1stknight | PSL (closed)

[Now that, too, would be an interesting meeting.]

What, they don't all go 'smash?'

[A half-joke, because while there were ways to deal with brute force tactics, that still depended on how well they were prepared.

Speaking of preparation -]

What happens to both Servant and Master once all three Command Seals are used up?

I know, it was surprising to me too.

[The half-joke got a half-joke in response.]

If you somehow used up all three Command Seals, the contract between Master and Servant is ended. Command Seals are a very useful tool for pulling off incredible feats during the Grail War, so it's worth saving them. Though, ah, you can also use them to force me to do any action. If you use a Command Seal, I can't disobey.

[Bedivere did look uncomfortable as he said that, though.]

Edited 2020-09-17 17:23 (UTC)

[Dazai simply nodded. Making any promises that equated to 'I won't make you do anything you don't want' was simply unrealistic: he was, for one, a known proponent of acting first, maybe apologize later.

The first part of Bedivere's answer, on the other hand, was a potential solution for something he'd wondered about for the past few hours.]

If a contract between Master and Servant has ended, does that automatically mean they're disqualified from the War? Furthermore, will they be replaced assuming that neither of them died?

The Master would be replaced, yes. If a Master in the war still has Command Seals, they could make a contract with a second servant. But the Master would need the mana necessary to sustain two Servants at once, and they would still only have one set of Command Seals.

[He paused for a moment, considering what had been said. Did Dazai have a plan in mind? Was he thinking of ways to end the Grail War without a fight? ...It wasn't for Bedivere's sake, was it?]

Ah, if you are looking for ways to keep me out of a fight, it's alright. I am a knight, after all, and I was summoned to fight. Caution is good, but some battles are unavoidable.

That's true. Moreover, a proxy war is an attractive option for those who wish to minimize the damage to their personal assets.

This isn't a large-scale conflict. On paper, the benefits in eliminating the very accessible competition on top of their proxies outweigh any disadvantages.

[He stretched his arms above his head and, placing his elbow on the table, placed his chin on his palm. Your new Master could be cut-throat, dear Knight.]

I know you'll need to draw your sword. I'm also aware that other Masters may see eliminating me directly instead of fighting you the more efficient option.

Now I'm also aware this tactic is viable for us, and there's a way to accomplish it without ultimately resulting in someone's death.

Do you get my meaning?

[This wasn't an avoidance of a fight, but a bid for at technical win.]

[he was starting to get a sense of that. And he had a feeling that things might turn brutal in the future. For now, though, Bedivere could remain impressed that Dazai had picked up on all of this so quickly. Most mages had to be taught to be so cunning. Just what kind of life had his Master lived before now?]

All the more reason to protect your identity. Though if you want to take out the competition by making them use up Command Seals, you will need to think of what to do with those Servants after the fact. Servants can recontract with someone who still has Command Seals, and most of the mages in this Grail War would jump at the chance to have two servants. You could contract with them yourself, but you may run out of mana doing that. Or you may be unable to provide two servants with enough mana to stay active.

I should warn you now that when I fight, it will drain your mana significantly. And given that my first priority is your survival, I must advise you against contracting with another Servant, unless you void our contract first.

[Not a nice one - something that his expression might give away in the future, should someone bring up how mages weren't raised to think about human compassion.

This, too, was something Dazai learned over time: brutality wasn't the same as ruthlessness or cunning. He wasn't splitting hairs as he remembered how persistent Atsushi's brand of kindness was, or how Ranpo adapted and persisted against his own shortcomings and a certain slippery opponent.]

I did hope to isolate the pair so that the Servant could just fade away on their own, barring the Archer - you mentioned the had some form of leeway with distance, yes?

Now, as sweet as it is of you to offer me a choice of Servants, I might just decline. You can say it's a downside of being picky with whom I work with, and I very much like who I see right now.

[He drank and watched Bedivere from beneath half-lidded eyes in anticipation.]

[Bedivere actually looked a little...well, not quite shocked, but he definitely hadn't been expecting that answer. The thought that someone would actually choose to work with him at the expense of other, better choices had never crossed his mind. he had thought their pairing was a bond formed out of a last-moment switch and an inability to change it due to a lack of knowledge in magecraft. But dare he let himself hope that someone would actually choose him?]

Aaaah, you shouldn't say that until you see the other servants. You can't be picky if you don't know your choices, right?

[No, it had to be ignorance talking. Bedivere was a plain knight. He was nothing special. He didn't have a flashy noble phantasm or a personality that outshone the stars. He was just a normal man who was loyal to a fault. And once Dazai saw that, his plans would change.

Bedivere, at least, could willingly step aside if it came to that. As unsatisfactory as it would be to fade away or be sacrificed for a better contract, if Dazai asked it of him he would do it.]

[Yes, this probably was a foolish declaration when they've known each other for less than twenty-four hours, but Dazai was fairly confident with his read of Bedivere: the knight wasn't a wide-eyed brat out on his first adventure, but someone who actively chose to be kind in spite of the odds stacked against him. Call it a tickle of fancy, but if there was a type of person that Dazai was curious to see how they thrived, how they might act once they were granted with the key to all possibilities, how they might paint reality with their dreams...]

I might not know who the other Servants are, but I've seen most of the flavors humanity has to offer. [He gave his sake cup an unreadable smile as he refilled it.] If this is a fight that will allow me to grant my own wish, then I'll accomplish it in a manner that I see fit for the sake of my personal satisfaction.

[Perhaps this was his bid to find proof that goodness can be accomplished under such circumstances.]

Indulge me, Bedivere.

...alright.

[Dazai was a strange one. A Master who was not a mage, who wanted to win in his own way rather than seeking out the way mages used to win regularly. A man with a sharp mind and astute observation skills, but who presented himself as nobody to worry about. Bedivere could only begin to guess what mysteries lay inside that man's mind. Hell, he may never find them out. Grail Wars weren't known for being long, after all.

But if nothing else, Dazai didn't made Bedivere regret anything about their arrangements. And that was a step in the right direction.]

If that is what you want, then I will indulge you.

[They were bound to share some interesting dream-memories that night. Something about Dazai's presence made Bedivere feel vaguely homesick.]

Wonderful.

[Satisfied, Dazai downed his last shot for the evening with a hum.

After a quick shower and getting dressed for bed, he let Bedivere have the couch. If sleep wasn't a thing for Servants, Dazai had a few books scattered about: most of them were novels and short story compilations, with the occasional essay collection.

As for Dazai himself, well. It'd take him some time to doze off: he wasn't sure what was better, his old routine spent alone, or the awareness that there was someone else in the apartment with him just a door away. That was on top of breaking down what had transpired starting the afternoon, from magic circles to their visit to that abandoned banquet hall, Atsushi's strange behavior, Fukuzawa's reactions, and Bedivere's smile...

Had Dazai known that Servants and Masters were capable of passing dreams, he would've stopped his thoughts. Because on the heels of Bedivere's memories came Dazai's: an unintended rescue from floating down the river, and the echoes of a promise from an old friend.]

[Sleeping was not a thing for servants, but Bedivere did sit down politely on the couch with a book. He would at least wait until Dazai was asleep to go into spirit form.

That certainly was an interesting dream to see, though. Dazai being saved from the river by Atsushi, that certainly was a sight. Did Dazai regularly go swimming in rivers? Bedivere would have to find that out later on. For now, he was just happy to see that there were indeed people who cared about Dazai. Even if Bedivere was new to this era, he could still see the eyes Atsushi looked at Dazai with. It must have been love at first sight for that young man.

In a way, it reminded Bedivere of how he had become enamored with his King from the first day, and how swearing loyalty to him had been a great honor. The memory Dazai got from Bedivere was of the early days of the Round Table, where a young King met Bedivere and asked him to be the first knight. Bedivere had doubted himself, even back then, insisting that he was just a simple person. But the King saw something of value in him, and that made Bedivere feel welcome. There was no denying the feelings he had felt for the King, even from day 1.

Maybe Dazai would recognize those feelings, though.]

[He knew those feelings indeed, in spite of the major differences in their root. Bedivere, as far as Dazai could tell, wasn't someone who questioned the nature of morality to the point of suspicion, and the knight's emotional honesty was something Dazai struggled with.

And how could he not see the way Bedivere watched his king with such reverence? That sworn oath reminded Dazai of Odasaku's dying words, and of Atsushi's resolve at the end of a tumultuous battle. He might not have ever confessed to Odasaku and he's neither encouraged nor rebuffed Atsushi's crush on him, but - yes, he knew Bedivere's gaze and the acceptance of that longing.

(King Arthur looked very young, unlike most depictions showing a middle-aged man with a beard. Given what Bedivere mentioned about Excalibur and immortality, Dazai had to wonder.)

Waking up from his dreams was similar to floating upward in a pool: a near-weightless rise to the top as a surreal calm washed over him, a ray of sunlight escaping the gaps of his curtain and landing on his foot. Dazai blinked up at the ceiling, not in a rush to wake up.

It's been a while since he slept that deep.

If Bedivere didn't knock on the door or anything, Dazai would spend an hour in that in-between state, holding onto what he could remember of his dream, before wordlessly rolling out of his futon with the intention of heading to the kitchen to start the coffee before shuffling to the bathroom for a piss. Being on autopilot was a dead giveaway that this was a routine.]

[Actually, Bedivere did not bother Dazai at first. He wasn't even in the living room the first time Dazai walked through for coffee. By the time Dazai was slightly more awake, though, Bedivere was sitting on the couch with the book.

He looked completely refreshed and ready to go. Someone was absolutely a morning person. Though he was patient too, and he wouldn't badger Dazai until Dazai was awake enough for a conversation.

Another important fact: While Dazai was off going to the bathroom, Bedivere decided to raid the kitchen and cook Dazai some breakfast. Or...well. He was going to, but there wasn't much in the way of food Bedivere recognized. Eggs, maybe, but that was probably it. And when Dazai came back, that was when Bedivere questioned him.]

Do you not have any sausages or bread?

[Once he was done with his morning rituals and a shower, he was awake enough to not fall asleep if he stood still, but sleepy enough to stare dumbly at the new fancy decoration gracing at the back of his hand before realizing that, yes, he'd been at it for a good eight minutes and he had three other limbs that needed bandaging.

The wonders of being two years away from the necessary hypervigilance that came with being a mafia executive. Yes, two, because the time he spent in between ditching Mori and getting hired by Fukuzawa also entailed finding a secure location to get drunk out of his mind without worrying if he'd get shot, and Dazai's paranoia had an exhaustive list of what counted as 'safe.'

At least his coffee was done by the time he stepped out, the top buttons of his shirt undone while he did up his vest, bolo tie jammed in his pocket.]

Canned goods and instant noodles. Cupboard. [Mug, meet sugar and creamer. Gang, meet coffee and his friend, more coffee. Stirring the mixture incrementally was helpful in avoiding caking. He glanced at Bedivere. What was it with morning people looking so fresh this early? Did having silver hair enable them to absorb sunlight easier or something?] I usually skip breakfast. Given the circumstances, I suppose we'll have to rectify that for the time being.

[None of those foods sounded particularly good for a breakfast. Dazai, get better foods.]

You go until lunch without anything to eat? And you have the energy to do so?

[Bedivere sounded surprised. He could understand skipping meals due to a lack of food, but if one were doing that, then the meal they actually ate would be breakfast. And Dazai didn't look like he was poor, so why was he not eating? Maybe this was why he was so thin.]

[He will, for the next few days.]

I snack in-between, but that probably doesn't count.

[Watch him argue otherwise if someone like Kunikida tried to lecture him.]

Not unless a 'snack' for you is a whole meal, no.

[SIGH. His master was a difficult one.

But now that he knew his search would be fruitless, he closed the fridge.]

That can be our cover, when we are out searching for more circles today. You will need more food that actually sustains you, since you are eating for two people now.

[Oh lookit, someone who was absolutely the type Dazai would try to mooch free meals off! Except Dazai was the one who had the funds here, and Bedivere wouldn't make magical forgeries of currency even if he had the talent to.

Also, that wording. Dazai covered his mouth like a stereotypical young housewife in a gag comic.]

You make it sound like I'm pregnant.

Thinking of sheathing your sword with me so soon?

[The pregnant joke, Bedivere could have handled that. His wording had been unfortunate, and he really did deserve the ribbing for it. That question, though, that made him sputter in disbelief.

Bedivere was...well. Sex wasn't a thought that crossed his mind often. He knew of it, he knew what it was for and that most people did it, but he never really had any reason to care about sex before. It wasn't like he had been married in all 1,500 years of wandering or anything. So his mind hadn't really gone in that direction with Dazai, even though he knew their coupling was likely an inevitability as Dazai wouldn't know any of the spells to transfer mana.

But to have it joked about so openly like that, that was improper!]

Th-that isn't what I meant and you know it!

Mm-hmm.

[Dazai waggled his eyebrows just because he could and, after checking the temperature of his coffee, took a sip.]

Bet I'm not the first to give you that line. Your lack of flashiness is a decidedly attractive quality.

[Now was he making the most indirect reference to that strange dream he had? Outright flirting? Making a poorly-worded compliment? Trying to see how much he could fluster Bedivere? All four? Who knew.]

[It could absolutely be all four. And he was succeeding at flustering Bedivere, at least. It was enough to make Bedivere back out of the kitchen entirely and put some space between himself and Dazai, at least. Bedivere never took compliments well, and to be called attractive- even for something so mundane and dull- was...

Well. It was something he didn't know how to handle. At all.]

Please finish your coffee so we can start our work today!

[He wasn't actually shouting, but his words were more enthusiastic than usual.]

[A-ha!]

Oh, alright, hold on.

If I burn my tongue in my rush to fulfill your wish, will you lick it better?

[He was very much prepared to accept any smack coming his way. Except if it came from the metal arm, of course.

Once the coffee was finished and Dazai fixed his shirt and bolo tie, he'd have Bedivere wait for a moment in his dorm (or his spirit form, if that's what was preferred) while he swung by Atsushi's and Kyouka's unit and knocked on their door - still there, Kyouka? Talk to him for a bit, preferably if Atsushi was busy, before he had to go out on a different case. Any particular reason why your partner in crime was jumpy yesterday?

Once that was done, it was time to check out the other two circles that were reported. If there was one that happened to be near Port Mafia's turf, that was the first he'd look into.]

[Dazai didn't get hit by the metal arm, but he did find himself to be alone in his apartment pretty quickly. Someone had just decided that he would wait out the embarrassment in his spirit form.

Bedivere couldn't believe that Dazai was such a lech. Had he been hiding this side of himself until today? Or was this the act, and his calculating self was the real Dazai? Bedivere had no idea, and it was why he had fallen into embarrassment so quickly.

Bedivere would reappear some time later, when Dazai was at the door ready to go. He still had pretenses to keep up, after all. And if he pointedly avoided talking about Dazai's comments, then maybe he could pretend they had never happened.

There absolutely was one near the Por Mafia's territory, which made that one risky to check out. Early in the morning was safer than most times of the day, But there were eyes and ears everywhere and Dazai and Bedivere had to be careful. They were too late, though, as the warehouse from the reports had been 'cleaned' recently. That is to say, it had been practically destroyed by some local teenagers. Most would not question that, but Dazai should have recognized the lie there instantly: nobody who lived in Port Mafia territory would mess with a Port Mafia building, not if they wanted to live. So the graffiti story was a cover-up. Someone just wanted that warehouse destroyed, but discreetly.]

[Bedivere vanishing on him was new. If he was in a suspiciously good mood, as if he discovered a delightful gem buried under layers of sand on the beach, Kyouka sure wasn't the right person to rat him out on it.

(Or maybe she was. She observed much and had gotten comfortable enough to share should Atsushi ask about Dazai once that talk was over.)

In any case, Dazai usually went for the charming flirt approach instead of dropping racy lines. Something about Bedivere made him want to toe that line, though it wouldn't be until much later that he'd find out that, yes, a form of intimacy was on the table as a drastic form of recharge.

For now, they could shift the conversation to milder topics and put their morning talk behind them. On the way to the destroyed warehouse, they passed by a food cart. Its usual clientele was a mix of regular workers from the various cargo ships nearby.]

I think I'll order something. [He murmured this on the way back, calculating the distance between the food truck and the warehouse. How far was 'far'?] Would you be able to check out the rubble in your spirit form before following? Or would I need to 'get lost' nearby until you returned?

[Just because he'd quit the mafia four years ago didn't automatically mean he was unrecognizable. The Agency was, after all, well-known even to small-time criminals tied to various organizations, and there was that time they had to collaborate with Mori to flush out Pushkin from his cave.]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject