Arturia Pendragon (AU) @ Nowhere (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
maybe_a_king) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
destinystrings2013-03-06 04:46 pm
maybe_a_king) wrote in destinystrings2013-03-06 04:46 pm
ITP: Takoyaki and the meaning of life
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.
[Forhadronknight]
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.
[Forgforceinmyfaaaace]
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.
[Forgreyerrant]
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?"
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?"
no subject
[...and that's where everything started.]
no subject
no subject
...
[There's an uneasy silence as he tried to word it in a way that doesn't seem as blunt to the girl before him, but in the end...]
...The experiment failed, as instead of a perfect copy of King Arthur himself...
A girl was created, sick and unknowing of the world around her.
[He steeled himself as he continued on with the explanation.]
Mordred Pendragon realized that they're planning to use the girl to participate in the Grail War anyways, she just needed to be tuned to be a Master.
...
And not wanting to see another person being used as a tool, he broke out of the mansion with her in tow.
[At this point there's just a small smile on his face as he finished the tale.]
I...am Mordred Pendragon, and you're the very girl I rescued that day.
no subject
[she looks at her hands as if seeing them for the first time. Suddenly, the reasons why he wanted her to keep her head down make sense. She had a feeling his story led to something like this, but yet....]
This is what you were going to tell me when I finished school?
[She has no idea what to feel. On the one hand she's disturbed because that means she had walked a path meant for her all along without realizing it. On the other hand, her uncle is Mordred Pendragon, known for his betrayal of his father. Then there's the fact she's a being made from magic. Suddenly those images she saw in the tower of her holding a golden sword made some bit of sense, even if only because it meant she was a copy of a great king.
Oddly enough, the copy bit didn't mean one iota to her beyond how shocking it is.]
no subject
[Just a single world, no more and no less as he just stood there, waiting with bated breath for her reaction on this.]
no subject
[A breath, to calm her nerves. Somehow the homonculus part doesn't phase her. It changes nothing about who she is or what she's done. The part that gets to her is the fact she walked down a path she never planned on but had apparently been planned for her long ago. What does she even say to her uncle now? Her uncle who had apparently once been a knight of the Round--]
....what was it like to be a knight?
[Default to being a little girl with a love of the idea of knighthood, then. She had never known him as Mordred the knight and she knew that, if he wished, he would tell her of why he betrayed his king. Yet he took care of her and he himself admitted to saving her. So why not give him a chance?]
no subject
[There's this common distant look again as he recalled the idle days of old.
Well, as idle life can be in a huge castle.]
It's a lot more taxing than teaching girls how to run properly.
[Ha... ha... ha...]
no subject
[And she'll spend the rest of the night asking him questions about the olden days.]
no subject