Inquisition

[Jacob Archer]

[Day 1, 09:15]

Jacob slowly opened the doors to the massive cathedral. The trip to the Church’s base of operation had taken a little over an hour, and had been largely uneventful. Jacob had heard about the church, and dealt with them on a few occasions. All he really knew about them was that they were fairly powerful, and that the Clock Tower Association tended to only get along with them on paper. “Hello?” His voice echoed in the massive cavern of a building, but elicited no response. “I hope we aren’t early.”

Dammit, this was supposed to be easy! Go down to the church, ask some questions, then leave. Simple, straightforward, and easy. But now he wasn’t even sure that he had entered properly. Was he supposed to knock first? Where there snipers just waiting for an order to take him out? Okay, that second one was a little far-fetched, but now that he thought about it, a church assigned to monitor something like the grail war was bound to have some special rules.

But, he’d already botched it, might as well keeping going. Jacob slowly entered the Church, almost like he was afraid to disturb its peace. The massive hall was dimly lit, its upper heights still shrouded in darkness. The Stained glass windows were just beginning to illuminate in the early morning light, incandescent beams illuminating spots seemingly at random. “Hello?” he yelled again. “I’m here about the grail.” He looked around – still no signs of anybody. “I’ve also got some questions about the war. I’d also like to ask you about these strange monsters….” Jacob’s voice dropped to a more normal tone, practically a whisper inside the Cathedral. “And my Uncle.”

[Bradamante]

The disembodied servant was a few steps behind him, moving toward the giant entrance doors.
Just as she was about to enter with her master, one of the notions imposed in her head at the time of her summoning suddenly reminded her that servants weren't allowed into the church. That simple fact made her feel upset: servant weren't allowed in, as they were a living heresy.
She stopped and got lost in tought.
Jacob was already inside the cathedral, and she barely heard his voice echoing inside.
"Master" her voice in spiritual form flew to him, the only one capable of hearing it "I can't follow you inside. My condition as servant prevents me for entering this sacred ground. I'm sorry but i cannot accompany you inside. Please, be careful."
She stood still, in front of the opened door, and couldn't do anything else beside watching inside with a concerned look.

What a painful situation. A paladin, a knight that fought enemies in the name of christianity during her past life wasn't allowed to enter. She even had a christian marriage too! She actually converted her husband to that very same religion! And now she just reembodied as a living heresy. Oh, Lord, what a great joke you've allowed!

She pouted, and reluctantly accepted this burden. She kept staring inside though, ready to break that imposed rule if Jacob got in any danger inside. Abiding totally to the rules had never been her forte.

[Jacob Archer]

"Master, I can't follow you inside. My condition as servant prevents me for entering this sacred ground. I'm sorry but i cannot accompany you inside. Please, be careful."

Jacob stopped mid-step, turning around to see that his servant was in fact still at the front door. He quickly looked around for anyone or anything that might want him dead. He was in the open, in an unfamiliar location, with an unknown number of enemies after him and now he was separated from his primary defense. Bradamante said it was because it was sacred ground, but it just seemed too convenient. Was it a giant trap, some sort of master-catcher, or was he just being paranoid? The most obvious answer would be some sort of enforced neutral territory, but after those monsters, he thought it was safer to simply assume anything strange was trying to kill him for now.

Slowly, Jacob backed towards the front door, keeping his eyes on the aisles of benches for the repentant masses. He came to a stop a few steps from the front door. If anything did happen, he should be able to make it out the front door quick enough. Reflexively, his hand started moving towards one of the knives in his jacket. Against a servant, it would probably be as useful as a toothpick. Even against a monster like the ones from the apartment, its utility would be minimal at best. Against a human though, it should be effective enough. Besides, one should never underestimate the positive psychological value of a weapon in a life-or-death situation. Jacob turned to his Servant, still standing on the other side of the threshold “We’ll give it five minute. If nobody shows up, we’ll leave. We can’t afford to just stand here – not everybody plays by the rules.” Not that he knew what the rules were, but Jacob didn’t want to spend any more time here then he had too. There was something about this place, something that felt….. off.

[Bradamante]

“We’ll give it five minute. If nobody shows up, we’ll leave. We can’t afford to just stand here – not everybody plays by the rules.”
As her master spoke, Bradamante immediately agreed. He was still inside the cathedral, but only a few steps were separating them now and that certainly was much better.
That didn't change the fact that he was still exposed on the entrance of a church, and she was in spiritual form, even less than air.
She noticed Jacob's tension. The boy had a very bad day until that moment, and every second of that wait was clearly a burden for the young man. He could use some distraction. And she could gather some useful information regarding the place and the era she was thrown in.
"Master, where are we? Which city is this?"
During the whole path to che cathedral the knight didn't pay attention on the writings of the signposts on the road. Now, nothing on the vicinity was giving her some information on where they were. Very little things of this new era were present at her time, and the whole place was alien to her eyes so she could have been anywhere.
The Grail just pushed the essentials into her conscience, and the name of the place apparently wasn't that important for it.
She turned briefly her sight on the square outside the cathedral. Many people were walking around that unnamed city caught in their daily routines.
How many of them could end involved into that war? That was a bad thing to ponder on, and she refrained from sharing the tought with her already tensed master. She could only try to enjoy that calm. The one before the unavoidable storm.

[Jacob Archer]

"Master, where are we? Which city is this?"

Between his uncle, the monsters, the summoning, and trying to find the Cathedral, Jacob hadn’t had time to think about Lancer’s position. She was from a completely different era, and a completely different region of the world. Part of him had just assumed that, since she was inherently part of this war that she would know more than he did. The truth was though, that she was in a sense in the same position as him - A strange land, in a strange situation, and in where over her head.

“This is the City of Lucca,” Jacob replied, still keeping an eye out for any sort of welcoming party. “Somewhere in Northern Italy. Haven’t been up here much myself but it’s supposed to have a lot of magical energy – Ley lines and the like. If it’s true, it makes since to put the grail war here. I doubt summoning a hero or seven is what you would call cheap.” He looked at his watch. It had been a little over a minute. It was surprising how slowly time seemed to move when you were waiting for something. Maybe he had gotten the Location wrong? No, the fact that Bradamante couldn’t enter proved that they were at the right place. Well, that or some other master was using a church as a base. That seemed unlikely though – what type of master would work out of a church? Sighing, Jacob stepped outside and took a seat on one of the stone benches along the Cathedrals front wall. He was suddenly quite aware of just how tired he was, despite the early hour. It had been a long morning. “Relax, Lancer – if anybody wanted us dead, they would of tried something already.” Even as he said it, he didn’t quite believe it. The sun was barely past the horizon, and he already been nearly killed. It was going to be a long day.

[Bradamante]

The spirit followed his master away from the entrance, and moved closer to the bench Jacob chose.
"Lucca" she said then, as she realized where she was. It was strange how gathering a little information like that could improve your mood when you'were completely lost.
Now she knew where she was, and the disembodied knight smiled inside.
"Charlemagne conquered this city in the year of the Lord 773. I was little more than a rebellious girl secretly playing with swords in my garden back there. I've never been here before in my previous life."
The Grail apparently feed her the bare essentials and nothing more. Her confusion was finally fading, and she managed to recall her knowledge about the city she was in effortlessly.
Her sight wandered around the square on all the modern buildings.
I guess this city used to be completely different than how it appears now.
What an obvious statement. Anything in her sight never existed in her era, the buildings had a style completely different, not to mention the clothes on the people, and on her master.
Curiosity was hard to hide from her voice when she found the courage to ask: "How many years have passed since? What year is it?"
The disembodied knight briefly stared at her master, then she tried to sit down on the bench, but she had no body to sit at all.
She still had to completely realize that she was in spiritual form. The Grail's notions in her head were rather clear on this subject: in spiritual form you could do substantially nothing more than move around like an invisible cloud, communicate with your master, and 'feel' other servants.
The periwikle knight mentally cursed her condition of intangible and invisible cloud, before waiting for an answer from Jacob.

[Ciel]

The day of the wretched Grail War had arrived, bringing death with it, to show how much helpless and dangerous human ego and pride can be, even after the disaster of the 5th war, magi still pursued the evil Grail. However things would be different this time with the Church, with Ciel being in control over the war this time, Lucca would not face the same destiny that Fuyuki did, Ciel would not allow such disgrace to happen right under her watchful eyes.

The first step for that is to guide those helpless fools that think they can abuse of mother Gaia as they want, without even knowing what they are getting themselves into.

"Cowering in fear will not save you from your punishment, magus."

Approaching the man from a walkway behind the stone benches, that served to circle around the main building, Ciel does not mind her manners around magi like him, specially when said magus is also a master.

"You are safe here though, no magus would be stupid as to launch a attack into holy grounds."

Albeit her words sounding like friendly advice, Ciel intention was to warn the boy to drop his hostility intent if he value his life, it was only for convenience that the Church were overseeing this war in order to put a end to it but having to directly deal with those heretics as they were followers was pushing some limits and Jacob failing to display some trust to the good will of this planned truce could easily be last drop for Ciel.

[Jacob Archer]

"Cowering in fear will not save you from your punishment, magus."

Jacob nearly jumped out of his own skin as he jumped to his feet, turning around to face the woman. Where the hell did she come from?

"You are safe here though, no magus would be stupid as to launch a attack into holy grounds." The woman spoke calmly, though there was a definite edge to it. Cautiously, Jacob relaxed. The last thing he wanted to do was upset the only people who might be able to protect him if things go pear-shaped.

As calmly as he could, Jacob bowed and introduced himself. “My name is Jacob Archer. I have found myself involved in this war and I am quite uniformed. I was hoping you might be able to assist me.” Yeah, that was good – straightforward, to the point and non-threatening. “All I know at the moment are rumors, and they are very worrying. Talk of monsters, multiples of the classes, even talk of new classes.” Jacob considered telling her he hadn’t planned on joining the war, but decided against it. He wasn’t sure if the Church was going to be relaying this to anybody, and the last thing he wanted was some Expert mage-killer going after the new guy. “I also have the matter of my Uncle, who seems to have been killed in connection with the grail. I didn’t want to get authorities involved, since that would break both the association’s and the Church’s concealment policies.” Jacob tried to sound as calm and non-threatening as possible, because at the moment he had to few allies and too many possible enemies.

[Bradamante]

Bradamante istinctively moved between her master and the woman that walked toward him when she subtly menaced him. She was aware of the fact they were substantially on neutral ground, but they were still outside the cathedral. As such, Jacob could be a target in spite of the words the nun just spoke.
She remained in spirit form, and decided to avoid any comment even if the mysterious woman was probably well aware of her presence close to Jacob.
The blue haired nun looked like someone able to hold her own. There was definitely that in her movements. Bradamante spent enough time on a battlefield to notice a warrior at first glance.
She didn't remember nuns like that in her era. But far too many things have changed with time: mages were fighting for wishes, heroes of the past were summoned to fight along with them, and the church was neutral ground. The church always had an enormous weight in her time, they probably had even more now, to the point of needing trained and skilled warriors in her lines to keep all the others in line as well.
How curious. She lost the chance to discover how much time had passed since she was a Paladin, and this consideration on the church increased her interest to discover how many years passed to change things that much.
Asking again would be among the first things she'd do when she'd have the chance to.
But, for that moment, her attention was focused on the woman.

[Ciel]

Ciel took a moment to reflect on the man purpose to come to the church, albeit do having the good side of a uninformed magus dying quickly, making the job of surveying easier with less heretics running around, that would also mean that the Grail would be completed faster, which was both a good and a bad thing, the faster Ciel killed off the winning magus and destroyed the Grail, the better, but with little time, the preparations for that might not be finished on time.

"Let's speak about that inside."

No matter how much of a amateur a magus could be, when slaving a Heroic Spirit any of them would become as dangerous as a Dead Apostle and a servant will protect they master with everything they got, on most cases that is it, so it's more benefitical for Ciel to hold some control over the master instead of the servant. Besides, unrelated people could hear them outside.

"Tell your servant that there is no need to worry, you will be back in one piece."

"A aberration such as a servant does not have other choice but to comply anyway."

As much as this good chance slipping through her fingers hurt her devotion, orders were orders and Ciel would comply with them, the explanation wouldn't take much time either as the magi knowing the outlines of the Grail War would suffice as a initiation.

Taking the lead, without waiting for Jacob to follow him, Ciel walk toward the building but not towards the main door, at this time of the day there was the chance of they running into properly followers and Ciel did not wanted them to meet with the likes of magi.

[Bradamante]

Aberration.
Such an high consideration of her made the disembodied warrior consider the idea of placing her fist right on the nun's face just to test how her new Servant status improved her strength. With no fists to use in the first place, it was easy to avoid such a stupid action.
The nun avoided speaking to her, carefully measuring her words telling her master to tell her not to worry. She was subtly despising her.

Why she was having such an hatred toward both Magi and Servants wasn't really hard to understand.
She was summoned to fight a war in an unsuitable place to fight one: a crowded city. She knew that was her purpose, but the chosen stage was not to her liking.
Too many innocents could easily get involved, it was understandable that the nun was angry toward them. They'll have to fight sooner or later against formidable opponents, and collateral damage was certainly unavoidable. She already noticed her reflexes and her strenght were inhuman when she easily dispatched those mysterious monsters. A war between creatures like her rampaging through a city could lead to devastating scenarios.

Bradamante never really liked Mages herself: she tried on her skin in the past what an evil mage could be capable of. On a second note, this whole war idea was already sounding to her like a petty game mages were playing just for power, and she was casted as a pawn in that game.
She had nothing against the young boy that called for her help to save himself, and the knowledge that Jacob had no real intention of participating in that whole thing to begin with somehow made her position as pawn easier to bear. She was protecting an innocent mage.

The nun had no idea of the fact that brought them there, so it was even easier to understand her anger. In her eyes both were willingful players in a game that didn't care about collateral damages.
Yes, punching the nun could have been a really stupid idea. Yet, the zealous spark in the eyes of that woman kept Bradamante on the alert.
"See you later, Master. Do be careful"

[Jacob Archer]

"See you later, Master. Do be careful"

"Don't worry, I will be. Keep an eye on the door. Don't want any unexpected visitors, do we?" Leaving Lancer at the door, Jacob followed the Church official inside the church. Even in the morning light, the Cathedral made for a chilling local, the stained glass seeming to only add to the atmosphere. Lancer had the front covered, but that left a lot of ways in. He didn't think the Official would let him die, but what was to stop her from killing him herself?

Still, there was no point in standing here in silence - Might as well start with the most obvious issue. “I have a small problem with my uncle. You see, he’s been killed by something decidedly unnatural. I am well aware that both the church and the association have rules about exposing magic to the general populous, and I thought calling the police might qualify as a violation. Some help with clean-up would be nice, or at least knowing I won’t get in trouble for calling the cops.” A little shortsighted, but you needed to start somewhere. “Though I am wondering what exactly attacked him. Strange, black beasts that evaporate after they’re killed. Are they part of the war, or is somebody having fun with the local mages?”

“My only other question would be about the number of servants and the rules of the war this time around.” Jacob looked behind him; the front door had grown surprisingly small. He didn’t fully trust the church, but he had little choice right now if he wanted to learn anything.

[Ciel]

Leaving a Servant by they door is what would bring unwanted guest to the Holy grounds in the first place but that did not mattered much at times like these, Jacob would not be the last master to knock at the Church doors, specially when it comes to a group with such a lack of unity as the Mage Association, one could not hold many expectations.

Jacob questions confirmed Ciel thoughts about the Association and also gave her some insight about the man maturity, as he could not even make a simple decision like what to do with his uncle corpse when he knows that he was killed by some demon, there is nothing to do for the dead aside a proper burial, if he can't do it, burn the corpse and everything else as to get rid of any evidence.

"Common people will refuse to believe that monsters exist nowadays."

"And you should had taken action right after you disposed of those monsters, you disgrace your uncle by letting him rot while we talk."

Not that Ciel cared but once again, the careleness of this magus could be perceived through his words, could his servant be like him or maybe manipulating his master, Ciel could not tell.

"If you don't clean it up yourself by tomorrow, we will purge your uncle death bed ourselves."

Any more time than that and the surrounding people would start to notice the corpse smell, making it impossible for the Church to intervene after the police would start investigating it.

"Probably, what attacked you was the Grail itself, the creation turning against it creators, which means that you are responsible for your uncle death."

"If it were targetting just magi, that would be fine but as you experienced in first hand, they attack anyone in sight."

Really, as if having Servants destroying the city wasn't enough, now the Grail can also cause destruction full-time instead of only when it was summoned and used, magi caused nothing but trouble.

"The rules are always the same, the last pair standing wins, we haven't confirmed how many pairs are out there yet but it sure is more than just seven."

[Jacob Archer]

Jacob Couldn’t help but sigh as the Church Official answered his questions. Receiving the answers he wanted was nice, but the deriding tone was somewhat unnecessary. Then again, maybe she treated everyone like this. The only other time he had been in a similar situation was on his last trip to the Association for research material. There, like here, he had required information from an official. And there, like here, he had been met with the same cold demeanor and general contempt. At the Association, it had been due to his lack of experience, and his limited capacities. Here, he was guessing, it was due to the mark on his wrist and the woman waiting outside.

The information on the monsters was worrying, but didn’t make complete sense. If they were attacking anyone, they were much easier targets than a man locked away in his own laboratory. As for the other participants… With the limit on masters lifted, or possibly removed, he had no way to narrow down his opponents. Even if he did locate one, another could still be waiting. Mulling all this information over, Jacob bowed slightly. “Thank you for your time. I will not inconvenience you any further.” With that, Jacob turned and began to walk out. While he would like to ask a few more questions – a lot more, actually – he doubted he would get many answers from here. Nor did he have any desire to linger.

As soon as he was past the threshold of the church, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed 112. “Hello? Yes. There has been some sort of accident at my Uncle’s apartment. I think he might have had an accident with some sort of acid he was working with.” He gave them the address and hung up. The acid story would do little to explain the damage to the apartment, but if what the Church Official said was right, they would be more than willing to fill in the blanks for him. All that was left was to contact his family and tell them the bad news, and his original purpose for being here would be complete. All that would leave would be his new purpose.

A war between mages, for an object of untold power. That was bound to attract some unsavory characters. At the very least, he could stop the wrong mage from winning. Pocketing his phone, he turned around, appearing to the entire world to be facing thin air. “I think it time we got an idea of where we’re going to be fighting. Time to take a look around town, Lancer.”

[Bradamante]

It took less than she thought.
The spirit spent no more than a minute or two alone in front of the cathedral.
When her master came out of it he stopped at the entrance and talked briefly with an odd box in his hand, vaguely mentioning the accident in his uncle's house. Acid? She was pretty sure no corrosive liquid was in there at the time of her summoning. Yet, she was still dazed from her evocation and that detail may have slipped through her mind.

She then realized what she was looking at: her master was talking to a box.
Jacob could have suffered some sort of trauma for the recent events: you can't see your uncle torn into pieces, unnatural creatures trying to eat you, a long dead knight from almost forgotten times materializing out of nowhere, become involved in a war way bigger than you and hope to retain your sanity, can you? Especially when all those things combined happen in less than a minute.
She suddenly found herself questioning her own sanity: she was dead, wasn't she? She was summoned in a house by a young mage to save himself. She dispatched disgusting creatures without effort thanks to her new existance as Servant. Something she identified as the Grail itself filled her mind with details about this war, but next to no informations on the world she was supposed to fight in.
She then understood she was probably simply uninformed about what that thing in his hands was, so she tried to put some sense into it as her master was coming to speak to her.
Jacob just used that box to inform someone else about the accident. It was some sort of magic artifact, probably. Yes, that made sense! The kid was a mage, after all.

“I think it's time we got an idea of where we’re going to be fighting. Time to take a look around town, Lancer.”
The disembodied entity took a second before answering: "I agree. Even if I don't like to use this place as a fighting ground, we need to know the terrain to find areas where we might gain an upper hand in battle and contain collateral damages. We might run into other masters doing so. Are you prepared?"
Before he could give her an answer, the woman added with a concerned tone "Did that nun told you something regarding the monsters that killed your Uncle?"

[Jacob Archer]

"Did that nun told you something regarding the monsters that killed your Uncle?"

Jacob considered the Lancer for a moment before replying. “Nothing I didn’t already suspect. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting so much hostility from a neutral party. Then again, if a hostile nun is my only concern, I’m probably in shock.” Jacob laughed wearily, but in all honesty, he probably was in shock. A dead relative, a couple of near-death experiences, and a paranormal encounter or two usually led to one of two things – You’re either a gibbering wreck, or you’re body doesn’t realize it should be a gibbering wreck. Since he was still walking, Jacob guessed he was in the latter category.

Stretching his arms, Jacob turned back to his incorporeal compatriot. “What about you? For somebody who’s been dead for…” Jacob paused for a moment as he tried to remember his French mythology before giving up. “….quite a while, you seem to be taking this all in great stride.” Jacob paused as the reached a crosswalk, A few cars speeding by before the signal allowed them to continue. “So, since you seem to be looking for a particular venue, do you mind filling me in on your criteria? If it’s a matter of space and a lack of people, then there should be a couple of parks we could use. Some of the squares tend to be pretty empty late at night – can a servant Level a building?” Jacob paused as he realized that he had asked that seriously. Just what type of being was he dealing with if he could conceive them leveling buildings? “And of course, there’s always rooftops. It would help if I knew what you were capable of though. If one of your phantasms is a wide-area attack, we probably don’t want to fight on top of a building.”

[Bradamante]

The lancer was following her master through the square, listening to his answer. She thought he managed to maintain a high level of control over himself after the events of that morning, especially for his age.
“What about you? For somebody who’s been dead for…quite a while, you seem to be taking this all in great stride."
Jacob paused, and stopped in front of a row of painted of rectangles on the road. On the streets, metal coaches without horses were moving along. What an odd view.
"I'm just trying to remain calm and endure like you." she replied, staring at her master waiting "This life feels refreshing but odd. This whole thing is confusing... the only real fact I barely understand is that this is something way bigger than I can grasp now. It's not the first time i end involved in puzzling events. For all I know I may have never died in the first place. Maybe I'm still trapped into Atlas's palace, living another illusion, and i only dreamed to come out of it in the first place. Maybe you're an illusion too, master." She tried to joke on that nightmarish experience of her past, but her tone was not convincing: the current day had so little sense not even the mage Atlas could conceive an illusion like that.
"The only thing I have to do now is to play along at the best of my capabilities. I may even understand the whole picture in the end."
The red image of a standing stick man on the signposts near them disappeared, and another green one took its place. The metal coaches stopped and aligned in rows, in a sort of organized move at the sight of that signal. How handy.
Bradamante followed her master through the empty crosswalk as he began suggesting places for fighting.
During his speech, a question was suddenly brought up by her master "Can a servant Level a building?”
She spent less than a second thinking. She had no chance to fully test her abilities yet, but somehow that knowledge was there already, probably placed by the Grail.
"...It would help if I knew what you were capable of though. If one of your phantasms is a wide-area attack, we probably don’t want to fight on top of a building." Jacob said
Noble Phantasms. She knew that too, even if she was also sure she never heard of them.
"I think I've become strong enough to destroy a wall easily." she stated "It also appears I'm way faster than my human self was...and even if none of my Noble Phantasms covers an area those of other servants might."
They entered a secondary road filled with shops. The people on that crowded street were all too busy to pay attention to the young master and her ethereal servant.
Bradamante took a look at the people around her. Different dresses, different ways. A few were busy talking to a small box like her master did earlier. Curiosity destroyed the flow of her thoughts and brought out again the question left unanswered by the arrival of the nun earlier.
"You mentioned I'm long dead. So, what year is it?"

[Jacob Archer]

Jacob mused on Lancer’s comments as they walked down the shop-lined street. The last time he had search such an argument – that the life one was living was simply an illusion – had been in a philosophy class. He had been better wrapping his head around the concept then most, but still found the idea quite disconcerting. The topic of her capabilities was a much welcome distraction.

A lack of building-destroying weapons was not a worry for him. He had no interest in causing that much collateral damage. Even better, it meant there was less limitation on where they could fight. The right battlefield could make or break a battle. So, at least they didn’t need about accidentally collapsing their own battlefield. Though there was still the problem of whether or not the opponent would.

"You mentioned I'm long dead. So, what year is it?"

The question caught him off-guard. He had figured that the Grail would have filled them in on such things. “uh… 2027, Georgian calendar.” Jacob tried to remember when the church had changed calendars. Was it the Fifteenth or Sixteenth Century? Did it even matter? He couldn’t remember the calendar differences. “Charlemagne was active around 770 I think, so that would mean…” He froze as he realized the answer. “twelve hundred years?” He wasn’t sure why, but for some reason that brought the reality of his entire situation crashing down on him harder than anything else. His Uncle was dead, killed by strange creatures. He was part of a massive fight to the death. He had summoned a being older than some countries to do his bidding.

Unsteadily, he made his way over to the nearest shop and collapsed into a chair at an empty outdoor table. Part of his mind noted that it was in fact an ice cream parlor. Not wanting to alarm Lancer, he quickly made up an excuse. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to grab something from here.” He doubted it was convincing, and he was worried he was a little too loud, as a couple of other patrons turned to stare at him briefly. He joined them in looking around. After a moment they simply gave up and went back to their own business. Jacob let out a sigh. This city was just too crowded to talk to Lancer without drawing suspicion. He’d probably have to have Lancer start following him in physical form, as draining as it might be. Or, he could get a Bluetooth set.

Still, it didn’t strike him as very fair that Lancer had to follow him around like a ghost. He’d figure something out later. For now, he decided to just to order some ice cream from the approaching waitress. In his somewhat rusty Italian, he tried to converse with her. “Yes, could I get a bowl of…. Strawberry Ice Cream?” It had been a while since he’d had any ice cream, let alone strawberry, and Italian ice cream was supposed to be quite good. Maybe he should get a container of some for Lancer to try once they got home.

[Bradamante]

Twelve hundred years?
Twelve hundred years.
That was impressive. So impressive that her jaw could drop, if she had one to drop in her current form.
The world changed so much it was like another planet, and almost everything she layed her eyes on was something she could never think she could see in her time.
That discovery made her feel good and bad at the same time. She was casted in a completely new era, filled with new things to see and a new duty to perform, but at the same time she was twelve centuries away from her reality, with the strange awareness that you are out of place.

She barely noticed when Jacob dropped on a chair near them, too driven away by her thoughts. The young man spoke to her in a louder voice “If you don’t mind, I’d like to grab something from here.”
Some bystanders turned in his direction and she understood from their puzzled look that he was looking like a strange individual, that was talking to no but the air.
She mused on that, and came to a simple conlusion: as long as he spoke to her in spiritual form, anyone else was only able to see a young boy talking to nothing. Yes, it probably was way weirder than those talking with boxes while walking around were in her eyes.

A curiously dressed woman came out of the shop. Bradamante realized she was some sort of waitress of that strange looking inn. Other patrons on the closer tables were eating a strange colored cream out of glasses, so it was indeed some sort of inn. She looked at the sign over the entrance: 'Gelateria'. Ice Cream Shop.
Bradamante remained silent, when Jacob asked the young waitress for a Strawberry Ice Cream.

Strawberries. She loved them in her previous life, and the simple thought brought her back their flavour. The memory of her childhood and of the times she entered the woods near her estate to eat woodland stawberries with her brother came to her mind.

The servant became really curious, and immediately wondered how such a cream could taste.
The waitress returned after a minute, holding a bowl of a pink colored cream. She handed it to Jacob and moved away to serve a new customer.
She gazed as her master took a small spoon and took his first sample.
Unable to resist her genuine curiosity, Bradamante asked "Master, how does it taste?"

[Jacob Archer]

Jacob robotically thanked the waitress as she brought him his order, a surprisingly small bowl of rose-hued frozen dessert. He reached out for his spoon, somewhat surprised to see his hand shaking. Part of him realized he was lucky that’s all it was, so far. He idly considered that his brain was intentionally being slow to ship into shock in order to give him a chance to get somewhere safe. At this rate, he was probably going to be catatonic by tomorrow morning. He was so deep in his own thoughts that he almost missed Lancer’s question.

"Master, how does it taste?"

Jacob looked up with a jerk, his eyes, of course, only meeting with the gaze of a curious passerby. Of course that’s all he would see – she was invisible. He let out a sigh as he realized how many of the people probably thought he was crazy now. Idly, he took a bite of the dessert. “Hmm” Jacob looked down at the bowl in surprise. “This is actually pretty good.” Stronger then he was used to, but good. “Hey-” he caught himself before he said something else to cast doubt on his mental state. “I wonder if I should get some of this to go…” He ‘thought’ out loud, though for some reason he was sure that at least one person was listening to him – not that anybody else could see her. Still, she was a person…. Sort of. He might as well treat her like one.

Besides, considering what ice cream to buy was a welcome distraction.