towerofjamjars | Morning After with bonus awkward roommates!

[It's the grumbling that slowly gets her to wake up. That is moment when her senses begin to pick up the sickly smell--for lack of a better word--of the taint surrounding Avenger and Arturia opens her eyes, mouth hanging as she stares at him before she sits up.

There's actually a blush on her face and she turns away from him, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. Her hands go to her hair to fix it more to distract herself than anything.]

My apologies, Avenger. I thought Shirou would have woken me up before sunset.

[Discomfort discomfort discomfort. Though it's remedied a little by knowing Saber is probably about as three times as uncomfortable about this as he is,which makes it relatively bearable and by her letting go of him. Avenger grumpily hunches inward a little, blinking sleep out of his eyes.]

Eh, apparently, the idiot didn't think to.

[Stupid Shirou. Then he follows suit, hoping over the end of the bed onto the floor and landing on his feet, stretching, arms over his head. Then he glances over at her, catching the flush on her face.]

... What's with the red face?

[She's embarrassed by the thought of having curled up like that with Shirou. Especially when she's doing her damnedest not to be like that with him ever again.]

It's nothing.

[Then again, she shouldn't be surprised he hadn't woken her up. Shirou could be too considerate sometimes and had likely fallen asleep himself.]

Again, I apologize for the inconvenience. I shall be on my way.

[He smiled immaturely, like a child relishing an opening.]

Bet he thought you looked cute when you're asleep.

[He walks around her and bending down, flips open the lid and starts rummaging around inside the trunk at the foot of the bed for his red cloak and wrappings, things more comfortable to him. The loose pajamas felt itchy on his dark skin.]

Uh-huh. If you're planning on staying the night again later on, give me a heads' up before it, 'kay?

[Hopefully he is relishing his opening greatly, as Arturia is going even redder despite how straight a face she's keeping while she finishes straightening out her bow.]

Whether he thinks that or not does not matter. [She turns to him as he looks through his trunk for his wrappings.]

I shall have to strive to make sure it does not happen again. I had no intentions of staying the night in the first place. Again, I apologize for this happening.

[He grabs hold of his red mantle, dull red and as tattered-looking as ever, and pulls it out of the trunk. Angra smooths out most of the wrinkles, then drapes it over the edge of the chest before returning to looking for his other pieces of wrappings.]

Matters to you, doesn't it? That counts.

[He find his black bandages, a fistful of them. That done, he plops down his rear on the floor in front of the trunk to roll up the pantlegs of the pajamas to his knees, and begins wrapping them tightly around his right foot. Without looking up;]

Aw, maybe the King of Knights is lonely because nobody shares her bed.

[That hits a cord in her that she doubts Avenger realizes he's struck.

Arturia's lonely. She's been lonely for a very long time now, ever since she first took up the sword and realized what it truly meant to be a king. Then, in the Fifth Grail War, she'd briefly known what it was to have companionship and affection in such a manner. Something she desperately missed even if she knew she had to keep her distance from Shirou here.

Maybe that's why she kept coming close to him, despite how much she guarded her heart. Arturia gives Avenger a hard look and her tone is on edge as she tells him:]

That is not any of your business.

[Even though that's why she slept with Shirou in the very literal sense in the first place.]

[He winds the black bandages around his foot, leaving his toes bare and continuing up from there to his ankle. The cloth was durable and hard to rip, protection from sharp stones and dog shit. Once Avenger finishes with his right foot, he picks up another long, dark ribbon and starts wrapping it around his left foot. Laughingly;]

It's not? [He looks over at her, seeing the hardness in her eyes and the cut to her tone of voice. His mouth curls.]

Hah, I'm right. You're lonely. Guess having an empty bed doesn't help, does it?

[Once she quits with hanging around someone she knows is a fake, he'll let it go and consider it 'not his business.']

[It's pretty unhealthy, isn't it? Avenger better be glad she's been doing her damnedest not to mix up her feelings, but it's hard when Shirou is right there being so kind to her. Or, well, an illusion of Shirou. She knows it's not fair to any of the three of them she keeps being around him, that she lets herself be close to Shirou when even Shirou knows what's going on. Or, well, the illusion of Shirou.

If she was smart, she would have avoided him even before she knew he was not truly Shirou in any way. Yet here she was, being caught red-handed clinging to an illusion.]

No, it does not.

[She admits it in an almost defeated tone only because Avenger is the last person she should attempt lying to when she's finally becoming aware of the uncomfortable truth. It isn't fair to take advantage of his transformation like this.

Yet why does she keep doing it when she should know better?]

[He is always glad for something that lessens the chance of her lopping off his head, okay, fucked up or not.

Humans and their fucking emotions, he almost grumbled aloud. He'd offered Bazett an illusion he'd been certain she'd reject the very moment she consciously knew and admitted it to herself to be a falsity, only to have her accept it over the reality outside the dream. That had surprised him as few things did anymore. Saber was a different person from his former Master so he wasn't too startled she'd keep doing this, staying near Shirou and his idiotic kindness. She was a King, yes. But she was lonely and a girl who kept trying to ditch her emotions in favor of righteousness. Loneliness hurt like crazy.

What Saber did to take advantage of his illusion, was stupid and a surface comfort alone but... it was a very, awfully human thing to do, ignore unwanted truths as long as possible in favor of the pleasant falsehoods. Gross. He chuckled.]

It wouldn't kill you to be... Well, you'd call it selfish, eh for once, and ask for someone to share their warmth with you, you know.

[Good, Arturia didn't bother with trying to lie to him. He takes a little longer with wrapping up his left foot. Both of his feet bandaged in black, he rolls up his pajama sleeves to his elbows and winds the wrappings around his left arm.

Love, romantic or unrequited or platonic, was a powerful motivation, wasn't it?

So was regret.]

Edited 2013-06-01 03:53 (UTC)

And who would I ask, Avenger? Shirou I cannot ask for such a thing.

[She doesn't want to wind up hurting him again over something as disastrous as the Grail. It isn't fair to Avenger because she knows, underneath it all, it's still him. Even if she won't admit it.

Lancelot is out. She might be close to him, but going to him for such a thing would bring up too much.

Archer is really out.

Her other self it would be too awkward with.

And anyone else who came to mind it just didn't seem.... right. In some way her mind kept coming up with reasons not to ask for comfort, for warmth, from anyone.]

And I know of no other who would be willing to.

[ He paused in the midst of wrapping, leaving his left arm half-bandaged and the other arm still bare. Avenger turn sideways, looking at her. ]

Gah, why are you looking at it like that?

[ He seemed exasperated. ]

I'm thinkin' you're not doing it because you lack for willing partners, even here—it's cuz' you insist on giving all these excuses to yourself why you shouldn't. Just go for it. Loneliness is cold, so look for warmth from others to relieve it. That's common sense, right there. Is that so hard a thing to grasp for yourself?

[She gives him a flat look.]

Oh, so you would be willing if I asked you and wouldn't see it as a promise of other things?

[Blame Gilgamesh for that line of thought. The man has no idea how to take no for an answer. Arturia, on the other hand, never learned how to even ask, much less just reach out and take it.]

[His mouth twitches into a wide, mischievous grin that could imply lewd things, even if she wasn't his type and could just be plain old... mockery, in return for her flat stare. (Pervert, it is he.)]

Sure! But wouldn't that be sleeping with the enemy in some sense, Saber?

[Yeah, about that, Arturia: that's a very sad state of affairs, to be honest. Unfortunately, one can really see why she never learn how to do things like that.]

[Saber, with great dignity and poise as befitting a former knight, throws a pillow right at Avenger's face.]

I'm not interested in laying with a man like that, Avenger.

[ Laughing!

Even after the pillow hits him in the face, still laughing! ]

[Then he's getting the other pillow, too!]

I'm serious! I do not see the appeal in it at all!

[Well, he throws the pillow back at her face, his laughter dying down to a few crackles. Then he gets whapped in the head by the next pillow she tosses.]

Considering you were willing to do it with a guy as terrible at it as Shirou, I can maybe see why!

[Congratulations, Avenger! You managed to get her completely flustered. She stares at him for a long moment, her jaw hanging, mouth trying to form words. Of all the things to find out Avenger knows about:]

You know about that?!

[Never mind the fact she refuses to do anything with his Shirou persona. Just the fact he knows about her sleeping with Shirou--

And then she gets hit in the face with the pillow he threw.]

[It's moments like this that make all the downsides of possessing a corporal form and somebody else's face entirely worth it to Avenger, in one way. A shit-eating grin:]

Of course! It's really tricky to be somebody else unless you have full access to their memories to back it up, no?

[He pulls the pillow she hit him in the face off and also throws it at her.]

[Forget for a moment the interdimensional implications of that beyond the fact she had been in bed with Shirou and this "Shirou" had apparently slept with his version of herself. Arturia is having a moment of clarity.

For the longest time she had wondered why people got so embarrassed when it came to talking about sex. It was a normal bodily function and while it did not interest her there was no reason to be embarrassed by them. They were not animals who were ruled by their instincts, but intelligent men and women who had self control and could ignore their baser urges until an appropriate time.

And now Avenger, who had not been involved in any way with her practically non-existent sex life, admitted to having memories of sleeping with her. Knew what her face looked like at such an intimate moment, what her body felt like, how she had to fight to keep from panicking and--

She catches the pillow he throws at her, marches up to him, and hits him over the back of the head with it. Another perk of having Shirou's face, she probably would've thrown a lamp at him if he didn't resemble him so.]

YOU PERVERT!

[Angra can't exactly pick and chose the personality samples and memories of their lifetimes the Grail retains from whichever humans (and homunculi) immersed themselves within its corruption, or come into contact with it. It copied all the events; from childhood to adulthood, lovemaking and killing and everything that fell in between. Dreams, fears, hatreds, loves, wishes. It doesn't reject certain events and preserve others.

The best way to understand and bring into reality the wish that truly came from the heart of a human, it was most effective to look at the sum of the life they had lead and how it influenced them.

Terribly-written porn scenes with even worse internal monologues were not an exception from this.

She lands a pretty solid blow with her soft, fluffy weapon of choice before he thinks to react. Avenger yelps in exaggerated surprise since he hadn't been expecting her to catch the pillow before it hit her, and rubbing the back of his head, made a face at her.]

Ow! Was that really necessary?

[Can't deny he's a pervert after all.]

Yes! How long have you--when did you--have you known about that all along?!

[Again, it hasn't occurred to her just yet it hadn't necessarily been her, but yet he still had memories of those two nights. Memories that, while strange and awkward, were precious to her and she wished to keep between herself, Shirou, and Rin.

It was unnerving knowing someone else knew of what happened between them. It was downright uncomfortable knowing Avenger, of all people, had memories of participating in it.]

Uh, yeah?

[Maybe if he had an ounce of shame or guilt—but nope, he doesn't. Those particular emotions weren't really included within his stunted range of emotions. Avenger looks petulant and not altogether certain of why she's (rightfully) so embarrassed and angry.

He'd paid as much attention to those memories as one would pay attention to say, the memories of a movie you'd watched a couple times before getting bored and shoving it onto a dusty shelf within miles of shelves.]

Does Shirou know?!

[Or the illusion of Shirou. She knows how it works. She really does. She's just taken on the view of thinking of them as separate people since "Shirou" is unaware of when he is Avenger.

But if Shirou knows and remembers that sort of thing, then--

--congratulations, Avenger. You're not going to have to deal with Arturia for a month out of newly-added awkwardness.]

Morning After with bonus awkward roommates!

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