This was a stupid plan, but Archer had decided to go along with the Saber in an attempt to get their shared master a gift. This human man had taken them into his home and supplied them both with the mana necessary to rid the world of an evil that threatened to end it. However, throughout times in-between the two had to entertain themselves until the next threat would raise its ugly head. But right now, the two heroes were at a very large mall filled to the brim with other people going about their own shopping.

Now, Gilgamesh' solution to this 'gift giving' gesture was to just present him with an item from his beyond his gates but Saber spoke against it. Stating the gift would be so much more thoughtful had the two gone out themselves and personally pick an item for their master. Asside from being a mage their master was also a policeman, whom would be gone for hours throughout the day with barely enough time to enjoy the comforts of his own family and friends. Hands tucked into his pockets Archer would follow her into the men's wear section where the duo would spot two of their master's very close friends.

It really put a dampen in their surprise gift considering these two specifically were known to not being able to keep their mouths shut when it came to a secret. “Finally, a moment to bring a form of interest to this agonizing day.” The two would need to hide, and that was with the Archer came up with a very sneaky way to hide their presence. The first thing the blond king had done was take her by the hand, guiding her towards a corner. His finger gently guides her gaze to meet his own as his lips captures her own.

@burdensword​ said:  🛡️  -  a  starter  where  my  muse  protects  yours  from  a  fight. + reverse

Send an emoji for a starter based on the trope

Truthfully, Sonia had expected her walk home to be just as uneventful as the dinner she’d needed to attend. At least it had ended early, or what the Ultimate Princess deemed early: enough time to return to her room and indulge in a TV show or two.

What transpired was quite the opposite.

At first, she’d guessed it was the sound of her heels clicking on the pavement (and her subsequent regret to send the car away: she liked feeling as if she were a normal person, who took walks and public transportation instead of town cars. Until, of course, her smallest toes began to ache). But Sonia paused when she saw it, something, in the sky: was it lightning? That wasn’t often purple in color, and so she watched, waited, as someone in a flowing cloak (or was it hair?) sped towards her, a sharp weapon in hand. She hadn’t even had a chance to react: to scream, to jump, to question what precisely was going on. At least if she had to reference her favorite books and films, it didn’t seem like a vampire or demon coming to attack (and frankly, if it was, she would’ve been more inclined to question them).

Instead, she’d been pushed out of the way, falling to the ground in her cocktail dress and ripping one leg of her sheer silk stockings straight from ankle to just above the knee, her pale skin scraped beneath the fabric and now beginning to bleed. “What in the world-!” She finally cried, a flash of blonde hair not too unlike her own having stepped between her and the flash of purple and sharp metal. Sonia squinted in the darkness, trying to make light of what was unfolding before her and yet the young woman, with all her passion for serial killers and a good horror story, could only make it out to be some sort of magic fight. Like something out of a fairy tale, before reaching the inevitable happily ever after: this was the part when the dragon was slain and whoever had jumped to her aid had, knowingly or unknowingly, saved a princess in the process.

Perhaps it was a little bit cliché, but she was grateful as she stumbled to her feet, her attacker now subdued. Ignoring her wound, she smiled at her savior, despite how shocked, confused, and full of questions she was. “Thank you,” She spoke appreciatively, “I believe you’ve saved me from something but what, I cannot say. It all looks like something out of a movie! Is that it, is it for some sort of film?” It was the best explanation she could come up with: magic powers in the night and weapons that seemed to come out of nowhere. Sonia Nevermind enjoyed her tarot and her runes, but magic like the sorts she read about in books had never truly materialized for her.

@burdensword​ "Shirou, may we go on this journey to the undergarments shop today?"

Resting after washing the dishes, Shirou was mindlessly watching something on TV while having some tea when the absurd proposal was proclaimed in casual manner. A few moments were needed before his mind fully connected the dots, and this time he was about to spit his tea – yet, arduous training proved to be both a blessing and his undoing as Shirou managed to hold back, chocking on the liquid. ❝ GWAKH!?❞ Coughing, the boy punched his chest in order to resume breathing properly before stating: ❝ Hell no! ❞ he yelped in embarrassment, his countenance acquiring crimson hues quickly. ❝ Was that Tohsaka’s idea? ❞ Only one person would be evil enough to make such a outrageous suggestion and, as everyone knows, the devil wears red.

“HOW FAR?” a wry laugh bubbles up from the brassy depths of his throat, ancient and vicious. “Far beyond what you can conceive from the helm of your self-sacrifice called Kingship.” Heaving lacquered breaths of brandy-soaked air, Gilgameš presides gloriously before her as the sun upon the earth; lordly, scorching, exquisite. He looks as if he could either gore or caress her in the most delightful and amorous vivisection. Both was violence. “I would usually not bother to explain myself to the rabble, but I shall delight in you, Saber.” The slow, deliberate rolling of her class off of his tongue is salacious, debauchery-drunk; yet his brooding turns to a nightless growl, the finer points of his gaze sharpening to a glare both hyper-scarlet and lecherous in its implications. This core of him is voracious, virulent, and vicious, a chasmic rage bubbling up from crux of the earth, a hellish indignation that could make Irkalla appear heavenly and far less admissible in what it engenders — for the righteousness in what the King enacts is unimpeachable, absolute. It does not give requests. It does not falter in its execution. It demands despite revulsion. 

      Gilgameš gestures to the masses writhing below them as a lion does above his pride, and yet of this cowl he holds no great esteem of its living. The open arms with which he motions to the world is not of embrace but ownership, an authority that cannot merely be called Godly. How his gaze looked to devour up the world and it’s beastly, luscious pearls called Mankind, this insatiable hunger for the human animal. His heart is a vast mouth, and this is a sanctimonious act of consummation wherein everything is transformed through the rite of his jurisdiction, his devouring. His palate has withstood all the evils of the earth, and even this left him with bitter, rancorous parageusia. An utter disgust rests with acrimony in his gaze, and it seems as if his look alone would be enough to raze the earth. Enough to be its salvation. Which he knew himself to be. “Humans — writhing upon the Earth like leeches. And far too many of them now. Brilliant stars they once were, such so that one could appreciate how they illuminated the surface of the Earth. Now they have proliferated to such a degree that not even a single glimmer has any worth, and everything is filled with a nauseating blindness.” A darkling flashes across his retinas in all the searing coronae of a solar eclipse. A poignancy with no name. “Tell me. What beauty is there in a sleet-white sky?” 

      And yet through the blindness, there is clarity. To see though this repulsion to the clear and clinical solution. To see the end, and grin at the brilliance through which radiant results are gained. To reign through the blood which would be spilled to obtain it. “Despite having freed man of the divine shackles which bound them into the cowardice of sheep, they have become swine who delight their own rot.” For years he was their witness, and he’d placed his jurisdiction. Mans’ most base and beastlike compulsions have coalesced into an altogether repugnant appendage protruding from their everyday lives, and Gilgameš would ready his pruning saw. “So far they have gone that they have regressed, reproducing without limit, yet failing to flourish. It is utterly hideous, and will be corrected.” He is King as well as reaper, he is shepherd as well as judge. This is the will of the Supreme Arbiter. He applies pressure so the diamonds can gleam, he devours stars so they can shine again. Here is his vast will, his ready maw. 

👋 Do you and the mun agree on something? (gilgamesh)

@burdensword​ (truth serum for archer) "What is your reason for being distant around me? Have I done something to enrage you? Even after everything that has happened between us, you still don't wish for my presence around you. Why?"

  Tʀᴜᴛʜ Sᴇʀᴜᴍ!

❝ You have done nothing wrong, Saber.❞ In fact, it infuriated him that she blamed herself when it lied squarely on him. ❝ I don’t remember the time I had around you. My recollections are faulty, anything about that time is barely more than an educated guess – I can’t remember the things we said, the battles we had, the blood we spilled together. All of it are lost to me. And even if you have recollections of that time… It may not even be the ‘correct’ one, but some other possibility of us. For all practical purposes, we are virtually strangers who happened to meet at one point throughout the mist. ❞ It was painful ❝ I know for sure that I never said the words. We were never together in a closer sense, regardless of our feelings towards one another. I cannot say what you felt about me, however your loyalty remains unquestionable – that is still etched into me. ❞ 

He’d never forget that night, even as he wanders into hell itself. He’d never forget his vow either, that he would help her.

❝ I failed, Saber. I wasn’t able to help you.  I’m certain of it. ❞ She wanted the Grail to change the Selection, to have someone worthy to pick up that sword --- the truth was, there was no-one more worthy than her. Not back then, not ever. Saber did a splendid work, doing her very best – and was betrayed both by the ideals she embodied and by those she saved. In the end, she did nothing wrong. --- And because she did all the right things people still wanted more.

@burdensword​ (truth serum for kiritsugu) "Since this is a chance to hear you speaking truthfully, Kiritsugu I must know if you have resentment for me. Is it because I wasn't the proper tool you desired to summon or was there something wrong with me? Why did you have to remain silent even if I wanted to bring you the grail?" Tʀᴜᴛʜ Sᴇʀᴜᴍ!

Damn you, Saber! That spell... He could feel its effect seeping throughout his body, an unbreakable curse that binds his soul to say the truth…At least for the time being. Gritting his teeth, no matter how much willpower he’d try to muster, he would be compelled to answer her. No dancing around it, only pure and unaltered truth. ❝ Of course I have resentment, but not for you specifically. Placing it on you and you alone would be a gross simplification.❞ his hand reached for his carton stashed away on his inner pocket, grabbing one cigarette with his lips and lighting it – giving him some time to order his thoughts and much-needed nicotine for his nerves. Letting the smoke linger before opening his mouth and allowing it to flow freely, he continued: ❝ I resent Heroic Spirits in general – it doesn’t matter how you look at it, how you paint it as something glorious and noble, war only brings misery. A needless bloodshed where the strong foist their greed and selfish desires on the weak, oppress those who won’t align with their desires, glorify a carnage that taints the land, and in a few year’s time the only thing is left is the scar tissue on those who survived, and denying those left behind of any dignity. How can someone calling themselves fair and just sacrifice the few or those who aren’t under their role, only because they are on the other side? To claim goodness based on strength, and then put someone brandishing a sword on a pedestal because they have the highest killer count? How that is supposed to be inspiring? How that is a hero?  That is ridiculous.  ❞

❝I also resent your circumstances. I am aware you are older than you look, but you stopped aging physically the moment you took out that damned sword from the stone, correct? It doesn’t change the fact that some people schemed the circumstances of your conception, and then had you to carry such heavy and lonely burden on such young shoulders, barely out of childhood. A fate that you would know that would be painful and full of sacrifices, and even without being a king it is very likely you would have sacrificed your life all the same. It was a time of strife and conflict, your people were divided and besieged by enemies from beyond the seas… And these fools still had their petty squabbles among themselves. But I admit it isn’t my place to judge those around you, but it is still too hypocritical for even me to stomach. ❞

“what is with that uncertain expression, my king. you should know the answer by now” dinadan of course hugs her - a tight hug and due to his height he scoops her up, laughing while doing so “oh you are the perfect hug size! I always knew that but it’s nice to confirm it too” 

“my king, you accepted me as a knight despite me being anything but that. I was ready to leave camelot, to make my way as a bard or something else but your vision of a future for britain... I wanted to see it. and you allowed me to be part of it.” he is still hugging her, obviously quite happy that he finally got to hug arturia.