The talking heads thing is interesting. Shiki is a dick, as you've commented on before Arashi, but he still tries to have a heart in the right place. Given Rin's attachment issues and Shiki's big thing about family and the importance of those who he holds dear, it makes for an intriguing bonding point.
And Rin, overthinking if her prisoner actually likes olives or not... good stuff!
Last edited by LunarLegend; December 31st, 2012 at 07:32 PM.
What I See
Chapter 3: To Taste Blood
The litany of curses that the current Lord El-Melloi gave as he made his examination did not abate the entire twenty minutes. The man complained in a distinct, nasal-y voice that was otherwise unlike his regular gruff speech. He would maintain a single language for a couple of minutes, interspersing his regular English expressions within, before moving onward to another language. By the end of the examination, he had covered at least a dozen, each vastly different from one another.
Rin considered the possibility that cursing was in fact Waver’s form of an aria. She had never heard him speak words of evocation otherwise.
The elder magus finished his work, tossing a device onto the nearby desk that looked suspiciously similar to the simple light that mundane doctors and optometrists used to examine the eye and cause pupil dilation. “Finished. Put that thing back on before you scare the girl.”
As Shiki worked on re-wrapping the blindfold over his eyes, Rin bristled. “I’m not some invalid that faints at the sight of a bug or the like.” She refused to admit that she had not watched any of the finer details, keeping Waver’s body firmly in place between her and the examination. Nothing good came from even thinking of placing something sharp near the eyes. No matter her curiosity regarding Shiki’s secrets, she would not witness the poking and prodding of the ocular organs.
Waver said, “Silent Hill. You should try Silent Hill.” When Rin gave her usual blank look, he growled. “That’s even a thing outside of Japan now. Pay attention.”
“I’ll pay attention to pop culture when your office stops resembling a teenager’s basement.”
Waver was already ignoring her, instead raising his voice and seemingly addressing a blank spot on the wall. “Alright, lift the field,” he said in English. “We’re coming out and you can all stop your goddamn grumbling about taking this seriously. I’m taking it so seriously, I know exactly what every single one of you is thinking. So get over it.”
There was no retort in response, though Rin could feel the barrier surrounding the room lift. She leaned aside to peer at Shiki, now reclining on the chaise lounge Waver had brought in for the exam. “So, really really blind yet?”
“Nope. Although this ugly mug almost did it,” Shiki said, motioning to the elder magus.
“Fuck you. I’d love to see what kind of face you make when forced to jam your shit into some other dude’s face. Yes, ha ha, that was a joke.” He collected his equipment and bagged it all, then made for the door. “Make sure to starve the kid tonight, Rin.”
Rin started to make a cat’s grin to worry Shiki, then scowled to herself at him being unable to see it. “That sounds like a great idea. Maybe he’ll be too faint from hunger the next time to be a smartass.”
“What goes into my stomach has nothing to do with how smart my ass is,” Shiki said.
Outside, the crowd that had assembled was larger than when Rin and Waver had entered the room. Various department heads, department deputies, lords, ladies, and various people important to the numerous factions within the tower were present, observing the room using the clairvoyance spell connected to the boundary field. Some looked only mildly interested, leaning against the walls or seated on one of the couches along the hall, while others were right next to the door waiting in ambush for the results. Rin spotted one of the Enforcers that had been with Bazett before, one she didn’t know the name of but who watched the crowd with the kind of anticipation of one who thought a fight might break out right then and there.
Waver said, “He’s got exactly what you think, and it’s doing exactly what you think. Probably.” The department heads all murmured to their confidants at the confirmation. Waver made a face, still obviously irritated with being called away from his own work to be the neutral party. “Alright, the show’s over. Get out. Go scheme your backstabbing where the victim can’t hear it. Or at least where I can’t hear it. In fact, that’s the more important one.” He made a shooing motion.
The assembled magi all did so, slowly, watching closely as Rin closed the door to the lab behind her and keyed it locked. Though it was not a sufficient defense to a truly determined magus if they wanted into the room, it was Rin’s way of reminding everyone who was still in charge of this person’s life. While a few of the departments still had nothing but derision for the foreign magus, the fact that eyes were on her regarding the Second Magic had enough people guessing at the scope of her power and unwilling to make a complete enemy out of her. Yet.
Waver and Rin both waited for the crowd to disperse, eyeing each person and sizing up the possibility of a confrontation to occur. The tension when they had arrived earlier was noticeable enough—thus people calling them in for a neutral party assessment. Now it seemed ready for some kind of explosive turn. Still, Rin had to admit that she was surprised at how long they had actually taken. Bazett’s notes suggested this would be a bigger issue than most Sealing Designation situations. It was not helped by members of Lorelei Barthomeloi’s Canticle Brigade standing at attention to one side, looking ready for an apocalypse.
When all had retreated—all save for the handful of familiars hiding out unseen in various nooks and crannies, eyeing one another like soldiers from opposite trenches—Waver did not say anything when Rin followed after him at the last.
“Fraga’s notes didn’t say anything, did they?” Waver asked when they were within the confines of his office.
“Not anything specific. They mentioned his true parentage and briefly mentioned animosity between him and some of the magi here. But the info seemed to hint that whatever was important about him, it wasn’t to be written down.”
“Beh.” The noise the lecturer made was half-snort, half-grumble, all-annoyance. “It has to be a secret. Meaning everyone knows, of course.”
“I don’t know what would be so strange about a set of Mystic Eyes. Unless they happen to be some strange, demon-lineage thing that is completely lost to time, but even then that wouldn’t be cause for commotion.”
“Part of the commotion probably has to do with what he might’ve done with them, but a lot of it is something like a lost lineage,” Waver said. “The Mystic Eyes of Direct Death. ‘Death Perception’ or whatever your scribble books call them.”
Rin filed the “scribble books” jab away for a time in the future when she proved more knowledgeable than Waver. Though the Tohsaka family might still seem backwater to the regulars in the Association, the tomes she once learned from still had a wealth of information.
It was bound to happen someday.
Really.
“The ones like in legend? How can you even be sure?” It was not like they had a comparison—the only other recorded instance for such a thing occurring was back in the Age of Gods, if even that. It would be like coming across someone else with Rider’s Mystic Eyes: if one did not already know of her identity, Rider’s power might not be recognized unless demonstrated.
Waver looked annoyed. Of course, he looked annoyed most of the time they spoke. “Process of elimination. Don’t they teach logic in school anymore?” He waved off any response Rin might have made, though she did not feel like rising to that argument. “The color profile is within the scope. When you examine both his physical response to visual stimuli, as well as consider his history, others within the color range are invalidated. His family history of Pure Eyes also makes for an interesting implication. But ultimately, the main tell is the constant activation and how it affects his health. Conceptually, other possible abilities would not bring him to this point.”
“He’s dying,” Rin said. Though she had not examined him herself, the conclusion was not a difficult leap for her to make. If nothing else, Waver probably would not bother explaining something less dire.
“Brain might as well be liquefying. He’s got a constantly-active circuit in a body that wasn’t meant to house that power. He’s a computer with an overheating processor.” At Rin’s blank look, he rolled his eyes and tossed the tool bag onto an empty chair. “If you don’t learn something so basic, your generation will disown you.”
Rin’s mind was far afield from that consideration. She knew that Mystic Eyes of high enough color were dangerous, but generally they were harmless to the user. Some abilities could cause the wielder problems—Rider of course wore Mystic Killers or Breaker Gorgon to keep from instantly freezing everything within her vision—but such magic should not have been a danger to a wielder. Not unless one did something like attempt to transplant Rider’s eyes—eyes no mere human could hope to possess—and use them.
The thought of Shirou, arm replaced by that of a Heroic Spirit, flittered through her head. It killed him, too, or would have without Illya’s intervention.
Waver settled into his chair. “Meanwhile, he’s apparently used them. On things you really probably shouldn’t. That’s what has Lorelei’s panties all in a twist, anyway. Not sure if that means she wants to kill him or get boned by him. Probably both.” He pulled out a small device that looked suspiciously like a game console, though the stylus made Rin uncertain.
They sat like that for a while, Rin contemplating the various implications of what was found, Waver doing something—whether playing a game or writing down digital notes was unclear. Neither looked very happy, regardless.
“They put a designation on him so they could have access to his eyes,” Rin thought aloud. “But, why?”
“The bigwigs in the other departments want him because he’s got a connection to the source. Well, except for Lorelei, but she’s a nutbar among nuts.”
Rin grimaced, even though her own thoughts were turning in that direction. If members of the Association still looked at the terrible results of the Holy Grail War as an acceptable loss if it meant reaching Akasha, then one man’s life was absolutely nothing. The connection seemed more tentative to her, though. “Is it really that big a deal, though? I mean, as much as it might be foreign to his body, it seems like his own command over it would be as good as it got unless he were part of a stronger phantasmal lineage. No way harvesting it from him and using them would work nearly as well.” Rin flopped down into the other open chair. “And for what? So you can kill something faster while it kills you?”
“I wonder about that. The original actualized death by gazing upon a target. That’s it. Nothing else needed.” Waver scratched at his chin with the stylus. “It actualizes a future event in the present.”
“Well…”
The lecturer glanced at a pile of paperwork on his desk with the kind of scowl one reserved for the most foul of evils. He seemed to throw out the idea that he would do them in favor of whatever it was he had in his hand. “You might as well say he is seeing into the inevitable future. He isn’t so much making some impossibility real as he can see all eventualities made possible. A Truth. Something kept in the records of Akasha. Are you saying that half the tower would not think that worth it?” He shrugged, a motion pointing in the vague direction of her lab. “Considering how much they’re breathing down your neck over the Heaven’s Feel?”
“Well…”
A scowl came to his face again. “You’re not helpful. And you’ve got me off-track. This is your thing now. Go on, get moving. I have work to do.”
Rin returned his scowl with one of her own. “You mean, work for your maid to do.”
“I will eat both your shoes and mine if that thing could deliver a competent lecture.”
Though she had no reason to, Rin still knocked every time even though she just opened the door immediately after. “I brought food,” she said, a pizza box in hand.
“I thought you were starving me into submission.”
Rin turned on her heel back for the door. “I guess that means you don’t want any.”
Shiki was certainly quick to respond, falling to his hands and knees before she could even go for the door handle. “Please, this humble one begs for even the slightest of nourishment from the benevolent ruler of this estate.”
“You have no pride.” She sat herself at the desk again, set the box atop it.
“Not true. But no man should be prideful enough to turn away food.” He paused, looked thoughtful. “I’m sure there are some, but they’re morons.”
Rin glanced at the clock atop the desk, considering. She had to get back to her personal lab to get work done at the hour if she wanted to get work done efficiently. But she was still just too curious not to ask. “So. Mind telling me some things first?”
He considered. “Well, if it’s for a pretty girl like you…”
“You must have quite the imagination. You don’t know if I’m pretty.”
“Eh.” He stretched, rolling his wrists in circles. “I can just tell. Any guy could. It’s a thing. Promotes the future of our species.”
“That’s why stupid boys still exist?”
“Also, delivery girls are especially good looking.”
She resisted the urge to Gandr him right there. “I’ll put a vegetable garden in here tomorrow, and then you can farm your own food.”
“Prideful girls from high society even more than that.” He made to say something else, stopped, considered, then said, “Don’t ever tell my sister I said that.”
Rin sighed. She resolved that she would starve the mouth right off him next time. “Guess I’d better let you eat now, or I’ll never get a word in edgewise.” She shoved the box his way, and he took a slice out before returning to the chaise lounge. He apparently favored the piece of furniture to the futon she had brought in before or the other chairs.
When he was finishing with his slice and had yet to spout out more jokes, she went straight for the point. “You make it seem like you could get out. I get the feeling that you’d have a chance, if you really tried. So, why don’t you?”
He swallowed the last bite he had. “Who says I won’t?”
“Well, why haven’t you tried already?”
“I prefer to do things when I know I can do them. Right now everything is still a big ‘what if.’ Also, my English isn’t exactly great. Blind and mute in a foreign country? Ugh.”
Rin crossed her arms. “You’re dodging my question.”
“I sure am.”
“We know what your eyes are. What they see. What they could possibly do. Obviously, you’re not going to be staring people to death like in the legends, but they could do a lot of terrible things. More than what you suggested with Bazett. And I can’t imagine they’re going to just kill you right here and now if you take that thing off. So, why? You could use them, could get out of this predicament, right?”
For a moment, she thought he might then and there, as he fiddled with the bottom flap of the shroud. “You’re right.” His voice came out quiet, subdued; it contrasted with the joking manner he usually took on. Suddenly he sounded older, more affected than he should. “I could.” He shifted a leg so the chain around it jangled. “I could destroy these chains right now. They’re really nothing, nothing that even my fingernails couldn’t handle.” His head lulled toward her, slowly, almost like the sedate turn of the seconds hand on an analog clock. “When you go home tonight, I could break out of these bindings. I could cut down the doors, end the spell I know you’ve got observing me. I could fight any guards that might be in this place and end their life before anyone knew what was going on. Seven, eight, nine at a time. Until there’s nobody left to throw at me. I could then destroy the entire building, watch it take the remaining lives with it. It would crumble to the dust it’s destined to be in a thousand years, all in an instant, all at once.”
Though he had not moved from his seat, somehow the vibrations of his voice seemed to move over her, crawl atop her, making it difficult for her to take a breath.
“And for the survivors, I could punish you. I could wreck any thought you might have of coming after me. I could show you what it means to threaten others, threaten those with less power than yourself just to pursue your stupid fascination with something you can’t even adequately explain. I could hunt down your family, be a guillotine above their heads, just long enough to make you wonder whether you should just turn yourself in to certain death so they can be safe. So you feel the helplessness.”
Rin knew he was not threatening her specifically. But the fact that she did have family, did have the same kind of vulnerability, made it extremely easy to understand this line of reasoning. “You think you could do that? To the entire Association? I hate to say it, but people like Bazett are far from the most dangerous people here.”
His voice was low, simple, completely earnest. “And I’ve killed far worse.”
Rin shivered.
“It isn’t just the killing, though. It’s in the everything else. You take notice when you have one of your senses taken away. Things that would normally go right by your attention are suddenly profound. I can make that my advantage. I know this place is in the public eye, not hidden away like out of a fantasy book. If we aren’t on museum grounds, we’re real close. I know you magi will keep from doing much of your real flashy stuff because you want to keep everything a secret.”
He turned his head back and forth, as if looking around the room despite his disability. “All of the halls here echo. You magi all need to chant stuff to get a spell off. It’s hard for you to be stealthy. Oh,” he waved her off before she could retort, “I know there’s got to be things some of you can do that are silent. I’m just pointing it out. Some of you I’ll instantly be aware of when you come for me.”
“But not all.”
“Not all. No, I really can’t consider everything. I’m not really that kind of person anyway. I just do what I can.” He shrugged. “You’d be surprised at what I can do when I’m not thinking. When it all comes down to instinct. To what you magi fill in with the procedures to make a spell. My mind gets filled with other things. Mostly what is effective at making people dead faster. And why they make people dead faster.”
Rin blinked. “Why?”
He seemed to settle back down further on the chaise. Rin thought of the images people often immediately turned to, of psychiatrists and patients, though she wondered if the roles were reversed here. “You stare at death too long, you start looking for the why. Why things always turn that way. Why destiny seems to have it in for some and not for others. Why everything is connected to an end, any end.” He sighed. “Why your life is somehow more important than mine.”
“I’m not following.”
“I paid attention when your Enforcers grabbed me. I listened to what they talked about on the trip here. I know you all are willing to risk your life for your goals. That’s great.” His head rolled back as if to stare off in the distance. Rin considered the possibility that somehow he still managed to maintain some form of orientation and could even now tell which direction was the most direct route one could take to reach Japan. “But you also don’t value others even when you’re willing to risk yourself. Your kind forgets that everyone has something precious to them. Whether that’s a person, a thing, a location, or some idea up above our heads.”
Rin felt like laughing, though an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach kept her from doing so. Of course, those words made sense—they were things she had long ago come to terms with.
“So your Association threatens one of mine, but thinks it is somehow alright, just because they put their own necks out for it? Do they think that because they are willing to risk their own deaths for what I see, they can safely walk all over what I value without endangering theirs?”
“I…guess not.” Rin’s own voice betrayed her, torn between a desire to proclaim itself in agreement or to whimper like a mouse cornered by a cat.
“Meaning, from their point of view, I’m nothing, and neither is what I value in life. But they are, and what they value is too.” He snorted. “I’m just some powerless sucker that gets the raw deal.”
“So…” Rin clamped down on that dreaded feeling and pressed on. “You’re not powerless, you’re actually a terrifying monster that could walk out of here with no problem and possibly kill us all, because you’ve paid attention, understand what you’re fighting for and against, and your enemy doesn’t get anything. Why don’t you, then?”
Shiki yawned. It was not the kind of yawn that mocked yawning, though it might have been an appropriate response. His mouth went wide and, despite being stuck in the same location for over a week, Rin was certain his ears would pop from it. “Because, that’d be stupid.”
The clock on the desk chimed in the hour.
Rin pinched the bridge of her nose. “My own fault. My own fault for expecting some insightful, profound response from a boy. A stupid boy. A stupid boy that has a sixth sense for girls. I need a vacation.”
“I’ll kidnap you and take you someplace when I make my grand exit.” He shifted in place and rubbed at his forehead. “Now I am starting to feel a little faint from hunger. Can I get another piece?”
When she had the door closed behind her, Rin felt her legs give out and she fell back against it. The conversation went far from where she thought it would go, made her think of things she did not want to be reminded of.
When I make my grand exit.
He was dying.
Turn yourself in to certain death.
He was here to die.
They were feelings that were no longer foreign to her. Death had nearly come for her multiple times over the course of the war, and it still hung around, a distant threat, as she worked here within the Association.
She was not willing for that threat to extend to her family. Not anymore. Not after everything they had gone through. But it was not a consideration she merely discarded, thinking her life was a suitable sacrifice for it. She was simply not going to allow anything she did to jeopardize them.
Shiki had a family. He was apparently unwilling to allow anything he did to jeopardize them either.
Rin bit her lip hard enough that it bled.
She was willing to fight for her family in a way the other magi here would not.
Would she be willing to be responsible for the death of one who only wanted the same?
To be continued.
Last edited by Arashi_Leonhart; January 24th, 2013 at 10:24 AM.
Localizationing stuff
Ah Waver, you so awesome.That’s what has Lorelei’s panties all in a twist, anyway. Not sure if that means she wants to kill him or get boned by him. Probably both.
Shiki's speech is rather cool too, a small malicous part of me wants to see his statement actually happen.
Do it Shiki, DO EET.I’ll kidnap you and take you someplace when I make my grand exit.” He shifted in place and rubbed at his forehead.
NASUVERSE STAMPEDE!!!
Waver's awesome. I like it.
With each day, one draws closer to death,
With each day, one expends more of one's life,
With each day, one obtains more memories,
With each day, one gets closer to losing them all.
Waver was very awesome in this.
As always its the Shiki and Rin interaction that is my favorite part of the chapter, and I really liked Shiki's speech.
Lancer x Archer OTPSpoiler:
Shiki's speech gave me the chills. This was an amazing chapter.
+1Originally Posted by IhaxlikeNoob
I get the feeling that the next chapter will be Rin's great counter attack. Can't have Shiki walking all over her all the time, can we?
Awesome chapter. 'nuff said.
Your portrayal of Waver is nothing short of magnificent. That witty glorious bastard.
And very good job on Shiki's speech there.
That was well worth the wait! I have to agree, your portrayal of Waver is probably my favorite part so far and I'm eager to see what happens next.
I... totally forgot this fic existed. Shit.
I do this every update. Then I remember it being awesome and immediately read the chapter.
I am of the personal belief that the Tsukihime Remake is two years from release. It will remain as such until a release date is announced, at which time its actual release date is 6 months after that date.
Your punishment shall be exquisite.
yayyyyyyyy
Current Fanfics:
Spoiler:
Great chapter.
That is all. Since everyone else pretty much said my thoughts T^T
Does that mean you're personally handling my punishment?
What I read.
I need more sleep.
Localizationing stuff
You also need to write that scene. Or something similar.
Lancer x Archer OTPSpoiler:
Not in this fic. Maybe something else. Rin does seem to like guys who are kinda mean in bed.
Localizationing stuff
And then Shiki was Shinji Ikari.
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