Asked/wondered about this over on TFF, but did UBW "eat" the Kaleidostick when it activated? It sounds like there's some sort of AI/inventory management system in the back of Kirika's head...
Asked/wondered about this over on TFF, but did UBW "eat" the Kaleidostick when it activated? It sounds like there's some sort of AI/inventory management system in the back of Kirika's head...
Eh... Not really. I won't explain the whole thing but let me just say that the potential that Emiya Shirou had collided with the Second during the transformation to Kirika. The result formed the foundation of Kirika's new abilities, and she will learn how to use this and more throughout the story. The voice that appears here and there isn't so much an AI but Kirika's mind trying to process things that would drive a normal mind insane in as logical a manner as it can. Kirika isn't actually aware of this, as it's similar to the subliminal thought processes that go on in the back of your head when you see or do something. In other words, it's there, but it's so natural that you don't pay any attention to it.Originally Posted by ringlhach
Anyway, I really liked that kiss between Kirika and Saber. It was gentle and not forced. I kinda wish more of these between them :3
Also, it'd be a nice turning point somewhere in the plot to see Lily starting being jelly toward Saber if Saber gets closer to Kirika..
It's a pity that Kirika can't use UBW, but oh well...
Anyway, brilliant, this chapter was totally brilliant. Thanks, Alyeris!
I'm still having difficulties grasping Lily's character. She seems so.... high and mighty and better than Saber when there should be just a few differences between them.
Last edited by Keyne; April 6th, 2011 at 03:20 PM.
Lily's not high and mighty, Keyne. She's just more true to herself than Saber usually is.
I know, but that is the vibe I get. It's like "I'm closer to the truth than you'll ever be. *tongue out* Ble~~h!" kinda feeling. Also, because of this "being more true" she tends to be outright blunt with her remarks. Lily has no idea of the pain Saber had to silently suffer.
I also agree with Saber calling her a "harlot". Even if they are practically the same from the upbringing to Caliburn, they differ from that moment on. To add, their worlds had to differ greatly, too.
Last edited by Keyne; April 6th, 2011 at 04:19 PM.
I think Lily is somewhat aware of Saber's pain, at least more than any one else can be. Lily made mention of Saber reminding her of how she used to act.
... Truth? What truth? Lily's just cutting loose because she is in a position where she doesn't have to shoulder the burden of being a king. No duties = A carefree Lily! At least for now, she will probably settle down a bit as the war develops. Did I really overdo the teasing that much? I intended for Lily to represent a different way that Saber could have gone, albeit a little more extreme than would appear normal for her. Lily isn't supposed to be all fun and games though. The choices she made in life led to their own problems, different from Saber's but still painful nonetheless. I guess I will have to do some more filling in during the next chapter to make that clear.
Ugh... I hate it when a character of mine comes across as high and mighty. It's so... Cringe inducing...
:EDIT: And yes, Lily is somewhat aware of Saber's feelings. She made a choice to change, and sees in Saber what she could have been. She's not passing judgment though, at least not yet. Everyone's choice is their own, and she respects that. Even if she might find it a little annoying and worth prickling Saber over.
Ah, being practically one person gives you insight of the other, but there is still the difference of the world they lived in. I'm sure a long heart-to-heart would clear up many thing. I'd also expect Lily to give Saber a big warm hug if not even shedding a tear or two.
Yah, that's what I got from her from the very beginning. Too carefree and too abusive of that her carefreeness. It's not altogether bad, but that's what strikes me.... Truth? What truth? Lily's just cutting loose because she is in a position where she doesn't have to shoulder the burden of being a king. No duties = A carefree Lily! At least for now. She will probably settle down a bit as the war develops. Did I really overdo the teasing that much? I intended for Lily to represent a different way that Saber could have gone, albeit a little more extreme than would appear normal for her. Lily isn't supposed to be all fun and games though. The choices she made in life led to their own problems, different from Saber's but still painful nonetheless. I guess I will have to do some more filling in during the next chapter to make that clear.
Ugh... I hate it when a character of mine comes across as high and mighty. It's so... Cringe inducing...
I'd only advise her to choose her words should she start passing that judgement.:EDIT: And yes, Lily is somewhat aware of Saber's feelings. She made a choice to change, and sees in Saber what she could have been. She's not passing judgment though, at least not yet. Everyone's choice is their own, and she respects that. Even if she might find it a little annoying and worth prickling Saber over.
But that makes me wonder, Merlin should have told both of them "pick that up and you'll lose the thing most valuable to you.". Saber lost her humanity. What did Lily lose?
Anywho, I wanna see the end of it, SO DON'T KEEP ME WAITING TOO LONG WITH THEM UPDATES! >83
Last edited by Keyne; April 6th, 2011 at 05:20 PM.
I originally intended to have this as the first part of 3-1, but it looked like it might be better as an interlude of sorts. Short update, and maybe all for today. I'm still finishing my story-boarding and setting details for chapter 3.
__________________________
A memory - The branching path
Sparks from the fires rose into the sky as the village burned. Orange and red, they glimmered against the dark backdrop of the night until one by one they flickered out.
A troop of soldiers clad in rough leathers walked out from between the ravaged buildings, taking care to avoid the stray flames that had spilled out onto the lone path that traversed the hamlet. Shaking their heads, they looked around for their lord, and approached to report when they found him.
"There be no survivors my king," said the leader of the group to their king and commander. "All slain, to the last woman and babe. Them Saxons were taking no slaves this time."
Garbed in a fur-line cloak that covered armour still stained with blood, the golden haired youth whom they served nodded coldly as he took in their report.
"What of the livestock?" he asked dispassionately. "Food as well. Did they take what was in the storehouses?"
The weather worn soldier paused, then shook his head slightly before he replied. "The livestock be dead as well. It looks like they may have taken some food, but most of it was left to burn."
"They were in a hurry then," the young king said rhetorically. "Very well man, leave me. You will need to sleep if we engage in battle tomorrow as I suspect we shall."
"Yes your majesty," the veteran soldier nodded, but then scratched his head. "Ah, but is it right you leave you alone sir? The wizard and the sirs are not here, and well, it seems a bit risky sir."
"I think I can take care of myself for one night," the king told her soldier in no uncertain tones. "Get back to the camp. Tell Sir Bedivere that we march at dawn tomorrow."
"Yes your majesty," the soldier and his companions bowed and began to make their way back to the camp, not that far from here.
As they left, one of the soldiers whispered quietly to the man next to him. "Did you see him? Not a dither about all those people killed. So cold, it's just not natural."
"Hush, the king's the king. That's all there is to it," the veteran told the speaker quickly, but he himself seemed a little discomfited as he walked away.
They spoke in hushed voices, but in the quiet night the king's enhanced senses made it seem as if they had spoken next to him. A shadow fell over the king's face as he pondered what he had just overheard, sentiments that he had heard repeated amongst many of his subjects before.
'The king has no emotions,' said some. 'The king is not a man like us,' whispered others. There were many other things that were spoken as well, but most if not all of the comments centred around the cold-hearted manner in which he carried out war.
The loss of the few for the salvation of the many. Territory given up and villages sacrificed to set the ground for a counter-attack that would defeat the enemy absolutely. That was Arthur Pendragon's way of waging war, and it was a way of thought that all understood, but few accept.
Somewhere deep in her heart, Arturia Pendragon may have thought the same, once. Arturia however had died the day that Arthur was born, and with her the part of the heart that would have hindered a king in making those decisions that necessity demanded. Arthur heard all that was said about him, but did not waver. Briton was frail, weak from years of feuding between its lord over the succession, the land tired from famine and the after-effects of four invasions. He could not afford to allow compassion to prevent him making the best choice for his kingdom.
So it was that Arthur stared into the flames that licked over the remains of the ruined cottages with an empty heart and a cold resolve. Homes that he might have saved had he divided his forces, but at the risk of being defeated piecemeal by the Saxon warband that awaited them on the plains. Cold logic told that this was not acceptable, and thus this village had been left to its fate.
A crash somewhere in the village. A roof falling in as the fire ate away at the supports below. Nothing unexpected, just nature taking its course. It was soon after this however that Arthur's keen hearing picked up a noise that was out of place in the middle of this scene of death. A babe's crying, coming from somewhere inside the village.
Arthur instantly sprang into action. He may have sacrificed the village for the sake of his soldier's lives, but this was not to say that he wouldn't save those who were still alive to save. Disregarding the fires that barred his way, the young king charged into the still burning ruins in search of the source of the crying.
It didn't take him long to find it. Led by his keen senses, he ran straight towards a house that had almost completely been consumed by the hungry fires. It seemed odd that anyone would still be alive in there, but the way of the gods were not for mortal men to ken. Reaching the building, Arthur plunged straight into the flames, trusting in the power of his scabbard to protect him from the heat.
The inside was filled with smoke, and it was difficult to see anything. Straining his eyes Arthur swept through the cramped interior in search of the babe, and eventually located the little one who was pinned under a burning log that had fallen from above.
Taking hold of the log, Arthur quickly threw it away to the side. He had moved fast, but apparently not fast enough, because the bundle of cloth that the baby had been wrapped in had begun to smoulder. The dirty fabric ignited by the fires that had clung to the log. Coughing slightly from the smoke, Arthur quickly stripped the cloth from the baby and covered the little one with his cloak. It was imperative that he get the baby out of here as soon as possible and he needed some way to protect it from the heat of the flames on the way out.
Charging through the burning ruins, it didn't take long for Arthur to reach a spot far enough away from the village so as for the heat not to choke the baby, yet still provide enough light to see by. Unwrapping his cloak, he examined the young life he had saved, and immediately sucked in a breath.
It appeared that he had been too late. The fires had already licked at the poor baby and a full third of its body was covered in burns. This was probably what had caused it to cry, and it continued to do so now, filling the air with loud notice of its pain.
Without immediate help, the baby was sure to die, and its chances were not so good even if it were to receive treatment. If it survived the night it would need a restful environment and attentive care to recover, both things in short supply out here in the middle of an army marching to war.
Living in an age where it was not uncommon for mothers to abandon their children in times of hunger, Arthur's first thought was to spare the baby its misery and grant it a quick death. The baby was unlikely to live, and even if it did, who would look after it? Better that she grant it the peace that came with death. So said cold reason, yet Arthur was unable to carry out the act. Some last vestige of his humanity, a leftover remnant of Arturia's soul, stayed his hand. The nature of the deed gave him pause as well. Although he had taken many a life since he came to the throne, those had all been those of full grown men, who knew full well what they had been doing. Never before had she knowingly taken the life of an innocent with her hands, and the question of whether she could bear that last stain upon her soul lent its weight to the hesitation that held her back.
Disjunction. Possibility nexus ßāͺ΅ƺд - (#)Y?? #$*I(JLDSY@(Jjdi@(*pg*($$UTHATUAH
Something strange happened to the view then. As if two films had been played together on the same reel so that they overlapped on the screen. In one Arthur steeled his heart and extinguished the life that teetered on the precipice before him. This done, he stood and headed back to the warcamp, once more simply the cold and logical king who had sacrificed his heart for the kingdom. In the other image, Arthur acted very differently. Carefully wrapping the baby up so as to protect it from the chill night air, he ran towards the camp, calling for a healer as he went. The visible worry for the life in his hands would have surprised many who thought they knew him, the emotionless king who put thoughts of the kingdom before all else.
The same person, two different choices. That night beside the fires, the roads that two now very different people would walk were decided.
A memory /END
Last edited by Alyeris; April 7th, 2011 at 01:59 AM.
Oh I really like this interlude. So that's the diverging point. It wasn't that Lily chose to be a woman from the beginning... It's that Lily chose to be human rather than a King when it came down to an innocent life. I think... I can understand just a little bit more about why Lily and Saber are so different, and how this moment defined them both.
Great Job Alyeris
So artful and moving. Really. Play "Ever-Present Feeling" during the part with the child and you've got yourself some serious mood music.
My Fanfics. Read 'em. Or not.McJon01: We all know that the real reason Archer would lose to Rider is because the events of his own Holy Grail War left him with a particular weakness toward "older sister" types.
I did that, and I was really moved. Nice suggestion IRUn.
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Excellently written, although at times you flipped between his/her in single stretches of text.
That said, this is still probably my favorite part of the fic so far.
Reread it with the song playing... It got even better. Nice recommendation IRUN.
Though, I have to admit all these references to alternatives and possibilities suddenly made me wonder if Kirika's developing the ability to see alternate histories as opposed to the actual ones that Shirou sees.
Just out of curiosity, did you intend to use "Saber" there? I mean, I can see it like you did and like you didn't.
... Holy shit.
Usually I don't follow these "BGM Soundtrack suggestions" because of hassle--I mean, by the time you're 20 seconds into the music, you've already finished reading through the relevant scene... but I figured this was just one soundtrack, so meh.
I was glad I tried it. That was... very evocative.
The flipping is intentional (for the most part though I will probably find a mistake or two if I go over it again) as I'm referring to Arturia (her) and Arthur (him) seperately.
Oops? Fixed.Just out of curiosity, did you intend to use "Saber" there? I mean, I can see it like you did and like you didn't.
Absolutely amazing. I'm humbled by that memory, Alyeris. I truly am.
Also IRun? Thanks for the BGM selection. I cried, just a tear or three, while reading it with that music. Just...wow.
Words fail me, Alyeris. Please continue with this fic.
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