10

[looselips]

Characters: Shinji Matou & OPEN
Setting: Various floors, dangerous and otherwise, then Room 2-06.
Format: Action preferred, though I'll try to match.
Summary: Rider is gone, and Shinji isn't taking it well.
Warnings: Descriptions of a child's death-by-drowning in Part 2.
Notes: Part 2 takes place the day following Part 1, and is open to both passersby and roommates alike. If tag you into Part 1 without specifying a floor, I'll pick one myself; the only one that is really off limits is Floor 90, for reasons.

part 1 - various floors
[Shinji knows when Rider is gone, of course. He just doesn't accept it. He isn't the most rational, measured person at the best of times, and his circumstances now are obviously not optimal. So, rather than trying to quietly come to terms with her departure, he goes to look for her. He'll find wherever she has run off to sooner or later, he thinks, as though she's still somewhere in the Tower where he can yap at her until she pays attention to him.]

Rider! [He waits briefly, standing in the dormitory hallway. When there's no reply, he calls out again, louder and more agitated now.] Rider!

[And he keeps shouting for her as he stomps around the Tower, his voice growing increasingly demanding as he becomes increasingly desperate. He can be heard calling for her in all sorts of places, since while he starts with floors he is more familiar with and ones that are relatively safe, he soon begins to venture places an unattended eight-year-old really should not be. Mostly, he sticks to floors he thinks or knows would attract Rider—ones with water, or treasure, or that inexplicably smoky barroom—paying no heed to the way he is tiring himself out with all this searching.]

part 2 - room 2-06
[As it turns out, ten minutes is the perfect amount of time for reliving the way you died.]

[The lagoon had been a natural place to check. No one can blame him for going there. It isn't his fault, anyway—the blame lies on Rider, for leaving him in the first place, and those things lurking in the water, those things that had grabbed him before he even had a chance to scream. He can remember the feeling of their strong, wet hands wrapped tight around his wrists and ankles, and the way it felt to thrash as he tried to struggle free of them. But, more than that, he can remember the way it felt when he couldn't free himself. The panicked fear of death, the way water poured into his mouth and down his throat when his lungs desperately tried to suck down air...]

[His legs tremble when he is finally able to move again, but he makes himself stand regardless.]

[He can't take it anymore. As if losing to that pathetic no-name weakling wasn't enough, as if dying wasn't enough, as if being brought to this place only to have everything that made him special taken away from him wasn't enough, now he has been killed, again, by mermaids.]

[He doesn't even care that he's throwing what is undeniably a childish tantrum when he shoves his trunk over. He doesn't care that doing this might break something inside. What did it matter? He died, and now on top of being dead he's alone here, all because his stupid, selfish Servant went and abandoned him. He picks up an upturned item at random, paying no attention to what it is, and throws it at the nearest wall.]

[Unless stopped, he'll be at this until he calms down or tires himself out, and tiring himself out is probably the option that will come first.]

Comments

[puppy_lancer]

And when I find my Master...well, we'll see if she has any creative ideas for dealing with the two of you!

[looselips]

Yeah, right! As if you could stand up to the Gol—er, uh...

[He learned his lesson about letting information slip. He just isn't very good at applying it.]

[puppy_lancer]

I don't care what sort of Noble Phantasm she has. She won't be able to stand against my spear!

[looselips]

[He's actually watching himself now, so he doesn't actually try to reply to Lancer's boast. Instead, he just tries to squirm out of his grip.]

Yeah, whatever. We'll make you eat those empty words as soon as I find her.

[So obviously he should put him down so they can both find the other halves of this arrangement.]

[puppy_lancer]

[He lowers the child somewhat, but doesn't exactly set him down before releasing the grip on his collar.]

How about this--we both help each other look. Just so neither of us can sneak attack each other.

[looselips]

[Oof. Shinji staggers and wobbles for a moment, nearly managing to stay on his feet after being dropped like that. Nearly. He picks himself up quickly, glaring at Lancer as he does so.]

Please, it's not like we'd need a sneak attack to beat you. [He rolls his eyes. But, if it'll help him find Rider faster...] Fine. I'm not much of a charity person, but I'll help you out just this once.

[puppy_lancer]

You're the one who should be glad that I'm being nice enough to help you look!

...Now, you got an idea which way?

[Seeing as how this whole floor seemed to be some sort of pyramid maze.]

[looselips]

[He sets his hands on his hips and taps a foot.]

I've been looking loot. Anything valuable would be deeper inside, I think.

[So he assumes, anyway, though he knows pyramids often have fake or trap rooms to discourage graverobbers.]

[puppy_lancer]

Your Rider is the sort of woman to like shiny baubles?

[He squints into the darkness, trying to catch any possible glimmer from jewelry.]

[looselips]

Try "greedy golddigger." Unless it's worth something, she doesn't care.

[puppy_lancer]

Well, that explains why she would run off.

[He almost has to wonder what she was thinking. Her Master doesn't seem to be very good at taking care of himself.]

[looselips]

[...Wait a minute. Is this doofus saying he doesn't have any value?!]

Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!

[puppy_lancer]

[Pretty much!]

You don't really look like anything shiny or fancy or even sell-able. You don't make her seem the type to think of kids as anything valuable. Especially since you're a brat.

[looselips]

[R U D E]

She made a pact with me! I'm her Master! [If he qualified to be one, surely that meant he had some kind of value?] And I pay her, anyway, so if she wanted a raise, she could have just—could have just asked!

[There's a second where he actually sounds kind of hurt, but then he pushes on just as before.]

[puppy_lancer]

Yeah, it's certainly not the right way for any Servant to treat their Master.

[It's just not his business to criticize Rider on that.]

How about I ask her about that? Why she ran off instead of asking for a pay raise?

[His tone is much softer now.]

[looselips]

[That disarms him somewhat, so his tone isn't as heated when he speaks again. It is, however, flustered.]

Wh... Whatever. It's not like I need you to ask her that for me. I can handle her myself.

[puppy_lancer]

Always better to have a hero at your side, no?

[Not that he suspects Rider of being disloyal.]

Besides, maybe there's things she'll take better from an adult than from a kid.

[looselips]

I don't care! [He stomps a foot, gesticulating forcefully.] I'm her Master, so she has no right to treat me like a kid!

[Already, he's getting worked up again, but his tone is a bit different from before. A little more desperate, maybe?]

Why would I want you by my side, anyway?!

[Because he wants Rider, though he isn't admitting that.]

[puppy_lancer]

Because you don't want a monster to turn you into a bite-sized snack before you can find your Servant.

[looselips]

F... Fine. But only until we find Rider, got it? There's no way I'd settle for a mediocre Servant like you.

[puppy_lancer]

...Don't think too highly of yourself. It's me who doesn't want a little brat as a Master.

[looselips]

If you'd turn down having a genius like me for a Master, that just proves that you're an idiot not worth giving the time of day to.

[puppy_lancer]

...Genius in what? Annoying people?

[looselips]

Try "spirit hacking."

[Uh, duh???]

[puppy_lancer]

Spirit...hacking...?

[Wait, he remembers hearing from that one Rider something about the Grail War on the moon being fought inside a computer program or something.]

I thought magi didn't like technology.