ITP: Chocobo

[no_longer_a_king]

Characters: Arturia, open
Setting: Floor 32 and the Void, or make your own prompts as you see fit
Format: Will match!
Summary: Arturia hunts and gets trapped in the Void, as well as other sundry things
Warnings: Hunting and all the things that it entails.

[A: Early morning; Floor 32; Floating Forest]
Arturia was crouched low in some bushes, quiet, waiting for something to come across her path. She'd set a few snares for small animals throughout the forest, now all she needed to do was wait.

A small part of her wondered why she should bother, considering they might not be here in a few months, but she pushed it down. Even that did come to pass, there was no sense in dwelling on it. All they could focus on for now was the present. All she could focus on was the freedom she had now.

And that, if they restored the worlds, it might be taken away from her again.

Arturia forced her mind from that thought and continued waiting. Her body still felt weak: a tiredness that seemed to go down into her very souls, but she couldn't lay down and simply wait for her strength to come back. It'd been almost two weeks already. There was no stopping this weakness and they had no time to waste.

[B: Mid-day; In the Void]
This was getting aggravating.

Arturia floated in the Void, having been going downstairs to get some lunch only to blink and find herself in this unpleasant place. It was the fourth time today and so far the longest, as she had only been here for a few seconds before, but this time was proving to be much longer.

And boring. There wasn't much to do here but think and while she did not mind the quiet, she did mind how these sojourns tended to interrupt her day. It'd been mildly irritating before, but with how the length of her stays here were stretching out her patience with it was finally growing thin. First the constant weakness and now this? What was next? Finding herself awakening in something even more frilly and ridiculous?

Another popped into existence nearby and she twisted herself so she would face where they floated above her. Luckily she didn't wind up doing a complete flip this time.

"Hello," she told them because she was that bored. Anyone to talk with to pass the time would be wonderful right now.

[Closed to steelminded]
Some things didn't change, despite how exhausted she was. It hadn't surprised her a bit when she'd seen Shirou among those who had gone downstairs and she had told him to be careful. So if she was feeling weak and found what little strength she had coming and going, who knew what would be going on with Shirou whose powers were much less stable than hers to begin with?

So it'd become routine for her to go to Shirou's room and check in on him and to make sure he wasn't hurting too much. He usually worried about her as well, but she was better at deflecting questions than he. They usually compromised with him staying in bed and her sitting on the trunk at his feet while they talked. A nice role reversal from when they'd first met and she'd been frustratingly incapable.

Today was no different as she knocked on the door and waited for him to call her in.

"How are you today, Shirou?" she asked when she entered, taking her usual seat on his trunk.

[Closed to greyerrant]
"Why do you look at me as if you know me?"

This was the first thing out of her mouth when she cornered Garviel Loken one afternoon. Well, not so much 'cornered' as happened to run across him. She did not know him well, but the way he kept looking at her made her curious. Seeing as they only had a few months left, she decided to question him on the subject when he was giving her yet another one of those looks as if she were familiar to him, but he could not bring himself to say why.

[Closed to bloodyashes]
Even in these most dire of circumstances, Arturia could still be pleased with herself.

More specifically, she could be pleased with the quarry she had caught unawares on the stairs, one she knew was a good source of meat and had to be prepared in the kitchens as soon as possible. It was a trial because she did not have her usual strength and still felt weak, but it was still meat! Lots of meat from one bird! She would not be denied the pride swelling in her chest at a hunt well-done.

"Help me prepare this to be cooked!" she announced to the person in the kitchen, assuming by the flash of red hair it would be Shirou.

Except it was a little too red and there was too much of said red hair.

"Asch!" she called, turning, to pull the carcass through the door, "Help me get this on a table!"

[Valentine's Day; Various]
Those who came across Arturia on this day would find her.... off. She would still act rather polite to people, but there was more of a distance that wasn't there before and she tended to cut conversations short where she wouldn't have before and just walk off. Those who paid attention when she walked away would see a heart painted just below her shoulder blade and a note pinned to her dress just below it.

Since her heart was missing, she found she no longer cared about the future and simply did as she pleased. She could be found sprawled on the couch in the media room, watching mindless movies, or chasing after monsters simply because it was fun. Who cared about the responsibilities she'd given herself? Did it really matter anymore?

Comments

B

[fionnuisce]

"...oh, for fuck's sake."

Waver slapped a hand to his head, having had more than enough of these interruptions. He had things to do, after all. Complaining aside, Waver looked up--down, really--upon hearing someone else's voice and crossed his arms.

"Good afternoon, Saber. This is the first I've run into someone else here--refreshing change, actually."

[no_longer_a_king]

"Refreshing, indeed. I was beginning to grow bored," she said, trying--and failing--to orient herself so they were talking on the same level. The blonde woman let out a frustrated sigh and reached up for Waver after she wound up spinning in a full circle.

"Do you mind pulling me toward you? It's strange talking like this."

[fionnuisce]

"I'm sure I've heard stranger requests, though I can't really think of what they were at the moment." The circumstances were far beyond 'strange', but Waver merely shrugged and extended a hand to pull the knight a bit closer to his own level.

"If this persists much longer I might have to try and arrange a little discussion with Riki on the benefits of being properly informed of side effects."

[no_longer_a_king]

And now that they could look each other face to face she didn't feel quite as disoriented.

"Be honest: you would have done this anyway even if you knew of this inconvenience occurring."

[fionnuisce]

"Oh, that goes without saying." Shrugging his shoulders, Waver folded his arms and looked about as casual as one could while floating in the middle of nothingness.

"Even so, it might have been nice if we were properly informed on possible results."

[no_longer_a_king]

"I suppose so, but what's done is done at this point. It might be inconvenient, but at least we did some good."

Hopefully. Arturia liked to think Riki could be trustworthy, but who knew when it came to the quietest of the Administrators?

[fionnuisce]

"Or we assume that we did." Waver tapped his fingers impatiently against his arm. "It's true enough that we didn't seem to have much of a choice in the matter, from a moral standpoint. But I for one find myself starting to wonder how much we actually did accomplish and at what cost to ourselves."

[bloodyashes]

There's a definite jerk of surprise - he's fairly used to interrupts by now, but those are from a typical group who targets him for their meals, not Arturia.

Certainly, not Arturia lugging a giant bird around. He drops the measuring spoon he was working with back onto the counter to go help. Even as he goes over to help, he can't help but stare.

"What the hell is that?" he says finally. He'd thought axebeaks and their kin were large - those rarely cleared the height of a human, and this bird was easily three or four times their size. Longer legs, too.

[no_longer_a_king]

If Arturia ever targeted him for meals, she tended to be rather polite about it and if he said he was busy she left him well enough alone. Normally Shirou would make her lunch anyway, but Asch she ran into enough she did not mind eating his cooking as well.

"A Chocobo: it tastes like chicken!" She would know. Shirou--or, rather, Avenger in Shirou's guise--had cooked one for her once. It'd been delicious and Arturia felt proud for downing this bird even while in her weakened state.

was so tempted to gagtag this with just "CHICKEN? CHICKEN!"

[bloodyashes]

At least there's always plenty of extra. Asch doesn't even bother making food for just one person anymore.

He accepts the explanation easily enough, at least, pushing the hanging ends of his hair over his shoulders. "Let's get this bird on the table, then."

A giant long-legged chicken. Tower wonders truly never cease.

NGL, I was expecting a "SQUEEEEEE~!" tag. XD

[no_longer_a_king]

With Asch's help, it isn't long until the Chocobo is laid out on the table and Arturia is already looking through the drawers for appropriate tools for plucking and carving the bird up. A process we will not go into much detail about beyond 'they are carving the bird' for the sake of the readers' stomachs.

"I thought you would say that."

[bloodyashes]

Given how big the bird is, they'll be at it a while.

"It's enough for probably three dozen meals." At least. He slides a trash bin out from under the table and starts dumping things in it.

[no_longer_a_king]

"At the very least," Arturia said, going to the other side of the table to help remove and discard things into the bin.

"thank you, by the way. I appreciate the help."

[greyerrant]

Loken is quiet for a long time, looking down at the somewhat diminutive counter guardian, clearly weighing how to answer the question, then says, "Because I was close to someone who looked very much like you, and would have been as a father to them, if I could have. Our time was short, but it was a bright spot in my life."

He looks away, his scarred face turning stony. "But you are not her, I have accepted that."

[no_longer_a_king]

"I see." Another version of herself in another world then? She knew of them, true, and saw them separately to herself, but this was the first time she had met someone unconnected to the Grail War as far as she knew.

"I am glad you accepted that. I have some in the past who think me someone else and go to far in trying to 'prove' I am them." The Caster of the Fourth War thinking her Ruler, for example. Though now that she had met the woman herself Arturia had to question his sanity even more. The two of them looked nothing alike, though with how deformed Caster's eyes were, she would not be surprised if it was simply the fact his vision was terrible.

[greyerrant]

"I deal in truth, even as the world turns to lies. So if I weren't to accept that truth about you, I'd be a damn hypocrite." He smiles a bit at Arturia, but it is more a muscular reflex than a felt thing, his eyes still distant as he looks back to her.

"I hope... I would hope that person finally understood. Understanding is very important, especially how close we are to the end, and for whatever is to come now."

He touches his scarred armor for a moment, and almost says something else, but stops himself.

[no_longer_a_king]

"I do not know. He is quite mad. I think the only reason he believes me at all now is due to the person he mistook me for residing in the Tower. Someone who, fortunately, is one of the sanest people I ever met."

She sighed, her posture straightening slightly as he mentioned the countdown fast approaching zero.

"Whatever is to come, I cannot bring myself to detest my time here and, one way or another, it will come to an end. Be it the countdown reaching zero or some other means: out suffering will stop soon."

[greyerrant]

"Sanity is hard-won and easily lost, and the struggle to regain it is even harder. I was once a mad beast, looking for a place to die. Even now, my brother haunts my dreams, at times." He shakes his head. Not his place to talk about Torgaddon, not now, "Perhaps... this man can be saved though. Brought back. Loyalty, honor, and brotherhood saved me. If there is good or honor in him, if there ever was, perhaps the right person can appeal to that."

Garviel thinks about his time here. "To me, it was just another war, in the eternal crusade that will have been my life. I just want to accomplish something worthwhile, first, if we can. Carve out some mark of existing, redeem something from nothing, even if it is only memories."

He looks at Saber, and says, "I take it you'll have memories, fond ones, of this place? Despite everything."

[no_longer_a_king]

"Many. I, too, was in a situation where I had to fight constantly. Despite the circumstances here, this is the most freedom I have had in a very long time."

She shifts her weight from one leg to the other, allowing herself a moment to think about Caster.

"I do not know if he can be saved or not. I know the one who mistook me for him will try as they had been quite close, but it is not my place to interfere with them so long as he is not harming anyone."

Valentine's Day

[warriorscribe]

Enoch nearly trips over a Miniblin making a "strategic" retreat up the stairs, and then nearly collides with the one chasing it. He only avoids this fate by pressing himself up against the tower's central column to give her a wide berth as she runs past.

Oh. It's her, he thinks, a bitterness settling in heavily where he might once have been happy to see her. "Watch where you're going!" he calls.

He, too, has a heart mark, and a note on his clothes. Surely this will end well.

[no_longer_a_king]

It will end in sunshine and roses, of course. Annoyance wells in Arturia's chest where normally there would only be consideration. Normally she wouldn't say a thing, but then a familiar voice calls out and her stomach twists as she turns.

Oh. It's him. One of their 'leaders', as it were.

"Maybe you should be more careful," she says, noting which door her prey entered before turning to face the man fully.

[warriorscribe]

"I should be more careful? Am I the one running on the stairs? You could kill someone."

The note of concern for other people is only present in his words, in tone, it's difficult to distinguish in the obvious disdain he has for Arturia.

[no_longer_a_king]

"Why should I worry about that when there are any number of things that could kill us anyway?"

Really, why should she? Death was only a passing thing here. An inconvenience at most. Why should she care if she or anyone else here died? Jason would only revive them within the day.

[warriorscribe]

"Because you don't need to add to it! We aren't talking about grains of sand in a desert, each of little consequence! The stairs are frequented and often safer than the levels they connect. You're making them a danger they need not be!"

It's only his hate that isn't sensible, it seems. Not that he realizes this, of course.

[no_longer_a_king]

"We'll come back the next day anyway."

It's true. Her heart gone or no, that is how Arturia feels about death in this place. It's something of little to no lasting consequence. What does it matter if they die here?