Entent Cordial

[eien_no_chou]

Chiyo barely manages to prevent herself from circling the neighbourhood again just for fun, for the sake of riding this wonderful machine a little while longer, but it seems as though if she tarries for too long her passenger may expire entirely, and she can feel herself getting chilled thoroughly to the bone by her clothing.

The last thing she needs mid-grail war is a bout of pneumonia, so she brings the rumbling beast to a stop in front of the driveway of her house. Shizuka is in the doorway, and if Chiyo cared to examine her expression for more than a moment she might have chastised her for the open shock - said something about catching flies with a mouth hanging open like that. She steps off the bike and leaves Michel languishing in the sidecar.

"Have Madarame drive the bike and the boy back to his hotel," she says lightly, breezing her way past her bewildered servant. Once inside she can hear her clothes dripping water onto the floor, and her socks make wet splat sounds on the wood once she discards her shoes. She makes it all the way to her bedroom and immediately sheds her sodden clothing, wrapping a towel around her middle before collapsing into a chair with a breathless laugh.

That was quite possibly the most fun she'd ever had before in her life.

Comments

[toomuchbull]

"I'm putting my foot down on principle." Rider tries to keep his voice level, tries to quelch the heat in his tone, but it fails. "You are not allowed to treat me like a pawn in a little game you're playing for your own entertainment!"

[eien_no_chou]

"I am doing this for the sake of my family!" Chiyo's voice finally rises as Rider's falls. "Should the grail fall into the hands of any of those other mages, who knows what will become of us and the world? You know for a fact there are unsuitable people taking part in this war, you killed one yourself." Her hands clench in her lap. "And as for games I've not been stumbling around the city drunk at every opportunity! Lancer's death is only an irritation to you because you don't get to continue your little play-fight against each other!"

[toomuchbull]

"Piss and blood, Tohsaka, what else do you expect me to do with myself?!" His volume increases, and he has no care for who hears. "You take quarrel with me when I fight, you berate me when I don't and then you do this?! Perhaps you would be better off fighting without me, hm?"

[eien_no_chou]

"By this point I'm beginning to wonder!" she snaps, then takes a deep breath in through the nose and lets it out. She grieves the loss of her good mood from earlier, long since slain by this odious beast of a man. "But a mage cannot touch the grail, only a Servant can. Hence, I have no choice."

[toomuchbull]

"You don't have a choice on that but you could attempt to not look at me like I'm mud beneath your feet!"

A statement, that after he says it, would be quite funny if he wasn't spitting venom in his words.

[eien_no_chou]

"I could respect you more if you listened to me as your Master!" She remembers hearing in a previous argument that respect is earned, not given, and she wants to throw it back in his face, because how is she meant to earn the respect of this man if not by doing what she did best - subterfuge.

[toomuchbull]

"You've given me no reason to and you continue to do so even as we speak!" Rider spits. "It was like this from day one!"

[eien_no_chou]

"I think I may have misread your story," she hisses back, nearly rising from her chair. "I thought I would be getting a noble aide to a king, instead I got a brute who should have stayed dead as the stones he was made from."

[toomuchbull]

"We were friends and equals before we were anything else," Rider snarls. "And how dare you bring him into this argument!"

His feet curl, his hands curl, but nothing is hit. "We fought once, found each other equal in strength, and became dear to each other. That never negated recklessness or making foolish mistakes, it only made us act as ourselves.

"I was never a servant for him. Why would I act that way for you?"

[eien_no_chou]

Chiyo grits her teeth. "Indeed, why would you," she ponders if she should pour herself another drink, if only to get this bitterness out of her mouth. "When you were alive you were a king's equal - or so you say, I find it hard to believe with your manners. But that was when you were alive," she stresses the word coldly, like icicles hang off every letter. "Now, however, you are a Servant, and you answer to your Master."

[toomuchbull]

"You treat me like an equal or we can continue to argue like this until someone else takes that cup," Rider says coldly.

[eien_no_chou]

For a moment Chiyo opens her mouth to immediately refuse, but something stills her tongue. Something that burns her more than the wine.

Rider is right.

It stings to admit to herself, but it's true. As long as they stand here arguing they are not making progress towards the grail. And what is all this for, all this summoning and running about and being blown out of trees, if not for the grail and its magnificent power.

She draws a deep breath in through her nose, and stands from her chair. Her cold wet hair slips over her shoulder as she holds out one hand towards Rider, as though beginning a business transaction. Wearing only a towel no less. "Very well. From this point forth, we work in tandem. We communicate, explain and share information. And we enter battle together. Is this acceptable?"

[toomuchbull]

Rider's anger doesn't quite disappear, but it does take on a completely baffled look. It's enough for his fists to straighten again and he lets the words run over and over in his head.

"You actually mean this?"

[eien_no_chou]

"I am willing to make an alliance if it means we actually make some progress towards the Grail," she says simply, considering dropping her hand. "Unless you consider me too odious to work with."

[toomuchbull]

"If you mean this, then it is accepted, although I feel like we should both have insurance on this matter."

Rider takes the hand though, and looks Chiyo dead in the eye. Well, down, and dead in the eye. "Neither one of us have track records, and I think there's one wildlife matter I want to settle before moving on."

[eien_no_chou]

Chiyo only realises how cold her hands are when she can feel Rider's warmth in comparison. She should really get dressed. "And that wildlife matter would be?"

[toomuchbull]

"Oh, I have some tanuki to apologise to. I probably gave them a scare during the incident with Saber's master."

[eien_no_chou]

"Ah," Chiyo says, as though she completely understands the train of thought that lead to this.

She adds to her mental notes. One, buy a motorbike. Two, make sure no Tohsaka ever makes the mistake of summoning from the Epic ever again.

[toomuchbull]

Enkidu lets go of her hand, still not sure what to make of this. Being in a proper fight must have done something to her head, he figures, and he'll ask about it later.

For now, he has a church to visit and some friends to talk to.