1stknight | PSL (closed)

Not really, but wouldn't you get curious why a sickly looking man was walking around with dead chickens stuffed in his clothes?

[Indeed, one must wonder how the Clock Tower was related to the Order of the Clock Tower.

The passport, now safe in its previous container, was slipped back in Dazai's coat pocket.

Bedivere's plan was sound, too. Always a pleasure to work with someone who used their head before reaching for their sword. Mind, whatever else they could offer to another party could be hammered out once they had a better idea of who the other participants were, and the advantage of home territory might not mean much in this conflict. For now-]

Not a bad idea. Just be forewarned that one of my colleagues will see through you in less than a minute, and I'll probably have to give my boss a brief overview of the situation. The Agency's rather invested in keeping this city safe, you see, and we've run into a fair number of conflicts this year.

What would you like to be called, Sir Knight?

As to be expected of a group of detectives. But if they are trustworthy, then we can tell them the truth. Outside of that...hmmm...

[Bedivere tapped his chin thoughtfully with his left hand as he considered his options. He did have a fake name he had used in the past, but that was tied into his legend, and someone else could possibly figure out his identity from it. Something new was a safer bet. But what to choose, what to choose...]

...Ellis would be a good false name, I think. It's a softer name, and not likely to draw too much attention.

[With that decided, Bedivere pulled his hand away from his face and bowed his head to Dazai.]

If it is your wish to protect this city from being harmed by the grail war, then I will help you fulfill it. I would like to keep casualties to a minimum as well.

Shall we go meet your fellow detectives, then? I can go into spirit form for now, until we collect adequate clothing for me.

'Ellis,' it is.

[There was a shade of approval in Dazai's eyes when Bedivere made that promise, for all that it wasn't necessarily what he might wish from the Grail. Returning to this ghost of a building reminded him of one other possibility, best kept out of his mind until he could have a moment to himself and let all this sink in. Dwell on what might be and its consequences.

...Odasaku might like Bedivere. As he would with Atsushi.

With a clap, he stood up from the crate and dusted off his coat.]

Meeting them could wait until the morning. [It was after hours, and while both Fukuzawa and Kunikida were probably still there... hmm. That might make things smoother in the morning, and Dazai bid a mournful goodbye to his evening drink.] Most of them, at least.

If you don't mind borrowing some old clothes for now, we can go for dinner first.

I don't mind borrowing something, but will it fit me?

[It was an important question, because Bedivere had Dazai solidly beaten in both height and body bulk. There was a 21 kg difference between the two of them, and while 10 of those kilograms were just arm-weight, the rest was still very much present on Bedivere's body. That cloak and armor hid a guy who had muscles to match the knight lifestyle. So it was something to consider, at least.

Though he could also demonstrate it later by trying to wear Dazai's clothes. That was possible (and humorous too).]

You don't have to worry about feeding me, though. I get all of my energy from you, so if anything you're the one who needs to stay well-fed. Anything I consume would be for enjoyment purposes only.

We'll just have to find out, won't we?

[This was the reply he settled for, instead of commenting on the height of whom it was originally made for. At some point, Bedivere might even see that person - memories flitted through the Master-Servant bond through dreams, though Dazai was still unaware of this.

Now, being told that he was also an energy source gave Dazai some pause, which he shrugged off with a wave. Alcohol also served as fuel, right? Right?]

Oh, but I insist! Sampling the local cuisine's a must if you want to blend in. What's the point of finding yourself in a new era if you can't even enjoy such simple pleasures?

[Their trip back to the dorms might be a long one when both that other building and this forest were at the edges of the city. That was fine. Shame that they might not be able to talk on the subway, unless this whole deal came with some sort of telepathy.]

Ahh, well...if Master insists, then.

[He wasn't going to deny eating to the point of forcing Dazai to use a command seal. No, that would be stupid. He could voice his opinions once, and then go along with what Dazai wanted anyway. Bedivere was an agreeable person like that, most of the time. If Dazai wanted to spend his money feeding him, he would go along with it. He did like food, after all. Who didn't?

The train ride back to the dorms was indeed a quiet one, though. If there were any kind of telepathic connection, Bedivere seemed intent on staying quiet for the time being. But even so, he was keeping an eye on everything around them, taking in the sights of the city. He really wanted to go see the tall buildings in person, but he would have to be patient. Later, after a disguise was assembled. He needed to be patient for now.

But as Dazai neared the dorms, he would see Atsushi outside, sweeping the path in front of his door. Atsushi looked up when he heard the footsteps approaching, and he smiled as he waved to Dazai.]

I'm glad you made it back, Dazai-san. I was considering calling you to see if you needed help.

[Aha, none of that! Bedivere just earned himself a head shake, a finger waggle, and egregious French.]

Non non non, it's Dazai. Say it with me: 'Da-za-i!'

[Bedivere's invisibility meant it was almost easy to forget he was there at all, giving Dazai time to collect himself on the way back to the dorms. He was careful to keep his right hand in his pocket at all times, using his left to hold on to the rail instead.

There should be a way to bandage his right hand without affecting his mobility, right? He could test it out while Bedivere got changed, and fix up his left hand for symmetry.

Now, seeing Atsushi cleaning outside his dorm wasn't anything special, but at this time? Dazai looked out at the darkening sky meaningfully before shifting back to Atsushi.]

What a good kouhai you are, Atsushi-kun. But no, I simply took a longer way back.

Isn't it a little late for housekeeping?

[Would he have to attempt picking the lock of his own door using his left hand if this conversation took too long? Because his keys were in his right hand pocket. Or he could do some other exaggerated motion as a distraction. Hmm.]

['Da-za-i', Bedivere had repeated at that time, an amused smile on his face. The French accent was horrendous to his ears, but somehow that made it endearing. Dazai was going to be a good master, Bedivere could tell. And getting along with a master made being a servant easier.

Atsushi, meanwhile, shrunk back a bit at that question. Dazai wasn't wrong, it was indeed late for any housekeeping. Really, Atsushi should have been getting ready for bed. He slept far longer than most in the Agency, and going to bed early was a key part of that. So he definitely had an ulterior motive for staying up so late.]

Ah- well- I-I just didn't get to it earlier? It's not like I stayed out here to watch for you or anything. Sweeping needed to be done today, so I'm just getting to it now.

[He was far, far too obvious. But at least his worrying was out of genuine concern for Dazai and not for any ulterior motives?]

Oh?

[What an obvious lie. Drawing close, Dazai sat on his haunches, dragged his left index finger on the floor, and held it close to his face.]

I'd say mission accomplished then! No one's missing a limb, and if the floor gets any cleaner, we might just be able to see through it.

[Here, he pointed at Atsushi, presenting his fingertip.]

Here. [Have a very innocent smile.] Unless you wanted to check with your tongue?

[Something something floors polished well enough to eat off them.]

[Well, that might have been the saying. But Atsushi saw that invitation as an invitation to lick Dazai and boy howdy did that make his voice pitch upward when he finally spoke.]

Th-that won't be necessary! Have a good night!

[Atsushi promptly turned to go back into his apartment. Within 2 steps, though, he ran face-first into one of the support beams for the balcony above his apartment, earning a 'gah!' from him and a dropped broom. Then he covered his face with his hand as he bolted into his apartment and slammed the door shut.

The broom remained on the ground.]

[Oh my Atsushi, what a vivid imagination you have.

The wording of that suggestion may or may not have been intentional. Not that Dazai could complain about seeing the entertaining results.

Snickering, he stood up, fished his keys from his pocket, and finally got into his room.]

You can show yourself now.

[He'd retrieve an unopened roll of bandages and a set of clothing from his room: a dark pinstriped shirt and gray trousers. The set, he'd toss to Bedivere before jerking his thumb to a door on the left.]

Bathroom's over there. You might want to take off the metal plating out here, the space is too cramped for it.

[It seemed as though Bedivere may have been listening in, or at least he could sense when Dazai wanted him to come back. Because as soon as Dazai said those words, Bedivere seemed to pop into existence right next to Dazai. In reality he had just been incorporeal before and made himself visible, but he didn't expect Dazai to know he had been right by Dazai's side the whole time.

The clothes were acceptable, and Bedivere nodded before reaching down to unclip his armor and slide it off. Several layers of clothing came off too, leaving Bedivere in only his green pants and an off-white undershirt, with a belt tied around his waist. It did feel odd, to be out of his clothes and armor, but if he needed to go undercover then he needed to dress appropriately. At least his usual outfit could be summoned back on via magic, instead of needing all the time to put it back on manually.]

Thank you, Mas- Dazai.

[He caught himself that time at least.

But as he picked up the clothes left out for him, he noticed the bandages. That was when Bedivere became acutely aware of all the bandages that covered Dazai's body. Other than his hands and face, everything was cloaked in that white fabric. Huh. Had he always been like that?]

Are you injured?

[Well, no, Dazai hadn't expected that Bedivere was actually beside him, but it was reasonable to think he'd be around and within earshot. Much like an invisible bodyguard, come to think of it.

(The way Bedivere caught himself mid-title, by the way, earned him an approving smile.)

By the time his guest stepped out of the bathroom, Dazai would be in the middle of fixing up his left hand, having finished his right. It wasn't much, just two layers of gauze going between his thumb and index finger down to just above his wrist knuckle, leaving the edges of the seal still visible, but at least it didn't impede his general mobility. Maybe a gauze pad would be better - more coverage, less bandage.]

No, simply hiding my new fancy body art. It's too conspicuous.

[Now, he looked up at Bedivere to study how the clothes fit him and whistled. Just a little taller than Odasaku had been, then.

That's where the similarities ended, more or less. The two of them had very different charms.]

Well, that's a change from white and green. Comfortable?

[Bedivere did fill out the clothes nicely, surprisingly enough. It was hard to tell under the armor and all the layers, but he was fairly muscular and toned, especially in his arms and chest. he did cover up completely, buttoning the shirt all the way to the top button, but the shirt was still fit well enough to show that he wasn't nearly as twiggy as Dazai was. He was still barefoot, though, and would need shoes to go outside. Unless Dazai wanted him to tromp around in his boots.

At Dazai's explanation, he hummed thoughtfully. That explained the new bandages on the hand, but those weren't the bandages he had been commenting on. But for the moment at least, he decided to leave the question of the bandages be. Perhaps his master truly was injured and just didn't want to talk about it. Bedivere could respect that, as long as Dazai took care of any injuries he had.]

I must admit, I feel a bit underdressed. This is what I would sleep in, were I back in the times when I was alive. Is it really alright to go out in something like this?

[Did they even have the same shoe size? Dazai hummed thoughtfully before retrieving socks and two pairs of shoes - one his own, and the other Odasaku's size. These, he passed on.]

Yes. Certain types of vests and whatnot exist for protection against modern weapons, but only the military and those expecting an attack wear those on a regular basis. They're not necessarily effective against abilities... or perhaps even magic, for that matter.

[No one talked about his bandages, Bedivere. Perhaps it might stay that way unless someone got up close and personal at some point in this conflict.]

[We're going to say Odasaku's shoes fit him so that he's not a barefoot weirdo when they go out in public. Socks and shoes on, and he is mostly good to go!]

The climate must be mild here, if people do not get cold wearing something like this. But thank you for the clothes, Dazai. This will make traveling in the city much easier.

[With that said, he lifted up his right hand and flexed it a bit. The metal arm moved just fine within the shirt, it didn't pinch the fabric or anything. But the silvery hand was still visible, and that was no good.]

Do you have any gloves? Covering this hand may be wise, I don't think many people in this city have hands made out of metal.

[That kind of underdressed, huh.]

Glad to hear it.

Yokohama's a port town, so it's more humid. It doesn't snow much either during the winter.

[Speaking of which, those where the kinds of gloves Dazai brought out - black and cozy. Not that Bedivere's metal hand would get sweaty.]

Here. If those don't fit, I hope you don't mind gauze.

[Later, he'd have to brush up on Bedivere's history in case the loss of the guy's original arm wasn't a pleasant topic. It likely wasn't.

In any case, Dazai would head to the door again if they were done. The second set of shoes, he'd leave by the step near the door.]

Mind doing your vanishing act again until we're past the gate? This property is owned by the Agency, and my neighbors - including Atsushi-kun, the one you might've seen earlier - are all my colleagues.

[I actually had to google it to be sure, but yes, he was one-armed in his legends too. It was lost in one of the many battles that the Round Table took place in, and Bedivere became accustomed to fighting one-armed after that. The legends most definitely did not mention a magical silver arm, though. That would be the first clue that there was something different about this Bedivere.

One of the pairs of black gloves fit, and Bedivere slipped it on and flexed his fingers a bit. They weren't at risk of ripping, which was good, because Bedivere had definitely ripped cloth before with his silver arm.]

And it wouldn't do to have them see me, yes? At least, not until you have established our working alliance with them.

[Even if his way of describing it was odd and dated, he seemed to understand what Dazai was going for. So with a nod, he went into spirit form again.

Interestingly enough, his armor and clothes seemed to disappear when he did too.]

[Whereas Airgetlám was from Irish myth, an epithet of Nuada, who received a silver arm to replace the one he lost in battle. Perhaps this was one more layer of misdirection that they could use, once Dazai looked it up.]

Yep.

[Bedivere's descriptions weren't that outdated as far as Dazai was concerned. After all, those were the terms he himself used when discussing negotiation.

The disappearing armor passed without comment, though Dazai made a thoughtful hum as he stepped out and locked the door behind him. Before stepping away, he also spared a glance at Atsushi's door - right, that kid did have incredibly sharp hearing, was he distracted enough to not notice that second voice? Whatever the case, Dazai hummed as he made his way off the corridor, down the stairs and past the yard before gesturing to the air beside him. It was safe to reappear again here as they passed by the telephone pole.]

Let's see. What sort of dishes were you used to having?

[He'd find the opposite of that on the menu in the name of broadening horizons.]

[That was indeed a good idea. Though with Bedivere's Noble Phantasm being Airgetlám anyway, it might not provide too much of a benefit. Their enemies could still find a way to counter the arm's strength. Though not knowing that it's a reforged holy sword could be a benefit as well, nobody would have expected the holy power of Excalibur to be used on the battlefield, not without a King of Kings summoned.

Then again, Bedivere was a saberface, so that might still cause problems.

If Atsushi noticed anything about Dazai's conversation or the way he left his apartment, he didn't step out to say anything. Indeed, it was as if he was pretending to not be there at all. Or asleep. Or something. Dazai might want to talk to Kyouka later to find out about Atsushi's escapades that night.

But still, once it was safe once more, Bedivere was visible again. Hopefully nobody noticed him suddenly appearing like that.]

In my travels I have eaten a variety of foods, but if you mean what I am used to eating that would be stews and roasted meats and breads. Mutton is rather tasty, actually. But I'm a visitor here, and I'm not unwilling to try new things.

[Dazai would catch up with Kyouka, yes. To begin with, he hadn't been on any serious assignments on that day, and this wasn't the first time he'd gone back to the dorms late. It would be good to know if they ran into trouble earlier.

No one probably noticed. Bedivere was in dark clothing, and the shadows were longer this late. One might assume he was hidden behind the pole and they hadn't noticed.]

In that case, I'll have you try something lighter on the palette.

[He led them to a nearby restaurant. Incidentally, it was the same one Dazai had brought Atsushi to on their first meeting. He ordered a bowl of chazuke for Bedivere and salmon for himself, but passed the menu to his guest for him to look at. It had a few pictures, so the language barrier... hmm. He really must've had a lot on his mind today, if something so obvious slipped his attention.]

There are places here that also offer the cuisine that you're used to, but I'll be skipping most of them.

What do you think of this era so far?

[It was a good choice, honestly. Bedivere may have said he was open to anything, but Japanese food was very different from old English food. He wouldn't have gotten ill from anything he ate, but the flavor was indeed an issue. Especially since Bedivere was only eating for the flavor.

The language barrier, on the other hand, was a strange one. Obviously he was conversing with Dazai just fine, and he seemed to be considering the menu closely. But at the same time, there was no way a man from 1500s England should have known Japanese. So that was certainly strange. And Bedivere didn't explain, not if he wasn't asked about it.]

I will trust your judgement there.

[What did he think of that era, though. That certainly was the question of the day. He had seen so much already, and he was sure his previous astonishment at everything had been a solid tell of what he thought. But if Dazai was asking, he would explain it.]

It's certainly fascinating. I haven't seen anything like this before. The buildings are so tall, how did humanity manage something like that?

[Huh. Judging by the lack of blank staring, he could read modern Japanese, too. Wonder of wonders.]

The answer, my dear Ellis, is plain old technological advancement.

Believe it or not, the buildings from your time and the others preceding it are the true marvels. There's a whole field of study dedicated to finding out just how those castles and pyramids were built, and a whole slew of conspiracy theories to entertain the ungrounded imagination.

Apart from that, what else do you know about this time? I'm sure zippers can't be that old, unless there's something they haven't dug up yet.

I actually know about zippers. This...well. This may be my first time in the modern world, but it's not my first time meeting people from a modern world.

[His thoughts flashed back to that sandy desert, where Camelot loomed threateningly, and one Master and their two lovely servants were the first ones to stand up and go 'this isn't right'.

Oh, how he missed them. Though he probably wouldn't be so lucky as to see them now, maybe again in the future he would be able to.]

I know it is a world run on electricity rather than magic, though I suspect magic had some part in the creation of this modern time. And rather than fearing beasts from the woods, the terrors come from other people.

[Talk about unexpected.]

What, you came across time travelers? Do tell.

[Bedivere didn't look like he was pulling a leg here, either.

That description on fearing other people in modernity, though, made Dazai lift an eyebrow.]

True, most of us won't run into wildlife any time soon, but I somehow doubt mercenaries, bandits and the like didn't exist back then.

[He wasn't just being cynical. The Art of War that a certain mafia boss loved quoting included historical examples, and Dazai's passing familiarity with the Crusades was limited to how it was ultimately used for profit.

Before they could continue, however, their food had arrived. Dazai picked up his chopsticks but made no move to eat, gesturing at Bedivere to taste the chazuke first.]

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*palate, not palette fffffff

his tongue is totally full of paint

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