pawnstorm | [open] lookin' for the love getaway.

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[open] lookin' for the love getaway.

Who: Gilgamesh and everyone visiting Heaven's Feel!
When: 5/1—5/8
Where: Caissa, Heaven's Feel storefront
What: The grand opening of Heaven's Feel, Caissa's premier matchmaking service, has arrived! Stop by for food, drinks, and some friendly fun with your fellow Heroes! ...or maybe even pick up a date, who knows.
Rating: General audiences, except for Gil's threads because he was pretty much making out with everyone. Tread carefully.

Heaven's Feel

[Maybe you've heard, or maybe you haven't, but there's a new business in town. It's plastered everywhere, posted on the side of every building and shouted from the end of every street corner in Caissa. Heaven's Feel, Heaven's Feel, come fly with the angels at Heaven's Feel! Really, who writes something so cheesy? The owner must be a real piece of work, you think, yet there's something enticing about the sound of it...

If you do decide to stop by within the first week of May, you'll find a massive celebration awaiting you: the celebration of opening day! Eager workers wave down anyone who gets close, with offers of wine tasting, sweet treats, and even speed dating. The store's interior bustles with activity as visitors fill out cute little survey cards in hopes of a hook-up. The owner in question can be found mingling in the crowd, bartending, and drawing charcoal caricatures of couples for a nominal fee.

Overall, the atmosphere is one of excitement. Hop right in! There's plenty of room for lounging on the cushy furniture, and plenty of time to find your own hottie.

...or perfectly platonic friend. Look, we're not judging or anything.]

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No, that's fine.

[She's quick to say so. She hasn't been mingling too much; a little here, a little there, and she brought her own fruit. Her carrier slides over her shoulders, clearly at ease. And unlike some of the other times he might have seen her...Caren allowed Sion to dress her today. At least now she doesn't appear to be a hero. Merely a golden eyed woman curious about the new place. ]

But you can tell me where your office is.

Edited (messed up the link oops) 2016-05-03 06:41 (UTC)

[...oh. She looks like a pretty little thing, dolled up nice. Fortunately for Caren, Gilgamesh has already categorized her differently from everyone else, so she won't be treated just like anyone else. He nods, and gestures for her to follow along behind him, making certain to pick up an extra glass of wine for her along the way.]

Over here. If you don't mind, we have a bit to discuss.

[A bit that they've been putting off until now, but it's a good a time as any to broach the subject.]

[Too bad she isn't in red, or gold, but those are more of his colours than hers. But thankfully, there will be no shawl bondage for now, or dead pan declarations that he is, in fact, a pervert.

Instead, Caren nods.]

I don't mind.

[They needed to talk, and this was...perhaps better than in either of their dorms. Far more private in any case.]

[Gilgamesh guides her to his office, which was comprised of shockingly modest accommodations. Other than the small bed in the corner, used for what she likely expects, nothing seems too gaudy or otherwise out of place in a classy establish.ment It's largely a white room with flourishes of color here and there, mainly in the abundant plant life. The most expensive object appears to be the desk, a solid oak piece with a smoothly polished surface.

Gilgamesh props up a chair for her, sets both glasses down, then assumes a seat himself. Folds his hands in front of him, and perhaps for the first time since they met, appears to take her seriously. There were serious matters on his mind, after all. Playtime could wait until later, until he had his answers.]

I am not going to ask you to recite your experiences from start to finish. I do recognize there are some things I was meant to see for myself.

[He has questions, but maybe... maybe it was better if she began. So, he gestures to her, and begins sipping at his own glass.]

Why don't you tell me what you feel to be most important, first? Beginning from the near end of the Fourth War, whose conclusion I never saw.

[The bed isn't a surprise; neither is the desk, that looks as if it could withstand an assault. What is surprising is his color choice, or lack thereof. There is a part of her that wonders if he ran out of money here and...it is certainly possible.

But no. This is strangely comforting. White on white, with a flash of color here, some there. So she observes as she drapes her coat over her seat and sits, one leg crossed over the other. Her hat goes to rest on her lap, where her hands rest.]

It was a disaster.

[Her words were blunt, but soft.]

There was no true winner. Saber's master used his command seal, and ordered Saber to destroy it.

So she did. And the Holy Grail overflowed. People died. Kotomine was already dead.

But. He revived later that night, and you were there with him.

But the Grail was corrupt.

[Those are the first words out of his mouth. And perhaps, truly, allowing Caren to direct the conversation was for the best, rather than bombarding her with questions and demands; he's able to reason it out well enough on his own, just with a few lines.]

It flowed over the world? Over Kotomine, over me?

[Gilgamesh was quite confident he would've fought such curses with all he had, that they could not touch him. But he needed to be sure.]

With Angra Mainyu.

[She's not surprised. Should be, if she were another. But isn't.]

It flowed into the world, but into a small area. The city was still habitable. You were untouched by the mud. If anything, it flowed through you, and into your master.

[Into Kotomine... it should've killed him, then. Yet it didn't. It may have only touched part of him, may have bolstered him somehow, though these are only guesses. Truthfully, Gilgamesh wasn't interested at all in the fate of the priest, but rather in his future course of action.]

The path he'd chosen for himself... no, the path he had been ushered towards... that man surely would've wanted another war.

[I would've wanted it. He does not see it as a source of shame, just an inevitability of the situation. Yet from how they'd spoken earlier, Caren made it seem like he'd reverted to his child form, and if that happened something had gone very wrong indeed.

Gilgamesh did not drink that potion out of joy, but because he wanted to forget.]

So it ends in tragedy, and begins anew. While I was young? Or had greater time passed?

And so he did.

[It should have, not revived him. Another would have said it was a miracle of god, praised it, but no. It was an abomination. Rin called him the fake priest. But that didn't cover it at all.]

But no. Ten years passed. You did not revert to your youth until the time anomaly.

I found you like that. A little boy, playing soccer with other children.

[Gilgamesh decides that asking after the Fifth War may be better off left to someone who was a participant in it, like Saber. He believes he can get information out of her, since they had also promised each other to catch up on their respective discrepancies, and he believes she may be more forthcoming than Caren about the finer details and eventual outcome. An outcome he suspected, but dare not give voice to at this time.

I could not have lost, I could not have possibly lost. He thinks it but refuses it in the same breath.]

It seems hard to believe.

[A vague, airy sort of statement, that he only elaborates further on after sipping on his wine for several long moments.]

That you would discover me in such a state. That I would form another contract, presuming I lost Kotomine.

[It may be far too true. She recalls what she asked, what she had been told. A river of mud. A near miracle. A hero that should never have been born.But, she was certain of a few facts.

Gilgamesh, king of heroes, had fallen to his knees.

She wont say it. She is not here to provoke him. No more than usual.]

I thought so too.

[Only then did she finally pick up the wine glass, more interested in holding it than drinking it.]

I did not plan to make the contract. But you were mine, as much as Lancer was.

And I belonged to you.

[It would be easy, looking at her now, listening to her, to assume that Caren was innocent in all this. That she was as she appeared, a beautiful and angelic girl, so softspoken, so gentle in how she conversed with others. But Gilgamesh had seen other sides to know better. He'd seen the girl willing to step on him just to clean a window. He'd seen the girl willing to kiss him just to outdo him on stage, to take revenge.

He'd seen flashes of wickedness, of mischief, and so while it would be easy to classify her as some innocuous maiden who somehow sprung from Kotomine's tainted seed, Gilgamesh knows better. Knows for a fact that, even as a child, he would not have contracted for no reason.

He'd seen something in her. Recognized something. And that was why she became his Master.]

You are deadset on this.

[Gilgamesh leans forward, sizing her up.]

You would see me as your Servant, no matter what? Even in a world where it no longer makes any difference?

[Even if he hadn't seen this flashes for himself, it would not be so had to listen, and here of the little bits of wickedness, cruelty and kindness she was capable of. Her intelligence may be questionable in some sense, but she was being, in her own way, honest.

Much like her sire.

His words make her lips quirk.]

Even if the world has changed, it has not changed what we are.

[She didn't move. The wine swirled idly in her glass.]

I cannot accept you.

[Not an unexpected response. He'd told her as much from the start, and nothing appears to have changed. Nothing, until he adds with some measure of caution, also knowing that such a woman would take a mile if given a single inch:]

Not as you are. You are too weak, too unwise in the ways of things. You must learn, and observe, and listen.

[And so Gilgamesh renders his judgment thus, holding his head high, declaring with the pride and the ego only the King of Heroes could manage.]

If you desire the privilege so strongly, you shall work for every last Seal until you have earned the right to command me once again.

[She doesn't so much as blink. But he is willing to try. It just may take time, time she is willing to wait, learn, and listen. Or see how much she has changed to adapt to this world.]

I would not agree on your wording but...very well.

I would like a visual cue, however, of our progress.

[Our, not we. There was something about miles and inches wasn't there.]

If you feel that inking my skin is the way, then we will discuss it. However, I would remind you that no matter what happens or what the world does to us-

I am not your sycophant.

[Bluntly:]

We've nothing to discuss until you've achieved a higher rank. That is not the test itself, but rather a preliminary gauge of your ability.

[If she was as pitiful as she appeared in battle, she'd be culled easily enough, and she'd never make it to the point where he'd even consider her for the role. But if she was like iron, like her words and her will seemed to be, she would allow her to take that test.

Gilgamesh ignores that last statement, as his feelings on that have already been made apparent.]

One task per Seal. Upon successful completion of each, you shall bear the same marks that your father did. Etched irreparably into your flesh.

[His mouth blossoms into a cruel smile.]

Collect three, and you "win". That shall be our game, little Master.

Heh.

[What rank she would get, if any..that would be interesting. And the three tasks too-perhaps she should ask for a veto, a way to negotiate, but it wouldn't matter until the time came.

She was looking forward to it. This gave her a goal, something to work towards. Merely entertaining herself did not suit her a bit. She was never one for halcyon days.]

Very well. But before the game starts...I will treat you like everyone else then? Or ignore you entirely?

[Gilgamesh considers this for all of a moment before giving a surprisingly fair reply.]

Be yourself. If you claim we were close, I should like to get to know you as you truly are, rather than a caricature or shadow.

[That does take her off guard for a moment. But...hes rewarded with a smile. One that contains pleasure in it, rather than just enjoying someones discomfort and pain.]

I'd like that.

[She wouldn't expect him to be anyone but himself In truth, she had been less of herself. Perhaps she was so because she had been holding back. Not entirely, but enough.]

[There's the twinkle of mischief in his eye as he hides a small smile of his own behind his glass.]

I suspect I will as well.

[Caren's smile changes. Back to mischief.]

You would.

[He is bit of a voyeur after all. When he isn't joining in.]

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[open] lookin' for the love getaway.

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