towerofanimus | just this once, everybody lives!

[Grainne breaks into a full tilt laugh, placing a hand over her mouth.]

Of course there is. There is pleasure in being generous as much as there is in being selfish. It is the important thing to know how to balance the two. As a parent-- and as a ruler-- it is the first things one learns.

[Sobering a little, she fixes him with an calculating look.]

Have you ever tried it? You want to claim every possible pleasure... then it is surely your duty to find out if you have been deceiving yourself, isn't it? Are you so sure there is no way to take pleasure in other people's joy? It would be a challenge for someone like you, I think.

Of course there is pleasure in other people's joy -- and I do relish the sight of it, when it comes to certain people.

But it is as I say. I take no pleasure in philanthropy, and I say that as someone who once ruled with an even hand.

[He steps away from the windows, moving across the floor in Grainne's direction with steady, measured steps.]

What are you doing here, Caster?

An even hand? [Grainne looks skeptical, though she honestly can't say either way as her knowledge only extends to the legend.]

Oh, me?

[Shifting the bag on her hip behind her, she shrugs, keeping the growing unsettled feeling about the way he moves to herself.]

I will assume that you mean here on this floor and not the Tower in general.

[Glancing around at the lounge, she hesitates before answering.]

It is of no real importance, but I am looking for a suitable place.

Do not trust everything you hear of the legends. My epic is great, but it misses the finer details.

[That's all he says in the face of her skepticism, stopping his stroll towards her once he's only a handful of steps away from her.]

A suitable place for what?

[Once again, his eyes flit over to her bag. He seems to be quick to embrace something mildly curious after the drudgery of the topic of death.]

[A small smile passes over her face.]

Oh... something to keep me occupied now that the excitement has passed. Something very dull and tedious, I'm afraid, and only interesting to a Caster. The mystery is more fun than the reality.

[Teasing him like this, she probably will regret later. Her bag is only draped over one shoulder with her arm holding it away, but she doesn't really think he will try to take it just to see what the mystery is.]

[He huffs indignantly at the obvious tease and rises at it, crossing those last few steps between them to tug at the strap of her bag -- and perhaps brush his knuckles over her chest in the process.]

The better mysteries are those that are still interesting when they are revealed.

Edited 2014-05-19 02:05 (UTC)

[Well, she can't say she hadn't expected him to do something, but that regret came a lot quicker than she thought.

He gets the bag from her, if only because she is too surprised at that particular contact to react, much less resist.

Her face might be turning an interesting shade of red and those noises she's making sound an awful lot like squeaks.]

Y-you could have asked!

[It is the only thing she can get out, though what he could have asked about is a little less clear.]

[If he looks inside the bag, there's paraphernalia that a Caster might need to set up a workshop. At least the start of one.]

[He laughs in amusement when he hears Grainne's reactions, hefting her bag up with one hand so he can look at it and take in her face as well.]

Why ask when it's right where I can take it?

[But he doesn't make any effort to put distance between them to keep his prize, open up the bag with unnecessary flourish and peeking inside. Trinkets, to him. Things of potential, but of little value by themselves.]

A busy little thing, you seem to be.

[Grainne's face goes even more red than it was before. How dar- okay so she knows why he dares but that, that's just not right. Those are her things... Flustered and enrage, she stomps her foot ineffectively.]

It is ill manners to just take! I do not care who you are! Give that back!

[She reaches out to grab her bag and give it a strong pull away from him.]

[He releases the bag just as Grainne intends to give it a strong pull, smirking at her indignation.]

And even more ill manners to look, is that it?

[Pulling back so hard on something that offers no resistance is never a good idea, and Grainne is set off balance, having to step back twice to regain it. Several items fall out of the bag and scatter on the ground, mostly herbs and such.

She glares at him when she's stable, and starts picking up her things.]

It depends on what kind of looking it is. Are you finished being a perverted brat? If this is the kind of thing I can expect when I return home, maybe I should change my tactics...

[He grins and follows her to the ground as she begins collecting the dropped ingredients, plucking one of the herb sprigs and twirling it between his fingers.]

No matter how you change your tactics, you would not beat another version of me.

[And if she did, that entire world would be renounced from existence because that kind of Gilgamesh was just too pathetic to be acknowledged.]

What could you possibly hope to do with things like this?

[Something dangerous sparks in her eyes, and she looks up at him.]

Through some way, I have to. I have to, else everything I have done so far is for nothing, and that I will not allow! It is my last hope, and I will not let you stop me.

[His question about the herbs is ignored, or rather overwritten by the determination coming out of her.]

Death cannot be the only option left at every door.

Do not be so overdramatic.

[He snorts, though his lips remained lifted at the corners as he flicks the herb at her and goes to pick up another one.]

If you are a Heroic Spirit, it is hardly your last hope. Unless your hopes are rooted in this specific Master, there are other chances for you to fight. Perhaps even in a Grail War where I or my companion are not around to strike you down!

I...

[Grainne sits back on the floor, angry now mixing in with the determination, stopped for the moment that yes, he may be right, but...

It's the 'but' that she is having trouble with.]

Other chances! Where I lose my memory of this time...

[Would it really be so bad about losing her memory now, after being through so much here?

Wait... that's it.]

I can't lose my memory otherwise I will lose him. I would.... I would not know what to say to him to make things right. Everything that happened here would be repeated...

I cannot go through that again...

[Her anger deflates a little, and then more quietly,]

...and perhaps even if I did remember it would make no difference.

[As soon as the words are out, she realizes then just who she is talking to. With an infuriated huff, she grabs at some of the herbs and stuffs them in her bag.]

I do not even know why I am telling you that. It is not as if you would care. He does not, so why would a stranger?

[He raises a brow as Grainne stutters through her thoughts, but doesn't move to interrupt her miserable ramblings. Really, it's something that ticks away at the invisible clock, and his patience had become a dull thing in the past year, so he sees no reason to not listen.]

Clearly you want to tell someone. Perhaps you simply don't care who anymore.

Perhaps.

[She's not going to deny a possibility, not when she is too unsure of anything and has been for weeks. Frowning, she looks around for more of her missing herbs, using that to focus most of her attention instead.]

When you know all of the outcomes, the game becomes less exciting.

[It was a quote she heard somewhere, though at the time she did not understand it.

Pausing, she looks up at him.]

...Ah. So, that is how it is...

[Archer twirls the herb he had picked up, using it as a truly basic distraction in the face of no further conversation.

When he hears that quote, his eyes avert from the little sprig of green and back to Grainne.]

Realized something?

I talk about it because I am trying to work out what can't be worked out. For me, no matter what I choose the game's end is always the same. It would rest on other people's choices and I know I would lose there. I have already lost.

[Sitting up straight, she reorganizes the contents in her back to fit comfortably inside it again, and then stands up.]

You said you knew every pleasure possible... I suppose I understand what you meant now. It is a game for which you know every outcome, isn't it?

[He smirks at that. A spark of cleverness? Well, that was probably to be expected of a Caster, for whom there were no physical positives.]

Correct. When the world fails to present something new and exciting, I will of course be bored. Boredom becomes the normal state of existence.

Hmm.

[Grainne meets his smirk with a smile of her own. So his is a game of choice. It makes sense, in a way, but yet also...

That last herb he could keep if he wanted. She could get more.]

When the world fails... I see...

[She shakes her head, and the smile fades.]

Then I pity you. You, who chooses to be bored instead of using his head to find the hidden sparks of interest in even the mundane, who chooses to be entertained instead of taking the active role to shape the game. The observer instead of the game master.

I am... disappointed.

[Unlike Grainne's, Gilgamesh's smile doesn't fade; in fact, it grows stronger.]

Your disappointment is based on your own human rationalizing. But that in itself is not surprising -- you see only what's in your own world and time.

If I did not believe there was a hope that my boredom would be alleviated, I would not observe. The game master only relies on himself for entertainment; the observer relies on the world.

I think you misunderstand my disappointment...

[The smile is back, but just a tiny bit.]

There's so much potential in you that you can use, but you do not use it... You're rather boring.

[He laughs -- just a little. But his eyes are focused, considering, as he stretches.]

You are fortunate I do not have the temper I have heard of other versions of myself. It would not take much to do something about an insult.

[The herb he still holds is twisted around his finger.]

But as you are smiling, I do not think you believe it.

Not an insult, but an observation. I haven't made up my mind completely... there is much I don't know about you that could surprise me.

[She takes on a more serious look, shifting her bag to the other arm, giving him an overall thoroughly searching gaze.]

I think if you were insulted you would have done something already with or without a temper. Instead, you are thinking about it. Worried, maybe? And eve-... well, maybe there is something to what I said.

[Growing a little more distant, her attention wanders away from him and to the darkness outside.]

For the first time since coming here, I regret there is so little time left. I might have been interested to see if you can surprise me...

just this once, everybody lives!

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