Please be gentle. It's my first time writing several of these characters.
Fate/Grand Order is the creation and intellectual property of Type-Moon.
I make no money from this. Please don't send Gudao after me.
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Come Over to my Faction.
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Prelude: Flaw and Order.
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"So, should we be worried? I mean, is it that bad?" the dark haired Fujimaru Ritsuka asked, standing side by side with his sister.
Ritsuka and Ritsuko were twins, but hardly identical. She was fairly shorter than him, and she sported light orange locks of hair that tended to flow down, opposite to her brother's wilder, spikier black hair, which always seemed wanting to spring around in all directions. He was fairly lean and finely toned, while she was more petite and rounded, prompting her to keep on watching her weight almost constantly. Since getting into Chaldea, however, she had been having no shortage of physical activity, meaning she was rather fit and svelte at the time.
If the twins were alike in something, it was in how... normal and average they were. On their own, apart from each other, they were often described as being just as non-descript. They tended to blend in crowds, never standing out, and if people ever remembered them at all it was just because they were nice enough to everyone, but they were hardly ever paid any actual, major attention. Until recently, at the very least, when they had been picked up for an internship at a high-paying secret organization.
When they were together, however, the twins began acting very different from each other, even if because of contrast. Leonardo could tell from the first time she met them they brought something out of each other... something that was mot necessarily their best or worst, but something that defined them beyond the nice agreeable ciphers most people usually saw them, in any instance. Ritsuko in special seemed often irked by her brother's tendency to repeat the obvious and ask things that should have been clear, and in turn Ritsuka seemed to easily grow exasperated by his sister's somewhat impulsive customs.
Right now, the girl was giving the boy a slight frown that he ignored as his attention was focused on Leonardo, the Renaissance Caster. The black haired woman, a dead ringer for the world famous image of the Monna Lisa, although packing a body that wouldn't quit under the visual point where our references of Gioconda cut off, stood before them at the gigantic chamber where the Leyline Reserves pulsed with ever renewing life, the glowing light that pumped through the Chaldea mystic systems. It was a truly impressive and majestic sight, and every time the siblings were there, they couldn't help but feeling humbled enough they would cut their brief, rapid spats to the absolute minimum.
Not that they were allowed in there any often, only once or twice before. Access to the chambers was forbidden to anyone but the acting Directors and top technicians of the facilities, and after the losses of Professor Lev, Director Olga Marie and Doctor Roman, the full reigns of surveillance over them had fallen on Leonardo. "Well," the Italian Servant began explaining, "the situation isn't that dire yet, and hopefully it won't get quite there as long as we act quickly. But the fact remains, after the last few blows to our installations, and with the ever growing amount of new Servants, we need a new support system to stabilize our forces."
"Okay," Ritsuko said, nodding, "just tell us what do we need to do, then."
Caster sighed as Fou played around her feet, chasing its own tail happily. "This won't be easy for either of you," she predicted.
"So what," Ritsuko smiled, "we've gone through more difficult things over the last few weeks than anyone would normally would go through their whole lives, right? Trust us, Sensei. Whatever it is, I'd say we should be up for the challenge."
"Yes, you probably would," Caster nodded. "My Master, however..."
"Hey," the boy frowned, feeling offended.
Leonardo made a small, typically Monna Lisa smile. "Sorry, Ritsuka-kun. What I'm trying to say is, well, you are both very brave youngsters, and you've proved being quite able at facing overwhelming odds, but... there are things you are still unexperienced at. That can't be helped. And this is a challenge unlike any other you've faced before."
"Right, so let's hear about it already," Ritsuko asked, nonetheless feeling more concerned now.
Caster pondered how to phrase what she would say next. "I thought of requesting for outside help instead of troubling you, but that just wouldn't work. Most of the Servants wouldn't accept the situation, and those who would, well... they would go overboard with it, I'm afraid. Not to mention the Associations are still breathing on our collective neck, and relenting to them for support here would only make us more vulnerable to them."
"So it's more of a matter that should be handled by expert Magi?" Ritsuka asked.
"It can't be denied neither of you is a good Magus, in anything but being compatible with Servants," Leonardo admitted. "You aren't familiar with most of the rituals, and pretty much all attempts to instruct you into traditional Magicraft have failed. It's obvious your skills don't lie in that direction."
"We're sorry, Sensei," Ritsuka lowered his head.
"Don't be, Master," the Servant told him. "If you weren't born with those aptitudes, then you were blessed with an unmatched ability to bond with Heroic Spirits instead. And that's what we need for this to work out, although it'll still demand a lot from you..."
"Sensei, please, you're just making us nervous!" Ritsuko said. "Will you stop dancing around the subject and tell us what's asked from us already?"
Caster looked at them thoughtfully for a moment before gesturing towards Chaldea's reserves of prana, channeled and drained from the rich crossroads of Leylines under the building, at an ideal focal point given to time and space continuum breaks and access. "So far, this has been enough to provide prana for all of us," she said, "and while the reserves themselves aren't in any danger them, we have discovered the means to access them aren't working just as efficiently as they used to. We have the same available prana, but for some reason, probably related to the happenings at Solomon's Temple, we aren't getting all the... mileage, you could say, out of it."
"So that's why the Servants have been underperforming during practices lately, right?" Ritsuka wondered.
Caster nodded. "My current theory is, since you are our anchors to this world, to enhance our prana reception and resulting performance, you need increasing the full extent of your bonds with us."
"Alright, we can do that," Ritsuko said. "It's basically just another Ascension Bond, isn't it? No problem then..."
"It goes deeper than that," Caster warned, then paused. "Literally."
"You lost me," Ritsuka admitted.
"You can't supply Servants with prana through yourselves with the same ease a proper Magus could," Leonardo explained, "and since obviously going out and consuming the souls of what remains of mankind is out of the question, no matter what Signore de Rais keeps suggesting, you will have to establish firmer links from this world to us the... less reputable way."
"Less reputable than devouring souls?!" Ritsuko gasped.
"Well, not quite," Caster said, "but you're a modern, worldly girl, Ritsuko-chan. Tell me, from looking at popular culture and social customs about you, what is more acceptable in this era? Discussing terms related to violence and death, or terms related to physical intimacy?"
Ritsuko instantly paled and jerked back. "Oh my God!"
Her brother just blinked. "What? With physical intimacy, you mean romance or kissing, right? Yeah, I definitely can see how that would be a problem, but..."
"Master," the Servant said, staring into his eyes with an air of quiet finality. "You will have to have sex with us if you wish to keep us around."
Ritsuka blinked, cocked his head aside, and then just cropped like a ragdoll, well unconscious.
Caster smiled her best, turning to look at Ritsuko. "Well, he at least didn't cry or scream, that must mean he isn't terrified, only shocked. I'd hate to have terrified him. How about you, Ritsuko-chan, are you--"
A moment later, a small white creature, the closest thing the girl had at hand, was angrily thrown at her perfect, Louvre-worthy face.
There was a sharp, pained cry of "FOUH!!"
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To be Continued?
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Originally Posted by Arashi_Leonhart
