grandloves.

SDGHSGDHDS ILLYA ?!?! 

        ‘ considering all of the legends and myths of history i cannot           imagine they would be common. perhaps next time they           would come with less of an appetite for all the cellars wine? ’

    a short quip and nothing more, him already having given them free     reign of all they need to make themselves comfortable. the least     they could do is leave some left over for sunday mass, but that     mattered little.

        ‘ then i assume there is more the the grail that is still unknown.           thought i do not expect you to have all the answers. i am sure           some things were kept even from you. ’

                        much like the secrets kept by the church          even the mages association and founding families have theirs               and never was there a better time than now to dig it up

    it was something he would need to investigate more, though such a     task would not be easy, even with the help of maou nobunaga.but he     was confident that with time such secrets would open themselves up     to him. the only question is what would irisivel do? she was linked to     him via the grail, unable to interact with anyone else but those directly     connected to the grail.

                               how lonely you must truly feel                             but you would not wish for my pity

        ‘ would you not like to learn more? i am sure there are some           questions you seek answers to. though watching may be all           you can do, it should not keep you from seeking those answers. ’

IRISVIEL WAS CURIOUS ABOUT MANY THINGS.  she wondered, with great awe, about the lives of humans. she wondered about the different ways they made the best of their short but full lives, of how they existed as a constant grey between the brilliance of the divine and the darkness of any manner of demon or devil. she would oft be impressed and bewildered by how they seemed capable of the deeds of either-or. human free will was one of her greatest wonders, for it was something she’d only managed a small taste of for herself.

and so perhaps it’s her inhumanity that renders her unable to perfectly relate to kotomine’s words. as a homunculus, irisviel already possesses an understanding of magecraft and its intricacies; such knowledge is innate to her, inscribed into her as part of her very being. any mystery regarding the grail is less ‘unknown territory’ and more an uncharted ground within something that’s always been her dominion ... and so it does not spark the same curiosity and interest.

kotomine kirei is correct; it’s quite likely that there had been secrets kept from her. but she cannot fathom what good knowing them will do her now.

        ‘ enjoy your time in the city? it’s been some time since you’ve           last been here. ’

    a passing comment, should they choose to respond or not. his     attention was turned back to irisviel who seemed to have been     caught completely by surprise.

                   their demeanor is almost suffocating is it not?

        ‘ precisely. summoned as the avenger class, which i did not           even know existed.’

    a special class outside the original seven. was such a class completely     new, or was it simply a fluke caused by the grails corruption? there was     more to the grail than he had initially known, and he was quite keen to     learn all that he could. but that would require a special investigation.

                         perhaps even you would like to come along?                           i am sure there is still much for you to learn

        ‘ we’ve come to a mutual agreement. neither of us care for           the grail or to participate, and our goals overlap with each           other. ’

      one whose goal is for mankind to not rely on gods, and the others       for no god to be beyond judgement. for their divinity. for their desire       to be worshiped. who is to keep the gods in check when there are       none beyond their reach?

        ‘ no god should have the power to dictate what man does. and           none are beyond the hand of judgement. ’

AVENGER SCOFFS OUT A CHUCKLE,  making some quip about the quality of the city’s wine. irisviel had seen them partake of it often, and she suspects they’d been dipping into the church’s supply until this venture. a small comedic gem as that was, it’s neither here nor there.

the mentioning of the servant’s class container gives her cause to pause. 

‶ avengers are more of a lie of omission than they are an actively-kept secret. ″  she bites the bait he’d casted by citing his ignorance,  ‶ realistically nothing is stopping one from being summoned... but they are rare. or, they should have been...″  she can’t help but peer at avenger through her peripherals as if they somehow illustrated her point. 

the fuyuki holy grail war has only seen its fifth iteration as of the current day. given the great saturation of the standard classes, one would assume the chances of seeing such an outlier would be quite low, and yet she’s fairly sure this would be the second time. she herself had not been told about the avenger of the third holy grail war, having learned only by coming into contact with it. it was an avenger that had become her that fateful day, and an avenger that had shaped its mud into that non-beating thing that masqueraded as his heart. 

she’s not sure that she cares for him to become privy to such details. if nothing else, she’d prefer not to admit that this past avenger and herself had, for a time, been one and the same.

        ‘ i remember that day all too well. through my death i saw everything           you did. a shame he went against the very thing he sought until           the end. if i remember correctly, he died only recently. ’

    a man whose wish caused untold devastation, the countless bodies     piled beneath him only for him and a single child to stand atop. yet     the curse placed upon him took its toll (or was it his guilt? i wonder)     and in the end had its last laugh.

        ‘ it’s for that very reason the grail cannot be relied upon. its           corruption makes it a liability, though i will not deny said liability           has its uses.’

                     the irony in it almost made him laugh

    a single hand raises to his chest, a heart which stopped long ago     held together by the very corruption which now ran through his     veins. his hand now rests at his side, a small smile as head turns     to the large doors only just now opening.

                     and so the talk of the hour as finally returned

        ‘ but who better to oppose the divine than one whose very nature           goes against it? i believe the answer to your question has returned. ’

IT’S A SERVANT.  irisviel can deduce as much even just from the corner of her eye. she’d seen them in the vicinity numerous times, never acting in the capacity of a heroic spirit and more as kotomine’s guest. but they were impossible to miss; tall, with bright red hair and a presence so commanding she oft wondered if they could kill her by just moving. kotomine had told her their name once, in passing as he’d referred to them. 

‶ ODA NOBUNAGA... ″ 

irisviel is not what anyone could call a “history buff”. she knows, loosely, of the mythologies of europe by virtue of it being her home, and anything else were isolated factoids that she’d gathered from the many books that kiritsugu had brought her. and perhaps it was because kiritsugu himself was japanese and had provided her with literature accordingly, but by whatever stroke of fortune, irisviel at least knows who the demon king of the sixth heaven was.

she can’t help but step back as avenger passes by, seemingly indifferent to the conversation taking place      though they amused at having been mentioned.

        ‘ mayhaps i struck a nerve, my apologies. i am less than           a third rate mage after all, so what do i know? ’

    a smile as she retorts, the pride in her eyes something he had not     seen in her for quite the while. whether he believed her or not     mattered little; she was after all one from the founding families.     what was his knowledge against the centuries of hers? yet pride     was always an insidious killer, blinding even those wise beyond     measure.

                            a shame tokiomi learned such a lesson

        ‘ weaker or no, it is unreliable for that very reason. it would be           foolish to place all hope in the grail. and the church holds           many secrets; some even greater than the mages association. ’

                                time is all that i require                               and of which i have plenty

        ‘ to reach the root is the goal of ever mage, correct? most           dedicate their entire life only to pass their knowledge on           to the next. how many do you believe have reached the root? ’

‶ n...none have. ″  she sullenly concedes,  ‶ the grail has never properly been claimed. ″ she will not give him the satisfaction of learning the details as to why, granted he’s not discovered them already.  ‶ it was ... kiritsugu, who came closest. i trust i don’t need to remind you of his decision. ″

she also will not give him the satisfaction of hearing from her that he is technically correct. the grail has retained its omnipotence, indubitably, but irisviel of all people cannot deny the volatility inherent to its corruption. if the grail is the chalice, then the world’s evils has become the wine. but kirei does not get to hear that affirmation from her, and she doubts that he needs to.

        ‘ the grail holds no such power, you know that better than anyone. ’

    the grails corruption was made clear that day to all, its blackened     ichor twisting all it touches. her words were venom, threatening to     pierce his skin were it not made of stone. she will never forgive him     for what he had done, such was her right.

                     yet even you cannot find fault in my words.                                  loathe as you are to admit

    he is no hero of this story, nor even the villain. he is an anomaly     not even god himself could foresee. he had searched his entire     life to find meaning; a reason to exist. yet try as he might there     was none for him, the fourth war making clear that very day what     it was he must do.

                    no man is immune to judgement for their sins                         why would gods be different for theirs?                                 judgement  comes for us all

        ‘ no. such a task is not so simply solved. as powerful as the grail           may be, its corruption has forever tainted it. it can no longer          compete with the power of the divine. ’

‶ THE HOLY GRAIL IS OMNIPOTENT. ″  she defies him matter-of-factly, and if one didn’t know better they may daresay she does so pettily.  ‶ it’s linked to the root, kotomine. the mana it can access and utilize is limitless... all-power is its very nature. ″

perhaps it’s her pride as an einzbern that makes her indignant, loathe to allow a member of the holy church       he who was hardly a magus        to lecture her about the wish granting device her family had helped create.  and irisviel is not wrong, but by all means she is arguing semantics. the folly of the grail lies not in the question of its power, but rather in that it is only as great as the wish-maker who holds it.

i no longer see any reason to hold back such information from you. so i will say to you what only one other knows. i do not seek power, nor fame or fortune for such things do not interest me. where once i sought pleasure through the suffering of others i feel nothing. as you already feel, i should not exist. i am an anomaly that slipped through the very cracks of creation unwillingly. the only thing i seek, irisviel, as selfish in nature it is. the sole reason behind all i do. is to kill my god.    from @kxrei​​

IRISVIEL HAS LONG LOST THE VIGOR TO CONTEST HIM. kotomine kirei is an unassailable wall before her, a man that she could never defeat in combat nor with words. it's long been clear that neither his fight nor his preoccupations were with her; it only ever seemed as though he wanted her to watch something      to learn something.

she never knew what. his mind was fundamentally incompatible with hers, her font of feeling versus his desert of apathy, and so she could never tell what he was thinking. but perhaps that was alright. perhaps being so unlike kotomine kirei was a good thing.

and perhaps that's why she looks at him like he'd grown a second head. his goals remain just another aspect of him she could never understand.

He blinks owlishly as the tower of things wobbles e'er briefly, muscles locking as if its balance hinges on if he so much as breathes in its general direction. While he shifts direct focus to Irisviel, he cannot help but divide part of that attention to the tower, not even realizing she intended to share the cake with him.

❝O-oh—❞ A delayed nod later, he sets the cake down at the middle of the table, then stepping back to not interfere. ❝I did not intend to eat it as well, but if you are insisting, then it would be ruder of me not to accept. Thank you.❞

‶ THINGS YOU LIKE should be shared with the people you like ! ″  she says it so simply, so matter-of-factly, wagging a finger back and forth like the statement was much an absolute as the sun setting in the west. 

irisviel sets the table with two small plates and the silverware she’d retrieved before ( and she does this with significantly more care than with what she’d created the precarious-looking tower      of which she seems to have forgotten about entirely. )   ‶ when i was living in einzbern castle, there really wasn’t anyone to do things like this with. ″   she speaks, oddly warmly, as she cuts the dessert neatly. ‶ when your grandfather is a golem you don’t rea   ″

she pauses when she sees the way his eyes dart briefly to the stack she’d thrown together.