Matou Kariya (AU) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
canofworms) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
towerofanimus2013-03-09 04:08 pm
canofworms) wrote in towerofanimus2013-03-09 04:08 pm
[OPEN] Well, look what the cat dragged in.
Characters: Kariya Matou [AU4] & ALL THE PEOPLE
Setting: Dorms, Various Floors, Choose Your Own Adventure
Format: Any!
Summary: +1 flailing bug magus. Does it count if 'he' is already here?
Warnings: Fate/BUGS
This man, wherever you meet him, may look just the littlest bit familiar. Maybe it's in the hair, or the slightly gloomy look on his face, or even the rumpled turtleneck he's wearing.
Not many will recognize him as the Matou he is, though, unless he has his insect familiars out. His hair and eye (the working one) are a deep purple, and the prana rolling off him in warning waves is no longer a hallmark of the clan.
Now who could this be?
[Dormitory Floor: Room 1-16]
[Hey, folks, you may or may not have an extra body in here. Don't worry, it's wiggling and quite lively.
Click.
If not for the minor commotion of him going through his trunk, you probably wouldn't notice he's here; his clothes and hair are dark enough that he gets lost in the shadows quite easily. The slant of his shoulders is wary. There's a metallic glint in his hands.
Nothing to see here: just a magus loading a handgun.
(Unless that's a nice bulky camera in his hands, but in that case he's just taking a picture of the wall. So productive!)]
[F1: Cafeteria]
[New arrivals season! There are like a million of them here making faces at their oatmeal. You could probably fill an album with the variety. Maybe decorate each floor of the Tower with a different expression of disgust.
This guy would make a pretty boring picture, though, since he's sitting there with absolutely no trace of feeling on his face as he mechanically brings the spoon to his mouth. In fact, his eyes are closed.
Is he sleep-eating or just trying to find a safe space away from the mush??]
[F20: Outside]
[It's fairly chilly out here, but the thin shadow of a man standing about halfway up the ramp, carelessly at the very edge, doesn't seem to notice. He's strangely silhouetted, staring expressionlessly over the edge.
If you come in close enough, you'll realize that those strange irregularities and bumps in his figure are actually countless large, skeletal, demon-eyed insects perched on his shoulders and arms, crawling clumsily in their attempt to keep their foothold in the wind.
Every now and then, he'll raise a hand, and one or two of them will obediently go walking off into the air. They go plummeting downwards until not a trace is left, and leave him looking a little more frustrated each time.
In the meantime, that shadow in the fog behind him may or may not be something sneaking up on him. Or your eyes are just playing tricks on you.]
[F??: Choose Your Own Adventure]
[Any floor, any time, anybug flavor!
There's a rather surly-looking guy pacing up and down the place, muttering angrily to himself and occasionally raising a hand to swat at the two Blade Wing Worms buzzing along behind him whenever they hover in too close.
It's a little hard to tell whether the familiars are actually worried about their master or just trying to get close enough to chomp on his hair.]
If you're not going to make yourselves useful, go chew on each other or something. I don't care.
Setting: Dorms, Various Floors, Choose Your Own Adventure
Format: Any!
Summary: +1 flailing bug magus. Does it count if 'he' is already here?
Warnings: Fate/BUGS
This man, wherever you meet him, may look just the littlest bit familiar. Maybe it's in the hair, or the slightly gloomy look on his face, or even the rumpled turtleneck he's wearing.
Not many will recognize him as the Matou he is, though, unless he has his insect familiars out. His hair and eye (the working one) are a deep purple, and the prana rolling off him in warning waves is no longer a hallmark of the clan.
Now who could this be?
[Dormitory Floor: Room 1-16]
[Hey, folks, you may or may not have an extra body in here. Don't worry, it's wiggling and quite lively.
Click.
If not for the minor commotion of him going through his trunk, you probably wouldn't notice he's here; his clothes and hair are dark enough that he gets lost in the shadows quite easily. The slant of his shoulders is wary. There's a metallic glint in his hands.
Nothing to see here: just a magus loading a handgun.
(Unless that's a nice bulky camera in his hands, but in that case he's just taking a picture of the wall. So productive!)]
[F1: Cafeteria]
[New arrivals season! There are like a million of them here making faces at their oatmeal. You could probably fill an album with the variety. Maybe decorate each floor of the Tower with a different expression of disgust.
This guy would make a pretty boring picture, though, since he's sitting there with absolutely no trace of feeling on his face as he mechanically brings the spoon to his mouth. In fact, his eyes are closed.
Is he sleep-eating or just trying to find a safe space away from the mush??]
[F20: Outside]
[It's fairly chilly out here, but the thin shadow of a man standing about halfway up the ramp, carelessly at the very edge, doesn't seem to notice. He's strangely silhouetted, staring expressionlessly over the edge.
If you come in close enough, you'll realize that those strange irregularities and bumps in his figure are actually countless large, skeletal, demon-eyed insects perched on his shoulders and arms, crawling clumsily in their attempt to keep their foothold in the wind.
Every now and then, he'll raise a hand, and one or two of them will obediently go walking off into the air. They go plummeting downwards until not a trace is left, and leave him looking a little more frustrated each time.
In the meantime, that shadow in the fog behind him may or may not be something sneaking up on him. Or your eyes are just playing tricks on you.]
[F??: Choose Your Own Adventure]
[Any floor, any time, any
There's a rather surly-looking guy pacing up and down the place, muttering angrily to himself and occasionally raising a hand to swat at the two Blade Wing Worms buzzing along behind him whenever they hover in too close.
It's a little hard to tell whether the familiars are actually worried about their master or just trying to get close enough to chomp on his hair.]
If you're not going to make yourselves useful, go chew on each other or something. I don't care.
no subject
[His voice is faintly sardonic on the statement; because what all of them have in common is the man-made catastrophe that calls itself the Holy Grail War. Maybe it's not such a surprise that they've be targeted for 'the end of the world', when he looks at it that way.
They've all but brought it upon themselves.
He tilts his head a little, reassessing the Servant in front of him. It's been so long, but the magical presence is as he remembers, as well as he's able to.]
Have they done something to the Servants? I wouldn't think a tower like this could hold you.
[It's not addressed to Diarmuid personally, of course.]
no subject
These. Not only do they supposedly help anchor our souls in our bodies, but they give far too much control over us to the people who run this place. I have heard of people being killed outright by administrators using the collars somehow, though I don't know much about how. Also, they either have thought of almost anything we could try to escape and put in counters for it, or their power is just that much greater than ours because everything that I know of that has been tried has failed. A big part of this is that they seem to be able to turn off our powers at will making us nothing more than human whenever they wish to.
They even have managed to alter my curse somehow and that is power on a scale that scares me since I had some of the most powerful people of my day look at it, and they were never able to come up with anything that could affect it.
no subject
[He can't help but grimace at the news; he'd known that having something like this put on (and unable to be taken off, no matter how much force or cutlery or swarms of Blade Wing Worms were applied) was bound to be ominous, but...
To think that it would supersede the powers of a Servant, and then some. It could be frightening if he let it.]
The Grail isn't here, so it's not impossible for a Servant's powers to be weakened. [Mostly musing to himself.] I admit, though, I don't know the details of your curse.
no subject
I suppose that is why their maintenance is so important. They go to great lengths to make sure everyone ends up at their collar check ups, after all.
[Diarmuid reaches up and rubs at the mole under his eye.]
My curse is really pretty simple. Any woman who sees my face falls in love with me. Some who have high enough magic resistance or will can resist that, but otherwise there is nothing they or I can do to stop it. Somehow here they have managed to make it so it only activates rarely, but those activations are random and I don't know it has happened until the affected person starts acting oddly.
no subject
--I'm sorry. Though I'm not sure I understand all the problems you'd face... [speaking as someone who is very much used to being under the radar at all times] Mythical curses always seem to be very cruel things.
[His fingers pause on his collar after that, and he shakes his head sheepishly, knowing the inadequacy of his response but unable to be anything but honest. At least on that count.]
Something you said, though -- what was that about our souls and bodies? What's happening to our souls here?
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[Diarmuid frowns at Kariya's question about the status of their souls.]
I'm afraid that is a question I can't answer completely. This information is actually very new to us too. Apparently if what we have learned is true, all they were able to take from our worlds as they were being destroyed were our souls. Our bodies were left behind. These bodies we wear are mere copies which they remake whenever we die. It is a combination of the collars and the abilities of one of the other administrators named Jason that allows this to be done.
no subject
[Kariya is suddenly very still. After a moment, he unhooks his fingers from his collar and stares at them. It's been a long time since he's had steady hands.
He doesn't need to confirm that the Worms are still there. He doesn't need to confirm his magic. As for his soul...]
They're very good at making copies. [A small chuckle that may actually have amusement to it.] They've made us all into Servants, haven't they? A handful of souls to play with.
['Maybe some of us deserve it.'
'How many Command Spells does the collar give them?'
He keeps these in the dark spaces of his thoughts.]
no subject
[He lets his voice trail off for a moment before speaking again.]
Though, it's not really that easy for us servants either. If we are all 'real' souls, does that mean we are not the copies from the war that we thought we were, but the actual soul pulled from the Throne? And if that is the case, why do we all remember the wars we were in if that memory is suppose to be erased when the copy is restored to the main soul?
[Diarmuid shakes his head.]
Actually, it is not easy for anyone. That would be too...well...easy.
no subject
We are all on the same level here. Ah, not power-wise, of course.
[The end result, though, is the same, isn't it?]
no subject
Well, with how easy they can take our powers away, we might be closer power-wise than you think.
And you are probably right. I've had more than one person tell me that I'm thinking about things too hard--that I should just enjoy being alive at least as much as anyone can in a place like this. Though, it is a little distressing to learn that some of the masters know so little about the way the Grail works as we do. So many mysteries...
[He shakes his head and then changes the topic.]
If you don't mind, would you tell me a little about your world since it is so different from the version I know?
no subject
[He really doesn't think much of magi, and even less of those who could create something like the Grail he knows. To him, all they did was open the proverbial Pandora's Box, and leave the hope that at the bottom of all the depravity looks like nothing but a shining little lie.]
... I don't know much about 'your' version of the War, but I can tell you a little. [He thinks for a moment.] I was also the Master of Berserker. The Einzberns summoned Saber, and the Tohsakas Archer. You were the Servant of El-Melloi.
The War was briefly interrupted by Caster, but we still managed to end it in about a week. There was no victory. A nice little War, with no one the wiser.
[He laughs a little unsteadily, but goes on.] Is that very different?
no subject
Yes, that sounds about right at least from what I know, though I...left the war not long after we fought and defeated Caster. What I don't understand is, how could there not be a victor in the war? Did something stop it so that things didn't finish? What happened to the remaining servants then?
no subject
[He has some idea of why it would be a touchy subject for this particular Servant, though he doesn't know all the details or if they're the same -- it was an ignominious defeat, that much he remembers.
Anything to win, Kiritsugu Emiya. And what did we get for it in the end?
He sighs.]
The War was finished. [He doesn't know how to say this to a Servant, especially a Servant who didn't see the end with his own eyes. The magi have always used Servants for this purpose, and he finds it just as despicable as everything else. He's a magus now.] Before I answer... Can I ask why you fought for the Grail, Diarmuid?
no subject
All I really wanted was the chance to serve my lord faithfully until we reached his goals. I sacrificed so much for him and....
[He lets his voice trail off with a sigh.]
Why do you ask?
no subject
[There's a moment's silence, as he puts his thoughts in order.]
I wouldn't be surprised if the Grail were a direct result of that. It doesn't grant wishes or any kind of victory, Diarmuid. It's a machine of disaster -- ah, but a machine doesn't have a will. [A small, empty smile.] A better word might be 'monster'.
no subject
[Confusion fills Diarmuid's eyes.]
What do you mean a monster? You speak almost as if it were a living thing, but it's not. Corrupted yes. I have been told by several people that it was corrupted at some point, but living? Surely that cannot be...
no subject
[Bitterness? Bitterness. The Greater Grail could probably take a bath in it, it's certainly dark and deep enough.]
... Did you speak to anyone who saw it being corrupted?
no subject
[Though, this is obviously a big issue for this Kariya too. What exactly happened at the end of his 4th war? Surely, it must be more than just the inferno he and others have mentioned.]
Wait...what do you mean it talked to you? When did you have time to 'speak' with it? Are you saying you won?
no subject
[It's almost a snap; Kariya closes his eyes for a moment, opens them again when he has better rein on himself.]
I was the last one standing, yes. I spoke to the form of the Grail.
no subject
Winning, surviving call it what you will. The important question is, were you able to save Sakura? Did she get to go home? That was your goal, wasn't it?
[Because, if this Kariya had won and his world was so similar to the one Diarmuid and the other Kariya had come from that meant there was hope that the Kariya who was his friend could win too.
And that she wasn't as right as she thought she was.]
no subject
About home.
He latches on to Sakura's name like a lifeline, the way he used to do ten years ago. Some habits die hard.]
Yes. Sakura, she-- she was able to go home. [He has that much. It takes only a little effort to dredge up a smile.] She's Sakura Tohsaka again, like she should be.
no subject
See. I knew it! I knew if he tried hard enough there would be a way. She was wrong!
[He pauses and then flushes slightly.]
Sorry, but there is someone in the tower who is thoroughly convinced that no matter how hard Kariya tries he can never win just because she will always be there to stop him. She doesn't know everything after all.
[Diarmuid's not sure why, and even though he knows it's wrong to feel this way, he is happy to have the darkened Saber proven wrong. Things aren't as set in stone as she seems to think they are. Kariya still has just as much chance as anyone else to win the war.]
no subject
So he doesn't quite know what to do with the enthusiasm. From what he's heard about his double, he already has definite misgivings about Diarmuid's optimism -- but he can't quite bring himself to crush it just now.
Instead--]
... Who was it? The one who said she'd stand in the way.
no subject
[Diarmuid shakes his head.]
She and I...don't get along. I don't know all of the things that happened to her in the 5th War, but she has changed so much that she is hardly the Saber we knew in the 4th War anymore.
no subject
[He speaks slowly, mulling it over in a strangely distant way. At length, he ends with shaking his head.]
Saber is powerful, but even in my War, a lot of things happened. She was summoned again for a farce of a War.
[Maybe that's pity, tempering his response.]
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