That, along with various other profanities, were flooding Oberon's mind. Despite the fact that nobody knows what the hell is going on in this scuffed Holy Grail War, someone really thought they'd try to get it going anyways, huh? He supposes he can't blame them, the general basis of the ritual is focused around the general rule of last-man-standing, that's how it's supposed to be... but understanding doesn't make him any less frustrated.
He supposes he should be grateful, at least, that his foolish woman of a Master remembered the Command Seals on her hand. Whether it was intentional or instinctual, Oberon found himself flung through space itself, directly to his Master's side.
At least all that time spent lazing around their apartment eating junk food all day hadn't diminished his combat abilities in the slightest. He's a Servant, after all, he doesn't even need to eat at all in the first place.
Still, they had been a tough challenger, especially considering the meager amount of mana Ai provided. She's not a broken faucet, at least, but she still wasn't a mage. They must have been an Assassin, too, seeing as how they took every opportunity to aim for his Master... meaning Oberon had to spend a good chunk of the fight defending her instead of moving in for the kill.
Y'know, now that he thinks about it, the odds really were stacked against them, huh? Yet he still managed to repel the Assassin. Low mana supply or not, he's still the Abyssal Wyrm. One should never underestimate him. In fact, if he hadn't been occupied with protecting his Master, he might've even had a few chances to go for the kill.
...but it's pointless to think about hypotheticals, isn't it? Because even though he fought his fucking ass off, he still failed. That skull-faced bastard seemed especially fond of using daggers, and despite his efforts, one went into his Master.
The fact that he had obstructed the Assassin's aim enough that the dirk went into her thigh instead of anything vital wasn't nearly as comforting as he would have liked. ]
Hah... hah...
[ Something must have snapped, because he started fighting much more intensely when that happened. Intensely enough that he heard the enemy click their tongue before vanishing, having deemed the risk of fighting him higher than the reward.
So here they are, Oberon jumping from rooftop to rooftop with his Master in his arms, blood running down her leg. It's even raining, which means the world must truly have it out for them tonight. During the fight, Oberon had been forced to carry Ai around for brief periods, usually either by tossing her over his shoulder or carrying her under his arm like a football. It was almost comical, he might have made fun of her for it later if they had come out unscathed.
Right now, though, shes in his arms... properly this time. Carefully in both arms, close to his chest, gripped so tight it might even hurt... though the stab wound in her thigh probably hurts far more than a tight grip right now. ]
Shit...! Shit!! You went out too far tonight, woman! Where the hell even am I!?
[ Even Ai knows she's been getting a little complacent. She can't help it, though - it's been so many years since she could walk out of her house without worrying about being recognized that she'd forgotten what it'd felt like. When they'd first arrived here, she'd worn sunglasses and hats every time she went out, just out of habit, but as it had gradually become clear that nobody cared about Ai of B-Komachi in this place, she'd slowly started showing her face instead.
It's so strange. Nobody cares where she's going, when she's coming home, who she's with, none of it. It's been weirdly freeing. And even though she and the however many other Masters here are all technically in competition, there's no real sense that they're enemies. Their Servants, too, all seem friendly enough. She really hadn't thought for a moment that someone would really try and draw first blood.
Just goes to show what she knows. ]
Hahah... aah, sorry... I really screwed things up.
[ She sounds - delirious, almost. She's not losing anywhere near enough blood for that to be the reason but there's still the tense of some inner tether having suddenly snapped. Maybe that's just a normal response any normal girl would have to being attacked like this - but both of them know Hoshino Ai isn't a normal girl.
(It's funny. She doesn't remember it hurting anywhere near this much the first time.) ]
It was so pretty out tonight, I... I just wanted to walk back from Nagiko's place. She even said she'd come with me and I said no! Can you believe it?
[ She laughs wetly, in a way that almost sounds like tears. She's already got her hands anchored in the heavy fur stole around his neck, but now she presses her face there, too. She's shaking, but it has nothing to do with cold. ]
[ Fuck, if he sees that bastard again, he's going to gut them with his bare hands. That Oberon doesn't know where they are is a lie, one of the first things he did upon his summoning here was scout out the city during the day as the Fairy King. The rain makes for poor visibility, but he's making a straight line straight to their apartment. There are better places to go, he realizes. Ai was fond of that annoying multicolored Archer, and objectively she and her Master were closer.
But Oberon doesn't feel particularly trusting right now. ]
Shut up! Shut up!! Stop talking like that!! It pisses me off!!
[ She's talking like she's going to die. She won't die. He won't let her.
They arrive at the apartment, at which point Oberon just kicks the door off it's hinges, causing it to fly across the room and hit the wall on the other side while Oberon rushes in, practically flying over to the sofa and carefully setting Ai down... ]
Stay still.
[ Oberon is not a medical expert, hell he doesn't even know where their first-aid kit is... but thanks to a fortunate little accident, he doesn't need it. That time he spent running around and teaching himself just so he could teach a pitiful little girl from Tintagel whatever magic she wanted—within reason, considering her first request was flight—will finally pay off for him, turns out, as he puts his hand on her wound and puts pressure on it, accompanied with a dim light.
Of course, it's been a while since he's even bothered with any of this... so he has to focus, and leave himself open to Ai being able to see the haggard expression on his face. ]
[ It takes entirely too long for Ai to sleep that night. Physically, she's beyond exhausted - though the wound in her thigh is healed, her body has still done the hard work of knitting her skin back together and she feels appropriately drained. The fear, the adrenaline, the shock and terror of the fight have burned through her nerves too and she feels like a candle wick burned down to the point of scorching the wax.
But she can't sleep. Her thoughts are a blur. Once again, she's been someone's victim. Once again, there's someone here who wants her dead. Even with someone here to protect her, that sense of safety she had so slowly been getting used to has been snuffed clean out.
But it's that having someone to protect her that's the scary part. Even someone as stupid as her knows what it means when someone holds you and she knows what it means when she's the one who asks to be held. It hadn't gone any further than that, a momentary lapse in judgement and an indulgence to go with it, and that's good - it can't be allowed to go further. She'd been shaken up and afraid and that's as fine an excuse as any, but that's where it has to end. She won't allow it to affect her any more than that.
Surely Oberon would think the same. They can cheerily return to the status quo and pretend nothing happened. And if he doesn't... well. Dealing with one-sided feelings is an idol's job. She can manage it.
When she finally sleeps that night, Ai dreams of blood, pain that rots deeper than bone marrow and the voice of a beloved fan snarling "Does that hurt, bitch? Huh?!". She dreams of Aqua trembling in her arms, Ruby's voice breaking into sobs. She dreams of somebody's hand cradling her face and after that, she doesn't dream of anything at all.
When she wakes, it's well beyond noon and she feels no better rested for any of it. She's still a little shaky and when she rises from her bed, her head swims. When she washes up for the day, her hands are ice cold and when she forces herself to practice her smile in the mirror before she heads out into the front room, her face is ghostly pale.
She's worked under worse conditions. She can handle this just fine.
It's Ai of B-Komachi, then, who comes breezing out into the living room. She's talking even as she makes her way in, as if to pre-emptively send the message that she absolutely, unequivocally is not going to talk about it. ]
Good morning! Or I guess it's not exactly morning anymore, huh? Oops! I guess that's what I get for lazing around in bed for so long. Heehee.
[ Servants don't need to sleep, that's a fact. It might even be one of those things that Oberon can say out loud and actually be true, like how his wings are fake and serve no purpose aside from looks. By all means, after an attack like that, it's Oberon's duty as a Servant to remain on-guard.
...but after the complete storm of emotions that he just went through, he was actually feeling exhausted. Not physically, of course, but mentally. Sure, the couch is currently somewhat covered in blood, but that doesn't make it any less of a place to rest, right? He's certainly laid in worse.
Needless to say, he instantly regrets it. How could he have forgotten such a simple thing? The way memories can bleed through the connection between Master and Servant in the form of dreams? He could've cut the line, of course. As a resident of the dreamworld, it would've been easy enough... hell, he's technically already been doing it. Making sure that his Master doesn't see his memories in one of her dreams.
But he doesn't, because he's curious. Because he wants to know more, and he regrets having gone to sleep because this curiosity just makes his head spin even more.
What the hell is he thinking. He can't possibly be thinking that anything could come of this, is he? Well, talk of Master/Servant relationships has always been a popular topic among Servants, so the concept itself is hardly unheard of.
But for him, it can't happen. It must not happen. Because he's Oberon the Liar. Even if he found someone who could love the twisted Oberon, someone akin to his Titania, he can never acknowledge it.
"Oh? What's wrong, Blanca? Your pretty antennae stopped moving. Ah. You're dead. Were you taking all the mors' poison being directed at me from all of Britain, in my place? Thanks, I guess. Not that it really matters."
Because acknowledging it would make it a lie.
Yet here he is, shamelessly watching his Master's memories because he couldn't resist. Like a schoolboy excited at the prospect of reading the diary of his crush.
...and what a hopeless woman she is.
What the hell is that bullshit? "To me, lies are love"? "Even now, I want to love you"? There's a fool, there's an idiot, and then there's whatever the hell Ai is. Those are the thoughts that run through his head as he watches his Master bleed out in front of a human who deserved nothing. Not her lies, and certainly not her love.
Oberon wakes up far before Ai does, and she has him to thank or blame for the sudden halting of her dreams. He had enough of looking at it, so he shut it off just like turning off a TV.
Unfortunately, it does little to abate the fact that he's woken up in an even worse mood than before.
[ In all of their time together, Oberon has stubbornly refused to go out as his darker, more genuine self... and similarly, the Fairy King has never once stepped foot inside this apartment.
That has now changed. Inexplicably, jarringly, horrifyingly even... when Ai steps out into the living room after having prepared herself to have everything return to normal... she is faced with the bright and cheery Oberon. ]
Sorry! I tried to fix up the room, I really did... but I could tell right away that if I kept trying, I'd just make the mess worse.
[ For a long moment, Ai just stares at him. The picture perfect smile she'd so carefully stitched into place unravels into a look of total bafflement. Her lips part like she means to say something. Then close again. Even when she tries again the second time, all that comes out is - ]
. . . Huh?
[ She's... mostly gotten used to dealing with her two-faced Servant at this point. Honestly, she'd be a hypocrite if she hadn't. If nothing else, she could begrudgingly admire the act - for all his foibles, the Fairy King is so irritatingly, effortlessly likable that it makes her wish she could do the same for Ai of B-Komachi.
And yet, seeing him here in her apartment makes her feel... wrong-footed. It definitely makes her a hypocrite when she'd been doing exactly the same thing but still...! ]
Ah, um... [ She fumbles for a prim and pretty response and utterly fails to come up with one. ] Well, I managed to get some sleep at least... but I don't exactly know if I feel better.
[ Fighting is a goddamn pain. Why couldn't everyone just stay peaceful instead of stirring the pot? Well, to be fair, most of the Master/Servant pairs agreed on not being reckless and starting fights in hopes of getting the Holy Grail to manifest, but the fact remains that there are others who held a different opinion on the matter.
Still, Oberon is strong. Regardless of whether it was coincidental or not, Ai's Servant was powerful... and no matter what, he protected his Master.
No matter what.
He wonders, as he fights to keep his body from dematerializing, what Ai must have thought just now... when he called out to her for a Command Seal. A boost that would allow him to release his Noble Phantasm without sucking Ai's life completely dry.
"Lie Like Vortigern", "Eye of a Dream Falling Yonder"
The Abyssal Wyrm, the hollow insect, a hole in the world itself. By all means, it was also his true form. He can't help but wonder what his Master thought of it as it fell on the enemy, swallowing both Servant and Master alike. Just like how a Noble Phantasm has been described to her, it was truly a trump card to end all trump cards.
It was also too much for just one command seal to power, Oberon realized, but instead of asking for her third and last stroke... he simply took the alternative, refusing to use mana from Ai and using solely his own. To his credit, it worked.
Unfortunately, it does also mean he's on the verge of disappearing. Shit. ]
Ugh...
[ It hurts to move. What a painfully nostalgic feeling. Did he black out? Is it even possible for Servants to black out? He can feel the edges of his body fraying at the seams, a light glow as the spiritrons that make up his body start to unravel while all he can do is lay there in the aftermath of the battle, frustratingly trying to keep himself from disappearing... but he's drained.
Is this it? He thinks. One use of his Noble Phantasm and that's it? What will happen to Ai, then? A Servantless Master in this mysterious Grail War where nobody knows what the hell is going on? Where the Masters themselves aren't even of this world?
Well, it's not like he'll be able to think of it much longer at this rate. Even with his blurring vision, he can just barely make out the figure of Ai running towards him. He'd say sorry, but then it'd be a lie. ]
[ As hopeless of a Master as she is, Ai knows full well that's not where the laundry list of her flaws ends. But if there's anything at all she can pride herself on, it's that she learns fast. She might make mistake after mistake, but never the same one twice. Especially not in a place like this, where it could so easily come back to bite her.
So she learns. Every little tidbit of information she can find about mages, Masters, Servants, all of it - she memorizes it all greedily, in case it might come in handy later. And besides that... the less information she has to try and pry out of Oberon, the better. At least coming from other sources, she can be reasonably confident she's getting a straightforward answer.
So she knows what it means when she comes half-tripping to meet him and sees his form wavering like a candle threatening to snuff itself out. She knows what that thing had been, that void in the sky that had howled like wind and screams. She understands that unless she acts fast, she's going to be in a whole lot of trouble. But more pressingly and more frighteningly, she's going to be alone.
When she finally reaches his side, Ai all but tumbles to her knees, hitting the ground hard enough that she knows they'll be bruised and chewed up later. Her hands bracket his face as she leans over to see him, as if there's any wound she can treat for something like this - ]
Oberon... [ Her voice is shaking. She's trying to keep it steady, but- ] What... why did you...?!
[ Ah... there she is. He can see her clearly now. Great. ]
Hah... they were pissing me off, so I went all-out, that's all...
[ It had been a rough fight, actually. Why else would he resort to his trump card? It's not like he had any problem with fighting while not at his strongest, it just meant he had to fight smarter, but even that only kept things an even fight. He needed something to tip the scales in his favor, and he had exactly what he needed in that regard. ]
Did it scare you? Harsh. That may as well have been my true form, you know...
[ Shame that it seems his calculations were off. He used up far more mana than he expected, even though he tried to keep the scale to a minimum. Guess that's the downside to an Anti-World Noble Phantasm.
Alas, there's no wound to treat. That's not to say there aren't wounds, he just came out of a fight after all, but it's nothing lethal. His spirit core is intact, but he's out of the very thing that the Master is supposed to provide for their Servant. ]
...what? Don't tell me you think you could've handled it. You should be thanking me for not sucking you dry, you know...
[ Okay, so - Sei's not that much of a gossip anymore. Seriously, she's not! When Chaldea's relationship chart is as crazy complicated as it happens to be, you learn really quick to exactly what degree you should be staying in your lane. Berserkers can cause a whole lot of hassle if they get upset.
But just because she's not a gossip anymore doesn't mean she's totally lost the itch. She kind of loves drama, so long as it's harmless and she's done such a good job of keeping her nose out of what's going on with the pretty Master and her weird fairy Servant that she thinks she's earned this.
"Nagiko-chan, thanks for- ah, my mouth? Oh, I just had a little accident. But listen, what happened was-"
Sure. An accident. Like Sei doesn't know what a hickey looks like. Honestly, she's kind of surprised Oberon had it in him.
So call her curious. Call her nosy. Call her totally sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. But she really can't pass up the chance to investigate a little further.
So on a day she knows that Ai's out of the apartment, Sei comes knocking. ]
Yoooo, Ai-chan! It's me! Open up, wouldya?
[ She knows Ai's out of the apartment but she fully intends to stand here being loud and annoying until Oberon lets her in anyway. ]
[ MAYBE IF HE'S QUIET ENOUGH, SHE'LL FUCKING LEAVE.
It's a long shot, he's very aware of this. He also has the excuse of still recovering mana and being wary of other Servants... as if Sei fucking Shounagon falls under that category. Hell, he's not sure what category she falls into. Both in terms of their alliance and just in general! Seriously, why is she even an Archer!?
At the very least the bounded field keeps her from just, say, dematerializing and going through the walls to harass him...
But god, fuck, is she stubborn. She just won't stop! She won't leave!! What the hell!? Maybe he could escape out the window? Ugh, he could... normally, that is, but he's still so low on Mana that even he recognizes that it'd be unwise to fly out of the window at mach speed just to get away from her. Y'know, the minimum speed he'd need to escape her, since she'll spot him and give chase otherwise.
[ —until this is the person who opens the door, all smiles as if it isn't something of an open secret for a Chaldean Servant. One of those things you don't talk about, an unspoken rule. ]
Can I help you with anything? Ah, don't mind the mess, I haven't had time to clean up yet.
[ Yeah, sorry Ai, he knows the Fairy King is off-limits here... but hey, Ai isn't here, so... ]
[ She wonders just how transparently obvious it is that she's avoiding the apartment. She doesn't really have anywhere to go and it's not like she has a job in this place, but Ai's been slipping out of the door in the mornings and returning late in the evening for the last few days. She wears a mask to cover the still livid bite mark (she won't let herself think of it as a hickey even though that's so clearly what it is) and wanders the city, trying to pretend she feels like she belongs there.
It isn't as though she doesn't want to be at home. It's not like she doesn't want to be around him. It's just...
Well, it's just like she'd said. She doesn't know what to do about any of it. And when Ai doesn't know what to do about something, the only thing she can think to do is avoid it.
Of course, that's a whole lot easier when you don't have an interfering girl like Nagiko in your life. It's taken a little getting used to - she's never had a friend quite like Nagiko (or uh, a friend full stop) who's invested enough to get herself involved. Most times, Ai appreciates it. Today, after the talk she was cornered into having, she feels considerably... less so. Not that Nagiko had necessarily been wrong about any of it but... she kind of feels like a kid who's just gotten the mortifying birds and bees lecture from their parent.
She's still churning it over and over in her brain as she makes her way home for the day. It's just late enough that it's starting to get dark and chilly out and she thinks, not for the first time, just how cold it'd been that first night when those cracks had first started to show. She wonders if she could've avoided this all by being just a little less careless - or if it was just a matter of time before something else had come along.
Her heart's been splitting open for much too long, after all. Bleeding out over whoever gets close enough was an inevitability. ]
Oberon...? [ She says his name in a way that sounds both like hesitation and an apology as she steps in through the door. ] I'm home...
[ She hangs up her coat, toes off her shoes - and then off comes the mask. That mark left behind by their kiss somehow seems even darker and more vivid than it did before it'd started to heal. ]
[ At the very least, he responds, even if it's so dismissive it barely counts as one. Then again, that's generally how he always responds, so it'd be foolish to expect anything else at this point.
If there's one thing that's different, though, it's that the room is remarkably cleaner than it usually is. Well, not completely clean... but all of the usual mess is confined to a single area around Oberon, a mess only recently made in the wake of the original mess being cleaned up.
Maybe he'll take credit for it... he is a liar, after all.
In any case, he glances up from his usual spot on the sofa, lazily laying about like always. He can clearly see the mark on her lip, the mark that he left on her, his own personal scuff on the pretty and polished idol.
...
...stop thinking about it, idiot. ]
...don't stay out so late anymore.
[ He'll protect you. No matter what. But he can't succeed at it, not like this. ]
[ Objectively speaking, going for an entire night must have been a mind-blowing experience for Ai. Possibly the most exhausting experience in her life, sure, but still mind-blowing. Somehow, for better or worse, Oberon is good at what he does... especially when Ai has such a vulnerable M-streak to her.
Weird to think about when you consider that... that may as well have been his first time. It's not like he ever did anything like that at any point during his time in Faerie Britain, least of all Chaldea, and now he's done it here. One can only suppose that it just comes with the trait of being Oberon. It all just came naturally to him.
The price of that mind-blowing night, however, is that it is currently a few hours past noon... and Ai is going to be waking up to the sorest body she's ever felt in her life. Forget feeling sore after exercise and stamina training... she has to deal with both the physical fatigue, and the fact that her body is covered in bites.
The amount of bite marks on her body only increased as the night went on, spreading to her thighs and even her arms. They were already dark after Oberon gave them to her, and they've gotten even darker as they slept. Finally, there's the fact that at no point during the night was Oberon anything but rough... and for how long they went, it doesn't even need to be said what state that particular part of her body is in.
She's as ruined as she can possibly be, and that might be the point... hell, since it's Oberon, he's probably proud of it too.
Speaking of... ]
Morning~
[ ...being a Servant who doesn't need to sleep, and also a piece of shit, means he woke up before Ai and has been laying here with her, arms wrapped around her from behind as the big spoon to her much littler spoon, for god knows how long. He's quiet, letting her sleep for as long as she wants, but once he sees her open her eyes... the urge to tease could not be resisted. Hell, it's not even morning anymore! They fucked into early morning! It's well past noon, you liar!
At the very least, it had been very touching when Oberon finally exhausted himself and laid there with her in his arms. Even if they don't need sleep, they still can, and it's one of the best ways to deal with exhaustion. He had fallen asleep close to her, just as she wanted. ]
[ When Ai finally peels her eyes open, it takes a long, long moment for her to even register that she is awake. The fatigue hanging over her is so thick that she's still halfway in her dreams even now - she remembers the clicking of a projector, bright overblown images cast larger than life on a screen but anything that might have been playing out there is gone.
Her whole body feels heavy and sore. Definitely worse than any live show she's ever put on. All the bites he's left on her skin are still tingling and there's so many all over her at this point that her whole body feels like it's humming.
She feels... burned down, like a candle lit until it scorched the wax. She's been so roughly used that her whole body aches from it and she knows without even having to look (though her blurry vision helpfully zeroes in on a few of those bites down her arm) that she must be an utterly disgraceful sight by now.
Unacceptably filthy. Unforgivably sullied and impure. For Ai of B-Komachi, anyway.
The thought makes a smile settle into place on her face. ]
Good afternoon.
[ She doesn't even have to look at the time to know that's bullshit. Her voice, perhaps unsurprisingly, is raspy and worn. Almost like she'd, uh, been using it loudly and at length all through last night.
She sort of wants to roll over and face him, but every muscle in her body at once protests even the thought of it, so instead she settles for curling a little more tightly around the arms wrapped around her. ]
Or maybe it's even evening at this point. I kind of lost track.
[ Ai doesn't quite know when the dream starts. In fact, she doesn't even realize it is a dream, at least not right away. Everything seems a bit too solid, a bit too tangible. It's only when she pokes and pulls at her brain to try and work out how she got from her bed and Oberon's arms to this empty movie theater that she realizes the thread of logic is broken - she was simply there one moment and here the next and it's then that everything begins to make sense.
Still, though. What a strange place to end up dreaming about. She's been in movies herself but she doesn't ever really go to see them - she realizes, with a pang in her chest, that the last time she went was to see Aqua in the director's movie. Trying to ignore the squeezing in her stomach at the thought, she makes her way to the counter to see if there's anyone here at all - and starts when she spots her reflection in her glass across the back wall.
She'd half expected to see herself as she was... last time. The white dress, the sweater. But this time it's different. A loose, comfortable t-shirt tucked into a long skirt. The sort of clothes she'd pick herself to go out somewhere, if she could.
The sight of it unsettles her a little and she doesn't know why. So she turns away and follows the helpful signs all the way to the screen, the one and only this place seems to have. Posters blown up so huge she can see the print pixelation are slapped all over the walls but she doesn't recognise any of them.
This really is such a strange dream.
She doesn't quite know what she's going to see when she sits down to watch but her curiosity gets the best of her and she pushes the door to the screen open and makes her way inside to find a seat. It's only a dream, after all. It won't be anything she hasn't seen before. ]
[ Really, aside from the lack of people, it was a theater just like any other. Maybe a bit old-timey, but it still wouldn't be out of place to find normally nowadays. The counter is fully stocked, yet nobody stands behind it. Nothing seems to be particularly dusty or abandoned... but she remains the only person here.
The posters are all made for a single movie... picturing a beautiful landscape with a bright pink sky...
The theater door is opened, and within, the massive screen at the front can be seen flickering to life. The entire room is deserted, it's anybody's guess as to how the movie is running at all, yet to top it all off, a monotone voice suddenly comes out of the speakers. ]
Thank you for visiting us today. We will begin the screening of "Fae Round Table Domain, Avalon le Fae - The Moment a Star is Born" shortly. Any recording of this show, either through video or photography, is strictly prohibited. Please take your seat, relax, and enjoy the show.
[ A countdown appears on the screen, a timer of 60 seconds. Ample time to find a seat, especially since every seat is open... or rather, that's what one would be lead to believe at this point. But upon making one's way inside to look out over the larger open space of empty seats, there sits the only other person in the entire theater.
Loudly sipping from a massive plastic cup that Ai may have seen others of from the counter outside, is Oberon... who is sitting casually with his feet up on the empty seat in front of him and paying no attention to his surroundings. With his back currently facing her, he has yet to notice his newfound company in this place. ]
[ It'd been just a few weeks ago that the weather had stung with a wintery bite and Ai had foolishly assumed that the seasons were going to make any sense whatsoever. Now all of a sudden it's blazing hot out, just as bad as Tokyo in the dog days of summer and Ai's resigned herself to understanding this city about as much as she did when she first arrived, which is too say, not in the least.
But it's not all bad - even if Nagiko had made a point of ominously warning her and Hibiki that summer was supposedly "a cursed time" for Servants and Masters. It's a little hard to believe that when the weather's so nice and when a beach that absolutely, definitely wasn't part of the city before is having some kind of open-invitation party with free food and drinks.
It's been entirely too long since she was allowed to go to something like that outside of work, so of course Ai's going. Of course she's wearing a cute two-piece swimsuit. And of course she made it very clear to a certain somebody that she'd be very upset if she had to pick out a different swimsuit for any particular reason.
Speak of the devil, though... ]
Are you really not about to pass out like that? I know you're probably sensitive to the sun, but...
[ She feels a little nauseous on his behalf just looking at that hoodie??? ]
[ "Cursed" is an apt description for what summer is for Servants, especially in the case of Oberon... seeing as how he is, somehow, still standing despite his objectively incredibly poor choice in wardrobe for this season.
To which this is, supposedly, the fault of Ai somehow? As if the forced lack of his form of intimacy has increased his sulkiness tenfold. He could at least unzip the hoodie and not cover his head (not that it would change the fact that he's wearing dark heavy clothing under the beating sun), but instead here he is, somehow even grumpier than usual.
Truly, a stark contrast to Nagiko, who shortly after warning Ai of the dangers of summer, has begun claiming herself to be a "delinquent" with 30% more of her usual boisterousness... while riding a skateboard and swinging around a hammer.
Is it weird that this makes more sense than her being an Archer? ]
Mmph...
[ Which would be worse to see? Him passing out from heat stroke? Or his pale skin turning bright red under the rays of the sun? Unless having a Servant body made of spiritrons grants immunity from sunburns, a very specific question that is unfortunately hard to definitely answer currently. ]
[ As much as Oberon would've liked to continue just... spending time with Ai, whether it be lovey-dovey couple shit or him chewing her to pieces (god knows that ended up being the majority of their summer), their "duties" as Master and Servant couldn't be avoided forever.
He really thought he could've escaped the hell of farming just because he wasn't in Chaldea, huh? Granted, it's not like it isn't normally possible to do so, but...
Halloween. Is. The. Worst. He'd like to go after whoever had the gall to summon Elizabeth Bathory to this place and throttle them, as not only is it entirely her fault the city has that abominable stack of buildings nonsensically stacked on top of each other sitting smack-dab in the middle of the city, as well as overrunning said-city with pumpkin-themed mobs, but it's also her fault that they specifically can't ignore it.
Because upon seeing Ai, she yelled some kind of nonsense about "idol power", flew into an indignant rage(?), and has declared that this won't end until they challenge her and Oda Nobunaga at the top of the Csejte Pyramid Himeji Honnoji Castle... to an "Idol-off", which Oberon could tell is actually just... fighting as usual, just with a side of singing at the same time.
Seriously, they couldn't have targeted Nagiko and her Master for this!? Isn't that exactly what her Master does!?
Oh, right, and also Nobunaga is here... which means that, by extension, there are also Mini Nobbus. Mini Nobbus wearing pumpkins. ]
ARGHHHHH!!
[ ...Well, at least he's able to take out all of his frustration by going nuts on all of them, right? ]
WHY ARE THERE SO GODDAMN MANY OF THESE THINGS!? I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL THOSE TWO WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THEM!!
[ A pause... ]
...Ah, my bad. No profanity allowed, right~?
[ So he says, before promptly kicking his massive pillbug "friend" at a group of Pumpkin Nobbus, knocking them over like bowling pins.
...Well, at least Ai finally got a Mystic Code that she can use for supporting Oberon in battle out of this, right? It's also her idol costume, which... he can't say he's actually bothered by, but still. She also has Blanca on her shoulder, which he will complain about, but even he begrudgingly recognizes how cute they are together. ]
[ Ai feels like she owes... basically everyone an apology.
The city's pretty much been turned on its head and it's pretty much entirely down to her. It's not necessarily her fault exactly, but she still feels kind of bad. Even so, Ai knows there's a difference between something she feels bad about and something she owes an apology for.
That would be the Nobbus. She'd been making a joke to lighten the mood, something about how at least there weren't any of those around... and then they'd heard the first chorus of 'nobbu!' in the distance.
She tries not to hold grudges against someone she's never met, but if Oberon decides he wants to throw her off the tower... well, she'll stop him but she'll have to think about it first. ]
We agreed, didn't we? [ She's giving him a disapproving stare... actually, it's coming in tandem with Blanca's, too. ] I don't want Eli-chan having any excuse to disqualify us and make us start climbing all over again.
[ The laundry list of Ai's flaws is nearly endless but the one thing she knows she's good at is making mistakes - no matter how she trips and stumbles, she'll get back onto her feet so gracefully you'll forget she ever fell in the first place. She's a fast learner and she never makes the same mistakes twice. All that combined means she thinks she's doing a... not so terrible job of figuring out how all this magic stuff works, especially considering she comes from such a normal world by comparison.
But practice makes perfect, obviously. And while she and Oberon have, uh, one part of all this pretty well practiced, she's still got more to learn. So they're here on the roof of the apartment, settled in the shade and out of view of the door in case anyone comes up and Ai's... doing her best to practice. ]
So, reinforcement... how exactly does it go again?
[ If there's one thing that sucks about having her know his life story, it's that she also knows that for better or worse, he knows how to teach magecraft. Magecraft specifically tailored even to be usable by girls with middling amounts of mana... and he has a track record of a single successful student who proceeded to then kick his ass years later.
So essentially, he had no good excuse to deny her when she started pestering him about it. Not that he didn't try, considering how he pointed out that when she goes home she likely won't be able to do these things anymore... but such an argument is easily broken down, and oh god did he just make that a lie by saying it? Shit.
Still, as far as students go, it's not like Ai is a bad one. Reinforcement is admittedly a little higher level, but being able to reinforce her own body will help her to better survive if he's otherwise occupied, and understanding the basis of reinforcement should help her with grasping other spells as well. ]
...Visualize the limb in question in your mind while you channel mana into it. Picture the end result, and push your mana through. Like how you used your Mystic Code.
[ Easier said than done, he knows, but being able to visualize the result is a key part of magecraft... and no one knows Ai's body more than herself, so it's the best place to start. Mind, living things naturally resist the invasion of mana, so his comparison to her Mystic Code might be... a bit off, but fundamentally it's the same. At least she's not trying to reinforce someone else. ]
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That, along with various other profanities, were flooding Oberon's mind. Despite the fact that nobody knows what the hell is going on in this scuffed Holy Grail War, someone really thought they'd try to get it going anyways, huh? He supposes he can't blame them, the general basis of the ritual is focused around the general rule of last-man-standing, that's how it's supposed to be... but understanding doesn't make him any less frustrated.
He supposes he should be grateful, at least, that his foolish woman of a Master remembered the Command Seals on her hand. Whether it was intentional or instinctual, Oberon found himself flung through space itself, directly to his Master's side.
At least all that time spent lazing around their apartment eating junk food all day hadn't diminished his combat abilities in the slightest. He's a Servant, after all, he doesn't even need to eat at all in the first place.
Still, they had been a tough challenger, especially considering the meager amount of mana Ai provided. She's not a broken faucet, at least, but she still wasn't a mage. They must have been an Assassin, too, seeing as how they took every opportunity to aim for his Master... meaning Oberon had to spend a good chunk of the fight defending her instead of moving in for the kill.
Y'know, now that he thinks about it, the odds really were stacked against them, huh? Yet he still managed to repel the Assassin. Low mana supply or not, he's still the Abyssal Wyrm. One should never underestimate him. In fact, if he hadn't been occupied with protecting his Master, he might've even had a few chances to go for the kill.
...but it's pointless to think about hypotheticals, isn't it? Because even though he fought his fucking ass off, he still failed. That skull-faced bastard seemed especially fond of using daggers, and despite his efforts, one went into his Master.
The fact that he had obstructed the Assassin's aim enough that the dirk went into her thigh instead of anything vital wasn't nearly as comforting as he would have liked. ]
Hah... hah...
[ Something must have snapped, because he started fighting much more intensely when that happened. Intensely enough that he heard the enemy click their tongue before vanishing, having deemed the risk of fighting him higher than the reward.
So here they are, Oberon jumping from rooftop to rooftop with his Master in his arms, blood running down her leg. It's even raining, which means the world must truly have it out for them tonight. During the fight, Oberon had been forced to carry Ai around for brief periods, usually either by tossing her over his shoulder or carrying her under his arm like a football. It was almost comical, he might have made fun of her for it later if they had come out unscathed.
Right now, though, shes in his arms... properly this time. Carefully in both arms, close to his chest, gripped so tight it might even hurt... though the stab wound in her thigh probably hurts far more than a tight grip right now. ]
Shit...! Shit!! You went out too far tonight, woman! Where the hell even am I!?
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It's so strange. Nobody cares where she's going, when she's coming home, who she's with, none of it. It's been weirdly freeing. And even though she and the however many other Masters here are all technically in competition, there's no real sense that they're enemies. Their Servants, too, all seem friendly enough. She really hadn't thought for a moment that someone would really try and draw first blood.
Just goes to show what she knows. ]
Hahah... aah, sorry... I really screwed things up.
[ She sounds - delirious, almost. She's not losing anywhere near enough blood for that to be the reason but there's still the tense of some inner tether having suddenly snapped. Maybe that's just a normal response any normal girl would have to being attacked like this - but both of them know Hoshino Ai isn't a normal girl.
(It's funny. She doesn't remember it hurting anywhere near this much the first time.) ]
It was so pretty out tonight, I... I just wanted to walk back from Nagiko's place. She even said she'd come with me and I said no! Can you believe it?
[ She laughs wetly, in a way that almost sounds like tears. She's already got her hands anchored in the heavy fur stole around his neck, but now she presses her face there, too. She's shaking, but it has nothing to do with cold. ]
Sorry for being such a dummy.
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But Oberon doesn't feel particularly trusting right now. ]
Shut up! Shut up!! Stop talking like that!! It pisses me off!!
[ She's talking like she's going to die. She won't die. He won't let her.
They arrive at the apartment, at which point Oberon just kicks the door off it's hinges, causing it to fly across the room and hit the wall on the other side while Oberon rushes in, practically flying over to the sofa and carefully setting Ai down... ]
Stay still.
[ Oberon is not a medical expert, hell he doesn't even know where their first-aid kit is... but thanks to a fortunate little accident, he doesn't need it. That time he spent running around and teaching himself just so he could teach a pitiful little girl from Tintagel whatever magic she wanted—within reason, considering her first request was flight—will finally pay off for him, turns out, as he puts his hand on her wound and puts pressure on it, accompanied with a dim light.
Of course, it's been a while since he's even bothered with any of this... so he has to focus, and leave himself open to Ai being able to see the haggard expression on his face. ]
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But she can't sleep. Her thoughts are a blur. Once again, she's been someone's victim. Once again, there's someone here who wants her dead. Even with someone here to protect her, that sense of safety she had so slowly been getting used to has been snuffed clean out.
But it's that having someone to protect her that's the scary part. Even someone as stupid as her knows what it means when someone holds you and she knows what it means when she's the one who asks to be held. It hadn't gone any further than that, a momentary lapse in judgement and an indulgence to go with it, and that's good - it can't be allowed to go further. She'd been shaken up and afraid and that's as fine an excuse as any, but that's where it has to end. She won't allow it to affect her any more than that.
Surely Oberon would think the same. They can cheerily return to the status quo and pretend nothing happened. And if he doesn't... well. Dealing with one-sided feelings is an idol's job. She can manage it.
When she finally sleeps that night, Ai dreams of blood, pain that rots deeper than bone marrow and the voice of a beloved fan snarling "Does that hurt, bitch? Huh?!". She dreams of Aqua trembling in her arms, Ruby's voice breaking into sobs. She dreams of somebody's hand cradling her face and after that, she doesn't dream of anything at all.
When she wakes, it's well beyond noon and she feels no better rested for any of it. She's still a little shaky and when she rises from her bed, her head swims. When she washes up for the day, her hands are ice cold and when she forces herself to practice her smile in the mirror before she heads out into the front room, her face is ghostly pale.
She's worked under worse conditions. She can handle this just fine.
It's Ai of B-Komachi, then, who comes breezing out into the living room. She's talking even as she makes her way in, as if to pre-emptively send the message that she absolutely, unequivocally is not going to talk about it. ]
Good morning! Or I guess it's not exactly morning anymore, huh? Oops! I guess that's what I get for lazing around in bed for so long. Heehee.
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...but after the complete storm of emotions that he just went through, he was actually feeling exhausted. Not physically, of course, but mentally. Sure, the couch is currently somewhat covered in blood, but that doesn't make it any less of a place to rest, right?
He's certainly laid in worse.Needless to say, he instantly regrets it. How could he have forgotten such a simple thing? The way memories can bleed through the connection between Master and Servant in the form of dreams? He could've cut the line, of course. As a resident of the dreamworld, it would've been easy enough... hell, he's technically already been doing it. Making sure that his Master doesn't see his memories in one of her dreams.
But he doesn't, because he's curious. Because he wants to know more, and he regrets having gone to sleep because this curiosity just makes his head spin even more.
What the hell is he thinking. He can't possibly be thinking that anything could come of this, is he? Well, talk of Master/Servant relationships has always been a popular topic among Servants, so the concept itself is hardly unheard of.
But for him, it can't happen. It must not happen. Because he's Oberon the Liar. Even if he found someone who could love the twisted Oberon, someone akin to his Titania, he can never acknowledge it.
"Oh? What's wrong, Blanca? Your pretty antennae stopped moving. Ah. You're dead. Were you taking all the mors' poison being directed at me from all of Britain, in my place? Thanks, I guess. Not that it really matters."
Because acknowledging it would make it a lie.
Yet here he is, shamelessly watching his Master's memories because he couldn't resist. Like a schoolboy excited at the prospect of reading the diary of his crush.
...and what a hopeless woman she is.
What the hell is that bullshit? "To me, lies are love"? "Even now, I want to love you"? There's a fool, there's an idiot, and then there's whatever the hell Ai is. Those are the thoughts that run through his head as he watches his Master bleed out in front of a human who deserved nothing. Not her lies, and certainly not her love.
Oberon wakes up far before Ai does, and she has him to thank or blame for the sudden halting of her dreams. He had enough of looking at it, so he shut it off just like turning off a TV.
Unfortunately, it does little to abate the fact that he's woken up in an even worse mood than before.
...so he does what he does best. ]
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[ In all of their time together, Oberon has stubbornly refused to go out as his darker, more genuine self... and similarly, the Fairy King has never once stepped foot inside this apartment.
That has now changed. Inexplicably, jarringly, horrifyingly even... when Ai steps out into the living room after having prepared herself to have everything return to normal... she is faced with the bright and cheery Oberon. ]
Sorry! I tried to fix up the room, I really did... but I could tell right away that if I kept trying, I'd just make the mess worse.
[ He says with a wink. A fucking wink. ]
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. . . Huh?
[ She's... mostly gotten used to dealing with her two-faced Servant at this point. Honestly, she'd be a hypocrite if she hadn't. If nothing else, she could begrudgingly admire the act - for all his foibles, the Fairy King is so irritatingly, effortlessly likable that it makes her wish she could do the same for Ai of B-Komachi.
And yet, seeing him here in her apartment makes her feel... wrong-footed. It definitely makes her a hypocrite when she'd been doing exactly the same thing but still...! ]
Ah, um... [ She fumbles for a prim and pretty response and utterly fails to come up with one. ] Well, I managed to get some sleep at least... but I don't exactly know if I feel better.
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Still, Oberon is strong. Regardless of whether it was coincidental or not, Ai's Servant was powerful... and no matter what, he protected his Master.
No matter what.
He wonders, as he fights to keep his body from dematerializing, what Ai must have thought just now... when he called out to her for a Command Seal. A boost that would allow him to release his Noble Phantasm without sucking Ai's life completely dry.
"Lie Like Vortigern", "Eye of a Dream Falling Yonder"
The Abyssal Wyrm, the hollow insect, a hole in the world itself. By all means, it was also his true form. He can't help but wonder what his Master thought of it as it fell on the enemy, swallowing both Servant and Master alike. Just like how a Noble Phantasm has been described to her, it was truly a trump card to end all trump cards.
It was also too much for just one command seal to power, Oberon realized, but instead of asking for her third and last stroke... he simply took the alternative, refusing to use mana from Ai and using solely his own. To his credit, it worked.
Unfortunately, it does also mean he's on the verge of disappearing. Shit. ]
Ugh...
[ It hurts to move. What a painfully nostalgic feeling. Did he black out? Is it even possible for Servants to black out? He can feel the edges of his body fraying at the seams, a light glow as the spiritrons that make up his body start to unravel while all he can do is lay there in the aftermath of the battle, frustratingly trying to keep himself from disappearing... but he's drained.
Is this it? He thinks. One use of his Noble Phantasm and that's it? What will happen to Ai, then? A Servantless Master in this mysterious Grail War where nobody knows what the hell is going on? Where the Masters themselves aren't even of this world?
Well, it's not like he'll be able to think of it much longer at this rate. Even with his blurring vision, he can just barely make out the figure of Ai running towards him. He'd say sorry, but then it'd be a lie. ]
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So she learns. Every little tidbit of information she can find about mages, Masters, Servants, all of it - she memorizes it all greedily, in case it might come in handy later. And besides that... the less information she has to try and pry out of Oberon, the better. At least coming from other sources, she can be reasonably confident she's getting a straightforward answer.
So she knows what it means when she comes half-tripping to meet him and sees his form wavering like a candle threatening to snuff itself out. She knows what that thing had been, that void in the sky that had howled like wind and screams. She understands that unless she acts fast, she's going to be in a whole lot of trouble. But more pressingly and more frighteningly, she's going to be alone.
When she finally reaches his side, Ai all but tumbles to her knees, hitting the ground hard enough that she knows they'll be bruised and chewed up later. Her hands bracket his face as she leans over to see him, as if there's any wound she can treat for something like this - ]
Oberon... [ Her voice is shaking. She's trying to keep it steady, but- ] What... why did you...?!
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Hah... they were pissing me off, so I went all-out, that's all...
[ It had been a rough fight, actually. Why else would he resort to his trump card? It's not like he had any problem with fighting while not at his strongest, it just meant he had to fight smarter, but even that only kept things an even fight. He needed something to tip the scales in his favor, and he had exactly what he needed in that regard. ]
Did it scare you? Harsh. That may as well have been my true form, you know...
[ Shame that it seems his calculations were off. He used up far more mana than he expected, even though he tried to keep the scale to a minimum. Guess that's the downside to an Anti-World Noble Phantasm.
Alas, there's no wound to treat. That's not to say there aren't wounds, he just came out of a fight after all, but it's nothing lethal. His spirit core is intact, but he's out of the very thing that the Master is supposed to provide for their Servant. ]
...what? Don't tell me you think you could've handled it. You should be thanking me for not sucking you dry, you know...
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But just because she's not a gossip anymore doesn't mean she's totally lost the itch. She kind of loves drama, so long as it's harmless and she's done such a good job of keeping her nose out of what's going on with the pretty Master and her weird fairy Servant that she thinks she's earned this.
"Nagiko-chan, thanks for- ah, my mouth? Oh, I just had a little accident. But listen, what happened was-"
Sure. An accident. Like Sei doesn't know what a hickey looks like. Honestly, she's kind of surprised Oberon had it in him.
So call her curious. Call her nosy. Call her totally sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. But she really can't pass up the chance to investigate a little further.
So on a day she knows that Ai's out of the apartment, Sei comes knocking. ]
Yoooo, Ai-chan! It's me! Open up, wouldya?
[ She knows Ai's out of the apartment but she fully intends to stand here being loud and annoying until Oberon lets her in anyway. ]
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It's a long shot, he's very aware of this. He also has the excuse of still recovering mana and being wary of other Servants... as if Sei fucking Shounagon falls under that category. Hell, he's not sure what category she falls into. Both in terms of their alliance and just in general! Seriously, why is she even an Archer!?
At the very least the bounded field keeps her from just, say, dematerializing and going through the walls to harass him...
But god, fuck, is she stubborn. She just won't stop! She won't leave!! What the hell!? Maybe he could escape out the window? Ugh, he could... normally, that is, but he's still so low on Mana that even he recognizes that it'd be unwise to fly out of the window at mach speed just to get away from her. Y'know, the minimum speed he'd need to escape her, since she'll spot him and give chase otherwise.
...fuck it. ]
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[ —until this is the person who opens the door, all smiles as if it isn't something of an open secret for a Chaldean Servant. One of those things you don't talk about, an unspoken rule. ]
Can I help you with anything? Ah, don't mind the mess, I haven't had time to clean up yet.
[ Yeah, sorry Ai, he knows the Fairy King is off-limits here... but hey, Ai isn't here, so... ]
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It isn't as though she doesn't want to be at home. It's not like she doesn't want to be around him. It's just...
Well, it's just like she'd said. She doesn't know what to do about any of it. And when Ai doesn't know what to do about something, the only thing she can think to do is avoid it.
Of course, that's a whole lot easier when you don't have an interfering girl like Nagiko in your life. It's taken a little getting used to - she's never had a friend quite like Nagiko (or uh, a friend full stop) who's invested enough to get herself involved. Most times, Ai appreciates it. Today, after the talk she was cornered into having, she feels considerably... less so. Not that Nagiko had necessarily been wrong about any of it but... she kind of feels like a kid who's just gotten the mortifying birds and bees lecture from their parent.
She's still churning it over and over in her brain as she makes her way home for the day. It's just late enough that it's starting to get dark and chilly out and she thinks, not for the first time, just how cold it'd been that first night when those cracks had first started to show. She wonders if she could've avoided this all by being just a little less careless - or if it was just a matter of time before something else had come along.
Her heart's been splitting open for much too long, after all. Bleeding out over whoever gets close enough was an inevitability. ]
Oberon...? [ She says his name in a way that sounds both like hesitation and an apology as she steps in through the door. ] I'm home...
[ She hangs up her coat, toes off her shoes - and then off comes the mask. That mark left behind by their kiss somehow seems even darker and more vivid than it did before it'd started to heal. ]
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[ At the very least, he responds, even if it's so dismissive it barely counts as one. Then again, that's generally how he always responds, so it'd be foolish to expect anything else at this point.
If there's one thing that's different, though, it's that the room is remarkably cleaner than it usually is. Well, not completely clean... but all of the usual mess is confined to a single area around Oberon, a mess only recently made in the wake of the original mess being cleaned up.
Maybe he'll take credit for it... he is a liar, after all.In any case, he glances up from his usual spot on the sofa, lazily laying about like always. He can clearly see the mark on her lip, the mark that he left on her, his own personal scuff on the pretty and polished idol.
...
...stop thinking about it, idiot. ]
...don't stay out so late anymore.
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Weird to think about when you consider that... that may as well have been his first time. It's not like he ever did anything like that at any point during his time in Faerie Britain, least of all Chaldea, and now he's done it here. One can only suppose that it just comes with the trait of being Oberon. It all just came naturally to him.
The price of that mind-blowing night, however, is that it is currently a few hours past noon... and Ai is going to be waking up to the sorest body she's ever felt in her life. Forget feeling sore after exercise and stamina training... she has to deal with both the physical fatigue, and the fact that her body is covered in bites.
The amount of bite marks on her body only increased as the night went on, spreading to her thighs and even her arms. They were already dark after Oberon gave them to her, and they've gotten even darker as they slept. Finally, there's the fact that at no point during the night was Oberon anything but rough... and for how long they went, it doesn't even need to be said what state that particular part of her body is in.
She's as ruined as she can possibly be, and that might be the point... hell, since it's Oberon, he's probably proud of it too.
Speaking of... ]
Morning~
[ ...being a Servant who doesn't need to sleep, and also a piece of shit, means he woke up before Ai and has been laying here with her, arms wrapped around her from behind as the big spoon to her much littler spoon, for god knows how long. He's quiet, letting her sleep for as long as she wants, but once he sees her open her eyes... the urge to tease could not be resisted.
Hell, it's not even morning anymore! They fucked into early morning! It's well past noon, you liar!At the very least, it had been very touching when Oberon finally exhausted himself and laid there with her in his arms. Even if they don't need sleep, they still can, and it's one of the best ways to deal with exhaustion. He had fallen asleep close to her, just as she wanted. ]
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Her whole body feels heavy and sore. Definitely worse than any live show she's ever put on. All the bites he's left on her skin are still tingling and there's so many all over her at this point that her whole body feels like it's humming.
She feels... burned down, like a candle lit until it scorched the wax. She's been so roughly used that her whole body aches from it and she knows without even having to look (though her blurry vision helpfully zeroes in on a few of those bites down her arm) that she must be an utterly disgraceful sight by now.
Unacceptably filthy. Unforgivably sullied and impure. For Ai of B-Komachi, anyway.
The thought makes a smile settle into place on her face. ]
Good afternoon.
[ She doesn't even have to look at the time to know that's bullshit. Her voice, perhaps unsurprisingly, is raspy and worn. Almost like she'd, uh, been using it loudly and at length all through last night.
She sort of wants to roll over and face him, but every muscle in her body at once protests even the thought of it, so instead she settles for curling a little more tightly around the arms wrapped around her. ]
Or maybe it's even evening at this point. I kind of lost track.
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Still, though. What a strange place to end up dreaming about. She's been in movies herself but she doesn't ever really go to see them - she realizes, with a pang in her chest, that the last time she went was to see Aqua in the director's movie. Trying to ignore the squeezing in her stomach at the thought, she makes her way to the counter to see if there's anyone here at all - and starts when she spots her reflection in her glass across the back wall.
She'd half expected to see herself as she was... last time. The white dress, the sweater. But this time it's different. A loose, comfortable t-shirt tucked into a long skirt. The sort of clothes she'd pick herself to go out somewhere, if she could.
The sight of it unsettles her a little and she doesn't know why. So she turns away and follows the helpful signs all the way to the screen, the one and only this place seems to have. Posters blown up so huge she can see the print pixelation are slapped all over the walls but she doesn't recognise any of them.
This really is such a strange dream.
She doesn't quite know what she's going to see when she sits down to watch but her curiosity gets the best of her and she pushes the door to the screen open and makes her way inside to find a seat. It's only a dream, after all. It won't be anything she hasn't seen before. ]
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The posters are all made for a single movie... picturing a beautiful landscape with a bright pink sky...
The theater door is opened, and within, the massive screen at the front can be seen flickering to life. The entire room is deserted, it's anybody's guess as to how the movie is running at all, yet to top it all off, a monotone voice suddenly comes out of the speakers. ]
Thank you for visiting us today. We will begin the screening of "Fae Round Table Domain, Avalon le Fae - The Moment a Star is Born" shortly. Any recording of this show, either through video or photography, is strictly prohibited. Please take your seat, relax, and enjoy the show.
[ A countdown appears on the screen, a timer of 60 seconds. Ample time to find a seat, especially since every seat is open... or rather, that's what one would be lead to believe at this point. But upon making one's way inside to look out over the larger open space of empty seats, there sits the only other person in the entire theater.
Loudly sipping from a massive plastic cup that Ai may have seen others of from the counter outside, is Oberon... who is sitting casually with his feet up on the empty seat in front of him and paying no attention to his surroundings. With his back currently facing her, he has yet to notice his newfound company in this place. ]
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But it's not all bad - even if Nagiko had made a point of ominously warning her and Hibiki that summer was supposedly "a cursed time" for Servants and Masters. It's a little hard to believe that when the weather's so nice and when a beach that absolutely, definitely wasn't part of the city before is having some kind of open-invitation party with free food and drinks.
It's been entirely too long since she was allowed to go to something like that outside of work, so of course Ai's going. Of course she's wearing a cute two-piece swimsuit. And of course she made it very clear to a certain somebody that she'd be very upset if she had to pick out a different swimsuit for any particular reason.
Speak of the devil, though... ]
Are you really not about to pass out like that? I know you're probably sensitive to the sun, but...
[ She feels a little nauseous on his behalf just looking at that hoodie??? ]
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To which this is, supposedly, the fault of Ai somehow? As if the forced lack of his form of intimacy has increased his sulkiness tenfold. He could at least unzip the hoodie and not cover his head (not that it would change the fact that he's wearing dark heavy clothing under the beating sun), but instead here he is, somehow even grumpier than usual.
Truly, a stark contrast to Nagiko, who shortly after warning Ai of the dangers of summer, has begun claiming herself to be a "delinquent" with 30% more of her usual boisterousness... while riding a skateboard and swinging around a hammer.
Is it weird that this makes more sense than her being an Archer?]Mmph...
[ Which would be worse to see? Him passing out from heat stroke? Or his pale skin turning bright red under the rays of the sun? Unless having a Servant body made of spiritrons grants immunity from sunburns, a very specific question that is unfortunately hard to definitely answer currently. ]
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He really thought he could've escaped the hell of farming just because he wasn't in Chaldea, huh? Granted, it's not like it isn't normally possible to do so, but...
Halloween. Is. The. Worst. He'd like to go after whoever had the gall to summon Elizabeth Bathory to this place and throttle them, as not only is it entirely her fault the city has that abominable stack of buildings nonsensically stacked on top of each other sitting smack-dab in the middle of the city, as well as overrunning said-city with pumpkin-themed mobs, but it's also her fault that they specifically can't ignore it.
Because upon seeing Ai, she yelled some kind of nonsense about "idol power", flew into an indignant rage(?), and has declared that this won't end until they challenge her and Oda Nobunaga at the top of the Csejte Pyramid Himeji Honnoji Castle... to an "Idol-off", which Oberon could tell is actually just... fighting as usual, just with a side of singing at the same time.
Seriously, they couldn't have targeted Nagiko and her Master for this!? Isn't that exactly what her Master does!?
Oh, right, and also Nobunaga is here... which means that, by extension, there are also Mini Nobbus. Mini Nobbus wearing pumpkins. ]
ARGHHHHH!!
[ ...Well, at least he's able to take out all of his frustration by going nuts on all of them, right? ]
WHY ARE THERE SO GODDAMN MANY OF THESE THINGS!? I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL THOSE TWO WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THEM!!
[ A pause... ]
...Ah, my bad. No profanity allowed, right~?
[ So he says, before promptly kicking his massive pillbug "friend" at a group of Pumpkin Nobbus, knocking them over like bowling pins.
...Well, at least Ai finally got a Mystic Code that she can use for supporting Oberon in battle out of this, right? It's also her idol costume, which... he can't say he's actually bothered by, but still. She also has Blanca on her shoulder, which he will complain about, but even he begrudgingly recognizes how cute they are together. ]
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The city's pretty much been turned on its head and it's pretty much entirely down to her. It's not necessarily her fault exactly, but she still feels kind of bad. Even so, Ai knows there's a difference between something she feels bad about and something she owes an apology for.
That would be the Nobbus. She'd been making a joke to lighten the mood, something about how at least there weren't any of those around... and then they'd heard the first chorus of 'nobbu!' in the distance.
She tries not to hold grudges against someone she's never met, but if Oberon decides he wants to throw her off the tower... well, she'll stop him but she'll have to think about it first. ]
We agreed, didn't we? [ She's giving him a disapproving stare... actually, it's coming in tandem with Blanca's, too. ] I don't want Eli-chan having any excuse to disqualify us and make us start climbing all over again.
[ Which she's threatened to do. Twice. ]
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But practice makes perfect, obviously. And while she and Oberon have, uh, one part of all this pretty well practiced, she's still got more to learn. So they're here on the roof of the apartment, settled in the shade and out of view of the door in case anyone comes up and Ai's... doing her best to practice. ]
So, reinforcement... how exactly does it go again?
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So essentially, he had no good excuse to deny her when she started pestering him about it. Not that he didn't try, considering how he pointed out that when she goes home she likely won't be able to do these things anymore... but such an argument is easily broken down, and oh god did he just make that a lie by saying it? Shit.
Still, as far as students go, it's not like Ai is a bad one. Reinforcement is admittedly a little higher level, but being able to reinforce her own body will help her to better survive if he's otherwise occupied, and understanding the basis of reinforcement should help her with grasping other spells as well. ]
...Visualize the limb in question in your mind while you channel mana into it. Picture the end result, and push your mana through. Like how you used your Mystic Code.
[ Easier said than done, he knows, but being able to visualize the result is a key part of magecraft... and no one knows Ai's body more than herself, so it's the best place to start. Mind, living things naturally resist the invasion of mana, so his comparison to her Mystic Code might be... a bit off, but fundamentally it's the same. At least she's not trying to reinforce someone else. ]
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