last_free_city | ITP: Wandering

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ITP: Wandering

[Action: Throughout Midgard]

[This was not what she'd expected when she had agreed to come here. If she's honest with herself she isn't sure just what she'd been expecting. The last Saber remembers clearly was being on Camlann Hill, her body in excruciating pain, and then.... it's a haze what the Valkyries had said to her even though she remembers the idea behind it and Hephaestus had been kind enough to answer her questions once she was able to. Saber supposes it might have been the blood loss making her delirious at the time, but she remembers agreeing. She had resolved to live without regrets, right?

So she wanders the city, her damaged armor had been repaired and sent ahead to her apartment while she'd been healing. Excalibur, on the other hand, was returned to her and she used invisible air to fashion a sheath at her waist so that she could carry it with her unseen now that she could no longer summon it out of the ether like before. It was always best to be prepared though she felt naked walking like this without her armor on. Light as it was, getting into it would be a hassle now. And she'd enjoyed being able to skip the chore of tying her armor on and removing it at the end of a battle, but that was a fair price to pay for being human again.

That was another she she knew she'd have to get used to, being human again. Saber had expected to die on that hill not get another chance, a proper chance, at living out her life. Everything about life before felt so distant now. Could she even call herself Saber anymore?

While these thoughts go through her mind she looks through the city to get the best feel for the terrain. If she's truly meant to fight for this place she fully intends to get to know it well. It could very well be her home for years before they managed to make even a dent in their enemies' forces.]

(ooc: Putting this up while I have a moment. Will tag replies to both this and Goku's post once I get home from work later on.)

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[As luck would have it, Gawain was also out and about. He wanted to get familiarized with the city just in case he needed to get anything himself -- or if the enemy infiltrated the walls.

He had not been expecting this, though. He was about ten feet away and walking in the opposite direction when he spotted her.]

Y-Your Majesty?!

[He hadn't expected this? Well, neither had she. Then again the last.... how long has it been for her? A month? Two? Three? She's lost track of time and still half feels like she's in a dream. The last she'd seen of Gawain had been in battle before she'd gotten separated from everyone else to face Mordred. She'd often wondered during her time in the Grail Wars what had become of him. She turns to her nephew, appraising him for a moment and pleased to find him well.

Had he been approached by a Valkyrie as she had?]

Sir Gawain? Have you come to serve here as well? [She lets some hesitation slip into her voice. Irisviel had started her down the road to leaving the mask she normally wore behind, something continued by Shirou in how he treated her more like a guest in his home than as a tool or a King.]

[That was definitely his king. No doubt about it. Gawain bent down on one knee.]

Yes, Your Majesty, I have. I answered the call when it came to me.

[The thought that Arturia had become a Servant crossed Gawain's mind...but he didn't sense a Servant's presence from her. When he noticed that, he breathed a sigh of relief.]

[Oh geez. The knee. Even if she didn't show it people kneeling before her like that flustered her. She isn't deserving of such a show of respect from one of her own knights and she holds up her hand in front of him, beckoning him to get to his feet.]

Please, Sir Gawain, rise. In this place where we fight for the same cause we are as equals. There is no need to act as such.

[Gawain does as he is commanded. However...]

You will always be my king, Your Majesty. And paying you proper reverence is the very least I can do after my foolish actions in Camlann. Had I not run off after Sir Lancelot...

[He really had run off after Lancelot?! That whole situation had been the nail that had finally shattered her heart after the affair had started it cracking.]

No, Gawain. No one could blame you for your actions after what I allowed to happen to your kin. [It was her fault his brothers had been slain by Lancelot, after all.] For that you owe me no reverence.

...I would be lying if I claimed that the deaths of my brothers no longer hurt...but I have put them behind me. Before I died, I went so far as to implore Lancelot to reconcile with you. Furthermore, had I not embarked on my foolish quest for vengeance, the battle might have turned out very differently. I am the one who must atone for his actions.

[He's the one that implored Lancelot to--!

Arturia shakes her head at that, looks past his shoulder. He knows her well enough to know that when she does that, even when wearing the Kingly Mask, what he's said has struck a cord within her.]

There's nothing I could forgive Lancelot for, either. If I may be honest.... I understood. Completely. The fault was entirely my own.

No one has anything to atone for but myself. [Even if she'd decided to let it go and put it behind her, seeing Gawain, hearing him say this. It's making old feelings rise up and it's hard to force it down when this is how she's thought of herself for so long. From her perspective she's only given up her wish for two days, even!

Furthermore:]

....before your death? [then that means:] Are you a Heroic Spirit here?

[Gawain was about to offer his own response...but then the mention of Heroic Spirits threw him off completely.]

Huh? Wait a moment, how do you know about Heroic Spirits?

[how does she even explain? Would Gawain even understand? For a second she considers trying to gloss it over, but no. Gawain was someone who, in her mind, was directly harmed by her actions. He deserves the truth from her.]

Until a few days ago, I had made a contract with the world and became one myself.

[Her face is perfectly neutral, not an ounce of emotion showing. The Kingly Mask she had worn firmly back in place to try and spare herself the pity she didn't deserve.]

[Gawain closed his eyes and lowered his head.]

I had hoped you would be spared such hardships. After all, being beholden to the Throne of Heroes -- or the Earth -- is more a curse than anything.

I know so. [Diarmuid.... Irisviel.... Archer....]

Unlike others I had the option to step down from it. [Just how much has Gawain been through?]

Would you like to discuss this someplace more private? [RE: Not outside in the street.]

...Yes. I think that would be most prudent. Is there a venue you have in mind?

I was on my way to the Palace District. Hephaestus had my armor repaired and sent ahead to an apartment there while I was healing in one of his chambers. Would you care to accompany me?

As you wish, Your Majesty. Lead the way.

[And so they wander through the city sharing small talk along the way. How is Gawain getting along? He looks well. Etc.

Then they get to the Palace District and HOPEY SHITAKE MUSHROOMS IN TARTAR SAUCE, BATMAN! THIS PLACE IN LUXURIOUS. Arturia thinks it's too much, but keeps the comment to herself as they head into the Villa to the apartment she'd been assigned and.... wow. It's like staying with Irisviel at the beginning of the Fourth Grail War all over again. She finds the fridge has some food in it already and finds some juice she offers to Gawain.]

Please, sit. I have a feeling we will be taking a while to catch up with one another.

[Wow. And Gawain had thought that the villa in the Grand Library district was nice. At any rate, once in Saber's apartment, Gawain takes a seat and accepts the juice offered to him.]

Yes. Much has happened during my time as a Heroic Spirit, and I daresay that you can say the same.

Indeed, it has. [She takes a seat across from him. It vaguely reminds her of times they'd chat in private in hers and Guinevere's chambers, as she and her wife had tended to do with the knights on occasion.]

Which Grail War did you participate in, if I may ask?

...Which one?

[Gawain looks momentarily bewildered.]

I cannot answer that question, because I do not know myself. I know there were many before, but no specific number.

I.... see.... [So Rin and Shirou didn't succeed in dismantling it?]

I myself was a member of both the Fourth and Fifth Grail Wars.

Fourth and fifth...so then you must have been part of the wars that occurred on the physical plane. If I may ask, were there only seven teams of Master and Servant?

[That surprises her.]

Yes, both times. Were they not so for you during yours?

It was indeed not so. From the point in time I was summoned, the world had endured a calamity that drained it of all its mana decades prior. The only reason a Holy Grail War existed was because of a crystal acting as a powerful computer deep beneath the lunar surface. Spirit hackers -- the magi of the new world -- would use avatars to insert themselves into an artificial world and summon Servants there. The Holy Grail War there was a tournament permitting the participation of no more than 128 Masters, each partnered with the Servant they had summoned.

[Gawking. That's right. Outright gawking. He's probably only seen her gawk like that once or twice. 128 people for--] For a corrupted Grail that would destroy everything if unleashed?