destructiveprinciple | MAILBOX [ #0998 ]

[There's a note on white paper, carefully folded and dropped into Avenger's mailbox. The handwriting is meticulously neat.]

Avenger,

Given that you lack a master here, and given our similarities, I feel as if it would be advantageous for us to come to an agreement.

Meet me on the 50th floor at 6 P.M. on the Tuesday after you receive this note, if you'd like to discuss it as well.

- Naoya

[The proposal is an interesting one, Angra thinks.

...

An agreement, hmm? He could work with that.]

[A young woman's left arm.]

[ fuck you guys ]

I wish to speak with you when you have a moment. It concerns the last few months and what you are. I would appreciate it if you were honest with me.
--Saber of White

[ ... Ugh. Confrontations. Well, no reason to prolong it.

A day or so later, there is a letter stuffed into her mailbox. It's printed in neat kanji; ]

alright.
why would i lie? there's no point to that.
i'm picking the place though if you still want to talk.

So long as it's not the beach that will be fine.

[ There's some scratch marks and rumples on the paper where he's erased things. ]

there's a cavern on one of the floors. go there in the morning then. [ ~~guess that means he's letting her pick the day.~~ ]

[She assumes he means the next morning and that he means the dizzying crystal caverns. So, of course, she is there the very next morning hoping she isn't making a fool of herself.

At least she knows she won't break down this time as she's mentally bracing herself for when he shows up.]

[ An hour passes.

Then another.

. . . It seems the only presence on this floor besides Saber is the distant, far-away sounds of monsters, bouncing off the gleaming crystals that fill this cavern. ]

[Another hour. Saber massages a temple, the crystals finally getting to her as it reaches mid-morning and she leaves. Had she had the wrong floor? Would he be there on the next morning?

The next day she tries floor seventy-four. Ugh. She hopes this isn't the right one. It's too close to being a beach for her comfort.

Still she waits, a tense nervousness about her. This is the first time she would have seen anyone resembling Shirou since that day. This time she won't break. She'll get her answers and then.... hopefully she'll get some closure.]

Edited 2013-09-17 04:39 (UTC)

[ Her tense, uneasy period of waiting ends when two dark eyes blink open in the shadow of one of the larger stalagmites, where Angra had been almost dozing as he kept watch for Saber's arrival. There is plenty of dark places in this tangle of caves, even if the sand is dappled with blue ripples. He doesn't make himself known until; ]

Oi, you took your time, didn't you?

[ His voice is still clear over the murmur of clear water running over stone and dripping from stalagmites. ]

[She turns toward his voice and fights not to draw Caliburn at the sound of his voice. A good thing that even that one sentence sounds absolutely nothing like how Shirou would greet her.

Still, her body is tense and she keeps to the what little patch of light she can find down here.]

I thought the cavern you spoke of was on another floor. Did you wait here yesterday as well?

[ The tension is noticed, as the impulse that runs through her hand towards Caliburn before she fights it off. His smile curls up at the corner a little. ]

Yep. I said to come here, after all. It was dull, waiting. [ Avenger doesn't move any closer, his body still as a statue in that shadow as he watches her.

And hey, if she couldn't find the right cavern on her first try, what concern of it was his? ]

Sorry to keep you then.

[She approaches him then, if only because she hates how her stomach feels like lead and she needs to prove to herself she is not afraid of this man.]

So you were Shirou this entire time?

[Starting with getting to the heart of the conversation.]

Right, right. Proper little Heroic Spirits should be prompt and on-time with all meetings, hm?

[ His voice, his posture is nonchalant and makes it seem like he's not being serious. Her footsteps crunched on the sands when she approaches him, bathed in the shimmering blue glow of this floor. And yes, it still feels horrible to be near him, with that 'stench' of Angra Mainyu. ]

I'm still kinda surprised it took ya' that long to notice.

[ no shame to be found here. ]

Edited 2013-09-17 18:16 (UTC)

What reason would I have had to doubt Shirou?

[More like they both know she'd refused to see the signs. She'd been so happy to simply see him again, to hear from his lips he wasn't afraid of her despite what she'd done. No, when she wished so desperately to believe it, how could she doubt Shirou at all?]

....why do you wear his face? Why pretend to be him for so long?

[And his 'stench' does indeed make her feel sick, but she is also used to it. Silently, Arturia thanks her other self for being willing to put up with her company and so much close contact. If she hadn't been exposed to this sort of aura so much it is very likely she would be retching from both the intensity and the memories it brings forth in her mind.

....it really does help his personality is nothing like Shirou's at all. Only his appearance matches the boy she thinks she loved once upon a time.]

Edited 2013-09-17 18:18 (UTC)

Love doesn't make you immune to doubting or anything, you know.

[ He remarks cheerfully, but he knows what's she talking about and she knows as well, so he drops the subject. Her lack of attention had been an unwillingness to see the detail, the things that slipped through the cracks. Saber had been happy to be by Shirou's side again, and she'd been guilt-ridden and desperate enough to not doubt a fake. A multitude of factors that had led her to this.

Water dripped off the tip of a stalagmite. The Servant shrugs carelessly. Habit, to be honest. ]

It was a way to pass the time. None of you noticed. [ Emiya Shirou's life was still not what he would call fun, but it was bright. Or maybe Avenger's talking about something else entirely ]

[ It seethes within him and roils off him, that ugly aura, feverish with resentment and awful, heavy with centuries of accumulated taint; Angra doesn't notice her repulsed nausea thanks to her composure and experience with repeated exposure to it. He points at himself; ]

Aah, this face? I borrowed it.

[....somehow, Arturia isn't surprised he figured it out. What other excuse could she have beyond that? No, not even an excuse. She had seen signs: little things. Things like how she never saw a sign on his door and chalked it up to intentionally never finding out Shirou's room. Things like how he seemed almost too nice, too idealized, and she kept chalking it up to her memory being muddied. Things like how he seemed almost too understanding of her and never once made proclamations he would somehow save her which she assumed meant he had grown up somehow.]

I know. [Hadn't she recently told someone while she only had memories of the Grail War that, as the older party in the relationship, she should be the responsible one? She thought not giving in to the feelings she held had been the responsible thing.

The responsible thing would have been to look more into a threat such as Avenger once she heard of his presence here, rather than let it go.]

What do you mean by borrowed it?

[She can hazard a guess. This is Avenger, a Servant, and he reeks of the Grail, of Angra Mainyu. There's only two things he could be: the being himself or another like her other self who had been bathed in its waters and come out of it cursed. With how strong the aura is, she guesses he's Angra Mainyu himself.]

[ ~~It's hardly Avenger's fault that the boy she'd known had been even more tool-ish than a normal Emiya would typically be okay~~ The reaches of the giant, vaulted chamber were nowhere near silent even now, at the very crack of morning where this floor's creatures were no threat to either of them; a distant watery breeze, and the echoing of underground noise through winding tunnels. ]

Uh-huh. [ He raises up from where he'd been crouching on his haunches to stand upright on his care feet. Folding his arm across his chest, Avenger leans forward slightly. More than a trace of cheerful taunting threads through his voice; ]

What do you think I mean? [ Then he leans back, sighing to himself and eyes briefly sliding shut. They open again. ] I mean, it's hard to communicate with people unless I nab a decent shell, and he happened to fit the bill.

[ He'd got soaked in the contents of the Holy Grail without dying an instant, painful death that one time, and that was enough to qualify as contact since the idiot hadn't been a Heroic Spirit. Plus, the Servant been looking for somebody to keep the ball rolling during the time loops. ]

Edited 2013-09-19 00:47 (UTC)

[~~Well, that's the hilarious part about this whole situation: none of it is actually Avenger's fault. None.~~ But she thinks she understands what he means about Shirou fitting the bill. He had not touched the Grail in her world, but there is no reason why he couldn't in a world where she had not taken his head.

Saber shifts her weight from one foot to the other and tries to force herself to stand straighter. It's hard, yes, to stand here, to be around him, but damn it. She deserves answers. At least he's willing to provide them!]

I just find it odd someone such as you could pretend to be Shirou so well. [How does such a rude person manage to act just like him? What little she has seen of Avenger tells her he either put a lot more effort into his masquerade than he wanted or there was something else going on than simply taking someone's form. If she hadn't been expecting it, seeing Shirou's face--Shirou's body--move in such a way would have sent her reeling.

Then again, considering the last few weeks? It had. More than she cared to admit, but had to own up to.]

Or is there more to it than taking on his appearance?

[ ~~Which is a hilariously unintentionally reoccurring theme in his life.~~ Avenger's posture isn't as forcibly straight as hers; he slouches a little with his shoulders a thick lazy line that curved downward, a casualness or carelessness to the way he holds himself and he moves very little. In the cavernous darkness of the floor, he remains still and looks unerringly at Saber. Her tension isn't hidden.

It was fortunate he had a tendency to be honest when people thought to ask the correct questions, it really was. He cocks his head to the side. ]

Pretend? [ And unfortunately Avenger had a very weird ideal of what counted as fake and what counted as real, which was probably more than a little confusing when his definition of it seemed to mix the two up. He said it was a disguise, but he was a shadow without form to begin with. Nothing can't turn into something, nor can it imitate anything.

So—even if he took shape by using somebody's body, he was still no more than nothing. He couldn't influence the host. ]

Hah. You could say that. Even though I was a fake, those actions were the real thing's idiotic sentiments.

Edited 2013-09-21 17:01 (UTC)

[~~Which is horribly appropriate given his actual life in general.~~ She knows her tension isn't hidden, even if she does her best. In this situation it's impossible for her to keep it completely so. Between the sickly aura practically radiating off Avenger, his resemblance to Shirou, and how surreal it is to see even someone who resembles Shirou to slouch and speak in such a manner is unnerving.

Ruana could only hope to mess with her mind as much as speaking with Avenger does for her. Nothing Ruana ever did drove Arturia to want to erase her memory simply because she wanted some form of peace for once in her long existence.]

So, when you take on Shirou's face, for all intents and purposes you are Shirou? Are you even aware of yourself at all when that happens?

[It makes sense, in a way. Not that Arturia realizes Avenger is essentially nothingness incarnate, but because of how close he was to mimicking Shirou. Too close, in fact. The slight differences she could still attribute to the Shirou who reached the Grail being of another world than hers.]

[ He claps his hands together, the sound echoing sharply off the vaulted rock and the sand under their feet, the lively look on his face as unapologetic as it can be. ]

You figured it out, good for you!

[ Avenger shifts his weight a little, from one foot to the other.

His obscene and uncomfortable mannerisms that are so opposite of Shirou's attitude aside, the fact that she is deeply repulsed and disgusted by his horrible aura escapes his notice in a way her ill-concealed tension does not. Her steady composure is kept and whose who are affected by the taint that basically radiates off tend to give some sort of vocal or physical acknowledgment of it. ]

Edited (left out a word) 2013-09-22 22:48 (UTC)

[With how tense she is, the sound of the clap followed by how lively he is about her guessing correctly, makes her jump, one hand flexing to summon Caliburn. She only manages a spark of light before forcing herself to stop. Even if he acts absolutely nothing like Shirou, the image of Shirou's head rolling on the ground washes across her mind, forcing her to stay her hand.

Avenger is being an ass, not attacking her. Even his aura, sickening as it is, is not doing anything malicious beyond making her feel ill. It's very likely this entire meeting will go without her acknowledging its effect on her.]

And I asked if you were aware of yourself at all. Do not avoid the question: What happened when I took you out to fight to make you drop the charade?

["You." Not Shirou. She doubts she'll be able to look "Shirou" in the face again. The question gnaws at her: should she tell him? Make him aware? Or would Avenger prevent it from happening? Does this mean all those months of training and eating together and slowly but surely getting to know one another as people for nothing?]

[ There's a brief flicker of amusement from him when she starts like that, her hand going for a weapon before it forcibly jerks to an halt and stops, stilling again. How aggravating this must be for Saber. He doesn't attack. He has no intentions of attacking, not in this situation, since his aggressions were passive; he wouldn't lash out unless somebody else made the first move. It was his preference for conduct in a fight.

Avenger waited for an enemy to come towards him, he took what damage he had to endure, and then he struck back. ]

That wasn't an answer? Then I'll clarify for ya': nope. I'm not, not when that's happening. [ The Servant grimaces inwardly a little. Honestly, Avenger would have skipped the fight with Archer weeks before and several other similarly ill-fated incidents if he could, but he hadn't had a say in it. Then he shrugs. ]

Oh, that? If it'll get you off my back for it. . . I ran out of prana.

[ '-' he would have laster longer if he had been using that charade, and draining bits of energy to maintain the illusion of the orange hair, and the warm hazel eyes, and the unmarked, pale skin. ]

Edited 2013-09-22 23:58 (UTC)

I see.

[Prana Shirou ran out of because she had underestimated how they'd be swarmed.

Prana Shirou ran out of because she had thought him ready to come monster hunting with her.

Prana Shirou needed to maintain the illusion, but was it really worth it if it was all a lie?

Arturia takes a step back and crosses her arms for the sake of something to do with her hands. Part of her wants to ask if he'll be continuing the charade, but she cannot bring herself to ask. She isn't sure if she wants the answer to be yes or no.]

Thank you for answering my questions. I do appreciate it.

Hm, do you?

[ It's said impassively, without the casually inflammatory edge he spoken for the majority of this meeting, an eyebrow quirking up on his forehead as she retreats one step backward, away from him and crosses her arms. The sand crunched under her feet.

Avenger takes a step forward, but no closer than that; ]

Alrighty. Are you satisfied then, Saber?

[ He doesn't bother with 'you're welcome.' ]

For now, yes.

[More because she has taken all she can tolerate from this exercise for the moment. Between the aura, the attitude, and the resemblance, she's half afraid she'll snap and do something she'll regret once more.]

If I have further questions, I will seek you out.

[And she turns to leave.]

[ He crackles softly, the noise again echoing off the rock and the sands and bouncing around the cavern, before fading quickly, muffled by the trickle of running water.

To her turned back: ]

Of course, of course.

Be seeing ya' later then.

[ The abrupt disappearance of presence that usually indicated a Servant slipping into spirit mode followed, along with a decrease in that sickly, disgusting pressure, and nothing stops her from turning to leave. ]

[this note is in lots of colourful crayons, in handwriting which is childish but neat.]

deer everyone

i am riting a book on all the heros of the tower so that no one gets forgotted. but i dont know everyone and i dont want anyone to be missed out

so if you would like to can you please say who you fink is the best hero you know and what makes them a hero

you can do more than one name if you want

please send yore answers to romeo

or to room number two on floor one

thank you

romeo

[There are pictures at the end of smiling faces]

[ Avenger reads the note without much fanfare or commentary.

He stands there in the mailroom, looking down at it for a bit.

On the way out, he tosses it into the trash with just as little fanfare. ]

MAILBOX [ #0998 ]

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Might as well action spam it here. 8P

yes let's do it BD

Mwahahaha

♥

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