[open]

[nevergetscredit]

After having been on the ship for a number of weeks now, Merlin was beginning to get the hang of the place. Or at least, he wasn't finding himself in completely unfamiliar places where it would take him all day to get back to somewhere he recognised quite so often.

At least now he didn't have to worry about needing to get back to his rooms so he could feed Iniss. He hoped that Tom was alright - he still wasn't sure that taking Iniss back was the best thing for Tom, but Merlin had resolved to check up on him. And if Iniss still wasn't letting Tom control his own body...well, Merlin could always cast that spell again.

One thing Merlin definitely hadn't gotten the hang of, however, was the omnicomm. Which meant that he was currently walking along the corridors of Stacy, blissfully unaware of the fact that a very public declaration of both Merlin's actions and his magical ability had recently been broadcast to the entire ship.

Comments

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi wasn't looking for anyone or anything in particular after the bizarre incident with Ruffnut (http://community.livejournal.com/trans_9/639677.html?thread=47494589#t47494589), but all the same, he found himself suddenly and without warning, well... falling through the floor.

He twisted as he fell, cradling Fuyu's projection sphere and absorbing the brunt of the impact when he landed on the floor of what was apparently the corridor below. The wind was knocked out of him, but that was all. As he looked up, he saw Merlin.

"Er... hello."

[nevergetscredit]

Merlin leaped back instinctively when something was suddenly falling at him from above. He gaped at Zouichi for a moment, before looking up at the undamaged ceiling above.

"Hello," Merlin said slowly. "How did you...?"

Was he magic, like Merlin?

[ooc: I'm kinda assuming he just kinda phased through the floor, but let me know if that's wrong?]

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"You got me," he said, looking up at the ceiling as if expecting it to open up again. In his shock, he completely forgot to be polite to the fellow he'd nearly crashed into. "I was just falling through the floor all of a sudden."

He looked back at Merlin. "I don't suppose you saw what happened any more than I did?"

[Yep, phased through it. He's under the influence of some weird magic junk (http://community.livejournal.com/trans_pilgrims/511392.html), where he'll randomly cast spells by accident. He doesn't actually know any magic himself.]

[nevergetscredit]

"No, I think falling through the floor pretty much covers it," Merlin said. He thought he might have sensed magic - well, what else could it be? - but he'd been too distracted by the sudden falling person to really pay attention. "...maybe it was magic?"

[ooc: awesome, thanks!]

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Magic?" Zouichi blinked, mulling that one over for a second. "So someone dropped me through to this hallway? Why?"

The image of a young woman, luminous and only a few inches tall, flickered into being in the air near him. "I didn't detect anyone nearby... But you were saying something right before you fell, didn't you, Zouichi?"

Well, now that Zouichi thought of it, he had been mumbling something... but he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was. This was getting weird.

[nevergetscredit]

"Maybe a sorcerer doesn't like you?" Merlin suggested. But then the image of the tiny woman appeared. "Who are you?!" he said, staring.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"I'm Fuyu," she said, smiling politely at Merlin. "Nice to meet you."

"Kanoe Zouichi," said the young man, extending a hand in greeting. "And if that's true, that would explain a lot. This is the second time this's happened today."

[nevergetscredit]

"Um, Merlin," he said, shaking Zoichi's hand but still looking at Fuyu warily. He said he didn't have magic, but he had a...familiar?

"Sorry, but...what are you, exactly?" he said to Fuyu.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"I'm Zouichi's partner," she said. "An artificial intelligence. My job is mainly to support him during missions, but I've asked Zouichi to show me the premises, since it's a little difficult to negotiate a motorcycle around the ship." Then she paused. "Merlin? That's an unusual name. Were you named after the wizard? Or perhaps the falcon?"

[metalwebhead.livejournal.com]

If there was one thing Spider-Man wasn't used to at the moment, it was being Mr. Police Officer. He never thought, in his lifetime, that he would be actually arresting people and bringing them in, instead of beating them senseless and webbing them up. Oh, sure there would be time for that sort of thing. Just not right now.

At the moment, the web-slinger was busy crawling along the walls of the hallways, trying to find Merlin before stopping and noticing the guy.

Ah-ha...! Gotcha...! he thought before moving in and grabbing his attention.

"'ey! Pointy-ears!" he called out, landing on the floor behind Merlin.

[nevergetscredit]

Merlin spun around, startled by the sudden appearance of...a man? (Was it a man? Merlin wasn't too sure; either it was a man wearing the strangest garment he'd ever seen, or it was some bizarre kind of man-shaped talking creature.)

"What's wrong with my ears?" he protested, feeling a little indignant that some strange man-shaped creature had felt the need to come up to him and start making fun of his ears.

[metalwebhead.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I could go on about your ears, bub, but that's not here or there." Spidey said. Going for his omnicomm, he brought up the message from Iniss (along with some of the rage-filled messages) and held it out to Merlin.

"Sorry, looks like you've been outed. That, and you're in trouble. As much as I'm not to fond of symbiotic creepies taking over other people's minds and all... rules are rules. Now, do you want to do this the easy way or the humiliating way?"

[nevergetscredit]

Merlin stared at the screen, his eyes ignoring most of the message and zooming onto one part. Magic. Iniss had told people about his magic!

Never mind that Merlin was pale already - he was going to get even paler, as all the colour drained from his face. He'd hoped that what people had been telling him was true, that magic wasn't illegal, except now everyone knew about Merlin and here he was, about to be taken away.

If he'd stopped to think rationally, Merlin might have realised that it was taking Iniss, not his magic that had gotten him into trouble. But living under the threat of execution for having magic tended to skew one's perceptions.

"But...but magic's not evil!" Merlin pleaded, trying to fight the panic. "I didn't use it to hurt him, and I promise I wouldn't use magic to hurt anybody!"

[metalwebhead.livejournal.com]

"Listen, buddy, I'm not here about you using magic." Spidey said. "I don't give two licks about you using magic. What I care about is the fact that you kidnapped someone - someone who half of the crew thinks should be kept away for good, but, hey, who am I to argue with Captain Pretty Boy and the walking man muscle that is my boss?" He shrugged at that.

[nevergetscredit]

"You're...not?" Merlin repeated, blinking. He didn't care about his magic at all?

"Wait, kidnapped? He's a slug that was controlling Tom's body! How is taking him out kidnapping?"

[metalwebhead.livejournal.com]

"No, I'm not." Spidey repeated, just to make sure it went through.

"Well, you took him out and held him against his will. Despite what he is, apparently, he's crew, so... it's considered kidnapping."

This was going to be a loooooooooooong day.

[nevergetscredit]

Merlin blinked. Again. He seemed to be doing that a lot in this conversation.

He wasn't sure what was weirder: the fact that he wasn't being arrested for having magic, or the fact that taking a slug out of someone's head counted as kidnapping.

"That makes no sense. What else was I supposed to do with him? I couldn't really go and stick him in someone else, could I?"

Bentytime in effect!

[everdistant_utopia]

For her part, Saber had begun to adjust to her bizarre new circumstances as only a proper Servant could... albeit without the guidance and information from the Holy Grail, a Master to supply her prana and orders, and anything resembling a concrete goal. Everything she had known was gone, and if there was no way to grant her wish, she might was well not exist at all and return to her own time, perhaps to be destroyed along with everything else. But Saber was not generally one given to self-pity, and she had already fallen into a much deeper despair once before. If there was nothing to be found, so be it; she would search until the end of time. Time was something she apparently had plenty of.

And then there was the cryptic broadcast. She had mastered the omnicomm well enough, having come from a time with similar such devices, albeit far more primitive. If Merlin truly was on board the ship along with her, the King of Knights had a few pointed questions for her former advisor.

Strangely, this put her in a good mood; irritating as his pranks had been, the old wizard was someone close to her. And if he was here, perhaps others from her world -- Camelot and Fuyuki City -- might have been rescued as well. Immersed in thought, she would have collided with the next person coming from the opposite direction had her warrior's instincts finally alerted her to the fact that she was not alone.

"Ah... forgive me, I should have been paying closer attention," her eyes refocusing as she stopped in mid-pace. Whether or not she would have bumped into him or not wasn't important; chivalry was.

Re: Bentytime in effect!

[nevergetscredit]

Merlin blinked at the noblewoman, before sending her a slightly nervous smile. She didn't have any of that scary aura that she'd had the first time he'd met her, but Merlin definitely still remembered. "It's alright, I'm fine" he said.

[everdistant_utopia]

No, the aura was certainly absent; there was no unidentifiable mass attempting to be passed off as 'food' to her. No, the King of Knights was in a pensive mood, if anything... even if her stoic mask gave nothing of her true emotions away.

Only this time, a slight expression betrayed her as surprise flickered across Saber's face. Oh. The young would-be magus. Idly, she wondered if he'd found himself a master yet or at least had learned something of magic, though she doubted it.

"That is good to hear. It was rude of me to fail in my attention."

Though her expression had returned to an impassive neutral, she could not help but study him a little. Perhaps magic operated differently on different worlds, but as a Servant she could certainly feel its irresistible pull.

[nevergetscredit]

Considering that Merlin was well known for his clumsiness, if not noticing that you were about to run into someone was rude then he'd spent a lot of his life being rude to people.

And normally, nobles didn't exactly apologise to peasants for being rude. "Don't worry about it, really," he repeated, wondering what other strange behaviour the Lady would exhibit next.

[everdistant_utopia]

Strange, but perhaps more worrisome, might be the best way to describe Saber's next inquiry. She really did need to find a Master if she was going to have a reliable anchor and source of magic, as reluctant as she was to contracting again. Her previous Master had not been especially honourable in his methodology and it had left her wary.

"Pardon my asking, but have you encountered any others with your particular abilities?" Out of the blue, certainly... though at least she had left "abilities" up to interpretation.

[nevergetscredit]

Merlin started. "What abilities?" he asked, wary.

[everdistant_utopia]

This was going to be a challenge. But he was her best lead to finding a potential Master; while she was reluctant to form another contract, the Servant had to admit she would be in a better position if she did.

"If you remember about my particular needs, I am in search of a Master to supply me with magical energy. I am able to sense it, but thus far you have been the only one with a suitable capacity for it. If there are others, it is my hope one will not be averse to acquiring a Servant, at least perhaps temporarily."

Hopefully the boy at least knew he was magical in some way or another.

[nevergetscredit]

Merlin's eyes widened. "No, I don't have any magic," he stammered. How could she possibly sense his magic? He hadn't used any around her!