IC Inbox for ☽☽ utopique

[aurabble]

This is Jaune. Leave me a message.

Comments

[aurabble]

You mean the old era? [okay he's done. probably.]

That's-- [Terrible, messed up. In order to exist she had to be bound to another person? One living?] Then what about when we almost fought and you used your bloodlust or whatever?

[castrationfist]

You are certainly asking for trouble.

What about it? If I have no choice but to defend myself, then I have no choice. It's not like that cost any mana.

[aurabble]

I know. It's okay.

Are you sure someone can't just do something like give you more mana? Or I could try to give you some of my Aura.

[castrationfist]

... There are ways I can obtain mana from another besides the contract, yes, but you don't know anything about that topic, so let's not bring that up.

I'll be waiting at the park, so hurry, all right?

[aurabble]

I can't know a topic if you don't tell me what it is. I can lend you some. Really.

I'll try, but it depends on how successful I am at the store.

[And he ends the message and arrives maybe forty minutes later with wine, trying to find Caster.]

[castrationfist]

[She's taken a seat on a bench, just watching the nature idly. She is absolutely not bringing up the mana bit, though.]

There you are! I was beginning to worry I was being stood up.

[aurabble]

Sorry, the cashier told me this was a good choice.

[It's just some random pink moscato which he puts down on the bench before sitting down next to her.

He won't mention the part where he got lost.]

So, about that mana thing.

[castrationfist]

The mana thing is irrelevant, as it is not something you would want to do.

It's my legend you wished to hear, regardless, isn't it?

[she has a hunch, but isn't saying anything.]

[aurabble]

Hey, I've got an idea: how about you ask me instead of just assuming I wouldn't be up for doing it?

Your history and story, but if you want to call it a legend-- [and he's suddenly fixated on the wine, not looking at her as he shrugs.] Yeah, I guess.

[castrationfist]

[She sighs.]

Explaining how it all works is a pain, so I'll pass. I can get mana from bodily fluids, especially those with a strong association with life. That means either drinking blood, which I refuse to do, or having sex. Is that something you're willing to do?

[She just gives him a stare. She can get to her legend in a bit, she just needs her point hammered home first.]

[aurabble]

... Yeah we're not having se-- We're not doing that. We're not bonding intimately. No. Those are the only two ways?

[At least he's finally making eye contact now.]

[castrationfist]

I could tie myself into the leylines of the area, but then I wouldn't be able to move from a certain point. And there's making a contract, which provides a direct path of magical energy, but there's only one person I would make a contract with, and that has already been refused.

So I'll get by like this.

[aurabble]

Then we'll just have to look out for eachother. [Teamworks makes less death work.]

[castrationfist]

Ah, what a brave declaration! Don't worry, though, even like this, I'm still many times stronger than you, okay? ♥

[she says this so cheerfully.]

[aurabble]

[Wow. Should he be offended? He frowns.] How can you be sure?

[castrationfist]

Because a Servant is something that is by definition far above humans. If we could be fought by humans, there would be no point to the Holy Grail War.

[aurabble]

The Holy What? Were you involved in a war for humans or something?

[castrationfist]

Too many questions! Would you rather hear my tale, or the Holy Grail War's?

[... She isn't sure which she'd prefer, honestly.]

[aurabble]

You're the one who keeps mentioning things I don't know about. I guess whichever you want.

[He already told her he doesn't want or need an apology so it's up to her.]

[castrationfist]

[On one hand, her own legend is something shitty and also so personal she doesn't like sharing it, no matter how many times she's had to in this world.

On the other... The Holy Grail War concerns more than just her. It concerns Hakuno as well, and she can't just tell her secrets. And Hakuno's happiness is more important than her own.

She takes some of the wine in a long drink.]

Very well.

You aren't of my faith and wouldn't understand any of the religion from my time as a goddess, so I'll skip that. For now, all you need to understand is the goddess Amaterasu grew curious of how mortals could be so happy to serve her. So she divided off a facet of herself, nothing more than the desire to serve someone, and incarnated it as a human.

[aurabble]

[He presses his palms down on the bench, leaning a little over the edge. He doesn't want Caster to talk about anything she might be uncomfortable with. He understands some things are better left unsaid. But as long as she wants to, he'll listen. He eyes the wine and decides to go for it, taking a sip.]

And that facet was you.

[castrationfist]

That's right! Incarnated as an adorable child, who grew into the most wise and intelligent beauty Japan has ever seen! ... But that is getting ahead of myself.

An elderly couple who has never been blessed with children of their own found this infant on the side of the road one day, you see. They took her in and gave her the name Mizukume. The child showed no signs of her origins, but absorbed knowledge like a sponge, with an intelligence far beyond a normal child's. Well, it was kind of cheating, as a facet of a goddess, but I didn't know what I was back then, either! I thought I was just a normal human, too.

[she goes quiet for a bit here. Her human parents... She doesn't want to talk about them, because she doesn't want them to become a part of her legend, to be tainted by her story.]

But when they were too old to care for a child anymore, I, as still a child, was sent to the Imperial court instead. Beauty and brains together even at that age? Of course I would be sent to become something great!

Well, I was something of a weird child, though. I was well-loved, but mostly I just followed the ladies-in-waiting around to learn from them. Pretty soon, I knew everything they did, and I moved on to the teachers, and then books. Learning everything in the world I could was fun, you know?

[aurabble]

[It sounds more like a fairy tale than reality. He feels bad that her time with her human parents was so short, but it sounds like she lived a relatively safe life. Having some idea of how it ends just leaves him dreading it more.]

So you spent a lot of time reading? [It sounds kind of lonely to Jaune. But some people really enjoy that.]

[castrationfist]

I did, sometimes. Other times, I listened to the musicians, or eavesdropped on the priests and monks. And I became pretty popular as a result! A precocious child who knew almost everything, it seemed like. It became a game of sorts, for the ladies-in-waiting to quiz me on random subjects, and of course I answered flawlessly always!

And when I answered correctly, they were happy, so impressed with a child who knew so much. And I found I liked making people happy, as well, in multiple senses, if you catch my meaning. So I studied to become a courtesan, because with the wide variety of subjects and talents they needed, it would guarantee that I could make others around me happy in the same way. I thought that was all it took, the right answers to make people happy...

[She talks fondly, remembering fun times she had this way.]

[aurabble]

[Okay, he needs a drink now. This isn't the person who murdered countless humans and told him not to trust others. This person sounds kind. And Caster isn't unkind, but she definitely strikes him as cynical and jaded.

People don't always do terrible things just out of nowhere. It's disconcerting to think about and he takes an even longer sip, putting the wine down more forcefully.]

That...that makes sense, I guess.