Mamoru's eyes seemed to practically sparkle at both Berserker's agreement that she might be able to try and teach him swordplay and the fact that she clearly wanted to fight in the Arena. He had no reservations at all as he gave her a big thumbs up and practically vibrated with excitement.

"Do it do it do it doitdoitdoitdoit DO IT!~ Go forth and be awesome and show the others how cool you are!~ You should probably put on your disguise though, it'll be way more dramatic and cool! I'll try my best to remember it's you there though! Show the Arena your power, Guan-Jiejie!~"

---

As Lyubov completed the summoning, a sudden fanfare of brassy trumpets rang out from the center of the circle and a figure materialized drawing forth a shining silver sword as he announced himself!

"You have chosen well, O My Master! For none other stands before thee than the Greatest and Most Noble Knight in all of Britain, nay, all the world! Slayer of Giants, Savior of Princesses and Prodigy of the Round Table! No foe is Too large nor fortress too formidable for me to conquer! I am at thy service!

All of this probably would have been much more impressive if the figure introducing himself wasn't a boy even younger and shorter than Lyubov herself who looked like he was having trouble holding his rather ornate sword in the air like that in the 'heroic' pose he had adopted.

In fact, two seconds later he toppled over in a heap and grinned up at her from the floor instead.

"Alright me bird? Now I've done a proper job of introductions, got any good snacks?~ I'm 'ungry as a wolf I am!"

Ah, she wanted to help her, she really wanted to help her! Alice knew she shouldn't really talk to strangers, but this girl... She seemed like she knew this mage. She wasn't entirely sure how but something about her seemed strangely familiar. Maybe they'd met in a past life or something? Oh, but that wasn't important! What was important that she was going to help her find Dorothy! She and her Serv-

...Her Servant... Her Servant had a...

...What a wonderful hat she has! Is... Is that really a...

For a moment, Alice was entranced. No, surely it couldn't be... Did she really have a bird perched on top of her hat? How wonderfully whimsical that would be! Just like something out of a fairy tale! Alice knew all about that kind of thing, after all. And she was so small, even smaller than Alice herself... She looked so cute! Maybe after they found Dorothy she could invite her to a tea party. She looked Japanese, after all, and the Japanese did like tea... Unlike Dorothy. Dorothy was weird and liked coffee. And thought jelly was something you spread on toast. That was jam! Americans were so strange...

...Oh right, Dorothy! She had to find Dorothy!

"Ah, thank you, thank you! Alice lost Dorothy and... And..." The doll-like girl thought for a moment. When did she lose her again? Oh right... "There was.. A puppy! We saw a puppy near the park and... And Alice looked away for just a moment and then Dorothy was gone!"

Well, at least it seemed like she'd find Dorothy soon. Not only were the little bird-hatted Servant and her Master willing to help, but a kindly old gentleman had shown up too and expressed his will to help too! Turning to the man, Alice curtsied once more and gave him an angelic smile.

"Thank you, thank you! Alice is very thankful for your help too, sir!"

@VitaVitaAR
@RolePlayerRoxas
@clanjos

"Ah, senpai, I see you've already given up hope? Perfect~!" BB laughed, throwing the file off to somewhere offscreen before clapping her hands twice. "As for why I didn't just ask? Well, there's a few reasons, and for all you viewers out there who are just catching up, BB-chan will give you a fairly simple answer. First: Melt here knows exactly how I work, so she'd never cooperate willingly and might even work to irk me by telling you everything from the start, so why bother? Second: If I simply 'asked' for help, then I couldn't have you at my beck and call. It's simple, really; all you people march to and fro like little ants, and if I tried to pluck you out to do some work for me, you'd have the right to just ignore my honest cry for help. So... This was my conclusion. Simple, right?"

"But you're still not going to tell us about what your plans actually entail, are you? You never have, even when it was Ha—"

"Melt, I'm going to ask if you could shut up right there. Without your legs, it's not like you could even hope to scratch me where I am right now."

The sudden shift in BB's voice, coupled with her eyes turning blood red, caused Meltryllis to stop speaking despite her unerring pride. It was a soft spot for all of the Sakura Five (and BB), and likely the most likely to elicit such a response.

"So, in any case... Something might be happening tomorrow, so please, do keep and eye out and listen to my grand theme, okay, senpai~? BB-chan, signing off~!"

And with that, the screen flashed white before returning back to normal. Both Master and Servant seemed to stand by, dumbstruck at what had just transpired, but it was Meltryllis who broke the silence.

"Get up. I don't care about what sort of blackmail material she has on you, but there are better things to do than hide in an alleyway. I need information about this place before she throws us into the depths of insanity, and if you're not going to lead me then I'll happily throw these useless legs away and go back to normal to explore on my own. Am I clear?"

@VitaVitaAR

---

---

The words he had received from the King of Heroes had done nothing to lighten Lord El-Melloi II's mood; rather, the last words he said before the Lord got up and began to move the furniture only served to heighten his anxiety.

The piece of the King of Conqueror's cloak was still inside of his luggage, carefully packed away in a box meant to keep in in pristine condition. Fifteen years ago, he would have used it to meet once more with Rider, but the Grail's true nature and the war starting earlier than it should have was more than enough reason to refrain from doing so.

But to have the Servant who slew his King during the Fourth Holy Grail War simply tell him that his loyalty was enough... Well, what if he failed?

No, that wasn't an option here. if he failed, then he would die. If he attempted to use that cloak, he would die as well.

So the only option was to pray that a summoning ritual without any proper catalyst would do the job.

As Lord El-Melloi II began to methodically set up the summoning circle, Gray quietly moved off to the side, stopping next to Gilgamesh's apparent Master as she watched her mentor put everything in place.

"Er... Miss... Asakura, was it?" Gray asked, extending her hand towards the woman in front of her. "My name is Gray; as you may already know, I'm Lord El-Melloi II's assistant and a former student of his. I hope to get along well with you from here on out."

It didn't take much longer after introductions were had for the summoning circle in the middle of the room to be completed, and with whatever was missing shored up by Gilgamesh himself (an odd thing to see, considered how much fear he had sown into his heart), the summoning ritual began suit.

When the chant was complete and smoke filled the room, an all-too-familiar boisterous laughter filled the room.

"Oh, if it isn't the little boy again? It seems you've grown up properly. Still look as weak as a twig, though!" the larger-than-life Rider said, breaking through the cloud and laughing as he clapped El-Melloi II on the shoulder. "So, I take it you're my Master again?"

"...Yes, Rider. No, my king; it's great to see you again," he responded, half on the verge of tears as Iskander glanced around. It didn't take long, of course, for his eyes to fall on Gilgamesh (and, after a few more seconds, Gray) and for him to give a grand smile in return.

"Oh, what sort of chance meeting is this? The King of Heroes and the delusional gi—no, wait, my bad. Your hair and the way you hold yourself is far too different compared to that girl. In any case... You, Archer! Have you come to fight me again? Or shall we have a drink first, to celebrate my return to this world? I care not for the order, so long as it is done!"

"Loud as always, huh...?"
@KoL@Raineh Daze

The sudden appearance of a kindly old man offering his assistance filled the diminutive redhead with warm memories. Even without considering her memories, however, his offer of assistance was a welcome one. While he may not have been able to offer too much, another set of eyes was not at all lacking in use, and the act of looking for this little girl's Master was hardly a dangerous one. Indeed, he could freely offer whatever assistance he was able, and Benienma would happily accept it.

The bird on her hat tilted its head slightly and leaned forward, peering at the other little girl, as the Saber-class contemplated the scenario. If they had been together at the local Third District Park, then that meant that there hadn't been much time for Dorothy to get more lost. Additionally, if they saw a puppy in the park rather then simply wandering the streets, it likely belonged to someone. Servant or human, it didn't matter, the owner was likely in the park as well. Considering these likely facts, there was a simple conclusion that Benienma could make.

"If you were both playing with a puppy in the park," she began, "That means Dorothy-san is probably still in the park, possibly with the puppy's owner dechi. So, we'll start there dechi!"

With a smile towards the fluffy girl, Benienma nodded, before glancing up to her Master to be certain that the brunette felt this was a good course of action as well.

@Rin@RoleplayerRoxas@clanjos

---

As the conversation concluded, Nanako's shoulders sagged. BB's line of logic made sense. Cruel, purely logical sense, but sense none the less. She still didn't like it. If it was important, she would have tried to help regardless! But now the possibility of being blackmailed with... very private material was terrifying. What would her friends think of her? And besides... it was all so confusing. And the way that BB's eyes had turned red like that, what was that all about? It was kind of scary, in a different way then the blackmail threat. For all BB seemed to be cheerful and cutesy, she was also very threatening in a way. Just where was she, anyway? How had she been able to hack into her phone?

Meltryllis's voice managed to bring her out of her worried thoughts.

"... I'm... I'm not about to let that get me down," responded Nanako, with a weak, nervous laugh, "At least not right now. You needed someone to show you around the city, after all, and after I made you go through all that at the clinic..."

The brunette girl hesitated. She was trying not to show pity in her eyes. But Meltryllis was so small, without the use of her hands, without legs beneath her knee... She didn't want to upset her Servant, but she couldn't help but show that briefest moment of pity...

"... I don't want to go back on our agreement."

Nanako took a deep breath. Maybe she could find somewhere that Meltryllis would like... she needed that after an experience like that, right?

"Er... there's a lot of restaurants in the neighboring district, let's go there."

@PKMNB0Y

Hakuno smiled kindly to the young girl, who seemed a little all over the place. She was sure she'd caught the silver-haired child staring at Saber. Not that Hakuno could blame her, she was definitely very cu- no, it was the hat, wasn't it?
Another person had arrived to offer their assistance as well, which was a big help. And he didn't look obviously shady either, so that was a welcome plus. An extra pair of eyes looking for a displaced Master would certainly lessen the time to search. She gave a quiet word of thanks to the helpful stranger, and looked thoughtful as Alice tried to describe where she was last with her Master.

The park wasn't too far away, and it didn't sound like too much time had passed. Starting the search there was the best thing to do, and Dorothy was most likely conducting a frantic search of her own, so this could easily be resolved in a few moments, right? The brown-haired Master nodded at Benienma's similar assessment, and kindly spoke to Alice again as she straightened, "then we'll find Dorothy-san at the park. Let's go."

She offered her hand to the young Caster automatically. It was probably rude to treat a Servant like a child, but the thought never crossed Hakuno's mind, given Alice's mannerisms.

@Rin@VitaVitaAR@clanjos

-------------------



"...It would be difficult to fight without," Guan replied with a small chuckle. Indeed, as a mere phantom, unworthy of even a modicum of her father's might, it would be foolhardy to battle without her full attire. Not that she wouldn't give any fight her all - at the end of the day, she was summoned as Guan Yu,so no matter how unworthy of his name Berserker thought herself to be, it was her duty to uphold his status as the most powerful of warriors.

"I'll make my way down, then," Guan headed for the door, pausing to look back at her young Master with a smile, "when I win, shall we go out for ice-cream? I think I've developed something of a fondness for it."
Which was probably an understatement, given how many empty cartons the Servant had accrued in her short time summoned. It was fortunate the Berserker had martial arts to distract herself from them.

@Dblade26

The blonde girl stretched once outside and away from the day's lessons--and the annoying clean-up afterwards. It was strange how some actions to foster responsibility had managed to make their way to this place despite the normal antipathy any magus had to working with another person. Well, Laetitia had no such luck if she wanted to get anything done, and an education was an education.

She took a brief detour to change into casual clothing, then set out to find her Servant--not that it was really difficult to tell where Saber would be at this point. She had to do something during the day whilst Laetitia had lessons, and her skill set was rather limited for many things. Trying to persuade King Arthur to be a taxi driver, as amusing as it would be, wasn't the sort of discussion to make any progress... though it had been fun to try.

Fortunately, she'd found out pretty early how good the smaller blonde looked in a suit, and how unwittingly charming she could be. Since a particularly interestingly themed host club had been looking for employees at the time... well, Saber had gone along with it when Laetitia had made the point that she wasn't going to spend all of her money on extra food.

Maybe she'd get there before her shift ended, today.

@VitaVitaAR

It had been a surreal experience. To begin with, Saber had been vaguely aware of the existence of the business known as a 'host club'. A location in which food an drink was combined with handsome men catering to and talking to women. From what she understood, this provided a sense of satisfaction and importance for the women in question. Or, perhaps, they just enjoyed getting to talk to handsome men for a while. She had never experienced it directly, nor had she intended to. That is why she had been totally unprepared for the experience of becoming employed at one.

But the surreal nature of the experience didn't stop there. It wasn't simply that her Master had insisted on her employment there. That was only the beginning. The fact that it was also... well...

The fact that a Knights of the Round Table-themed Host Club existed in Fusang only made it even more surreal. They had immediately hired her to play the role of King Arthur, because, quite simply, that is who she was.

By this point, the strangeness of the scenario had become somewhat more mundane. The entire nature of this summoning, however, was an unusual one. The mass amount of leylines allowing for the summoning of Servants... surely, there was more to it than that. There was no Holy Grail here, no corrupted cup. That had long since been destroyed, by her own hand. At one point, perhaps, she would have been angered by being summoned for something so trivial as simple desire.

But the time when she desired the Holy Grail had come and passed. If someone wished for her sword, truly desired her assistance, she would not reject them.

This was the mindset that Arturia Pendragon, the King of Knights, had taken to.

That being said, she hadn't imagined this would include working in a host club.

Nor had she expected she would be quite so popular.

"Good day, my sweet gentleladies. I hope to see you again, but alas, my time here is at its end for today."

As she departed the table, Arturia was certain she heard a delighted squeal among the farewells. She did not precisely understand why her actions caused such a thing, but at least the women who came to the host club always seemed to enjoy it.

And... well... the fact that it granted her funds for use in the city's most lauded food service establishments was hardly unwelcome.

To think... this was a city in which she could once again speak to her knights. Arturia wasn't certain, still, she had the right to. She still had her regrets even if she no longer wished to erase her role in history. But in spite of that...

In spite of everything...

The fact that she could truly speak to them once more brought a feeling of warmth to her heart that she could not deny.

"Ah, Master."

Arturia noted the approach of her Master rather quickly as she began her preparations to leave the club.

"Your timing is excellent, my shift is at its end."

@Raineh Daze

Pity.

That was something that Meltryllis, above all else, would not accept. She would accept scorn, disgust, and hatred with open arms; it wasn't like those ugly human emotions mattered much to her. Silly things like affection and love did not matter if they were not reciprocated, and she had no intention of bestowing such treasures on people that didn't deserve them in her heart.

But pity was out of the question. To see her as someone worth pitying, someone who had less than them while she was perfectly content with how she lived her life? Had this been the Moon Cell, the Alter Ego wouldn't have hesitated in executing the girl on the spot for such disrespect. But with how BB was acting as she was now and the circumstances of this world as far as she could see, that was out of the question. This did not mean that Nanako's slight, however brief, was forgotten; no, it was something to be punished later. To push her away, rather than let her grow close enough to believe that she had the right to act in such a manner was the only natural course of action.

But that could come later.

"Don't remind me of that clinical place," scoffed Meltryllis, tapping her artificial foot on the floor as she stared coldly at Nanako. "Restaurants, then? What are you waiting for? Move yourself, unless you want me to make you. I'll happily oblige."

@VitaVitaAR

For a moment, Nanako was worried she had upset Meltryllis. Her gaze suddenly seemed even colder then it already had been. But... maybe that was just because she'd reminded the Alter Ego about their time at the clinic. Indeed, given what the short purple-haired girl proceeded to say, Nanako reassured herself that it had to be the case. For the moment, she tried to focus on anything but the threat of blackmail, and instead look ahead. She had to try and learn more about Meltryllis. She had to try and figure out what was even going on. That's what was most important.

But first, they had to stop at a restaurant.

Eventually, the brunette had settled on a fairly nice family restaurant. It was a chain, one that had only recently opened a location on Fusang(she couldn't imagine how such a process must have gone), but it was one of the better chains and probably one of the more expensive places she could afford. Especially after everything with the prosthetic legs.

Rather then going in and sitting down, however(Nanako wasn't sure that was a very good idea given Meltryllis's very insistent manner of dress, after all), Nanako instead obtained one of their menus, trying to hold it so the Alter Ego could read as well.

Asking her about BB and all of that... it could wait.

"So, um... do you see anything that looks good?"

@PKMNB0Y

“Yeah. I can’t hide anything from you, can I? Hehe,” Mordred replied to her Master before letting out a terse laugh. Of course there were things that she didn’t tell Seria, most of them because her Master never asked, but it seemed that whenever something important was going on, she couldn’t keep her intentions hidden for long.

“Wa— wait! You mean in like… going with you right now? I— I don’t know if I could do something like that. I mean, if Master doesn’t have anything against that I may, but… wouldn’t I be in the way or anything like this?” Mordred said in a nervous way, after Lancelot’s offering caught her completely by surprise.


“So, it’s just like I was thinking. This kind of chance encounter. I wonder how many lifetimes I will have to wait before seeing it happen again?” Hinami said to herself as she observed the events unfolding before her. This was truly a miracle, and she couldn’t help but wonder if the simple fact that she was there played a part in this.

Nevertheless, such thoughts would be dispelled when El-Melloi’s youngish-looking assistant came to her side, as if she were trying to avoid getting caught in whatever was about to happen between her mentor, and the duo of ancient kings. “Well, despite the unlikely circumstances, I feel like this is a great first meeting. Anyway, I’m Hinami Asakura, or at least I guess that you can call that at the moment. Also, the sentiment is mutual,” Hinami said, shaking Gray’s hand after she introduced herself.

“By the way, can I ask what brought the two of you to this place?” she asked without really paying any particular to the other three occupants of the room and their personal business with one another. Not that it was an easy task to accomplish given Iskandar’s near lack of an indoor voice, but she tried to nonetheless.

While Othis understood the reason why Fusang’s Administrative Council and Chaldea requested that the access terminal for the city’s spiritron computer would be built in the main hall of a place such as this ‘Babylonia Tower’, as a monument to the greatness of their achievements, she couldn’t help but feel that such a choice was wasteful. What kind of advancement could they achieve when their main laboratory was in plain sight of the public, separated only by a tall glass tower that rose within the vacant core of the city’s center power?

“Even so, as long as the core is in a safe place deep under the city, our secrets will remain our own,” Othis said to herself as she looked at her desk. The number of requests from members of the mundane scientific community that asked to be able to use Fusang’s new supercomputer before it was even given an official name was astonishing and it only grew by the day. Thankfully, most of them wanted to use it for number plain number crunching. It wouldn’t take even a day to process all of these requests once the machine became operational.

At least Othis could take her job as a representative of the Institute slowly. There were no pressing matters to solve at the moment, which actually meant that she had time to go out and look for a place to have a nice coffee and perhaps something to eat.

It wouldn’t take long for her to find a nice looking place not that far away from the tower. It looked like a nice, family-oriented establishment. Though, Othis found herself wondering why was it that some of the patrons chose to not sit at a table. “Perhaps, this is what people are thinking about when they talk about fast food?” she thought out loud as she looked toward the duo, showing the kind of completely alien thoughts that can only come out of the mind of someone who lived their whole life under a rock… literally.

Lyubov was elated. She'd done it! She'd completed a summoning! This was the biggest ritual she'd ever done by herself, and she couldn't wait to tell her family. As she recovered her sight, she wondered what she had summoned. An ancient hero of divine descent? Maybe a dashing adventurer or noble pirate! Perhaps even a beast half-forgotten by the passage of time.

...aaaaand it was a boy younger than her. Had she left a door open? She was so flabbergasted she could only blink and point the boy to the modest collection of fruit in the kitchen before she started a quaruple-check on her summoning circle. It was still without error, but she'd probably be stuck cleaning it up herself, which was going to be awful. She looked over her shoulder, and decided to start asking questions in her thick Slavic accent.

"My name is Lyubov, you are? And are you not very small for knight?"

---

Well, that wasn't a lot of information to go on. Ideally Lupin would ask for a description, but he needed to test his new information network. It was surprisingly easy to find informants, even if accomplices were a bit more difficult.

"Awright. I'm gonna go ask some folks I know 'round the pahk, you kids sit tight."

The elderly man headed off with a bit of spring in his step, heading around the park area to ask his informants.

At a hot dog stand, he met up with a burly blonde Swede in a sweater with a big bushy beard. A viking Berserker, and surprisingly soft spoken. Apparently, he'd been a lawyer in life. He and the old man would be playing cards later tonight, but next week the old man was expecting a visit from his grandchildren. Of course, Lupin was going to be scouting the Space Elevator that night as a way to knock off the rust.

At a coffee cart, an American mage girl. She'd managed to summon some kind of bear. Lupin didn't question it, her coffee was impeccable and she was pleasant company. Indeed, she was already asking him about the grandchildren and offering a free cup for the road, though he had to politely turn her down. A shame he hadn't met her out of disguise yet.

In a square where many buskers came to make a buck, a Greek with an unkempt beard lay on a bench, scratching his stomach through his rumpled shirt. Despite his loathsome hygiene, the man was good enough company, and seemed to be an excellent judge of character.

After gathering what information he could in the park, Lupin set off in search of this "Dorothy" girl, knowing he wasn't likely to turn up much with the information given. Still, these things usually had a way of working out.

While the purple-haired Servant had expected a lack of finesse when her Master had said 'restaurants', she hadn't expected to be brought to something as simple and blase as a chain restaurant. Not like she had ever actually eaten any proper food in the Moon Cell, of course, but a place like this was not somewhere she had expected to have her first meal. Ever.

"Anything I would like?" she parroted, glancing over the menu with an indifferent gaze, silently flipping through what was present before her eyes finally stopped. "Then this. There should be no issues if it's something this simple, correct?"

It was a fruit and yogurt parfait that Melt's oversized sleeve was now pointing at, and it seemed fairly obvious that it was that or nothing given her tone. It wasn't as if she cared about whether or not it had to be eaten here, though; if anything, being unreasonable was simply her way of coping for the moment... And if her Master caved one way or another, she had no reason to complain.

@VitaVitaAR

"Oh, the parfait?"

To be honest, it was a little surprising that Meltryllis had gone for something sweet, a dessert, for her very first meal in this world. Then again, maybe it was precisely what she needed? It was difficult to make any sort of judgement like that, though, so Nanako simply accepted it. If it had even the slightest chance of getting her new Servant in a better mood, at least until they both tried to figure out just what was going on, then it seemed like it was a good idea.

"That should be fine, eh-heh," Nanako continued, with a bit of a nervous laugh. At this point she had spent more money then she'd expected for the whole week, let alone the day, but thus far it was worth it and ideally it would continue to be so. It was hard not to wonder about just what an Alter Ego was, just what the Moon Cell was, and who BB was... but that could wait until Meltryllis seemed to be in a better mood then she was at the moment.

For now, it was probably for the best just to focus on their food, rather than anything else.

@PKMNB0Y@KoL

Othis turned her attention away from the duo she had been observing and ordered a coffee as well as something that the menu mentioned as Fusang City’s exclusive: Bunyan Blueberry Pancakes. She didn’t know what that could be, but since it was an exclusive to this city, it couldn’t be bad, could it?

Even as she found a table to sit and wait for her order, Othis couldn’t help but keep observing those strangers. She could deduce that the taller girl was a Magus, an average one, but still a Magus. However, her purple-haired companion — which seemed to be the source of most of the mage’s apparent distress — was certainly a Servant. “Or at least she’s something like one. Even though she has not been on any of TRI HERMES calculations. I wonder what that means?” Othis said to herself before drinking some of her coffee.

After making up her mind — and while still waiting for her pancakes — Othis approached the duo, raising her hand slightly to call for their attention before saying in her low, completely deadpan voice, “Apologies for interrupting. I’m Othianne Phorensia Obberhausen, an Alchemist from Atlas overseeing the construction of this city’s Spiritron Computer, temporarily named 3x3 HERMES. I couldn’t help but notice that your companion is a very unique Servant who’s not foreseen in any of TRI-HERMES’ predicted scenarios. If it’s not going to impose on any of you, could you allow me to analyze her data? As long as she agrees, of course.” Just as she finished asking her question, a waitress came to her table, bringing a plate with a literal mountain of pancakes.

Would Othis even be able to finish it on her own?

Mamoru got a big grin on his face, not only at the idea of Berserker facing off against some really strong Servants, but definitely at the idea of ice cream afterwards!

"Yeah, let's do it! It'll be a celebration of your victory in the Arena!"

He paused and reflected for a second. It was definitely possible for Guan Yu to lose. After all, they were a newbie pairing and he hadn't really tested her in battle too much before this. Oh well. If they lost, the ice cream would be a consolation prize still.

"Go out there and kick butt, for ice cream!"

---

The boy hopped up from his tangle of limbs and fancy clothes on the floor and grinned at the girl, who looked to be only a few years older than him.

"Too small to be a knight?! I have no idea what you're talking about. I'll have you know that I routinely beat enemies ten, no, one hundred times my own size without even breaking a sweat!" He seemed to blink out of existence and reappear next to the fruit bowl, grabbing an apple and munching down on it with gusto.

"Mmn! You jush dunno wha' ya deali' wiff, luchi o' wi...nom! lucking out with a super strong and noble knight like me! Whatever the ambitions are that drove you to summon a Servant, I'm the one who'll make 'em come true easy-peasy, ya got it?"

The boy did his best to pose heroically again, and even succeeded in not falling over for once.

With a curt nod, the purple-haired Servant crossed her arms as her Master ordered the parfait. Seeing as how the waitress soon directed them both to a table, it seemed to Meltryllis as if she would have to remain at the restaurant to eat. While had expected such an outcome, it wasn't particularly one that she was looking forward to; after all, this was technically her first time eating anything without simply melting it down and absorbing it. Privacy would have been preferable, all things considered, but given that she was bound to a Master now, that wasn't exactly a possibility.

Leaning against one hand, elbow on the the table, Meltryllis quietly stared out the nearby window in mild annoyance as she waited. To go from the insanity of the Far Side of the Moon to some random nonexistent city on Earth was one thing, but to be tied to a Master that was both weak-willed and clueless... That was honestly more irritating than BB's blackmail and baiting. The qualms that she had with said Master's reaction after learning about how her body was... That, in all honesty, was what angered her. She was proud of how her body was, despite its shortcomings, and here she was with the gall to act as if it was something to be pitied.

Disgusting.

Meltryllis' train of thought soon paused, however, as one of the other patrons of the restaurant came over to their table and struck up a conversation. Though unsure of how her Master might parse all of the information that the girl was saying, Melt herself was more than capable of giving a coherent response.

"An Atlas alchemist, hm? So long as you don't attempt to poke at my SG, I don't particularly mind," she said, lifting her head off of her hand before giving the girl a quick once-over. "Actually, speaking of spiritron particles, does the concept of spiritron hacking even exist in this era? I would prefer having access to code casts for boosts, if at all possible, but if they don't exist then I believe I'll simply have to work around the issue instead."

The giant tower of massive pancakes that was soon plopped onto the alchemist's table did cause her to pause, however, and take a moment to assess if the person in front of them wasn't secretly some sort of black hole given human form.

@KoL@VitaVitaAR

Making her own, much less expensive order after sitting down at the table, Nanako took a deep breath. Ah... trying to make friends with her Servant really hadn't gone well. And on top of that, everything had gotten so much more complicated so quickly... to think, all of this resulted from her skipping class today. But she didn't regret summoning Meltryllis, and she didn't have any intention of just giving up. She'd forge a good relationship with the small purple-haired girl, and she'd learn just what was going on! That was her path forward!

With her newfound determination, Nanako felt somewhat less distressed, when another girl approached the table. Immediately, she introduced herself as an alchemist from Atlas, which was a bit of a surprise. Nanako didn't know that much of the secretive organization, but she was aware they were providing assistance with the complex systems involved in Fusang's very nature. She simply never expected she'd meet any of their agents. However, it was what she said that was the most important.

It wasn't easy to guess that Meltryllis wasn't a normal Servant. Nothing about her corresponded to any legend that Nanako was aware of(and she'd done her research before summoning!) that meant that she was some sort of unknown factor. It was a lot of information to parse at once, and Nanako wasn't familiar with all of it, but she was at least aware of spiritons on some level. They were a sort of quantum particle with relation to Servants and their manifestation. They were also related to the substance of the soul. Her lessons in magecraft weren't entirely related to them, but it did at least feel like something important. They'd been mentioned in a lecture, once, as well.

"... I'm glad that Melt-san is willing to be analyzed, because... to be honest, I want to know more, too," Nanako said, finally, scratching the back of her head. She was sure it was strange for a Master not to have any awareness of the identity of their own Servant. Then again, this was a strange situation to start with. "So I'd like to know anything you can find out.

Spiritron hacking, however, was something she'd never heard of before.

"... Er, I can't do that, Melt-san," the brunette added, "I'm not even sure what spiritron hacking is... but I can at least cast some spells that might be able to give you a boost when you need it!"

@PKMNB0Y@KoL

Ah, she'd gotten here before Saber had changed out of her working outfit--and been noticed quickly, too. Having so much height on your Servant could be pretty convenient for being identified. Just think of how much more problematic it would be in this city if all of the tall historical figures got paired with someone small and easily lost in a crowd. "Help, I've lost my Master and don't know where to find him!"

Though laughing at history's greatest heroes was fun.

As usual, the actual clients of the host club were sending loving glances Saber's way... well, she knew exactly what to do about that. The taller magus leant down, very obviously kissing Saber's cheek--then standing up and winking at the girls. No doubt they'd try and rip her apart if they got over here, so Laetitia wrapped one arm around the shorter blonde's and dragged her along. She looked good in a suit, no sense changing.

"You were going to meet Lancelot today, weren't you?"

---

"Not at all," the other knight answered, starting to smile, "We had planned to watch Sir Gawain's progress in the competitions but Sigurd has forced upon us a change of plans."

Presumably, those plans would still be something that would make use of the mountain of snacks he had purchased. Something that could involve Masters, too, since it was unlikely that Arturia's Master was going to just disappear when she could find out more about the Round Table...

Though now it might involve a bit more preventing a fight. It was probably better that another person was around when Arturia and Mordred met again.

---

If Hinami was wishing that at least one of the Servants would be quieter, she was going to be even more disappointed by Gilgamesh's laughing response to Iskandar's proposing a fight. After all, what point would there be in that encounter? It would end exactly as the first fight had. It was foolish to think that he would have any interest in a fight.

Though his interest had been in Waver's loyalty rather than the Rider himself, he still had business with the King of Conquerors. "There is a bar in this city that serves passable drinks, but know this: my position remains unchanged. Any attempt at conquest must first go through me.

"Though you will keep searching for incarnation anyway?"

For a few moments, Arturia was left in confusion as her Master approached her without responding to her greeting. It only became clear what she intended when Laetitia proceeded to lean down and plant a kiss upon the blonde knight's cheek. Almost immediately, the Saber-class Servant flushed, her mouth opening and closing several times as she attempted to process what had just happened, unable to resist when her arm was suddenly grasped by the taller girl and she was pulled away. Why... why had that just happened? Why had it occurred in public, where others could see? She couldn't help but notice some of the women who attended the club staring daggers at her as she half-stumbled behind her Master.

Arturia was so caught up in what had happened, cheeks still colored with embarrassment, that she had not fully processed what her Master was saying for several moments.

The mood shifted quickly when it did.

Lancelot.

Today she was going to meet Lancelot.

It was impossible not to remember what had occurred at the closing of the Fourth Holy Grail War. She could not help but blame herself for the miserable condition that one of her knights had been brought to, to be summoned as Berserker. And yet... she also could not help her desire to truly speak with him once more.

"... Yes, Master, I... I wish to speak with Sir Lancelot once more."

The short girl nodded, firmly.

@Raineh Daze