Red (Velvet) / Waver Velvet (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
adropintheocean) wrote2014-10-21 10:14 pm
adropintheocean) wrote2014-10-21 10:14 pm
[MEMORIES 1, 2, 3 / SKILL 1]
Deducing the location of Caster's workshop and being praised by Rider. (trivial neutral)
[Game 308 - story questions - ??? | Day 396 | nonshareable (blank white card; write upon)]
Scene transcript (Episode 9).
-
Fussing in bed; the morning after the confrontation with Kayneth. Mail-order and the saga of Rider's pants. (trivial positive)
[Game 309 - masquerade/bodyswap - ??? | Day 398-399 | shareable ∞ (water-filled compact; open)]
Scene transcript (novels Act 5 Part 4 + Episode 7).
-
"Stupid, stupid, stupid -- ow!" Stealing Kayneth Archibald's original summoning artifact and looking up the rules of the Grail War. (significant neutral)
[Game 310 - card guessing - Lorelei | Day 400 | shareable 0/4 (humanoid bottle of water; drink)]
Scene transcript (Episode 1).
-
Theory of spellwork, incantation and curses. Active ability to do relatively simple spells such as shielding and memory manipulation.
[Skill Game 55 - RPG adventure - Handless Faith | Day 396 | nonshareable (silver vial; uncap)]
An overview of the theory part is here; this skill also comes bundled with actual spells Waver has memorized for use. The ones we see him use in canon are memory manipulation (a form of hypnosis to make people believe what the caster needs them to believe), shielding (formulation of magic shields around himself or around a certain area to protect from physical/magical attacks), and translation (allows him to overcome written/spoken language barriers.)
Waver is not powercapped at all because his inborn magical ability is very weak -- in general his magical skills will be a lot of grounding academic knowledge, and a limited ability to put the knowledge to use in a real world way. He can perform the simple spells just fine, but they need replenishment often and can be easy to break if they're tested. He cannot do most of the more complex spells without his Magic Circuits simply burning themselves out in the effort and causing him a lot of pain.
+ All taken.
+ The net effect is that the context of who he is, where he comes from, what he was heading toward in his starter memory, and something of what he can do as a magus all fall into place very neatly. He'll be cautious as to how he handles it since he doesn't know what point he got pulled out of the Grail War and will probably be pretty pessimistic about the whole ordeal, and a bit incredulous.
+ He also remembers Rider with equal parts admiration and infuriation so far . . .
+ He'll feel more comfortable with the concepts of magic and weird magical shit in general, but he also remembers magic in a very academic/rule- and logic-driven/basic grunt work way! So magical things happening in Aather without reasonably explicable cause-and-effect chains will still annoy him a lot.
+ He will feel generally more together and competent, less on edge all the time and more sure of how to settle into Aather, though still not comfortable with people or with his own weakness. He will also tend to stay in the library more.
[Game 308 - story questions - ??? | Day 396 | nonshareable (blank white card; write upon)]
Scene transcript (Episode 9).
-
Fussing in bed; the morning after the confrontation with Kayneth. Mail-order and the saga of Rider's pants. (trivial positive)
[Game 309 - masquerade/bodyswap - ??? | Day 398-399 | shareable ∞ (water-filled compact; open)]
Scene transcript (novels Act 5 Part 4 + Episode 7).
-
"Stupid, stupid, stupid -- ow!" Stealing Kayneth Archibald's original summoning artifact and looking up the rules of the Grail War. (significant neutral)
[Game 310 - card guessing - Lorelei | Day 400 | shareable 0/4 (humanoid bottle of water; drink)]
Scene transcript (Episode 1).
-
Theory of spellwork, incantation and curses. Active ability to do relatively simple spells such as shielding and memory manipulation.
[Skill Game 55 - RPG adventure - Handless Faith | Day 396 | nonshareable (silver vial; uncap)]
An overview of the theory part is here; this skill also comes bundled with actual spells Waver has memorized for use. The ones we see him use in canon are memory manipulation (a form of hypnosis to make people believe what the caster needs them to believe), shielding (formulation of magic shields around himself or around a certain area to protect from physical/magical attacks), and translation (allows him to overcome written/spoken language barriers.)
Waver is not powercapped at all because his inborn magical ability is very weak -- in general his magical skills will be a lot of grounding academic knowledge, and a limited ability to put the knowledge to use in a real world way. He can perform the simple spells just fine, but they need replenishment often and can be easy to break if they're tested. He cannot do most of the more complex spells without his Magic Circuits simply burning themselves out in the effort and causing him a lot of pain.
+ All taken.
+ The net effect is that the context of who he is, where he comes from, what he was heading toward in his starter memory, and something of what he can do as a magus all fall into place very neatly. He'll be cautious as to how he handles it since he doesn't know what point he got pulled out of the Grail War and will probably be pretty pessimistic about the whole ordeal, and a bit incredulous.
+ He also remembers Rider with equal parts admiration and infuriation so far . . .
+ He'll feel more comfortable with the concepts of magic and weird magical shit in general, but he also remembers magic in a very academic/rule- and logic-driven/basic grunt work way! So magical things happening in Aather without reasonably explicable cause-and-effect chains will still annoy him a lot.
+ He will feel generally more together and competent, less on edge all the time and more sure of how to settle into Aather, though still not comfortable with people or with his own weakness. He will also tend to stay in the library more.
MEMORY 1
Rider: Why must I, the King of Conquerors, go draw some water from a country river?
Waver: Because it's far more productive than eating junk food and watching all those videos.
Waver sets the vials in alphabetical order across several stands, then dilutes some kind of chemical in a beaker.
Rider: What is this? Are you playing at being an alchemist?
Waver: I'm not playing; I am an alchemist, idiot.
Waver starts adding the chemical to the water in each vial with an eyedropper. The water in vial A turns reddish; Waver gasps and Rider cranes closer. Waver continues to test each vial as they talk, with each vial from A-P turning progressively darker.
Rider: Interesting! What does that mean?
Waver: Spellcasting residue. Remnants of magic left in the water. That means someone recently used magic near the river. If we follow the trail, it may be able to show us where to search for Caster.
Rider: Hey, boy -- did you know ahead of time that you would discover something like that in the water?
Waver: Of course not! But this town is unique in that water flows straight through its center. So water was the obvious place to look.
Vial Q's water remains clear. Waver picks it up, then gestures to the map.
Waver: Rider, was there anything between here, and...here? A sewage pipe, an irrigation channel?
Rider: Oh, yes, there was one of considerable size down there!
Waver: That's it! If we follow that, it will probably lead us straight to Caster's hideout!
Rider: Hmm. Boy, you are certainly a mage of not inconsiderable skill!
Waver: Look -- a truly skilled mage wouldn't have to do it like this. As an art, it's pretty basic. . .wait a minute, you're making fun of me, aren't you?
Rider: No, boy, quite the opposite! Achieving something so impressive with a simple method far outshines those who use a more complex technique. As your Servant, I am proud. -- now that we have his location, he's as good as ours. Shall we give him a sound beating straight away, boy?
Waver: Wait a second, we're talking about engaging Caster here!
Rider: I know --
Waver: No you don't! When it comes to defending his lair he has a tremendous advantage over any attacker! What kind of moron would just go bursting in the front door!?
Rider: Listen: in a combat situation enemy and ally positions can change by the second. If you fail to attack the enemy when you know his location, it will be too late for regrets once you've missed your chance!
Waver: Really . . . and what's made you so eager today?
Rider: Shouldn't I be? My Master has finally contributed something of worth to our great endeavor. As your Servant, I must also do my duty: seek out and defeat the enemy and bring back his head to you!
Waver blushes.
Rider: Ha ha! Don't be so quick to give up before we've even begun! Let's go see what we can find. It may well work out better than you imagined!
MEMORY 2
Waver kicks around and burrows under his covers a bit, excited and fussy, then looks at the Command Seals tattooed on the back of his hand. He then realizes Rider isn't snoring beside the bed and he can't feel Rider's prana.
There's a cute interlude where Rider has to take a delivery of a T-shirt at the door from an extremely confused delivery man; Waver doesn't see this as he's upstairs, though he vaguely hears voices and the door opening and closing. He comes crashing downstairs to find Rider wearing the T-shirt and flexing his muscles in the middle of the living room.
Waver: Wait, why are you dressed like that?!
Rider: The package I was awaiting arrived.
Waver: You went outside the house!?
Rider: [brandishes the box] I merely tries out that mail-order thing I heard about!
Waver: But I told you you were never to leave the second floor!
Rider: If the residents are not at home, and you are off somewhere all day occupied with your familiar, who else is there to answer the door?
Waver: I had no choice. A summons from the Church is a big deal; I had to go.
Rider: Don't be so grouchy. After seeing Saber last night I came to a realization. If one wears modern attire there should be no issue whatsoever with leaving the domicile.
Waver: Hey -- wait -- stop! At least put on some pants before you go out!
Rider: Oh -- yes, leggings. [smacks his forehead] That's true, I forgot, everyone in this land wears them. ... do I have to wear them?
Waver: YES! Of course you have to! And just to make it perfectly clear, I'm not making a trip into town just to buy you XXXL pants, understand?!
Rider: You won't?! Why, boy? Would you actually stand in the way of my triumphant conquest of the world?
Waver: You conquering the world and whether or not you have pants have nothing -- not even the slightest thing -- to do with each other!! Before you start planning to go screwing around outside, go out and do your job and beat one of the other Servants! Then I'll buy you pants or anything else you want!
Rider: Hmm, very well. I understand. Do you swear that once I defeat one of the other Servants, you will go and buy me a modern pair of pants so that I can go outside!
Waver: Unbelievable. You really want to wear modern clothes and walk outside that much?
Rider: The King of Knights was walking around outside. I simply cannot allow myself to be outdone. I like the design on this shirt. It is fitting attire for a strong ruler.
Waver: Look, we have to go find and defeat Caster too. What the hell are we doing...
ADDENDUM
Waver kicks around and burrows under his covers a bit, excited and fussy, then looks at the Command Seals tattooed on the back of his hand.
This part of the memory is gone as of day 405 (given away); it cannot be regained.
MEMORY 3
Waver: Stupid, stupid, stupid! He made a fool of me! Is that any way for a professor to act!? Reading my paper made him jealous and he couldn't handle it! The pompous bastard's afraid of my talent, so he embarrasses me in front of everyone -- ow!
Something runs into Waver's knees, knocking him over: a delivery cart with a man pushing it.
Man: Oh -- I'm sorry. Are you all right?
Waver: I -- I'm fine.
Man: You're in the spiritual evocation department. Why aren't you in class?
Waver: Ah -- um. Professor Archibald asked me to run an errand for him. I was in a hurry.
Man: I see. That's great, actually! Would you mind giving this to him when he goes back to class?
The man hands Waver a wrapped box and Waver accepts it.
Man: Just make sure he gets it! It's supposed to be important.
Waver: Important? Package origin . . . Macedonia?
Waver stares after the man, then hurries to the university library, package in hand. He pulls book after book out from the shelves.
Waver: This is it! ...it looks like the rumors of that bastard fighting in some kind of mages' tournament are true.
Waver scans the texts. He does a lot of cross-referencing but this is the gist of the information he finds (which is also the convenient voiceover): According to the legend, two hundred years ago the Einzbern, Matou and Tohsaka, collectively known as the Three First Families, worked together to summon the Holy Grail, said to have the power to grant any wish, and eventually succeeded. But the Holy Grail would only grant one of the families' requests. Their cooperation quickly turned into violent and bloody conflict. That was the beginning of the Holy Grail Wars.
Ever since then, once every sixty years, the Holy Grail appears in the city of Fuyuki. It selects seven mages from across the globe to compete for it and grants them powers. Each magically summons a Heroic Spirit known as a Servant. Archer; Saber; Lancer; Rider; Assassin; Caster; Berserker. Divided into these seven classes, these warriors, guided by their Masters, fight each other to the death in secret to determine who is worthy to win the Grail.
Waver: So the Grail War is a battle of pure strength. Titles and influence mean absolutely nothing . . . it's the perfect place for me!
He glances to the next passage. To summon a Servant, some kind of relic related to them is needed to act as a catalyst. He glances at the package he just stole.
Waver: A relic...
Without hesitation, he tears off the wrapping and cuts the string holding the box closed. There is a scrap of red fabric inside; he beams -- and then shuts the box and starts putting the books back where he got them, knowing he'll have to move fast.