fool's laurel

Okay, so do we want to start out the clash with Revan and Hon? Does this happen before the Grail War or at the beginning? If it happens at the beginning, perhaps Hon is targeting another Master and Revan deems it time to intervene and knock this guy down a few pegs. Maybe he goes after Levi as Levi is doing his summoning? I say Levi bc he has good means of escape (3DMG) and he will bail out when he sees that the other two far outclass him lol. 

Zed and Ragnar summoning might be a good starting point as well, if both events happen simultaneously. Perhaps they don’t even happen far away. As Ragnar is summoned, he will observe the other dude for a few minutes (or even seconds, depending), judge him a coward, and murder him without warning. Unless you want Zed to stop that. If you want to play the other magus a little bit more. But Ragnar will think he’s a coward and kill him eventually. He’ll only really let Zed be his Master, even if he’s not an adequate magus. Revan can show up after the summoning, thus Ragnar will be more powerful bc he got mana from the dead magus and he can probably protect Zed better. That’s a good start to their relationship? Ragnar might be able to hold Zheng at bay, then interfere with Revan. He’ll be weakened afterwards though, so it might be a good way to get Zed and Ragnar to talk while they’re incapacitated for a day or so. 

I agree that Hon/Daryl will be off-screen. They’ll show up mid-game probably, and that might spark Tou to melt back into the shadows. He doesn’t want any part of Hon. But he’ll come out later in the game, or earlier if he’s flushed out. He’ll try to keep Chris busy and not hating life, but since they’re the Caster pair, they gotta be smart. Revan probably summons Zheng as soon as she gets her Command Seals. Gotta snag Berserker and get ahead of the game. She might be the Kotomine of the group with the early summon? 

Okay, so perhaps for the more late-game/not early active characters/characters we don’t feel like doing threads for, we could write small drabbles? Some prelude for the Master (time skip if necessary), then summon? Then one drabble from the Servant? Depending on muse, ofc. It might be more work than we want. Idk. That might work best for Revan/Zheng and Tou/Chris, and maybe Pelleas/Saber. I feel like Kaneki and Yuri and Dennis should meet bc initial impressions are important for them especially, but they can also be drabbled. Hon and Daryl would be off screen. Levi and Blue might be a plot point, if we want Hon to interrupt the ritual. Ragnar/Zed seems like it will be important. 

Hmm Blue and Levi will be excellent of any detective work. Depends how you want him to make an entrance. I don’t mind going after Levi ‘cause running away Levi is great, but if you want, he and Blue can be around in the aftermath? Like checking the scene. If Levi wants to come anyway. It could attract another pair to attack.

alatngdagat + lionheartedsaber

Okay, so what I get from this is that Saber will like Pelleas, but dislike a good portion of his family. Which is okay. She was likely to only get attached to one person anyway (I feel like Pelleas is a weird possessed Irisviel and the family is like Kiritsugu but that’s just a weird impression). 

1. Saber will really not like Ashnard, if she were to discover the truth of this tale. Too much like Mordred. Bad memories. 

2. Saber will not appreciate the whole ordering her around thing. She will be rather defiant towards Izuka (unless he says something intelligent that she agrees with), but she will listen easily to Pelleas. Even if he’s timid. She will try to wring that out of him. 

3. SABER ALSO HAS DRAGON BLOOD KIND OF. Kind of. But yeah, she doesn’t mind the mom being hard on her, Saber will be hard on herself in anything were to happen to her Master. 

4. LET’S MAKE SABER NOT NOTICE FOR THE DRAMATIC EFFECT, maybe a reveal? I’m not sure how she’ll feel about it. Depends on how it affects Pelleas.

Even though Pelleas’ flaws are really not knightly, I think that these two will get along quite well, though there’s a bit of added drama in there with the family + demon to spice things up. I feel like these two might be separated from the other Master drama initially (they show up 10 minutes late to a duel with pizza like “what is happening again”). They’ll get more entwined as the story goes on, but at first they might not have much overlap other than fighting people for plot purposes.

childofblight + peripetian

Kaneki has such bad luck getting Yuri as a Master. Even though the ultimate fate of getting eaten is REALLY COOL, PERFECT FATE STORY. 

I’m okay with the fake Master. Depending on how Dennis acts, Kaneki’s range of caring about him will vary. Even if he acts like a friend. In Kaneki’s mind, he’s fighting this War so that he can protect the ones he cares about, and there’s not a lot of room on that list for additionals. But it will hurt Kaneki more if Dennis reminds him of one of the people he cares about (Hide, Hinami, Touka, anyone at Anteiku). 

Kaneki will probably not realize that Yuri’s an asshole until he really shows himself. But that’s okay. He’s worked for assholes/sociopaths/sadists before so he’s cool with him so long as he’s still allowed to accomplish his goals. Which will not happen if Yuri orders him not to eat. That is when there will be real tension. Because that is interfering with Kaneki’s strengths and IT’S JUST DUMB. 

Also Kaneki is super against murdering people/killing in general, but he is willing to do it for the Grail War bc he is trying to protect his family. Obviously this goes away when he’s in Kakuja mode. Mostly. 

I’ll write for Levi here. I think that Levi and Yuri could potentially be allies, idk, they’re both assholes but Levi is also a good person so there’s the difference. He won’t have qualms working with Yuri so long as he’s clean and tidy and all that stuff. Yuri will still have the ability to make Levi’s life miserable! But Yuri definitely dies first. I like the thought of Yuri being able to stop Revan, but when they need him most, he’s already been eaten by Kaneki or smth. Perhaps Levi and Yuri start out as enemies (idk who will kill Soldier Blue but it could be Kaneki, and then Yuri could reach out for an alliance? Idk Yuri but that would certainly throw Levi for a loop). 

elpisflight  + ailes-de-liberte

Okay so. Soldier Blue. Bby. Levi is a jerk, and Blue will have to deal with that but! He has a truly good heart and I think Blue will be able to see that. Especially if he dug through his mind, which Levi probably would not give permission to do, but he might be such an asshole that Blue feels like he has to check this guy out. Philosophical differences are cool. I think that once Blue knows that Levi has a decent heart, he’ll be more inclined to ignore the dumb stuff Levi says haha. 

PERSONAL SPACE *cue opening scene with Jomy replaced by Levi*

Blue and Levi is definitely a cool relationship because Levi will be wary and there will be clashes at first, but in the end Levi will be incredibly upset when Blue is killed. Like I think at that point, he’ll just be very distressed and unruly, probably charging at whatever person killed him. His comrades have died before, but Blue is such a wise figure, it just seems wrong and unnatural and incredibly sad for him to be killed. Levi will definitely feel that.

As for Jomy, I think Levi will still be sad about Blue, but he will act very stoic and never show it and he’ll try to be very normal around Jomy. And when Tony comes into play, I think that he will bring out Levi’s more aggressive side, like two of his Servants have already kicked the bucket, I feel like bringing these assholes down. Though he will check Tony’s Eren-like tendencies.

heavenstell + lothbroken

Ragnar will expect nothing better than 14 year old behavior, but don’t think he’ll just put up with it haha. In spite of his handicaps, he will be working incredibly hard to both protect his Master and win the war. Sometimes, he will be stepping back entirely, just to observe. He doesn’t have the power he wants, after all. 

Ragnar isn’t like Hector, because he doesn’t really care if this kid knows his name, Ragnar knows himself. He will physically hold Zed back from being rash though. I think when Revan first sees Zed, and she’s angry and probably tries to kill him because HE HAS MALAK’S LIGHTSABER, THAT’S A BIG NO-NO, Ragnar will step in and fend her off. He can do that. He’ll be weak afterwards, but Ragnar had like 20 kids and they all avenged him after he died so. He cares about family. So so much. Once he figures out Revan is Zed’s mom, he will try to get them to reconcile. 

Overall, I think his attitude is more Iskander-fatherly, probably trying to teach Zed all about the glory of raiding and being smart in battle and all that jazz. They can do some Shirou-Style training! Ragnar is fine with that!

guiltyblade + tou-ki

Tou only has a little bit of angst, and that’s just about Ou Ki. He’s confident and feels as though he can totally take whatever is coming at him, so long as he plays it smart. He’ll definitely be a dark horse competitor, I don’t think anyone knows about him or even Ou Ki for that matter. 

Tou probably tried to summon Chris as a Saber, but he’s def. more suited for Caster… They’ll have a good relationship. I think these two can work together well. Now, if Chris had angst that might be a different story. I see these two as the ones who kind of show up at random times and just enhance chaos. Probably most active during Beginning and End phases. I feel like people might try to hunt Tou down. Maybe he steals a grail vessel or smth important and just vanishes. IDK. 

foolslaurel + clytemnesttra

Okay so. I know you don’t know Revan from KOTOR, but we have talked about Revan a bunch so you’re familiar enough-ish. So Revan is in this War to prevent her former cult from getting the Grail. She’s powerful, but it’s like a tidal wave of power as opposed to a steady river. Stamina is not something that she has. 

She probably chose to summon a Berserker even though she has power because she figures she can control the Servant and she’ll get an extra boost of power. She’s pretty sorry that Madness Enhancement costs her Servant the ability to function normally, but the power trade off is important in her mind.

Uh, as far as interacting with Zheng goes, she won’t treat him as a tool, but as a prized weapon. She’ll order him about, sure, and so long as he listens, everything is a-okay. She’ll care about his well-being, probably drag him about when they aren’t in combat and such. Try to take care of him. Etc, etc. She probably won’t want him to use all of his abilities in one go, and she’ll try to fight by his side in short-term battles. 

bloodmercury +saggitante

Yeah, Pelleas could use someone to wring his timidity, as you said, and Pelleas does listen. If the King of Knights thinks so, of course Pelleas will listen. He may act otherwise; it depends on what kind of ideas Izuka inject in his head or just plain stupidity. It will pass, usually.

kaneki & yuri

Dennis will try to be the kind of person Kaneki will like the most. Gotta make betrayal worth it and screw with Kaneki's heart!

Yuri's motto is: if it's funny, it's not dumb.

levi & blue/jomy/tony

Haha. Levi's a lot like Jomy. Keeping a stoic face when they're all emotional inside, though Jomy probably had less practice than Levi.

It's pretty much what you said. Blue will understand that Levi is a good person and that's good enough for him. Although he might be wary of Erwin.

I still haven't decided how to do the Assassin thing xD if they're separated into 3 bodies or it's a reincarnation-like thing. I'm less inclined with the latter because of how late-game Tony might appear if Jomy still needs to be killed. Though I think it might be better explained that way if, say, I divide the parameters among the three of them to balance out that kind of Servant ability. I might go with reincarnation-thing after all.

-----------------

So we have a lot of smart people who wants to sit back and observe first. It's only Pelleas/Saber and Dennis/Kaneki that might be able to engage early on; I imagine they're the type that will walk around in broad daylight.

We should start with what each pair might not about their competitors. Doesn't have to be years before the war like in FZ. With what happened after the clash with Revan and Hon, there would be a lot of talk about it with the Masters. Pelleas/Saber and Dennis/Kaneki threads are pretty good to have since they're normal folks that talk to each other lol. Levi/Blue might be possible too, but it depends on Levi's approach. Is he gonna sit back too?

Zed/Ragnar are kind of isolated from the rest. We could have them meet on the night Hon and Revan clashed, and Ragnar may sense this. If so, we could kick this off with Zed/Ragnar thread first.

...which reminds me. Need to figure out how Zed will be able to summon Ragnar; forgot that there's the ritual and all lol. I'm thinking a magus took in Zed and this magus is pretending to have done this out of kindness, manipulating him to be his puppet in the Grail War. Would be easy to use magecraft to mess with Zed's head. Ragnar will most likely realize this quickly. Would he kill the magus right off the bat?

Then let's see...

Hon/Daryl will be off-screen can show up in day 2 or day 3. Zheng/Revan is whenever. Tou/Chris too. I imagine Tou will appear when it's opportunistic...or he might actually initiate if he's confident?

Well, it was quiet, for a time.

The man’s long ears were pricked by a booming voice. Curious, he approached the source of the sound, and found a lone man and a curious bottle. There was a slightly astringent, almost medicinal scent in the air, and Link wondered if the jug contained some kind of potion. "That’s quite the oath," the Hylian said, a puzzled look on his face. He had made it quite clear that he was after the Grail, and Link couldn’t help but wonder what made him decide to yell it into the sky.

Zheng would have continued on in his thoughts had the presence of another Servant not appeared. He wasn't surprised. Zheng had considered that at least one among the many in the city would take notice of his presence. A Master would have been more likely, but Zheng was more pleased to have another Servant as company. Alcohol was not meant to be consumed alone, and he didn't feel like talking business with a contract-seeking magus.

But of course, that would depend on how agreeable this particular Servant was. He regarded the young man passively, the saucer-shaped cup on his hand a few drips from being empty. Strange ears, but he appeared acceptable enough.

Zheng turned and raised his eyes to the sky.

In a quieter, but not too distant corner of Rome, a warehouse burned.

While on a smokey smolder externally, inside the blaze was considerably more fierce. It was something to keep the ‘authorities’ a little further behind, but she was hoping the her burst of prana would be what really drew in her target audience. 

She stood leaning against one of the diminishing number of beams not infested with flames. Surrounded by dancing heat and looking down from beneath her hood, she caught a glimpse of the mark the Holy Grail had bestowed upon her. She smiled, and then she threw her head back with laughter.

Had that hag seen this coming? Hah! The lost one, well what I’d give to see her face now, that’s almost worth a wish itself.

A ravaged support fell from the ceiling not too far from her, an eruption of embers flying into the air to drift down like fireflies.

So much for her sisters too, good riddance to all of them. Her brother would be all she’d miss, that poor soul…

But the past was the past, and who could even think about looking back with what lay before her. The Servants! She wanted to meet every one of them! And how dreadful she simply couldn’t summon one now. But in her own way, that’s what she was attempting here. Someone would notice the fire, someone would notice her. She almost didn’t care who, just by being here, they’d be right in their own way.

Her soul burned with excitement, and the building seemed to shudder in response. What was that? Something sharp… Someone was out there.

Quelana traced a finger through the air playfully, beckoning past the blazing room. Fine and glowing text danced across the floor on the street outside:

He breathed in. He breathed out. He brought the sword vertically and allowed the chi to flow with his image. A warning had been given, though he would have much preferred if this one didn't escape.

He slashed his sword down. At once, the sound of a gushing river exploded through the air. He felt the invisible splatter of cold water on his face. Nothing happened, but the man was already positioning his sword upward again. Breathed in. Breathed out. The sound became louder and louder, the wind colder as the violent waves surged forward. Without warning, it appeared into thin air - a column of water crashing into the warehouse. The cries of windows shattering went unheard over the fierce waves rushing forth. The blade followed through with another downward slash, and went the sound of the gushing river again, quickly approaching. The bursting water doubled, pushing and overpowering the walls of the building that broke with holes and crumbled halfway to its knees. Soon, the thin streams of black smoke were replaced by a combustion of steam puffing out in masses of clouds.

Attracting the wanted attention of Servants was not unheard of. Even the other way around was just as much true. It was not a method to be relied on, however, for the kind of people one would attract may be anything but desirable company. Tonight, a certain someone just drew the short end of the stick for tonight, Ying Zheng was a malevolent spirit.

"There wouldn’t be a big fuss if I just got rid of him right here and now."

Mahiro stared the servant down for a moment before he shrugged. The main weapon he had to fend off enemy servants wasn’t even something he had the magic to use and there was no use in bluffing. 

"I’ll cut ties whenever it suits me, and if you’re looking to pick a fight, you should wait until you have a master. A fight that lasts a only a second couldn’t even be called a fight."

Mahiro motioned to Shidou so that his servant could see. “Don’t kill this one, he’s with me.” he said with a small laugh. His wording was rather poor but he didn’t seem to notice.

He thought a moment about what Shidou had said, and the fact that he was here with Nanami who Mahiro also suspected was uncontracted. It made sense that a novice like Shidou would wind up in an alliance with someone more experienced as long as she had something to gain from it. It was illogical to think that she was just tagging along with him for the fun of it, though it wasn’t entirely out of the question. She was an odd one.

"Hm? Oh yeah, I made a contact with this troublemaker before I ran into you. What kind of master parades around their servant unless their looking for a fight?"

Get rid of him 'here and now.' That...was not something Zheng expected. He did not relinquish his gaze from the Master until his Servant appeared out of thin air, a challenging fist raised. Zheng showed no visible sign of being alarmed. He remained silent to the goading and threats, but his eyes bore with the same subdued intensity, indicating that he was not in the slightest affected. If there was any reaction that they elicited out of him, it was drollery.    

"Appearing in thin air in broad daylight..." Zheng thought, turning away from the Servant and flatly ignoring his presence before him. Ridiculous. He had taken interest because of the Master, but his respond turned out to be unworthy of the effort. Aggravating, even. Maybe this sort of lampoon was common in the battlefield. Ah, well. Zheng was willing to consider this a special case. Not all magi could be this feisty.

He shook his head to the girl, quietly assuring her that he had no intention of fighting at all. He'd skewer the Master who would try to make him involve ordinary citizens. As these children seemed to be friends after all, they didn't seem to be intending to start a trouble either, but such a gathering like this...

She could’ve carried on complaining, but a sudden surge of magical energy made her stop short of her incessant whining. With one hand poised on her hip, she stood in front of Shido almost protectively. One could even mistake her for his Servant if not for the bountiful aura of a master emanating from her.

It wasn’t that he minded cooking more, but food isn’t free and he wasn’t exactly on the largest budget. The higher cost for groceries in Rome didn’t help. That said, Shidou would have been less concerned if his servings weren’t all going to one person.

At that moment he noticed something odd in Nanami’s behaviour. She likely had detected something…no, he could sense it too (maybe). There was something afoot. That said, at her protective pose, he couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed, which distracted him from the potential threat momentarily.

What a passive aggressive way of talking about the weather…I don’t exactly look all that becoming in this situation either though…

What he noticed was something out of place, more specifically someone. from the corner of his eye he spotted a familiar patch of blue hair next to an irritatingly familiar blond. The atmosphere between the two of them seemed a bit off, not that it was completely out of the ordinary, but due to certain circumstances there was no real reason for it. Mahiro had a hunch as to what was going on but he had to make sure of it himself before he made any moves.

"A strange advice coming from a contracted Master. Do you intend to wait for the war before cutting down your ties?" 

To the blissfully ignorant people of Rome, he was one of the many foreigners who came from the other side of the world. The blood of his heritage was very strong. It practically oozed out from his features. It was almost jarring to hear him speak with perfect English and not with the trace of an accent on it. To the Masters around him though, his presence was like an odorless stench that could not be masked.