Berserker on a Roof

[BEOWULF]

-Pre Dawn, Day 2-

"AROOOooOOOO!!" A roar loud enough to wake the dead exploded in the night. It was a thunderous scream not unfitting for a wild beast, that chilled the blood of the meek. To Beowulf, however, the sound further ignited his passion and hastened the blood pumping through his heart. Why would it not? It was his own howl, stoked by the fires of his own power. He thumped a fist against his chest heartily, loud enough to resound through the night sky.

"I! AM! Hunter! Slayer! And Hero!" It was I who bested the Grendel, foul child of Cain.He thundered impressively, carried on by the moment. "I am... Berserker." I am Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow. Beowulf, Lord of Heorot, King of Geats. As far as boasts went, however, it was lacking. It was, by far, the least impressive of any boast, if only for the fact that it was only blusterous words, not backed by his own name, deeds, heritage, nor titles; only by his will. As much as it pained him, this was as far as he was allowed to speak, lest he divulge his identity... whatever the consequences of that were.

"And YOU?" Beowulf added scornfully. "I care not who you are. But, I challenge you to battle. You must answer, answer and accept, or be called coward!" Beowulf resolutely folded his arms on the spot. He fell silent, awaiting an answer.

None came, and for good reason. The impressive boast, dripping with braggadocio, was aimed at nobody. It was an open challenge, to be taken up by anybody within hearing range. There was no enemy or ally that he could see, as far as the crow flew.

It was just him, him and Aela, standing on the roof of some building. It was just Beowulf, shouting into the night, demanding battle. He would wait.

And he would ignore his Master's insistent tapping. "Just wait. It'll come."

[Aela Atheling]

Her arm was totally ruined, wasn’t it? She couldn’t even move it properly… they had just been walking down the street in the residential area, looking for other potential Servants, when apparently her Servant, Beowulf, had gotten completely tired of waiting and leapt to a rooftop. Carrying her. By her left arm.

The sudden acceleration was so unexpected she almost fell flat on her face when he let her go on the rooftop. Thankfully she managed to keep her feet… this time. Even if her hand was suffering for that.

“What are-“

“AROOOooOOOO!!” He howled like a wolf… if they had been attached to a series of thirteen megaphones. It could have woken those in a coma. “I! AM! Hunter! Slayer! And Hero! I am… Berserker.” Well at least he didn’t reveal his name… That was a terrible thing to be happy about!? What was he even doing!?

She tried prodding him. Repeatedly. To just. Get him. To stop. “And YOU?” He roared again, totally ignoring her, “I care not who you are. But, I challenge you to battle. You must answer, answer and accept, or be called coward!”

… She could hear the crickets chirp. It was the winter, when they were dead or hibernating, but seriously. Crickets. She wouldn’t have been surprised to see a tumbleweed float by, or maybe a thousand of them.
Who was going to answer this call anyways? The roof!?

“Just wait. It’ll come.” He said, reading her mind like a fortune teller who missed the entire context of what she was understanding.

“Who… what is going to come!? Is there anyone in the war who would be foolish enough to respond to that kind of challenge!? Seriously…” Aela tried to regain some dignity, brushing her coat with her hands into some semblance of straightness. “If anything they’ll just follow us, find out where we’re staying and ambush us some other time. I doubt there is anyone is dumb enough to expose themselves… this is a residential district! It’s… people are probably looking from all around, phoning the police to come and find the guy who yelled loud enough to be heard in the Alps. The only Servant ridiculous enough to pick up your challenge would be that Lancer…” Alan’s Lancer. Him and Beowulf were probably like… the same person except one with a deadly stare and another with a penchant for throwing bathtubs…

That stupid stare. Even now it made her shiver a little bit. She nervously checked her coat for the flask of salts that would allow her to properly construct her shields just in case there was a third Servant like hers running through this war…

“I mean maybe the roof’ll rise up and attack you, or we’ll get chased out of town by an angry mob… or you’ll chase them all out of town I don’t know, but I highly, highly doubt a Servant would ever respond to something like this!”

[BEOWULF]

Beowulf waited. And waited. It was an irritatingly quiet night, only broken by the tired, angry shouts of the mundane people below them. Lights blinked and flickered on as people, already tired from a hard day's work and dreading the prospect of the next day, were brutally wrested from their slumber and dreams by his boastful yells. At first, Berserker was content to ignore them.

These people lived from day to day, like him. However, that was as far as their similarities went. He, as a warrior and adventurer, lived for the next day. When the sun rose, it brought with it new possibilities, new monsters and warriors to defeat, new challenges to overwhelm! But these people? They were slaves to routine. They got up, drank the same swill, ate the same crusts... performed the same duty, before returning home to sleep, so they could repeat the cycle again, by the next day. With no change, there was no excitement, and nothing to continue living for. Beowulf pitied them. It was truly a sad state of being...

But that was enough of that! Reflecting on the methods of other people would get him nowhere! For now, Beowulf had a battle to look forward to!... Or so he thought. Time passed.

Beowulf waited. And waited. Still nobody. He was hardly a man to be disappointed, but this... tested his impatience. He looked down at Aela, the unspoken question clear. Nobody yet? Nobody. Perhaps if he tried again...? He breathed in, ready to loose another torrential boast. "I, Servant Berserker, BEOWULF, CHALLENGE YOU! The Gauntlet is thrown! Will you accept it!?" Surely, now that he has revealed his name, any Servant in the vicinity would take the advantage to challenge him!

...Still nobody. Well, at least Beowulf had vented in a hopefully acceptable manner, having proclaimed his name to the sky, but for nobody to hear. The desire to be known, to be seen, was satiated... for now. He was at peace, for now. He turned to his Master, and as if he had never shouted his name to the night, for anyone to hear (but nobody to listen to), and shrugged. "I suppose you were correct. None have come. We should go."

[] Since nobody's around, I'll wait for an Aelapost before closing it. Consider it private. []

[Aela Atheling]

"I, Servant Berserker, BEOWULF, CHALLENGE YOU! The Gauntlet is thrown! Will you accept it!?"

Oh no. Oh no no no no no! He wasn’t really he really wasn’t that dumb; he wasn’t really revealing his name, was he? She tried to shake her head like this was some bad dream but even after pinching her own arm six times she was still awake. And bruised too apparently.

“Berserker! Stop this instant!” She shouted, mustering all she could… but was mostly ignored as he just looked out into the distance, like some sailor staring romantically at the horizon. At least he didn’t actually throw down his gauntlet, that probably would have broken the roof with his insane strength. And she was standing on that roof.

The crickets returned with a vengeance as lights flickered on in the city and windows opened. She would have been humiliated… if anyone had seen her. Instead she just sat on the roof, with her hood hiding her face.

Thankfully no other Servant came, no one saw their foolishness... though Beowulf certainly waited. Five or so minutes, like some hyper child, she was too young to be mothering a giant. Finally, finally, he turned to her, looking all forlorn like some lonely puppy, and shrugged at her. “I suppose you were correct. None have come. We should go.” His voice was neutral, she supposed. Disappointment was what she expected to hear in his voice, or really something entirely different like he was going to make a giant sign and hang it from the tallest building in the city proclaiming his challenge.

She wanted to yell at him again, she really did. But she just couldn’t find it in her to. It was very strange, and very suspicious. He certainly wasn’t somehow mentally controlling her but she just felt something of a strange form of pity… but not pity for this out of place warrior. Did he really want to duel that bad that this was such a disappointment? Sure she wanted to win, but shouting one’s place for the rooftop was for the Lords of the tower, not ones such as her who had killed their own brother in their sleep and singlehandedly ended a bloodline that had incredible potential.

So instead of yelling and losing her temper like she normally would she just sighed and shrugged back. “Can you just warn me next time before you do something like this, Berserker? Please?” They were supposed to be partners… or something along those lines anyways. She supposed she could act just a little bit cordial.

Not that this all stopped irritating her. Oh it still did, that was for sure, she just… was temporarily holding it back.