029 - The Water Nymph Incident
Olga Marie Animusphere
Sometimes, she misses Singularity F, even with all the panicked confusion, existential dread and painful revelations. At least, back then she was there with the exploration team and she could properly complain about the events as they developed. Merely fuming from the command room simply doesn't offer the same catharsis. It's not good for morale when the Lady Director starts blurting out irate imprecations at an unfeeling screen, either.
Roman had suggested enabling a permanent communication line, but she wants to keep unnecessary energy expenses locked down as much as possible. Frivolously breaking protocol just to make herself feel better hardly feels like a good use of their limited resources.
…But sometimes the idea feels oh, so tempting.
They have located the main agent behind the Singularity, there's no doubt by now that this Dragon Witch is the one directly responsible for the current state of France. It just so happens to be an overwhelmingly powerful entity capable of casually commanding a group of juiced-up Servants. An utterly delightful problem to have to deal with.
On the good news, they have a firmer grasp on what's going on. On the bad news, it doesn't seem like this Singularity can be brute-forced like the last one.
Caster had recently come up to her with a hypothesis. Right after uploading a dissertation on the potential means to replicate the effect of the Edelfelt Family Sorcery Trait in Servant Summonings into the systems and trying to flood the larder with all sorts of aged wines and cheeses with no traceable source.
After she was done throwing a tantrum about being lectured on proper food safety practices, Caster brought up a tentative explanation for the presence of the two Jeannes. The sort of theoretically feasible but practically unbelievable nonsense that only intuitive geniuses can dream up and lacks any solid basis… Until they had the chance to examine the second Jeanne directly.
Scans on the Dragon Witch have revealed the missing chunks of Jeanne's Spirit Origin sitting deep within her, pretty much verbatim. Which doesn't really confirm Caster's hypothesis, but certainly gives it a lot more credence. Considering Caster's snap hypotheses tend to be more reliable than years of study from an average research team, they'll be working under the assumption they're correct until proven otherwise.
Not that she'll use these words where Caster might overhear, she doesn't need the woman's inflated ego to swell even further.
What they're having a lot of trouble with, though, is figuring out what the rest of the Dragon Witch Spirit Origin was made out of. It didn't match anything they had on record, but that didn't mean much. Chaldea's efforts to register and index Servants information had never gotten very far due to simple practical reasons.
One thing is clear, though. She's an artificial existence, purposefully crafted for her current role. This goes a step further than the behind-the-scenes manipulations from Singularity F and paints a dim picture of the resources at the disposal of that monster in human skin.
"Curse you, Lev." She mutters under her breath. "What have you done?"
At least, this time the Singularity wasn't a barren wastel— Yet, At least the Singularity wasn't a barren wasteland yet, so they had some local help to rely on. From Jeanne's little entourage, whose mere existence has been key to figuring out the little they know so far, to the two newcomers whose timely intervention seemed to have come straight out of a fairytale. Or a Japanese Magical Girl show.
That's Servants for you, Olga supposes. At their core, Heroic Spirits are entities born of myth and legends, it makes a certain amount of sense for their existences to follow narrative rules where they disregard mortal concepts like physics or common sense. And there's the matter of their identities.
Marie Antoinette and Napoleon Bonaparte.
What a strange pair. Legend-wise and as far as French Servants go, they are probably up there with Charlemagne and his Twelve Paladins. Olga is hesitant to put a pampered princess and a modern general at the same level as legendary warriors of old when it comes to actual combat prowess, but a Servant should never be underestimated anyway.
Besides, there's something more to that unlikely duo, a strange synergy that transcends time. Charismatic figures bigger than life, the both of them, taking upon themselves modern heroic traits that don't really fit their historical records, making them seem like characters straight out of a superhero comic book or a shoujo manga and… Where was she even going with that?
"Um… Lady Director?" Roman's voice pulls her out of her musings. "You might want to limit access to the Singularity feeds, at least for the next… while."
"Are you drunk, Roman?" Olga asks in honest wonderment. Honestly, why is the Head Doctor even manning the comms? Being so grossly short-staffed can be a real nightmare. "What could even possibly justify—"
Her words die off in her lips when she catches sight of what's going on in the main screen. Mashu and Haku have found their way to a small river backwater and are… very clearly intent on seeing to their personal hygiene. In depth.
Come to think of it, this is their second day there, where they've been constantly forced to strain themselves and deal with dust, dirt, filth and other various delights of the generally unsanitary environment of a war-torn medieval hellhole. The protocols for Singularity exploration are woefully unequipped to deal with all the implications of a long-term insertion.
Her frantic thoughts slow down considerably when she's treated to the sight of a white jacket coming undone, quickly followed by the shirt underneath and– Oh, dear, that's a rather daring bra! Is that why Haku is always so confident? Maybe Olga should try wearing— Wait, no! This isn't the time!
"Cut the feeds!" She snaps out (panickedly) with urgency. "Right now!"
"Err… That'd be rather dangerous, Lady Director." Roman's protests are rather feeble and he seems to shrink into himself when she turns around to glare at him directly, but he somehow holds firm for long enough to make his point. "The Master Existence Confirmation Protocols…"
Olga doesn't listen to the rest of his words, too busy (watching a black skirt sliding down gorgeous tight-clad legs) cursing the realities of the situation. The rather unstable physics the Rayshifting process takes advantage of means it's very risky to leave the exploration team unobserved for any stretch of time. Which means it's impossible to give them any real privacy.
Why did Father cancel project Mnemosine, again? Now someone will need to take responsibility and keep an eye on the expedition no matter what sort of compromising acts or behaviors they end up witnessing and… and watch them as they do… things. Things that are… private and personal and shouldn't… and really shouldn't be watched by outsiders.
Letting out a sigh of defeat (and trying to ignore the way her cheeks are burning) she resigns herself to do her duty.
"You have a point, belay that order." She continues in what she sure hopes it's a smooth and confident voice. She really has no choice, right? T-this is her responsibility as the Director of Chaldea, right? "I'll keep an eye out for them. Everyone else, clear the command room!"
It's her responsibility!
Mashu Kyrielight
This is Hell.
Or Heaven, she's not sure, but definitely one of the two.
She never expected an idle comment about sweat and grime (would pay off like this) would escalate into such a situation! Now it's all she can do to stand in place awkwardly while Haku-Senpai slowly and carefully removes her tights, inadvertently giving Mashu quite the show as she shakes her unfairly shapely rear from side to side to leave herself wearing only her (admittedly very sexy) underwear.
This is something that (has only happened in her dreams so far) her maiden heart isn't ready for!
"Come on, Mashu!" She calls out cheerfully, blissfully unaware of the effect her current appearance is causing on Mashu. "You're not going to bathe with your clothes still on, are you?"
She would very much like to do that!
But, as she struggles (and fails) to keep her eyes away from Haku-Senpai's (tight and healthy form, just shapely enough to hide wire-like muscles under a warm and soft outer layer.) body, she already knows that's a fool's errand. She doesn't have it in her to deny Sempai at the best of times, there's no chance of things to go any better when she's being blasted with the full power of her innocent allure.
Because Mashu is a dirty girl with a dirty mind!
Taking a deep breath for courage, she resigns herself to the inevitable and, after dismissing her armor, starts the long and profoundly self-conscious process of removing her clothes. Her boots and jacket come first and they aren't that big of a loss. Shoes don't really count and she usually wears her jacket open anyway, so there's virtually no difference, but things grow complicated immediately after.
Because she's wearing a dress underneath and removing it next feels like jumping immediately to the deep end and she's not nearly ready to (drown) do that. So she starts fiddling with her necktie first, undoing it slowly not so much out of a deliberate effort but simply a subconscious resistance due to sheer embarrassment.
Once the red strip of fabric is dropped into the ground, she freezes up for a moment, unsure of how to proceed next. Her hands then go to the hem of her dress, fingertips running around the edge without quite managing to go beyond that. She ends up chickening up, though, finding herself incapable of taking that step yet and pulling off her glasses instead.
Which buys her about twenty extra seconds, tops. It's not much, but it's enough that she realizes she doesn't need to follow Senpai's example and there's no reason why she can't remove her tights before her skirt. Which she hurries to do, with shaky breaths and unsteady hands. There's something incredibly sensual in the act of peeling her thighs off her legs, in the sensation of fabric running against sensitive skin. Something she had never noticed before in spite of being something she's done every single day of her life but she doubts she'll ever be capable of forgetting after today.
And finally… There's only one last piece to remove. She had hoped things might've become a bit easier by now, that she would've gained… practice, maybe. Or at least it would be easier to show off her body by removing her last piece instead of the first one. It doesn't.
It really, really doesn't.
If anything, it only makes it worse. Her cheeks are burning as her hands fall to the hem of her dress again and her heartbeat is going crazy as her fingers wrap around the edge. There's another moment of hesitation before she takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and starts pulling it up.
She can feel it against her skin and see it with her mind's eye, the progress of her dress as it parts from her body, gradually exposing it to the open air and revealing herself to any outside observer. First it's her knees and thighs, soon followed by her most private place, hidden only by her (plain and boring) panties alongside her buttocks, who are only half-covered. The hips and waistline come next, a gentle breeze tickling her belly as the progress overtakes the band of her panties and starts revealing her belly.
A– Actually, maybe… maybe she's just making a big deal out of it? Seeing other people of your same gender in various states of undress is supposed to be normal in changing rooms, shared dorms and such, right? She only lacks experience because there's so few people in Chaldea that everyone can afford the extra privacy.
Telling herself that doesn't work nearly as well as she hoped, but it gives her the courage to tug the dress the rest of the way up in one go, finally ending the torture. There, she did it, she removed her clothes and is now down to her underwear outdoors( like a pervert), about to take a bath with Senpai.
Looking at it that way maybe she's starting a whole different facet of the torture instead of ending anything.
"Are you still like that?" Haku-Senpai's voice calls out from the direction of the water, seemingly having gotten inside while Mashu was (busy stripping) caught in her own head. "Come on, we're going to waste the whole day here!"
Feeling a bit sheepish about it, she turns her eyes towards Senpai, an apology dying her lips as she watches the other girl waving from the water while f-fully naked! That's way more than Mashu was… Wow, Senpai's breasts are really pretty. An intrusive thought, unasked and unwelcome, has her wondering how they'd feel between her fingers or pressed against her own, but she quickly shakes her head to remove such questions from her mind. And give her brain a bit of a rattle.
Take that, dirty mind! That'll teach you!
Much to her mortification, there's a part of herself that's feeling inordinately pleased at the excuse to go fully naked too.
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