everlasts | ic contact (acatalepsy)

Artoria. How are you faring?

[he's definitely not calling because he's been worried, or because he sensed someone else's presence missing after going everywhere, or because he's been having nightmares when he lays his head down to rest.

just because he can, really.]

[ It takes her...a little bit to respond. She isn't ignoring him but has spent her time trying to support others in fighting the shadows back when possible, and she needs to find a lull in that to reach back out to Merlin.

Still, she doesn't sound fatigued or troubled by whatever it is she's doing. She's Artoria, after all. ]

I'm well, Merlin, though I worry for this world. And yourself?

[ It is not unlike him to check in, but she wonders-- ]

As in fine shape and as intact as could be wished for. Everyone being scattered to the winds did no true ill - now the work truly begins to right the wrongs.

[perhaps not as fine as he would wish, but semantics.]

It feels familiar, doesn't it? Sent off to correct and aid a world, far from home. Working together until we're free to fly away again. And so the cycle repeats onwards.

No, it was not so terrible, though confusing.

[ It is, after all, her first foray into the way this all works. ]

I have long wondered about it. It's too familiar, not unlike the Throne of Heroes-- But, more specifically, when we have been summoned by the young Master of Chaldea. This is why I had wondered if we were not summoned and bound in the same way.

I thought so as well, when I arrived, but Astoria does not seem to hold quite the same link as a Master might. Her work is more true magic and miracles, from all I've seen - though she's not perfect. No one is.

[he sounds fine with that.]

There's more choice in this.

But with so much choice... Perhaps I don't quite understand.

[ Or, she does. After all, Artoria sought freedom for her own people. Life, love, happiness. But they have been summoned here as soldiers, granted gifts beyond their typical abilities, and been shuffled off to...quite literally save worlds. These aren't Singularities, though they could be.

Still, even their Master had a hand in protecting the world. Astoria is widely absent. ]

Is she not watching us? Does she not want us to succeed?

Yes, on both counts. Even if she must be remote, there's no doubt that she's looking over us, hoping and working towards our success.

[he doesn't know how true that is, but he says it like it's fact. because who else would understand being kept far away, but still wishing for someone to succeed? trying to not overguide and ruin the fabric of the tapestry?]

It's because she believes in our success that we're here at all.

But still she stands apart.

[ Objective. Granting power to others to allow them the chance at success. There is where Artoria falters, she thinks. In her time as king, in her time in Fuyuki and Chaldea, she acted. She was in the thick of things. It would be so difficult for her stand aside.

Quietly, she asks: ]

Merlin. As my advisor, as my magician, you acted with me on many occasions. And on others, you did not. You allowed me to make my choices, come what may.

[ She has no idea about the tower, of course. ]

How did you do it? How did you refrain from wanting to intervene?

[there is a pause on the line, and what she cannot see is him folding his hands, for once wishing he had the sight back for a moment, so he knew the right words to pluck from the air. like this, he feels clumsy. human. it's still not normal.

in his mind, he is watching her ship sailing away, and knowing somewhere deep in his heart that he will never see her again in life. not unless some matter of miracles took place. and even now, the happiness that the miracles offer is a fragile newborn thing, to be sheltered under his robes and protected from storms and a secret kept safe.]

If I intervened every time things got tricky, you never would have actually grown. You had to learn to do things for yourself, not rely on someone else's judgement.

[his tone is gentle, but the words are somewhat blunt.]

And I had faith in you to take the course of action that you considered and found to be best. I always have. That is how I kept myself where I was, away from contributing my own needless opinions or assistance.

[or, whispers his own mind, because the truth would pain her unbearably, and she would still persist.]

...Are you are asking about a time in particular?

ic contact (acatalepsy)

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