@KoL: Idea for that, actually. When a situation seems too dire, Atalanta gets a burst of speed/energy for a bit. Adrenaline rush, basically. Except better because Servant. Seems more fitting for a 'last spurt' and all that. I think. I wouldn't say it puts Agility to EX or anything like that, but... idk, maybe just let her do stuff faster and not just move faster.
A calm breeze blew over the temple as the moonlit night moved along, ever so slowly. Behind the building, a small garden had been grown; though carefully pruned and well-kept, the plants were not the most important thing about it. Rather, the large lake, shimmering under the starry sky in all of its glory, was the centerpiece for this beautiful scene. But what stood out on this particular night, this moonless night, was a small boat unsteadily rocking in the center. Two people, a young woman dressed in a shrine maiden's garb and a balding monk, sat there silently. Though the waves shook them every so often, their balance remained quite intact. After what felt like an eternity of silence, the monk began to speak.
"Are you sure that your visions speak the truth? We have been able to keep this land safe for generations, but for you, the diviner of fate, to claim that we would fail--" "My abilities are absolute, my teacher. You should know as well as I do that nothing else can be done to stop this," the woman curtly responded, procuring a small lotus flower bud, glowing dimly under the stars, from her sleeves. "The Grandmaster, upon hearing my words, gave me this plant and told me to release it here. You were there, after all; the look on his face should have told you everything."
The monk bit his lip as he watched his companion release the flower. It floated on the lake's ever-moving yet crystal clear water for a few moments before slowly coming to a halt a few feet away, steadily bobbing away.
"Let us move away for the moment."
As the old monk began to row his way back, he noticed the flower slowly growing larger, taking root in the water beneath itself but never truly blooming. In fascination, his motion slowed down, and eventually he was transfixed by the sight of a giant purple lotus bud.
"...It's beginning," the woman said, breaking the monk from his temporary stupor. "Beginning? What's beginning?" the monk asked warily, though the woman said no more as she gestured towards the lotus.
Ever so slowly, even without the shining moonlight to feed it, the flower began to bloom. Layer by layer, the petals unfurled, revealing a vast array of intricate markings and symbols patterned on each of them. The two people watched in quiet awe as the last of the petals spread out, releasing a small glowing orb that seemed to spin in the air as it floated higher and higher into the sky. Just when it moved far enough to be mistaken for another star in the night, though, the orb expanded two, three, four more times before exploding into dust. The shining material scattered all over the lotus, causing the array of characters on the flower to glow. The light seemed to pulsate from this for who knew how long, until finally a large beam of light finally erupted from the center of the plant, firing off into the night sky.
The monk turned towards his companion in shock, expecting her to have a similar reaction to the incident as he had, but all he noticed was a bit of solemn nodding.
"And now... We wait."
Meanwhile, In Another World...
It was an abnormally cool day in Tokyo, given how it was still the middle of summer. Though there were no cicadas crying out in the city streets, the words of people speaking to one another in Japanese mingled and floated around, giving the place its usual air of hectic hubbub. Of course, since it was the summer, many people from across the world--students or otherwise--took the time to visit the nation. A group of such tourists was, of course, casually strolling about, taking in the sights and chattering between themselves in English. Most of the goods they had bought were back in their hotel rooms, and with empty hands the group decided to figure out where to go next while wandering around. It wasn't the soundest of plans, mind you, but they had time to kill before dinner.
"What about Kinkaku-ji? I heard that place is pretty cool." "You idiot, that's in Kyoto!" "But a temple does sound pretty cool. Isn't there..." "Yeah, Sensou-ji. You know, the one next to Asakusa Shrine? Am I the only one who read the itinerary?" "Who cares about that, let's check the place out! It's not far from here, if my phone isn't lying..."
Continuing to banter with one another, the small group began to make their way over, one step at a time.
Only when they arrived at their location did they realize that the phone had, in fact, been wrong all along.
"...Nope. Your phone's wrong. Again." "Oh for the love of--oh, whatever, it's still a temple. Looks pretty old; wanna check the place out anyways?" "Uh... Sure, I guess?"
Without much more debate, the tourists walked closer to the building, unaware of the strange markings demarcating the boundary between inside of it and outside of it. Only when it began to glow, however, did they realize something was amiss.
But not a moment later, the light grew too bright for them to process, and they vanished. Soon after, the temple began to fade away, as if it was a mirage, leaving another city skyscraper in its wake. So, without further ado, this RP with a really long light novel-esque Japanese name! If you're in here, you're well aware of the context by now, but I guess I should put it up for the sake of putting it up. Your character (and a few friends) went to Japan during their summer break and got warped to another world! Oh no! Except... The usual shenanigans. Because thanks Japan, you silly little hotspot of magical phenomena that threaten to abduct the entire goddamn teenage population into alternate worlds and giving them stupid cheats.
So. Right. As said before, you know the deal by now. Form's down there. Oh, and as I've noted in the title: Invite. Only. You know who you are and aren't. =3=;;
@KoL: Yeah, uh... I'm pretty sure that's not how Aesthetics of the Last Spurt works. I thought it was more a thing of speed, and when paired against brute strength that just keeps going up... Plus the giant gap in parameters and the rank of the skill in question...
@Beloss: Should I have assumed that Sinfjotli would've taken his seat, bantered, and gotten his ass beat at arm wrestling last post, or do you wanna do the honors? :D
"The Berserkers, huh...?" the Enforcer mused as he looked at the two Servants in question. "Well, I can't deny that they're certainly... Physically imposing and a tad rowdy, for sure, but I'm not seeing much else yet. Raw physical strength isn't always the solution to problems, though, but... Hm..."
His Servant's mention of Meleager, though, caused Keisuke to pause momentarily as he processed the name in his mind. Meleager, Meleager...
"Wait, wasn't that the guy who killed his relatives to give the pelt of that demon boar thing to Atalanta?"
Though mythology wasn't any particular strong suit of his, once the call had come in for him to travel out here one of his colleagues had tossed him a few books and patted him on the back. He hadn't made much headway by now, though; Ovid's Metamorphoses was really not his style, but it was the only one he had managed to read, so the information was at least somewhat fresh in his mind. Hopefully, that comparison wasn't anything like an ill omen. Was it supposed to be a compliment? ... Probably?
"Er... Yeah, sure. Meleager. Well, if I've said it twice now, I certainly don't think I have to say it a third," he said with a shrug. The memory of the piece, though, finally gave some reason behind his Servant's ears and tail. Turned into a lion by the gods. Right.
Gods were pretty weird with their justice, weren't they?
Atalanta's sudden declaration of a competition caused him to almost choke of the last bit of rice in his mouth, though. With a few coughs and a few moments of pounding on his chest with his fist, Keisuke turned to look between Atalanta and the two Berserkers.
"...Geez. Hope this ain't gonna end with a giant mess to clean up. Staff are never happy with giant messes after meals," he muttered under his breath as he slowly completed his meal. 'bout damn time, too.
Sakata Kintoki
"Uh huh. Uh huh. Aight, gotcha," Kintoki said, nodding his head in understanding... Or, well, what he assumed to be understanding. "So. Big bad incident. You're here to make sure things don't go 'kaboom' on us, then help fix that mess. Or is it 'messes'? Well, whatever. Point is, though, there's a lotta people here, which means that there's gotta be a lotta stuff to stop, right?"
It was a really big generalization, granted, but for Kintoki it was a good enough explanation to get the gist of everything. The only problem was probably the fact that he didn't know any specifics, but he could leave that to his Master to deal with if the need ever arose. It was then, though, that he heard someone call out to him from somewhere not within arm's reach. Which meant they were at LEAST talking above everyone else. Which meant... Probably something to listen to, right?
"Hm? A competition? Athletics?" Kintoki asked, perking up as he heard the cat-eared Servant across the room, his head turning to face the source with a single eyebrow raised. His eyes were still covered by his shades, granted, but the curious smile painted on his face was information enough to know that his attention was caught. The call of another Servant caused the golden Berserker to turn once more, somewhat amused by the boasting coming from over there.
"You kiddin' me? There's a reason this guy's got GOLD written all over him!" he yelled back, getting out of his seat before realizing that his Master hadn't authorized any of this.
Until she did, of course. Oh MAN, was she a Master with a heart of gold or what? ... Well, like, that'd be cool and all, but it was more like... Well, half stone and half gold? Gold ore? Eh, good enough.
With that grin from earlier now turning into a large smile showing off his pearly whites, Kintoki cracked his knuckles and his neck before casually strolling to the center of the room. He was aware that any actual wrestling might cause some problems (namely, damage to the food still around the area... And maybe the floor. And the furniture. And the bystanders, probably), and thus thought for a moment before pulling an empty table to the space in front of himself, dragging along two chairs in the process. Turning to the Berserker who had called him out rather than the catgirl off to the side, Kintoki took his seat and motioned towards his opponent to take the one opposite his own.
"Arm wrestling. I ain't messing with the food by doing anything serious, so worst comes to worst, we'll just break the table. That golden with ya?"
Though he remained rather humble compared to the other Berserker, Kintoki was still quite confident in his own abilities. He had long since learned not to judge a book by its cover, though, if his escapades on Mt. Ooe were anything to go by.
The other Berserker swaggered on over to the other side of the table and took the seat for him, and thus the stage was set. Kintoki smiled as he and the other Berserker locked arms, elbows planted firmly on the table.
"Name's Kintoki, by the way. On the count of three, we go, aight?"
The Japanese Berserker counted down slowly, which was strange considering his mannerisms, but once he had shouted 'go!', both men seemed to tense up as they braced themselves.
It didn't last long, quite frankly. It only took a few seconds for Kintoki to gain momentum and a few more after that for him to go the rest of the way. Luckily, the table didn't break, but it at least showed the difference in strength between the two.
"Phew! That was fun!" Kintoki shouted, pumping his other arm in the air in victory.
@Beloss: More or less on the nose there. His strength goes really high up on the charts, but he doesn't have the rest of his stats anywhere near Herc's, though. ME only procs off of damage and at random, though, so it's not as strong. Still pretty damn notable.
Will post either later tonight or tomorrow. Got some loose ends to tie up.
On a less related but slightly relevant note: It's Nasu's birthday today. Cool.
We could also phase EMIYA out of existence and just drop him off the list of owned chars given how much of a mess it became with people dropping out so soon =3=;;
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