WEEK 5.

[trustfellows]

WEEK 5 Tabitha Smith, Sigrun Eide, and Solf J Kimblee are all dead. Regardless of what you think of the trial or the events leading up to it, there's no denying that you can feel the dent in your numbers now. After all, ten people are gone now. It may be hard, but all you can do is keep going. Saturday is given to regrouping and sleep; come Sunday morning, the clock chimes the hour at seven o'clock and there are no dead bodies to be found, so it can be assumed that all of you are safe for the time being. That said, you'll be feeling a little groggy when you wake up; it seems you've regained something that you didn't realize you'd lost... What with Jericho's excitement at the last trial, it's evident now more than ever that the new floor that's opened up to you is a gift, a reward for a job well-done. Because while surviving is something that you'll continue to try to do of your own merit...well. Let's say that he's so, so very proud of you. PARTICIPANTS REMAINING: 25 PARTICIPANTS REMAINING: 24 PARTICIPANTS REMAINING: 23

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
[OOC: Welcome to week five of Trustfell! Feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget to save those threads for coins and the activity check!

If you'd like to get in contact with the Coordinators, you can do so through private meetings with Alena!]

Comments

[heritrix]

[So Shinji's no longer a Master... And most likely dead, if she's understand Kirei correctly. Rin can't help but frown at that. If he's dead, he brought it all on his head, but whatever she might think of him, he was still Sakura's brother. She wanted to avoid that outcome.

It seems like Illya is alive in his place, however, and curiosity compels her to ask about Shirou after Kirei explains himself. When he does, however...]

Vessel...?

[She sounds confused. Look, it took us a little longer to get the important deets on that plot point in UBW, okok. But she can put two and two together with this much.]

You're saying the Lesser Grail is a person. [...and with that she can make sense of one mystery.] It's the Einzbern's role to provide the Grail for the war, so that can only be Illyasviel. Zouken captured her?

[blackmass]

While none of that is objectively incorrect according to my memories, perhaps I misspoke. What I should have said is 'Zouken Matou had sway over a vessel of the lesser grail'.

[heritrix]

[...what?]

You're not making sense, Kirei. Zouken has had zero presence in my Grail War for me to draw on, so you should tell me what you're referring to plainly.

[As she says this, Rin walks around the table, scowling up at him with no mind to the height difference. Kirei's always been the sort to drag things out, like he enjoys provoking the questions, but if she could make sense of it on her own she would have already.

If eight Servants are impossible, a second Lesser Grail should be more so. She can wrap her head around the vessel being a person, but she has nothing to work with to make the picture Kirei is trying to paint for her any clearer than that.]

[blackmass]

It's quite simple.

[no the absolute candy-coated fuck it ain't]

Illyasviel is the true vessel, the White Holy Grail of the Einzberns. However, a second vessel was created out of fragments of the Grail following the end of the fourth war. This vessel became the corrupt Black Holy Grail of the Makiri, and has already consumed Saber, Lancer, and Berserker--I suspect it has also devoured the eighth servant you speak of.

[heritrix]

[So he did know what she was talking about before. Rin might remember that... later, when she thinks about everything Kirei said more closely. But for now, she's stunned.]

Even Saber was defeated?

[And Berserker, and Gilgamesh... Having literally just recalled the battle between those two in particular and with it fresh in her mind, it's shocking.]

She was one of the biggest powerhouses in the war, along with the ones you mentioned. It's hard to imagine what could take them all out like that.

[Holy shiiiiiit she's not envying her other self right now, sucks to be you, HF!Rin.

...Actually, thinking of that:]

You said Zouken lost control of it, and that there's been collateral damage. Does that mean the vessel of the Black Grail is attacking indiscriminately?

[blackmass]

I did not say that he lost control of it in so many words. In fact, until recently I believe it was not in his interest to stop the black Grail's actions, assuming he did have the capacity to. Zouken himself was killed and his Assassin neutralized while pursuing Illyasviel, though I am not sure what is to happen after that.

[or, 'he was controlling it and now he's dead']

While my memories fail me as to the specifics, I believe it has been doing exactly that.

[heritrix]

[What is with this Servant roulette going on. Zouken took Assassin from Caster? If Shinji's dead, what happened to Rider? Rin presses a hand to her temple, but deigns not to pursue those thoughts; ultimately, for her understanding it's flavor text for now.]

If he's that twisted, I need to keep him on my radar. Since my Command Seals are missing, I assume my Holy Grail War has already reached its conclusion. I haven't seen any sign of him in my memories, but it's possible he made the same preparations while pursuing a different plan.

[She grimaces.] If he did, that could cause trouble down the line. If I'm still alive, I can't afford to overlook that.

[blackmass]

Zouken Matou is an insidious insect that needed to be disposed of.

[Kirei was never one for out-and-out malice when he spoke, but that certainly edged towards something very like it.]

I have very little reason to doubt that he would be planning something in any iteration of the fifth war, though he is more suited to indirect action.

[heritrix]

[Make that another check mark off the scavenger list of "holy shit, Kirei has more than three emotions". If she gets two more, does she get a prize?]

What did he do to you? It's rare for you to show such open disdain.

[blackmass]

He's done nothing to me at all--as a matter of fact, our paths have only ever crossed twice.

But once alone was enough for me to understand he was someone that can not be allowed to exist.

[Even evil has standards, and those standards are 'no but fuck zouken tho'.]

[heritrix]

[Just don't fuck Zouken, no one wants that h-scene.

But fine, she's going to leave well enough alone then.]

Alright. I only needed to hear what Zouken had done to agree with that, so I don't need every grisly detail.

[Though it gnaws at her gut to think Sakura has spent eleven years with such a twisted person...

...on that note, actually:]

That said, on the subject of the Matous I can't help but think you left something out. You implied Shinji is dead, but Rider wasn't named as one of the Servants that was consumed. Was Sakura her Master after all?

[blackmass]

Yes--originally, I believe that was in fact the case, and most likely is so following Shinji Matou's death.

[heritrix]

[Envying HF!Rin even less now, tbh. This should have nothing to do with her, but Rin sighs all the same.]

When I cornered her in the school and made her show me her hands and arms, she didn't have Command Seals. It wasn't until after that I realized Shinji was a Master, and Rider died in the same instance so it became a moot point, but I'd wondered. Shinji is someone who should have been ineligible as a Master in the first place.

[And now on her side of things, he has that golden Servant; one that's far more powerful than anything Shinji should have the capability of summoning. So who is he working with? If Zouken is up to something after all, then she has to consider even...]

...It's not my business, but I am curious. Is Sakura on her grandfather's side in all of this?

[blackmass]

[honey you've got a big storm comin]

...My memories are unreliable enough that I am not certain who Sakura Matou is truly aligned with.

[Lying through omission was something that came as easily as breathing to Kirei. He knew very well that the crest worms still remaining in her nerves made her effectively Zouken's puppet, but he certainly hadn't asked whose side she was on. Plausible deniability and all that.]

[heritrix]

By your explanation, she's one of the only remaining viable Masters in the war. I know everything's gone to hell, but I'm surprised you're not keeping better track of her as the overseer.

Putting aside what she can or can't contribute, it would be a problem if her Rider was consumed as well. It's just her and Archer left, yes?

[blackmass]

[Oh. ...Oh, she hadn't pieced it together. It was hard for Kirei to keep a genuinely amused smile off his face, but he schooled his expression into something as impassive as possible.]

I'm afraid she is very difficult to keep track of at this point.

[heritrix]

[Anybody else would have at this point, but the obvious answer is the unthinkable, between her Mage Sensibilities© and lack of full context. Even when the thought occurs to her, it seems absurd.]

...Kirei.

[It feels like a heavy weight has been laid over her chest, like a sense of dread. Rin keeps it off her face, but it leaks into her voice somewhat. She sounds less assured than she was a moment ago.]

Is Sakura the vessel?

[Unhappy as Rin always thought she looked, Sakura's supposed to be the Matou heir. For a mage family whose bloodline has become weaker and weaker over the generations, she should have been invaluable to them, and their salvation. If Zouken Matou was going to create his own vessel for the Lesser Grail, it should be anyone but her.

But if Kirei's being this wishy-washy, who else could it be?]

[blackmass]

[Some days, life was very good to him.]

It would indeed seem so. Left unchecked, Sakura Matou may kill the entire population of Fuyuki at the absolute minimum.

1/2

[heritrix]

[Oh.

Rin's color has gone ashen, and her eyes wide. If she could, she would leave the room, but she's not so weak.

...]

[heritrix]

[And just like that, Rin pulls her shoulders back and seemingly recovers, save for her pallor.]

I don't even have to ask what the Rin Tohsaka of that world will do. ...Well, that's her problem, not mine.

[blackmass]

Of course not. She seemed quite set upon the obvious conclusion, as far as I can remember.

[heritrix]

It's not like there are other options. [For a definite statement, she sounds uncharacteristically unsure making it. It might be why she just keeps talking.] Her situation will be worse than my own when I get home.

[The Mage's Association is not going to be happy with her, with that secret Jericho deemed to leak. Rin expects to stand trial for that, among other consequences, but it feels like a smaller disaster in comparison to all of this. A Category 4 hurricane compared to a Category 5.

Reaching into a back pocket for something, she intends to hand something off to Kirei and navigate the conversation to a natural conclusion, but another thought occurs to her.]

What's Emiya-kun's role in all of this? Is he still alive?