lucas

[rippled]

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week 3, monday

[rippled]

[ good morning. they are together and opening a door and i am just going to yeet us into a memory yippee.

Your brother stands before you.

Your father has sent you off to discipline him. He has causing great embarrassment to the empire, and he is to be punished for his misdeeds. You watch him for a moment, and there is something heavy that sits in your heart as you think about what you are about to do. Your blade is in your hand, where it is supposed to be, and you approach him.

"Brother," you say, "your time has come."

He looks over at you, his expression of slight confusion until he notices your sword and it transforms into one of anger. "Would you draw your sword on your elder brother, your own flesh and blood?!"

"It is father's will."

He's shocked. "Did His Imperial Majesty truly—"

You do not give him time to finish the sentence. You are far stronger and faster than he is, so you know he will not be able to dodge your blow. You strike him, and he bleeds, and that familiar dark rage overtakes you. You rip off his arm as you kill him, and you do not quite understand what you just did until it is over. You stare at your brother, and then go to report it to your father.

"You slew your elder brother? I see..."

His reaction surprises you. This is what he wanted, was it not? But there is something fearful in his eyes as he looks at you, but you cannot understand why that is.

After a long moment, he speaks again. "You are to head west. Exterminate any who refuse to submit to our rule and do not return here until then."

You pause, trying to figure out his words. You understand the order, but there is something unsaid that that you are having difficulty coming to terms with. Your enemies are vast and many, and if you are not to return until they are all defeated... then when will you be allowed to? You realize that your father is effectively banishing you from your home.

He stares at you, waiting for a response. And you give it.

"As you command."

saber just looks uneasy after the memory plays. ]

[faithkept]

[GOOD MORNING IT'S A NIGHTMARE OUT HERE!!!!!

Well.

So far, this is one of the memories that resonates with him in the strangest way, but also one of the most dissonant. He can't envision a reality in which he would turn a harming hand toward Nadia, even if God spoke to him directly and demanded it. There's something about the emotional disconnect that leaves him feeling uneasy, himself, and he just kind of reflexively looks toward Saber after the memory plays out, uncertain of how to proceed. Maybe he will simply not walk through another door after Monday.]

...Saber...

[GIRL WHAT DO YOU EVEN SAY.]

[rippled]

[ unsurprisingly, saber also is not sure how to proceed from here.

it is not something you can easily explain away, and they don't really want to make an excuse for it. they stay silent at first, trying to come up with any sort of immediate response, but nothing comes. they look down. ]

... well. It is very much how it looked.

[faithkept]

[He just watches them quietly for a second, as they search for words and seem to give up for a bit and as they turn their gaze away. He'll take a step toward them after a hesitant second.]

...Did he always treat you in that way? Your father.

[rippled]

Yes.

[ they hastily add on, ]

But it's not his fault. He had a lot to deal with, all things considered, so...

[faithkept]

I recognize that I may be speaking out of line, but that is no excuse for treating one's child like a weapon.

[Which he says softly, but with some firmness, voicing his disagreement even with how quickly they moved even now to defend him.]

[rippled]

[ they, once again, do not respond right away as they struggle to come up with anything to say. ]

But that is what I was.

[faithkept]

[It's a sore thing to hear, and his expression creases with something sympathetic.]

Children should be allowed to be children.

[He knows it isn't always, or even often, the case. He still rallies against the cruel world (worlds, apparently) that make it such a rarity.]

...Why did he do such a thing?

[rippled]

... my father was His Imperial Majesty, and he was in the process of expanding his empire. Because that was such an important part of his rule, he needed strong soldiers. And I am very strong.

[ this is not the first time they bragged and it won't be the last, but they sound sad when they say it this time. ]

I think... well, my aunt said that he was scared of me, so he may have been. I don't know.

[faithkept]

[It's the kind of sorrow he can understand, for better or for worse. He reaches out after a moment, gently resting a hand atop their head in a soft, quiet gesture. Not patting it, not stroking it - just letting it rest there for a moment, light.

There's something so cruel in choosing to treat someone as a weapon for their strength, only to reject that very strength when it becomes too frightening to wield. When he speaks, his voice is also soft.]

I understand that he is your father, and I won't pretend to know a great deal about empiric expansion or the struggles of a royal... But I don't believe that he made the correct decision.

[He thinks this binch probably made a lot of incorrect decisions.]

I'm sorry for what you may have endured because of his choices.

[rippled]

[ if this was many years ago, saber would have called lucas' words blasphemous and would have tried to slay him, because that is what you do when someone insults the heavenly sovereign. it is what is expected.

but it's not many years ago. they are here, in the present, sitting in a pile of memories that can do nothing but reopen old wounds. ]

... I admit I don't really know how to react.

[faithkept]

[Who would really know how to react... Shit's wild out here. Lucas offers a thin smile, taking a step back.]

We don't need to discuss it further if you don't wish to. If you do find yourself deciding how you'd like to react, I'm here all the same.

[To talk to, or just to be a presence standing in quiet support. He'll offer a hand out after that, though.]

Shall we find our way out?

[rippled]

[ they look down at the offered hand, their expression a mix of surprise and something less readable.

there's a pause, and they will take it. ]

Yes. Let's go.

[faithkept]

[Their murderous paw... He will give it a very gentle squeeze before he sets out in a direction, ignoring the reflections of the memory as it loops.]

It would be much more convenient if we could push our way through the mirrors as we can do with the hedge in that creature's maze...

[rippled]

Mm, this has been extra ridiculous... I feel like the mirrors are following us.

[ they kind of are. ]

I'm sorry you had to sit through that.

[faithkept]

[It Follows...]

It does, doesn't it? Every other door, it feels like they're there again... Ah- [But he shakes his head at that.] Please, it's nothing at all to apologize for. I'm sorry for intruding and for speaking too familiarly.

[He doesn't know SHIT about Saber's circumstances but he would fight their father. Which speaking of me like did i ever give u my memshare list help.]

[rippled]

[ gazes at this list in indecision. surprise me i can't pick. ]

... no, you're fine. I just never know what to do when it comes to family, I guess. Not that it really matters anymore.

[faithkept]

[i got u...]

Why do you say that...?

[Surely family always matters. His tone leaves plenty of room for Saber to back out of the conversation if they don't want to have it, though.]

[rippled]

Oh, they're all dead.

[ it does not matter because they no longer have a family to deal with. so. ]

[faithkept]

[NOW HE FEELS BAD FOR TALKING SHIT ABOUT DEAD PEOPLE kind of a little.]

Ah... I'm so sorry. [He's realizing in this moment that their age is just fucking ? as he's wondering how long they've been without family.] Is it... a distant loss?

[Just based on the way they said that.]

[rippled]

In... a way?

[ they have to explain fate/. hate it here. ]

The time period I originally lived in was a very, very long time ago. But because of recent events, I was able to come back to the world many centuries later. Everyone I knew is gone.

[faithkept]

[me knowing that's the direction this is going in like i am so sorry francy]

Ah? [HUH.] ...A bit like this place, then? Where time doesn't necessarily line up...?

[Close but not quite time travel but good enough to get the base concept.]

...That sounds so terribly disorienting. When you say "come back", do you mean to say that you already died in your original time period?

[NECROMANCY?]

[rippled]

[ they're going to write out an explanation and hand it out to people. ]

Yes. I was poisoned from a battle, and I did not make it. [ not a great way to die but here we are. ] That should have been the end of it all, but I was summoned after death to fight in something called the Waxing Moon Ritual.

I was in the midst of that when I ended up here.

[faithkept]

[The way this just reminds him of someone else's lore and now he's like "is this just a thing that happens across worlds? What the fuck is up with the moon?" Him and everyone else in touken ranbu asking the same question.

The first bit just gets an empathetic look. DYING OF POISON. IN SUCH A WAY. NOT A GREAT WAY TO GO!!! The rest of this is so fucking bizarre he's not even sure what to say about it.]

So, then... You died after being summoned from death- again? In the fight...?

[rippled]

More or less, yes. It has all been a bit of an adjustment.

[ please understand that the reason saber is so bad at technology isn't because they are from edo japan it is because they are from over 1000 years before that. they are fucking struggling here. ]