Chapter 6: Arrival (6)
Popping back into existence roughly where he'd first departed for the quest Cayman noted that time indeed passed as it normally would, no easy time-stopping or reality-bending if he wanted to follow up on a quest...if he was going to follow through on the things in the future he was going to need to think of alibis or other excuses for his absence.
"Oh well. That's something to consider later. Right now I need to figure out a few other things, such as a way of earning money and figuring out the actual circumstances surrounding Hoestia. That quest isn't going to solve itself, unfortunately."
Idly wondering how long Till was going to take to conclude her business the Gamer decided the smart thing to do for the moment would be to check in with his current allies, see if they had anything concrete or meaningful for him to follow up on. His search for a suitable weapon to channel his abilities through had thankfully been resolved so it was time he turned to other matters.
The phone rang for a few seconds, simple tones as he waited for a response-
-and it was Jinglei that answered first, the Taimanin gruffly asking, [What do you want?]
"Yikes, not even a hello? Trouble in paradise?"
Finding a sort of mentally deranged amusement in teasing a young woman that could easily punch his head off Cayman was replied to with a low growl, the former Chinese operative tersely explaining, [I don't want to talk about it. Now why are you calling?]
Shrugging to himself before continuing on without complaint Cayman asked, "I've gone through official channels and such but didn't get any hits on Hoestia. You have any alternative means of information gathering that I can follow up on?"
[What the hell does 'alternative means' imply?]
Smiling at the Taimanin's shifty response he said, "Relax, I'm not casting aspersions on your character or calling into question any kind of loyalty here...but you were a part of the PLA and its associated investigative branches, I find it hard to believe you don't know of any off the books sources we can make use of. And Yukikaze was on a mission to infiltrate Yomihara and Under Eden in the past, she's probably got a whole repertoire of interesting people that can be referenced."
A bit of an understatement, that. Sure, neither of the Taimanin were exactly the political or socially cutthroat type but they had gotten around for awhile...and since Yomihara was one of the few gateways where the Demon World and Human world began to collide it naturally attracted all sorts of influential figures.
[...None of those who might still talk to me after my departure from the PLA are in Tokyo, or willing to speak to a stranger like yourself. But there is an investigative business within the city, one that has ties to the Moonlit world. I'm surprised you yourself don't know about it.]
"Trust me, I'm by no means omnipotent."
Huffing out a breath the Taimanin continued with, [Well in that case look for the building called Garan no Dou, it's about an hour's walk from the Sanctuary stronghold. Actually, hold on a-CAN YOU STOP BOTHERING ME?!]
Blinking at the sudden shout Cayman heard the Chinese Taimanin continue with, [Yes, he's on the line. Of course not, do you have to be so-]
[Ah, greetings, pathetic Surveyor. How has your day been so far?]
Smirking at the placid and calm words of Caren as she joined the conversation he replied, "Fruitful. How about yours, any good leads?"
[Alas, traveling with the racist and bigoted ninja slut has yielded no positive results or anything of substance, only disappointment and idle entertainment.]
[Is everything that comes out of your mouth designed to piss people off?!]
[Hmm? No, I am actually attempting to be quite cordial and apologize for you taking offense at my words.]
An explosive and aggrieved sigh left the phone's speaker, Jinglei grunting, [We're going to meet up with you before going to see if this place has any kind of useful information. If I have to spend another minute alone with this church bitch I'm going to stab her in the face.]
[Oh? Are we not getting along as well as I thought? I was under the assumption that our rapport was quite solid.]
Raising an eyebrow at the Taimanin's request he asked, "What, no chance of finding anything out on your own?"
[All we've been getting are dead ends. And Yukikaze has the puppy nun under her watch, they're going to keep up the search but if we need to enter less reputable places I don't think blondie would be up to it.]
Imagining Asia Argento of all people walking through a Taimanin universe red-light district Cayman had to agree with the Chinese woman's conclusion that it wasn't really the kind of environment she'd be up to.
"Alright, no objections here. You want to meet up anywhere or just convene at the place itself?"
[We're close by, we'll head to where you are. And I hope you have something worthwhile to barter with, from what I've heard this place has interesting ways of doing business.]
"Wonderful, I'll prep one of my kidneys then."
[Your selflessness will be rewarded by the lord, pathetic Surveyor. Even if you are a heathen-]
The phone clicked off as Jinglei no doubt had enough, Cayman chuckling at the interplay. It seemed Caren had a bit of a spicier tongue in this universe than she normally did. The personality was spot on but her words were more blatantly insulting...probably a result of there being such a wide variety of heathens and monsters in the world for her to take 'pity' on.
Pocketing his cell the gamer frowned, wondering where he'd heard the term Garan no Dou before. It was a Type/Moon place, that he was certain of...but which franchise, timeline and such?
Shrugging to himself the male settled down on a nearby bench liberally sprinkled with graffiti and general disrepair, thinking back to the pair of mostly intact Dark Beasts he had in his inventory. Hopefully they would make for good bargaining chips because his monetary situation was definitely on the slimmer side of things.
Resigning himself to wait Cayman tried to go over what he'd managed to piece together thus far of this strange new universe he'd been tossed into. While the Taimanin universe seemed to be the predominant change thus far that actually made a fair bit of sense. In their original realities DxD and Fate had typically operated on a 'secret society' basis and kept the more esoteric side of things hidden from Humanity at large...not so in the Taimanin universe, the setting was literally an Earth that was well aware of the paranormal and had been shaped by it. The DxD verse seemed to have adapted well to such an arrangement, if the public wanted posters of people like Kuroka and Koneko were any indication.
"Christ, I don't even want to think about how convoluted the whole Fate universe fits into things. Is the Age of the Gods still going on? Reduced? Is it Alaya or Gaia that's dominant or are the Types somehow involved? What about the Apostles? Fucking hell, I really need to visit a library when I get the chance. As well as half a million other things."
Shaking his head free of the meandering and ultimately fruitless thoughts Cayman took a deep breath, centering himself before he was overwhelmed by the enormity of his appointed task...because holy crap was there a lot to keep track of.
Thankfully there was a welcome distraction for his viewing pleasure as a strange pull on his mind drew his attention-
-and with a slight POP Till manifested in glittering motes of light, wings briefly fluttering before he placed his hand out for her to sit in, palm up as the tiny Fairy offered him up a guileless smile before gazing around the area with blatant interest, despite the fact that it was a mostly uninteresting place in an uninteresting part of the city.
"Wow, so this is where you work during the day?"
"Not this section specifically but in general yeah, Tokyo is likely where I'll be doing the lion's share of my work in the foreseeable future. You been to the Human realm before, princess?"
The Fairy gave a sort of non-commital nod to his inquiry as he moved her to his shoulder, ear tickled by her eagerly flexing wings.
"I've been to it a few times before when searching out a contractor but it was never for very long. Other than that I mostly stayed within Till-tien's borders."
"Well in that case feel free to stick around as long as you want, we're going to be working a lot in this place. On that note how'd your meeting with the rest of your community go?"
The miniature woman beamed as she began to kick her legs back-and-forth over the edge of his shoulder, the action equal parts adorable and seductive as she cheerfully replied, "It went well! My people are really excited that I finally found my chosen hero and are eager to see what you can do!"
Cayman snorted, dryly commenting, "No pressure there, right?"
"I'm not worried, I believe you'll be the best hero ever! You saved me when I needed it most and I don't doubt you'll get even stronger~!"
The blunt faith she had in those words as he met the Fairy's gaze caused the male to shake his head in bemusement, commenting, "Well aren't you the trusting soul?"
"Aww, are you shy that I have faith in you?"
"Just hoping to match up to your expectations. Can't afford to let down such a sweet girl, now can I?"
He coincided the words with an affectionate brush of her hair courtesy of his pinky, the winged female preening under his attention as she giggled at his attention.
+10 REP with Till, [60/100]!
"Well for the moment we're waiting for two of my supposed coworkers to show up before we move on to the next stage of things, they should be here before too long."
"Supposed?"
"Yeah, it's kinda complicated but long story short I was placed into a position where I'm helping them on a mission they have despite not knowing anything about it previously. I'll have to tell you the whole deal once we have some time to discuss things without interruption."
Till gave him a strange look, inquiring, "That sounds strange. What's their mission?"
"They're a part of Sanctuary and are currently chasing down some guy named Hoestia who's performing some weird hybridization experiments or something, I got roped into it-"
"Wow, so you're working as a part of Sanctuary right now?!"
The Fairy's exuberant words caused Cayman to sigh, replying, "Tentatively. Like I said, there's a lot of strange circumstances going down. And you know about Sanctuary?"
"Who doesn't?! They're the heroes who rise above petty ideologies and rivalries to strike down the bad guys for the sake of keeping the world safe!"
The Fairy - who had begun to energetically gesticulate as she described her image of the organization - met Cayman's mildly awkward stare, sighing before she sadly said, "You're about to tell me that it's not as nice as that, aren't you?"
"That obvious, huh?"
A regretful sigh left the miniature woman.
"Unfortunately. This world isn't going to be as nice and exciting as I thought it would be, right?"
Feeling a twinge of sympathy for the resigned Fairy's words Cayman lightly blew a gust of air across her face, causing her to yelp in surprise before he grinned, stating, "Nice? Maybe not, we'll probably have to look hard for that. Exciting? I don't think you'll be left wanting."
Till blinked...and giggled, lacing her hands behind her back - which did a very appealing thing to her chest - as she chirped, "It's sweet that you're trying to cheer me up."
"Well being the dour and realistic one can get old pretty fast, never hurts to have a little bit of optimism thrown in here and there."
The Fairy made to reply-
"Your situational awareness is somewhat lacking. How disappointing, I was about to put an ice cube down your shirt."
-and Cayman offered a backwards wave as Caren's soft voice emanated from over his shoulder.
"You made good time. And thanks for that, I don't really have too many spare sets of clothes at this time and wouldn't have wanted to walk around in a wet shirt all day."
Rising from his seat he turned around, raising an eyebrow at the sight that greeted him.
"And it seems that's a problem exclusive only to me."
The pale-haired Exorcist was dressed quite conservatively in a long jacket and tight jeans while Jinglei had leather pants and a biker's jacket, something that had the Gamer inquiring, "Was there a shopping trip I missed or something?"
"Did Sanctuary not send you with a typical kit? There's precious little time to dally when on assignment, most members are dispatched with enough basics to last at least a week before having to resort to local purchases."
Realizing he'd just stepped in it Cayman cast about for a reasonable excuse-
-and Till saved the day as she fluttered to the crown of his head, curiously examining his companions while asking, "Who are they, are they also with Sanctuary?"
The pink-haired Taimanin spoke up for the first time, expression curious as she remarked, "Since when did you have a contracted Fairy? She wasn't with you the previous times we interacted."
"Go figure the former intelligence officer wants answers about the previously unknown factors."
Far more comfortable with this line of questioning than he was the previous one Cayman merely gave the Fairy's leg an affectionate stroke, stating, "This is Till, she's the princess of Till-tien and wasn't present because she had to deal with some issues back home for awhile. Till, this is Caren Hortensia and Su Jinglei, both members of Sanctuary."
He was momentarily worried that Till wouldn't catch on and simply expose his lie but being a princess wasn't for show it seemed, as she clued in to what he left unsaid and merely gave the two curious women a happy wave while stating, "Nice to meet you, I've always wanted to meet members of Sanctuary!"
"Oh? Our exploits have reached even the more remote areas of the Demon worlds?"
"Of course! You're all the closest thing we have to heroes, boogeymen and folktales all rolled into one package!"
Caren tilted her head, giving Cayman an utterly neutral expression as the Exorcist remarked, "Your contractor must leave you with quite the poor impression. Alas, perhaps you shall have a proper example of what an agent of the lord is capable of now."
Merely smiling at Caren's expected snark - and noting with interest that her body wasn't reacting to Till's presencence despite the technicality that she classified as a Demon - he had to bite back a laugh as the Fairy merely cocked her head, confusedly replying, "Eh? But Cayman was really nice and saved me from being killed."
"Don't worry about it, Till. Caren's just naturally a harsh and word-shiv kind of person. Deep down she's a sweet little angel."
Jinglei didn't even try to hide her disbelieving snort, the pale-haired girl idly commenting, "Your belief in my kindness despite aforementioned 'word-shivs' is far more worrying than it is pleasant. It implies you enjoy my manner of chastisement and even take pleasure in it."
"Stop, you're going to make me blush."
Huffing out an irritated sigh the Chinese Taimanin impatiently motioned with her hand, commenting, "As much fun as it is watching you two flirt don't we have something important to be doing right now?"
"Flirting? I pity your romantic past and the false impressions it has given you if you consider such interplay 'flirting'. Are you perhaps also a chaste and neophyte soul?"
Sputtering at Caren's words Cayman smirked, sensing an opportunity for some fun as he teased, "Don't be silly, Caren. An accomplished and highly competent Taimanin agent that used to be a member of the famed PLA? She knows her way around the dating scene or my name isn't Cayman."
Looking for all the world like a deer in the headlights Jinglei seemed to settle for a false display of confidence, nodding at their words even as she minutely shifted her balance from foot-to-foot.
He had the full story and knew that as both a girl that had railroaded herself through military training, school and half a dozen other degrees there had likely been precious little time to have anything remotely resembling a social life. Hell, that's why she'd eventually cast in her lot with the Taimanin and turned away from the PLA, finding kinsmanship with people like Yukikaze and Asagi herself.
Of course, being the observant little savant of sharp and pointed words that she was Caren honed in on the Taimanin's awkwardness like a shark on blood-
-at least until Cayman took pity on the vibrant-haired girl, lightly smacking Caren on the ass as he rose to his feet, announcing, "C'mon, Jinglei has a point, we're burning daylight here. Feel up for a bit of a walk, Till?"
"Ooh, always!"
The Fairy's exuberant response was a sharp contrast to Hortensia's, the golden-eyed female offering the male an arched eyebrow as he merely shrugged in response.
"Does that count as a type of flagellation that would earn you a pass during prayer? Or am I overstepping my bounds?"
"That you would step so far in the first place speaks both to your brazenness and stupidity, to so boldly touch a woman of the cloth in so intimate a manner."
"Guess I'll enjoy my front row seat in hell then. You coming, Jinglei?"
"Er, right!"
The Taimanin seemed bewildered by their interaction, shaking herself free from her confusion and leading the way as - out of the corner of his eye - the Gamer could have sworn he saw Caren's lips tilting upwards in an amused smile.
"Yeah, go figure she's into the naughty kind of play."
"You know, if I knew how much attention we'd draw I would have gotten us some hats and cloaks or something. I'm feeling like the latest and hottest commodity out here."
"Don't remind me, please. Ugh, this is the exact opposite of being stealthy and hidden..."
"As a former member of the intelligence community have you not considered the benefits of hiding in plain sight? Such a silly thing to have overlooked."
Caren's response to Jinglei's complaint was expected, just like the Taimanin's annoyed reply was expected.
"Because hiding in plain sight is a stupid alternative to just outright hiding in the first place! Why run the risk of being noticed if you can keep yourself from being noticed to begin with?"
Cayman smirked, giving Till a wink as the Fairy curiously watched the interaction before stating, "A girl as pretty as you would never be able to pull off staying out of sight. Especially with hair as brilliant as that."
While it was small the hitch in her step was nonetheless clear as day to see, the Taimanin favoring him with a narrowed glare as she bluntly stated, "Pointless flattery isn't going to get you in my pants, just to let you know."
Till was only too happy to back him up, the Fairy guilelessly stating, "It wasn't flattery, he really meant what he said."
The pink-haired Taimanin quickly averted her gaze, Caren shaking her head before lazily stating, "Do be careful, pathetic Surveyor. If a few compliments are enough to leave the intelligence officer blushing like a virgin schoolgirl then any attempt at physical intimacy would no doubt leave her in a far more comprising state than even the reputed whore of babylon."
"Is everything that comes out of your mouth bullshit?!"
Seeing wisps of red and black energy emanate from the Taimanin's body - Caren merely smiling peacefully at the display - Cayman decided it was probably time to step in and defuse the situation rather than allow it to continue escalating, calmly stating, "C'mon, you two. If it isn't clear by this point Caren lives in a perpetual state of shitting on other people and you might as well get used to it, Jinglei. And Caren? Instead of pissing off the young woman who can likely punch both our heads off when sufficiently motivated how about we come up with a means of paying for the potential information we'll be getting from this agency or whatever?"
"Pay? Do you perhaps think that I am in the habit of carrying about alms?"
"As a nun and servant of god, yes."
Seeming mildly amused at his blunt words the Exorcist responded, "Shall I perhaps teach you of the benefits regarding an honest day's work and the compensation that is provided for such? After all, were I to instruct you to fish as opposed to merely providing one-"
"-I would feed myself for the rest of my life as opposed to a day yeah yeah, I went to Sunday school once too. How about you, Jinglei? Any thoughts?"
The Taimanin seemed vindicated by his easygoing rebuttals to Caren, stating, "We're given stipends and a lump sum of money by Sanctuary at the start of a mission, roughly 20,000 UFS currency. We can request more but typically need a very good reason to do so. And I'm not sure this qualifies, considering we still don't know very much about what this place even does or what it charges. All I know is that it does good work, has contacts and knowledge of the non-Human world and is staffed by weirdos."
Cayman raised an eyebrow, inquiring, "Weirdo weirdo or us kind of weirdo?"
"While I have no idea what you're implying...weirdo weirdo."
"Ah, excellent. And while I have a few bartering tools at my disposal I think you might want to have that emergency bank account ready."
Caren came back into the conversation with, "Excessive money is a vice and, much like all vices, should be handled in moderation."
Cayman snorted, thinking back to her showing in Carnival Phantasm and how she had treated money then.
"Well whatever, we'll figure it out once we arrive at the place. Till, what do Fairies usually use as money or the equivalent?"
"Mostly barter and other things like that, since we don't really have an economy or markets like your worlds do."
The princess was staring with unabashed interest at everything they were passing by, at every display and advertisement as she was constantly shifting and moving between either his shoulder or his head, eyes on a swivel as she practically vibrated with excitement at the new sights, sounds and smells.
"That is just too damn adorable."
Still, the Gamer couldn't really remember why the name Garan no Dou sounded so damn familiar and tickled his memory like nothing else so far had...what the hell Fate franchise had it been a part of again? Notes? Strange/Fake? He was fairly certain it wasn't any of the Holy Grail War timelines.
Their walk and idle conversation continued into some of the more 'historical' parts of town, buildings that clearly hadn't seen much use or attention lining the streets while graffiti was more prevalent than untouched surfaces were. More to the point, the building they were headed towards was a fair bit taller than the rest and somehow had managed to avoid most of the tagging that was obviously going around like an epidemic.
Not to mention really began to trigger some deeply buried memories that he didn't even remember having in the first place.
"All right I definitely know this place. Goddammit, I'm probably only going to remember the second I walk through the front door."
The quartet wordlessly crossed over the threshold, noting the general air of unkemptness and barely maintained sanitation as they did so-
-only for Jinglei and Till to both pause for a moment, the Fairy asking, "Did anyone else feel that?"
"Yes, I did. We just crossed over a bounded field of some kind."
Caren raised an eyebrow, lazily commenting, "Oh, so you possess some measure of skill and competency after all."
"Bite me. And I'd be a pretty shit investigative officer if I couldn't detect something as simple as a bounded field."
Tuning out the duo's expected spat Cayman instead asked Till, "Don't suppose you can tell what kind of field it was, can you?"
"Mmm...not exactly but it definitely didn't feel malicious, just somewhat restrictive?"
Interest now well and truly piqued Cayman shrugged, continuing his stroll deeper into the establishment with the Exorcist and Taimanin right on his heels, still arguing with one another the whole way.
Quickly finding a door with hanging sign that read 'open' Cayman pushed his way through, the quiet murmur of conversation on the other side halting as he got his first look of the individuals within-
-and promptly spun on his heel, apologetically stating, "Sorry, wrong building."
Unfortunately he hadn't timed his abrupt departure all that well, Till yelping as she fell off the top of his head while he ran headfirst into Jinglei who, while fairly short and petite, was also an assload more tough than he was so it was him that went bouncing into the office like some kind of inflatable punching bag.
"What the hell was that for?"
Jinglei shut the door behind her as Caren also strolled inside, Till sending Cayman a pout as she repositioned herself atop of his shoulder as the Gamer had to resist the urge to sigh.
"Ah. Now I remember the name of this place. Shit."
"Well? There a reason most of you look like you have business here while one is clearly trying to get away?"
Slowly turning around and facing the music Cayman offered a false and mildly terrified smile as he despairingly ascertained the stats of the people he was dealing with, the woman who'd spoken giving him a raised eyebrow.
"Nope. None whatsoever."
Mikiya Kokutou:
HP: 190
MP: 40
STA: 150
STR: 25
DEF: 30
AGI: 45
MAG: 10
MAG DEF: 20
Shiki Ryougi:
HP: 1600
MP: 200
STA: 1500
STR: 130
DEF: 180
AGI: 250
MAG: 20
MAG DEF: 80
Touko Aozaki:
HP: 1400
MP: 40,000
STA: 800
STR: 70
DEF: 200
AGI: 140
MAG: 2000
MAG DEF: 1000
L̴̛̹̬͙͑͆̏̋̓͋͌̀͘͝u̴̡̞̗̮͔͕̖̼̰͚̇g̷̢̻̟̙̲̤̃ͅh̵̪͉̻̝̪́̈́͗̿̈́ ̸̛̩̺̯͑͂͆́̾͐͛͝B̵̧͇͉̗̹̩̊̓ͅe̷̢̡̛͇̭̮̘̝̞̗̞̩̔̔̿̑̅͘̕͜ͅo̶̬̠͈̫͍͎̬̯̾̅̀̿̑̇͛̽͘͘w̸̰̗͕͔̦̍̈́ư̶̰̈́͛̃̉͋̏̂͌͝͠l̵̫̯̻̻̤̩̞̗̲̪̘̤̩̞̐͆̂́̔͐̔̋̚ͅf̵̧̛̮̣̾̄͋͂̂͋̈́͊̆͝:̶̦̜͍̦̜̚͜͜͝
̷͙̱̣̗̞̠͕̩̪̯͓̩̙͆ͅȞ̸͓̖͋̽̒͋̊̚͝͠P̴̡̨̡̡̢̛̫͎̱̖̟͚͙͎̗̃̑͒̂̓̔:̷̨̨̤̙͍̦͚͈͔̙͋͒̈́͒̄̈́̋̇͑̄̚̕ ̶̘͉͎̼͎̥͉̝̹̘͈̩̠̓͐̅̚͜͝E̶̛̛͍̩͛̍̍̌̿̽̽̓̊̚͘͠Ŕ̵̫̠̳̾̈́̓͗̈̂̉̍͘͝͠R̷̨̛̫̬̮̩͇̻̦̤͓̱̜͖͇̀͗̐͂̈̾̈́̀̓̒̅̍Ǫ̶̢̥̙̗̪̝͚̰͚͚͉̋̈́̐̈́́̃̃̿̇̊͘̕̕R̶̛̙̜̗̲͙͛̎͛̆̄͗͌̋͒̈́͆̔͝͝
̴̡̖̺͕̦̭̗̞͎̠̠̺͛͆̈͜M̵̡̙͖̼̬͇̙̘̈́̏̊̀̒P̶̧̜̥̒̾͋̍̍̍̋̔̀̃͝:̸̧͔̟͈̻̳͍̼̼͇̦͍͓̩̗͆̽̎̽́́̈́́̋͌̽ ̷̨͈̭̰̎̅͠E̸̙̭̟͇͓̙̯̟͂̎͂͆̉̈̔̃̾̾͠R̵̬̣͎͍̹͚͙̳̯͚͎̱̜̒͗̌͑̔̐͋̈́͛͛͜͝͝R̵̛̛͕̓̑̋̈́̒̇͘Ơ̴̛͍̤̺̼̈́̿̋̏̀̇̄͘͝Ṛ̴̛͈̞͌̅́̋͂
̶̨͎͙͚͎̈́͂̋͂͂̓͗̌̔̍̈͝ͅS̷̼̱̘̬̙̤̈́̓͐̔́̿̽T̸̛̪͌̇̎̎̌̕͝͠A̸̲̤̗̱̝͇͋:̷̡̮͉͒͂͑̈́͑͐̾̈ ̵͕̥̺̏͌ͅȨ̸̞̳͂̆͊̋R̷̜̼͍͉̻͎͖̯͖̗̫͊̒͆̋̔͝R̸̬̮̭̠͇̹̩̯͎̈́̎́͋̿̕Ỏ̶͕̎͑̑̉̇́̇̍̚͠͝͝Ṛ̶̠̥̭̯͙͎̭͚͚̙̣̰̩̍͆̔̃̓͌͗̕͠
̷̬̔͂̕̚Ṣ̴͎̍̈͆̃͗͊͗̚̚̕T̸̛̜̘̫̮̙̬̰̭̞͔̙̜̠̂͐̓͒̔̆̿̈́͑͆̚͜͝R̴͓̰̰͓͓̰̯̟̩̟̹̉̊́̀̽̅̅̑͝:̶̣̗̜̐ ̷̳̗̥̹͓͙̮͈̊̔̏̎̍͝͝E̶̢̡̺̤̤̝̊̎͛̑̎̄͜R̴̢͕̯̤̾̓̾̔̀̿͂̃̄̋͘͝R̷̨̟͉̭̲̣̿́̊̅͗͆̆̕̚͝O̵̫̺̩͇̔̈̀̾͐̎R̶̢̛͚̤͎̩̬̈́͊͒̏̓͋̋
̵̬̼̠̫̥͍̫̺̓͌̓͑̊́̌͒͒͒͝͠Ḑ̶̘̫̯͍͓̲̞̩͉̞͊̈̈́̆̃̋̒̽̿̓̚Ë̶̗̤̲͙̠̬̞͇͕͔̆̀̌F̷̡̟͈̥̜̭̖͓̐̂̋͌͘͘:̵̨̧̘͕̞͉̃͛̄́̇́́̀̆̈͊̚͘ ̸̧̹̲̙̃̔͒͂̽͘͜͜È̷̦̺̓͘͠Ŗ̸̡̛̫͚̱͙̟̰̫̳̲̒̓̑̍͂̋͆͠Ŕ̶̡̡͔̼͈̠̗͑̐͒̉͠O̷̖͓̱͙̲̥̩̩̩̥̎̔̄̓́̾̾R̶̨̢̬̰̺͓͇̖̥̬͈͐̓̌
̶̖͑̂̉̈́̋̕M̷̛̛͙̱̾̊̔̊̀̍̾̍͛́̏͝͠Ã̵̧̡̮͚̝̬̞͓͈̩̝̋̈́̈́̾͌̋̓́͂̚͝Ǵ̷̡̰͍̦͎̜̩͚̎̈́̔͗͐͘͜:̸̨̣̺̣̹̗͛̎̍̌̾͆̃̆͗͆͌̈́̕͝ ̶̘̪̤̫̱̩̻̥̙̘̩̬̐̓͌̅̃͑͜ͅE̶̢̧͓̰̱̽͋̑̀̈́͠Ŕ̴̨̜̳̘̝͔̝̳̼̯̻̘̌͆̅̍̉̊̑̅͆̇͌̚͜Ȑ̸̹̖̹͙͒͛̃́̈́͗Ö̷̜͎̜͔͇͚̖́͗́̇̾̚̚͠ͅR̶̡̖̼̗͍͎̦̝̯͈̬̳̈́
̶̡̛͍͕̫͕͙̣̦͔͙̝̥͚̯̽͛̈́̍͛̅̅̈̑͑̆̚͜M̵̲̼̗͎̣̠͎̭̀̈͛̀̄̇͆̌͘À̷̧̧̤̖͙̬͙̤̙̱̼̰̯̯̺̉̽̏͛͐̐̄̐̒͊͗̈́͝͝G̸̢̛͙̱͍̝̃͛̍͜ ̵̣͈̙͙̩͗̔̿͛̏͂̂͂͠D̴̫͖̣͓̪̩͊̊̍̚Ę̸̢̡̨͎̖̤̳͎͚̗̣̦̦͒́̓̊͂̿̏̿̃F̴̗͓͎̫̳̗̰͛͜:̷̨̡̳̠̠̙̟̦̘̤̫͖͗͒̀͆̈́̾̿̀̆̕͜ ̶̗̗̙͚͖͑̊͐̽̔͝E̷̱̬̜̠̰̟͗̔͑̂̀̇̃̿͑̚͘͝R̸̛͕̆̓̅̇͒͋̋̕R̴̤͖̱̙̳̫̖̈́͌͌́͌̆̒̑̇͌͛̕͝͠͝O̶̢̱̬̙̲̻̻̣̹͍̻͖̺̪͝Ȑ̴̡̤̰͗́̾͌͋̂̉̓̃́̑̋̚͝
"Go fucking figure. I run into my second set of Fate characters and it's the terrifying people. Welp, gonna have to hope they're open to some negotiation."