PSL (closed)

[1stknight]

[Honestly, being summoned was quite the surprise to Bedivere. Being a saber, he knew he was at a disadvantage. After all, there were so many more sabers even just from the Round Table who were much more famous, so surely they would have been summoned over him. In fact, he was sure it had happened countless times before. That one master he had met, the one from Chaldea, they had spoken of singularities and grail wars to span several worlds and timelines. And with so many fine Sabers to choose from, he was sure that he hadn't ever been summoned before. The short time between the 'creation of his legend' and 'now' notwithstanding.

It made him feel a touch inadequate, if he was being truthful. After all, he was a simple knight. The master who had summoned him, he deserved better than someone like him. But if he was the one who was summoned, then he would fulfill his duty to this new master. Nothing would be done in half-steps, never again.

So as his form solidified in the summoning circle, Bedivere offered his new master a warm smile. Once again, his life was sworn to someone else's. Whatever his master wished for, Bedivere would help him achieve it.]

Saber, Bedivere. I am honored to be summoned by you. From now on, I shall be your Servant.

['I am honored to be summoned at all' was the truth, but he didn't speak that.

Then he paused, and he took a survey of the situation. The summoning circle was expertly made, but this man in front of him...well. He didn't look like a mage. He looked like a normal person. Perhaps it was a disguise? Or maybe there was more to this situation than he could see immediately. He would have to wait for his new master to respond in order to find out more.]

Comments

[neverwashere]

[Welp. And Dazai would default to his usual by playing the shameless bastard. Maybe once all was said and done though, all this would be different in hindsight.]

Were they swallows?

[1stknight]

No, they were quite tall, even taller than a human. They couldn't fly, but they could run fast.

[Ostriches. He meant ostriches.]

There were monkeys there too, but they didn't seem very nice. The birds, at least, didn't try to cause trouble.

[neverwashere]

[Ah. The 'running' gave it away. Where on earth Bedivere encountered one, he had to wonder.]

Oh, I don't know. I think your tall birds could match a monkey's meanness if sufficiently provoke. They have quite the kick, supposedly.

Speaking of birds - have you encountered penguins before?

[1stknight]

Penguins?

[No, he hadn't. The antarctic was one place he never went in his journeys.]

What are those?

[neverwashere]

[He brightened - this one would be fun to explain.]

Flightless birds that don't look like birds and more like, oh, beaked tuxedo-patterned creatures with long flappy arms.

They swim, too! In very cold waters way down south.

[1stknight]

[There was a long, long pause, while Bedivere's mind processed that information.

Then, Bedivere grabbed onto Dazai's arm.]

We must go see them. Immediately.

[neverwashere]

[He couldn't help but laugh as he let himself be dragged along - that earnestness was cute! Watching Bedivere react to the animals was going to be great, and he made a mental note to introduce the knight to cat videos later.

(RIP his phone battery)]

As you wish.

[And thus he also planned to bring Bedivere to the aquarium next week, if, well. The both of them were still around. Because Bedivere would absolutely love walking through a tunnel and seeing all sorts of sealife above and around him.

Depressing thoughts aside, it was easy to get in the zoo that morning, and there were a lot of kids around as expected.]

Penguins first? [He glanced at the pamphlet he got from the entrance.] Oh, and they have cranes and flamingos.

[1stknight]

I have seen cranes before, they're very beautiful. And I am guessing flamingos are another bird?

[Though Bedivere has only seen some species of cranes, and the ones from the savanna that hung out with the flamingos would be a sight to see. In fact, as soon as they started walking by the exhibit (which was on the way to the penguin exhibit), Bedivere caught sight of them and let out a small gasp.]

What are those? They're pink!

[neverwashere]

Those are flamingoes.

[He twisted his wrist so he was now holding Bedivere's instead, and he walked them over.]

Great, aren't they? In comparison, though, cranes are majestic.

[Why yes, he was biased.]

[1stknight]

[Time to let Dazai hold his wrist while they walked over! He was too caught up in the awe of seeing those birds to really care about the change though. He was practically leaning over the fence to get a better look at those birds once they were close enough.]

Agreed. Flamingos are interesting-looking, but cranes are more beautiful.

[neverwashere]

[While Bedivere was bird watching, Dazai set about to Bedivere watching. That straw hat was great on him, and the brim's shade didn't obscure how Bedivere's eyes seemed to sparkle.]

Regal, even.

We have a story about them, too, where a farmer saves a crane from hunters. The crane then disguises herself as a beautiful woman who, claiming to be the farmer's wife, weaves him a luxurious robe to sell at the market, thus improving the farmer's fortunes.

[1stknight]

Ah? But how could the farmer sell such a wonderful gift? Surely the farmer would treasure something his wife makes for him, yes?

[Bedivere may have been missing the point of the story, but he was being honest there at least. He couldn't imagine giving away something personally made like that.]

[neverwashere]

I'm sure he would have, had his wife not asked him to sell the clothes.

[It said something about Bedivere, though, that this was his first thought.

As it was, Dazai was content to leave Bedivere with the illusion that this was all there was to the story: the wife had disappeared at the end, after the farmer broke his promise to not look into her room for a period of time and discovered that she was the crane, and Dazai wasn't in the mood to mention farewells.


Instead, he guided Bedivere further down the path - they'd get to pass by cranes on the way to the penguins.]

[1stknight]

[It might be best not to spoil his mental image of how the story ends, yeah. Bedivere preferred stories with a happy ending.

The cranes were as majestic as he had imagined they would be, though he did insist on staying for a minute to watch them. But there were a few buildings up ahead: the penguin house, the apiary, and the reptile house.]

Oh? Why are those all enclosed?

[neverwashere]

It depends on the animal in question.

The obvious one is to keep predators from indulging in their natural instinct to hunt. Some of the other creatures, like penguins, are more suited for a particular habitat, and their enclosure is modeled after that. Then others are classified as endangered species - for one reason or the other, their numbers have dwindled to the point that they're almost extinct.

Being bred in captivity, as you can imagine, may have an effect on those animals' capacity to survive elsewhere. Nevertheless, it's one way for humans to try and make up for the consequences of the wanton pillaging of natural resources.

[1stknight]

[What Dazai said, it made sense. And it was nice that humans thought of those things and treated the animals well. But at the same time, it reminded Bedivere that these animals were affected by humans, and that they wouldn't have to live in these zoos if not for what humans had done to the environment. It caused conflicting thoughts in him, which he disliked.

But Bedivere's hopeful side won out, and he chose to believe that the humans in charge of the zoo, at least, really were doing this to help the animals.]

I suppose it is kind of them, then, to help even animals in need.

[Time to go see PENGUINS! And since they're indoors, that means one wall of the enclosure is glass so everyone can see the penguins swimming underwater. That was the part Bedivere was most fascinated with, and he had his face pressed up against the glass as he watched the penguins swim by.]

[neverwashere]

[Dazai simply nodded - it was interesting to see Bedivere focus on that aspect, precisely because he wasn't wilfully naive. If there was a champion for humanity or some such title that was selected based on merit and character, he was pretty sure Bedivere would qualify - and the certainty he felt with that thought was surprising in and of itself.]

They eat fish. [He still felt off-kilter as he watched Bedivere watch the penguins with the kind of bright fascination that did funny things to Dazai's heart.] You would've needed a ship to go south... ah, before, and the journey has its fair share of perils. Think of their birthplace as a land of perpetual winter, isolated from the rest of humanity.

[1stknight]

That's amazing! Of all the places I have traveled to, I have never seen a land of perpetual winter. Such a thought would have been fantastical, until recently.

[He became aware of how much space he was taking up, though, when he saw a bunch of kids trying to crowd around the glass too. Looking a bit embarrassed, Bedivere stepped back over by Dazai to give the kids room to see.]

Let's go see the other building, then.

[Mostly because he wanted to escape the parents staring at him.

They were in for a treat at the reptile house, though. One of the zookeepers had a chameleon out of the exhibit and was demonstrating how they could change their color and pattern. That was another moment where Bedivere forgot himself and went right up to see the strange-looking creature, and he audibly gasped as he watched it change from green to orange, to match a posterboard set up right by it.]

[neverwashere]

[Dazai's smile looked just a little too bright - that was some contest for viewing space! Other people clearly needed to mind their own business, because Bedivere appreciating the penguins wasn't harmful for anyone.]

Very well.

[By the way, he took a stealth photo of that reaction to the chameleon. Dazai had been too distracted earlier, and now was the time to make up for it.]

Clever aren't they?

[Ah, but if the zookeeper had taken the chameleon out - Dazai approached the guy after he finished explaining things about the chameleon. Was petting the reptile allowed? Because this was his date's first time seeing a chameleon in person, and he absolutely adored them.]

[1stknight]

[Dazai was right, too: Bedivere absolutely adored the chameleon, and he spent far too much time watching the thing stand there on a stick and just exist. It didn't move fast, but the way its little strange feet grasped the stick and slowly moved it around was absolutely fascinating. And the way it changed color, he had never seen anything like it before. He would assume it was some kind of magic if he didn't already know the modern world was very lacking when it came to magic. A trained mage wouldn't waste time changing the colors of lizards.

The zookeeper saw Bedivere's reactions, and when Dazai asked, he allowed it. He picked up the chameleon and let it hang onto his arm, that way he could grab it if it got spooked and ran off or something. But the chameleon was remarkably well-behaved and didn't mind having Bedivere touch its back.]

It's so rough-skinned! It truly is like a small dragon.

[The zookeeper got a chuckle out of that, but Bedivere did not sound like he was joking. He may have actually met a dragon before.]

[neverwashere]

Mm-hmm!

[Dazai didn't doubt Bedivere's seen a dragon before. After all, dragons were part of King Arthur's myth, and Merlin exists as an actual mage.]

Without the hazards of, oh, fire-breathing and flying around. [The zookeeper already mentioned that chameleons ate insects, so. And here, Dazai snapped another photo.] Some people keep them as pets, too.

[1stknight]

You can keep these as pets?

[The zookeeper was quick to say that they required special licenses, and that Bedivere would have to learn how to take care of one before he would be allowed to keep one. But even with that in mind, Bedivere was already imagining himself with a chameleon friend hanging around with him.

'After the Grail War,' he silently told himself, 'If you win and get your wish, you will have plenty of time for a companion like this.'

The zookeeper also helpfully pointed out that the gift shop at the zoo had a book on chameleons in it, if Bedivere wanted to learn more. Guess what Bedivere was going to ask for as soon as they found the gift shop.]

[neverwashere]

[Dazai could guess pretty well, and he'd happily gift the book to Bedivere. If this, too, doubled as something to motivate Bedivere to win the grail war and not vanish prematurely, that was fine.

Ah, but if they were done with Mr. Chameleon for now, he'd give the zookeeper a grateful smile .]

There are still plenty of exhibits for us to check out, Ellis, but we can go back here before leaving. How does that sound?

[1stknight]

Ah, yes, I do like the sound of that.

[Even if chameleons were now his favorite, he still wanted to see the other animals too.

Some he was familiar with, but hadn't actually seen in person before. Elephants were one, as he had only ever seen them at a distance, and he couldn't believe how big they were in person. Giraffes were another surprise, as were kangaroos. Bedivere actually let out a delighted noise when he saw a baby kangaroo poke its head out of its mother's pouch, though a moment later he coughed and looked away in embarrassment.

When they came to an exhibit with mountain goats, though, he had a lot to say.]

Oh! These are similar to the ones we kept on farms. Their horns are much larger though, they must be a wild variety. I can't imagine keeping them would be easy.

[neverwashere]

[Thus did Dazai's photo collection grow. As did the need to stifle his own laughter, because Bedivere's reaction to the joey was too cute.

All this mountain goat trivia, though - Dazai listened carefully, curious to see if he could glean anything about Bedivere's past life from it.]

I imagine those who keep them as part of their traditions have been taught well! Not so much as the people who first started it.

They were raised for milk, cheese, and meat, I presume?