ITP: Takoyaki and the meaning of life

[maybe_a_king]

Who: Arturia, a select few, and an open prompt
Where: Various for the closed prompts; Scorpio for the open one
When: Shortly after the return from Animus; Timeline is flexible otherwise
Summary: In which Arturia finds out more than she bargained for and has a minor existential crisis about it.
Warnings: None at the moment.

[For everyone; Scorpio Ward]
Shirou's cooking was better.

That's all Arturia could think as she sat on a bench in the park, idly popping some takoyaki she bought at a nearby street vendor into her mouth. Ever since she had gotten back from that Tower, her thoughts had been concentrated on home, the Grail War, everything she had found out. Given all that information she knew she should be in the library researching her 'ancestor' to try and find some connection--even if she'd met a version of that ancestor in the Tower itself.

Yet all she could seem to focus on was the takoyaki and how much better Shirou's tasted. She missed home, missed her daily routine with her friends, missed being a semi-normal schoolgirl who happened to be able to walk on water. Now she had to contend with the resurrected spirits of mythological figures fighting to the death over a possibly-corrupted Holy Grail, an interdimensional entity straight out of HP Lovecraft's writings looking to cause trouble for the human race, a city slowly turning against Visitors such as her, and an existential crisis on top of that.

"....Shirou's is better," she said out loud as she ate yet another piece. It was definitely easier to focus on that than anything else at the moment.

[For hadronknight]
A month. A month away from here. Six months since she initially left home.

After everything she'd been through in the last month, Arturia was tired, a weariness that she could feel deep in her bones that made her head spin. Part of her wondered how she hadn't been so homesick before in Hinoto-Ri, but when she entered her apartment, had four cats look up at her with big eyes, and saw one of her uncle's samurai-themed figures on the coffee table, she knew the answer.

Unlike in the Tower of Animus and it's lonely population, she had a home here. Her family had come with her. True, it wasn't home, but at least she wasn't alone.

It appeared her uncle was out. Doing what or when he'd get in she had no idea. She picked up Snapdragon--who was not quite the great fat lumps he once was, but still healthy. She would have to thank her uncle later on. Perhaps see about getting him a gift.

Right now?

Arturia was tired. Her body ached from the fight within Nyarlathotep's maze and her mind still swam with the images she saw in those mirrors of herself with a glowing sword. They had to be illusions of some kind, she supposed, but that was something she would worry about later. For now, there is nothing like being able to sleep in your own bed after a long journey, surrounded by those familiar things that reminded you of home. Arturia gratefully curled up in hers in the tiny apartment she shared with her uncle, feeling safe for the first time since they had been dragged to the Tower.

As she drifted off to sleep she really did recognize the fact that home, indeed, was sweet.

[For gforceinmyfaaaace]

An email Pit would have gotten earlier in the day:

Pit,

I'll be waiting outside Libra Apartments. I talked to my uncle and now I'm ready to talk to you.

--Arturia

It was actually kind of nerve-wracking to wait for Pit, her head still swimming from everything her uncle had told her. Her? A copy of King Arthur himself? And she'd been designed from the beginning to be a Master in the Grail War? It was almost too much to think of at once and she hoped her happy-go-lucky friend would be able to help her make sense of it all.

Arturia hated to admit it sometimes, but it was nice to have a friend who knew nothing of the situation back home. Someone she hadn't spent years keeping secrets from, who she didn't have to worry too much about looking at her differently when she told him her secrets. No, the only thing she'd have to worry about was if Pit would tell someone else. If that happened, Arturia would have to make it clear to him that she wanted to tell people herself. Surely Pit would be understanding of that much.

Still, she waited outside the Libra Apartments like she said she would. Despite the stares she got from the natives now--and, oh, it felt like everyone could see what she now knew she was--she waited. She gave her word and she refused to go back on it for something as trifling as a few whispers in the street.

[For greyerrant]
Somehow, in the last few days, Arturia had fallen back into the routine of training with Garviel in the morning before school. Routine had been good for her nerves, but the thoughts plaguing her mind lately had made her distracted, her form not as sharp as it had been. Normally she could get at least three hits on Garviel during their sessions. Now, when she should have been at her sharpest, she was lucky if she could only get in one.

Garviel said nothing, thankfully. Not until Arturia finally decided to speak up. Who would know better about the matter without being directly involved than Garviel Loken?

"Mr. Loken?" she began after their session that morning as she pulled out the bagels and yogurt she'd brought for their breakfast, "....do you think finding out a secret about your birth make you.... different?"

Comments

[hadronknight]

[The door opened as a certain figure walked in-]

I'm back.

[...It had been a force of habit for him after all those years to even say that to an empty room throughout that whole month; of course, he knew that one way or another it would not be empty again, considering the announcement from his COMP.

...And actually not finding her in the thralls of people looking quite... depressed or even in shock.

Which would be why his worry had spiked up to an all time hi....gh?]

...Arturia?

[...Yeah, he definitely couldn't miss that flash of blond the moment he checked her living area.]

[maybe_a_king]

[Sound asleep. She didn't even bother pulling a blanket over herself and she has a few bumps and bruises on her, but otherwise she appears to be fine. In fact, Petunia and Daisy have crawled onto her bed and are sleeping soundly against her.]

[hadronknight]

[There's a sigh as the male just looked at this sight with a face that showed relief and exasperation at the same time as he moved to cover her sleeping body with her blanket- wouldn't do for her to get a cold first thing after coming back from a long journey after all.]

...Honestly, what am I going to do with you?

[maybe_a_king]

[She stirs a bit as he moves the blanket up and turns a bit to look up at him. She'd been sleeping deeper than she had in the Tower, but she'd always been a light sleeper ever since she was a child.]

....uncle?

[hadronknight]

No, I'm an Oni here to take you away.

[he's saying that with a completely deadpan face.]

[greyerrant]

Loken has been very quiet indeed, concentrating on practice and instruction, never talking about the Tower and what they discovered there. Sometimes Arturia can see him looking intently at her during their sparring sessions, as if seeing someone else. When she asks this question, he nods, having almost expected something like this, after the Tower. They had all had left there with more questions than answers.

"Only if you allow it to. While blood gives you certain loyalties and a baseline of your physical form, it is not destiny. You can choose to turn against it or stay loyal by your own will, it cannot compel you if you have a mind of your own. You will only change as much as you choose to change." He meets her eyes, his own showing something like human connection and sympathy.

[maybe_a_king]

This, unfortunately, was not something she had found out in the Tower. This was something she had found out from her uncle upon returning home and trying to open up to her. True, she'd seen that figure with the golden sword in the mirrors, met a distorted, tainted version of her, but to think she's a copy of some kind? It was hard to wrap her mind around.

Even moreso was, unlike what Loken was implying, was that:

"What if you wound up walking the path you were made for without even realizing it? Without even any input from the people who created you?"

[greyerrant]

That pulls Garviel up short for a moment, and he lowers his blade to think more clearly for a moment, sheathing it.

"Good question. That would imply two things. One, that you were eminently suited to the task that you were created for." Like himself, though he doesn't say that.

"Or, that there is some mechanism of fate influencing things, and I do not believe in that. The only destiny we really have is what we forge. We can be shaped by our abilities, by those that taught us, but i the end we are our own. Even if your feet are already on the path, you can step aside. Choose another route."

He takes a step towards her, not menacingly, but rather to impart a lesson. "I made a choice like that once. To stay loyal to something greater than a man. It cost me dearly, but I do not regret it."

He steps back, the moment of instruction done, and adds, "The question one should ask is this: 'Is this path right? Will I serve those I honor and care for by remaining on it?' If so, then there is no harm in it. If not... well, the answer is obvious in that case."

[maybe_a_king]

"But it's not exactly something I could back out of," she said, dropping the pretense. She'd vowed to herself to open up more and if Garviel hated her for her secrets then so be it. She would not lie or cover up the truth as she had before.

"And.... I don't think fate is involved? Simply a lot of coincidences and perhaps some 'preprogramming' for lack of a better word." It would explain why her uncle decided to go to Fuyuki of all places when he decided to go to Japan.

"But I gave this friend my word I would aid her in this and see to it nothing disastrous happens, but...." she sighed, staring down at the Command Spells on her hand--the ones Garviel only knew to be tattoos--before looking down at him again, "It's still disturbing to know I've been walking a path like this without even knowing."

[gforceinmyfaaaace]

For some reason, it had briefly occurred to Pit to wear something nice. But it was just Arturia, right?

...still, he opts to dress in his least dirty and wrinkled clothes before heading out to the Libra apartments, waiting for Arturia to arrive.

[maybe_a_king]

When Arturia sees him, she waves him over to her.

"Are you all right?" she asks. For the most part she looks better than when they'd run into one another in MAGI, having actually gotten some sleep and a decent meal.

[gforceinmyfaaaace]

"I'm fine," he says, rising to his feet and heading her way. "You okay?"

[maybe_a_king]

"I'm well," she says then hesitates. After the series of bombs she had dropped on her, her mind is still spinning.

"Physically, anyway. Do you mind if we walk while we talk?" She always did find it easier to talk about difficult things if she was moving somehow.

[acapriciousthing]

"Everything tastes better when it's made by someone special to you, doesn't it?" Death rather suspected the issue here wasn't really takoyaki.

[maybe_a_king]

"Shirou could be a master chef," she said, staring down at the takoyaki still, a hint of pride in her voice. When it came to the art of the kitchen, Arturia was convinced Shirou and Sakura were tied for the position of master.

[acapriciousthing]

"That sounds wonderful. Food has always been one of my favourite things about being alive." In places that had it, at any rate.

[maybe_a_king]

"As it is mine. Sadly, my uncle and I are lackluster cooks ourselves, making it very nice I have friends who are so talented in the kitchen."

God, she missed home.

[terra_nullius]

Scorpio District was good for distractions, and also its food - he'd taken to the shrimp wrapped up in pastry with sweet chili like nothing else. Now, he was wandering from one gallery out into the park, debating whether or not to see what open entertainment was going on when he saw a familiar face. She seemed a bit glum, contemplating her own snack.

"Is that your friend?" he asked, when she spoke someone's name. "He can make those?"

[maybe_a_king]

She looked up and managed a smile for him that did not quite reach her eyes.

"Yes. He's a friend from back home. He and another friend of ours are quite the talented chefs."

[terra_nullius]

It's the sort of smile he's used to giving, he can recognize it well enough.

"I'm not a fan of those things, but I'd be willing to try one if your friends made them."

[maybe_a_king]

"I got these from a vendor here, but if you would like one...." she picks one of the balls up and holds it out to him.

"It is well made. As I said, Shirou just has a talent for the culinary arts."

[capitalbackup]

Miyako was indulging herself on some takoyaki as well. After Yamato introduced the dish to her back in her world, their surprising flavour caught her off guard and found herself liking them.

Hearing the girl's words, she glanced at her. "...This Shirou can make them better?"

[maybe_a_king]

"Yes. He and my friend Sakura back home. The two of them are very talented in the kitchen." So talented Arturia often thought other food paled in comparison.

[capitalbackup]

"They sound like expert chefs." Miyako wouldn't know. Before coming to this world, and even before she first tasted takoyaki, her meals was prepared to meet nutritional needs first and furmost.

[maybe_a_king]

And, with friends like Shirou and Sakura, Arturia had come to see mealtimes as something warm, almost sacred. A time to be with friends and family, a time to simply be people with one another and let the cares of the day go. Food was important to her, yes, but the actual meal with people around a table would always hold a special place in her heart.

"They could be! They enjoy it a great deal. Some days I think they should be wed and open a restaurant together. They would certainly never go hungry that way."