#band au except lancer is a member

[pyropsychiccollector]

Shiro Harem: Holy Grail War... of Love 4/7

As you guys know, the poll ended up being a 3-way tie... Technically. Although, based off the accidental "first" poll where Artoria had more votes tying her with Sakura... I'm gonna be generous and throw the King of Knights in here as an "unofficial" winner. It's the only poll that changed drastically enough, and I feel bad for flubbing up the first time. XD

... So, uh. Yeah. I'll be writing up 4 posts before posting anything. Be sure to cycle through my posts to find your favorite girl(s)... The official winners are Rin, Sakura, and Luvia. I'll be getting to Mitsuzuri, Illya, and Reines later. XD

The Beginning

To top off this series of posts, I'm going to do the "unofficial" winner, too... As stated, I flubbed up with the poll last week, and I fear that skewered results somewhat. While Sakura still got her votes, Artoria's... petered out... And I don't wanna disappoint any fans looking forward to her. XD It's only a small concession, but here we are~ Artoria Pendragon. Otherwise known as S E I B A. ... Saber. (人◕ω◕) I'm not as much into "Seiba Nation" as a lot of fans are... But this isn't a bad ship. ... I might just tweak some things to ramp up my own excitement. First, though... The disclaimer~

Fate: Stay Night is all about branching timelines. As such, to cater to all seven members of this harem in a single worldline, we'll be looking at an AU separate from the canon ones, regardless of how similarly events may play out. Just a forewarning.

As I did with the Sakura and Rin posts, I'll give a brief overview of the Fourth Holy Grail War, to start us off.

As most fans are aware, the Fourth Holy Grail War is Ground Zero for all the events that come about in the subsequent war... And it's just as much common knowledge that the Heroic Spirit Artoria Pendragon... and the Magus Killer Kiritsugu Emiya... did not get along.

Not. One. Bit.

But this is a development that comes about later in the war. At the start, Artoria had high hopes of serving her Master, and by extension his wife, well and emerging triumphant in this epic battle. He seemed to have a strange way of operating, but Artoria did as she was instructed, staying by Irisveil's side. Though he did not seem to know his place in his feelings about the subjects she ruled over, how they treated her as a "man" and not a woman, the King of Knights was willing to believe Iri that Kiritsugu was a noble man who sought for a peaceful world, to fight all evil in the world.

This war, however... Does not go as Artoria expects. After the battle on the pier, where she clashed with Lancer, Berserker, Archer, and Rider, Kiritsugu entered some... arrangement with Berserker's Master. And the war was temporarily on hold until an outside matter was dealt with. Artoria didn't understand the whole situation, but it apparently revolved around some girl that Berserker's Master was trying to save; that's as much as Irisveil knew about it. Something about the Matou family having stooped so low...

Still, the situation resolved itself, and the war seemed to be back on track. ... Or so Artoria thought. Apparently Kiritsugu was still holding Berserker's Master to whatever "deal" they struck, and so Berserker would not be her opponent, at least not for some time. Artoria feels mixed about this arrangement, as she fears Berserker stabbing them in the back in a bout of madness...

But it doesn't pan out that way. Iskandar holds a "banquet" among the Kings, and shortly after defeats Assassin, who intrudes on their gathering... Then the Masters band together to defeat Caster. And after all those exceptional situations, Artoria is almost glad to have her duel with Lancer at long last...

And then Kiritsugu ruins it, forcing Lancer's Master to kill his Servant... and then killed that same Master and his beloved in cold blood. That's the first real time Artoria understands that she and Kiritsugu will never get along.

... Yet Artoria gets an opportunity to reclaim her honor when she battles Iskandar. With his Reality Marble, it's a titanic battle... But she emerges triumphant with Excalibur. And around that same time, Berserker is felled by Archer.

Just like that, it's down to Saber and Archer to determine who will win the Grail... And Kiritsugu battles it out with Kirei. Gilgamesh proves too much trouble for Artoria, and even when Kiritsugu emerges triumphant, he betrays her and orders her to destroy the Grail for reasons unknown. At least unknown to her.

That war went on to be a stain for Artoria, one of her greatest failures... She and Kiritsugu never got resolution, and likely never would have even if they had gotten their happy ending... Their methods and ideals were too at odds. And yet... in the last few years of his life, Kiritsugu managed to save his daughter Illya. And he adopted Shiro, as the boy was made an orphan by the Great Fire. And they had Maiya supporting them as well.

It wasn't a perfect family life... Kiritsugu still died a few years after adopting Shiro. Maiya was left to care for the children, and Shiro promised that he would become a Hero someday in Kiritsugu's stead. Illya doesn't tell Shiro anything about the Grail War, even with her little brother picking up Trace and Reinforcement magic, as Kiritsugu had taught him. If she can help it, she doesn't want Shiro involved in the nightmare that is the Grail War. If they're lucky, they'll be old by the time the next one rolls around... That's what Illya is thinking, anyway. At least for the first few years.

That day for Shiro to stand up and prove himself... would come soon enough, as the Fifth Holy Grail War arrived. Cornered by Lancer after witnessing a battle between Servants, and then having been revived, Shiro summons Saber, running on pure instincts and fear.

It's... an awkward encounter. Saber repels Lancer... But Shiro knows nothing of the Grail Wars, barely knows any magic at all. He's even more spooked that Illya reveals she has a Servant of her own - Berserker - and hadn't counted on Shiro being involved in the conflict. Artoria gets a strange sense of deja vu upon seeing Illya, and she reveals that Irisveil was her mother, and Kiritsugu was her father. Shiro is the adopted son of Kiritsugu.

Artoria doesn't know what to think about these revelations... Shiro knows nothing of war, let alone the Grail War, and yet despite his lack of knowledge, despite whether he should bother getting involved... Shiro courageously accepts his role as a Master. As Artoria is soon to discover, Shiro is the polar opposite of Kiritsugu - the boy wears his heart on his sleeve, he's reckless, but he cares enough to protect people... Even tries to protect Artoria herself, despite their clear gap in combat ability.

She felt conflicted about being contracted to the Emiya's once more, even if she knew Illya from 10 years ago... But the more she spends time with Shiro, the more she is willing to give this new Master a shot. Her ideals resonate with Shiro, rather than clash... And for that, Artoria is grateful.

The Middle Act

Saber is... a very loyal, and dedicated Servant. (人◕ω◕);;; However... It's awful enough that Shiro is willing to ally with his sister when clearly there can be only one victor for the Grail. But it doesn't stop there. One of Shiro's schoolmates is also a Master, and he wishes to ally with her, too.

This is not how Holy Grail Wars are conducted. Saber is quite cross about it. (人◕ω◕);;;;;;; As rough as the last war went, at least alliances were temporary... The way Shiro talks with Illya and Sakura... makes Saber realize that Shiro understands very little about how these conflicts are supposed to go. The Grail can only grant one wish, and Artoria is both dutybound to make that wish go to her Master and selfish enough that she herself wants the wish... To save Britain.

It's not so easy just letting Shiro make alliances as he pleases. Shiro gives his trust out far too simply, and it's hard enough assuming Rider won't pull something... But to turn her back on Berserker? Never. Saber is too paranoid, and she almost rejoices when yet another schoolmate turns out to be a Master and she rejects Shiro's attempt at alliance.

... Because if four of them were on the same team, how was this conflict ever supposed to end? That's what Artoria worried over, in those early days of the war. Shiro was too trusting, and moreover there were just too many children doing battle... Saber needed to personally destroy some Servants, or she would never get any peace of mind about this.

Shiro tried calming her down, and while Artoria could understand not wanting to end his sister or his friends, the fact is their Servants needed to be eliminated. At the very least. When Shiro asks for kendo lessons, Artoria does so with gusto; she's a hard taskmaster, and she needs to vent.

Things go downhill when Caster kidnaps Shiro in an attempt to steal his Command Seals. Saber, Illya, Berserker, Sakura, and Rider all mount a rescue operation and defeat Caster, Assassin, and Caster's Master... Saber's thrilled to have made progress, and yet... For the next few days she fretted over Shiro and refused to continue training him. She didn't want him to get captured again and lose his Command Seals...

Not too surprisingly, however, Shiro does win her back over... with food. If cooking was a type of magic, Shiro would be the undisputed master. ... And to Saber's dismay, she has a rather... insatiable appetite. She grudgingly goes back to giving Shiro kendo lessons, though she impressed upon him the importance of letting her handle the Servants. With only five Servants remaining, Saber was beginning to plot how to take down Berserker before he could turn on them... Not that she escaped Illya's shrewd gaze; Illya assured the King of Knights she would never hurt her brother. They'd find a way to get the Grail without turning on each other, Illya and Sakura were quite adamant about staying loyal to Shiro.

It doesn't reassure Artoria. Not exactly. Shiro keeps insisting they're a team, but she's increasingly wary of Sakura and Illya betraying her, and just keeping Shiro alive. Saber doesn't like being paranoid... But after the last war, how can she not be?

Eventually they battle it out with Archer and Rin. And they come to discover Archer is a future possibility of Shiro, bitter about being unable to fulfill his ideals, and bitter about being betrayed in life... Archer wanted to destroy Shiro to end the cycle, but it wasn't to be. Not when he was fighting 3 against 1... 4, if you count Shiro trying to throw himself into the ring. These revelations about Shiro aren't easy to swallow, though Artoria certainly understands sacrificing themselves for one's people...

Shiro's problem is that he wants to save everyone. Including his enemies. It's a lofty dream... Perhaps too lofty. At least on his own. While Artoria still seeks to have her wish granted, she also finds a stronger resolve to support Shiro and his dream. Because in him, she senses a similar noble spirit...

Alas, Gilgamesh rears his ugly head. He takes down Berserker, and kidnaps Illya. He informs them of the Grail's true nature, taunts them and challenges them to come and fight...

It's a lot for Saber to take in. The wish-granting cup that she's tried to win for two wars now... It's nothing but a corrupted abomination. And moreover, Gilgamesh remained behind in this world, and she had been unable to defeat him last time. After Shiro performs that ritual with Rin to obtain more magical power, Saber comes to the realization that Avalon is implanted within Shiro... And she deduces it was Kiritsugu's doing. Shiro gives it back to her, hoping it will be enough to overcome Gilgamesh...

And she does. Artoria emerges triumphant in this battle, just as Medusa defeats Lancer and Shiro defeats Kirei... And after rescuing Illya, they all resolve to destroy the Greater Grail. They don't have to fight each other anymore, just destroy the Grail...

Artoria manages it. And yet... even though she expected to fade away after accomplishing this final task, because Shiro had one Command Seal left... Through some miracle, the ensuing explosion of energy granted her a new mortal body. And the same was true for Medusa.

This wasn't the ending they were expecting... But Artoria thinks she can live with this outcome. She didn't save Britain from ruin... But she does have a second chance at life. Opportunities like this almost never come by...

The Future

Living in the modern age... takes some getting used to for Artoria. She got a taste of it in both of the Grail Wars she fought in, but she knows full well this new arrangement will be... longer lasting. And moreover, she and Medusa both lost their Heroic Spirit abilities. Artoria still has muscle memory, and can move relatively quickly... But she's no longer superhumanly strong.

... And that's alright. Artoria can tolerate being "just a human" again. She's not overseeing another kingdom, but she does have a treasured family in Shiro, Illya, Sakura, and Rin. Artoria is even formally introduced to Mitsuzuri, and they hit it off pretty well. Seeing Maiya again when she returns... makes Artoria feel conflicted, but she can tell the woman is looking out for Shiro and Illya, keeping Kiritsugu's enemies off their trails.

She obliges Rin's plan to take Shiro to London for a few years, believing it would be just like a vacation for the three of them... Except Rin doesn't think bringing Artoria along is a good idea. ... And Artoria has quite cross words to say about that, insisting she must stay by Shiro's side...

Eventually Artoria grudgingly acquiesces. It's pointed out that if the Clocktower ever found out that she used to be a Heroic Spirit, she'd be experimented on by mages in no time flat. It's all too tempting to visit her homeland... It's just not a good idea for Artoria to do so at this time.

At least Shiro promises to bring her there someday. ... So that's something.

Artoria keeps the house in order while Shiro's away, juggling the antics of Sakura, Illya, Mitsuzuri, and Taiga-sensei... Sure, Shiro and Rin graduated from high school, but there's no need to do away with the honorific.

When Shiro gets back... Artoria is glad he's home. More than words can describe. (人◕ω◕) Of Shiro's girls, she's definitely the de-facto leader. It's too troublesome to let any of the others take charge. Artoria-chan is very prim and proper, and rules will be followed... (人◕ω◕)*** Even though Sakura took Shiro's virginity... Artoria is never able to quite forgive her for that. (人◕ω◕)

Rin bearing the first children is also an affront to Artoria's honor, but... Artoria will happily take the children that Shiro plants in her womb. (人◕ω◕) As competitive as she can be, the former King of Knights must still set an example. ... Even if she's jealous and moping. (人◕ω◕)

It's fine~... The end goal is to ensure Shiro's happiness. And to help him save others. As former leader of the Knights of the Round Table, Artoria is pleased to have all that battle experience, to help Shiro in the most dire of situations.

Everything will be fine~! \(人◕ω◕)/ Shiro and Artoria will uphold each other's honor. They respect and admire each other. Truly a touching, heartfelt couple. (人◕ω◕) ... If Artoria views the other members of the harem as her new "subjects", that is her business. No one else's. (人◕ω◕)(人◕ω◕)(人◕ω◕)

#fate stay night #artoria pendragon #saber artoria #Shiro x Saber #Shiro x Artoria #Shiro harem

[therosefrontier]

TWST Five-Man Band

Something I was thinking about with @pencilofawesomeness a while back, partially inspired by Idia in book 6 giving the overblotters MMO classes, imagining what their roles in the classic Five-Man Band trope might be, if the overblot kiddos from the first five books were an adventuring team or something like that. Like, an AU in which for some reason, they’re together and they’re off on some fantasy quest or being vigilantes or doing a heist or living just another day as part of the local adventurer’s/mage’s guild. Something of the sort.

In my delineation of these roles, I am largely inspired by Overly Sarcastic Productions’ videos on the topic (link is to the first video in the series). I absolutely love their channel, and so, naturally, they are who I think about with stuff like this. So, without further ado...

LEADER: Vil 

—so naturally, this is a bit of a tough call since four out of the five members of this theoretical team are acting as leaders in canon, and one might as well be, and since it is a bit of a vague definition to begin with, but I feel that Vil may be the one who gravitates towards this role the most. He has a vested interest in the advancement, well-being, and excellence of the people under him, whether they want his interest or not (see Epel, and also all the NRC Tribe fun times). He just naturally acts as something between an instructor, an agent, and a parent, seeing to it that no one lags behind.

—He is the one who cares the most about image. He is the face of the team, the diplomatic one, the one who has it all together, more or less. Especially in the case of some vigilante or DnD party kind of action, he will actively try to paint their public image to be a positive one, so everyone sees them as the “heroes.” Of course, given his track record in canon, ten guesses as to how well that turns out. He blames Leona.

—Naturally, he’s going to get on the nerves of pretty much everybody on this team except maybe Riddle with his excessive standards he likes to subject everyone to, so he’s going to have to dial it down pretty early into this adventure to keep this ship from falling apart. At least, canonically, he is not completely allergic to apologizing. 

—However, he also is good at keeping a level head, most of the time. He’d be the one consistently giving orders to the rest of the team, keeping his own stress levels at bay. Which is great, as long as he doesn’t go, say, repressing his feelings into a box until one day he inevitably explodes. Sure that won’t happen :) 

—Also, he’s got a versatile skillset, probably, which tends to fit well into this role. He’s a skill type with a knack for potions, but he also can judo-flip a man no sweat. He fills the role of whatever part he has to play to get the job done.

LANCER: Leona

—by definition, a lancer acts as a foil to the leader, and I’d say Leona would be pretty much exactly that for Vil. Where Vil sees an emphasis on keeping up appearances, Leona simply does not care. Where Vil focuses on proper form, Leona focuses on practicality. He’s not the type to just roll with a plan that’s inefficient, or which ties their hands in some way. And he’s not about to put as much effort as Vil in his physical appearance, either. He focuses on getting the job done, which is, in a way, a lot like Vil! (Also, according to Idia, they’re both tanks, sooo...dual leadering?) But they will absolutely argue until the end of time on how they should go about it.

—like many a lancer, Leona actively pretends that he does not care about anyone here. He comes across as lazy, which is certainly not wrong, but he also will look out for everyone in subtle ways. Also, foes will be very ill-advised to underestimate him based on his deposition. He is very much a powerhouse, and he will not hesitate to step up to the plate when things go down. Plus, he has very keen senses and is mindful of his surroundings, besides also having good reflexes, which he will definitely use to protect his teammates when danger comes knocking (see, shielding Ruggie in a heartbeat from falling shattered glass, among other things). 

—on certain occasions, he could step up as leader for the team. He just usually chooses not to. Again, he acts like a loner. He wins the ‘most likely to up and leave the team one day because he got in a fight with someone’ (probably Vil) award. Classic lancer.

—people-smart in, naturally, the most aggravating of ways. He’ll be the one who, less than midway through some job, figures out that their client is actually some bad character who is definitely going to betray them later, so he will propose with a tired groan turning a whole 180 on their entire plan in spite of all the time and resources they already put into this and in spite of the fact that they probably need the money from this job. Cue more arguing with Vil, and also Azul.

POWERHOUSE: Jamil

(or as per the classic trope, the “big guy” role of the team, kind of, but “powerhouse” runs by a slightly different definition which I think fits him better. Leona and Vil are already the tanks; they got that covered)

—He’s the reliable one, or rather, the one that everyone relies on. He’s keeping this ship afloat by sheer stubborn will, against his better judgment that says he should have walked away from this circus act long ago. He keeps track of all of the little things and makes sure that everybody is fed and not doing anything dumb, while also being the one who ends up at the crux of every operation, trusted to keep a level head and not diverge from the plan on a whim or do anything too risky. And when things do go wrong, he steps in and fixes things like a pro. 

—On that note, he is also, indeed, quite strong. He has a ton of power with raw skill to back it up (also in game being the only one of these five to make us fight him in OB form twice since he yeeted us into next tomorrow the first time), even though he tends to be low-key about it. He’s this particular brand of powerhouse that gets habitually overlooked, in part by his own design. He doesn’t have the same commanding presence as Vil or Leona, or so he thinks. 

—so yeah, definitely going to be a problem later: he gets underappreciated. People just expect him to do things, and he does them. Doing things is in his instincts, born from his background of probably still being attached to the Asims in this AU. Whatever’s up with that. So yes, could absolutely snap one day. Maybe he’ll join Leona in running off and having a solo arc somewhere else before he inevitably crosses paths with everyone again and maybe bails them out of some situation in the process. Or maybe it would be more thematically impactful if he’s the one getting rescued for once... 

—However, all that aside, he probably would low-key enjoy the adventuring. He gets to actually go out and travel, and get a bit of the freedom that comes with being a rogue (which is what I’ve decided these guys are, at this point, much to Vil’s chagrin. They are absolutely operating on ‘rogue’ vibes, whatever they’re doing). He’s just...not exactly on vacation because he’s dealing with an increasingly high pile of problems along the way. He should have a vacation, though. He deserves it.

SMART GUY / THE BRAIN: Azul

—he takes on the smart guy role of being planner *supreme*. He involves himself the least in open fights out of the five, instead relying more on his wits to get through situations as if his life were a heavy Euro board game actually. He’s all about collecting as much data as possible to formulate strategies, and tricking making deals with people to get them to do things and cough up information. He has few qualms about using whatever means necessary to get what he wants. Also, he’s the one to actually pay attention to things like finances and the sustainable logistics of what they’re doing, probably alongside Jamil.

—that said, the theoretical team he belongs to here is actually quite adept at scheming overall, so it wouldn’t all fall to him to strategize. I’m imagining that his role here would be the gatherer of information as well as the manager of the playing board during whatever mission they’re on, seeing to it that everything and everyone is in place and that all of their foes and neutral characters alike are right where they need them to be. He’s the people-hacker. Did the randos trust him? Probably not. But he works with it anyways.

—so with that, he would definitely be prone to way too much stress if things don’t go as planned, which with these guys, is probably often. As much skill as they collectively have, I cannot imagine life treating these guys so kindly. Things will absolutely go wrong. And Azul is going to have to learn to roll with that. He’s also going to have to learn to stop trying to scam his own teammates.

—if the team needs to do reconnaissance work, I think that Azul and probably also Jamil would be the go-to ones for the job. The two of them argue a lot in general, but the two of them work way better together than either would care to admit.

—And lastly, Azul could fall into that sometimes smart-guy trope of being very much underestimated in a fight. Since he stays in the background, people assume that he is weak, and that is true to an extent, as he is certainly not athletic, but he is very strong, actually. He’ll crush your wrist with the grip strength of an octopus. Do not try him.

THE HEART: Riddle

—because his name is Rosehearts no, really, he’d be the heart, by the definition that he is the emotional center of the team. It’s because he’s the passionate one. Whatever he’s doing, he does it for its own sake, not necessarily for some specific self-serving goal. He has the determination to see things through to the end, because that’s the thing to do, regardless of whether or not the act is actually in his best interest. In this way, I think he’d be the least pragmatic of the team. Especially in the heat of the moment, he’s not out there running cost-benefit analyses on whether he should or shouldn’t. If he gets hit by a high-voltage paralyzing energy beam, he gets back up again and sets the whole field on fire like a maniac, before they strike him down yet again. He is absolutely the reckless one out of the five, which will certainly give some of the others grief, but also, in the sense of team dynamics, he balances them out, as the heart does. Sometimes, they need a little bit of reckless.

—But at the core of it, he sticks to his principles and has a strong moral code (the ‘moral compass’ brand of heart rather than one of the peacekeeping varieties, for sure). The heart is the emotional center because they have a strong conviction in why they’re doing what they’re doing, and that conviction spreads to those around them, becoming the reason why they’re choosing to stick together at all. In this case, it would definitely be more subtle, with perhaps no one, Riddle included, realizing that he has that kind of effect at all, but he’s just...very steadily always there. He’s consistent, in his resolve and in his quirks alike. However annoying those quirks may sometimes be, they all know what to expect from him, and that kind of stability could be very good for the team, again with balancing out the others.

—So, I said he’d do what he does for its own sake ultimately, but also, I could absolutely see him having some strong overarching personal mission driving him to be here at all. Maybe he has some task given to him by someone else to complete, like searching out an important artifact or getting a very important sword from point A to point B, or maybe something earth-shaking happened to him to get him to go rogue. Maybe in this AU, he was actually friends with the other four Heartslabyul peoples first, but something happened to them, and now he’s out on a mission to ‘get his card soldiers back’ because that’s the rules he cares about them. (Sorry this is just where my brain goes haha). There are many possibilities!

—On that end, there really could be so much conflict in that scenario. He abides by the rules religiously, but if he goes rogue, then he’s kind of...well...not doing that. He’ll try hard to stick to a very specific standard, even if it doesn’t make practical sense actually, and when that doesn’t work out for him or when other people don’t have interest in the same rules that he does, he goes into a rage. Maybe he gets to have some character development before the onset of this team-up so things don’t completely fall apart on day one, but still, issues to work through.

—And....all of that aside, he fits nicely into this role because the heart is traditionally often the ‘mage’ class type, or in other words, the glass cannon! Riddle has high power but a very poor constitution, naturally making him very reliant on his teammates, although he often does not particularly see it that way. When he gets his sights set on something, he’ll do it with or without them, and to an extent, he can handle himself, but he really is best off in a group.

++++++++++++++

Anyways that turned into a long post but saying all that to say, these five would absolutely be a disaster of a team, but I think they would also have the potentially to be pretty dang cool as a squad. I want to see them do a heist now. Which, maybe I will...? I’m writing this literally right before the release of book 6 part two on the English server, and I have a feeling that we’re about to actually see these guys work together maybe, so I’d be curious to see how well the headcanons hold up. So yeah, what do y’all think? Would you assign their roles differently? 

#twst #twisted wonderland #riddle rosehearts #leona kingscholar #Azul Ashengrotto #Jamil Viper #vil schoenheit #twst book 6 #twst book 6 spoilers #not really direct spoilers but I do reference it sooo #playing it safe #specifically referencing part one #curious to see how much material part 2 would add to this #but yeah somehow in the course of writing this I got a very specific vibe in my head #of these guys as rogues of some sort #and now I am stuck on it #I'm thinking of fanfic ideas help #but anyways this was fun #albeit took way too long to write #thought experiment #it's all about the dynamic #how they play into each other #which I find funny because it does differ from the typical a bit #in the most classic version the leader is more likely the plucky reckless hero #and the lancer is the morally dubious action guy #and the heart is getting them all to stop fighting #but in this case the heart is quite full of violence #and vil for all his talk is really just a tired dad half the time #and leona is also tired but in different ways #they're definitely all stuck in this adventure but they are too collectively stubborn to stop