pawnstorm | [open] they're playin' my song, I know I'm gonna be okay

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[open] they're playin' my song, I know I'm gonna be okay

Who: Gilgamesh and everybody! Seriously, everyone's welcome to tag in.
When: Shortly following the Heroes' return from the dungeon.
Where: Carnival Phantasm, Caissa
What: It's a threeway mingle for Caissa's hottest businesses: Carnival Phantasm, Independent Action, and Heaven's Feel. Come get a taste of each!
Rating: General audiences, most likely.

Welcome to Caissa!

CARNIVAL PHANTASM

[Today, Carnival Phantasm has its doors open to the public. The fake sakura tree in the room seemed to be blooming through the power of some magic and the combination of sakura petals and glitter added to the festive atmosphere. Irisviel was quite serious when she meant for the place to have a party, fantastical feel. The smell of tea wafted through the air, the music played gently in the background and everything was set for Caissa's First Maid and Butler Cafe.

In the welcoming area would be the stations for Heaven's Feel and Independent Action that were set up for Gilgamesh's and Caren's businesses. A sign up sheet was also present on the wall for anyone interested for jobs at the cafe.

The proprietor herself was dressed in her maid outfit, flitting between the welcoming area, seating area and kitchen. She was also making sure that her platoon of maids and butlers were doing well and the customers were satisfied. If anyone was causing trouble, Irisviel would descend upon them and rain down the punishment of the heavens (in other words, throw them out or let Nobunaga get to them).

At the back of the cafe was a small stage. Whenever a substantial crowd of people had gathered during the festivities, Irisviel would step forward with a microphone and make a short speech addressing them all.

"Hello everyone, thank you for coming and supporting Carnival Phantasm! This wouldn't have been possible without the help of Caren and Gilgamesh, so please patronize Independent Action and Heaven's Feel as well. So please enjoy the food and drink, challenge your maids and butlers to a round of games or take a picture—I guarantee that Carnival Phantasm will take you away from the real world for a brief moment to somewhere fantastical! Kyu~~n. ♡"

And so the festivities would continue.]

INDEPENDENT ACTION

[Caren's station in the Carnival Phantasm may seem to be understated compared to the others. Instead of fancy glitter or anything similar, she's gone with an understated look. Crates have been placed around, and while some of them are clearly for atmosphere (they have rocks if anyone peeks inside) there are others that hold containers for tea, new tea pots, flasks, and various assorted items. What’s with those strange looking flowers...?

There is a tea station set up in front of the crates, with seating area around it. All tea samples are free! While they rotate throughout the day with other teas (Manatea and Enchantea being the most notable), there are the teas that are made for Carnival Phantasm and Heaven's Feel. Dirtea is made with Carnvial Phantasm in mind, which is a vanilla oolong that cleanses your heart and mind. Connectivitea was made for Heaven’s Feel, and is a black tea and chai blend, with cinnamon, cloves, and has golden glittery hearts that make the tea into a golden experience.]

HEAVEN'S FEEL

[Gilgamesh has gone all out for his station, suited to his ostentatious personality. He's cordoned off a section with golden streamers and designated it as a "speed dating" area, so those interested can fill out their own cards and get matched on the spot with their fellows! Tasty cakes and pastries are provided free of charge, and there are also a few representatives floating around to offer information about the business. Naturally, Gilgamesh is on call to assist with any and all needs, dressed in a stunning number of his own.

But it's not all romance! Anyone seeking friendships, business partners, and beneficial alliances are encouraged to make use of their services and sign up. Every so often Gilgamesh can be seen hosting fun games, too, such as musical chairs and trivia. Although much of the trivia curiously seems to be centered around Gilgamesh himself...

Gilgamesh is easily the most boisterous among the three, so if you're not doing anything, expect to get pulled over into his general sphere of influence.]

(( More info about the featured businesses can be found on their respective pages, as linked. Don't forget to fill out a card with Heaven's Feel while you're there! Just to clarify, this log takes place at Carnival Phantasm; all businesses are represented in the same area, so feel free to tag among the stations however you please! Get out there and mingle, guys!

As a final note, all business are also open to hiring! If you're interested in employment, just check out those pages and sign right up. ))

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[Caren...well, considering they know Gilgamesh and various other god and god touched, God really doesn't hold that much meaning, if it ever did. Hard to say.

But she gets up nonetheless.]

Only if you want it. I tend to drink mine black.

[Belatedly:]

There may be flavoring, if you want it.

I could track it down, if you want to rest some more.

[Hakuno has no trouble finding sugar, given the venue, after all. It should be fine as long as she puts everything back where it belongs once they're finished, right?]

I can handle most strong flavors well enough, but given the choice I have a preference for sweets.

No, it's fine.

[It shouldn't be hard to find a coffee pot, and cups, not where they are.]

You'd do better with sugar then, and with something to sweeten it. Flavoring then. See if you can get some. And if you're hungry, put it on my tab.

[Would anyone ask about Caren running a tab? Not bloody likely.]

I've been trying things here and there, so I'm taken care of for today. Thank you for the offer, though.

[It only takes a moment for her to find a bottle of vanilla flavored cream, so she's soon settled down at a table out of the way. Caren seems... well 'grumpy' doesn't quite fit, but she's obviously a bit tired and shaking off the dregs of sleep. So, Hakuno decides to break the ice, her voice soft, bright, and utterly innocent.]

If I indulge myself as much as I want, I might start getting a bit of a belly.

[A brief pause, just enough to skirt the edge of deliberate and casual.]

Like Gilgamesh.

Edited 2016-09-28 17:27 (UTC)

I see.

[She brings back the pot, setting it on a cute little pot holder, and sets out cups, with a little spoon for Hakuno.

And there. She goes for that. Caren's lips curve up into a small little smile. Very good Kishinami.]

That's why you exercise and generally try to eat the right things. You don't want to end up like Gilgamesh.

[Her eyes flick over Hakuno's way as she moves to pour coffee into Hakuno's cup.]

What's your actual concern? I could dance with you, but I lack the patience.

...?

[Hakuno tilts her head to one side, a little confused even as she stirs in her cream and sugar. The end product is a pale tan, and just a bit hotter than lukewarm when she brings it to her mouth for a proper sip.]

I'm not sure I actually have a concern? I was a little worried about you just a moment ago, but you've made it clear you're more or less fine now. Pushing any more than that would just bother you, right?

[She takes in a slow sip of the coffee. It's hot, but even if it burns a little, she doesn't seem to notice. Rook benefits. Or Caren's pain tolerance. Either way.]

It's fine if you want to bother me. But there's no need to worry about me.

[She shakes her head.]

I haven't had much time for sleep, that's all.

[Is this one of those empathy things? She's supposed to understand these but...maybe she really has been thrown off today. Maybe she should catch a nap later.

Maybe.]

Well, no. I don't need to, but I want to anyways.

[Hakuno's cheeks color faintly, but she presses on. Caren never seems to mind if Hakuno speaks a bit brashly here and there, and hopefully that extends to when she's tired too.]

I don't want to seem like a bother, but if it's really fine... I want to form a connection with you, so I want to worry about you, and when you're not busy, I want to try getting to know you better too.

[Well, it's something. But no, Caren doesn't mind; she doesn't mind if Hakuno is to the point when it comes to what she does and doesn't desire. It means that Caren can deal with whatever it is quickly and decisively.

But what Hakuno wants...Caren frowns, a bit, though not at her. Hakuno isn't the only one who has formed or wants to form this connection with her.

And yet...it's the normal of this world. If they were back home, it would be a different story.]

There isn't much to know.

[It's neutral, or as neutral as it can be without blowing her off.]

And I don't really understand what it means to worry or be worried about by someone else. It's...not something I'm used to. It may not work out for the best.

To be fair, I haven't even existed for a full year yet. I think I can deal with not having much to learn, though I'm sure you have a bit more than I've managed to scrape together. Well, that I can remember, anyways. Apparently, I've cycled through the War at least three times.

[But, no, she's not dwelling on that. She's been sad enough lately without bringing stolen memories of Servants she'll never meet again into this.]

I''m still learning a lot myself. But, I'd like to try all the same if you don't mind it.

At least your days weren't repeated, over and over right?

[Just checking since Strange things Happen.]

As for that, you can try. But I'm not someone who's easy to friend. I'm not motivated by the same thing that you are Hakuno.

I'm sure you can handle it, but it doesn't mean you have to.

...s-some were. Actually. Sort of.

[Those Preliminary rounds...

Ugh. Why does BB keep surfacing every time she talks to Caren these days?]

Well, I'm not particularly interested or repelled by how easy it is to be friends with somebody. Honestly, I've spent months very carefully doing my best to inch closer with the most suspicious, prickly, hermit of a Servant I have ever known, and I have yet to regret that. It may be different with you, and there might be times when I can't understand or feel hurt, but all the same I'd still like to try.

[Is she trying to make Caren jealous over boobs? Maybe...]

You're determined. Which is something that Gilgamesh can admire about people, even as he stands above them.

[She shrugs. What does that mean? Eh. Who knows.]

But while I'm not prickly...I'm not always the best influence. Sometimes I don't realize what I'm doing is supposed to be wrong, and moreover, I don't care.

...I forget if I or Gilgamesh have ever spoken to you about a man known as Kirei.

[Hakuno has almost died from boobs at least twice, so there's really nothing to be jealous about.]

I... guess so?

[Why are they talking about Gilgamesh, she wonders. This is about Caren.]

Oh, you mean Father Kotomine? The Moon Cell had an AI patterned after him as well, though there were probably some very big differences between our world's original human Kirei Kotomine and the one you knew. ...actually, I knew that man before I even knew Gilgamesh. Aside from a few others, he was one of the only constants I had in my short life, though that wasn't always a good thing. That miserly NPC... to think he called himself a priest, at those prices...!

[Grumble, grumble. So much Sakurament... so many zeroes...]

—ah, sorry. I got sidetracked. Um, Gilgamesh told me that man was one of his Masters, in your world. And that, if he ever arrived, Gilgamesh would kill him. Repeatedly.

[Yeah, Caren is flatter than Hakuno, so she has nothing to worry about. And, well, it's easy to talk about Gilgamesh, but there is a point to this.

Caren takes in a slow sip of coffee as she listens. The fact that Moon Cell had him as an AI was...amusing.]

You would think, considering the comfortable life that he had at the Church, that he wouldn't be misery but...perhaps it was to teach you the value of coin? Or he wanted to see you leap ever higher for things you desperately needed.

[She smirks. That would be why she would do it.]

But yes, he was one of Gilgamesh's masters. I inherited Gilgamesh and the servant Lancer from Kirei Kotomine after he died, despite not having magic circuits of my own.

Though Gilgamesh isn't aware of Lancer, and I don't plan to. He does know that while under contract, he spent much of it as a child. There's only so much Gilgamesh can process.

But hearing that Kirei Kotomine-misery, wretched, executor, mad man Master-was once a husband and a father, I think it amused our dear golden Archer.

No, rather than a love for money, that was probably him having fun with the fact that he had been reassigned to run the Commissary on the Far Side.

[She blinks, surprised for several reasons.]

Oh, was it a blue Lancer? There was a strange sort of distortion near the end of our time on the Far Side, and Gilgamesh and I fought several opponents without the normal restrictions or consequences. One set of them was actually a version of the Rin Tohsaka and the red Archer here that the Moon Cell must have recorded from another Grail, and another was the Father Kotomine we knew and a Servant that had salvaged from somewhere in the sea of imaginary numbers. In a way, it was fine, since he didn't have to be deleted afterwards.

[She pauses for a sip of coffee.]

Ah, but afterwards he used his Command Seals to make that Servant eat ten plates of Mapo Tofu in a minute, so... maybe that Lancer would have preferred deletion.

[Hakuno slowly sets her cup down.]

A wife and daughter? Even though he was a priest?

[...Hakuno, those aren't the words Caren used.]

[It's likely that. There really isn't any value in money, as far as Caren is concerned. She uses it, works hard for it, but in the end of the day, she could easily go back to poverty. She's quite sure Kirei could do the same.

But while she seems amused at the mention of the Seals, and Rin's team, Hakuno's words has Caren go still.

And calmly, she sets her cup down onto its saucer.]

I didn't mention a daughter.

[She says it gently but...there's a lot that could be behind it. Her expression has become blank. Things...may have become dangerous.]

No. But... let's just say a few dots connected after what you did say.

[Hakuno sips her own coffee again. The day they met, there had been that strange tinge of deja vu. There was the mapo tofu, of course. Beyond that, she has no proof—except, perhaps, this current reaction.]

Or, is there another reason you're intimately aware of that man's familial situation?

[She steeples her fingers together, and continues to watch Hakuno with some intensity. Yes, there had been the mapo tofu but...she's starting to wonder if someone's been babbling the details about her own life.

Not a comforting notion.]

He's tied to the church, and the Holy Grail war. As am I. Both would be matters of record, both from when he died, and from keeping an eye on our own members, particularly in a place of importance.

Not to mention he had Circuits. There is always an attempt, if the skill is possible to pass down via children, for their to be marriage and begetting children.

Oh, I see. The Church has more or less no power that I'm aware of, back in my world, and I'm not familiar with how they functioned before that Earth was drained of most of its mana. Maybe something like the Harwey's hegemony...

[No, it's just pattern recognition at this point. Gilgamesh was Mr. Tohsaka's Servant, killed him, and shows an interest in Rin now. Gilgamesh was Kirei Kotomine's Servant, tells her he'd kill him repeatedly given the chance...]

In the 2030's, powerful families would invest in complicated, dangerous surgeries and medically-modified breeding to ensure that their children had serviceable circuits, so I can imagine the emphasis that might take in less dire circumstances. So, does that mean he has a son instead?

The Church and the Clock Tower had their own little shadow war going on. But those of the Church and the Magi worked together sometimes to try and create a miracle.

Rin might be able to tell you a bit about it.

[Well, Caren WOULD make everyones life a misery, what pattern is that...]

Especially the breeding. She's the product of that. As for the product of Kirei Kotomine's marriage, no. He had a daughter. The daughter did not inherit his circuits, and gained something from her mother instead.

What, really? How surprising... I didn't think they did much DNA modification beck then.

[It's galling in a way. They had magecraft, and mana aplenty compared to her world. Did they really need to go to those extremes?]

I see... ah, sorry, I think I might have dragged you down a tangent. Why were we talking about Father Kotomine?

It's called selective breeding, and they did. They give it better terms then that, but it's what it is. It's been that way for centuries.

[She doesn't know the details, but she does know there's snobbery along with it. But that's what mages are, from what she's been told: snobs.]

We're talking about Father Kotomine because I share similar traits to him. I may not be like him completely-no person is a complete copy of another-but I do have a similar personality.

I don't think of people in the same terms as others do, or have the same morals. So it may be a problem for you in the long run if we're friends. I don't know how to be a friend.

Understand?

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[open] they're playin' my song, I know I'm gonna be okay

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