through, nothing but ordinary flesh and blood!"

Chuckling, the knight clapped an open palm into Rider's back, wordlessly telling him to calm down a bit. "But if I'm the biggest girl you've ever seen... Heh, I'm guessing you haven't gotten around too much.

"But speaking of blood." Saber ran an eye up and down Rider's slim frame, noting his perfectly sculpted looks, blood-red eyes, and snow white hair. On their own, his features wouldn't have been too suspicious, but when combined, "...It's probably safe to guess that you're a bit more than human yourself, eh?"

"Hello you two."

"Hmmm?" Turning her head, the warrior noted Assassin's sudden appearance. Jeez, the Servant had gotten this close without her noticing? Apparently her class-title wasn't just for show. "Ah, Assassin. Hey yourself."

[hr]

"If you could assert yourself just once, I think you'd find it liberating."

...What did she just say?

Matt could feel his already unsteady grip on his emotions shredding more and more with each passing second. It took every ounce of his not inconsiderable self-control to keep his face expressionless as Assassin waltzed away, and even then he was unable to keep a slight tremor from running through his hands.

But he refused to lose control completely. Not here, not now, not ever.

Yes, he was terrified. Yes, the simple fact that a Servant had talked to him was enough to set his body trembling. Yes, he was unbelievably far out of his depth.

But none of that mattered. He was a Heller magus, dammit, and he would conduct himself with all the poise and ceremony that his position demanded.

He could not afford to disgrace his family in this Holy Grail War. Surely death would be preferable to that.

So, instead of running outside in a panic, Matt reached back into his pocket, his still slightly shaking hand wrapping itself around his notebook. Instead of professing his desire to immediately forfeit the War, he flipped the notebook back open to Berserker's page.

And he kept writing.

 

[Terratina.]

"Hmph."

Yi sat down on one of the pews. Most of the others had rushed towards the commotion. Far too many in her opinion. One seemed enough for the problem, after all. Then again, there really much to do here in the church, apart from waiting for the priest to finally arrive and announce the start this Grail War. That was how it worked right? At least, she knew that much. Here Yi was standing beside magi that probably had spent years preparing for this moment - no doubt the other team had as well. Nevertheless, after the, as Berserker had put it, 'team deathmatch' who would get the Grail? Regardless, that was hardly the question to be asked at this point in time. She would cross that bridge when she came to it.

Berseker, on the other hand, remain standing. He had been busy walking about and scratching that scraggly beard of his around and at the boy who kept writing stuff down? What for? A Servant he assumed to be Assassin had been talking to him. Whoever that was seemed to think highly of themselves. From the looks of the Servant, he couldn't make out whether it was a man or woman. He decided to assume Assassin was a boy of some sort, from his appearance and his voice. This led to another question: what sort of kid would murder so easily. However, with his deeds, Berserker probably wasn't the person to ask that particular question. His approach wasn't nearly as silent as Assassin's. He stood over the shoulder of the boy whose head was buried in a notebook.

"What are you writing there, kid?" He asked.

 

[Pappytech]

What with his prodigious bulk and "interesting" fashion choices, it was a little hard not to notice Berserker as he wandered around the church. Even if he hadn't been recording the hairy behemoth's stats at the moment, it would have been all but impossible for Matt to miss the Servant's approach.

"What are you writing there, kid?"

"I... It's just a record of the basic stats of you and the other Servants," the boy mechanically intoned, adjusting his grip on the notebook to make it easier for Berserker to read. It seemed that the youth was actually willing to carry on a conversation, so long as his potential partner didn't try to startle the daylights out of him. "As of now, it's not much more than class titles and skills, details like gender, height, and weight, and parameters. I don't know any of your identities, so that's all the information I can see at the moment.

"Honestly, I doubt that I'm going to keep it. It'd probably be safest to just destroy the notes once I finish writing them, before we even leave the church tonight. But writing things down helps me to remember them better, and I believe that knowledge like this is going to be pretty critical later on."

Finishing his notes on Berserker's Luck, Matt flicked the notebook closed. Assassin, Lancer, Rider, and Berserker. Four of the seven, six not counting Saber. Neither Archer nor Caster had made an appearance, but their Masters should be here tonight... Perhaps they were just running late.

 

[Terratina.]

"...But writing things down helps me to remember them better, and I believe that knowledge like this is going to be pretty critical later on."

Berserker listened carefully to the lad, at least as much as he was able. Statistics, rules, all of this reminded him of the scholars writing down their words in carefully drawn angular writing, scholars that were relied upon for advice and whatnot. He hadn't seen much of them in his own time. Then again, all that was boring. There was more exciting things to do, that was the case here and back then. Ah! Berserker saw an opportunity for a game of wits here. He tried to hide the growing smile on his face, but only managed to just keep the grin from spreading across his face.

"Say, speaking of identities, wanna take a guess?" He asked.

 

[Pappytech]

"Say, speaking of identities, wanna take a guess?"

Matt stared blankly at the giant man, noting the faint twitches around the edges of the Servant's lips. Even ignoring his unique choice of dress, Berserker certainly looked distinctive enough; the young magus was reasonably confident that, given enough guesses and a hint or two, it wouldn't be too difficult to divine the spirit's true name.

And considering all the knowledge that would accompany guessing his identity, playing along with the giant's game couldn't hurt too much, now could it?

"...Alright," the magus hesitantly replied. "A guess or two couldn't hurt anything."

Safely stowing his notebook away, Matt took a step back, giving himself a better view of Berserker. As he chewed on his lower lip, the young man scanned the Servant up and down, trying to focus on his most distinctive features.

Glossing over Berserker's eye, hair, and skin color, as well as the bushy mess of hair coating his chin, the boy stared at the bronze manacles locked around the Servant's wrists for a few seconds. Some kind of prisoner, perhaps? An escaped one, judging by the few bent and broken links that dangled depressingly from each of the metal loops. Pacing, Matt circled around behind the Servant, and noted the seven distinct locks that hung halfway down his back.

Seven. Undoubtedly, that number held some sort of cultural significance, but the number seven was revered by countless groups all across history. It was hardly a distinguishing factor.

The fact that it was represented by hair, as opposed to a tattoo or other form of body art, however, might be an important clue.

Walking back around to Berserker's front, Matt set his lips into a slight frown. He had some information to go on, sure, but nothing absolute. His guess would still be just that, a guess. But if he could try his luck a few times, and maybe eliminate a few wrong choices...

"Do I get more than one guess?" he asked, his dull tone unable to fully disguise his curiosity.

 

[Terratina.]

"Do I get more than one guess?"

Berserker chuckled at that, he was glad to see that the magus was taken by curiosity. He scratched his head while thinking on the answer to that question. With an unlimited number of guesses, he was bound to find the answer eventually. Three seemed to be a nice number, but there was a much better way of going about this. However, it had to be done right. Make it too easy and his identity would be found, make it too hard and the poor lad would probably spend his nights worrying about it. And of course, Berserker didn't want it to end up like that business with that wedding, but at least the prize was somewhat less material. The arm fell down from his head and rested at his sides. Berserker stretched, giving the impression of being laid back about the whole thing.

"How about this..." Berserker began, "As a bit of fun, how about a riddle? The answer's my identity. You get three guesses. If you fail, you give me the identity of your Servant."

He stopped stretching and lightly slapped the boy on the back, "C'mon, no harm in it!"

 

[CJ1145]

"...It's probably safe to guess that you're a bit more than human yourself, eh?"

"Er..." Rider sheepishly grinned. "Yeah, guilty as charged. Technically, I'm a homunculus." The Servant shrugged, passing it off as a minor factoid. "I don't think I'm really any different from a normal human, though. I was just created in a different way."

He was interrupted by the arrival of Assassin, who'd snuck up on them quite handily. Rider was impressed, but said nothing. He was observing two other newcomers. A young Master, and what he realized must be Berserker. The Master sat away from the others, isolating themselves while the Servant went to chat up Saber's young boy. Curious to meet the new face, he bid farewell to Saber with a nod and approached Yi, bowing to her and smiling, with a hand extended for her to shake.

"Won't you join us, miss?"

[hr]

"In any case, it's nice to meet you. He'd never admit it himself, but Clay speaks highly of Dirk, so I hope you are as skilled."

"It's... good to meet you too," said Daria, trying to put on a reassuring smile. She wanted to say something encouraging. They'd surely find Maria. Or, hell, she'd volunteer to find her herself. But that was beyond her limits. At least right now. But having a goal once the war was over was certainly good. She hardly registered the somewhat negative comparison to her adoptive brother, but didn't mind. Her somewhat reluctant smile got a lot larger and a lot more genuine at the suggestion she was as good as Dirk.

"Ha! Don't worry your pretty head about that," she declared, hands on her waist and stance squared. She looked a bit like a superhero from the old Golden Age comics. Yet, somehow, more ridiculous. "If anything, I'm better than Bro at magic. Just wait; you'll see!"

And in an instant, any hot air she had was quickly let out by the arrival of Lancer, who gave her a once-over and was thoroughly unimpressed.

"You don't look anything special." He concluded, before leaping back with a cackle. "And that makes it all the more interesting! I wonder how long it'll be before you get yourself killed!"

Daria's hands quietly clenched into fists, and the girl shot a terrible glare at the Servant, Lancer.

Big, furry monkey face, a tail, and he's a wise-guy on top of it? I wonder...

With a slight growl in her tone she warned, "Back off, Banana-Brains. There's no way I'm gonna die. Not if the other Servants are as big of goofs as you are. Go bother someone who's honorable enough not to punch your teeth out."

There were insults, and there were out-and-out challenges. This was plainly the latter.

 

[Pappytech]

"As a bit of fun, how about a riddle? The answer's my identity. You get three guesses. If you fail, you give me the identity of your Servant."

Matt hesitated at the offer. Berserker's challenge was an interesting one, one that he felt he could win. With three guesses and the information he already had on the Servant, the boy knew that he had a decent chance of coming across the giant's identity. So long as luck was on his side, anyways.

On the other hand, if he wasn't able to guess correctly, then he would have to forfeit Saber's identity. While he expected the swordswoman to eventually be revealed somewhere down the line, Matt had hoped to use her Phantasm first, in order to get off a surprise attack against some foe or another.

What to do, what to do...

"C'mon, no harm in it!"

The magus was shaken out of his thoughts by Berserker's pat, and shot a warning glare back at the giant before dropping his gaze. Mmmmmm... In all likelihood, it would probably be best to humor the Servant with his game. It was obvious that Berserker wanted to play, and Matt didn't want to find out what would happen if he disappointed the giant.

"Alright," he agreed hesitantly, "three guesses then.

"My first one is..." A madman who was imprisoned "...Heracles."