Einzbern Movie Night #2: Six Coins

[old_man_acht]

The basement has become a second home to Jubstacheit, while outside the walls, the Grail War passes him by. He devotes himself to studying the films that Caster has taken of likely spots along the river, watching the passage of fishermen and children and young women traveling in twos and threes. Until his father's papers come, until Lara's birds have news to report, there is nothing to be done but brew pot after pot of tea and watch the flickering screen.

He can't remember when last he's slept. But for the regular chime of the clock, he'd lose all sense of time.

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[37thstrategem]

Caster emerges from his improvised darkroom with a new reel bundled in his arms. This latest development should please his Master, who, it turns out, is not as patient as he makes himself out to be. He sets the reel down in its case beside the projector, takes up the nearest teapot, and refills his Master's cup without having been asked. "One might say that we are living an eternity of yesterdays, replaying the captured past in this fashion."

[old_man_acht]

"And there will never be hours enough to relive the past in full," he answers, taking the tea and bringing the cup to his lips. He does not take sugar, for all his rhetoric of luxury and use. "If I look away for a moment, that will be the only moment of merit in this farce of yours. I'll live each yesterday a thousand times, if it gains us useful intelligence."

[37thstrategem]

"As this yesterday has,' Caster says, indicating the new reel. "If you would permit me to pause one yesterday for the sake of one more pertinent...?"

[old_man_acht]

"If you're sure of it." He has learned by now to load and unload reels from the projector, and he stops the current film and rolls it up neatly to put aside.

[37thstrategem]

"I am. It provides a view of yesterday's skirmish on the docks that does not rely on the eye of a bird." Caster picks up where his Master left off, setting the new reel in the projector and priming it into place. "If only one could record sound as easily as image."

[old_man_acht]

"Can't one? You seem to have a thorough understanding of the principles of recording; why shouldn't you record sound as easily as image?"

He pours Caster a cup of tea, nudging it across the projector table as he settles back into his armchair--a quaint and affected furnishing, clearly out of place in this dusty graveyard of gifts and mementos.

[37thstrategem]

Caster smiles and accepts the tea, though he does not yet drink. "I can, but the device by which we do so in this time would have to be enormous in order to account for being left unattended. So far, the most efficient means of translating sound to a tangible form uses plastics. Even your longest long-playing records can record an hour at most, with a physical form that is more immediately obvious than that of a hidden camera. If there were a way to turn sound into something that could be read with something smaller than a gramophone--which I'd have to come up with too, come to think of it. Perhaps light. If there were a device that could read light and convey it as sound..."

His Master's displeasure is obvious. And valuable, for that matter, though not lightly taken.

"As I said," Caster concludes, "it is much more difficult to capture sound than frames of motion. And I think that, by the time I developed this technology, the war would be at our doors."

[old_man_acht]

"As you say." What good is all of this technology, if it can't do as you wish, when you wish it? he wonders, but he only sips his tea. "Is your Master joining us?"

[37thstrategem]

"My Master is resting, as well she deserves," Caster says. He sips the tea--this is one of the more pleasant ones so far--and plays the reel. "Besides, she has seen this, and said that she has an idea of who the Matou Servant, Lancer, may have been in life. She told me to watch for coins about his neck. There looked to be six, in the darkroom, but I would rather enlarge the image to confirm."

[old_man_acht]

"And Saber? Have we identified her, beyond the general geographic area and fighting style?" The banks of the river come into focus, albeit poorly; the lighting is bad, and the camera lens streaked with rain.

[37thstrategem]

"No. She also appeared in different armor in this duel , though it's still unmistakably her. But her Master is in attendance as well, and you might better identify her than I."

Caster pauses the reel, leaves an image of Saber, Lancer, and their Masters on the docks emblazoned across the screen.

[old_man_acht]

A slow-creeping smile. "An Edelfelt. I know that look, like a chicken-stealing fox's--the Edelfelts are known for their Ore Scales; they generally come in twos. We may do well to look for a second Master."

He leans in, attempting to study Lancer's master, but Saber partially blocks her from view. "Lancer's master is Japanese, but beyond that, I can't say."

[37thstrategem]

Caster approaches the screen, careful to mind his shadow, and counts the coins around Lancer's neck. "Six," he says. "That confirms my Mater's suspicions."

[old_man_acht]

"Six coins," he repeats, as though he has the faintest idea what that means.

[hikikomoe]

"It's the crest of the Sanada clan," Lara says, from approximately the midpoint of the stairs leading to the basement. The book she carries is starting to make her shoulders cramp; she resettles its weight as best she can, sliding the bottom edge closer to the crook of her elbow, and keeps the book opened to the correct page. "The six coins are meant to represent the toll for crossing the river into the underworld. It symbolizes the wearer's readiness to die for a worthy cause, according to all the sources I have found. I suppose the saying isn't inappropriate, given the circumstances."

Her glasses slide down her nose, and she can't push them back up without unbalancing the book. It's troublesome. "The crest is conclusive. Lancer is Sanada Yukimura. He has several other names, but that seems to be his most well-known one."

[old_man_acht]

"Willingness to die for a worthy cause is fitting, for the Lancer class. Did he display any of his Noble Phantasms? Does his legend give you any notion of what they might be?"

[hikikomoe]

"Not unless his spear is one of them." She mustn't loiter on the stairs like this; her shoulders are beginning to knot from the strain. Sighing, she descends the rest of the way, sets the history book down on the nearest surface. "The material I found provided an overview of the historical facts, such as they are, not of the body of legend around him. So it's insufficient."

[37thstrategem]

"Neither he nor Saber used theirs in this duel, from what I saw in the negatives," Caster says. "Perhaps if we watch more, something might reveal itself to that effect."

[old_man_acht]

Always more at home with books than with films, Acht goes at once to study the book that Lara has brought, only occasionally glancing up at the screen. "I presume that if one of them had bested the other, you would have led with that. Another draw, then? This Saber seems almost to prefer to fight to a draw."

[37thstrategem]

"Neither," Caster says. "There is a third--or I should say, a fourth--party."

He starts the reel again, and plays it until the new Servant arrives onscreen.

[old_man_acht]

A moment's pause as he takes in the Servant's winged sandals, his helm, the head in his hand. "Perseus," he says, never for a moment doubting it. "And the last party? His Master?"

[37thstrategem]

"Not present, at least not in the negatives."

[old_man_acht]

"Another Servant, then. Or do you refer to your own camera?"

[37thstrategem]

"No. Rider makes another appearance toward the end, and has words with Saber. Master," he adds, turning to Lara, "were you close enough to hear them?"

[hikikomoe]

Even now, there is a strange disconnect when Caster refers to her as Master, a delay where she expects Grandfather to answer and realizes that he's waiting for her reply. "Rider again referenced his worthiest foe and only companion. Saber still seems eager to face him in combat again. They aren't allies, but they seem to respect each other." Which, again, hardly holds any clues about either of their identities. A good deal of the heroes she's encountered in her reading love nothing more than fighting an opponent worthy of all their power and skill. And it makes sense that such heroes would be drawn towards a contest such as this.

Another fragment of that conversation strikes her. "I had no clear view of Lancer's Master, either, but from Rider and Saber's remarks, it seems likely that she's a young girl."

You wouldn't hurt a child, if she stood between you and your enemy?, Saber had asked. Perhaps Grandfather isn't the only one to have adopted this ploy. Perhaps this ploy might even be effective. Perhaps all the Masters will be young girls, or will keep young girls at their sides.

[old_man_acht]

"'Worthiest foe' helps to narrow down the candidates, at least. You've done well." A young girl is useful, as well; she is probably the latest in a long line of fragile Matous, each one interchangeable with the last.

A longer, more considered pause. "Did either Saber or Lancer seem inclined to entertain the notion of an alliance? Could you hear their conversation?"

[hikikomoe]

It's my function, she doesn't reply, and bites the inside of her cheek instead. "Saber had evidently proposed one to Lancer and his Master one day previously. Lancer arrived to accept, but Saber withdrew her offer and attacked him. It seems that not all of her offers are in earnest." Lara nudges her glasses back into place at last. "It may be one of her ways of assessing her foes, though it's difficult to say for certain while her identity remains unknown."

[37thstrategem]

Caster nods. "And since it is likely that we will discover Rider's identity the more he reveals, Saber seems determined to evade us." He glances at the screen, then at his Master. "And this Perseus--what class would he be, if Rider and Saber are already known?"

[old_man_acht]

Not Rider, Saber, Lancer, or Caster; that leaves Assassin, Archer, and Berserker. "Did he display any of his Noble Phantasms? They might provide a clue of some kind."

[hikikomoe]

"He and Saber both referred to a Helm of Hades, which cast the area in a pall of darkness. The reference is obvious." She pauses. "Perhaps not to Caster. Hades is the Greek god of the underworld," she explains briefly, before continuing. "The ability suggests Assassin, and it matches aspects of his legend well enough, I suppose. He seemed far too composed to be Berserker, and Archer is a wretched match for Perseus."

[37thstrategem]

"Still, it is strange for an Assassin to openly challenge not one, but two Servants, in what had been broad daylight. And, as we see, it is his downfall."

[old_man_acht]

"It's possible that he was placed into a class unsuited to his temperament. It has been known to happen, although it's rare ... what's happened? Is that the Helm of Hades?" The screen has gone dark.

[hikikomoe]

"Yes. If it had other effects, I couldn't discern them." For obvious reasons, her tone implies.

[old_man_acht]

The screen clears on Saber, blade in Perseus's chest. Acht drums his fingers on the arm of his chair. "Given what we know of Saber and her penchant for alliances, I wouldn't be so quick to say that this is his downfall. You're right; this is the ability of an Assassin, but used in such a way that it cannot serve him. If he and Saber are allied, they might well have staged this 'defeat' to confound watchers like ourselves. It would permit him to work in secrecy, secure in the knowledge that we thought him dead."

[37thstrategem]

"It would," Caster agrees. "And from what I have heard so far, that cunning is in keeping with his legend." Caster remains dubious, but at least his Master agrees that there is some play afoot, foul or otherwise. "And if they know that I am watching, perhaps it is time I availed myself of a closer look."

[old_man_acht]

"You intend to show yourself," he says, raising his brows and pouring himself the last of the tea. "In what way?"

[37thstrategem]

"Not immediately as a Servant," Caster explains. "Though if I must reveal myself to any of these, I think Lancer is the most likely avenue."

[old_man_acht]

"What, if not as a Servant?"

[37thstrategem]

"Well, another Servant will be able to sense me, certainly. But no Heroic Spirit would start a fight with a magus in a library."

[hikikomoe]

For a moment, Lara wonders if her respiratory functions have been compromised, because her chest locks in place, swells impossibly tight.

A library. And a library in Japan, at that. She isn't likely to have read a significant portion of them. Some of the very categories themselves might be new to her. Japanese literature has such rich forms, she's heard, where even the simplest structures take lifetimes to master.

"It would aid me in my research," she says, the words racing to leave her mouth. "I'm sure I could locate material on legends surrounding Sanada Yukimura, particularly as historical accounts place him close to this region, and perhaps I could also gain a deeper understanding of the city itself..."

[old_man_acht]

"Are you asking my permission?" he asks, faintly amused at her eagerness. "You were instructed to show yourself as Caster's master. You could choose a worse venue for it--but the Servants on your film seem to have few scruples about public battles. If you do go, be prepared for battle. Do not rely on their sense of decency to protect you."

[hikikomoe]

Lara presses her lips together tightly enough to drain them from blood. "I won't," she says; her voice comes less freely, this time, and she digs the toe of her shoe into the basement floor.

[37thstrategem]

Caster barely manages to catch Lara's eye as her expression darkens. "At my Master's discretion," he says, with a smile that tells her he'd like to go too. It's certainly true, for more reasons than one.