Fate/Infinite - Game Thread

[Arcanist]

"That is, lovely armed house keepers. I think we would all appreciate a lighter tone, as I do come with an olive branch. I'm a healer by trade, and would like to offer my services in return for my servants blade. And, no offense, but judging by your walk you look like you can use it."

Clay scoffed at this so-called goodwill. Did Mordecai really expect him to be an utter fool? "I'm going to have to respectfully decline. My family can take care of it." His glare intensified, smoldering with barely restrained anger. "Yes, my family. The people you put at risk when your Servant assaulted my home. So you'll have to excuse me if I'm not in the mood to pretend I can stand you." He turned to leave, not interested in playing games with an enemy - one that clearly had an ulterior motive, at that. Rider could have his fun for all he cared, but had more important things to attend to - like planning for the coming night.

He had almost left the parlor - just one step left - but Rider's words stopped him dead in his tracks. "The good doctor has seen it fit to come and make pitiful offers in hopes of reacquiring an exquisite relic his servant so graciously tossed to us the evening past. I do hope my bringing him inside for you was to your desires."

Clay could feel his hands ball up into fists. His concentration was focusing almost entirely on keeping him from trembling in rage. His glare was now affixed on his Servant. "You're certainly a cheeky one today, Rider." He was sure to punctuate his address with an appropriate amount of venom - he was in no mood for Rider's games either. "If you're going to negotiate, get it done. Kill him if he's of no use to us."

With that, he strolled out of the parlor, a pale of barely restrained rage following his steps.

 

[Ruedyn]

"The good doctor has seen it fit to come and make pitiful offers in hopes of reacquiring an exquisite relic his servant so graciously tossed to us the evening past. I do hope my bringing him inside for you was to your desires."

"Tch." Mord glared at the servant, if he wanted to kill him, he should simply do it outright. It was all he could do to not pull his draw card right then and there. His ace in the hole would come later...

"If you're going to negotiate, get it done. Kill him if he's of no use to us."

"Sensible, if nothing else." Mordecai sighed, before turning to the servant. Mordecai felt tired again, probably from Brutus' constant use of his abilities, and never dematerializing. Mordedcai took off his glasses slowly, putting them in his breast pocket. He had gotten surgery a few months ago to improve his eyesight, but wearing the glasses made everything clearer, and he felt he could see farther. Neither of these were useful now, however, as he stared the servant dead in the eye, no fear in his heart.

"If you expect me to beg, forget it. I offer my services as a first class healer, in return for my servants blade. I have the barest shred of dignity to retain here." Mordecai got up from his chair, holding eye contact with Rider.

"If you believe your maids to be better healers, if you believe yourself to know the city and its' nooks and crannies better, if you think you two alone can take the other spirits and mages in the shadows, then I shall take my leave." Mordecai started towards the exit, the scalpel flying from Riders sash into Mordecai's outstretched hand.

 

[drmigit2]

Mordecai had gotten up. Now was the time.

Assassin had indeed been following Rider and Mordecai, although not in the location one would expect. In fact, Assassin was a good six feet below the two walking up to the house and then managed to stay a floor below everyone, avoiding traps and staying entirely unseen. It was a particularly easy chore when he could see all of the mansion's magical traps in a crimson glow, not too unlike the glow of his own weapon which he had come back to retrieve. On top of that, since he could detect everyone in the mansion, but they could not detect him, it was not only possible, but easy for him to position himself accordingly. As per the plan, Mordecai had the servant sit down with his phantasm in hand, now that negotiations seemed to have failed, it was time for a bit of an underhanded trick.

Assassin had already positioned himself directly under Rider and there weren't any traps to prevent him from what he was about to do, so he did it. Assassin jumped straight up in the air, silent as a ghost, passing through the floor and right into Rider's sash. Assassin's ghostly hand touched his blade and soon the blade had become one with him yet again, invisible and ethereal. All Rider would have felt, is a slight loss of weight, but the scalpel that just flew out of his satchel would throw him off of that for now.

Assassin then moved himself to his master's position. Rider would eventually notice the missing artifact and might retaliate. Assassin was ready for it. He re-materialized in a fog of smoke and his voice echoed through the room. "Consider yesterday a test, Rider. I purposefully avoided harming your servants, but if you wish to continue this, then so be it. Though it will not be today, nor tonight."

 

[Ruedyn]

This RP ended, so I'll just post whatever plans I had for my Irish bastard.

Spoiler: Mordecai

Spoiler: True Assassin

A tall, slim figure draped in an ebony tabard, wielding two throwing knives and his claw. He killed Lancer in Combat, and was gifted to Clay Marks as Mordecai forfeited the tournament. He fought archer, while the wish was made, and begged for his sole wish, a face so history may remember him when Clay's plan came together. He was, however, able to piece together who he was when he was given back to Mordecai. The child of Hassan, Nazir...

Spoiler: Brutus

Brutus went to recapture his sword, and rescued Mordecai from Rider's ensuing wrath. Mordecai used him to get guns, and was forced into being the catalyst by Mordecai, signalling the first used command spell used in the war. Mordecai had these guns promptly destroyed by Rider, on their first meeting.

Spoiler: Role in the War

Mordecai more or less continued to make enemies of everyone, though ended up being the end of Lancer. He met with Clay at his mansion, encasing it in a reality marble. Rider and Clay managed to break out of it, after some minor damage. Mordecai sighed at the wasted effort, gifting True Assassin to Clay to help him along in the war. He spent the rest of his days in the church. He made friends with Sophie, and she became one of his closest advisers after the war. He taught Dirk a few things of healing and Reality Marbles, and sent him on his way after a few months of apprenticeship. Apparently learning all you know of how mentoring works from the Karate Kid was not a good idea.

Spoiler: Legacy

Mordecai was banned from entering Fuyuki city forever, and was imprisoned on account of taking the blame for the bridge destruction. He used the prison walls to teach the inmates of magic, training a few. This effort backfired when he became responsible for the first ever magical prison break. His name is now a curse word among most mages.

 

[CJ1145]

Might as well do the same for Dirk.

Spoiler

Spoiler: The Fate of Sanosuke

Sanosuke Orihara eventually left the hospital while the war continued on. When he first left, he found that Dirk was caught in a struggle to find his own identity. His parents were loving, but coddling, and tried to teach him that he could be better, and amend for his mistakes, not pay for them. His Servant, Saber, took the opposite approach, and believed that Dirk must come to understand the atrocities he had committed in the war. Though he was concerned for the boy in his own way, Dirk's uncle did not seek him out to give advice. But once, when Dirk admitted his dilemma to him: that no matter what was tried, he could not find himself to care about his transgressions, he told the boy this.

"You've always been a selfish bastard. Always have been, and always will be. Nothing you or anyone else can do will ever change the awful person you are inside. But if you really want to change that much, then get creative. That's what you do, right? Twist your bad situation around, and use it in a way to do something good for once."

Sanosuke did not openly fight in the war from then on, but continued to supply Dirk with an ever-growing arsenal of weaponry, even if the boy refused to use his most effective tools against the enemy Masters, afraid to kill again. The one exception to this was the man named Michael, the butler of Ilene Einzbern. When Dirk and Saber went to slay Lancer and the homunculus that was his Master, they were distracted by the actions of another Servant team, forcing them to break off. But this butler, Michael, aimed to cut them to ribbons while they were distracted. Stepping up, the Mad Dancer of Fuyuki took a swig of alcohol and took out his blade for one last dance.

An entire city block was destroyed in the ensuing battle. Sanosuke was outmatched, he had no talent for magecraft, only a working knowledge of it. He was essentially a normal human against an opponent that truly outclassed him. But he made due, using every dirty trick in the book. And in the end, on top of a skyscraper in Shinto, the two men found themselves so battered neither could move, laughing and telling old stories to one another as they shared a couple of cigarettes, watching the fires they'd lit slowly engulf the building. Their own personal funeral pyre. Sanosuke went out wondering whether Dirk would be able to do what he'd wanted to, and find a way to be a good man with an evil heart.

Spoiler: The Fate of Shinosuke

With Dirk losing his will to fight to the death after his brutal actions against the brother of Maria, his father took it upon himself to serve as his shadow. A terrifyingly deadly magus, Shinosuke used his decades of experience to fight from the sidelines in such a way that the other Masters were not even aware of his existence. All they could tell was that when they least expected it, a deadly wind would obliterate an entire street, forcing them to back off just long enough for the Master of Saber to regroup and either fight them off or withdraw from sight. And every night, he would feed a strange mixture to his son, of bone and blood and Od itself, telling him that it was to make him stronger.

In private, Shinosuke tried this hardest to console his son, and explain that there was room for the boy to redeem himself. But try as he might, Dirk was not convinced he had the capacity to change like that. He began to fear there really was no hope for his only son, but only devoted himself further. No matter the cost, he would not let his son die thinking he was a monster. In the end, this would prove fatal.

On the night that Dirk and Saber went to slay the Einzbern Master, Clay and Rider intercepted them, and they were caught up in a deadly duel that rocked both combatants. Unfortunately, Dirk had prepared himself to fight Lancer, not Rider, and he and his Servant were outmatched that night. But before the other Servant could strike a deadly blow, Shinosuke made his appearance known for the first time ever. Realizing that even if the Servant was weakened, he stood no chance, the man could only provide cover while Saber took the boy and escaped. But the head of the Orihara line and wielder of their Magic Crest was not the sort to be taken lightly. His magecraft was deadly, and activated with only the short aria "kaze".

Unleashing all the prana in his arsenal, he clashed with both Clay and Rider simultaneously, flinging them about Fuyuki as his power rapidly drained. Though he battered them and kept them at bay, Rider managed to take every deadly shot meant for his Master. In the end, Heaven's Gate Shot, one of Rider's mightiest Phantasms, caught him in a vicious blow, tearing out of most of his insides in the one shot. Shinosuke died outside of Ryuudou Temple, having managed to use up all of his strength fighting the pair across the entire city, watching the rising sun and content that his son was certainly safe, and now the wielder of the strength to combat these two.

The concoction that Shinosuke had been feeding Dirk every night was a method to align their Od, and bring it in tune with one another. That would leave him at the maximum potential to successfully receive his Magic Crest. That same night as Shinosuke's death, as he fought against Clay and Rider, his wife and his son performed the ritual, successfully transferring the mark of their family to the newest Head of the Orihara household. This Magic Crest contained the knowledge of his father's powerful wind magecraft, and finally managed to level the playing field against Clay, who until now had been far too powerful for Dirk to even approach in combat.

Spoiler: The Fate of Koji

Dirk's closest friend, and now the boy who feared him the most, Koji had seen his mad rage as he tore the magus named Hansen to bloody pieces. In a mad daze, the confused boy wandered the streets for days on end, contemplating what he had seen and the monstrous look in his best friend's eyes.

He remembered times earlier in their lives. Simpler, happier times. One memory in particular kept coming back to his mind, the same memory that would one day haunt Dirk's own dreams, though Koji would never know it. Dirk had been deathly ill, a flu that seemed to come from the underworld with the strength it gripped him. Only after days of pleading would his parents finally relent and let Koji in to see him. He came into Orihara's room, finding the boy tucked in and bundled up like a child, face pale and looking wholly unhappy to see anyone. Koji sat with him, and shared the lunch he'd prepared, talking mindlessly about simple things. The shows Koji had watched recently, and some not so recently, and in particular how they'd related to his friend. Though Dirk did not understand it, Koji smiled telling him that he thought his friend was a lot like the fiery girl Asuka in Evangelion. Dirk thought it was most likely an insult that even the deliverer was too stupid to understand, but the earnest innocence in the delivery caught him off-guard.

Dirk was always fascinated by Koji's behavior. Orihara had "friends", but they were more like rivals in truth. People who were kind enough to return the banter he sent their way, and not just scowl at him. But Koji was different. He understood Dirk in a way the others did not, or perhaps he was so dense he couldn't see what they did. No matter what he did, Koji managed to see something good in Dirk's heart where he was convinced there was nothing. That was why the betrayal in Koji's eyes that night hurt Dirk so much. He realized that he'd managed to alienate one of the few people he truly cared about.

But Koji was unable to fear Dirk. Even if he knew nothing of the circumstances, he remained convinced that whatever he had witnessed was a failure on Dirk's part. Not his true character, but a moment of faltering. And where should a friend be when their friend falters, he asked himself. The answer was simple: by their side.

And that was what led him onto the battlefield in the final battle between Dirk and the Assassin named Brutus. When a fatal blow should have sliced open the Master's belly, it instead took root in the would-be hero's stomach, making a neat cut and spilling the boy's guts out to the ground below. Orihara, dumbstruck, begged to understand how Koji could do something so stupid. All the odd boy did to respond was smile and explain that they were friends.

He died there, leaving behind a boy who no longer had anyone he could truly call a friend. It was decisively the last battle between he and Assassin.

Spoiler: The Fate of Dirk

The young Master that had so eagerly gone to war was left with bitter loss. His father, his uncle, and now his closest friend were all dead, with his own actions at the root of every demise. Dirk was shattered, and now had no compass left to guide him. All that was left was his mother, Mira, who told him to be decisive, and his Servant, Sir Bors, who told him to be good. And as the War took its toll on his mind, he found he could do neither.

He thought of others, of the vast strangers on the streets that wanted, no, needed his help. And he felt nothing. Even now, thinking back to the moment he obliterated the body of Hansen, he felt no remorse. He had no sympathy for the man to fuel his tears or his regrets. There was an emptiness in his heart that these faceless masses could never fill.

But one Master, Sagara, brought him into contact with a strange individual. A red-haired man whose demeanor felt incomprehensible, and yet alluring to the boy. They spoke only briefly, and not many times. But Dirk could feel a difference in this man. This was a man who desperately didn't want anyone to die. And he was awed by it. He did not know whether these feelings were what was genuinely in the man's heart, he did not care. All he knew was that this man had found a way to dedicate himself in exactly the way Dirk could not.

As the weeks passed, the memories of Koji filled his mind. His lost friend always drew him back to that day, sick in his room, as Koji came to visit. He could still remember how humbled he felt by the unwavering faith his friend had in his ability to be a better person. It was from that that sprung the desire and motivation that he had been searching for the entire War--perhaps his entire life. The greatest challenge he had ever faced. He had no capacity in his heart to be so empathetic as to put his life on the line for strangers. But he would do so anyway. Koji had so much faith that one day Dirk could be a good, honest man. And he truly did care for his friend, and owed him more than he could ever repay.

But he could at least do that much. For the sake of his friend, Dirk would be the person Koji believed he could be. A hero. He made a vow, that no one else would die to this Holy Grail War. And if he could help it, that no one else would die, whenever he could stop it.

In the end, Dirk was not the victor, and could not make his wish. But his final battle was not over the Grail. That discussion, between he and his most powerful foe and equal, Clay Marks, had not been decided with magecraft or with blades, but with words. He parted on good terms with Sir Bors, who was at the least happy to see that Dirk had the capacity, after all, to be like that shining knight he once knew. His last battle was alongside Clay, and the one called Rider, who would soon be forgotten, against an enemy that none of them could conquer alone.

When the War ended, he left Fuyuki City behind. Mira, his mother, decided to move back to America. Although she was not a magus herself, she possessed a great talent for teaching, and would be useful to the Association there in a branch dedicated to bringing the rebellious, untrained magi there into an organized and kind setting, to teach them to control their abilities and benefit society instead of bringing harm to it and themselves. Dirk lingered for some time, striking up something of a mutual partnership with a fellow Master, Mordecai. Dirk was taught much of healing magecraft, which with his eyes he proved nearly prodigious at. There are some who even claim that he mastered a level of magecraft higher than most ever reach during this time. That he acquired a Reality Marble. Whether this is true or not, he departed Fuyuki before the year of 2013 had ended, his partner winding up in jail after willingly taking the fall for the damage caused in the War.

He traveled far and wide after that, serving as best he could to be the hero that Koji had once imagined. He traveled alone for some time, but those who know his name say that he now has a student, a girl barely his junior with a fiery spirit and talent to rival his own. And what's more, they say, he has a mentor now.

Dirk Orihara, pupil of the strange magus with red hair.