♟ 001 ♟ In the Tower With Kariya

[vermicompost]

Characters: Kariya and OPEN
Setting: various
Format: either
Summary: Kariya's arrival in the Tower
Warnings: blood, possible body horror


Dormitories:
It's confusing, arriving here. This place, the letters, they're alarming. How could the world be destroyed? Where's Sakura? Where's Aoi? Kariya's heartbeat is accelerated, his breathing harsh and quick. His own agitation agitates the worms within him. In this state, it's difficult for him to walk, let alone make his way through an entirely new, strange environment, but he does his best. At times, he staggers and coughs, or stumbles to one side, disoriented. He has to pause to rest, more than once. Blood flecks his lips, gathering at the corners of his mouth and sliding down over his chin.

"Berserker, Berserker..." He calls out now and then as he goes, but no one comes to his call.


Cafeteria:
He managed to make his way down to the cafeteria. Sitting at the table, he gazes down at his oatmeal he was given, mournfully. He's not very hungry. He tries to eat it, but even just the plain oatmeal is difficult for him to choke down. It takes him a few tries, but he takes his time. When he pauses to cough, he wipes up the scattered bits of oatmeal flecking the table, a little embarrassed.


Infirmary:
The medical facility looks promising, but Kariya isn't sure if they have anything there he can use. He doesn't know if there's any medicine in existence that can help him. He'd like to try, but he doesn't want to risk disturbing the worms further. It's hard to say how they'll react to any stimulus. Much of his life has become a matter of worm management. He walks in slowly, quietly. "Hello, is anyone here?"


Meadow:
After wandering restlessly, at last Kariya settles himself, all but spent, exhausted from his wandering. He sinks down among the flowers with a sigh. When he focuses his gaze on the blooms, he feels more content, calmer than he was before. The flowers are lovely and fragrant, the petals soft and colorful. He just wants to rest a little while...

Comments

[puppy_lancer]

No. The Grail...

[His hands clench into fists.]

It's something nobody should use. If your Grail is anything like mine, it's dirtier than a public toilet. And that's not to mention the greed of most of those who would fight for it. That sort of thing...is better off not existing.

[vermicompost]

[He stares at Lancer. The Grail, unusable? How can that be? Everyone's fighting for it. Everyone wants it so much--even him, if not for himself.]

Is it?

But I have to. I have to give it to him.

If I don't, he won't let her go. I don't care about the Grail, but I don't have a choice. Because of him. What else can I do? That's all that matters to me.

[puppy_lancer]

It spews black shit. I don't know if the "him" in question would wanna use it either if he knew.

[He closes his eyes and thinks.]

...You could always throw him into the Grail. Maybe he'll start regret wanting it?

[vermicompost]

Spews? What do you mean? It doesn't grant the winner's wish, like they say?

[He listens to this new idea. It's almost unthinkable, at first, that he could do such a thing... But really, he'd love to be rid of Zouken. More than anything. For a moment, he almost smiles.]

What would happen, if I did that?

[puppy_lancer]

I dunno. I never made a wish on it. Never need to. I just wanted to get it for my Master, and she never had much of a wish either.

[Except, maybe, to live.]

But the last time I saw it, it was spewing black shit all over the place. When the Priest dipped Saber in it, he became this abomination of an existence. Just something all black and twisted and...

[He winces.]

Wrong.

[vermicompost]

I'm the same way. I only wanted it for someone else. I don't want to make a wish.

[Well, he does have one, but he's not going to wish on the Grail for it.

He shudders.]

I don't want him to become something worse. He's bad enough already. I don't think he's even human anymore.

[Wait...]

Saber? The priest? Oh, of course. You're from a different War. Things went wrong. That's what the war does, I think. Makes things wrong.

[puppy_lancer]

I figured. Berserekr's Master was a little girl in mine.

[A little girl who had become one of the War's first casualties.]

Funny how something Holy makes everything so wrong. I wouldn't even have to get it for her if it wasn't for the previous Grail War.

Next time, just have your Servant kill the fucker.

[vermicompost]

Yes, of course. Lancer was someone else, in my War.

That's true. It isn't very holy, is it? I wouldn't have had to take part in it either. I didn't want anything to do with magecraft. Except I had to save her.

Next time... I'm not sure if I can. He should die. He deserves to. But he's so much more powerful than I am, so wary. [Zouken didn't get to be where he was by trusting people.]

[puppy_lancer]

[He shrugs.]

It was fun fighting the other Servants. I would've been happy if it was just that.

Find strong allies, then.

[vermicompost]

[He reaches down to touch the Command Seals on his hand.]

I don't like fighting. I never really wanted to fight, but I had to.

All I have is Berserker. He fights for me. I don't know what I can do. To be rid of him... Things would be so much better.

[He'd still die, but Sakura would be happier, wouldn't she? Yet it's hard to imagine that happening.]

[puppy_lancer]

Hey, is he here?

[Lancer looks like he just thought up a good idea.]

[vermicompost]

No, I can't summon him. He must not have come here with me.

[puppy_lancer]

I don't know. Servants can come here without Masters, so who's to say you've still got that link?

And what about the other guy? The one who was bossing you around?

[vermicompost]

Oh, really? He might be, but I don't think he is here. I was looking for him. He--he's very hard to miss.

[A giant, raving, glowing knight generally is.]

Zouken? No, he isn't here either. Or I don't think so. I haven't seen him. He might be harder to find.

[He hadn't considered that Zouken might be here. It's possible.]

[puppy_lancer]

Really. Well, tell me what this Zouken guy looks like. If I run into him, I'll kill him and then throw him out a window.

[vermicompost]

[Kariya can't help but laugh. Lancer seems so odd to him, and he wouldn't have expected a Servant would be so--well, so friendly.]

He's ancient and withered and hairless. And he's arrogant. No one knows how old he is. He's lived a long, long time now. He wants to live forever. That's why he wants the Grail.

If you could kill him, I'd like that very much. I don't know why you'd do that for me.

[puppy_lancer]

Okay. I guess I'll ask and make sure if I ever see anyone of that description.

[Because he didn't want to accidentally kill some other hairless, withered old man.]

Because he sounds like an asshole and I don't like him.

[Really, did he need any better reason?]

Especially if he wants to use the Grail for something so selfish.

[vermicompost]

You should ask first, but I doubt he'll hide who he is.

I don't like him either. He's a very selfish person. He thinks only of himself, and nothing of the people he hurts. He's hurt so many people.

[There's a note of real anger in Kariya's voice. His voice quavers with it. His whole life was blighted by that man. Everything that happened is because of him.]

His own family.

[puppy_lancer]

[Lancer audibly grits his teeth.]

If I ever see him, he's definitely dead. That's the worst type of magus.

[vermicompost]

Good. I'm glad. I want him to die. If you could do that, I'd be in your debt.

[He laughs again, with a slight edge of hysteria. Usually, he wasn't the sort of man to wish people dead, but he's changed, recently.]

He is the worst. I grew up with him. I tried to leave the family, but I had to come back.

[It's so strange, one Servant has already threatened to kill him here, and now he's actually talking to another one about himself. Maybe he's going mad.]

[puppy_lancer]

At least...he's not like your father, right?

[vermicompost]

He might as well be. He leads the family. He's my uncle.

[puppy_lancer]

I knew a father who cursed his own daughter...over the Holy Grail.

[Technically, he hadn't known the man. He only knew the daughter who had been cursed.]

Even so, your uncle sounds like scum.

[vermicompost]

His own daughter? That's terrible. [And Kariya does seem distressed by the news.]

I know a father, the magus who gave Sakura to my family. He gave the Matou family his own child, even though he knew she'd be mistreated. He knew what they were like.

Some people don't deserve to be parents. They don't deserve the families they have.

[puppy_lancer]

That guy is shit too, but he still doesn't beat the man literally cursing his own daughter to die and become a zombie if she doesn't get the Holy Grail in a certain amount of time.

[He looks thoughtful.]

...Why do you think they end up getting such good kids, though. Or rather, why do those kids get shitty parents?