ROLESWAP AU MASTER POST

[didnteventry]

[a post for this au!]

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[prebeard]

[crosses his very elegant legs and huffs!!]

[blinged]

[Gilgamesh likewise settles back into his chair, trying to occupy as much of it as possible.]

Don't look so offended, I only said it was stuffy.

[prebeard]

It's only as stuffy as you are troublesome.

[blinged]

But that isn't a fair comparison at all! People only find me trouble if I'm standing in their way, or if they're too obstinate for their own good! It seems you're both.

[prebeard]

I can't imagine anyone wouldn't find you troublesome. Only that some would be too docile to tell you so.

[Tokiomi himself would have grown into someone like that. Someone too reserved and controlled to rock the boat when he could brown-nose his way along for greater profit. But alas, he died young and traumatically and he never got to be that way.]

[blinged]

Then that's their own loss, isn't it?

[There's a grin on his face - oh sure, he knows about the people he's intimidated, and about the people who couldn't speak up because of his position - he finds them all awfully entertaining, really.]

[prebeard]

You can be sure I won't be one of them.

[blinged]

What a pity - I'd hoped that would prevent any future bickering

[prebeard]

We don't have to bicker. It's just a matter of mutual respect.

[blinged]

Perhaps! Still, I hardly find anyone worthy. I guess I'll try to see the good in you.

[prebeard]

And I'll try to see it in you.

[blinged]

How noble of you! Don't be mistaken - I'm infinitely grateful.

[though perhaps not in the way even Gilgamesh expects - having Tokiomi around as someone to challenge him is, unexpectedly, a rare delight, and he almost wishes his obstinate little familiar could hang around longer]

[prebeard]

We'll see if it turns out well for us, then.

[for now, he's going to sparkle out.

But it turns out pretty well, actually. They really do have different perspectives, and in the information gathering time before the battles start it works out quite well to help them figure out the most the fastest. They also get strangely used to each other, that first week of fiddling around.

Before he knows it, Tokiomi could easily call Gil a friend. That makes it a lot easier when the first encounter of the war ends in the display of a mad spirit that's way too familiar. Back home after the fact, Tokiomi paces the office, battling anger, nervousness, and hurt.]

Of all people...

[blinged]

[Deep down, he doesn't mean to be insufferable. He never truly meant to abandon those who loved him. There was just this void, something that needed to be plugged up with the presence of another human being.

Strangely, unexpectedly, it had proved to be Tokiomi.

Despite his outright lack of cooperation and his stuffy ways, Gilgamesh could say he actually enjoyed the time spent with his Servant, carefully analyzing what information they had and using it to plan something greater.

So now seeing his servant ruffled almost scares Gilgamesh, and for the first time in a long while, he stood from his seat in the library and moved to calm Tokiomi]

...so you two are familiar.

[prebeard]

Far too familiar.

[It's the person he wanted to see least of all. Someone he once loved dearly, someone he learned to loathe, but who, in his last moments, he knew loathed him back for the exact same reason. They'd betrayed each other. When they were angry, it was easy to act as if it was one sided, but when Tokiomi was alone, watching his own life bleed out of him, he'd had to recognise that it was mutual.

That's partly why he's here. He wants to prove to himself that all they did and all they lost was worth it. So why...?

He stops in front of the desk, slamming his fist into the side of it in an unusual fit of emotion.]

Why is he here?!

[blinged]

For the same reasons you are - isn't that how the Grail chooses every Servant?

[He doesn't mean to sound cold, but comfort isn't his forte.]

[prebeard]

Obviously, but-- It's been 40 years, so to choose both of us at the same time is...

[It's cruel. And it hurts.]

[blinged]

An unfortunate coincidence that should not shake our resolve.

[He reaches over to place his hand on Tokiomi's - the contact is self assured but somehow awkward nevertheless.

Still -- somewhere along the line, Gilgamesh assented to regarding Tokiomi not only as competent, but worthy of the word "our."]

[prebeard]

It won't. I'll defeat him no matter what.

[That's not just for himself anymore. Not just for Rin and Sakura, either. It's for the Master who's relying him, right here.]

If I can't do that, I won't be able to forgive either of us.

[blinged]

Oh, trust me, I wouldn't forgive you either! It would be an insult to lose to such a... what was that word you used? An inelegant opponent. I had no idea the Matou family was so disgusting.

[prebeard]

He wasn't always like that.

[blinged]

I don't doubt that, but it hardly matters now, right? I think I'll allow some other Servant to handle him. I don't want to be touched by one of those vermin again.

[prebeard]

[He goes quiet at that.

He's not sure he wants to leave Kariya to someone else, and he's definitely sure that Kariya won't want to be left.]

...

[blinged]

...let me guess. You'd like to put him out of his misery.

[prebeard]

I don't think he'll let me ignore him.