If only there were Magical Ponies around; [action] OTA

[impossibilities]

[After seeing that notice about monsters, and ensuring her farm is secured for the moment along with all her produce, Grainne puts on some old clothes and sets off on an adventure.

This is just like old times, fighting skeletons on Quadratus! Exploring the blue ocean beaches of Pacifica. Was it Pacifica? It was that planet they had been kidnapped on anyway. Or was that another one?

Armed with only her knife, wits, a bag of food, and a great singing voice she marches out to see what might be done about those monsters.

The note said the Harvest Goddess had signed it, and she gave hints on how the monsters might be defeated...

Well, Grainne will see if her hunch is right.

So have one Servant(?) faffing about the mountains, looking for monsters to defeat with the powers of Friendship, Kindness, and Song. Plus about a dozen Monster Treats(TM).

This may get grim, Grainne is particularly rusty at Friendship.]

Comments

[impossibilities]

[Oh, that explains the hair. Grainne isn't unfamiliar with the more famous Greek stories, but she's far more personable than she might have expected? Perhaps Perseus belongs on her List of Obnoxious Heroes (the polite title for it). She can respect.] As it is you, Rider.

[Looking down at her clothes, Grainne looks slightly confused. What? It's practical.

The Grail-- least that is a relief. She won't have to explain about how she learned of it. A small tilt of the head, Grainne tapping her chin with a knuckle.]

You were able to do so? It has been something of a puzzle for us. [Though she has no doubt Waver will be able to dismantle it, somehow.] Tisn't easy finding much on the Grail Wars, at that.

[Don't mind her if she starts up the mountain again, she has a couple of monsters to befriend! She fully expects Rider will want to take a look, too, right?]

SORRY FOR THE WAIT!

[bookmobile]

[Good plan. Rider's enjoying, somewhat to her surprise, this casual encounter with another Servant that she was definitely not expecting today—but she did also come here to investigate, not just to chat. She follows, moving at a normal pace for as long as Grainne is; if she were scouting alone she'd be quick about it, but this isn't that kind of moment. Maybe if they catch the scent of something.

Perseus can definitely sit in the fuckboy corner with Fionn, though.]

As far as we know. One of the Masters managed it in the end. . . . He acted on behalf of my own Master, and I owe everything to him. It's a long story.

[impossibilities]

[A small glance back over her shoulder. Grainne notes Rider still calls them Masters; isn't their war over? She'd gotten used to the idea of relaxing such distinctions after all was said and done. Or perhaps she's just lucky hers had been more of a new age type.

Focusing back on finding any kind of trail for these poor beasts, Grainne uses it to cover up how nervous she really is.

For a Caster she's actually rather good at tracking through the forest.]

Who were the Masters of the Fifth? The usual three families?

[bookmobile]

[For a while, there's no sign of anything; Medusa follows along, looking at first for any indication of an animal trail. When nothing presents itself, she closes her eyes to focus on her other senses. She doesn't really need to see to navigate the world, and sometimes it can be distracting from other, less obvious cues. The further they get, though, the more there are some signs that maybe something large did come this way not too long ago . . . ]

That's right . . . I was summoned by the Matou family myself. The other two, along with Emiya Shirou, contributed to saving my Master, ending the war, and destroying the Grail.

[impossibilities]

[Grainne stops dead in her tracks, looking so confused it might be comical if it wasn't in the middle of the forest just when they picked up a scent.]

They ended the war? Wouldn't Old Man Matou have something to say about that? He's quite persistent. Did he finally manage to die? [Tohsaka, she could see since Waver was already working with her. She really couldn't see the Matous getting involved, unless... it was Sakura. Oh. Her heart hurts a little.]

Sakura is your Master, isn't she?

[And then;]

Emiya, that pompous, chauvinistic, neurotic idiot has a child? [Ugh.]

[bookmobile]

[Rider had still had her eyes closed, but opens them at that, which means catching sight of the flattened brush she might have missed otherwise. Good timing there. But that goes straight into the back of her mind to be dealt with in the very near future; Sakura's name coming up is all she can focus on as soon as it happens. Her eyes widen a little in surprise. Of course Sakura had been alive during the fourth war, and so it isn't unthinkable that Grainne knew her or of her, but the possibility hadn't occurred to Medusa at all.

The rest is also very interesting, but takes a temporary backseat to Sakura.]

—You know of Sakura? Yes. She is my Master. . . . Even now, in a life after the war, I remain at her side.

[And she's worried about not being there now. Even knowing there are time shenanigans here, even knowing everything's all right, the anxiety isn't entirely escapable.]

[impossibilities]

[The little Servant looks down, twining her fingers together and picking at her nails.

Know her? Grainne practically raised her. She had made a promise and perhaps it wasn't the best life in London, but it surely was better than the alternative.

Grainne shot into the dark in the hopes that perhaps it was some other 'she' that had come up associated with the Matou family since the Fourth War.

It makes her heart ache that isn't the case, but at least there were good people around her, if she's guessing right.]

We crossed paths.

[It's been years since Grainne encountered other Servants. Years since she really discussed any of this, the War, Sakura, and it had been eclipsed by her own demons when she did. There was a silence about it between her and her former Master now aside from how they might stop the Wars altogether; the distance of time and memory. Rider seems much more fresh out of the War.

Grainne decides she doesn't much like discussing what happened, even now with another Servant. Loki had tried to help, and she blames herself nothing came of it. Starhue Valley is supposed to be her moving on. Ironic it would be the place she encounters the past.]

Forgive me, Rider; these things are not comfortable memories for me.

[bookmobile]

I understand.

[Some deep-down part of her—maybe not even all that deep—wishes she could demand more of an answer than that, kick off an interrogation right here and now. It's only Sakura that she would feel that way about; any other topic wouldn't matter at all. But if it's Sakura, it's different. The urge, though, is easy to stamp out. Any answer she got wouldn't mean anything in terms of her own Master, she's quite certain . . . and it would be a quick end to a new relationship that she'd rather stay positive. The thought comes and goes, but she drops the subject with a quiet nod. It's not like there hadn't been others:]

As for Emiya, I don't know anything about his father except what little I've heard around the house when the subject comes up. I've certainly never heard him referred to that venomously . . . but, I wouldn't expect to . . .

[They all have blinders on when it comes to family. Rider knows that better than anyone.]

And yes, the Matou elder was killed.

[Thank fuck.]