Code 002

[doesnotgetit]

Characters: Hakuno Kishinami & YOU!
Setting: All around the tower - October 17th and on
Format: Action, but I can match
Summary: Hakuno's become a scheming, backstabbing senator, and is on the lookout for information.
Warnings: Any information she might gather from your characters could very well be passed along to some of the more scheme-y characters, so be warned. She doesn't know any schemers just yet, though, so for now she'll just be holding onto the info.

[Dormitory Floors]

[Anyone walking about today might notice a girl - familiar to some, others not so much - stumbling out of room 03-05. Literally stumbling. The way she's walking, she almost seems drunk, especially when she falls heavily against the wall and slides down to a sitting position. But anyone who investigates further will notice that something is definitely wrong - her costume, save for the red sash, is totally shredded, like she got mauled by a monster. Thankfully, there isn't a scratch on her... but she's suddenly grabbing at her feet...?]

Ow ow ow... [She hunches over a little, prodding at the soles of her flat sandals, before letting out a startled, slightly pained shriek.] What the-?!

[Various Floors]

[Hakuno, still in her shredded costume and still walking with a pained limp thanks to the sandals sewn into her feet, is wandering about the safer floors. The meadow, the libraries, lounges, cafeterias, workshops... these are all places she's currently investigating, because these are most likely places that people will be. She'll check the other floors too, later, but for now, she's just trying to see what she can find.

If anyone's looking particularly troubled or upset, they'll find themselves being approached by a girl in tattered Roman garb, a smile on her face.]

Hey. Is everything okay?

Comments

[doesnotgetit]

[... Well, when she puts it that way...]

... Okay, I understand. You're justified, feeling hostile towards someone who may have hurt your countrymen. [She sounds completely genuine and honest when she says this.]

But... now knowing that she's not one of those Emperors who did attack your home... could you give her a chance?

[scorchedchivalry]

I will tolerate her presence because of you, not because she is not one of the Romans that invaded my country. A King of Britain does not set aside her stance regarding the Roman Empire so easily.

[doesnotgetit]

[That's... well. That's the best she can do for now, right? It's certainly better than nothing.

A look of curiosity crosses her face and... well. There's a little not-quite-her-own voice in her head saying to investigate this matter more. Not that she wouldn't without that voice's advice... this was simply too weird of a coincidence.]

A... King? Don't you mean a Queen?

[scorchedchivalry]

[Saber's raises her chin and meets Hakuno's eyes with her own.]

You heard me correct; I am a King.

[doesnotgetit]

[That.... Huh.]

... Interesting. [She wants to ask more on her identity, but even her slightly altered mind knows better than to just bluntly ask a Servant their name. Time to ask a few vague questions.]

Did history remember your gender incorrectly? Or is that just the title you took up?

[After all, her Saber said she never had to hide her true gender, but she still used the term "Emperor" instead of "Empress"...]

[scorchedchivalry]

A woman could not be king, so I ceased being one.

[doesnotgetit]

.... Huh? Really?

[B-But if a Roman woman could become an Emperor, why couldn't a British woman become King??? This just makes Hakuno look even more confused.]

That seems a little unfair.

[scorchedchivalry]

If the king was a good king, it would not matter if the king was female. But only men were to become king. I have not been a woman for most of my life.

[doesnotgetit]

[The thought that this was unfair still stands. But... it's also kind of sad, now.]

You said if the king was a good king, it shouldn't matter what their gender is... I agree with that. But if it doesn't matter, then why did you have to pretend to be a man? If you had the right to inherit the throne, and you could prove you were an effective leader... well. That's more important than the appearance of who is leading your country, don't you think?

[She recalls a conversation she had long ago... Saber had mentioned a Heroic Spirit who had to dress herself as a man and that's how history remembered her. Because it was "convenient". She hadn't understood it then, and she still can't understand it now.]

[scorchedchivalry]

No one would accept me as king at the start, regardless of my right, if my being female was known. Only men could rule. And by the time I had been seen as a good king - which can be argued by some [herself included] - I was too used to being a man. It never crossed my mind to reveal myself as female for I has spent my life being a man, a knight.

I may be female, Hakuno, but I am not a woman.

[doesnotgetit]

[Maybe... it does make more sense now. Hakuno can't understand why there were rules and thinking like that, but she understood that this was how people thought in those days. It didn't really make her any less sad for the Servant, even though Saber was used to the whole charade.]

... Is that really how you want to be viewed now? When there are plenty of people who would accept the idea of a female ruler? [She seems dead-set on the idea, but Hakuno will still ask.] I'll treat you however you want to be treated, but... I figured now is a good opportunity to change that, if you want.

[scorchedchivalry]

Since becoming a Servant, I have never denied being female. I am female. But do you understand that I am not a woman. I am a knight. I do not wish to be viewed as a woman. Nor as a man as I no longer rule.

Just a knight. Only a knight.

[doesnotgetit]

[Hakuno may be bad at what people are saying sometimes, but she's much sharper on how they say it, even if she doesn't understand it. She picked up on the way Saber's voice dropped, and that causes her to frown.]

"Only a knight"... are you sure that's how you really feel...?

[To Hakuno, it just seems like she doesn't want to be viewed as anything. And... she doesn't want that for her friend. Not at all.]

[scorchedchivalry]

[Well, Saber does want to, essentially, wish her existence away. Changing history... undoing her own legend... getting rid of her failure, or her code, her responsibilities... Yes. Nothing.]

It does not matter how I feel. But I am a knight before anything else.

[doesnotgetit]

Sure it matters. I don't really care what you or other people say - you're a person, just like the rest of us. Even if Servants aren't technically human, you deserve to be treated as such.

[Perhaps that's another thing that makes Hakuno so different as a Master. She knew her Servant was merely a tool, she knew she wasn't human... but she always just. Kind of ignored that bit.]

I won't tell you how to act around anyone else, but you don't have to force yourself to be "just a knight" with me, alright?

[scorchedchivalry]

And if that is all I know how to be aside from a king?

[doesnotgetit]

Like I said, you can act however you want. I'm just giving you the option to try to act differently, if you want.

[scorchedchivalry]

Then I shall be a knight, one way or another.

[doesnotgetit]

[It's a little disappointing, but Hakuno won't complain.]

Okay, I'll accept that. But... just keep what I said in mind, okay?

[scorchedchivalry]

[She has nothing to be anything else for, Hakuno.]

I shall.

[doesnotgetit]

[She has hope that this will change. Whether it's her that helps change that or someone else, that doesn't matter.]

Thank you.