Times New Roman 15 - Upgrades
July 2004
Archen
"You guys! I did it, I've finished a new technique."
The three of us were relaxing in our gym base, sitting around and listening to Fay's gripes on her family and how stupid they're all being. How her brother is idiotic in his approach in marrying their maid, but her father tells him he can't because of their different standing.
Sounds like a lot of high society nonsense if you ask me.
Gray's face-down on the couch, contemplating if turning around is a worthy expenditure of her energy or keeping her head down will magically erase her exhaustion.
Meredith's announcement was, surprisingly, enough for Gray to finally perk up and engage with the world once more.
"What technique?" She managed to eke out after finally flipping herself over and putting both her hands above her eyes to shield them from the light.
"You know, the non-mind control one."
"Ah, yes. That clarifies it." Gray replies, her voice dry as she slowly sits up and blankly stares her in the eyes.
"Grr... Tell her Arc."
Don't pull me into your squabbles, you've finished multiple 'personal' techniques in the past few weeks. You're lucky I remember which is which.
"She's been trying to create a new technique." I reply blandly, "a variation on the mind controlling powers, not sure about the specifics though." I aimed that last bit at Meredith, silently urging her to start explaining instead of getting wound up by their non responsiveness.
"Yes! And I've finished it."
"Soooo...?" Patience is a virtue. She's just excited, she wouldn't string this along for shits and giggles. That's more Le Fay's shtick.
"So?"
She's definitely fucking with us. I shoot a glare at Fay trying to convey that this is all her fault somehow, and of course she doesn't react to my glare. At this point I'm certain she's selectively blind and deaf.
Taking a deep and measured breath before responding, I try to patiently ask. "I meant to say, what kind of technique did you make?"
She tilts her head sideways in that cutesy type of way and blinks slowly as she responds "the non-mind control one, with my sacred gear? I just told you that."
I sigh softly as I turn my eyes heavensward, is her joy worth my peace of mind? Is her happiness a big enough reward for her returned sense of humor at my expense. I can't help but think dramatically.
My reaction doesn't go unnoticed and from the corner of my eye I can see Fay smirking and raising her thumb at Meredith and Gray's tired countenance turns cheeky at the byplay.
"Okay, okay. Please enlighten me on the magnificent technique you've managed to create, I'm trembling in suspense and if I don't hear it promptly my poor heart won't be able to take it." I try to ham it up somewhat, but my heart isn't in it.
"Hmm... could do with some more pleading and in a different tone? Desperate maybe?" An evil, evil voice interjects, from a being who doesn't understand the meaning of mercy.
"I concur; he didn't even call her by her proper title. He should've beseeched her as a great mage as befitting of her position."
Et tu Brute?
"Fine." I clear my throat and inhale deeply, preparing to regale her with a serenade that will pass down through the ages. A masterpiece of wit and wordplay, one that she will have no choice but to answer my question, one of such magnitude that even the heavens will quake.
"I can boost allies with my nails, instead of controlling them."
Just as my divine inspiration was ready to bubble up, it burned and fell just as quickly. Bereft of my momentum, I reply blandly. "Boosting in what manner?"
The levity vanishes from her face as she grabs me by my sleeve, she pulls me up and drags me to the middle of our training field. The other two follow quickly, interested in learning the specifics as well. Curiosity beating out tiredness and frustration.
Once we stand in the middle, she allows her sacred gear to burst out. The crown like halo and the nails that float around her like wasps protecting the nest. I'm not sure if it's a trick of the light or if her technique has changed the properties of her sacred gear, but it feels like the glow of her gear is softer somehow. As if it's no longer focused on domination, but on something else.
"Alphecca Monarch. The redeemed crown of salvation."
Huh. That's different.
"Do you trust me?" She asks slowly as she stares me in the eyes unflinchingly. Her words brimming with something fragile, as if she's uncertain if the answer she so desperately hopes for will be given.
"Yes, I trust you."
I could've said more and tried to explain why and how it comes that I trust her, trying to give reasons for it. But at the end of the day, it's not a single act of her that has managed to win my trust. Not all her actions have been good for me, but they were never malicious in nature.
And that's enough.
My quick response is what she hoped for, but clearly not something she fully expected. Her eyes mist slightly but she blinks them away in an instant. Her face gains a look of happiness while her entire being radiates a determination to do something big.
She puts both of her hands on the place where her heart is and slowly pulls out a nail. A different one from the ones floating around her, its longer and thinner yet at the same time radiates an entirely different type of energy. It gives of a nourishing feeling, a bit like seeing wheat grow under the spring sun.
She steps closer towards me turning the pointy end from her heart towards me, my familiar appears from the space in my shadow to somewhere behind me. Yet she doesn't make a move to interfere, believing in me that believes in Meredith.
Once she's in stabbing distance of me, she pauses one last time. Taking that final moment to inspect my face and checking if there's any hesitation there. Seeing me completely unbothered with her walking up and not flinching at the implications of it all.
She steels her resolve and pushes the nail into my heart in one swift motion.
I don't move at all, waiting to see what will happen. I hear gasps from the other two as they see the nail entering my body. At the same time, I don't feel any pain nor discomfort when it happens.
Not even looking down to see if it did anything, I keep look Meredith in the eyes as she keeps looking in mine. And right there it happens; something seems to click for her and her entire persona fills with light.
With a smile from ear to ear she suddenly shouts.
"I reject your reality and substitute my own!"
I gasp slightly as the nail that was stuck in me vanishes in motes of light, which are then absorbed into my body. With their absorption I can feel memories change and become clearer, spear-man ship lessons I had trouble with now suddenly clear. Moves I saw my teacher use, but never being able to comprehend how she did it now are so obvious. Some of my own moves and all their flaws now laid bare.
A rush of understanding and realizations hit me all at once, so much so that I stumble forward. And instead of falling on the ground, I'm caught in an embrace as she cushions my fall, preventing my tumble by taking the hit for me.
So lost in the visions and memories, I don't realize I'm being turned around as she starts abashedly touching my hair while my head rests in her lap.
Now a few months after the fight against the demon, where I first felt the lock barring my advancement open. After all that time, I finally broke through the ceiling.
Not in the heat of battle, nor in a desperate situation. But, through the wish of a friend to help, a simple and heartfelt desire to rise me up.
With that realization I smile gently and surrender myself to the visions. Leaving my body in the hopefully capable hands of my friends.
The next morning.
Well, that was fucking insane.
After I fell asleep to digest the enlightenment I had been given, they decided to try it on the others as well. As they then found out, she's only able to target certain people as her power had no effect on Fay.
While Gray and I were sleeping, they continued to test it out and they found a lot of information. Namely that she can't infinitely buff us, even though the boost she gave us is permanent. No new ones can be added from her side.
She was also able to use it on herself and unlike us she didn't fall asleep, nor had any trouble accepting the change. The most fucked up part of all is that she was able to target herself three times.
Let me be clear, she conceptually increased my talent and past understanding of spear-man ship. She did this retroactively, meaning that all my lessons from the past till now have been understood as if I had the boosted talent from the start.
I'm fucking speechless.
Outside of me, where I got a targeted boost at the usage of one weapon. Gray got boosted in 'weapon talent'. She was already a menace with her swapping weapons on the fly, but this pushes her future to be a jack of all trades, master of all.
The biggest winner in all of this is still herself, she can't 'choose' the awakening as the relic decides it by itself. But everything is still a plus, she used it on herself three times and I fear what she might become. The boosts targeted her sealing, warding and security magic talent.
This gave her so much inspiration that she decided to overhaul the wards around our base while we were conked out.
I can feel myself passively being monitored by the wards now, they feel almost alive at this point. Above that, if I wasn't one of the 'important' members, the wards will monitor you as if you're a live grenade.
"Hey Arc."
I pause my introspection to look at a freaked-out Fay and I'm instantly on edge. Normally, nothing freaks her out. I dread what can scare her so much.
"Hi Fay, what's up?"
"It's Meri, she said the most outrageous thing ever. I'm usually the one who does that, but it's ten times worse when she does it." She starts of, obviously anxious about the possible repercussions of what Meredith said.
I drag my hand across my face, she's had her new 'technique' for less than a day and already someone's scared of what might happen.
"What did Meri say?" Trying and failing to keep the trepidation out of my voice.
"You know how she's only able to target people with sacred gears?" Her voice tight with something.
"Yes, that's a pretty big downside as they aren't all that common in the grand scheme of things. If she could power up everyone, she'd be able to amass an army of epic proportions." I nod, happy that this is not one of my future problems.
"My thoughts exactly, I can't say I'm not somewhat envious of your boosts, but I don't hold it against her that she can't use it on me." She starts of somewhat calmly.
"Once we discussed that as the common factor why it worked on you three and not on me, she got a pensive look." She pauses to take a deep breath her tone turning manic at the memory.
"Here she looked at me and said, 'so you will need a sacred gear huh' and started writing sealing equations that I couldn't begin to comprehend." Her voice raises by an octave at this point.
"I asked for more clarification at her sudden bout of inspiration, and she just looked at me and went 'don't worry about it'." She looks at me with a gaze that pleads for understanding and I nod, as I have an inkling of what's going through her head.
"Yep! Let's not think about it." I say happily, not wanting to open that can of worms and trying to turn around.
"Like hell you won't!" She starts shaking me in desperation.
"Do you understand the absolute shit storm that will happen if she manages to do what I think she's planning?"
Heh, finally your turn in wanting to tear out your hair at someone else's antics, eh? How do you like dem apples.
"Don't worry about it."
Suffer.
"I-I wha... what, aagh. Gray! Graaaay!" She stutters and looks absolutely gobsmacked, seeing the shit eating grin on my face she decides to walk away and search for the sane one in our party.
I think she short circuited. Do I warn Gray about this, or do I just watch it play out? Decisions, decisions.
"Gray!" Her voice turning softer as she stomps further away.
"Gray. There you are!"
"Kya! Ugh." I hear a soft thud with an even softer one behind it, as if someone got tackled and the two of them fell on the ground afterwards. Probably nothing.
"Listen to me, Meri is being stupid and when I tried explaining it to Arc, he started acting stupid too and now I need you to..."
My work here is done. I stand up from the couch and make my way over to where Meredith is furiously writing something down.
"Heya Meri, whatcha doing over there?"
Furious scribbling intensifies, I'm mildly horrified at all the things she's writing down. I recognize maybe five percent of whatever it is and that's only individual symbols, not what they mean in context.
"Earth to Meri, anyone home?"
She still doesn't budge; I'll leave her be for now, don't want to shake her out of her fugue. Everyone else is also busy, might as well try my hand at spear practice.
Returning to the middle of the training area I take my spear from my necklace. Centering myself I take the first form and slowly work my way through all the movements, from basic all the way to advanced.
Every strike flows into the next with grace and precision, movements that took more effort now seamlessly work. If in the past I was walking through the dark with a torch, now I'm running with a high-powered flashlight.
My spear now feels like an extension of myself, the same way that a sword felt just right. But... instead of trepidation at holding it I instead only feel jubilation.
With a laugh I jump up and make a front flip while smashing my spear downwards, my teacher would've smacked me for making such a theatrical attack. But right now, I would've gladly accepted her punishment.
A weight has been lifted, my weird regret, that what if question is no longer like an anchor around my neck. In a bizarre twist of fate my choice has been validated and now, I feel like I can take on the world.
"Ahem." A wild Gray appeared, with a distressed looking Fay attached to her midsection.
"Hi, how do you do?"
She points at Fay's form and looks back to me, "explain."
"Meredith is most likely going to steal someone's sacred gear and try to put it in Fay so she can give her some magical juju boost." There I said it.
Fay perks up at me voicing her concerns. "This, exactly this. If she manages that and we don't hide it well, we'll get shanked by the church. Religious types be crazy." Here she quickly looks at Gray and mumbles a quick. "No offense."
Gray's mouth thins into a line, "I'm not religious though."
Fay looks up bewildered at this, apparently that's something unexpected. "I've seen you pray a fair number of times, and you say you're not religious?" Her voice laced with skepticism.
She blushes at her observation, "it's an old habit, I don't go to church. But it'd be nice if Big G helped occasionally."
"...Big G?"
I lose it at Fay repeating her words. Gray realizes too late what she said and looks at me with an aggrieved expression.
"He keeps calling him that! And I thought it was funny and started calling him that in my head as well, it slipped out." Her face adorned with a healthy blush as she points her finger at me accusingly.
"That's not the point! Back to Meri's plan to shake up the world, what do we do?" She forcefully calms her voice and tries to obviously change the subject.
I roll my eyes at their doom and gloom, "listen, she's going to go through with whatever she's planning anyways." I start off the reasons why we shouldn't be stressed about this.
"For one we're not actually certain she's going to yank someone's sacred gear out of their body yet, it's likely yeah. But at this point it's still conjecture." I look pointedly at Fay here, as she's the one causing panic.
"Secondly, if she does succeed, all we have to do is make certain that no one else finds out about her ability to do so." Simple right?
"This is going to go horribly wrong, information like that can't be suppressed." Fay shakes her head in disagreement.
"But he's right about the first point, we shouldn't be making plans for something we're not sure about." Gray tries to interject.
"We've known Meri for how long now? And with how badly she wants to 'pay us back', what do you think she will do?"
"...Oh shit."
"Yes. Exactly."
"Relax girls, it's not like she's going to figure it out right this instant. I'm certain it's going to take her a long time to truly get anywhere. And by then we should all be strong enough to help her fend off idiots trying to use her." Because it'd be crazy if she finished it in this decade.
"Let's wait for her to..." I look over at the manically scribbling girl, "...tire out from her activities then ask and we go from there?" I look the two over as Gray easily accepts my suggestion while Fay looks mulishly.
"All right." x2
I'll have to start thinking about an exit strategy for us, my teacher's an option if it's truly this big. But I don't think she'll be interested, and she'd want me to figure it out myself anyways.
We'll need a base somewhere no one knows about, fortify and hide it as well. My gym here is good for now, but we'll need something truly our own.
Food for thought.
January 2005
I can't believe I've never realized that the renovated bar is a Grigori front, walking in I expect to find a den of debauchery but surprisingly enough it's a classy but normal interior.
My surprise is noticed immediately as Penemue laughs softly behind her hand as she observes me unsubtly looking around.
"Not what you expected hon?"
"Yes. I've been warned about interacting too deeply with your faction multiple times by now."
I don't sugarcoat it; they must be aware of their own reputation and maintaining it for so long that its common knowledge does mean something.
Her laugh turns into a titter, never expected to use that word to describe how someone laughs but here I am.
She leads me to a comfy booth in the far corner of the room. Luckily, it's still early enough so there are no other customers otherwise our combination might have raised some eyebrows.
"You want something to eat or drink while you're here anyways? A glass of wine, maybe a beer?"
"No thanks, I'm only here to broaden my horizons so to speak."
She hums affirmatively at that, not pushing for more despite it becoming clear that she's been stationed here specifically for me all this time. She snaps her fingers towards a blonde girl and tells her to bring a glass of wine.
Their reason for investigating was a hundred percent true, but after more than a year and having finished their 'original' purpose you would expect someone from her rank to be recalled already. Yet she's still here and I've been able to get hold of her almost instantly the entire time.
I must've been kicked in the head to overlook something this obvious for so long, my theory that my teacher's training has made me dumber is becoming more and more likely.
Instead of sitting across from me as you would expect in a conversation, she seats me at the rounded part of the u-shaped booth and takes a seat next to me. Entirely too close for my tastes, but after all the times I've bathed with my teacher this type of blatant seduction isn't anything noteworthy.
"Well, what can I do for you in this auspicious new year." Her tone professional except for a tiny hint of suggestiveness placed innocuously in the middle. She's managed to map out what I react best to and even if I understand her game, I can't help responding positively to the things I like.
Shit, even though I asked for this meeting she's taken the lead in hosting it at her own 'base' and I'm sure she's aware that I have a more mature taste in venues. The background music is even something I've listened to on my iPod.
Fuck it, I'll find someone to teach me how to maneuver these situations better, this time for real and I won't procrastinate. ...Maybe.
Internally I roll my eyes at all these sudden revelations, hoping to not show weakness to the hungry shark next to me. "I want to see if I can do business with you."
Her face brightens as her eyes start to sparkle in a 'magical' manner as she asks me, "what kind of cooperation do you have in mind?"
"Do you know what type of magic I have?" Not answering her question but leading to it and probing how much intel they have.
"You're attuned to time and space magics." She answers plainly.
Yeah, I should've known that they were in the know. Privacy is an illusion.
The blonde girl dressed in a male server's outfit brings two unopened bottles of wine and two glasses to the table, as she demurely sets them down Penemue thanks her without looking at her. "Thank you Mittelt, you're dismissed." Most of her attention on me.
Two identical bottles. That's a power move, if I've ever seen one.
I sigh, she already expected this to happen long before I even came up with it. Fucking long lived races, I should've known that they're smarter than how they are being portrayed.
Rolling my eyes I take one of the two bottles and applying my magic to it I can feel the optimal time to age it to. In barely five seconds and nary a cost to my magical energy as speeding up time for something without sapience is extremely easy, I hold a bottle that looks and feels like it weathered years in contrast to the untouched one on the table.
"A wide variety and different applications of time magic, marvelous. I think the two of us will be working much closer together from now." She says as she opens both bottles and uses some magic on them before taking a sip of both.
"Yes, this will do nicely." She states with a dangerous undertone.
We start hashing out the details, as she asks about how often I can do this in a day and if I could do this on plants as well. I asked how much I would get paid for this service and the number she gave me was ten times what I would have asked for myself. Time magic is rare and using it for frivolous things like this is unheard of, only some devils can do it but they're not too keen on working with them, nor do theirs work as fast as mine.
Due to her insistence, I take one of the glasses and taste both wines as well tasting the difference in quality after my magic has affected it.
The drinking of alcohol with my body unused to it manages to get me tipsy fairly quickly. Combined with her mannerisms and the ambiance we start talking more about 'normal' things, she talks about herself and Grigori as I talk about my day to day and what I want to get from Grigori.
My 'wants' alert her to the fact that I'm trying to make a base somewhere away from here, she talks about their 'house making' services and how easily they could make a building that's transportable to my desired location.
They're being way too accommodating and I'm sure I'll have to pay for this in the future, but that's a problem for future me.
During a lull in the conversation I can't help but ask, "you've been slowly buttering me up, but never mentioned anything about joining Grigori. You always talk about it in a partnership type of way, how come?" The wine must be getting to me.
"Because I would love a partnership between the two of us." She mischievously responds as she scoots closer to me, aware that with my slight inebriation she can push the 'professional' boundary some more.
"But in all seriousness, it's because you're in Scáthach's faction."
"...But my teacher doesn't have a 'group' she belongs to." I ask in slight confusion.
She looks at me with an indescribable look, "your 'teacher' is a faction by her lonesome."
What?
She smiles at me in a weird way, "Scáthach is bluntly said, incredibly scary. She's a prime example of what Father meant by 'humanities unlimited potential'."
She takes one of my hands in both of hers, they feel clammy and they shake slightly. "You feel this?" She asks voice normal but with a slight trepidation.
I nod as I feel the shaking increase.
"Thinking and talking about her is enough to cause me dread, she has the same effect on a lot of people."
Wow, what has she done to all these individuals to cause a reaction this big after so many years of not interacting with the world.
With the mood ruined I decide that's the cue for me to leave and maybe pick out a gift for my teacher, her reputation is helping me big time.
As I exit the bar, she suddenly hugs me while she's still shaking slightly from apparent fear. Feeling somewhat responsible I don't try to disengage and awkwardly pat her on the back, hoping to cheer her up slightly.
After a hot second the shaking stops and she lets go, smiling abashedly and apologizing for her sudden actions. I wave it off as I can somewhat understand her reaction, having flashbacks to the grueling training I underwent.
"It's fine, but I've got to go now. Let's meet up when you've collected all the barrels that I need to age." I say while turning around and making my way back to the mansion, feeling happy and tipsy at the successful mission.
All the while not realizing an owl flies up from the building and flying ahead of me.