[ goddamn it. he can't not notice those hands and the way she trembles and he doesn't get why it bothers her; why would it make her happier if he told her something not very happy?
[She waits until she's pulled herself off the bed, wincing as she placed her weight back on her feet. Something that didn't usually happen- she'd largely lost feeling in the things more than a year now, but. The discomfort returned the less they were maintained, and it had been some time since Sebastian's departure.
Better to focus on the question.]
... there are many legends, some conflicting. Winged beasts with scales and fangs and sometimes the ability to breathe fire. Wurm, we call them. Men cursed, or great beasts ageless and from a time before man.
Man and gods alike-- they find few beasts to hunt that better demonstrate their power and skill, yes? What's the first thing done in order to slay a dragon?
[ Masamune does his best not to focus on her and any of her movements. He's too sensitive to them and just as he has started so suddenly she could signal him a need to back pedal and make it stupid to have tried at all. ]
[ He nods. It isn't really a trick question but it would be hard for her to pin down even if she's certainly understand very well. ]
One that will take them out of the sky. Something that can hold them down and rob them of their greatest advantage. The only thing more praise-worthy for a hunter chasing a dragon than slaying it is to tame it.
Do you know what Gilgamesh has not yet bothered to pursue as a goal in his five thousand years in existence, Sieglinde?
[Even if she'd been ready to try and storm out, she stays, too curious not to, and too reluctant to reveal how mincing her walk has gotten while he's watching directly.
This was starting to be more like a metaphor than a trick question. He also provides the answer, so she doesn't even have to think about it.]
Taming a dragon... ?
[Like Saint Martha, or Saint Romain? Those stories, though... they didn't end well for the dragons.]
But, that doesn't really reveal much to you, does it? Or have you made the connection regarding the dragon that the King of Heroes is determined to keep under his heel?
[Sieglinde made a point of not asking Gilgamesh about other people. Not about Rin, nor Masamune, nor anyone, really. She'd heard their warnings about Gilgamesh, and disregarded them for her own selfish reasons. The power and magic he offered her was far too tempting, even if one disregarded her lust for his genetic material.
And there was such a thing as privacy. Even knowing something was going on between the two of them, it never occurred to her that she should demand Gilgamesh tell her what it was. It was an issue between men, and since it did not involve her as far as she knew, she'd waited, just hoping Masamune would tell her.
Only a sigh comes out.]
So that's what it is then?
[It wasn't as if she found it beyond the man. He'd lived for centuries, and immortal beings were known for their fickleness- one she could understand. Fleeting attempts to stave off the boredom of eternity. She knew she was likely something of the same, merely in a different form. But what was she to say about it?]
[ Masamune is delayed in his response but he forces a grin to crack through. ]
Sometimes, nothing will take an individual higher than forcing something into a position it refuses to be in. The defiance burns both sides hot— one with the need to exert it perpetually and the other more thrilled to break it into pieces.
[ he folds his arms across his chest now. ] He's a king but I'm a warlord, too, and that just makes my refusal to give in stronger. It's a gross game of power and control—one between a perceived master and a perceived pet.
[ If there's ever been an expression that he wants to simply spit to get the taste of the words just spoken from his mouth out, Masamune is wearing it now. It also takes a lot of mental effort to not be nasty and add a are you happy now? comment to the mixture. ]
Maybe I assumed this knowledge would make it harder for you to keep going about as you wished. Maybe I'm wrong. The point is, so long as you are not exploited against me or otherwise in danger, I have no right to interfere. [ He shifts back now, moving further onto the bed and towards the corner to lean back against the wall. ]
Why you feel me keeping something like this from you means I don't trust you or think you mature enough To handle it, though... [ he shrugs, unable to find the appropriate words.
Right now, to Masamune, he can't think of a worst feeling to experience. Telling some shit like that to a kid on her birthday about someone she likes and someone she feels indebted to has to be at least somewhat dismaying to hear. Masamune normally has no problem making things about him, but this is too much-- even for him.
This is especially so when the young dragon feels it's inevitable that exposing something like this forces a need to take a side. In a way, Masamune wants her to take a side because privacy and staying out of matters is bullshit to him when it involves people you're supposedly close to.
( On the other hand, he does not, because he has zero confidence if she were to take a side it would be his. It isn't even that he concludes such by thinking she likes the servant more than him; rather, it's gauged on what she has shown important to her interests and what her priorities are. Magic and science and that knowledge are the child's priorities.
It's nothing to do with favoritism, merely fact. )
But hell, what does he really know? These people aren't from his world of thinking. It's probably him who's the naive and unfortunate one caught in a more idealistic consideration of people and relationships and what they mean. ] Do what you like, I will hold my tongue and my claws, so long as you aren't dragged in.
[ It's a little cold in delivery, but mostly it's overwhelmingly soaked in defeat and guilt. He's not angry, merely frustrated. Explaining it to her doesn't make him feel any better than her feeling he can't trust her and he feels worse that's it's all complicated trash.
-- As far as lying about things sexually, well, perhaps that's just left untouched because that part just makes it more fucked up. Sieglinde definitely needs no help on nightmare fuel concerning the more intolerable ways to turn primal aspects of nature into a weapon.
( besides, the fact still remains she does not trust him, either. After all, how else would one so adamantly conclude that avoiding speaking of a relationship means there is no trust or that it is otherwise definitely a negative mark towards her age so much as something entirely more heartfelt in intent? People who assume the worst only know of the worst-- from experience, by teachings, or by both. This child has had no one keep things from her other than to hurt her. Why he is even frustrated by what she can't help is beyond him.
--No, it's not. He feels like he has not tried hard enough to help fix it. he sees too much of himself before Kojuro entered his life. He hates looking in a past mirror and being helpless on how to assist.) ]
[The contests of men seemed so very foolish to little girls- and to Sieglinde, if not for different reasons. Possessed of maturity beyond her years (in some things), beyond even many adults, it was not difficult for her to remove herself from the situation- to look at it rationally.
To guess why Gilgamesh might be doing what he was. Toying with someone who seemed rebellious and powerful in order to simply have something to do, some power game to play to stave off centuries of repetition. To guess why Masamune would react tempestuously to such attempts, why he might try and hide it.]
I do not appreciate things being kept from me. That is all.
[But that didn't mean she accepted it, answering where he trailed off, to why you feel me keeping something like this from you means I don't trust you or think you mature enough to handle it, though. She didn't think it needed elaboration. After all the lies her life had ended up being, everything from the method of her birth to the nature of her magic... even the smallest lie thought to be in her self-interest felt worse than having her feet broken ever had.
She's left staring at him sullenly, gaze slowly dropping to the sheets, fingers curling tighter in them on the edge of his mattress, the more energetic happiness from moments before all but erased. At least she didn't feel as if a special day had been ruined, because really- it already had been, falling as it had on a day when fire rained from the skies and they were all starving, but. Was she supposed to reassure him, then? Of what?]
If I felt like I was truly in danger, I would not deal with him.
[Was that reassuring? She both appreciated his concern and disliked it, in that confoundedly confusing way, being young enough to not like being fussed over when she thought herself capable of handling something yet old enough to see why he would be worried.]
He has never even asked me about you- and I wouldn't allow such a thing anyway.
[To be used against someone she cared about. Even if Gilgamesh had the ability to offer her power and magic, secrets she desired to know... she'd had more than enough of being the puppet of others. With another sigh, she pressed her fingers to her temple, brow furrowed as she lapsed into silence again, until her gaze moved back up to him.]
- you will tell me, won't you? If things go too far.
[Right now, from what little she knew, it seemed like the sorts of petty rivalries between men that she'd read about countless times. And as of yet, no major wounds of his she's treated have been attributed to the Servant. Which meant that now, she was content at letting the two of them handle this themselves, content to respect some twisted sense of privacy or neutrality.
[She did seem relieved at least, removing her fingers from her temple and instead laying hands on one of the breakfast rolls she'd thrown at him, pulling it apart with her fingers before stuffing a piece in her mouth.
That was a good sign, at least. She didn't eat when she was truly angry or upset. Still. One last warning.]
And do not lay hands upon me again in such a salacious fashion unless you plan to take responsibility!
[Which sounded way less intimidating with half a mouth full, but.]
[She just fixes him with A Look. Swallows her breakfast, finally. ... But she also didn't follow up with what she did come here for, if not the discussion she'd already pried out of him...
And there was no more breakfast left to kill time with to avoid asking.]
[Even if she didn't want to admit it... she would have to ask someone eventually. If she didn't ask him, then who? Gilgamesh was out of the question... Kida, potentially? While part of her didn't want to ask, was still cross at him slightly...
He'd finally owned up to things, so it would be her at fault if she held it against him yet.
Her gaze gradually fell again, down to her hands and down further to the tiny heels she stood in. Sent the signals to wriggle toes and received only slight twinges of pain in response.]
... my feet need to be rebound before we depart for the next mission.
[She forced herself to put it into words, fingers twisting up his sheets.]
It is a grotesque task, and I would not fault you if you did not wish to do it- know that.
All right. Tell me when you are ready and I'll do it.
[ He makes no effort to insist it's not a grotesque task, to go over the top in trying to lighten the subject, but, why would he? It's something worse than taking care of his own eye, including the fact it's inflicted deliberately, but the self-consciousness about an ugly thing attached to one's self is very well empathized. ]
[The lack of insistence was appreciated when it was something she would view as falsity. Even Wolfram, who had been tending to her feet for years, who had even been the one to break them with his own hands, had sometimes been unable to hide the expression on his face when tending them. Let alone someone viewing them for the first time- what actually lay beneath the delicately arched shoes, the layers of ribbon and bandage.]
... As soon as possible, I suppose. Since Sebastian departed they have been unattended.
[And it had... sort of gotten to the point where she'd had to use stronger and stronger smelling herbs in her bandage soaks to disguise the hints of rot.]
Okay. Give me a few minutes, we can do it within the hour. [ Masamune beckons for her to come crawl over to him where he resides against the wall on the bed. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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He grits his teeth. ]
What do you know about dragons?
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Better to focus on the question.]
... there are many legends, some conflicting. Winged beasts with scales and fangs and sometimes the ability to breathe fire. Wurm, we call them. Men cursed, or great beasts ageless and from a time before man.
[Fingers curled in the sheets instead.]
What of them?
[And why ask?]
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[ Masamune does his best not to focus on her and any of her movements. He's too sensitive to them and just as he has started so suddenly she could signal him a need to back pedal and make it stupid to have tried at all. ]
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Prepare a weapon fit to slay such a creature.
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One that will take them out of the sky. Something that can hold them down and rob them of their greatest advantage. The only thing more praise-worthy for a hunter chasing a dragon than slaying it is to tame it.
Do you know what Gilgamesh has not yet bothered to pursue as a goal in his five thousand years in existence, Sieglinde?
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This was starting to be more like a metaphor than a trick question. He also provides the answer, so she doesn't even have to think about it.]
Taming a dragon... ?
[Like Saint Martha, or Saint Romain? Those stories, though... they didn't end well for the dragons.]
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But, that doesn't really reveal much to you, does it? Or have you made the connection regarding the dragon that the King of Heroes is determined to keep under his heel?
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And there was such a thing as privacy. Even knowing something was going on between the two of them, it never occurred to her that she should demand Gilgamesh tell her what it was. It was an issue between men, and since it did not involve her as far as she knew, she'd waited, just hoping Masamune would tell her.
Only a sigh comes out.]
So that's what it is then?
[It wasn't as if she found it beyond the man. He'd lived for centuries, and immortal beings were known for their fickleness- one she could understand. Fleeting attempts to stave off the boredom of eternity. She knew she was likely something of the same, merely in a different form. But what was she to say about it?]
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Sometimes, nothing will take an individual higher than forcing something into a position it refuses to be in. The defiance burns both sides hot— one with the need to exert it perpetually and the other more thrilled to break it into pieces.
[ he folds his arms across his chest now. ] He's a king but I'm a warlord, too, and that just makes my refusal to give in stronger. It's a gross game of power and control—one between a perceived master and a perceived pet.
[ If there's ever been an expression that he wants to simply spit to get the taste of the words just spoken from his mouth out, Masamune is wearing it now. It also takes a lot of mental effort to not be nasty and add a are you happy now? comment to the mixture. ]
Maybe I assumed this knowledge would make it harder for you to keep going about as you wished. Maybe I'm wrong. The point is, so long as you are not exploited against me or otherwise in danger, I have no right to interfere. [ He shifts back now, moving further onto the bed and towards the corner to lean back against the wall. ]
Why you feel me keeping something like this from you means I don't trust you or think you mature enough To handle it, though... [ he shrugs, unable to find the appropriate words.
Right now, to Masamune, he can't think of a worst feeling to experience. Telling some shit like that to a kid on her birthday about someone she likes and someone she feels indebted to has to be at least somewhat dismaying to hear. Masamune normally has no problem making things about him, but this is too much-- even for him.
This is especially so when the young dragon feels it's inevitable that exposing something like this forces a need to take a side. In a way, Masamune wants her to take a side because privacy and staying out of matters is bullshit to him when it involves people you're supposedly close to.
( On the other hand, he does not, because he has zero confidence if she were to take a side it would be his. It isn't even that he concludes such by thinking she likes the servant more than him; rather, it's gauged on what she has shown important to her interests and what her priorities are. Magic and science and that knowledge are the child's priorities.
It's nothing to do with favoritism, merely fact. )
But hell, what does he really know? These people aren't from his world of thinking. It's probably him who's the naive and unfortunate one caught in a more idealistic consideration of people and relationships and what they mean. ] Do what you like, I will hold my tongue and my claws, so long as you aren't dragged in.
[ It's a little cold in delivery, but mostly it's overwhelmingly soaked in defeat and guilt. He's not angry, merely frustrated. Explaining it to her doesn't make him feel any better than her feeling he can't trust her and he feels worse that's it's all complicated trash.
-- As far as lying about things sexually, well, perhaps that's just left untouched because that part just makes it more fucked up. Sieglinde definitely needs no help on nightmare fuel concerning the more intolerable ways to turn primal aspects of nature into a weapon.
( besides, the fact still remains she does not trust him, either. After all, how else would one so adamantly conclude that avoiding speaking of a relationship means there is no trust or that it is otherwise definitely a negative mark towards her age so much as something entirely more heartfelt in intent? People who assume the worst only know of the worst-- from experience, by teachings, or by both. This child has had no one keep things from her other than to hurt her. Why he is even frustrated by what she can't help is beyond him.
--No, it's not. He feels like he has not tried hard enough to help fix it. he sees too much of himself before Kojuro entered his life. He hates looking in a past mirror and being helpless on how to assist.) ]
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To guess why Gilgamesh might be doing what he was. Toying with someone who seemed rebellious and powerful in order to simply have something to do, some power game to play to stave off centuries of repetition. To guess why Masamune would react tempestuously to such attempts, why he might try and hide it.]
I do not appreciate things being kept from me. That is all.
[But that didn't mean she accepted it, answering where he trailed off, to why you feel me keeping something like this from you means I don't trust you or think you mature enough to handle it, though. She didn't think it needed elaboration. After all the lies her life had ended up being, everything from the method of her birth to the nature of her magic... even the smallest lie thought to be in her self-interest felt worse than having her feet broken ever had.
She's left staring at him sullenly, gaze slowly dropping to the sheets, fingers curling tighter in them on the edge of his mattress, the more energetic happiness from moments before all but erased. At least she didn't feel as if a special day had been ruined, because really- it already had been, falling as it had on a day when fire rained from the skies and they were all starving, but. Was she supposed to reassure him, then? Of what?]
If I felt like I was truly in danger, I would not deal with him.
[Was that reassuring? She both appreciated his concern and disliked it, in that confoundedly confusing way, being young enough to not like being fussed over when she thought herself capable of handling something yet old enough to see why he would be worried.]
He has never even asked me about you- and I wouldn't allow such a thing anyway.
[To be used against someone she cared about. Even if Gilgamesh had the ability to offer her power and magic, secrets she desired to know... she'd had more than enough of being the puppet of others. With another sigh, she pressed her fingers to her temple, brow furrowed as she lapsed into silence again, until her gaze moved back up to him.]
- you will tell me, won't you? If things go too far.
[Right now, from what little she knew, it seemed like the sorts of petty rivalries between men that she'd read about countless times. And as of yet, no major wounds of his she's treated have been attributed to the Servant. Which meant that now, she was content at letting the two of them handle this themselves, content to respect some twisted sense of privacy or neutrality.
If that changed, though... so would her stance.]
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[ Masamune says it rather easily, although there is a pause before he adds an additional comment: ]
Although, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if it could be hidden at that point whether I wanted to do so or not.
[ He gives a light wave. ]
I think he's done with me for a while, though.
[ Some new famous last words right there. ]
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[She did seem relieved at least, removing her fingers from her temple and instead laying hands on one of the breakfast rolls she'd thrown at him, pulling it apart with her fingers before stuffing a piece in her mouth.
That was a good sign, at least. She didn't eat when she was truly angry or upset. Still. One last warning.]
And do not lay hands upon me again in such a salacious fashion unless you plan to take responsibility!
[Which sounded way less intimidating with half a mouth full, but.]
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[She waved the question off as if it were the silliest thing she'd heard today, (and it might be, the day was still young).
Chew, chew, chew.]
And for deflowering a maiden- if that is the case at the time.
[Just providing for future possibilities, here.]
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[ he looks to her, exasperated by her adding the probability factor to one and not the other. Of all the ways--. ]
Maybe you should swap the order of those two things when you say that.
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Why? I certainly am not likely to be a maiden any longer if it takes four years.
[She's quite Sure of That, and says it while reaching for more of her breakfast.]
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[ baby should be less likely than you sleeping around with guys, Sieglinde!!! ]
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[Says the twelve year old around a mouthful of breakfast roll, as if she thinks she might have to give Masamune sex ed...]
It's best not to think it will not happen...
[That's how young peasant women end up having to abandon babies in fields in the middle of the night, okay.]
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Let's talk about ponies. [ he's too innocent to get sex ed from this twelve year old jfc. ]
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I didn't come here to speak about ponies...
[She just fixes him with A Look. Swallows her breakfast, finally. ... But she also didn't follow up with what she did come here for, if not the discussion she'd already pried out of him...
And there was no more breakfast left to kill time with to avoid asking.]
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He'd finally owned up to things, so it would be her at fault if she held it against him yet.
Her gaze gradually fell again, down to her hands and down further to the tiny heels she stood in. Sent the signals to wriggle toes and received only slight twinges of pain in response.]
... my feet need to be rebound before we depart for the next mission.
[She forced herself to put it into words, fingers twisting up his sheets.]
It is a grotesque task, and I would not fault you if you did not wish to do it- know that.
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All right. Tell me when you are ready and I'll do it.
[ He makes no effort to insist it's not a grotesque task, to go over the top in trying to lighten the subject, but, why would he? It's something worse than taking care of his own eye, including the fact it's inflicted deliberately, but the self-consciousness about an ugly thing attached to one's self is very well empathized. ]
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... As soon as possible, I suppose. Since Sebastian departed they have been unattended.
[And it had... sort of gotten to the point where she'd had to use stronger and stronger smelling herbs in her bandage soaks to disguise the hints of rot.]
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Do you have anything to help you with the pain?
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Stupid sibling feels
kicks at dirt tsuntsun
kiss and make up