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[foundfate]

["I want to be free of the ghosts to see. That is my wish: to not be burdened by them anymore."

"Unfortunately, I cannot grant that wish. But I can send you to someone who can grant it."

That answer gave Watanuki jack-all to go off of, though, and he was left standing in a field of pink flowers looking absolutely befuddled. How had he gotten there? Where was he in the first place? The flowers seemed to go on forever, and all that was around besides them was a floating tower in the sky.

Well, that seemed like Watanuki's best chance at getting an answer, so he tried to step in that direction, but found that his legs were tangled up in the flowers. He fount this out by tripping, somehow, and ending up face-first in the flowers with a yelp.]

What- why are they-

[Oh, to be tangled up in the Garden of Avalon. His sins weighed him down, and he didn't even know it.]

Comments

[foundfate]

A flower salad? Now there's an idea. I'm pretty good at using paring knives too, I bet I could carve radishes to look like flowers.

[Guess what Merlin would be getting for lunch tomorrow. Watanuki wouldn't remember his inspiration, but he would remember the dish.]

[myrdd]

You do that.

[He'll be delighted, too, even if Watanuki doesn't remember.

Ah, but the hours tick away from where their bodies lie, and it's time for an actual lesson. Merlin will have to let the cooking show run its course another night, and he tips his staff to the right, where a door materializes.

There's a knock, only because that's what Merlin intends.

Will the force that so insistently pulled Merlin into this dream show up before they leave?]

By the way, someone's at the door.

[They will be pulled elsewhere, but only if Watanuki opens it.]

[foundfate]

Ah?

[Well! His food wasn't done cooking, because dream time cooking is Weird. But Watanuki left his dream food cooking as he walked over to the door and opened it. It would be rude to leave a guest outside, after all.

What magical world were they off to?]

[myrdd]

[Welcome, Watanuki, to the dream of a Daoist priest in Taiwan.

Even in sleep, the man continues the steady rhythm of masterful practice, seated at a low table as he works on intricate talismans, each stroke a deliberate motion.

Unlike real life, the man's thoughts can be sensed as ink is drawn on paper, for the mindful application of intention is but another form of spellcraft. Here, as he writes for protection, thought and energy coalesce into poetry. Anyone with the right sort of vision will be able to see the faint glimmer of the characters before they settle, and Merlin turns to Watanuki with a finger pressed to his mouth before tapping his ear and his chest, over the heart.

Stay silent, he bids, and listen.

Truly Listen, not just with sound.

Of course, he doesn't expect Watanuki to pick up just how right away, but immersion in the experience is the first step. Merlin will field in his questions in a while.]

[foundfate]

[Watanuki could understand those gestures, even if he didn't understand why they're there at first. So he raised an eyebrow in a silent question of "why?", but he ultimately did what Merlin showed him. He sat down nearby, trying to match the way the priest was sitting, and he listened.

...or, he tried to. But the only sound was the sound of the brush on paper, crafting talismans with precision and regularity. The pattern of brush, turn, brush, turn, it became a regular rhythm that flowed like a heartbeat. It was a bit dull, but he still persisted in listening, because he had been instructed to do so and it wasn't so dull that he couldn't handle it. Though if he had been awake, he may have fallen asleep again.

Watanuki would be patient and last for the rest of the night, until wakefulness dragged him back to consciousness.]

Huh. What a weird dream.

[Then he got dressed and went looking for Merlin, not even aware of the fact that he had already had a lesson.]

[myrdd]

[That's fine. The subconscious has its own ways of retaining information. Moreover, seeing Watanuki's difficulty does help in identifying what to focus on in the daytime.

Merlin, of course, is already awake. Watanuki will find him in the courtyard, already in the middle of constructing what looks like a glass box about the size of the back of a container van.

Except, well, the glass is just there as training wheels. It's the inside that matters - a Bounded Field that recreates the low mana density of the human world.

If Merlin hears Watanuki approaching, he doesn't give a sign.]

[foundfate]

[Yeah, that weird glass box was...well, weird. He walked over to Merlin and the box, watching it closely.]

What's this for?

[Even if Merlin hadn't spoken up yet or indicated that he knew Watanuki was there, but he was assuming Merlin was aware. Or if not, then Watanuki speaking up would let him know.

He reached out like he was going to touch the glass box, but he stopped himself at the last moment.]

[myrdd]

[Good call! It's only halfway done.]

You.

[Helpful, isn't he? The cheeky grin isn't helping.]

You'll find out later.

Now, why are you up so early?

[As if Merlin keeps track of the time in Avalon.]

[foundfate]

This better not be some metaphor about a glass prison.

[He may have gotten his metaphors wrong there.

Still, he inspected the cube as he answered Merlin's other question.]

It's not that early, is it? It feels like I slept the whole night away.

[myrdd]

Oh, please. Can't a glass box just be a glass box?

[He gives Watanuki a cursory look-over. Hmm. Funny, he expected Watanuki to attend to breakfast first - it's not as if he's been in Avalon long enough to forget old habits.]

Well, you certainly look more rested than you were yesterday. [He leaves the glass after one last tap of his staff - now, to wait for it to be stabilized.] Run five laps around this space, won't you? Helps build a proper appetite for breakfast.

[Don't look now, but the courtyard seems to have expanded. It's about the size of an Olympic race track.]

[foundfate]

[Merlin wasn't wrong, he probably should have made breakfast first. But Watanuki's curiosity had gotten the better of him, and here he was. Just in time for the courtyard to grow so large too.]

Ah?

[He's startled by the change, and at first he looked on in wonder. But then there was the instruction to run and he suddenly became aware of just how much larger the space had become.]

Right now? What is this, gym class?! I'm not even in my P.E. clothes!

[myrdd]

Don't you know? Even if emergencies were capable of thought, they still won't be polite enough to wait on you.

[He says this as if there will be more reason for Watanuki to approach this as an emergency, if he doesn't start running soon.

(Merlin's not the type who intentionally makes training from hell montages. It's just that he's seen all sorts of advancements in the span of 1500 years, he's prone to trying out more than a few things on a whim, and he has far more leeway in throwing together a "curriculum" now compared to the time he taught Arturia and Viviane.

Gl Watanuki.)]

[foundfate]

Are you saying this is an emergency?!

[He glanced around the room, looking for any sign of threats. Even if there was nothing to be seen, he would assume they were to be invisible.

Well. Time to just run in his normal clothes. By the second lap around Watanuki started to look pained. He's a noodle and he did not stretch his muscles before running.

By the third lap around, Watanuki would just fall flat on his face and lay on the ground for a bit.]

[myrdd]

[Oh wow, he didn't even have to bring out the illusion of a giant raging Cath Palug for a chase!]

Emergencies don't conform to expectations, either!

[So he'll shout across the field.

Humored by Watanuki buying into it so easily, Merlin generously allows the short rest, walking over to hand a flask of water.

And by "flask," he means a water skin. The traditional kind made with leather.]

Halfway there!

Drink up.

[foundfate]

[He will take that flask and drink from it, thanks. Even if he does grimace at the taste.]

I guess water bottles don't exist here, do they?

[It did not encourage him to stand up, though. He stayed on the ground like the useless noodle he was. Getting buff was going to be a marathon, not a sprint.]

[myrdd]

[wat.]

...isn't this one?

[Please introduce him to modern conveniences.

But if Watanuki's going to stay like that a while longer, Merlin will sit next to him, propping his chin on his hand.]

Not to say that three laps on your first day isn't decent progress, but how much running did you actually do on a regular basis before coming here?

[foundfate]

No, it's made of plastic and rubber and sometimes has metal on the inside to keep the water colder for longer.

[He held up his hands and traced the outline of a water bottle, as if that would make any sense at all to Merlin.

But as Merlin asked that last question, Watanuki glowered and let his hands fall back down.]

I ran from spirits all the time.

[myrdd]

[It... does and doesn't. Metal he gets, but rubber? Plastic? Anyway, he summons a stick to draw the outline Watanuki's traced in the air, and he peers down at it.]

So it's a flask of sorts. [The temperature won't remain cool if there's metal... so this plastic and rubber maintains it? Hmm.] What sort of materials are the other two?

[And really -] You've told me as much, yes. I'm simply wondering why this is the current state of your stamina if you have that much practice. I understand that modern transportation is... different from what it was, but not how that affects things like exercise.

[foundfate]

They're...You really don't know?

[He seemed a bit surprised by that. Rubbers and plastics are so common that he can't imagine a world without them.

He pulled off his glasses- which blurred his vision a bit but he could still see Merlin at least- and held them out for Merlin to inspect. They were mostly metal, but the parts that went behind his ears were covered in plastic.]

It's this stuff here, this is plastic. And rubber is what's on the bottom of my shoes.

[Talk of exercise later, Watanuki decided. Now was for learning about modern conveniences.]

[myrdd]

[Y'know what part of the world discovered rubber before the Europeans got into it? Mesoamerica. Where Merlin hasn't visited unless canon has some more weird behind the scenes shit going on, but anyway.

He takes the glasses, peers through the lenses, and makes a face. What is this prescription.]

I must confess, I thought these were made of glass. [Carefully, he turns them over in his palm to test the weight of the contraption, before returning the pair to Watanuki.] They're lighter than expected.

[Also, don't mind him touching the side of those soles.]

Interesting addition. They seem to be more flexible than wood.

[Here, he rolls up the hem of his loose pant leg - the soles of his boots might be black, but they're wood. The boots themselves are made of leather.]

Based on its texture, I suppose that rubber's better at preventing slippage?

[foundfate]

Plastic is more common now, because it doesn't break so easily.

[The prescription is high, Watanuki's eyesight is bad without them. He can navigate the world and recognize people without them, but reading signs or anything not immediately in his face is impossible.]

I'm surprised that it looks like a normal boot but the sole is wood, I would have expected leather or something.

But yeah, it makes it easier to run in shoes. They don't slip on wet sidewalk or anything. The only thing it's not good for is ice, or slippery substances like wet grass.

[myrdd]

Leather soles were more common, yes. These just make it easier to use a stirrup.

[He had plenty of places to go at the time! Mostly for business, alas.

The mention of ice makes him chuckle.]

Well, I see some things don't change. Not that we should expect to encounter any ice or rain in an eternal paradise.

[foundfate]

[That's actually a little disappointing, because Watanuki enjoys the atmosphere of a rainy day. But oh well.

He finally sits up, and he holds his hand out to take his glasses back. Assuming Merlin gives them back to him, of course.]

Don't you peek into people's dreams? How have you not seen that kind of thing before?

[myrdd]

[Here you go, Watanuki. Whole and smudge-free.]

I probably have, but things aren't always so well-defined, you know? Dreams are highly dependent on the sleeper's state of mind, so there's a great deal of subjectivity involved. In a tailor's dream, for example, you might be able to touch and feel the textiles they're working on to a hyperrealistic degree, whereas that same tailor might see themselves walking in a market and just know what a fruit stall is without much detail to it.

[Incidentally, that's why the priest's dream from last night is detailed: that man's spent plenty of time in that room in the waking world. Not that Watanuki remembers it!]

In any case, as an outsider peeking in, I still end up being more drawn to things that stand out in the dream. That's especially true if the sleeper's emotions are involved.

[foundfate]

[Time to put glasses back on!]

Or like how a monk would clearly remember their own prayers but not those for another religion, yeah?

[Watanuki absolutely did not remember the events of last night. But that didn't mean they left no impression on him either. 'The mind may forget but the body remembers', or something like that.]

I guess it would be hard to notice a water bottle, then. Most people don't think specifically about those, they just sort of exist.