(Bishop-chan's notes: This took me a while longer than I wanted to write out something to follow from the previous scene, especially since trying to decide what to write was hard. Not really happy that this particular snippet was all I could write, since this is more an exposition chapter than anything, but here goes.)
* Spirit Of Steel*
"Mmm, this is the life!"
Rin sighed pleasingly, basking in the warm water of the large bath she was sharing with Yamato. While Rin did not pay much attention to the Emiya Residence before, she had heard some scant details from Sakura during casual conversation; Shirou's current residence used to be a traditional Japanese inn, which would explain its size - its land area rivalled that of the Tohsaka manor - as well as its rather generous amenities, including the large wooden bathtub they were both enjoying.
They'd arrived at the Emiya residence only minutes earlier, and found the most unexpected person waiting inside: Fujimura Taiga, Homurahara's 2nd year English teacher, one of the more eccentric yet fun teachers in school. Sakura had mentioned something about Ms. Fujimura being close to Shirou once, but never did Rin imagine said teacher to be lounging around the Emiya's dining room like she owned the place. It was a while later over dinner did Rin discover that Fujimura did in fact technically own the place, even if Shirou was the only named occupant.
It was an odd feeling knowing that Ms. Fujimura was close enough to Shirou for both of them to drop formalities around each other, even if the former often tried and fail to keep up her professional appearance in front of Rin. Still, said teacher's lackadaisical attitude was a godsend, and after making up some excuses involving a convoluted stage accident at school to explain Yamato's state, Ms. Fujimura had allowed Yamato and Rin to stay the night over, to which Rin was quite grateful for. It would've been out of the question for Shirou to carry Yamato to the bath for extremely obvious gender reasons, but since they didn't want to expose Yamato's gaping chest wound to Ms. Fujimura it was decided that Shirou get Yamato in with a blindfold and lots of guidance.
The "dock facility" procedure as it turned out was extremely simple: Rin simply had to draw the magic sigil Yamato had requested - a shield outline with a cross inside over an anchor icon, encompassed by a gear outline - within the bathtub, and charge it with mana in order to "recognize" the tub as a repair zone. It had taken yet another huge chunk of mana out of Rin to do so, but the effects on Yamato were quite clear the instant the ship girl had entered the bath: the edges of Yamato's wounds smoothened out, becoming visibly less jagged despite the wound being above the water.
When asked how long it'll take for the wound to heal, Yamato had replied with an uncannily precise number:
20 hours, 40 minutes, 30 seconds
Which meant that Yamato would be indisposed until late afternoon by tomorrow. Rin had cursed inwardly at that. Yamato even summoned a new fairy of hers - a female wearing a dark-blue sailor uniform and oddly, a yellow hardhat - to give her a digital clock exclusively made for displaying said time. The numbers seemed to taunt Rin with the long, long wait she'd have to suffer without Yamato active. Fortunately Yamato should be out before evening tomorrow - by the laws laid down by the Mages Association and personal conduct, Masters weren't supposed to fight during broad daylight.
Taking a whiff of the damp steam which warmed her lungs, Rin turned to her Servant, whose long hair now floating spread out across the water now seemed more brown than purple. Yamato had her eyes closed as if in meditation.
"So, Archer..." Rin began with a commanding tone that put Yamato on alert, while activating the silence sigil she'd been drawing on the bath for the last couple of minutes, preventing anybody outside the bath from overhearing their conversations. "What are you exactly?"
Yamato looked puzzled at the question, the look of someone being asked what they should already know. "I am the name ship of the Yamato clas-"
Rin cut off her Servant with a raised hand. "Let me rephrase that Archer." Her hand slipped under the water once again. "From my studies, Heroic Spirits, no matter how powerful, are still beings given physical bodies of flesh and blood, and behave like human bodies do." Rin gazed curiously at the hole on Yamato's chest, the edges now cleanly smooth, and Rin swore she saw small sparks lighting up inside the darkness inside it. "Yet your body obviously doesn't act like a human's does."
Yamato followed Rin's gaze, the inhaled softly, meeting her Master's eyes.
"When I stated that I am a battleship Admiral, it appears that it was literal." Yamato's explanation had a hint of uncertainty. "My body is human, but it retains properties of the battleship I once was. Or rather..." Yamato's eyes looked up as if searching for a thought, "I am a battleship reshaped into a human form."
The water rippled from a tiny splash caused by Yamato's hand raised from the water, gesturing towards her chest.
"Part of my hull and superstructure have been translated into parts of the human body analogous to their original functions. For instance, as you've already heard from Sir Emiya I have redundant hearts."
Yamato put a finger by the edge of her wound in a gesture suggesting she was about to pull it open, much to Rin's horror. Fortunately Yamato's hand stayed still.
"While I possess a heart that appears similar to that of a human heart, it does not act like its biological counterpart. It acts as a representation of the twelve boilers and four turbines I had in my original form, which enables my motility and mobility functions. Even if my heart be entirely removed from my body, I would only suffer immobilization."
"That makes sense," Rin nodded in understanding, "a ship wouldn't die from having its engines ripped out of it."
"Yes Admiral, but my combat performance would be severely weakened. Only my aircraft would remain fully operational in such a state, and my main gun batteries' effectiveness will be hampered due to lack of power to operate them."
Once more Yamato gestured to her chest. "For that reason my heart and other essential parts are protected by the citadel."
"Citadel?"
"It is the most heavily armored section of the ship's hull where all essential machinery and ammunition are stored. It appears to have been converted into a well-protected segment inside my body. My clothes represent the armor belt, even though I still possess armor throughout my person."
The ship girl scooped up some water with both hands, then with slow deliberation poured it over her head, making her hair glisten with mesmerizing beads of water flowing over it.
"So if your body used to be your..." Rin tried to recall the term to call it.
"Hull?" Yamato supplied innocently.
"Yes, 'Hull'," Rin confirmed as though she had recalled it herself, "then your... bridge?" Rin was unsure of the term, though she had some confidence she got that right, "Is now your head right?"
Yamato nodded with an approving smile. "The proper analogy in this case would be 'superstructure' Admiral, but that is correct: my brain seems to be acting as my Main bridge. The rest of my head acts as my sensor and communication suites."
"'Main'"? Rin did not miss Yamato's emphasis on the term.
"The Main bridge directs all of my actions and thoughts much like a human's does... I think." Yamato's bewilderment over her own explanation instinctually gave Rin the urge to hug her Servant for some inexplicable reason, an urge quelled as easily as it had sprouted.
"You think?"
"Yes Admiral. I am not familiar enough with the human body to know whether my brain works in the same manner as a human's does. But I can confidently say that there is a major difference between my brain and human's.
"And that would be?"
"I can fight without it."
The silence that came over the bath felt uncomfortably long.
"H-h-h-how..." A now pale Rin stuttered out.
"Remember Admiral that ships can remain combat-capable without a command staff," Yamato stated clinically. "However, in the event that my bridge is destroyed I would be unable to coordinate my body's actions in an effective manner, and be incapable of distinguishing between friend and foe." She laid a finger on her cheek thoughtfully. "How had I heard it described before? 'A headless chicken' I think..."
The mental image of Yamato aimlessly firing her weapons without her head would've been funny to Rin if it wasn't so morbid and so utterly terrifying to her. It made a strange sort of logic given Yamato's explanation: ships were never knocked out of battle until it was completely sunk or all of its weapons destroyed. Yamato could be incapacitated and even disarmed, but the only way to truly kill her was by destroying her completely. On the one hand, it did mean that her Servant would be incredibly difficult to kill, though considering all of her Servant's other limitations...
Rin sighed, reclining more into the water. "That bastard Lancer was right..." Rin said with a teasing air, "sometimes I wonder if you're supposed to be a Berserker."
"A-a-a-admiral, I would dare not be so crude and barbaric..." the crimson coloration Yamato had taken on was definitely not caused by the water, and once more Rin had the compulsion to pinch Yamato's cheeks to get her out of that pout. Rin hardened her gaze though, causing Yamato to freeze on the spot.
"Jokes aside Archer, while you're tough and all do keep in mind that you're my Servant. Just because you can take all of that damage does not mean you should, understand?"
"I understand." Yamato's face was unreadable, neither eager nor objecting. Rin wondered why that was, though with other questions fresh on her mind she put it aside for later.
"Getting back to earlier, what other parts of your old form has been converted into your new body?"
Yamato blinked, then shook her head. "You have already seen my combat outfit Admiral, which contains my main gun batteries and other armaments. Asides from what I have told you, I am uncertain as to how my other functions have been translated into a physical human form."
A gathering of mana materialized into Yamato's signature parasol, which the ship girl kept closed. "For instance, my parasol bears resemblance to my radar array, and yet I still maintain radar functions without it, and my use of it as a spear was not within my original specifications."
"Of course not," Rin mused. It wasn't like she expected ships to be trained in martial arts, which was why she had been surprised to learn Yamato knew Naginatado in the first place. While not as intimidating as Lancer's Gae Bolg - Rin remembered the name from an earlier discussion - she had seen that it was still formidable despite its ad hoc use.
"So does your Noble Phantasm have a name?"
Yamato gave Rin a confused look. "Pardon?"
It was a reaction Rin had not been expecting. With a bit of irritation, Rin pointed to the parasol Yamato was holding. "Your parasol is a Noble Phantasm isn't it? Does it have a name?"
Yamato suddenly became very, very nervous, fiddling with her hands just by the waterline.
"I do not possess a Noble Phantasm, Admiral."
For a warm bath that was supposed to encourage blood circulation all throughout one's body, it seemed this bath session had a way of draining blood from Rin's face. A Noble Phantasm was the legendary weapon tied to the myth of a Heroic Spirit, and were in many ways just as renowned, if not more so, than the Heroes themselves. Oftentimes it would be the Hero's Noble Phantasm that determined how powerful a Servant was in battle, possessing powers that could turn battles to their favor. Doing so oftentimes compromised the Servant's identity however, as unleashing Noble Phantasms required Servants to call out their artifact's names, which inevitably could be linked to a particular hero of legend. But with a powerful enough Noble Phantasm, revealing their Servant's identities was a small price to pay for defeating the enemy.
Rin kneaded her forehead, hoping the pressure would squeeze out the building irritation out of her.
"Servant..." Rin nearly growled, "what do you mean you don't have a Noble Phantasm?"
"I-I-It is not as you imagine Admiral!" Yamato defended in panic, raising her hands as if to block whatever Rin might throw at her. "P-P-Please remember that I was o-originally a battleship."
"I. Know. Very. Well. Archer." Rin almost looked offended, as if she had been talked down to, which gave Yamato no sense of ease. "And?"
"T-T-then please understand that m-my legend encompasses me as a whole battleship, from my hull to my guns. A-and that as a battleship, I was considered first and foremost a weapon."
The irritation cleared Rin's head as the implications sunk in, her eyes widening as it did.
How did I not see this? The young magus thought, wanting to smack herself for not realizing it sooner.
"Then... you are..."
"Yes Admiral, I myself am a Noble Phantasm," Yamato confirmed with a nod, sighing with relief at seeing her Master had calmed down. "Though if you prefer Admiral, my combat outfit does act as a traditional Noble Phantasm would."
Rin grunted in reply, hand on her chin as the gears spun in her head. "That's true. Activating it does drain a lot of mana, and you need to materialize it like any other artifact." A tangent line of thought crossed her musings, forming another question. "Though I did not hear you give your outfit a name when you first deployed it."
"But I did Admiral."
Did she? Rin tried to think back to yesterday at the docks, when Yamato displayed the glory of her weapons for the first time. She doubted she would forget if Yamato had given her outfit a name, and yet her Servant's reply had been so devoid of doubt that Rin had no problem believing it.
I myself am a Noble Phantasm
For the second time today, Rin wanted to bash her head in for missing the most obvious point, and her Servant had so helpfully clarified it for her only moments ago!
Her Servant did call out her outfit's name like any other Noble Phantasm, as the orange sun shone over them that afternoon:
Name ship of the Yamato class, Yamato. On sortie!
* Spirit Of Steel *