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]

Only that their servant's powerful, if she wants Kyouka-chan out of Yokohama.

[As for that - he had passed on the message to Fukuzawa.]

The catalyst you found's old, too. Figures that Q would get matched with a troublesome guy.

You can't miss the kid at all, by the way. Hair's half and half - dark brown and white, split down the middle. Wears a tiny hat with a white bow, usually carries a doll.

If his Ability activates, I need to get to that doll to break the curse.

[1stknight]

[Message received, Dazai. Fukuzawa had arranged for Kenji and Kyouka to go to the countryside for a day or two to 'help with planting'. They would be well out of the way during the fight with Q.]

He sounds like an interesting character. What does his Ability do?

[Bedivere wanted to have all of the information possible, just in case something happened.]

[neverwashere]

[Ah, good. Hopefully Kouyou won't be as pissed at him when he drops by later, like she told him not to.]

Casts a special type of hypnosis on those who wound him. That person will hallucinate terrible things, causing them to be unaware that they're physically attacking others in reality.

Unfortunately for us, Q has his ways of inducing others to harm him: when he's out on orders, he has barbed wire wrapped around his hand and arm. Anyone taking his arm won't notice until they've already touched him.

[Here, he paused. Dazai knew he previously mentioned how young Q was. Ok there, Bedivere?]

[1stknight]

[Bedivere was not okay, Q was too young for that kind of thing. He did look a little horrified at the description too.]

Where in the world did he get THAT idea? Children as young as him don't suddenly come up with nefarious plans like that on their own.

[neverwashere]

He came up with it himself after asking why there was barbed wire coiled around certain gates.

[This was them in the middle of intensive testing for Q's abilities. The boy's mental health wasn't too great even before he was scouted for the mafia, and the additional pressure only solidified his creepy child status.]

This was when it was made clear to him that he wouldn't be able to go out and... play if he couldn't find a way to trigger his Ability without rousing suspicion.

[1stknight]

...

[Bedivere was quiet for a moment, but he looked distraught. That sounded messed up in so many ways, and his heart twinged in pity for someone so young. Even if he hadn't met that boy yet, he still felt bad for him.]

It would be best not to attack that boy, then, and instead focus on his servant.

[He wouldn't fight a child anyway, unless the child was trying to kill him. But this situation- both the ability, and the person involved- made him even more sure of that.]

[neverwashere]

And if Q gets involved?

[Just being realistic here.]

He probably won't do so at the beginning, but that boy will not want to lose.

I'd knock him out if I can even get close, but he'll have been coached to expect that and prepare countermeasures.

[1stknight]

If he gets involved, then you will need to intervene.

[Bedivere may have been an average servant, but even 'average' was dangerous to humans. If something happened to him and he lost control of himself, he would need Dazai to fix him up.]

I'm sorry to put that on you, Master. But I'm a straightforward fighter, I have no way to deal with an ability like his. Other than by knocking him out.

[neverwashere]

That's fine.

[Not like he wasn't used to it.]

Might as well sit on Q and try to get the full story from him if he's in a chatty mood.

Hopefully Mori-san doesn't send a squad with the kid. It never ends well for those guys.

[1stknight]

A squad wouldn't be needed, if he has a servant and that ability.

[Well. Time to drag himself out of bed and put his arm back on. He looked down to the fastenings as he kept talking.]

The worry is if he has a servant who synchronizes well with that ability of his. That could shut us down entirely.

[neverwashere]

Then let's hope Mori-san takes that reasoning instead of thinking that someone else needs to keep me in check.

[Even if Mori didn't want to kill him, the man could come up with plenty of ways to inconvenience Dazai. Bummer.]

What sort of synchronicity are you thinking of?

[It's a valid point. Although it was a bit impractical to speculate too much (too many possibilities for an Assassin or Berserker from the Mediterranean that wore leather), Dazai still asked as a way of getting to know how Bedivere strategized for encounters.]

[1stknight]

Noble Phantasms aren't limited to a weapon, like mine is. The only limit is what that person's legends are.

For example, Robin Hood is a famed thief who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. He hid in the forest, and consequently, his Noble Phantasm allows him to summon entire trees. Think of how devastating it could be if that young boy were to combine his ability with that of growing trees everywhere.

[Little did Bedivere know, Q had been forced to do something like that not too long ago. But that would help paint a good picture for Dazai.]

[neverwashere]

[Dazai, very carefully, didn't react. Yeah he remembered that horror show.]

I can imagine.

Speaking of legends - how relevant is a Servant's original cause of death? Like how Achilles' vulnerable spot is his ankle, or how Theseus fell off a cliff. [Pushed or otherwise.] Does that carry over?

[1stknight]

Thankfully, not that much.

[Not that his death was particularly violent, but the battle for Camelot had been long and he wasn't so keen on dying of exhaustion again.]

Though weaknesses, like with Achilles, likely would. Ah, if you are worried about my weaknesses though, you are fortunate. Many know of my time with the Round Table, but not of my travels after. So those weaknesses are a well-kept secret.

[neverwashere]

No offense, but even your history is hard to trace. I believe most still know you as having only one arm instead of having a silver one.

[He glanced at the arm not attached to Bedivere's shoulder. It was pretty conspicuous in Dazai's room.]

What kind of person can read those letters, by the way, and will it be a problem if they do?

[1stknight]

All the better, then.

[He saw that glance, and he nodded. Time to put that thing on, enjoy some shirtlessness while he worked.]

Anyone from my time would be able to read them, but fortunately most of the Round Table is comprised of Sabers. The Lancer could be troublesome- my King has been summoned as a Lancer before, as has Lancelot- but other than that we should be fine. And even if they could read it, that would trace the arm back to Merlin, not me specifically.

[neverwashere]

[The shirtlessness was greatly and blatantly appreciated. In the sunlight, Dazai could see the marks he left on Bedivere, and it left him feeling like a satisfied cat.]

That's a convenient misdirection. Is Merlin known for giving out artefacts like that?

[1stknight]

[Bedivere would have to inspect the bruises and bite marks later, but he could feel them on him as he re-attached the metal arm and slipped his shirt on. They ached slightly, but it was a pleasant ache, one that left him smiling.]

Not usually, no. It was a special case for me. For one, we had known each other for many years, as he had been a member of the Round Table as well. Secondly, it was less that he gave me something, and more that he took an artefact I already had and turned it into a form I could use.

[neverwashere]

[That smile.

Dazai, very deliberately, blocked away an incoming fantasy about waking up to that expression for a month, a year, a decade. Maybe this was just his perpetual loneliness using his attraction. Logically, he knew he couldn't get too attached.]

And your Noble Phantasm doesn't match any weapons associated with the Round Table.

[Merely a statement of fact. Sort of.

Not really. This was probably stalling for time again, before he had to actually stand up and head to the shower.]

Did you get that from Nuada, then? Whatever its original form was, that is.

[1stknight]

That was the cover story we used, to disguise what the arm truly is. Given how long my travels were, nobody suspected that I may not have come across Nuada, or that this might not be the arm from legend.

[His previously content smile suddenly dipped into a sadder one, and his words turned somber as he worked on buttoning up his shirt.]

...Ah. I suppose I should start from the beginning. My apologies, Dazai, I should have told you from the start. It's just...painful to think about. But knowing the truth may become important in this Grail War, as it is a truth that nobody else here will know. And it may be used to our advantage.

I'm...Well. When a Servant is summoned, they can be summoned from any point in their life, so long as they have done heroic deeds at that point. It's why babies of heroes cannot be summoned: they haven't done anything heroic yet. But if you were to summon a powerful warrior like Alexander the great, you could summon him at any age during his time as king. His skills and Noble Phantasm would be based on whatever age he is summoned at. He would also only carry the memories of who he is at that point, though he would be aware that he could be summoned as older.

[He paused to draw in a breath and steady himself, and then:]

I am, in my current iteration as you summoned me, over 1,500 years old.

[neverwashere]

[Dazai couldn't stop a sharp inhale, his chest constricting. Bedivere had hinted having to travel for a long time to reach a particular goal, but a millennium and a half?

He couldn't even imagine it, or what sort of willpower Bedivere had to pull that off.]

But you're human.

[Nothing he learned from Bedivere himself or his own research indicated that Bedivere had magical talent or non-human blood. Slowly, he reached out to brush away the fringe of Bedivere's hair, as if seeing him anew.

He was seeing Bedivere anew.]

Is it the arm? Did you see Merlin before you started your journey?

[1stknight]

I am human, yes. But Excalibur stops a person from aging. So long as I never suffered a fatal wound, I could continue living on forever while carrying that sword.

[As Dazai reached out to brush away Bedivere's hair, Bedivere drew in a slow breath, pausing for a moment at the gentle contact. His eyes fluttered shut, but he didn't stay like that for long, because as soon as the hair was tucked away he glanced down at his silver arm, tracing the runes carved into it with his left hand's fingers.]

Three times my king told me to cast Excalibur back into the lake to return it to the Lady who had gifted it in the first place. In the legends, I only failed twice, and the third time I cast the sword into the lake and returned to my dying king.

But that legend isn't the reality. In truth, I failed three times. And when I returned a third time, still carrying Excalibur, my king was gone.

Unable to die because I had not returned Excalibur, my king was eventually healed by the goddess Rhongomyniad, since the king carried the lance bearing the same name. Then the king and Rhongomyniad left. And I, upon finding my king gone, had to journey to find her once again.

[neverwashere]

[Then the king hadn't made it to Avalon at the time her legend said she did.

More importantly, that meant Bedivere had carried regret in his heart for more than one thousand five hundred years. That mental strain had to be significant: the kind that would've given someone a heart attack from the accumulated stress, shaving off at least a decade or two from their lifespan.]

Merlin must've been quite the smith, if he managed to reform only that much metal into an entire arm.

[Both his offered smile and that attempt at humor seemed to fall short. Dazai trailed his fingers down to cup Bedivere's jaw in gentle encouragement to look at him.]

The journey you undertook afterward sounds pretty arduous. But I can tell you this: it's not inherently wrong to wish for a loved one to survive a fatal wound and keep on living.

[1stknight]

[Honestly, it was probably Excalibur that had kept Bedivere from dying of stress and grief. Fifteen hundred years was a long time to carry those regrets, and there had been so much trouble outside of that too.]

He certainly is. I do have to thank him for everything, I would have died on the shores of Avalon if not for his intervention.

[It was just like him to take the humor and turn it into genuine praise.

When his chin was tipped up, Bedivere did look to Dazai. The smile made him smile in return, but his eyes were still heavy with sadness. It was such a difficult thing to talk about, but he knew he had to do it.

Still, he reached up to cover Dazai's hand with his own.]

I do love her, very much so. She is my king, and even now as a Servant she still has my undying loyalty.

...I failed her. I disobeyed her orders, and she had to suffer for 1,500 years until I finally found her again. By the time I found her, her personality had been so eroded by Rhongomyniad's influence that she was a shell of her former self. She-

[He stopped abruptly, his voice cracking mid-sentence. He had to swallow hard to regain control of himself, though there was a bit of wetness at the corners of his eyes now too.]

Well. You saw the memories. My king was no longer my king. And I had to stop her, and the rest of the Round Table.

That is my legend, which made me eligible to be summoned as a heroic spirit. Not my time in the far past, traveling with my fellow knights, but the time when I had to stand up to all of them to fix my mistakes. And it is why Airgetlám is my Noble Phantasm, even though I never carried this silver arm during any of the legends of the past.

[1stknight]

DW WHY ARE YOU DELETING MY SHIT