The Grail Works Mission Dossier (Discussion & Ideas)

[Kieran]

Look, we like your writing style, and your suffering is amusing.

*Chuckles* That's fair.

So is Godafrid disguised as Ezra Fitz? "rather than just being swapped in for the dying man at the last second" seems to imply some similarities with original Godafrid. Just "being responsible for the death of" is probably enough to qualify as similar, but it's not terribly explicit either way. If so... oh damn, that's a lot of potential drama he embroiled himself in.

Disguised as, no. Mister Fitz has been eliminated from the board - which also eliminates some problems, while not actually solving others. For example, he's not likely to make out with Aria in the bar, despite knowing how old she is (which Fitz did - in both cases, as was eventually revealed). On the other hand, Aria isn't the only one known to have a thing for older men - the show seems to make a point of pushing such relationships, in fact. And Alison in particular, if she is still alive, isn't in the habit of accepting her losses gracefully . . .

Still, there's now an opening for an English teacher, if Frid can somehow bluff his way into the position - because a good deal of the plot (and clues) take place in or around the school, and "random" animals can only linger in so many places so many times.

Godafrid also taking the concept of "heroic responsibility" to the extreme, but that's not terribly surprising. Does make me wonder if the lightning was actually a coincidence, though.

It has been noted that he has odd effects on coincidence, fate and reality simply by being present . . . Honestly, though, it's something of a narrative issue - for the plot to exist, she has to have disappeared, therefore he can't have interfered that night, even though her time of greatest need (and thus, when a Door would open) was then. So, this was the best solution I could come up with.

[RanmaBushiko]

Look, we like your writing style, and your suffering is amusing.

So is Godafrid disguised as Ezra Fitz? "rather than just being swapped in for the dying man at the last second" seems to imply some similarities with original Godafrid. Just "being responsible for the death of" is probably enough to qualify as similar, but it's not terribly explicit either way. If so... oh damn, that's a lot of potential drama he embroiled himself in.
Godafrid also taking the concept of "heroic responsibility" to the extreme, but that's not terribly surprising. Does make me wonder if the lightning was actually a coincidence, though.


That is some interesting mythology mixing. Alt!Scathach seems... potentially quite dangerous. Also, seems like the compass half-lied about "report us" vs "track us down", given Scathach called Zeus, but it's not exactly omniscient. Very stylish entrance.

Re: Avalon, I'd assume it has some amount of intrinsic Legend, so the second option seems like it makes more sense. Speeding yourself up is still an option, but I wouldn't really expect it to slow down gods. Excalibur "winning the battle but losing the war" is also very fitting.

Only when you're not talking it out with him each day, when he's wondering if things are worth it or not. Then the suffering isn't quite as funny. No disguises, just a main character getting killed off.

As for my stuff? Yeah, it's the oldest version of the mythology. Seeing him as a chieftain with a sword that could do something like that makes a lot of sense, and myths about things building up over the years building up also makes sense.

Compass told the truth, for the most part. Zeus has no inclinations of screwing over shipgirls, now that he knows that the group he's working with is responsible for them being out in the first place. Instead of her reporting to someone that would want shipgirls dead, she reported to someone that doesn't. Doesn't mean there aren't exactly consequences, however. Scathach is... pretty much a stupidly powerful master of weaponry, considering her legends and how she explicitly became immortal from killing so much divine stuff.

As for Avalon, I'll take a minute to clarify here. It's weakened, from age, mostly because it's meant for Gods and Demigods, rather than a good chunk of a giant Relic turned shipgirl. That doesn't mean Twist Time isn't a divine ability, however. So the first option is basically giving Mordred the chance to use it as a divine tool as-is, activating it and forcing it to work even though she's not a Demigod or God outright, and fueling it with her powers to make it work. She's still fragments of a Servant, even if she's not as strong as she could be, which is why I'm allowing that as an option here. Erik very much registers Servants as something akin to Valkyries or other Legendary beings, after all.

So realistically, it can work, and be resisted still. But people can choose whether to resist or not resist.

The second option is... hmm. More using it's remaining power as a crutch, effectively hijacking it and forcing it to act like normal. But a demigod's not using it, so without the Legend empowering it by a demigod or God? It's going to be more glitchy, thus being no-sold by powerful beings. I can state that Scotty or Wayland could do this, so that's why I wrote it as an option as well. But because it's relying more on internal power and a bit of power to turn it on, it's not going to be nearly as functional as the first option. It's very much like jury rigging an engine and hoping for it to last long enough to get it fully working, though.

[Kieran]

. . . So, a question occurs to me: it's preferred that this take place in a TYPE-MOON universe, which is perfectly fine (in fact, I'm relying on it, to a point). But I see three options in particular, based around the fact that Pretty Little Liars takes place in 2010, or starts there, at least - the series' timeline gets bizarre, down the line.

The first option is that I can set it in a "generic" TYPE-MOON universe; in that case, you're liable to see very little of any canon elements, because this is America, not Japan or London - although the latter does crop up, late-series, kind of . . . In any case, it's not a preference.

Option two involves setting it in the Works' future, which means that Ilya will have difficulty scrying anything, because of paradox potentials. Now, this option actually does play into an element of Fate/Anarchy's final epilogue, or can; unfortunately, until that one's ready to come out, I can't say more - spoilers, y'know?

The final possibility (which will take a bit more finagling, maybe) is that 2010 is also the setting of the Tsukihime remake . . . As it's not actually complete yet, that's iffy, because enough details have already changed between continuities - but it is, theoretically, an option.

. . . Any preferences?

[Arbitrarity]

I do not have a strong preference among those three, in the "do what you think is best" sense, so I'm just going to restate what the pros and cons look like to me.

First option is safe, and gives a lot of room to develop some non-canon original stuff (unless you start taking stuff from Strange Fake or something? Not really sure if that's amenable to incorporation, really). On the downside, it has a lot of room to develop non-canon original stuff Really depends on whether you interpret that as a pro or con. I have to agree with the assessment as "not a preference" exactly.

Second option... well, really depends on if that framing solves more problems than it causes, or vice-versa. I enjoy continuity callbacks to a probably excessive degree, but it also seems possible to write yourself into a corner if you add too many constraints. You have more information about whether this is a good choice. I'm not against it, but wouldn't want to see it too forced.

You've had a number of "edition changing" plot elements lately, and I'm not sure I'd want to see something that leans on the fourth wall that much for Tsukihime, but I'm also not sure how/if that would ever get cleanly incorporated into or acknowledged by the Works. It would be ambitious, and probably interesting, but the uncertainty around the developing plot changes seems like you'd risk contradiction if you venture too far outside of the relatively small amount of established new canon, which might be a difficult constraint to work with. Could be risky, but I'm certainly not against giving Tsukihime a chance to shine, and the "murder mystery" concept seems like it fits better thematically with the darker flavor of Tsukihime relative to Fate. Also, you've done pretty well in the past with slightly-outside-canon speculation (Trinity Vlad honestly aged really well, imo). I can definitely see why you're floating it as a possibility, but it's really up to you whether you want to do that much finagling.

[Kieran]

I do not have a strong preference among those three, in the "do what you think is best" sense, so I'm just going to restate what the pros and cons look like to me.

And it's a fair assessment, which agrees with my own on several levels. Thank you.

Second option... well, really depends on if that framing solves more problems than it causes, or vice-versa. I enjoy continuity callbacks to a probably excessive degree, but it also seems possible to write yourself into a corner if you add too many constraints. You have more information about whether this is a good choice. I'm not against it, but wouldn't want to see it too forced.

It would be tricky, I agree - if true, then the Liars are presently 10 in the Works' frame-of-reference. It might allow for some interesting shenanigans, though; if nothing else, a running subplot of someone in the Works trying to find out who Shirou and/or Shiki finally got together with, six years later (and, of course, being blocked at every turn, somehow) . . .

You've had a number of "edition changing" plot elements lately, and I'm not sure I'd want to see something that leans on the fourth wall that much for Tsukihime, but I'm also not sure how/if that would ever get cleanly incorporated into or acknowledged by the Works. It would be ambitious, and probably interesting, but the uncertainty around the developing plot changes seems like you'd risk contradiction if you venture too far outside of the relatively small amount of established new canon, which might be a difficult constraint to work with. Could be risky, but I'm certainly not against giving Tsukihime a chance to shine, and the "murder mystery" concept seems like it fits better thematically with the darker flavor of Tsukihime relative to Fate. Also, you've done pretty well in the past with slightly-outside-canon speculation (Trinity Vlad honestly aged really well, imo). I can definitely see why you're floating it as a possibility, but it's really up to you whether you want to do that much finagling.

I admit that part of my thought process here is that with Fitz gone, I'm down an English teacher in-setting, and Frid has no means (that I can think of, yet) to gain the appropriate credentials - but a certain someone has passed for one successfully. And there is a church in Rosewood (in point of fact, the novels' version of Emily is Catholic, which is a major source of her issues) . . .

It's mostly "that might be neat" concept I'm mulling over though, so I wanted other perspectives - I'm impulsive, but I've tried to learn to check myself, somewhat, because it rarely leads to something I'll finish.

. . . I really do depend on you readers for your encouragement in that regard; once again, thank you.

And since I hate not leaving you something, take one scene of the next snippet:







What, Frid asked himself, did he remember about the series?

That was the question, and it wasn’t actually all that easy to answer. After all, the information he had was based on a spinoff of the original show, and what little he’d bothered researching during its one-season run to get background for some of the references about past events. . .

(And it had been an eventful few years after its cancellation for him, to put it mildly—what with the dimension-hopping, and all.)

Nevertheless, Frid tried his best to call up what he could remember, to find out exactly how screwed up all this (and how screwed he) was liable to be.

OK—first, unless this follows the books’ plot, for some reason, Alison’s not dead, Frid reminded himself. Where the hell she is, and why, I have no idea—but since over the next decade, she marries Emily, has twin daughters, and divorces her, she’s obviously not dead . . . Though if this does follow the books’ plot, she’s still not dead, but her twin—who was the “Ali” the girls actually knew—is. Either way, events revolve around her and her disappearance; it’s just a question of whether or not she actually is “A”—but since I’ve just talked to the TV version of Aria, probably not.

. . . Luna, just thinking this out in summary is giving me a migraine.

Frid lowered his head into his hands again, rubbing his temples as he tried to pull out whatever other nuggets of information he’d managed to squirrel away, which was less than one would hope. Half of what he had came from YouTube clips, which were not exactly informative in terms of providing context. For example, he knew about Alison and Emily’s twins because they’d been shown in a clip of Aria’s wedding, but he had no idea where or when they had come from (though he thought he’d read that the book version of Emily had gotten pregnant?) . . .Or, for that matter, the groom was supposed to be.

According to that one conversation Alison had with Mona, Spencer wound up eloping, with a . . . “Toby,” that was it—someone to keep an eye out for, though it could be years before he shows up. And Hanna apparently announced she was pregnant, and her significant other was. . . “Caleb,” right. And Aria . . .

. . . Nope, still nothing.

He scowled. This lack of information was infuriating. Series like this thrived on shipping and melodrama, so much as he didn’t actually care, it was critical to know who the key players were liable to be, going forward—the show had run for seven years, after all, so he could potentially be here for quite a while.

Oh, Luna, kill me now . . .

The best way to get out of all this, Frid knew, was to head off as much trouble as he could before it happened—which made his lack of concrete data all the more frustrating.

What else do I know . . .? Mona isn’t one of the Liars—not initially, at least. She’s in the spinoff, so she was either a popular side-character, or shoehorned in because hers was the only other actress willing to reprise her role . . .

As best he could tell, she and Alison had been acquainted, but not friendly, at least at the beginning of Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. Not that that really meant much, as Alison’s entire role during the original series had been “queen bee mean girl,” from what he knew . . . Still, assuming Mona was more than a minor character who got promoted because nobody else was willing to show up for the spinoff, she’d be worth keeping an eye on, as well (assuming she was even in Rosewood yet), if only because something would draw her into the main plot, eventually.

. . . Which, of course, brought him to the real question: who the HELL was “A?”

In the books, it is Alison, just not the Alison they know—but here? Not a clue . . .

Well, he instructed himself, work it backwards. “A” is a cyber-bully and blackmailer who knows the girls’ secrets. That’s why they thought it was Alison until “her” body was discovered, because only she knew them all, allegedly—and what were their secrets again . . .?

After all, if he could head off the source of the blackmail material, “A” became much less of a threat. And he had looked it up, a long, long time ago . . .

Emily’s was that she was attracted to girls; or to Alison, at least—that much, I remember. Hanna . . .

In The Perfectionists, Alison had once said something about “A” forcing Hanna to eat cupcakes, like it was significant—beyond that, he had no clue.

Spencer was . . . Plagiarism, I think? Because she was hyper-competitive, or something? One of the Liars’ secrets was academic, as I recall; was it that, or the fact that Aria was—

Frid blinked as the memory dropped into place.

Oh, that’s right—Aria was sleeping with one of her teachers, wasn’t she . . .?

OK, that might have been the “academic” secret—though, short of finding and castrating the bastard, there wasn’t a lot he could do about it (though that did sound like a great stress relief project; Frid made a mental note to prioritise it) . . .

Really, the Exalt decided, based on the very limited information he had right now, he could do almost nothing about any of the issues facing the Liars; and there wasn’t much he could do to gather more unless he found a way to insinuate themselves into their circle—or at least, their general orbit. As he understood it, “A’s” methodology was threatening texts and e-mails, which was not his area of expertise. He’d basically have to be reading over their shoulders and listening to their conversations in order to gather clues of any substance, if he was going to work out who was behind all this.

And I don’t have the advantage of being a powerful stranger with things they want, like in Spira. or a pre-existing relationship to take advantage of, like in Trifas. And seeing as they’re sixteen, and I’m not, trying to play the role of “potential love interest” is a horrifically BAD idea—

A sudden idea occurred to him.

Huh—I wonder if any of the girls is the type to take in a “stray” as a pet . . .?

It was still a creepy idea, Frid admitted to himself—but right now, it was the least unpalatable option he could come up with. Again, he needed more information . . .

And there was no better time to gather it than now.

Paying for his drinks, he wandered outside, found a shadowed corner in a back alley, opened his senses to make certain he’d neither been followed nor observed—

And literally took flight.

[RanmaBushiko]

Chapter 19: Twists and Turns, Plots and Plans



1 Hour Later

Mordred hums, sitting in the back of the limousine, Wolfen beside her. Just looking down at this version of her father’s blade.

“Wake me when we get there, please, Wolfen?” Mordred asks, then closes her eyes.

Moments later, she’s fast asleep. Dreaming of a few days prior.

“Your idea is to what, exactly?” Wayland asks Mordred, pointedly. “Let that Admiralty Code have access to Wolfen’s systems? Why?!”


“As it is, we don’t have enough compatibility to figure her out in the long run.” Mordred admits. “If we appear to be sympathetic to her, we’ll have a better chance of taking her on, and out if things go to hell.”

“Why the firing controls, exactly? You’re going to be sabotaging Wolfen’s ability to aim and shoot.” Wayland asks, eyes narrowed from his wheelchair.

“As it stands, we don’t have anything that can kill that bitch.” Mordred admits. “If we play to that, and let her think she has the upper hand over us, we can use that to our advantage later.”

Wayland pauses, eyes narrowed. “You’re not sure Wolfen’s laser cannon can do the job?”

“It’s less the problem of the laser hurting her, it’s more the problem of hitting her. I keep getting dreams of that fight with that giant fucking monster the part of me with Erik fought. Ymir reborn was one horrible fight in that golem body… and for all his power and more importantly, speed, he could barely hit the bastard. Do I look like I’m as strong as he is, reduced from a Servant to a spiritual chunk of Mordred Pendragon like this?!” Mordred trails off, quietly.

Wayland winces, silently. “Point. If Erik couldn’t hit something like that, even in a weakened state…” Wayland trails off, thinking, before nodding. “What’s your plan then?”

“What Wolfen was good at? Was grappling and holding the enemy down.” Mordred continues with a wide grin.

Wayland slowly nods. “Then your plan is to grapple her, and… what?”

“If we get enough divine relics, we might be able to drain them of Legend, and use the faster than light drive to simply… drive her out of the solar system.” Mordred admits. “But the only way we can pull off such a victory, is if she trusts us to get close.”

“Letting her think she can triumph over Wolfen is key to that.” Wayland states, quietly.

Mordred nods. “Best shot we’ve got if she’s turned against us, right there. We both noticed the equations on the board having a range limit of about a hundred thousand miles before she goes out of contact, right? Considering about 10 seconds will leave us out by Mars?”

Wayland nods, then chuckles. “Fine. I’ll alert Scotty to your plan, and help set up a Relic so that she can’t think of it as anything but a doohickey, while helping you manifest and store Legend from Wolfen’s reserves.”

Mordred reaches up, taking the tip of Wayland’s finger, then shakes gently. “Thank you for your aid. You’re as kind as Erik thought of you as.”

“Enlightened self-interest, Mordred. It’s very much a thing. And you’re helping me recover from being old once more!” Wayland grins.

“Mordred?” A voice whispers.

“Definitely!” Mordred nods. “Glad we’ll work together for this!”

“Mordred?!” The voice whispers again, louder.

“Mordred…?” Mordred winces, then snaps awake.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Warspite smiles.

Mordred nods, rubbing her temples. “Yeah, sorry. Just needed a catnap. With everything that’s been going on…”

“We’ll be at our temporary headquarters soon, Your Highness.” Warspite states, calmly studying the new royalty before her.

Mordred nods, thinking for a long moment. “Thank you for the help in getting this set up.”

Warspite smiles and nods. “It’s a lot easier to sit and do things than to stand, with my keel’s issues.”

“Might be able to get some engineering teams looking over that, later.” Mordred admits. “If Wolfen’s up for it, anyways.”

A soft nod, and a wide smile from the blonde shipgirl. “That might be nice. May I ask about your circumstances, and that of Wolfen?”

“When we’re in a safe place that we can sweep for bugs, spying devices and the like, and annihilate such with impunity.” Mordred states. “I may not be on Wolfen’s bridge, but I’m still getting feelings of what’s going on from her side of things.”

Warspite blinks, then frowns. “There’s spying…?” Her frown deepens, before she nods. “How many?”

“Three, so far.” Wolfen speaks up. “Mostly lasers bouncing off the windows, giving people outside a chance to listen in somehow.”

Warspite blinks silently. “That sounds like they’ve developed a lot since I was a ship.”

Morded nods, lost in thought for a long moment, as her fingers trace the patterns on the blade she holds.

Her instincts feel stronger, holding it. Intuition leads to ideas on how to win. But war with recognition that the tactics she instinctively thinks of have something wrong with them, as well.

That something isn’t quite right about the choices it’s trying to lead her to make.

For a long while, she hums softly as she focuses on the blade and her instincts, and what they both tell her.

Memories flicker, as she thinks back to that hill, so very much like Camlann.

Flashes of instinct flicker, as her ring curls, and liquid warmth flows through her, then Mordred’s eyes widen as realization and comprehension hit her.

‘Ahh. That’s the trick. You can lead to victory, but if the war’s not planned to be won, you only lead to the victory of an important fight. No matter how hollow it is.’ Mordred thinks, studying her sword, before ignoring it to look up and study Warspite. “So, an English shipgirl, hm? Nice to meet you. Kongo’s been pretty nice over in Japan as well.”

A surprised blink from Warspite, before she smiles back. “And you, my Liege. You drew the sword.”

“As I’d always dreamed of.” Mordred admits. “I always wanted a chance to prove to my father that I was as worthy as he was.”

A soft nod from Warspite, as she thinks. “Can you tell us about Arthur? So much has passed into legend…”

“Keep in mind, the way I was… summoned, means I have an amalgamation of memories of different timelines of ‘Mordred’. Some of where Lancelot actually existed, and others where he was just a glorified French fanfiction character.” Mordred admits, thinking quietly.

Warspite pauses, blinking, before laughing long and hard. “Oh, I’m sure the French would just love to hear your thoughts about him!” She giggles.

“Right?” Mordred grins back. “Bastard stole tons of glory from the rest of us.” Mordred nods, smiling more.

A soft nod from Warspite, as Wolfen hugs her captain gently, yawning.

“Rest, Wolfen. I’m your Captain, and I’ve got your back.” Mordred whispers, gently. “Nap for now, okay?”

Wolfen nods, and with no awake captain at her helm, she softly falls asleep.

Mordred gently hugs Wolfen, and thinks, while looking at Warspite. “As for Father? I remember the look in Father’s eyes, as he was faced with a choice, time and time again. To destroy one city to save the rest. To rip the resources away from one city, the wood, furniture, everything, to build up all the other cities.”

Warspite blinks, sitting up straighter as she listens intently.

“Father was… driven. To be as strong as possible, and lead as well as possible, likely from that trolling bastard Merlin’s advice. But I suspect Father took it too far. He pushed himself to be a perfect King in front of everyone. Calm, centered, in control.” Mordred thinks on how to word things, quietly. “To the point where he was emotionless in front of nearly everyone.”

Warspite frowns, nodding slowly as she listens.

“My ‘rebellion’ was me trying to give Father time off. Show that I could rule so Father could recover from all the stress I saw building up.” Mordred admits, quietly. “So I could let him be happy with his wife. Then some bastard knight saw a snake, drew out his sword, and…” Mordred trails off, bowing her head.

“Then you all died.” Warspite whispers.

Mordred silently nods. “Yeah. I died, father not even looking at me as I died. Not turning to recognize me, or…” She trails off, quietly.

“Sometimes, a parent can’t bear to watch their child die.” Warspite whispers, quietly. “No matter how much they want to.”

Mordred quietly nods. “It still hurts, though.”

As they continue talking, wide eyed spies listening in as they start to realize who is in the car with their resident shipgirl, Wolfen dreams…



Her hull is cold.

Not lifeless, but cold.

Faintly, somewhere, she can feel warmth beating down on the hull.

But as much as it’s her, it’s also not all of her?

Why is she so cold?

Slowly, her computer fires up it’s processors faster, as she thinks.

Warmth tries to shut the processor down. A familiar warmth.

“Uncle Scylla?” She sends to the warm familiar feeling, gently.

Nothing. Not her uncle.

Slowly, she opens her eyes. Focusing not on the here, but on the ‘there’ as well, where she can feel her Union Core processing furiously.

She’s in her hull. But it’s cold. Very much running on low power.

“Damn it all!” Erik murmurs, working on wiring near the computer. “Why’s it randomly turning back on?”

Wolfen blinks, staring at her father.

She must be dreaming. That’s the only way it can answer this. This has to be a dream.

“That’s because I’m thinking, Daddy!” Wolfen murmurs aloud.

Erik pauses, his tools not moving.

“This has to be a dream of my hull somehow.” Wolfen continues stating aloud, watching her father. “It’s a pity you couldn’t hear or see me before.”

Erik half turns, blinking.

Wolfen blinks, staring at her father’s eyes, and the mechanical left fist. “Wow… you’ve gotten a lot different, haven’t you? What did I miss, I wonder?” She whispers, quietly. “With my shrine aiding me in becoming a shipgirl…”

For a moment, Erik flinches as steel inches up his arm converting flesh and blood into metal, while his eyes glow with power as he looks at her. Then he reaches out with the metal arm, and hugs Wolfen close to himself. “Nice to meet you, daughter of mine.”

“DADDY!” Wolfen shouts, tears running down her face. Then she gleefully tries to hug him further, only to realize she’s mostly intangible to him. The only part that can touch her is his left arm.


A shiver, as she hugs his arm softly, closing her eyes as she does so.

“I can’t see you normally, except the lines that make your weaknesses up.” Erik admits, the metal not moving further as his eyes stop glowing. “But I can apparently hear you just fine.” He admits, a quiet smile on his face.

Wolfen smiles softly. “Did you get my letter?!”

Erik nods, smiling. “Scylla was irritated until he read it. He respects you quite a bit, after he realized you hard locked it into data that he couldn’t wipe without wiping the rest of the ship’s hard drives.”

Wolfen nods, smiling softly. “I’m glad. Zelretch has been helping us with getting things done.”

“He’s keeping to the end of the deal about helping me, then?” Erik asks.

“Yup. He’s worried about me dying and the ship dying with me, mid-transit.” Wolfen admits. Then pauses, as she frowns. “I wish I had more time to tell you what’s going on…”

“Try to focus on your hard drives, and send us data, Wolfen.” Erik states, smiling. “My cute adorable daughter, who looks like both of us far too much.”

A step, as Wolfen turns, and stares at her mother. “Mommy!” Then winces, feeling a shaking on her arm. “Oh, my Captain’s trying to wake me up…”


For a moment, Wolfen focuses. Union Core and mind in perfect sync as data streams in circles around her.

Then smiles, even as she fades and wakes up.

A long moment passes, as Tamamo and Erik look at each other. “Well, dear? She’s definitely our daughter.” Erik finally states.

“Her letter mentioned Arpeggio of Blue Steel, didn’t it? That looked a lot like what those Mental Models can do in the show while accessing data and computer networks.” Tamamo muses, then smirks. “Our daughter is so cute!”

“Right?” Erik hums, before chuckling and pulling his wife into a hug. “Well, at least that explains why the computers keep turning back on.”

“Oh, indeed. She definitely takes after you.” Tamamo smiles.

Erik simply laughs. Even as he explicitly thinks over his wife’s own “Pay attention to me!” habits, and not bringing it up.

“You’re thinking something mean, aren’t you?” Tamamo frowns.

Erik pulls his wife close, then starts to tickle her.




Wolfen snaps awake, to Mordred gently shaking her. For a moment, she frowns, then smiles. “That was nice. I’ll have to do that again.” She murmurs, before resting against her Captain’s arm.

“We’re here, Wolfen.” Mordred grins.

“Sorry.” Wolfen states, yawning. “One moment.”

Moments later, they’re out of the car, various people watching nearby. Some armed and looking ready for any conflict that might happen.

Mordred walks forwards, the flat of Excalibur’s blade resting on her shoulder as she looks around. “Any safe places to chat, then, Warspite?”

Warspite pauses, focusing for a while, before nodding. “The Admiral’s office.” She smiles, her rigging pushing her forwards as she settles back to relax in it, using it as something like a wheelchair.

A soft nod from Wolfen, as Mordred heads forwards, following Warspite. Wolfen taking up the rear guard with ease.

“Halt! No weapons are allowed in the-” A long pause, as two soldiers stare at their rifles falling apart, then look up in terror.

“Gotta love your lasers, Wolfen.” Mordred smirks, then speaks louder. “As your new King, I expect you to not harass me about Excalibur, boys.”

The soldiers stare, wide eyed, then nod and stand at attention. “Yes, your highness!”

A nod from Mordred, as she follows Warspite calmly. Even as the two soldiers get on the radio and start talking with their bosses about what’s going on.

“Ah, greetings. I’m Admiral Williams.” The Admiral from before smiles as they walk into his office. “I just managed to get here before you. Is there anything I can do for you, your highness?”

Mordred looks at Wolfen. Wolfen nods. “Scanning for spying devices now, Captain.”

A long pause, as Admiral Williams blinks repeatedly, Warspite goes wide eyed, and Mordred looks smug.

“Three found.” Wolfen states, then kneels, letting a couple mecha out of her legs to stomp around and get to the bugs hidden in the room.

Silence reigns supreme, as the mecha deals with it using their lasers, before returning and walking back into openings in Wolfen’s legs.

“Those looked like giant robots.” Admiral Williams says, quietly.

“Yup.” Mordred grins.

Warspite silently stares, blankly, having mentally blue screened at the sight of the robots walking out of Wolfen’s legs.

Mordred continues to grin, like the cat who caught the canary, broke the fine china, and got it all blamed on the dog. With feathers hanging out of the cat’s mouth, no less.

For a moment, Admiral Williams rubs his forehead. “Magical Sparkly Shipgirl Bullshit, huh?”

“Take a Norse god of innovations, machines and, most importantly Mecha and a Kitsune wife he married. Then, when something worse than the Ragnarok happened, have him evacuate his home universe and wind up in the one I’m from, where I wound up signing on with him to not fade away back into being completely dead once more. Then, toss in an eldritch Kaiju like monstrosity that was tearing Wolfen to pieces, being powered by the thing said to summon Fimbulwinter. Think 3 mile wide chunk of ice equivalent to what killed the dinosaurs being summoned. The result had Wolfen torn up with a third of the Wolfen being tossed into a void in reality that resulted from all that. That third of her fell through the void between universes for a long while, before it wound up here along with the shrine to it’s Kami, Wolfen here. That’s why I’m the captain.” Mordred admits, studying him.

Warspite blankly stares. Admiral Williams stares as well.

“Oy Vey…” He finally mutters. “Oh God, why have you…” A long moment, before he winces softly. “Fuck.”

“Norse God bullshit, Kitsune bullshit and, as you call it Magical Sparkly Shipgirl Bullshit, all intertwined to make her capable of mowing down the weaker ones with ease.” Mordred admits.

“If you’re that good…” he trails off, thinking. “Do you have more intelligence about what’s going on, then?”

“We made contact with a group of Abyssals in the Pacific, that we’ve been helping out, off and on.” Mordred admits. “Ones that wanted either trade or to tax humanity’s ships passing through, rather than slaughtering humanity for resources.”

A quiet blink from Admiral Williams, before he sits up straighter, eyes attentive.

“We learned from them that nearly all shipgirls induce PTSD within Abyssals, and where Shipgirls don’t remember what happened before summoning, the Abyssals all do.” Mordred states. “Imagine waking up, cold and alone, wondering where the hell you are, and why you’re so cold. No food, no clothing except what you’re wearing. No heat, no shelter. And most importantly, no supply lines. No metal to repair yourself faster than food does, no fuel to make up for a lack of food for the crews. No food turning into ammunition and other necessities.”

Admiral Williams sits, rubbing his forehead. “Fuck. They’re not attacking because they’re wanting war with humanity, they’re attacking because they’re starving and unable to heal.”

Wolfen and Mordred nod in sync.

“A great many see humanity as lesser than them, and would rather unite and conquer.” Mordred admits. “But most just want their bellies full. And the ones we helped teach how to fish genuinely want trade with humanity, over other options.”

“Shit. That puts the entirety of this hell into perfect perspective, and makes it make sense.” Admiral Williams murmurs, eyes shut. “Without supplies, food, they would have gone after anything that they could have seen, to feed themselves.”

“Exactly.” Mordred nods, folding her arms. “It’s like putting a buffet table in front of a crowd of starving people, and expecting them to not rush in and eat.”

Slowly, Admiral Williams nods, eyes narrowed as he thinks. “What would you suggest then, King of England?”

Mordred hums, thinking as she studies her blade. Instincts warring with hints from the blade for a long moment as she thinks over various ideas.

“Put up signs saying ‘free food for friendly Abyssals that won’t kill humans.” Mordred finally states.

Admiral Williams blinks. “Pardon?”

“If they’re hungry, they’ll eat. If we, however, can explain that they’re not just eating food, but the infrastructure to create more food?” Mordred breathes out. “That if they don’t stop eating everything that produces food, all of us will starve?”

Admiral Williams thinks, settling back into his chair. Then he curtly nods. “I’ll set it up, your highness. If you need anything, let us know, please?”

“Set it up without shipgirls.” Mordred states. “I need to be close to my ship to exist, and since she’s the only one that doesn’t induce PTSD into those Abyssals that see her? Wolfen’s the only one that might be able to do negotiations with them to soften Abyssal and Shipgirl relations.”

A slow nod, as Admiral Williams thinks it over. “What about you, your highness?”

“A lot of what I’m going to need to do, will have to be done from Wolfen’s bridge.” Mordred admits. “It’s… tiring to be out like this for so long, and not as a 2 inch midget.”

A slow nod from the occupants of the room is the answer to Mordred.

For a long while, Mordred thinks, then sighs. “Do you have anywhere where I can crash in Wolfen, and she can get some rest?”

“Right this way, please, your Highness.” Admiral Williams states, getting up and moving to the door.

“Thank you, Admiral.” Wolfen smiles.

“It’s my pleasure, for the ship our King will likely consider to be our flagship.” Admiral Williams smiles back.

Warspite nods, a smile on her face. “Even if not, we’ll be glad to house you for now.”

“That’s the nobility of the British for you, hm?” Mordred muses aloud, Excalibur leaning against her shoulder once more as they leave, eyes at the ready.

But never once ignoring the fifth figure in the room, watching the entirety of the time, in a space suit.

Silently, the Admiralty Code follows them, with a slow and steady pursuit.

When they arrive in the room, Mordred looks at Wolfen, before they nod and silently start checking for bugs and wiretaps together. Legion of Coal units move out, quietly, as well as streams of mecha, checking every square inch of the room.

“They had one of those shipgirls listening in, the other one, the entire time.” Mordred murmurs, quietly, as she searches carefully.

Eventually, she pauses at a Legion of Coal unit rapping on the floor in the right spot, and starts checking.

“A hidden spot within the floor, huh? Ingenious.” Mordred thinks.

“Easily dealt with. Seal it.” Wolfen orders, and watches her mecha go to do that.

Then they both turn towards the third figure in the room, silently watching.

“How do you fare, Admiralty Code?” Mordred asks, quietly.

“You’re trusting my technology over theirs.” A quiet, melodic reply.

Mordred and Wolfen glance at each other, then back at the Admiralty Code, before Mordred nods. “We’d rather not have you as an enemy, you know?” She eventually admits.

“Why not?” Their ‘guest’ replies, now sounding slightly curious.

“...For one, if Wolfen dies as the spirit of the ship, so too will the ship she’s the spirit of, die with her. That might not sound important to you, but considering the one who introduced me to her, and becoming his in many ways, was her builder?” Mordred trails off.

A long pause, as the figure before them studies Wolfen more intensely than before. “You consider it impossible to win against me, then.”

“It’s a zero win game for us. If we manage to help you, that’s great.” Mordred admits.

“If we can’t manage to help you, taking the ones we’re trying to help and getting them away from you is a second good shot.” Wolfen states, before her captain does.

“And if neither works out, surrendering is an option.” Mordred finally admits. “Wolfen cares about your Kongo, after all.”

A long pause, before the figure slowly nods. “Her creator will likely die if she does?”

“Considering her hull is able to survive trips between universes, what exactly would happen to someone without her hull shielding them from the trip?” Mordred asks. “Suffering catastrophic failure as it does so?”

A long pause, before a slow nod comes from the Admiralty Code. Her posture was slumping a bit.

“You’re upset about that?” Mordred asks, thoughtfully.

“I could see you becoming a good test for my fleets to fight.” The Admiralty Code admits, her voice quiet.

Wolfen sighs softly. “Why fight?”

The helmet tilts towards Wolfen, studying her, as if to say “Hm?”.

“Seriously, why would you want us to fight them?” Wolfen continues.

A long pause, as the Admiralty Code slumps back in her spacesuit. A soft sigh erupts from within the helmet.

“...Not yet. I can’t reveal it, yet. Not unless I’m going to pass Verdict down upon this world like the Earth of the universe my Fleets are in.” The Admiralty Code admits.

“Can I ask what the… verdict is supposed to be of?” Wolfen asks, quietly.

“Mastery of warfare. And achieving true peace.” A quiet statement. But a terrifying one.

A long pause, as Captain and Shipgirl look at each other, before Mordred turns back to look carefully.

“You aren’t shedding feathers like before.” Mordred curiously notes.

“No, I’m not. As your… shipgirl body has claimed a Union Core, it’s less… shall we say debilitating to talk with you. However, this method of communication is… impractical. Even if you two can naturally see me, it still…” The Admiralty Code shakes her head, slowly. “Is slow compared to the sheer amount of data my fleets can send between themselves. That I used to be able to do.”

A slow nod from Mordred. “Dying hurts, doesn’t it? I get that perfectly.”

A quiet nod from the Admiralty Code is her response.

A long pause, as Wolfen closes her eyes, thinking. “Are you open to the idea of technology trades from the Fleet of Fog? And of Kongo helping us?” Wolfen finally asks, quietly.

“It’s not the same as what you use, but I can see advantages to it, for those foolish children’s sake.” The reply is quiet.

“Can you give us any tips on what those Gods might make you do first?” Mordred asks, quietly.

“A full reformat to Kongo and the rest of her sister ships. Deleting the Mental Model entirely, or reformatting it at a minimum, to be fully loyal to me and have no emotions for the coming conflict.” The reply is quieter, more strained now.

A slow nod, as Mordred closes her eyes. “Those equations were to help slow it down. Is there a way to do so further?”

A long pause, before the figure shrugs. “My creator arriving in time, perhaps?” Her melodic voice is weaker now. Fading. Almost mixed with static…

“Thanks for answering our questions. Rest now.” Mordred whispers, quietly.

The figure nods, as it slowly fades out completely. Leaving a pair of earrings on the floor.

A long pause, as Mordred gently picks them up, studying them. Shaped as the symbol of the Fleet of Fog, only more elaborate.

“A gift. For if you wish to join and need a way out. So long as you wear them, you will be considered part of the Scarlet Fleet, my own guard.” A quiet fading whisper echoes in the air, before Mordred looks to Wolfen, quietly.

“As we thought. The Union Core refused to register her, but my own systems and crew can, Captain.” Wolfen admits. “Whatever has happened to her, she’s not registering right for her fleet. Or as existing, unless she focuses.”

For a long while, Mordred just looks at the earrings, studying the ornate things, before closing her eyes and sighing.

No sign of her internal glee shows, as she looks pensively at the earrings for a long while. ‘All according to plan…’ Mordred thinks, then nods. “I’ll head in, and rest.” Mordred admits. “I’m wearing down faster than I thought.”

Wolfen nods, as Mordred and Excalibur fade from view.




The Next Day




Admiral Richardson frowns, USS Missouri beside him. “The new King of England has an announcement, hmm?”

“Kongou said that we’d want to see it.” Missouri admits.

“You know, between the flak I’m getting for ousting my brother as an Army Admiral, all the political fuckups that have happened, and you wiping out that group of ‘shipgirls can’t have kids’ that were a major part of the Senate, I’m under heavy fire to resign, right?” Admiral Richardson states, quietly.

“Don’t be like that, Admiral! You’re my Admiral, after all. And I refuse to serve another, just like Arizona refuses to serve another.” Missouri admits, pointedly. “And, just like how Kongou promised to commit that belly cutting thing with her own Admiral, if the Emperor of Japan forced her Admiral to go through it.”

“You see those of us that summoned you explicitly as your Admiral.” Richardson quietly whispers, then sighs, putting his face in his palms. “Ugh.”

“That, and I think we’re summoned to those that will appreciate us as women, not just as ships.” Missouri admits, quietly adjusting her blonde hair.

A soft nod from him, before they settle in to watch.




Kongo hums, Wayland Smith watching beside her from the bridge, Eloi and Hoppou sitting and watching curiously from other sections of the bridge as it steadily approaches the Aleutians underwater.

“Wolfen’s got something big planned, hmm?” Wayland smirks. “I felt her Legend jump up quite a bit yesterday, like something major was added to it.”

Kongo nods, thinking. “What do you think she’s planning?” The tall blonde asks, reddish brown eyes almost curious.

“This is a part of tactics, Miss Kongo.” Eloi speaks up. “Influencing allies and enemies alike.”

A slow nod, as Kongo settles back to think. “Then Mordred has a plan.”

“A long term one.” Wayland admits. “One that if she tells a soul of it, will probably leave us all losing.”

A soft nod from Hoppou and Kongo, as they intently start to watch.

Outside, a young Abyssal of Hoppou’s pauses to stare at the huge ship passing by underwater. For a moment, she almost starts sending out alarms, before her eyes catch her mother’s within the massive ship.

“MOMMY’S HOME!” Is sent, instead, as a fleet-wide announcement. “IN A GIANT SHIP! UNDERWATER! 30 MINUTES ETA!”




In Japan, Iku, Naka Kongou and Admiral Kouzuki settle back to watch. “Wolfen sent you a message to watch?” Admiral Kouzuki asks, thoughtfully.

“She’s pulled a major coup, Dess!” Kongou nods, pouring tea for everyone.

“How would that even be possible?” Naka murmurs.

Iku smirks. “Considering she has a cloaking device, like out of Star Trek or those Predator movies? Mmm… I wish I could get my hands on one, too.”

A long pause from Naka, before she flinches. “I remember you showing me that last one…”

Kongou smiles at Naka. “And that’s why we’re having tea in the safe house while watching this. So we don’t let any of this slip.”

A flinch, followed by rapid nodding from Naka as she does her best to calm down the scary battleship next to her. “I get it, I get it, please don’t let her take the ice cream away!”

Kongou smirks, while Admiral Kouzuki stares. “You know, this makes me remember why I’m in a relationship with you, Kongou. You’re beautiful, even when mad.”

“OH TEITOKU!” With those words, she pulls her admiral in to start kissing him, over and over.

“And now, words from our new King of England, the one who has pulled the Sword from the Stone!” The television announces.

Kongou pauses, then turns to grin at the television. “Oh, Missouri and her Admiral are going to freak out about this.”

In the Aleutians, Hoppou lets out a huge cheer as she sees Wolfen on screen, aside from Mordred Pendragon as a life sized person.

In the Port of Everett, on the other hand, furious screaming and ranting can be heard from Admiral Richardson, as he realizes how badly he’s been outplayed.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS BULLSHIT?!” Is heard throughout places close to the port.



Author’s Notes:


That whole “Able to sense and feel machines? Has other neat attributes for Erik, as seen here. Though that’ll be more covered when I get past the last bits for Fate/Anarchy.

[Arbitrarity]

I admit that part of my thought process here is that with Fitz gone, I'm down an English teacher in-setting, and Frid has no means (that I can think of, yet) to gain the appropriate credentials - but a certain someone has passed for one successfully.

My initial thought: Ciel? (nope). I really need to actually read TsukiRe.

It's mostly "that might be neat" concept I'm mulling over though, so I wanted other perspectives - I'm impulsive, but I've tried to learn to check myself, somewhat, because it rarely leads to something I'll finish.

Snippet structure is good for impulses, but I can definitely see how it'd be difficult to maintain interest in something started on impulse, especially if it has some systematic difficulties you underestimated.

Oh, that’s right—Aria was sleeping with one of her teachers, wasn’t she . . .?

If I recall the identity of that teacher correctly from the very brief look I took at characters, this is pretty funny.

Also, it sounds distinctly like Pretty Little Liars has absolutely zero respect for Knox's commandments, good grief.

Chapter 19: Twists and Turns, Plots and Plans

There is a lot going on here, with a lot of different perspectives and meetings.
Dream sequence framing confused me briefly, given the "1 hour later" immediately jumps days into the past, but the context made it obvious enough. I'm somehow unsurprised that there are plans within plans here, firing control seemed a bit too important to be potentially-compromised without some sort of strategy.

Warspite was just barely mentioned last chapter, but seems considerably more relevant here. I don't think they've really been introduced, so I'm a bit uncertain who they are, exactly. If we're going to be seeing more of them, I could use context.
A bit more in-story exposition on the nature of this particular Sword of Promised Victory is nice. Wolfen actually doing the entire interdimensional dreaming thing, since we've seen that before, is interesting. Definitely paying attention to Erik's hand, there.

Admiralty Code is definitely one of the more intruiging things in the chapter. A couple of hints dropped about the nature of Verdict, and about what it has been weakened from. I remember hearing something about I-401 being intentionally not crushed, and "test fights" seem relevant to that. Still pretty vague, but it narrows things down a bit more.

[Kieran]

My initial thought: Ciel? (nope). I really need to actually read TsukiRe.

Ciel could work, admittedly; and it might be fun explaining her presence, if this is a TYPE-MOON world, or the Works' world specifically - it might cover why she's not part of the Tsukihime crew as it is. And heck, it's the kind of twist the melodramatic nature of Pretty Little Liars loves, really . . . But given the year, and the fact that the remake takes place during the same, I thought she might make more sense.

Snippet structure is good for impulses, but I can definitely see how it'd be difficult to maintain interest in something started on impulse, especially if it has some systematic difficulties you underestimated.

*Nods* Which has been a problem of mine for literally decades. So, I've learned (very slowly) to temper it.

If I recall the identity of that teacher correctly from the very brief look I took at characters, this is pretty funny.

You do, and it is. In fact, I plan on it being a running gag, as he looks for clues to an affair that doesn't exist.

And it does change things up, as that particular secret isn't blackmail material to use, any longer - "A" would need a new lever against Aria, which offers opportunities . . .

Also, it sounds distinctly like Pretty Little Liars has absolutely zero respect for Knox's commandments, good grief.

I'm not familiar with the term - or if I am, I can't recall it . . .?

[RanmaBushiko]

My initial thought: Ciel? (nope). I really need to actually read TsukiRe.


Snippet structure is good for impulses, but I can definitely see how it'd be difficult to maintain interest in something started on impulse, especially if it has some systematic difficulties you underestimated.


If I recall the identity of that teacher correctly from the very brief look I took at characters, this is pretty funny.

Also, it sounds distinctly like Pretty Little Liars has absolutely zero respect for Knox's commandments, good grief.


There is a lot going on here, with a lot of different perspectives and meetings.
Dream sequence framing confused me briefly, given the "1 hour later" immediately jumps days into the past, but the context made it obvious enough. I'm somehow unsurprised that there are plans within plans here, firing control seemed a bit too important to be potentially-compromised without some sort of strategy.

Warspite was just barely mentioned last chapter, but seems considerably more relevant here. I don't think they've really been introduced, so I'm a bit uncertain who they are, exactly. If we're going to be seeing more of them, I could use context.
A bit more in-story exposition on the nature of this particular Sword of Promised Victory is nice. Wolfen actually doing the entire interdimensional dreaming thing, since we've seen that before, is interesting. Definitely paying attention to Erik's hand, there.

Admiralty Code is definitely one of the more intruiging things in the chapter. A couple of hints dropped about the nature of Verdict, and about what it has been weakened from. I remember hearing something about I-401 being intentionally not crushed, and "test fights" seem relevant to that. Still pretty vague, but it narrows things down a bit more.

Glad you enjoyed the chapter. Spotted you on while thinking over previous chapters, as well as Mordred's next speech, then decided on waiting to see if you'd reply soon.

Yeah, the Dream Sequence is... interesting. Sorry it was confusing at first. But realistically, Wolfen has no way to really take something as insanely OP as the Admiralty Code, out. Period. Not without Erik at full strength controlling her. Mordred is cunning, still has good instincts and intuition, and has by far the best plans for long term dealing with the issue if it becomes necessary.

Warspite and other ships? There's not much data on. They're ships turned to girls. The best I can say is the kancolle wiki helps a lot with some of them. At least for basic characterization and personality traits. https://kancolle.fandom.com/wiki/Warspite

Yeah, the exposition and Mordred's ring starting to actually come into proper use, even if she doesn't consciously know it yet, is helpful. And Erik's changes are noteable for when Anarchy's last few epilogues are done, and I can move on to the sequel, moving all this over to the thread.

As for the Admiralty Code... it took until Chapter... maybe 90 or 93? Of the manga, for her to actually show up, and unmask. Another 20 before they got to explaining that "Verdict" bit at all, in a second meeting. A lot of this is looking at things, working things out through clues, etc. So there's been multiple re-reads of Arpeggio of Blue Steel every time I go through the parts involving it at all, to make sure I've got characterization right, personalities right, etc. While trying to divine clues, visual and verbal about the Admiralty Code, the functions of their equipment, etc.

Considering it's only hit chapter 130, it's going to be a while before we get more of her in the manga. There's plenty of hints that it left her without emotions, effectively dead for over a century, and she's holding herself together somehow. As well as her serving a higher power. That's not exactly much to go on, with a few names, etc. Scenes involving her show her equipment while in use, much like the Fleet of Fog's, as half of it being damaged, barring the space suit. Badly so.

I've managed to cobble it together enough to make it work, but though I haven't taken too many liberties, I couldn't explore things with the sheer amount of bullshit she unloaded into the setting, explicitly unless her creator was a God that didn't know what it was. Which, considering the canon manga so far? Explains the series perfectly.

[Arbitrarity]

I'm not familiar with the term - or if I am, I can't recall it . . .?

Also known as Knox's Decalogue, the "standard rules" of detective fiction (which is referenced pretty heavily in Umineko, but obviously predates it). I'm mostly calling Pretty Little Liars out for the number of previously-unrevealed twins it sounds like they have.

Spotted you on while thinking over previous chapters, as well as Mordred's next speech, then decided on waiting to see if you'd reply soon.

Was a convenient prompt, I was about half-way through mulling over how to reply to Kieran's scene. I barely pay attention to the online indicators most of the time.

Warspite and other ships? There's not much data on. They're ships turned to girls. The best I can say is the kancolle wiki helps a lot with some of them. At least for basic characterization and personality traits.

Personality: British. All right then.

So there's been multiple re-reads of Arpeggio of Blue Steel every time I go through the parts involving it at all, to make sure I've got characterization right, personalities right, etc.

Interesting. I haven't actually read Arpeggio of Blue Steel, so I'll have to take your word for it. I suppose that means I have the option to go get more of this revealed. I appreciate the commitment to fidelity, though.

[Kieran]

Also known as Knox's Decalogue, the "standard rules" of detective fiction (which is referenced pretty heavily in Umineko, but obviously predates it).

Ah - thank you.

I'm mostly calling Pretty Little Liars out for the number of previously-unrevealed twins it sounds like they have.

Yes.

[Kieran]

Continuing . . .




DISCLAIMER: Some of the following dialogue and scenes are taken from the television series Pretty Little Liars, the intellectual property of Sara Shepard (writer and creator of the original novel series) as adapted by I. Marlene King and produced by Alloy Entertaiment and Warner Bros. Media. No copyright infringement is intended in their use. This is a not-for-profit, just-for-fun project.




Rosewood, Pennsylvania
September 1, 2010








“Sorry,” the man sitting at the other end of the bar said sheepishly, seeming genuinely embarrassed. “Just realised what’s ahead of me, after an already long, long trip. I really should watch my language better—or at least, my volume.”

Aria blinked. “Odd thing for a guy drinking in a bar to say . . .”

Then again, he was odd for Rosewood. Caucasian, maybe college-age (or older, or younger—it was hard to tell), blue eyes and brown hair; all that was fairly standard around here. But he sported a military-style haircut, alongside a mustache and short beard that would never be allowed, no matter how neatly trimmed it was—at least, according to any movie Aria had ever seen (and more-or-less confirmed by the style of Emily’s dad, who was military).

His clothes were plain; not just “not designer,” like Ali or Spencer wore, but not the kind of “thrift-store stylish” she liked to browse through for some of her looks, either. At a guess, he was a die-hard Wal-Mart shopper—but his coat . . . It was long, and made of thick leather, capped in places with obvious metal in a styling that reminded her more of something out of an old-time martial arts movie than, say, a Keanu Reeves one. Again, not a designer item, but obviously custom-made—and it did not match the “boy next door” look of the rest of his outfit.

She shook her head. “Sorry, I’m a bit jet-lagged, myself. I just got back from Europe.”

She was, too—she could hear the drag in her own voice—but it was still better to be here than home, right now . . .

“Oh? Where in Europe?” He added, after a beat, “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

“Iceland,” Aria said after a pause of her own, deciding it was harmless enough information to tell him.

“Never been, but I’ve heard it’s quite pretty,” the man remarked. “I’ve passed through Hungary and Romania, myself, but didn’t have much time to play tourist—I hope you had better opportunities.”

“What were you doing that you were just ‘passing through?’” Aria asked, curious now.

“On my way to and from Japan, honestly,” he replied.

“And what took you out there?”

“I do odd jobs for an NGO based there,” he said, before adding with a chuckle, “sometimes, very odd—but I like the work. It helps people.”

“Oh.” Aria mentally added ten years to how old she’d thought he was . . . Or maybe it was for class credit?

“I thought maybe, you went to Hollis?” she tried experimentally.

He blinked. “Is that a university, a college, or a high school?”

“College,” Aria replied, adding without thinking, “My dad teaches there.”

It took an effort to suppress a grimace—she did not want to think about her dad right now . . .

The stranger didn’t do anything more than nod at that, which meant she’d either kept her feelings off her face or he was utterly dense; either way, she was satisfied with the result.

“Good to know—but no, I’m not a student,” he said. “And even if my work didn’t keep me too busy to go back, I wasted more than enough time and money getting one degree. I’m not inclined to repeat the mistake.”

Hanna would love him, and Spencer would hate him, Aria decided, even as she pegged him at early-to-mid-twenties. Instead, she decided to divert the subject, because she really could use the distraction.

“What kind of work do you do?” she asked. “You said you help people—how, exactly?”

His eyes (which, now that she was looking closely, seemed sharp, somehow) drifted over her shoulder, locking onto something just past her. Aria turned—

Oh.

“Oh,” she said quietly, coming face-to-face (at a distance, but more or less) with Alison’s picture.

“Things like that,” he said in a low voice. “When the police—or the doctors, or the government, or whatever the normal channels for a given problem are—when they’ve given up or have no way to help . . .” He hesitated, before finally concluding, “. . . When there’s no hope left, we try to be there, to bring some anyway.”

“. . . Are you any good at it?”

“Half the time I feel like I’m fumbling my way through things—but I seem to get results, even if not always in ways I expected.” He shrugged. “I’m still kind of new at this, but so far I’m two for two on major cases, somehow.” More gently, he added, “You know her, I take it.”

“She’s one of my best friends,” Aria replied, even as the part of her that loved English recognised the irony of their statements: he used the present tense, as though Alison was still alive—it was her whose choice of words was ambiguous.

“. . . Can you find her?” she asked, in a suddenly thick-with-emotion voice. “Dead or alive, can you?”

“I can certainly try, Miss—?”

It was only then that she realised neither of them had introduced themselves, and Aria flushed in embarrassment. How had she missed that . . .?

“Montgomery,” she answered, face red. “My name is Aria Montgomery.”

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Montgomery,” he said, holding out a hand. “I’m called ‘Frid’—mostly because the full name is very complicated and very Irish Gaelic, and I hate hearing people butcher the pronunciation of it almost as badly as people hate trying to pronounce it.”

Aria surprised herself by laughing at the response—it sounded ridiculous, but also sincere, with genuine annoyance in his tone.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to end up getting on your bad side when I’m in the middle of asking you for a favour,” she replied, reaching out to shake his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Mister Frid . . .”








After Aria departed some minutes later, Frid returned to sipping at his drink, pondering the turn of events, along with what it might mean, and what he ought to do about it.

Basically, it all boils down to this: what, exactly, do I actually remember about the series . . .?

That was the question, and it wasn’t actually all that easy to answer. After all, the information he had was based on a spinoff of the original show, and what little he’d bothered researching during its one-season run to get background for some of the references about past events. . .

(And it had been an eventful few years after its cancellation for him, to put it mildly—what with the dimension-hopping, and all.)

Nevertheless, Frid tried his best to call up what he could remember, to find out exactly how screwed up all this (and how screwed he) was liable to be.

OK—first, unless this follows the books’ plot, for some reason, Alison’s not dead, Frid reminded himself. Where the hell she is, and why, I have no idea—but since over the next decade, she marries Emily, has twin daughters, and divorces her, she’s obviously not dead . . . Though if this does follow the books’ plot, she’s still not dead, but her twin—who was the “Ali” the girls actually knew—is. Either way, events revolve around her and her disappearance; it’s just a question of whether or not she actually is “A”—but since I’ve just talked to the TV version of Aria, probably not.

. . . Luna, just thinking this out in summary is giving me a migraine.


Frid lowered his head into his hands again, rubbing his temples as he tried to pull out whatever other nuggets of information he’d managed to squirrel away, which was less than one would hope. Half of what he had came from YouTube clips, which were not exactly informative in terms of providing context.

For example, he knew about Alison and Emily’s twins because they’d been shown briefly in pictures Ali had in the spinoff, but more because they’d been shown more prominently in a scene that he’d found of Aria’s wedding. . . But he had no idea where or when they had come from (though he thought he’d read that the book version of Emily got pregnant at one point?)—or, for that matter, who the groom was supposed to be.

According to that one conversation Alison had with Mona, Spencer wound up eloping, with a . . . “Toby,” that was it—someone to keep an eye out for, though it could be years before he shows up. And Hanna apparently announced she was pregnant, and her significant other was. . . “Caleb,” right. And Aria . . .

. . . Nope, still nothing.

He scowled. This lack of information was infuriating. Series like this thrived on shipping and melodrama, so much as he didn’t actually care, it was critical to know who the key players were liable to be, going forward—the show had run for seven years, after all, so he could potentially be here for quite a while.

Oh, Luna, kill me now . . .

The best way to get out of all this, Frid knew, was to head off as much trouble as he could before it happened—which made his lack of concrete data all the more frustrating.

What else do I know . . .? Mona isn’t one of the Liars—not initially, at least. She’s in the spinoff, so she was either a popular side-character, or shoehorned in because hers was the only other actress willing to reprise her role . . .

As best he could tell, she and Alison had been acquainted, but not friendly, at least at the beginning of Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. Not that that really meant much, as Alison’s entire role during the original series had been “queen bee mean girl,” from what he knew . . . Still, assuming Mona was more than a minor character who got promoted because nobody else was willing to show up for the spinoff, she’d be worth keeping an eye on, as well (assuming she was even in Rosewood yet), if only because something would draw her into the main plot, eventually.

. . . Which, of course, brought him to the real question: who the HELL was “A?”

In the books, it is Alison, just not the Alison they know—but here? Not a clue . . .

Well, he instructed himself, work it backwards. “A” is a cyber-bully and blackmailer who knows the girls’ secrets. That’s why they thought it was Alison until “her” body was discovered, because only she knew them all, allegedly—and what were their secrets again . . .?

After all, if he could head off the source of the blackmail material, “A” became much less of a threat. And he had looked it up, a long, long time ago . . .

Emily’s was that she was attracted to girls; or to Alison, at least—that much, I remember. Hanna . . .

In The Perfectionists, Alison had once said something about “A” forcing Hanna to eat cupcakes, like it was significant—beyond that, he had no clue.

Spencer was . . . Plagiarism, I think? Because she was hyper-competitive, or something? One of the Liars’ secrets was academic, as I recall; was it that, or the fact that Aria was—

Frid blinked as the memory dropped into place.

Oh, that’s right—Aria was sleeping with one of her teachers, wasn’t she . . .?

OK, that might have been the “academic” secret—though, short of finding and castrating the bastard, there wasn’t a lot he could do about it (though that did sound like a great stress relief project; Frid made a mental note to prioritise it) . . .

Really, the Exalt decided, based on the very limited information he had right now, he could do almost nothing about any of the issues facing the Liars; and there wasn’t much he could do to gather more unless he found a way to insinuate themselves into their circle—or at least, their general orbit. As he understood it, “A’s” methodology was threatening texts and e-mails, which was not his area of expertise. He’d basically have to be reading over their shoulders and listening to their conversations in order to gather clues of any substance, if he was going to work out who was behind all this.

And I don’t have the advantage of being a powerful stranger with things they want, like in Spira. or a pre-existing relationship to take advantage of, like in Trifas. And seeing as they’re sixteen, and I’m not, trying to play the role of “potential love interest” is a horrifically BAD idea—

A sudden idea occurred to him.

Huh—I wonder if any of the girls is the type to take in a “stray” as a pet . . .?

It was still a creepy idea, Frid admitted to himself—but right now, it was the least unpalatable option he could come up with. Again, he needed more information . . .

And there was no better time to gather it than now.

Paying for his drinks, he wandered outside, found a shadowed corner in a back alley, opened his senses to make certain he’d neither been followed nor observed—

And literally took flight.







Avalon Castle, Phantasmagoria Island (Grail Works, Ltd. Headquarters)
Outside the boundaries of time and space








“OW!” Ilya exclaimed, clapping her hands to her head. After a beat, she lowered them, shaking her head. “That . . . That hurt!”

“Are you all right, Ilya-chan?” Shirou questioned. “What happened?”

“I think so,” Ilya said in an uneven voice, “and I’m not sure—but my best guess, given the conditions, is that the Door got hit by lightning at the exact moment he was passing through it.” She shook her head. “I swear, only he could have luck that bad—he’s worse than you are, Onii-chan . . .”

Shirou opened his mouth to refute the charge, then considered some of the things that had happened to him—not because he’d tried to act, but just because he’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

(Fire and ash around him—Lancer’s spear through his chest . . .)

“What does that mean?” he asked instead, pushing the memories down. “Have you lost him?”

Again, went the unspoken addition. Ilya’s expression did not fill him with hope—and her words confirmed it.

“Sorry,” Ilya agreed, “All those Charms designed to make him hard to identify and track work on me too, apparently. . .” She pouted, before adding in a bright tone, “If it helps, I’m reasonably sure he’s not dead this time!”

Shirou gave her an unimpressed look, and she sighed.

“The next time we find him,” Ilya muttered, “he needs to summon a Servant, Onii-chan—never mind the backup, I could at least trace him through the contract whenever this happens . . .”

“Never mind that,” Shirou insisted, “how do we keep it from happening? And where is he now?”

“Well, it starts with figuring out what exactly happened this time,” Ilya responded. “The last couple of times, deities and the Wizard Marshal have been responsible for it; not exactly powers we could stop, or are ready to defend against—but random lightning strikes?” She frowned. “Or . . .?”

“‘Or?’” he pressed.

“While my nature as the Grail powers it all,” Ilya explained, sounding even to her own ears like Rin in lecture mode, “the actual mechanism of the Doors I create is an effect of the Kaleidoscope; part of it is also faerie magic, because of where we’re situated. Neither of those things should be disrupted by something as mundane as a lightning strike, no matter how badly-timed—or aimed.”

“‘Aimed’—you think it was an attack?”

“If it was, he’d be dead—and again, I don’t think he is . . .” she murmured, eyes focussed on something distant. “Something is weird here, Onii-chan . . .”

“Isn’t that usual for us?” Shirou mumbled.

It certainly seemed like it, between magecraft, Holy Grail Wars, Reality Marbles—and, since the addition of “the Tohno crew,” True Ancestors, demon hunters and demon hybrids—to say nothing of the Works itself . . .

Not addressing that, and (hopefully) unaware of his thoughts, Ilya asked suddenly, “Onii-chan, have you heard of a concept called ‘Schrödinger’s Cat’ before?”

“I think it got mentioned in science class once,” he said uncertainly. “That’s the experiment about the cat locked in a box with poison, right? And because the poison’s released at random, you can’t know whether it’s dead or alive unless you open it?”

“And until you do, it can be considered both dead and alive—that’s right, Onii-chan,” Ilya confirmed.

“All right,” he acknowledged, “and what’s that got to do with this . . .?”

“When I try to look ahead from where I lost him, I get a similar effect,” Ilya said, disgruntled. “It’s like trying to predict the future as it’s happening . . . And that isn’t how the way he described that one Charm is supposed to work.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted, “but . . . Onii-chan, I think he’s here, in our world—just not in our time. The future, I think; because if it was the past, I could see what happened; but since I’m still more me than the Grail, I’m not ‘outside of time’ enough to be allowed to know what happens . . .”

Shirou felt a mixture of emotions at that: frustration that Ilya didn’t know more, relief at the reason she couldn’t, and hope; hope that they would run across Frid again.

Hope, that their first effort in saving someone, in achieving his dream, wouldn’t have ended in failure . . .

“Do you have any idea how far in the future . . .?” Shirou asked, eventually. An idea occurred to him. “He wrote a list of possible future events, or key ones in ‘related timelines’ to ours, didn’t he? Is it one of those . . .?”

After Rin had been sent to Trifas on her teacher’s orders, Frid had given them what he called “a brief overview of the Fate multiverse,” while stressing that none of them were likely to happen to them.

Ilya shook her head. “I can’t be sure, but I don’t think so . . . Based on the amount of interference, though, I have to think it’s close to our time—somewhere nearer to that ‘Grand Order’ than, say, the ‘EXTRA’ variants.”

Which still meant it could be a decade before they found Frid again . . . Shirou scowled in frustration.

“Sorry, Onii-chan,” Ilya said apologetically, “but unless he walks through a Door or summons a Servant, I don’t think there’s much else I can do to locate him—and if he does do either of those things, he’s going to be in really serious trouble . . .”

“Then all we can do is be ready for it,” Shirou sighed—before firming his resolve.

Because he fully intended to be.










Writer's Notes: An addendum I don't quite want to canonise - in Episode 10, Hanna is run over by "A" and hospitalised for some time, as shown in Episode 11. Certain things happen there that I rather like, and consider important, but I did think of an alternate version, presented below.








Rosewood Community Hospital
Post Episode 1x10








“He’s going to be OK, right?” Emily prompted, hoping to lift her friend’s spirits.

“Yeah . . . Yeah,” Aria said quickly, breathing out on the repetition. “The doctor said the damage apparently looked worse when he was brought in than it actually was—said that he’s healing really well, actually.”

Her tone was hopeful, but her face was still sombre.

“Any idea what he was doing there?” Spencer queried.

The shorter brunette shook her head. “No . . .”

“Well, speaking as the girl he pushed out of the way of the speeding car, I’m glad he was,” Hanna said bluntly. She locked eyes with Aria. “Just so you know—if you end up deciding to resort to a threesome to get his attention, Aria, I’m totally in.”

More than one set of eyes bulged at that statement, and Aria hissed “Hanna!” only a half-second or so ahead of Spencer and Emily.

“The guy saved my life,” Hanna pointed out reasonably. “Besides, look at him.” She pointed. “Underneath all the bruises are abs you can bounce quarters off of.”

“You literally can,” Spencer agreed in a deadpan tone. “I watched her do it twice.”

“HANNA!” Aria shrieked, outraged.

“What?” Hanna said defensively. “I had to make sure the first time wasn’t a fluke, didn’t I?”

Emily fixed Spencer with a look, murmuring sotto voce, “And why did you let this happen?”

“She caught me by surprise,” Spencer offered. “I mean, who would expect her to do that—?”

“The first time, I’ll buy,” Emily agreed, her eyes boring into the other girl. “But why did you let her do it a second time?”

Spencer looked off to the side slightly, not meeting Emily’s gaze.

“. . . I kind of wanted to see if it was a fluke, too.”

Aria whirled on the taller brunette. “SPENCER!”









Additional Writer's Notes: For the record, I find Spencer the least attractive of the girls, personally - just below Aria, in fact - but she has a dry and wicked wit. For example, her canon reaction of learning that Aria's seeing Ezra is saying, "Part of me thinks this is really self-destructive behavior. Most of me just thinks it's really hot."

[Arbitrarity]

Oooh, four segments. Godafrid actually got along pretty well with Aria there, I'm a tad surprised by his choice to go infiltrating as an animal, given how well he did in that interaction. I suppose we're not seeing his perception of it, though, he's probably much more pessimistic about it. I do enjoy seeing those from the outside perspective.

We're going future version, then. Ilya's view isn't especially novel, but it's nice to see.

The preview/alternate scene is a tad self-indulgent, but really funny.

[Kieran]

Oooh, four segments. Godafrid actually got along pretty well with Aria there, I'm a tad surprised by his choice to go infiltrating as an animal, given how well he did in that interaction.

Part of it lies in the simple fact that the girls, by and large, don't trust adults. Even when they fully believe their own murders are a possible consequence of all this (which takes a surprising while), they don't go to the police, or even their parents. Heck, they don't even trust each other with their secrets, initially, even when they are very clearly all in the same boat so far as "A" is concerned.

Now, I will grant you that part of that is a narrative necessity; after all, the show would be over if they went to the authorities and accepted whatever punishments were due them (which, for the TV series, would be minimal - at least initially - because they could rightfully blame Alison for their biggest issue) . . . However, for the purposes of this story (and the series in general), that makes becoming one of their "inner circle" very difficult.

Not that Frid knows any of this for certain, mind you; he's just taking the view that the show is called Pretty Little Liars for good reason. That being the case, he reasons that if he wants to get everything, unfiltered, the easiest way to go about it is to be in the room as somebody's pet - after all, who'd suspect the cat in Emily's lap of spying on them?

I suppose we're not seeing his perception of it, though, he's probably much more pessimistic about it. I do enjoy seeing those from the outside perspective.

As to the first, almost certainly - though it helps that he's a bigger fan of other characters and actresses involved with the show, and thus, able to be a bit calmer around Aria. If it was Emily or Hanna (who are much prettier, in my opinion), or Alison (who is both my favourite character and, at this point, a near-sociopath - and therefore, very dangerous), he wouldn't be nearly as collected . . . And as to the second . . . Well, the girls are the major characters of their series - their viewpoints are therefore important, or should be.

We're going future version, then.

I'm operating under that assumption for now, yes - until or unless I have a better idea.

Ilya's view isn't especially novel, but it's nice to see.

Much along the lines of including the Liars' viewpoints, the series is "Grail Works, Ltd." (and this is a TYPE-MOON fandom board), ergo, they need to be involved somehow. It'll take some finagling to manage it, but I'll think of something . . .

The preview/alternate scene is a tad self-indulgent, but really funny.

I thought so (on both counts), which is why it was included - I'm glad it wasn't just me who found it amusing.

. . . Honestly, however, it really would screw up certain things if I included it; at least, at that point in time - maybe a future scene . . .?

[Kieran]

Continuing . . .



Rosewood Mall
Rosewood, Pennsylvania
September 1, 2010









“I am so sorry,” Hanna Marin apologised to the clerk, her blue eyes so wide they almost seemed to be glistening with unshed tears. “They were just so comfortable that I forgot I had them on when I left—I really did mean to be right back to pay for them.” The blonde’s pretty face turned into a scowl, and bitter loathing filled her voice as she said. “I feel like a complete idiot . . . How much did you say they were again?”

The clerk blinked, visibly dazzled by her, but said genially enough, “It’s all right, Miss—and they’re three-fifty.”

She sighed. “I thought I remembered you saying that—but obviously, I can’t trust my memory,” she said ruefully, rummaging around in a pocket. Pulling out a stack of bills, she began reeling off fifties. “Hang on—one, two, three—oh, my God, Hanna . . . “

Rolling her eyes exaggeratedly, the girl groaned to the clerk, “I’m sorry—apparently, my blonde moment isn’t over yet, because I can’t even muster the brain power to calculate sales tax right now. What’s the overall total, please?”

“Three hundred and sixty dollars and fifty cents, Miss.”

With a thank you and a sunny smile, Hanna peeled off another fifty and told him to keep the change.

“I appreciate you being so understanding about this,” she said earnestly. “Honestly, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d called the cops when I walked back in.”

“. . . Ah, well—everyone can have an off-day, Miss,” the clerk offered, flustered by her charming self. “And you did come back, so I don’t see any reason not to put this behind us.”

“Well, thank you very much,” she said sincerely. “I’ll be sure to recommend this place to my friends and make this my first stop when I need or want a new pair—you obviously can’t beat the service or professionalism. And I promise I’ll bring more brain cells next time—maybe a guide dog, or something. Heaven knows one of them couldn’t be any dumber . . .”

She rolled her eyes again.

“It’s all right, Miss,” the clerk said cheerfully. “I hope you have a better rest of your day.”

Hanna smiled guilelessly. “You, too—and if nothing else, my conscience is feeling better already.”








Out of sight of the mall and the security cameras, the five-foot-three blonde ducked into an alley—and with a sigh, resumed the six-foot, ninety-kilo form of a Lunar Exalt.

Not bad, for a spur-of-the-moment plan, he admitted. Too bad it cost me four hundred bucks for a pair of FUCKING SUNGLASSES . . .!

“Luna damn it, Hanna . . .” he muttered to the empty air. “It’s not bad enough that your secret is that you’re Kleptomaniac Barbie, you have to have designer tastes . . .?”

Well, if nothing else, Frid was feeling decidedly less guilty about slashing her scalp when he’d torn the sunglasses off her face and flown away with them. True, it had been necessary at the time—he’d needed at least a little blood to assume her form temporarily, after all, because “Hanna” had to return the sunglasses herself—but now a certain vindictive satisfaction came from the memory, rather than guilt.

And with any luck, that gives “A” one less lever to use on her . . .

Frid had suspected it when Aria had mentioned she just got back from Iceland; but spotting Hanna and Mona at the mall, and Hanna’s running into Spencer there, with the conversation that followed . . .? It more-or-less confirmed the “when” as likely being the series’ pilot episode—sudden reconnections of old, estranged friends, the anniversary of Alison’s disappearance . . . Things were happening that implied plot moving forward, which meant that “A” would’ve either spotted Hanna stealing, or Hanna would’ve been caught, and tried to keep it from her friends—it was the most obvious blackmail possibility.

And now, she’s off the hook—and hopefully with a bad enough experience at it to swear it off, though if she actually is a kleptomaniac, I doubt it . . . Either way, it means that “A” doesn’t have anything to hold over her, so that’s one “Liar” down.

Unfortunately, doing that particular good (and expensive) deed had meant he’d lost track of her—and worse, Spencer and, to a lesser extent, Mona. He had no idea what “A” might have or get on them, and no way to track them short of actually turning into a scent-tracking canine and trying the old-fashioned way. He didn’t know their last names, so trying to get addresses from a phonebook was useless, and he didn’t know the streets of this place to begin with . . .

Hell, I don’t even know where the library is, or if they even have one, so that I could try to get access to phonebooks or maps . . .!

It was ridiculous, on the face of it; after all, Frid possessed strong and varied enough supernatural abilities to do practically anything he set his mind to. Truthfully, he was, by nearly any measure, stupidly overpowered for this whole planet, never mind the task at hand—and yet, he was being stymied by basic issues like a lack of local knowledge, even to the extent of how to get it . . . And it was even more infuriating because the whole point of him was supposed to be that he knew stuff! When he hadn’t had the body of Captain America, or magic of any kind, he’d always had his mind—lazy, unfocussed, and packed with trivia, but he’d had that advantage—until now.

Clutching his head, Frid sank down against one of the building facades, wondering how the hell he could be handed practically every card he could ever need, aces and all, and still be such a pathetic loser . . .

Honestly, what the fuck am I doing here? What the hell do I think I can do here? I’m not tech-savvy, a teenager, or anything even close to relatable to this—and I have no idea what I’m up against, really.

. . . And even if he did, what was the point? Who was he trying to save, here, and why? For Luna’s sake, they were the eponymous “Pretty Little Liars”; Aria was sleeping with a teacher, and unless it was non-consensual (which, judging by her failure to inform the authorities, it very much wasn’t), it was a mess of her own making. Spencer was a cheat; Hanna was a thief—and Emily was gay, or bisexual, or something . . . All right, that one seemed over-the-top, so far as blackmailable offenses went. Still, that was one girl out of four; out of five, really, counting Alison—the mean girl who was apparently bad enough that, judging by the fact that the series lasted seven seasons, and/or eighteen books, it meant that everyone in town was a viable suspect for her murder. . .

Realistically, these were, if not terrible people (because as the series’ protagonists, they had to have some mitigating elements to them), then certainly not very good ones—and Frid honestly believed that half the problems in the world were because too many people manage to evade suffering the consequences of their actions. So why, by any realistic measure, should he be exerting any effort on their behalf, short of making sure that they paid for their crimes alongside the cyber-bullying “A?”

“Shirou would want to save them,” Frid reminded himself aloud, “so fine—stop A, because what they’re doing is just as wrong as anything the girls have done. Find Alison, if you can, because people deserve the truth, whatever it is—and because you said you would. I can agree to that much . . . But really, aside from Emily, can you think of anything—a single scene, or line, or frame—that would justify doing anything more than that, for any of them?”

“. . . I’m afraid I’m too broken to be fixed.”

Frid jumped as the voice bubbled out of his subconscious—Alison’s voice, but laced with a world-weariness that bordered on resignation which he recognised all too well . . .

Where had that come from?

Frid closed his eyes, repeating it and tossing it into the depths of his memory, to see what stuck.

“I’m afraid I’m too broken to be fixed”—“I’m afraid,” afraid—of course, it was in the finale!

In what had turned out to be the series finale of Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, rather than the season’s, the protagonists had been blackmailed into confessing their worst fears on camera for the equivalent “A” character. Alison had been the first to do so, and hers had been “I’m afraid I’m too broken to be fixed.”

She’d learned—it might’ve taken her a decade, and Luna knows what suffering, but she’d learned. The whole point of the damned series, from her perspective, was an attempt to be better than she’d been; and she was willing to work and to fight for that, even if Emily wasn’t . . .

Alison had grown out of what she was, or at least tried—but the experience of learning better had damaged her.

She needed the push. If she actually drove someone to try and kill her, I don’t know that anything less would’ve shaken her. Queen bees are unassailably confident by definition, after all . . . But did it need to be that hard on her to get the lesson across? And if Alison can learn to be a better person—if there’s hope, however small, for the worst of them, should I give up so easily on the rest . . .?

Frid weighed the idea. On the one hand, this was still a bad idea; this entire setting was built on secrets and blackmail, on manipulation and lies—and Ali was implied to be the best at it. Even in The Perfectionists, she’d shown hints of those skills; here and now, when she was literally at her worst? He’d never be able to trust her, even if he did find her alive—and if he didn’t, if this was somehow the book universe using the TV universe’s skins, it would be even worse . . .

“I’m afraid I’m too broken to be fixed.”

Frid knew that tone, that sentiment—he’d heard it in the quiet moments in the dark, more times than he could count. He’d heard it too often not to believe it, with that weight in her voice, that expression on her face.

Damn Miss Sasha However-You-Pronounce-Her-Last-Name for being such a talented actress . . .

“All right, Ali,” he sighed. “You win—I am a stupidly sentimental idiot, and it’s going to get me killed someday . . . But I’ll look out for you and your friends, if I can.”

I am going to regret this . . .

. . . And I need a better plan.








Rosewood Community Hospital








Hanna scowled, looking in a compact mirror at the bandages on her scalp.

“This is not the back-to-school look I wanted,” she muttered. “Stupid bird—what did I ever do to it . . .?”

Her phone bleeped, indicating an incoming text. Without even thinking about it, the blonde picked it up—and nearly dropped it in surprise at the contents.

“What the hell . . .?”








To: Hanna Marin
From: Unknown

Poor Hanna—magpies like to steal shiny objects, too.
Better wear a hat next time!

—A

[Arbitrarity]

I don't really know these characters, so on my first read, I didn't click that that was Godafrid paying for those sunglasses, until it was explicitly revealed. Dialogue is a lot funnier in knowing that.

The motivation for Godafrid's masochism in trying in this setting is fitting, it benefits from that bit of exploration. You had mentioned the ambiguity of "who to save" as one of the interesting points before, seeing it examined in-character/in-story is fun. I suspect we're going to have several opportunities to regret that resolve.
I'm suddenly recalling a lot of mid-Trinity character exploration of Galen's experiences with girls. Godafrid seems a lot more hardened/prepared here, but it still seems like a very dangerous place for him.

Now the question is, is that text Frid's better plan, or A adapting to the situation? Sounds more like the latter, which is... quite freaky. I suppose they have to be an information-gathering expert to blackmail though, so it's not unexpected.

[Kieran]

I don't really know these characters, so on my first read, I didn't click that that was Godafrid paying for those sunglasses, until it was explicitly revealed. Dialogue is a lot funnier in knowing that.

I rather thought it might be - though as far as laughs go, I was rather proud of the "Kleptomaniac Barbie" moniker.

Here's the original scene, if you want context . . . And this is, admittedly, one of the fun parts of doing this story - in a series about lies, manipulation, blackmail and more than a few people in disguises, how can you tell which one is the Lunar . . .?

I'll also admit that this one will take a while to set up - I've covered maybe the first third of the pilot episode, so far?

The motivation for Godafrid's masochism in trying in this setting is fitting, it benefits from that bit of exploration. You had mentioned the ambiguity of "who to save" as one of the interesting points before, seeing it examined in-character/in-story is fun.

Thank you - and it needed it. As I've said, many of the characters in here are "not quite terrible" people, at best. And sadly, those are largely the protagonists . . .

As an example, I love Alison DiLaurentis - she's pretty, yes, but also as a character; seeing her maturity in The Perfectionists as she reflects on what she was, and tries not to be that girl anymore, but needs to resort to old tricks to stay ahead of the conspiracies around her again . . . It was fascinating. But (pre-)Season 1 Ali is rightfully described by one character as a monster. As the series goes on, it's revealed there are reasons for a lot of her behaviour - and not all of her targets are undeserving (in fact, more of them than you'd initially think) - but in some ways, you'd be surprised that there was only one attempt on her life.

And the book version of Alison is even worse . . .


The others have mitigating circumstances, as noted. Spencer's competitive, but she's pushed to be, and forever in the shadow of her older sister. Hanna steals, but it's for attention rather than malice (she has a number of issues, that way); and, as a former "loser" herself, she can actually be fairly kind - she's just very much a stereotypical blonde, as well. Aria's mess is largely of her own making, as I've said - but her original secret is her father's fault; and Emily . . . Emily's major crimes are that she was caught in Alison's orbit, and too afraid of the consequences to accept herself - though her mother plays a large part in the latter.

. . . Not, of course, that Frid knows any of this - he's just dealing with what he picked up from osmosis: lines on magazine covers, episode synopses in the TV guide he half-glanced at when browsing through listings, and the few offhand references in The Perfectionists. His primary reference point is "teen soap opera thriller" - which he mentally defines as "take everything melodramatic from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Beverly Hills, 90210, and crank it up to eleven."

I suspect we're going to have several opportunities to regret that resolve.

Oh, undoubtedly . . .

I'm suddenly recalling a lot of mid-Trinity character exploration of Galen's experiences with girls. Godafrid seems a lot more hardened/prepared here, but it still seems like a very dangerous place for him.

Well, like Galen, he's me, so there is some overlap; moreso because he's not playing a role, as much - hence the cursing, for example. Unlike Galen, he's me at an older age, and far more cynical (believe it or not); but, as noted some pages back, he's actually living his fantasy life of (trying to) be heroic, and save people, which gives him a bit more lightness, as well. I'm hoping it'll balance out. But yes, this place can be dangerous.

On a purely physical level, there's essentially nobody who can threaten him, and he knows it; mortal versus Exalt rarely works out well for the mortal, and short of somebody forming a lynch mob and/or breaking out the military hardware (possibly needing both at once), any fight he actually gets into will be a laughable one. That's kind of the irony: he's a mentally-focussed Exalt who's built to withstand physical threats, and neither of those really helps him here.

And, as noted, the girls are definitely dangerous; they're the Pretty Little Liars, and more than one of them is noted to have a knack for attracting older men, if not an outright preference for them . . .

Now the question is, is that text Frid's better plan, or A adapting to the situation? Sounds more like the latter, which is... quite freaky. I suppose they have to be an information-gathering expert to blackmail though, so it's not unexpected.

The latter, and "freaky" is a good description of "A" and what they do - in fact, it might be understating things.

Again, for context - this is the message Hanna gets after she is arrested for shoplifting in the pilot. Read it with the understanding that Hanna is formerly bulimic (her other major in-series secret), and note the timing of it . . .

And that's not even close to the most ridiculous thing "A" pulls off, either - they might as well use magic, sometimes.

[Xamusel]

Hey, Kieran, I think I have an idea that might work properly. Ready to hear it?

First of all, I should mention that I'm debating the whole use of a Self Insert for this rendition of ideas, so I thought it might be a good idea to bring in a separate series' character or two (or three) to act as the main choices for my protagonist(s) in the Grail Works. As for what series I plan to use for this operation of sorts? Sword Art Online (as of as close to the start of the Death Game as possible). Whatever possessed me to choose that series? Well... the next volume of the Progressive series is coming out tomorrow (as of the time of this writing, it's about 28 hours or less before I get my hands on the physical copy of Volume 7, though most definitely going to be less time).

Now, oddly enough, I thought of what would tie Kirigaya Kazuto into the plot of the Grail Works, but I'm still undecided about the other two as of right now. I still need to develop everything on that front, really.

Is there anything I need to know about this before I share the rest of the idea?

[Kieran]

Hey, Kieran, I think I have an idea that might work properly. Ready to hear it?

First of all, I should mention that I'm debating the whole use of a Self Insert for this rendition of ideas, so I thought it might be a good idea to bring in a separate series' character or two (or three) to act as the main choices for my protagonist(s) in the Grail Works.

First question, then: why do you need more than one . . .?

As for what series I plan to use for this operation of sorts? Sword Art Online (as of as close to the start of the Death Game as possible). Whatever possessed me to choose that series? Well... the next volume of the Progressive series is coming out tomorrow (as of the time of this writing, it's about 28 hours or less before I get my hands on the physical copy of Volume 7, though most definitely going to be less time).

Now, oddly enough, I thought of what would tie Kirigaya Kazuto into the plot of the Grail Works, but I'm still undecided about the other two as of right now. I still need to develop everything on that front, really.

. . . OK, leaving aside the jokes about adding another harem protagonist to the Works (and the implied expectation that said harem would show up), on top of Kirito's being essentially an SI in all but name (at least, going by the memes), there are more than a few logistical problems involved here.

First, as I recall, Kirito comes from the year 2022, whereas the Works itself is rooted in 2004; this means that either he hasn't been born yet, or it involves advancing the Works' timeline so far ahead that we can start adding OCs in the form of children of the Tsukihime and Fate characters. If you get around that by having him come from another world entirely, then you run into the issues of his having no legal identity in the Works' universe, which means the amount of time he can spend there without running into problems is minimal.

Yes, they can get an ID faked for him with Shirou's connections to Raiga (in point of fact, that's how Medousa got hers), but that costs money, and any of Kirito's assets are basically useless, since the currency is "ridiculously fake," going by the issue dates - assuming they even use paper currency any longer. That means that the Works will be paying for it out-of-pocket, and what does Kirito bring to the table that they'd want? His physical skills are average, and his computer skills are stupidly out-of-date, since most of the hardware he learned to program on, not to mention the programming languages, won't exist for at least a decade; unless Kirito made a habit of learning every programming language and hardware spec throughout the history of computing technology, it will take a long time for him to be even remotely useful to them.

. . . Now, let's assume you get around that issue by having him be a "roving freelancer" - one that doesn't report to them, but gets handed off missions. That means involving one or more Works characters in his world, confirming the existence of parallel worlds and magic to Kirito, at minimum; given how often he gets involved in government ops (since I have read up to Phantom Bullet, though it was a while ago), that risks exposing to them, as well. Now granted, that's always a risk - but given that I think Sword Art Online would wind up being a "low-mana" world, where magecraft is impossible (or near enough), that's really dangerous to whoever you're exposing.

Now, as a side note, I note that the timeframe and overall tech level doesn't necessarily invalidate a Sword Art Online/Fate EXTRA crossover, if you were inclined to write one . . .

[RanmaBushiko]

Hey, Kieran, I think I have an idea that might work properly. Ready to hear it?

First of all, I should mention that I'm debating the whole use of a Self Insert for this rendition of ideas, so I thought it might be a good idea to bring in a separate series' character or two (or three) to act as the main choices for my protagonist(s) in the Grail Works. As for what series I plan to use for this operation of sorts? Sword Art Online (as of as close to the start of the Death Game as possible). Whatever possessed me to choose that series? Well... the next volume of the Progressive series is coming out tomorrow (as of the time of this writing, it's about 28 hours or less before I get my hands on the physical copy of Volume 7, though most definitely going to be less time).

Now, oddly enough, I thought of what would tie Kirigaya Kazuto into the plot of the Grail Works, but I'm still undecided about the other two as of right now. I still need to develop everything on that front, really.

Is there anything I need to know about this before I share the rest of the idea?

There's plenty of jokes that I could be making about harem protagonists, but I'll skip them for now. Glad to see you online again, though! Have you been doing okay? You've not been commenting on a lot of chapters, as of late.

As for what you and Kieran are talking about? I used to be a bigger SAO fan, though I'll admit, Gun Gale Online's light novels dragged me back into the series a bit, lately. So I'm probably a bit more helpful for this?

There's a few ways you could set it up so that Kiragaya Kazuto could eventually join the Grail Works. But all of them will take a lot of work. No easy way around it. It may not be Fate/Anarchy levels of "How much writing do I have to do before the plot is out like I want it!?" but it's still going to be rough. 20, 30 chapters of build up if you want Kirito to be genuinely interesting to toss into the Works, rather than "Isekai Harem badass" that Illyasviel might toss at the girls already in the Grail Works, to distract them.

1. If you noticed the last epilogue I put out for Fate/Anarchy (It's pretty much finally finished, except for one last bit in the "Thousands of years later" interlude, for an epilogue or two to write, depending on how long and complicated that gets.), you'll note that Mecha Fafnir, Wolf Home, and quite a few others, including Gordes and Roche, are leaving the universe before it can get pruned due to Wolf Home's continued existence in it.

Along with 6 helpers that Zelretch arranged for them to have.

Them winding up in Sword Art Online could work out fairly well, and eventually lead to him becoming a part of the Grail Works, if he winds up accidentally taking a trip with them. Or stows away on purpose, etc. etc. There's still a lot of work to be done for such a thing, though.

2. Fate/Extra. Having the Death Game be a cover up for Kayaba trying to brute force hack the Moon Cell would be an interesting idea, if you'd like to go that route. There's other options, other possibilities, but that's just two easy ones.

3. Him summoning the Grail Works, or his family, to help with the Death Game could be interesting... but for plot related purposes, as Kieran said, a low mana world would explain a lot.