keiisho

[keiisho]

"I can blame you when it's your cat." Despite how he sounds, he's glad to see her.

And, well, again, he can't really say he's surprised that one of her few friends is so odd. With Trimmau helping with some of the less organizationally demanding aspects, he moves to start sorting his paperwork.

"All of the rooms are unoccupied save mine." The admission stings, and he kneels on the ground, picking up some garbage off a borrowed tome and tossing it aside.

"So, yes. You're more than free to stay here." He'd kept everything as it was before they left. Honestly, he hardly knew why she'd left the residence to begin with, given the protections he had set up,

"I could have knocked, yes." Not an apology, just an acknowledgement. "As for the cat, if you feed him once, you will never get rid of him. You can hardly blame me for that."

Reines flopped down on the couch that her Brother had just moved. It seemed like somewhere safe to sit in the mid-tidying house. Trimmau was already moving to help sort out some of the lingering mess herself, not trusting the homeowner's cleaning aptitude.

"Speaking of, he's gone ahead and burnt down my former residence. I assume my room here is still unoccupied?"

[keiisho]

"Uh, well, I live here." He responds to her question, gesturing to the house. Yes, he really lives like this. While there was some part of him that was ashamed, he instead listens to her rant, frown growing deeper somehow.

"Unfortunately having a bigger house means a bigger mess. But this is pretty much it." He kicks the remains of a few slices of bread aside. While he wasn't entirely proud of his own situation, he usually got wrapped up in his own nonsense. "Anda kept things tidy. Gray, too."

"And now they're both gone, so, feel free to come in." He steps aside, walking into the cave. As much of an asshole he was aware he could be he's usually not so clipped or abrupt. Still, he leaves the door open behind him, as much of a welcome as she's gonna get, food or not.

"Wow you're really living like this, huh?" The words escaped Zal before she could stop herself, but she managed to hold her tongue on any additional comments once she pushed past Waver to get inside. She had been expecting the place to look a mess, given the state of the garden that no longer had a certain undertaker tending to it anymore. But once she stopped to take in the details of the horrific mess in front of her, she couldn't help but be hit by a wave of pity and guilt. Maybe she should have checked in on him much sooner.

Zal stood there silently for a few moments longer, taking in the scene for a little bit longer as her gaze finally settled on the characters drawn on the wall. A brief look of concern before she shook her head, turning to face Waver.

"I'm almost afraid to ask about all that nonsense--" She gestured to the wall. "--but what on earth are you doing in here?"

"Actually, putting that aside for a second; you should have called me! I'm not just your part time employee, y'know. I would have gladly helped you keep this place from getting so out of hand."

"You're a grumpy bastard, Waver. But you've stuck your neck out for me before when you didn't have to. And I want to do right by you! I even brought over some food to sweeten the deal. And I will climb through the window if you try and kick me out also, so..."

[keiisho]

He's not sure if he should be more concerned that the Patron Saint of France just dumped him off the couch, or if he should be more concerned that a Ruler-class Heroic Spirit came to check on him. Staring up, hair askew, he can't help but gawk at her, dried drool on his chin from his face-down second-nap-of-the-day.

"W-well, that is..."

"Really now, I'm not meant to live by myself, Lady." A lame excuse for a man closer to forty than thirty, but it was true. His hair was a mess, and the house itself was...Well, also a mess.

"I'm a lord in name only, and Zhuge Liang doesn't have much experience in housekeeping."

|| You are the one in charge of this vessel. || (Yes, but I didn't inherit any cleaning skills from you.)

WHEN HE GROANS UPON THE COUCH, there is hardly any hesitation in how she steps forward to place a hand upon the back of it. how long has it been since he has properly tidied this place? even jeanne, herself, was not one to meticulously clean, and yet... ❝ Lord El-Melloi II, ❞ she speaks, the softness of her voice in a strange contrast to how firm her words are.

and much like any servant, it was far too easy for her to continue in lifting the entire couch where he sprawls himself dramatically, effectively dumping him onto the floor with a considerate plop than truly hoisting him. before long, she sets the seat back down, as polite as ever despite the fact she'd just lifted it without sweat to jostle a grown person several times her size from where they were.

❝ While I understand, do you not think it inappropriate to let things fall into this state? ❞

@keiisho

[keiisho]

Luckily for Reines, he'd already had a few visitors come and try and...Make him come to his senses? Or just dump him off of couches. He's putting the couch back in place after however much time, grateful for his strength, when something opens the door.

"Hwuh?"

It's dark in the house, the din only having light brought to it from the closed blinds and curtains. Blinking as he gets used to the light, he then sighs.

(You couldn't warn me?) || She doesn't have Sima Yi with her, still. || (Small blessings.)

He's happy to see her, even happier she hasn't become a pseudo-servant yet, but he still flops back down, frowning at the sudden presence in his home.

"You could've knocked."

"I was just starting to tidy the place up, I'll have you know. You've been gone for a while, and your stray cat keeps coming in the window." Not that he didn't leave out snacks and warm drinks for said stray cat, even if the stray cat was kind of...Well, off.

Just like Reines herself, really.

"...Welcome back."

( @keiisho )

With the Southern Clocktower currently out of commission, Reines knew that she would have to retreat to her old home for the time being. Staying in a ruined foundation simply wasn't an option. Besides, Anda was no longer here, so her brother could no longer demand she play nice with them.

However, it would seem her brother was no better at keeping house than Judar was. Just looking in from the street, she knew she was in for a headache. How incompetent could people have really become without her here? She'd had more faith in him.

"Trimmau."

The maid nodded and took up the lead to the house. With disrepair like this, Reines did not trust there not to be something lurking in the reeds. Similarly, it was also the mystic code that opened the front door to prevent anything from falling upon them or jumping out.

Reines could immediately see she was correct to take these precautions. Inside was somehow worse than the out. She dared not step foot inside yet, instead calling out, "Is it safe to come in?"

[keiisho]

The girl looked too young to be on her own - although that tended to be the case both here and at the Clock Tower. She seemed adjusted to this place enough - like as not she'd been here for a while.

Her hair was...Odd. Something strange and magical had happened to this girl, and the stench of it was difficult not to notice. Not her, but something...About her. Around her. Impossible to not notice for him but also impossible for the human part of him to ignore.

"I certainly hope you haven't been getting yourself into trouble here, kid." Not that he was much in the way of enforcement if she did, but magical troubles were his forte, and she may be in some sort of magical trouble.

"Whoever - or whatever - cursed you seems to have a long reach."

@blightborn

[keiisho]

"Er..."

He falters awkwardly, Zal's at his front door, which has been overtaken by what remains of the garden, and the house is a complete wreck. The issue with going back to living on your own after living with people for years is that your bad habits come back.

But there's no assistant or Anda to clean up after those bad habits.

And since it's a house and not a flat or a singular room. The mess spreads. And is everywhere. Dirty laundry hangs off every piece of furniture. There's a pillow on the couch with a blanket hanging half off of it. The coffee table is covered in dirty dishes - primarily consisting of seemingly every cup in the house. Take out containers are piled everywhere, with pizza boxes stacked at the door.

The kitchen has seemingly exploded. Scorch marks are on the splash behind the stovetop. Every cabinet is open and most of them are empty. The fridge, thankfully, is closed.

The door to the office is open, and the inside is stacked with books and paperwork, which are spilling out into the main area of the house. Various runes are drawn all over them. The chalkboard he keeps in his office is filled with either notes on magic or the rantings of two madmen. Or both.

An incantation in what seems to be Chinese characters is drawn onto the wall with what eerily looks like blood.

"...Hey."

@oneeyedpsychic

[keiisho]

"'Conquer this place'?" Interesting turn of phrase. The water heats up and he pours it in the mug. A few stirs with a spoon and he moves the mug to the table, putting it in front of the so-called 'court magician'.

"I imagine she'd be pretty pissed to hear me called her 'master'. No, I'm her 'older brother'." Or hostage, really. Depending on who you asked. If you asked him, it'd depend on the day. "A Lord in name and only until Reines comes of age and I fix her family's shredded Crest." Maybe he should've said 'our family', but it felt...Odd, still. Independent of how he considered her family, it would also mean considering him family.

And he wasn't entirely sure he was there. Or perhaps in his current state he didn't feel much toward that concept.

"In any case, if my King couldn't conquer this place while he was here, you lot had no chance."

"Believe me - as someone who holds a similar enough position as a 'magician' for my King, neither of you could stand up to him, another individual who wanted to conquer this island." He wondered if Reines simply wanted to keep him in her employ.

She likely wanted company.

Reines was always a lonelier child than she let on, wasn't she.

At first, he was perched on the frosted windowsill, bare feet, and clothes more appropriate for the desert than any of the seasons of Spirale. Some sort of magic prevented him from properly freezing.

From there he stared at the 'magician', his attitude, tired expression, everything in him radiated that 'im fucking tired' aura. Like Koumei in the mornings, the resemblance made him grin. Just looking at him with his mug trying to swallow something bitter.

Judar finally drops from the windowsill at the invitation, like an invader cat.

The window closed by an unseen force, more out of his own distaste for the cold weather than the favor. A trail of fluttering darkness followed him, invisible to those incapable of magic, but perhaps the man would sense it. Cold, dangerous, everything in the young man radiated a cursed aura.

"So you're Reine's master, eh?" The mirthless smile soon faded, "Were, yeah." He stood by the table without taking a seat, inspecting the table, expecting some sort of offering.

"Court magician".

"You see, I have a problem, Reines' lost. We were supposed to conquer this place together". He finally announced with an eerie smile.

[keiisho]

"Blah, blah, blah, preconceived notions of humanity restricting the boundaries of human thought is not the problem here."

"You may have changed, Olga-Marie, but that does not mean you do not understand basic principals in both of our current forms." He clears his throat before dramatically pointing to her abomination. "Even the least humanoid constructs are made with purpose and goals in mind. Is your construct meant to hold a surplus of mana? Is your surplus meant to defend? Attack? Does it have symmetry - if not, can it support its own weight in its asymmetrical nature?" He scoffs, and Zhuge Liang, for his part, seems to approve.

"I may have been a subpar magus with an even more subpar crest, but even I understand these basic principles to be true."

" The only reason you're deeply distrubed is because humanity is so used to conventional humanoid preference and your mind can't grasp anything beyond it." truly it was as simple as that. she certainly saw no problem with her creation (even if it was the result of pressing buttons with no rhyme or reason to them.)

" Start over? No, I don't think I will. I see no point in doing so." and to prove her point, another button is pressed, with this one supposedly designed to add glitter.

[keiisho]

"Listen, nobody said the gingerbread people had to be...Entirely humanoid, but I am deeply disturbed at the chimera you've created." Hands on his hips, he looks at the...Being in the machine.

"...Perhaps you should start over."

[keiisho]

Recent events having left him exhausted, he slept for...Some period of time. Holed up in his house, he finally awakens to get some work done. Of course, he was vaguely aware that someone was coming into the house, but Anda's friends typically came and went as they pleased. It wasn't Zal - her potions had their own trace - but it could've been one of the other ones.

They were vaguely familiar entering his territory, so he didn't pay it much mind.

A window opened, and a familiar brat crawled through.

Not Anda's friend, but Reines'.

Reines, who had been gone for a long time now. He was vaguely aware that the young man had been living out in the Mistwood with Reines.

So, the magus sighs, and wordlessly take a mug out of the counter with a thunk, turning on the water heater. Pulling a glass container of brown powder out of the cabinet, he gestures to the table.

"Stop sneaking around and take a seat."

"And close the window, it's too cold for you to be sneaking around and breaking into people's homes."

@keiisho

He still remembered that man, quiet magician who could have easily been one of Kouen's advisors. Yeah, that man, he remembered it. Friend of someone he knew, someone gone. But as days passed, that face, that voice, the owner of the mansion in the forest, all became hazy.

Perhaps that sage knew something, perhaps he could provide an answer. Or something. That was what people like him were meant to do in Kingdoms.

Finding his residence was simple, getting in, could prove interesting if he had placed magic wards or something.

He looked around the entrance of the large house, more similar to a tavern than a palace.

As soon as he found an open window, shamelessly open it and get in.

[keiisho]

He doesn't so much as 'wake up' here as much as he feels like he's manifested. Which is stupid, because he can't manifest anywhere, because he's only a Pseudo-Servant and therefore maintains a mortal form.

Wait.

"Shit!" He's stomping down the hallway now, never imagining he'd be so...So irritated to be back here. Okay, yes, he supposed there were world-ending threats to consider and he had dragged Reines and Gray and Luvia into this mess and he was supposed to be serving his King, and the tiny version of his King, of course but time, as far as he knew, froze here, and-

Just after he'd said he never got to leave that stupid place, he leaves that stupid island he's been on for years, and ends up here - and what about the house, and the runes and-

"Anda!"

He'd never been so happy (and confused) to see the empath.

"You look bloody awful." No rune, either. A hiss escapes his teeth as he looks Anda over for injuries, certain they can find someone to help but... "How in the hell are you here? I had been trying to figure out a way to bring you with me, but I hadn't quite...In any case, I imagine you were shoved back in your world again. Although..."

A pause.

A long pause.

"This...Completely defies how the island had functioned until now. For all intents and purposes, this is my world, but outside of the fact that you should not be able to manifest here without my Noble Phantasm at minimum..."

(What the fuck is going on?)

"...Do you even know who I am? Because I certainly shouldn't remember a thing, all reports given. But I have never been away from the island since arriving."

@keiisho

Eyes squint at the light. The electricity had been dim; the water turbine was getting old, and they couldn't go out for parts, so the estate was always in relative darkness. Just enough light to make it around, but they'd adjusted to it. The white, sterile lighting in an otherwise sterile room was jarring, and the ceiling blindingly stared back at them. The only pop of color among all the white and chrome is a house plant in the corner of the bedroom.

A thin frame pushes itself up from the bed, muscles weak and screaming. There's still fibers under their nails from trying to crawl across the carpet, palms mottled with reddish, brown, flaking chips of the blood that dried on them. A look down at their clothes... musty, fraying. There's a crisp, singed ring where the bullets ripped through them, covered and soaked in a stiff cloth of blood-soaked band shirt.

("...Okay. I don't think I lived through that. So am I, dead?")

That searing, agonizing hatred they felt moments before... subsided. Perhaps the shock of waking up in such a different environment subsided that haunted rage? ... Wriggling out of the shirt, shoving it under the bed, they chose to wrap the bedsheet around them like a cowl. Their hand presses against their chest.

("...Heart's beating? Maybe I'm not dead?") ... ("...Which means the, uh. The thing is still here.")

Even in this room, they could feel the vague flickers of sorrow beyond the door.

("Okay... okay. Um.")

Their old flip phone is in their pocket, but shows a date far off in the future. The last time they looked at a calendar was forgotten to them, but Gran's funeral was in the 2000's, wasn't it? According to all the paperwork they had to sign.

("Maybe this isn't my phone.") ... ("So I guess... I could go outside.")

The thought of that is terrifying, though. They're not supposed to be around people. Around that outside world. That's what she told them. But...

...

A pale hand tries to find a doorknob to turn, only for the door to slide open with a smooth-sounding click.

("Fancy.")

Their steps are soft and unsure in their socks, and the loose fabric around their ripping jeans makes more sound than they do (aside from the mumbling, of course.) The hallways are just as sterile as the room, long and unremarkable. Part of them wants to think this is a hospital, but the very image of a 'hospital' is blocked from their memory.

What emerges from the room is an empath. Pale, splattered with dried blood, malnourished. The shadows under their eyes look like bruises, and their hair grew out in two tones--one a faded violet dye, and the other a chestnut brown from their roots, streaked with white. They're afraid of making a sound, as if breaking the silence would unleash some horrible monster.

Finally, they see a sign, pointing in a few directions. Rooms 400-450 from the hallway they came from, a mess hall in another direction, with a strange word above them all.

("...Chaldea?")

[keiisho]

The magus sighs himself and wraps an arm around Anda, squeezing them perhaps a tad too tightly before letting them get into the car.

"And thank you for coming back so quickly."

"It's getting colder, you know. Being out here every eclipse would've been a pain." Meaning that he, of course, had planned to be at every eclipse to aid the empath in their return.

"Let's go home."

They can feel his worry, and his relief. If anything, appearing on this island was more like coming home than that horrible place. At least here, there's someone who knows they've gone.

"No, I know that. If I had a choice, I wouldn't go back. It's not... fair."

Before they duck into the car... Anda rests their forehead against the other's shoulder, sighing painfully into it.

"...Thanks for remembering to pick me up."

It's a gesture that meant more to someone abandoned.

[keiisho]

"A similar question as to why I never leave. A constant. The only change being the new passenger in my mind." He pats them off, brow furrowed as he continues to control his emotions. Finally, he puts their rune etched necklace over their head, pulling it to sit properly. It would ease the influx of...Everything. All the grief and despair of everyone who was dragged onto this island.

All the sorrow of those who watched people they loved come and go.

"I believe we have both been here long enough to know that there is not much we can fully understand." As loathe as he was to admit it. Pulling their hair loose from the necklace, he sighed.

"...Selfishly, I am glad these trips aren't one way for you. Although compounding your suffering is not a price I want to pay to ameliorate my own."

A very deep breath... and they push themselves up (and wobble. It's always draining, coming back from The Estate.)

"...Thanks."

After rubbing their eyes, and with a little help from the mage, they get to their feet. Their eyes stair at their shirt, as if searching for something that isn't there. Patting their chest...

"...I don't understand why I keep going back. It's been... I dunno. Six years or something since They took me away from the estate, minus those few times I'm there." ("But I remember I live on the island when they force me back like that. Those last times I went home, I didn't remember any of this. I just...") "So why do they keep making me go back and live through that again, like that's the end. Am I doing something wrong? Are they trying to prove a point...?"

...

("You don't have to answer. I dunno if you even can.")

[keiisho]

No need to adjust too long. The magus comes and places a rune-etched necklace on Anda's back. "I parked the car nearby."

...Have they moved up from the floor? Nope. They only wave the taxi woman away politely and check their phone. The train that passes by here doesn't come for another twenty minutes... they can lay on the concrete for a little bit and adjust to the influx of the city's consciousness.

[keiisho]

He'll be waiting at the eclipse with a few runes in hand. Just in case.

[keiisho]

"Half of these kids have no sense of self-preservation. I had to turn away too many teens wanting to be 'crime fighters' at the agency."

⠀⠀⠀⠀"It seems the children of this city get more comfortable around me every year. I can only assume as much when more visit my home for Halloween night... I wasn't aware that I was building up such a positive reputation. Certainly peculiar..."

[keiisho]

@roshield said: you know what yeah thats fair

"Erk-"

Well now he just feels bad for the guy. "...Erm. I'm sure she's lovely, even so."