[open] // do what we must because we can

[fionnuisce]

Characters: Waver and open
Setting: Floor 27, cafeteria, dorm floors
Format: Either
Summary: Tea, science, and sleep are Waver's priorities. In that order.
Warnings: None yet.

[floor 27]

[Waver had spent the majority of his time in the laboratory; being the leader of the group researching the clear collar fluid, he might have felt obligated even if it didn't fascinate him. Luckily (for some value of the word), he was a researcher that often became utterly absorbed in his work to the point of forgetting everything else. 'Minor' things like sleeping and eating, for example.]

[Though he hid it the best he could, if the ponytail-wearing magus looked exhausted that was likely no one's imagination. Today he was looking over his own hastily-written notes and narrowing his eyes at the container of fluid itself as though it had perhaps insulted his mother, thin cloud of cigarette smoke hanging in the air in front of him.]

[cafeteria]

[It was a remarkably simple thing, tea. Last time it was available, Waver had taken quite a bit of it to store in his trunk (along with a whole lot of alcohol.)]

[Then, glamour failure. If asked for one petty thing Waver would never forgive the administrators for, he would always answer with that.]

[Needless to say, he'd finally dragged himself away from his work long enough to enjoy the shift in provisions. Today in the cafeteria one could find a magus in a black and green suit sitting by himself, looking over near-incomprehensible notes with a cup of tea in his hand.]

[And if one happens upon him in the evening, it's likely he's minding his own business and leaving with a bottle of wine or two, liquid mercury maid trailing a step behind him.]

[dorm floors]

[Only at some ungodly hour did Waver finally give up for the night and leave the laboratory, Volumen Hydragyrum behind him carrying two bottles of wine. If he was willing to stop at all, it was likely he'd reached his physical limit or damn near to it. Sure enough, it had been several days since he slept a full night--or slept, period. As a result Waver was pale and walking just a little unsteadily, but at least he didn't seem ready to drop dead.]

[Drop into a coma when he got to his room, sure. But not drop dead.]

Comments

[bashfulshifter]

Um... [He chuckles.] ...I'm...f-flattered, I think. I-I'm...I h-have to a-admit, if it d-deals with the T-Tower, I'd r-rather not be s-s-surprised by it.

[fionnuisce]

Valid point, now that you mention it. Surprises at this point are likely a universally terrible thing.

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick nods curtly, and takes an anxious, particularly long swig of wine before he changes the subject.]

...You m-mentioned f-familiars, e-earlier?

[fionnuisce]

Yes--did you want to know how that works?

[bashfulshifter]

Ah...yes, if that's n-not too i-invasive. I m-mean, are they j-just, like...pets? Or a-are they...b-bonded, s-s-somehow?

[fionnuisce]

It's something like the latter, although I would classify it as a weak form of mind control. For basic familiars most use some form of small creature--bats, rabbits, I usually prefer mice, though I have at least one student that uses cats.

It's a very simple ritual involving a few drops of blood and a little energy, the kind of thing even young students can accomplish. The idea is to be able to share the given familiar's senses, like a sort of remote control. It's an incredibly efficient form of scouting.

I could go on, but I don't have much firsthand experience with higher-level practices of that particular kind of magecraft. It gets to be a complicated matter as one goes further into detail, ending with Servants as the most advanced and powerful form of familiars.

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick nods, apparently comprehending this topic a lot better than most others Waver's tried to explain to him. He can draw some fairly easy parallels here, at least--controlling the form of another creature is something that he knows well, and the idea of doing so remotely is intriguing.]

[The last bit, though, leaves him especially puzzled.]

S-Servants... [The term is especially familiar, but from something he probably took out-of-context and didn't question at the time. When Rick actually remembers what said conversation was he is almost comically baffled.]

--Y-You m-mean--l-like Diarmuid?

[fionnuisce]

That's correct. Diarmuid, Saber, Archer--there's actually a few of them around here.

[bashfulshifter]

S-Saber?

[No way. But she--no, how--he knew--what?]

[Rick pulls a face. No, he can't quite wrap his head around this.]

...If th--they're all f-familiars, then...who's, ah, b-bonded to them?

[fionnuisce]

That's kind of the strange thing. Ordinarily, a Servant needs a Master to stay in this world; consider their Master as kind of a magical battery.

[Shrugging, Waver gestured at their surroundings.]

But this tower seems to break that rule; for whatever reason, Servants here can survive perfectly fine with no such contract.

[bashfulshifter]

...Huh.

[Rick puts down his wine glass and has a good ponder.]

...D-Does that m-mean...did D-Diarmuid c-come with you? I m-mean, he said he w-was your S-Servant.

[fionnuisce]

That's complicated. In my own world, I summoned Diarmuid to fight with me when I was a teenager. Due to the nature of alternate and parallel worlds, the one you know was summoned by someone else--my predecessor and former teacher.

[bashfulshifter]

[He starts gesturing, as if waving his hands will somehow allow him to put these ideas together into something he can understand.]

Then...how c-come he i-i-identifies as y-your S-Servant? If he was s-s-summoned by s-someone else, then...how could he m-maintain a b-bond with you? I, um...I d-don't r-really...

[...The gestures are not working! Rick is obviously very confused.]

[fionnuisce]

Because he is, at least now. [Waver indicated the red marks on the back of his hand again.] We formed a new contract here, primarily so we could watch out for each other. Servants and Masters have an empathic link bordering on telepathy, so as long as both of us have our powers intact we can find each other even in this blasted place in no time at all.

[bashfulshifter]

[He nods, slightly more comprehending. But only slightly.]

...That's...okay. I d-don't q-quite... [SHRUG] Well, I g-guess if it w-works okay.

[fionnuisce]

Magic in my world is a complicated and pretty confusing thing. More so when you get into the mechanics of Servants and the Holy Grail War. You shouldn't be too worried if I lost you somewhere.

[bashfulshifter]

...Yeah, I...should have t-taken your a-advice earlier. [Rick chuckles and goes back to nursing his wine.] I n-need to f-f-figure out how my o-own world w-works, first.

[fionnuisce]

That does sound like a much better place to start.

[bashfulshifter]

[He shrugs and sighs, quietly downtrodden.]

...Waver, I'm an a-accountant. It was...n-never my place to f-figure out how this s-stuff works, I don't know why I k-keep asking, really.

[fionnuisce]

...

[Waver barely managed to stifle a laugh, bringing a hand to his mouth to cover the smile that broke out across his face at that.]

S-sorry--I'm not laughing at you. It's just that I rarely stop to consider how many people here are probably relatively normal in comparison to most of the others.

[bashfulshifter]

'R-Relatively' normal, yeah. [Rick anxiously scratches the back of his head.] I...don't even know w-what the b-baseline for that is s-s-supposed to be.

[fionnuisce]

A completely ordinary, clueless human with no supernatural powers whatsoever? But if that was 'normal', that'd just be boring, now wouldn't it?

[He shrugged, still trying not to laugh.]

But if you're just an accountant, then I'm just a teacher.

[Beat.]

...At a school of magic.

[. . .]

Under the British Museum.

[Realizing perhaps for the first time just how ridiculous the circumstances sounded, Waver pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.]

On second thought, I'm with you. I don't know what the fuck 'normal' is.

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick sputters and quite literally face-palms, taking off his glasses and laughing into his hands. It takes him a minute to recover.]

Oh man...what a m-mess.

[fionnuisce]

[Waver started laughing at that as well; though it was quiet, he did so much more openly this time.]

I don't usually stop to think about how absurd that sounds. But saying it like that makes me sound like a fucking lunatic, doesn't it?

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick shakes his head emphatically, though he's still giggling and rubbing at his bare eyes.]

--N-No, no, I--I m-meant--the T-Tower. I g-guess, if we h-have a-a-anything in c-common...well w-we're all p-pretty s-s-strange, a-aren't we?