Tea Time

(Early evening, around dusk)

(Sasaki Kojirou)

You could have mistaken the two figures sitting in a corner of the courtyard watching the sun beginning its nightly descent for a traditionally-dressed father and his daughter sharing a moment over tea. Except that the older one was a bit too young for that, having been summoned in his prime, after all. Which was, in his mind, quite a bonus since after all, one is at their best during their prime.

"Changed your tune pretty quickly," Saber commented to Caster idly, biting a tea-biscuit in two.

"While I expect you are eager to fight an army of Einzbern," Sasaku retorted with a smile, sipping her cup of tea. "Illya only wants the heads of a few of them. The heads, that is. So you should practice using the flat of your blade."

"Hmph. My blade is very good at taking the heads of arrogant magi," he chuckled sideways, watching for her reaction.

"That reminds me, that thing I asked for in the case of my death? You can forget that."

"Now that is a change that surprises me," Having finished his biscuit, Kojirou reached out and reclaimed his tea. "Mind if I ask why?"

"Gilgamesh seemed to think you a danger to his Chaldea plan, or maybe me. I thought about it, and it's possible that in any branch, someone using a wish to delete all records of me might actually end up causing a paradox. You know, the sort where if I end up not being summoned due to not existing, you'd not have been around to wish me away."

"The fact we're here now means it apparently never happened, happens, anywhere," Saber pointed out. "And it seems the risky part of this War is over."

"You don't really believe that, do you? These things never end without some sort of final boss encounter, check pretty much every story in this sort of legend."

"Perhaps... are you expecting Gilgamesh to suddenly turn around and kill us?" It seemed like a winnable encounter, given all the other Servants were no longer a factor.

"Well that is unlikely as he's nearly out of magical energy." Sasaku frowned to herself, feeling a little nervous as one might when faced with a clearly-present-somewhere, but not obvious gap.

"Odd. Was his (Independent Action) level very low? He should have a couple days left at least."

"Not that, actually he got partially incarnated at the end of the previous War, and that combined with hiding away in a Field constructed in the daycare, is how he was able to stay for ten years. He's simply out of magical energy, period."

"Must have been quite a fight you gave him then," Kojirou remarked neutrally.

"... actually it was because he transferred it to me," she admitted. "Don't act surprised, he did me in pretty good and fixing that burned through what I had. And since my link with Shirou broke I was leaking juice all over the place."

"Ah." He didn't have any response to that.

Sasaku leaned back a bit to look at the moon rising in the early darkness. "It's odd to see the sun and moon rise and set, naturally we don't have that in the City back home. Though here there's apparently there's some rather frightening stuff living up there. Not that the Grail, helpful as it is, gave much detail on the Types."

The two of them looked at the moon as though it was possible to identify its population from the ground. "Maybe you can trade with the moon people, nothing says they are xenophobic, just hard to reach."

"I don't suppose space has convenient leylines though. Would the Sun have more mana than Earth though? It has no organic life, though it has plenty of mass in it."

"Wouldn't it be easier to camp out on some small island? They're naturally remote but still have, you know, soil and air."

"I'd rather not start building on Gaia's backyard. Or Alaya's. Growth is likely to lead to attention, so further away is better. However, Gilgamesh implied even other stars might be inhabited, so we'd have to prepare for war regardless."

Kojirou raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember Illya planning to abandon the Einzbern holdings in Germany."

"She can have them. As long as I can replicate everything needed, it's a matter of material, energy and magical energy to build up. Even if she decided to become a rival, they'd never catch up. Your idea of an island isn't wrong per-se, just too small. I'd pick a small spot in, hmm, Africa or South America probably. One of those areas that could use some relief from conflict and irresponsible resource exploitation."

"Specifically areas as opposed to people, I take it." Saber sighed and put down his empty cup.

"Heh." Sasaku let that hang in the air, taking out another set, this one of drinking bowls and bottles of sake and other rice wines. "The planet is unlikely to ever appreciate me paving over portions of it, but as far as the people go, that's up to them. Which is to say, it will inevitably come to force."

"I suppose deflecting bullets with a sword, like in those shows, should be possible with a Servant's Agility." Even so, fighting normal humans was hardly his idea of a thrilling battle.

"Hmm yes. Well you already know I can shoot spears out from my Armory via the Realm and those are quite flexible in their use, so it's more likely anyone trying to invade us will get shredded by those provided I have the magical energy. And if I don't, you'd probably be in dire straits too."

"You must be the type that builds up into something ridiculous if they're left alone for too long."

"Hmph. Considering you're one who used stubbornness to break the rules of the World by swinging a sword enough."

l

(The following is essentially telepathic, but it's also a recollection)

(Sakura)

Rider seemed a little put out about Shishou's gift when I told her (and only her so far) the full story. "I'd like to think it provides independent confirmation of whatever Caster says, but can she, er the copy, be trusted to be honest? You realize that on the face of it, this is an amazing liability on her end. Which she specifically wanted to avoid by being cleanly wiped from the Grail if she died?"

"You guess is as good as mine. Her thinking has likely changed since then."

"Yes but not in that way," said Caster interjected into our conversation. "Sakura wanted to make this a conference call so here I am."

"Wait a moment," Rider replied with some suspicion. "It isn't easy to just have a 'conference via one-to-one telepathic links."

"As Sakura -already- explained to you, I'm not a separate person so it is exactly one-to-one." A moment later I found myself looking at a set of lawn furniture laid out on some sort of grassland. Oddly enough it came complete with a small flock of sheep, attendant sheepdog lying down watching them, and a couple cats napping on one side of the table opposite what looked like a bottle of wine and some glasses.

"Really..." Medusa muttered, looking down at herself, now apparently in the form I had summoned her in. "This is convenient."

Caster went ahead, seating herself as the bottle slid into her hands. A flick of a finger sent the cork flying goodness knows where as she started pouring into the glasses which positioned themselves to catch the dark red contents.

"By the way, you'll have complete memories since I'm cheating and actually telling your brain 'you drank excellent wine' so it will make up something when you recall the conversation. Or it won't but simply remind you that you had excellent wine."

"I find it hard to believe you're not conscious," Rider commented, as a glass made its way over once she sat down. I followed suit, having a similar thought.

"I think, therefore I am," she clarified with a smile. "Currently, all of us are running at approximately... one-third baseline cognitive cycling speed. That means you are essentially two-thirds asleep, or awake, while Sakura has to use about twice as much on me as on herself. Don't be doing important work now, unless you can handle things moving half again as fast. However, we're all synced, so it should appear as though time is flowing normally in your memory. "

"I thought we weren't compatible in that way," I say without going to details that Medusa would need further explanation about, and Caster already appreciates, frowning at the glass in my hands before experimentally taking a sip. It's mostly fruity rather than alcoholic.

"Probably your magecraft overcomes that, it appears I massively underestimated its capability. Combined with mine, and there you have it. Remember I myself am essentially simulating myself in a spiritron-based human neutral network system. The Servant vessel isn't able to fully embody the actual way original-me would think."

"So what happens to you when we're not talking?" I wonder aloud.

"Presumably there's no me at those points, in that one might argue I simply don't exist. I certainly am not conscious," she shrugged. "From my perspective it's as though you're asking me questions with no real gap between answering one and you having another, even if those are minutes or hours apart. Put another way, if I had access to an outside clock, it would seem to flick forward each time."

"That must be rather disorienting," Medusa said in an apologetic tone, but Caster simply arched an eyebrow before continuing with, "That said, while this might be a more natural, I would advise getting better at 'desiring to know', and then 'knowing'. Currently, you ask me, which means I get simulated every time, and I am not sure what will happen if you constantly use your brain that way. Servants' souls are much more powerful than human ones, and while there's only a tiny fragment of mine, it can potentially outweigh all of yours."

Rider had a glint of suspicion in her eyes. Which, all things considered, was not totally deserved, if unsurprising, given Sasaku's frank cooperation. "I thought you weren't going to take over me?"

"There wasn't supposed to be any me. Remember when I mentioned networked intelligence? In that you access and pass information, not simulate (create) consciousness. You can simply ask me, my expectation is that you'd simply be able to remember things, just downloaded from the circuit rather than learned conventionally."

Medusa seemed unconvinced. "You talk like a different person, but surely you can, sync? With her. You should have Realm access, since Sakura uses it through you."

"My key, yes. But I can't use it, due to being in, well, a box. But it hardly matters if I am inside or outside of a box since there is not only a full version of me already walking about outside, she has a Servant vessel to use."

"A box, you say," I groan, remembering what Illya had said earlier. "I didn't intend to trap you... wherever here is."

"Wait a moment," Rider said in alarm. "You don't mean that-"

"Illya doesn't quite understand," Sasaku said, immediately catching onto my train of thought. "Or rather, let's say she lacks imagination. Via magecraft with familiars it's possible to distribute consciousness and maybe one's soul, so it's entirely possible for me to use bits of herself to supplant the Grail System and still use a normal body to walk around in, if a bit diminished. Like you said, they'd (or it's a single person but distributed) both have Realm access."

"It's a matter of magical energy again, right?" Sakura asked.

"Partially. Apparently it's possible to absorb souls and grow, as it were. Possibly, like (me), one might be able to pull in but still keep separate less stable souls. Although it would really be a last resort, the necessity might arise. Homunculi have short lifespans as it is and someone like Illya has a longer one, but is running out. Maintaining that separation would be complicated as some sort of composite as would naturally tend to occur, or more assimilation given I am a Heroic Spirit, even before building a very large Realm."

"I think she's trying to reassure you that she can deliver on that immortality thing," Rider sent privately to me.

"Well not really for her. Hopefully not that," Caster corrected her as though it had been said aloud. For humans, seventy is about the life expectancy, and some can live longer to say a hundred. Compared to fifty-to-eighty, Illya has maybe two years to go. Plus, that would be a dead-end, since spinning off a soul into a body would mean having use of the Third Magic."

"Well, the Third is lost, and even if it's restricted to the Einzbern, that's not insurmountable." Rider thought about the situation with Illya. "I mean she'd be the first person to have reason to work on such a project. And she's descended from the one who apparently is the Grail system."

"By the way," Sakura sat up to prepare herself mentally. "I wanted to run something by you before I ask, well you-outside about it."

"Your plan to deal with your grandfather? I see no reason it wouldn't work," Caster replied immediately. "Which means I have the same blind spots you do. You'll have to talk with me in some detail. To avoid, as far as possible, any unpleasant surprises."

Rider shifted uneasily. "Are they causing trouble for you? I thought you could take care of that wi-"

"It isn't that, I can't stand sharing my time with him with those... parasites." Sakura glared defiantly at Sasaku who had an expression of studied indifference. "It's not the same as with nii-san." She set her jaw stubbornly, but no one reacted at all, in part because they knew already.

"You shouldn't have carelessly brought up my other disciple," Caster commented to the space next to Medusa. "Just so you know, our master is quite literally crazy over the boy. Man, sorry."

"I'm a bit surprised you can say that," Rider replied to someone above Sasaku's head.

"I can tell because her thoughts on the subject aren't self-consistent, and that sets off all kinds of error-correction alarms. Which isn't helpful since I can't actually affect her. Eh, I've had some experience with being crazy, it isn't necessarily that bad. Actually in this World, it seems to allow for great strength, insight, and so on."

"Haha," Sakura laughed darkly. "I know I lost it a long time ago... along with many other things... now that I've got people trapped inside me, I'm not even what what me means."

Caster reached over somehow despite the apparent distance and patted the girl's violet hair. "There, there. That's a hard question for anyone. Really though, you are who you are, and you might even become who you want to become."

Rider nodded. "It's quite a gift to be able to change, develop oneself. Heroic Spirits are in a sense fixed."

l

(Rin)

A human, homunculus and Servant were sitting around the dinner table sipping coffee. The third had a lot of milk and sugar in hers, while the second eschewed both. "Are you really fine with leaving it at that?" the first, whose habits lay somewhere in the middle, asked.

"I don't see many alternatives," Illya replied with some irritation at having her earlier emotional roller-coaster brought to mind. "And I think Shirou can keep Caster on the straight and narrow. Besides, shouldn't you be turning in early, given we have a literal midnight appointment to keep?"

"You did notice the part where he doesn't have her contract any more, right? And don't fob me off with that excuse, I don't know if those two went to sleep or just took the opportunity to sleep together."

"Not by forcing her to, we both know Command Spells have their limits, as Gilgamesh demonstrated so aptly. Are you jealous or just frustrated?" Illya just looked amused, realizing that Rin wasn't playing the spoiler out of ill-will, but some other reason.

"I don't know what's your talking about."

"Really?" Kuro spoke up, "Have you even had a boyfriend yet, at your age?"

"You don't know how critical such things are when families of magi are concerned."

Illya didn't seem convinced by that. "Aren't you literally your whole family? Who's making the decisions there?" Kuro nudged her and said something too low to catch. "Oh. Well... that's complicated, I'd say."

"Kuro, what was that?" Archer just grinned, knowing that not getting a straight answer would annoy her Master the most.

"But really," Rin said, dropping the earlier topic, "I thought your goal was some sort of self-determination. But it really seems Caster will have basically all the control all the time."

"I'm surprised that a magus like you would assume something like that," Illya muttered. "I'm not as amazing as my father... you might say I take after my mother in that respect. It isn't that I don't value independence, but revenge is already a very powerful motivation."

"Huh." Kuro seemed rather taken by surprise by that disclosure. "I guess... yeah we're pretty rare even among the Einzbern."

"You're in a Servant vessel. Unlike Mother, I can't have children, so unless there's a similar-level breakthrough, future homunculi probably won't consistently reach our level. Self-determination really loses its meaning in that case."

"Hoh, it's been a while since Mother had us though, there's more modern methods for such things. Mundane ones, that is, so Caster might be able to help."

"Well I very much doubt she has a secret husband in Germany," Rin laughed.

"I wouldn't mind doubling up," Illya said somewhat mischievously, knowing that the human sitting opposite her would catch on.

"What? Y-you can't do something like that," Kuro was taken by surprise, not expecting that line to have been taken seriously. "Or you're just joking, right?"

"Hah." Illya wasn't particularly amused by Kuro's response. "It's not just a one-sided decision to make. Well it might have been in Father's case, I don't know."

Rin folded her arms, wondering how they had gotten derailed to talking about romance and children. "Even if you somehow got past Sakura, which I doubt since she's suddenly become quite terrifying, Caster would shut you down immediately if you tried anything with Shirou. She sort of has to, given what I'm told about her Authority type."

"On the contrary," Illya corrected her. "I have a reliable source that Caster would not, and as her disciple Sakura wouldn't either. Well, I'd hardly be a rival to the latter since, you know, time limit and all."

"Reliable source? You mean Gilgamesh?" Kuro bounced a bit in her chair. "That must have been an interesting story."

"Not really. I was poking at him while actually trying to figure out how things had gone down with Artoria. He said quite clearly that Caster's culture-type was like the old ones. More importantly, he did confirm being on speaking terms with Lancer by the end of the last War. Grail still blew up though," she frowned. "A bad situation all around."

"You shouldn't be too quick to discount the possibility Caster can find some way to extend your lifetime," Rin added after some hesitation. "Although he hid it pretty well by getting angry, Shirou was rather shocked to discover just how seriously she had been planning around her death. You've just been reunited, or well, you know what I mean."

Kuro just stared at Illya for a while before softly asking, "It's about Mother's death, in this world, isn't it?"

Illya simply nodded silently.

Kuro put her cup down and got up. "I'm going to see if Saber is free to play." She left.

Seeing how the other was deep in thought, Rin made to leave. "Might as well be a good soldier and take that nap."

l

Notes:
Cognitive cycling speed is being used in an analogy with clock-speed on computers. The cycle is like an OIDA loop rather than a machine cycle. Observations of the outside world show it moving faster if you are below baseline speed.

In Sasaku's thought all consciousness is simulated to some extent, the simulation is affected if one takes damage to the hardware (brain). This is not necessarily accurate to how Fateverse souls work, and exactly why she guessed wrongly what would happen.

Loosely speaking, an AI is in a box if it cannot directly affect the outside world.