[ to his credit, his voice only hardens, as if he's listening to a briefing in a war room rather than talking to a friend while outside in a forest of nothing.
He does not assume nor does he pass judgement quite yet, but the immediate aloofness that is like flipping a switch is as striking as a slap to the face. He's hard to read, but in this moment, it's obvious at least, that all her efforts had done something for his interactions with her. He's just shutting down.]
Upon Contracting with a Servant, a Master gains three Command Seals. Three unquestionable, undeniable orders that must be obeyed by the Servant. It's a powerful magic, and can be used to make them exceed their own physical or magical boundaries for a short time. If they fall in Battle, I've even found that the Seals can be used to revive them to full power.
[She hears the difference and it hurts, but she doesn't blame him. If anything, this is probably a good sign; it's better than the faintly bitter defeat he's used while talking about her strained relationship with the other King of Heroes.]
I don't believe this Gilgamesh has met you yet. Would... would you like me to keep it that way?
[It's a heavy, silent offer: would be like her to use a Command Seal, for his sake? She's edging around it, because Masamune is a warlord, not just her friend, and she doesn't want to make him feel like she's looking down on him.
[ Hakuno is right to tread carefully. It's a faceless game for them with voice only, but on his side the one - eyed dragon has both eyes open and it's impossible to tell what he is seeing, what with one eye being a human, and one now being a dragon 's.
The thing is, Masamune knows her type well. She is undeniably good and for the right and her heart is open to everyone who may want to be thought of within it. His first friend besides Kojuro, a friendship forged with an enemy daimyo' s most loyal general. Hakuno is his third, and they both suffer from an innocence of reality that they are struggling through. He wonders briefly why he finds that weakness he has such distaste for also exactly what makes them special and worthwhile.
It's why he keeps his temper so far, why the only hint even on his side of the black void they speak through, only one fist gripping a bow tightly trembles as a hint of what he's possibly holding back. He's assuming too much, he knows. He will not lash out in assumptions. Not ever, but especially not after what they have both been through due to that exact behavior. ]
... Are you intending to suggest you contracted with him even just a little for me? Or is this some kind of attempt at a peace offering because you knew I wouldn't like to hear what you are telling me you've done?
The people I care about factor into every decision I make. I told you that before, didn't I? I'm not... this isn't me taking a stand in front of you, or anything like that. But I know the worst capabilities of Gilgamesh, any Gilgamesh, and I know I need to... make contingencies against it. This Gilgamesh slept in repose for thousands of years in a sea of humanities sins, on the Far Side of the Moon Cell. He... before he came here, he sacrificed probably nine-tenths of his treasury, to keep the 'me' in his world from being deleted. ...erased from existence, sorry.
[It's not everything, but it's a key factor. He had sacrificed so much to save her, only to awaken in a world where she was wary and cold.]
As his acknowledged Master, contracted or not, I have a duty to curb his darker impulses before he goes the way of the other self he so disdains for his fallen state. His desire for my good regard is one thing, but I now have less... malleable options. And... I don't know what your feelings might be, in exact detail. But I wanted to extend the offer, even if you don't need or want it.
I don't know, Hakuno, did you truly consider everyone this time?
... So, you mean to say you went soft on this new Gilgamesh, threw out the logic you have been trying to instill in me that Gilgamesh will always be Gilgamesh, an arrogant and greedy tyrant because this Gilgamesh did things for another you. Things you didn't personally experience with him but had memories given to you.
Memories that you experienced and went through the motions of with an entirely different Gilgamesh, for that matter?
Basically, you felt so bad for this asshole that all your trust returned that you were so resistant of making easy to reacquire when I kept encouraging you to make things right with Gilgamesh but you refused because of what he did to me?
You picked a Gilgamesh you knew even less than another over me because of something you never even personally experienced with him?
[A touch of something hard, something sharp, rises in her tone to meet his.]
His War is one I have memories of, yes. He's from my world, if an adjacent timeline, and the Gilgamesh of my timeline shared those memories enough to throw his lot in with me and mine. A loyalty I didn't understand until I came here. And yes, I know what I said, but where exactly does not punishing someone loyal to me, someone who put my life above all else, exactly equate to forgiving someone who wronged me? Who physically proved I I was wrong to trust him? It isn't solely for your sake I'm keeping that one at arms length, you understand me?
[How dare you, a part of her wants to snarl.]
Yeah, you encouraged me, again and again, even tried to guilt me a few times, but you can't make me trust someone I don't, no matter how much I care about you. ....maybe this was a mistake. It's not like you really give a shit about—
[She cuts herself off, breathing in sharply.]
Never mind. Please stop trying to shove me towards a man who is slowly making his own amends, Date-san.
[Don't do it, she cautions herself. Don't, don't—]
Whatever I feel for you never seems to measure up to your feelings for Gilgamesh. Like I said, I shouldn't say it in anger. I thought I had accepted it already.
Because I'm the reason you have to deal with all of this. Do you ever wonder, what your situation might be right now if you never felt a need to protect me to begin with?
If it wasn't you, it would have been someone else. Or do you expect me to have been fine and dandy, knowing what he was doing? He wanted me wholly from the moment we entered that dreamworld. And I'm not one to devote myself slavishly to just one person. It might have been that when Campina went down, I wouldn't have even thought to resist him. He might not have been angry, but in that state...
There's a difference between knowing what he can do, and expecting it from him. ...on the Far Sode, he said some terrible things, had a sharp tongue, but he never did anything like... that. Not once. The most was some derogatory words about love and nudist tendencies.
Don't be an ass. The Gilgamesh here has two other Holy Grail Wars that shaped him, and I'm a damned idiot for expecting him to be the same as mine. Yes, I know that now. You don't need to rub it in.
They aren't identical copies of each other. They led the same mortal life. That's true. They committed terrible and amazing deeds, in that life, and are even now capable of doing them again. If he heard you question his loyalty, his oath to me, the Gilgamesh from the Moon Cell would tear you into eighths without blinking, for instance. I know that in my bones. I can literally feel it in his very soul.
Then you're both stupid because you fundamentally lack the ability to understand what loyalty really is.
And, your Gilgamesh could try but he's not capable of doing anything to me. Don't get petty and slide threats in at me. You are already picking up bad habits.
...you know what? I misspoke before. In reality... You don't actually give a shit about my feelings at all, unless I'm being your weird proxy back into his bed, do you? I'm not threatening you, Date Masamune. But if you think killing a cursed and weakened, mind-muddled Gilgamesh is the same as going at it with one in full control of his treasury and powers, you might be overreaching. But hey, I'm stupid for not automatically forgiving someone who attacked me, so what do I even know, right?
You're right, I don't. Happy? Since you are somehow not able to possibly be wrong about anything.
But, what the hell else can you possibly expect from someone you are belittling the same fucking way Gilgamesh did. In favor of Gilgamesh, no less.
Kishinami Hakuno, thanks for both your heads up and the warning. I'll keep my distance with your new servant about. You know, just in case he starts thinking shit that means you might end up needing those command seals on and it interferes with your fairy tale ending.
You're right, I don't, keeps echoing in her head, and she wants to tell herself he isn't being honest, that he's angry, the agony in her chest makes it impossible for her to believe those consolations, true or not. She chokes on the first sob, and each one that forces through her just makes the pain worse.
Wherever he is, when it gets to be to much and the tears are blurring her vision, a portal opens up and dumps something in front of him, something she can't keep and not think of him.
The futon she mad for him lies folded up at his feet, and on the other end of the portal, Hakuno hugs her knees to her chest and thinks of Archimedes. You said it would be a relief to give your whole heart to just one person, he had relayed, speaking of another Hakuno from another timeline, who did the unthinkable for love.
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[ to his credit, his voice only hardens, as if he's listening to a briefing in a war room rather than talking to a friend while outside in a forest of nothing.
He does not assume nor does he pass judgement quite yet, but the immediate aloofness that is like flipping a switch is as striking as a slap to the face. He's hard to read, but in this moment, it's obvious at least, that all her efforts had done something for his interactions with her. He's just shutting down.]
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[She hears the difference and it hurts, but she doesn't blame him. If anything, this is probably a good sign; it's better than the faintly bitter defeat he's used while talking about her strained relationship with the other King of Heroes.]
I don't believe this Gilgamesh has met you yet. Would... would you like me to keep it that way?
[It's a heavy, silent offer: would be like her to use a Command Seal, for his sake? She's edging around it, because Masamune is a warlord, not just her friend, and she doesn't want to make him feel like she's looking down on him.
But the offer is on the table, all the same.]
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The thing is, Masamune knows her type well. She is undeniably good and for the right and her heart is open to everyone who may want to be thought of within it. His first friend besides Kojuro, a friendship forged with an enemy daimyo' s most loyal general. Hakuno is his third, and they both suffer from an innocence of reality that they are struggling through. He wonders briefly why he finds that weakness he has such distaste for also exactly what makes them special and worthwhile.
It's why he keeps his temper so far, why the only hint even on his side of the black void they speak through, only one fist gripping a bow tightly trembles as a hint of what he's possibly holding back. He's assuming too much, he knows. He will not lash out in assumptions. Not ever, but especially not after what they have both been through due to that exact behavior. ]
... Are you intending to suggest you contracted with him even just a little for me? Or is this some kind of attempt at a peace offering because you knew I wouldn't like to hear what you are telling me you've done?
[ He dismisses her question, for now. ]
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[It's not everything, but it's a key factor. He had sacrificed so much to save her, only to awaken in a world where she was wary and cold.]
As his acknowledged Master, contracted or not, I have a duty to curb his darker impulses before he goes the way of the other self he so disdains for his fallen state. His desire for my good regard is one thing, but I now have less... malleable options. And... I don't know what your feelings might be, in exact detail. But I wanted to extend the offer, even if you don't need or want it.
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... So, you mean to say you went soft on this new Gilgamesh, threw out the logic you have been trying to instill in me that Gilgamesh will always be Gilgamesh, an arrogant and greedy tyrant because this Gilgamesh did things for another you. Things you didn't personally experience with him but had memories given to you.
Memories that you experienced and went through the motions of with an entirely different Gilgamesh, for that matter?
Basically, you felt so bad for this asshole that all your trust returned that you were so resistant of making easy to reacquire when I kept encouraging you to make things right with Gilgamesh but you refused because of what he did to me?
You picked a Gilgamesh you knew even less than another over me because of something you never even personally experienced with him?
[ That... Really smarts. A lot. ]
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[A touch of something hard, something sharp, rises in her tone to meet his.]
His War is one I have memories of, yes. He's from my world, if an adjacent timeline, and the Gilgamesh of my timeline shared those memories enough to throw his lot in with me and mine. A loyalty I didn't understand until I came here. And yes, I know what I said, but where exactly does not punishing someone loyal to me, someone who put my life above all else, exactly equate to forgiving someone who wronged me? Who physically proved I I was wrong to trust him? It isn't solely for your sake I'm keeping that one at arms length, you understand me?
[How dare you, a part of her wants to snarl.]
Yeah, you encouraged me, again and again, even tried to guilt me a few times, but you can't make me trust someone I don't, no matter how much I care about you. ....maybe this was a mistake. It's not like you really give a shit about—
[She cuts herself off, breathing in sharply.]
Never mind. Please stop trying to shove me towards a man who is slowly making his own amends, Date-san.
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[Don't do it, she cautions herself. Don't, don't—]
Whatever I feel for you never seems to measure up to your feelings for Gilgamesh. Like I said, I shouldn't say it in anger. I thought I had accepted it already.
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[ He sounds a little bit exasperated here. ]
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And, your Gilgamesh could try but he's not capable of doing anything to me. Don't get petty and slide threats in at me. You are already picking up bad habits.
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But, what the hell else can you possibly expect from someone you are belittling the same fucking way Gilgamesh did. In favor of Gilgamesh, no less.
Kishinami Hakuno, thanks for both your heads up and the warning. I'll keep my distance with your new servant about. You know, just in case he starts thinking shit that means you might end up needing those command seals on and it interferes with your fairy tale ending.
[ He ends this call before it gets any worse. ]
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You're right, I don't.
You're right, I don't.
You're right, I don't, keeps echoing in her head, and she wants to tell herself he isn't being honest, that he's angry, the agony in her chest makes it impossible for her to believe those consolations, true or not. She chokes on the first sob, and each one that forces through her just makes the pain worse.
Wherever he is, when it gets to be to much and the tears are blurring her vision, a portal opens up and dumps something in front of him, something she can't keep and not think of him.
The futon she mad for him lies folded up at his feet, and on the other end of the portal, Hakuno hugs her knees to her chest and thinks of Archimedes. You said it would be a relief to give your whole heart to just one person, he had relayed, speaking of another Hakuno from another timeline, who did the unthinkable for love.
Hakuno envies that, in this moment.]