“What do you mean, your refusing his invitation? He’s pretty much the only person here who knew you when you were alive!” Jeanne Alter was pissed at her ‘older’ sister, who was sitting across from her, quietly drinking some tea.
Ordinarily, she wouldn’t be surprised at a Saint choosing to avoid a private get together with a Caster of Gilles’ low repute.
But between his good behavior since summoning (or rather, his lack of bad behavior), and the fact that the Ruler known as Jeanne d’Arc had become fairly un-saint-like since coming to Chaldea, she couldn’t see why she was refusing him.
The Eldest Jeanne sister sighed, and pushed the invitation towards the unruly Alter.
“Ignoring the fact that you don’t know what the relationship between Caster Gilles and I is, it wasn’t me that was invited. Here, have a look.”
Jeanne Alter snatched the paper, and began reading.
Dear Beloved Jeanne, it would please me ever much to inv……
Seeing that Gilles went on and on in his usual flow-y and lengthy ramblings, the Ace of Chaldea couldn’t figure out what her sister meant.
“Seems like he pretty clearly invited you. and you’re obviously being a prig about it.”
And why her and not me…….. But Jeanne Alter quickly banished the thought.
As her girlfriend had taught her, it was fine to listen to the dark shadows that gathered in her mind, but she must never let their ideas fester and give them a hold on her psyche.
Jeanne d’Arc rolled her eyes, before hiding the apparent frustration of having to explain this thorn in her side.
“My sweet but dense sister, how does Gilles the Caster address you?”
“Beloved Jeanne. He’s always called me that, ever since I made my contract with Ritsuka.”
She’d always assumed it had been a display of affection to all those who remind him of the Saint.
The dark Bitch Queen and her myriad clones got similar praising nicknames, like Jeanne Incarnate, or Jeanne reborn.
“Yes, beloved sister. He calls YOU that.” Something dark quickly spread across her features.
“At best, I am nothing more than Sweet Jeanne, and I made it quite clear to him that he will never call anything else until he stops holding the Ideal of me higher than the Actuality of me. I don’t want his devotion, I want his true thoughts.”
Jeanne sighed, the pain of these feelings quite apparent.
“As you’ve seen by how he worships the ground of anyone who looks vaguely like me, I can’t trust him to tell me the truth or give me his honest opinions.”
Jeanne Alter didn’t know how to take her sister’s condemning words of the friend from her original life she had.
“Oh.”
Jeanne smiled.
“It’s why I’m still close to Gilles the Saber. He still has the seeds of that sickening devotion, but they are tempered by a clear mind and knowing that Master will intervene if he follows the path fate has shown he will take without me around.”
She pulled her dark Sister into a loving hug.
“Go see who Gilles associates with, see who else would willingly befriend the poor man.”
Knowing no one else was around, Jeanne Alter hugged her sister back.
“Fine. But if they’re good people, I get to bring you next time.”
The Sister of Light laughed happily.
“It’s a deal then.”
——————————————
Jeanne Alter stared at her cards, trying not to look at the other Servants who had joined Gilles for a poker night.
Oh god. I see now why she wouldn’t join his game nights.
Seated besides her was Gilles.
The others had said he HAD to sit next to her, basically because his strange rolling eyes allowed him to easily see anyone elses’ hands, but they knew he wouldn’t cheat on his special Jeanne.
Across from her and Gilles, sat Edward Teach, who was grumbling quietly about the ‘wrong Alter’ or something.
The fool had learnt his lesson to never speak to her of what he desired to do to her, and had apparently been eager to join this session because he thought the youngest Jeanne sister would be playing poker.
That’s probably why the table is set so that atleast one player MUST sit next to someone. Jeanne Alter was disgusted at how low the Rider would go for his perversions.
To Gilles’ right, sat the one known as ‘the Phantom of the Opera’. He was also a strange recluse like the other two, but unlike Teach, he was more a harmless recluse, happy to spend his days singing Opera in the lower levels of Chaldea.
None of the self appointed enforcer Servants ever had a problem with the Phantom, and had even occasionally left the younger Servants in his presence.
Probably because so long as he has an audience, he’s easily swayed.
To Jeanne’s left, was the most unlikely person she had expected to see here.
The First Avenger, he who was considered to be ‘All the World’s Evils’.
And the weakest Servant to serve Chaldea, since he only specialized in killing humans and Beasts, who weren’t a common foe for Chaldea.
“Whose turn?” Angra Mainyu yawned, idly toying with his strange 3 bladed dagger, tip of the blade in the table while he used a finger on the hilt to balance it.
She knew he wasn’t bored.
The ‘man’ was so lackadaisical that he always seemed bored unless he was cutting into anything vaguely human-like, in which an inhuman bloodlust radiated from He who was mistaken All of the World’s Evils.
“I believe it is my Dear Jeanne’s turn to deal us a hand. Please, allow God Himself to guide your hand.” Gilles reverently stated, handing her the deck of cards in a subservient manner.
She quickly took the deck, following her senior’s attitude and lazily shuffling the deck.
“…..you would use a woman to cheat.” Teach snidely remarked under his breath, only reason Jeanne Alter could hear him was because most of her attention was focused on the stupid moron so she could have any excuse to make him fear her Vengeful Flames.
But Gilles was quick to respond, despite his appearance belied a slow and religious fool to those who didn’t know the man.
“HOW DARE YOU suggest I would use my Dear Jeanne in such a manner? Only a fool would think I would waste our friendship on something so banal as winning a friendly card game.” The unsettling Caster was quick to stand in rage, his large eyes focused on the target of his tirade.
“I invited you here out of pity, for I know what it is like to be despised by Those Above us, and that few in Chaldeas willingly associate with you. And I was happy to let you stay, for you provide a different way of playing our games that keep our time here interesting. BUT TO INSINUA–“
“Gilles, its fine. If I thought the fool had anything worth winning, I would expect you to help me rob the man blind.” She interrupted the frothing Caster, knowing he could go for hours if she didn’t stop him before the fever pitch carried him away.
“I’d like to see a noob like you try. You just don’t have the skillz to beet a brilliant hackzor like me.” Teach, who had been ignoring Gilles rant, pumped his chest in pride, as extra cards tumbled out of his coat, eliciting a smirk from the First Avenger, and an eye roll from the Phantom.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she somehow knew he was saying some of the words wrong in a way that irritated her.
Quick and powerful as her strikes always were, Jeanne Alter followed her senior’s example and improved upon it, stabbing her black sword through the table without breaking it, the dark purple jewel flaring with restrained power.
“Or, given that I don’t give a shit about being fair to a pathetic thief, I would just take what I wanted from you. Especially since your fellow Pirates have already told me where you hide your valuables.”
Teach paled and proceeded to guard his groin, which elicited an eyeroll from Jeanne Alter, before she stood up and knocked his hat off and claiming the fake gold baubles he had apparently taken from Gilles’ room.
“Can we stop with the play, and get on with the performance?” The Phantom asked tiredly, apparently here wanting to play.
“No worries, just need to make sure someone knows their place.” Jeanne replied as she began dealing cards.
—————————
After having finished, and being the last to leave, Jeanne Alter bid her friend farewell, and left his room to begin the trek back upstairs.
I have no freaking clue if I won our bet.
Jeanne understood why her eldest sister despised the Caster Incarnation of Gilles.
This aspect of her former General was a purely evil man, and had committed a number of horrific acts in the name of proving God existed.
But Jeanne Alter had a soft spot for the man who was the only reason she existed, who had enabled her Spirit Origin to even have a chance of flourishing.
But he was a point in the Elder Jeanne’s favor.
…..as was the gross Rider’s appearance.
Unlike Gilles, who had a complicated friendship with the Jeanne Sisters, Teach had no such relationship, and as such, was not tolerated by any of the Sisters.
But the Phantom and Angra Mainyu weren’t as clear cut.
While the Phantom was almost a berserker in how he behaved at times, he had a startling clarity when not giving in to his passions, and she now kind of understood why he wasn’t as closely watched as Teach was.
And Angra Mainyu just….wasn’t anything spectacular. He was supposedly banished down here because of the threat he represented to the human Staff, but after having spent some time in his company, it seemed more like he was down here because he couldn’t stand the Heroic Spirits.
She sighed. As much as she would rather have a win over her eldest Sister, it just wasn’t worth it.
The Eldest Jeanne and that group just couldn’t easily mingle in anything but a mission setting.
And no way in hell is Lily allowed down here by herself, if Teach is around.
Nearing the hallway that lead to a staircase that could get Jeanne Alter close to an elevator, she encountered two of the newer servants.
What were they called? Outsiders?
The short one who shared her Elder Sister’s golden hair but the stature of her younger sister spoke first, after greeting the Avenger with a bright smile and dragging her companion over with her.
“Oh, its you, Miss Ace! You wouldn’t happen to know where Mr Gilles is, would you?”
Jeanne Alter froze. She knew of Gilles’ history. Alexander and the young Gilgamesh were more his type, but he wouldn’t be surprised if that slimy Rider had set up her fool of a friend for disaster.
“…….why do you ask?”
“Miss Oui and I want to try something, but we need one more connected to…..similar powers.” The blonde girl cast her eyes down and started to shift in place, ashamed of something Jeanne wasn’t quite getting.
“Remember that time where I asked you and your sisters for help with getting Gilles to leave me alone? Turns out, its coz he has an affinity for a certain god tied to my Spirit Origin.” The taller and darker haired woman finally spoke up, her dark kimono making it hard to distinguish her from the gloomy atmosphere unless she was actively talking.
“Oh, Hokusai. What would you want Gilles help, after the mess he caused for you?” Jeanne asked, puzzled.
That explains why the young one was able to come down here without the old Geezer keeping watch.
“I came up with an idea for something, but I needed two others like me to make it work.” The young and beautiful painter replied.
She gestured to Abigail.
“Little Abbie here is the only one so far with a strong and pure connection. Gilles is probably the closest we can get otherwise.”
“Wouldn’t some of the others be more suitable? There are definitely greater Evils in Chaldeas.” She didn’t want to speak poorly of her friend, but he was small fry as far as those connected to a great evil power were in Chaldeas.
Hokusai smirked.
“Oh, we considered them. And I have some ideas for painting I’d love to indulge with them. But Gilles is the closest to what we need, that would mix well with our powers.” The painter shrugged, apparently determined on the matter.
“Well, head down this hall, and look for the overdecorated doorway. That should be his. I’ll be taking my leave.” Jeanne sighed as she left the two odd servants. She needed sleep.
————————
Once the Ace of Chaldeas had left the level she had left the Foreigners on, they dropped their more human-like forms for their Eldritch Ascensions.
“I don’t like having to lie to a former holy maiden like that.” Abigail pouted as she floated on the tendrils of her Outer God.
Hokusai laughed as she swam through the air, akin to a octopi lazily swimming around a curious object.
“Nah, its all good. We didn’t lie, we just didn’t tell her everything. Its only a lie if we didn’t tell answer her truthfully, and some of the truth is still the truth.”
Abigail huffed, deepening her pout and lying back on her tentacle that acted as a moving lounge for this form.
“Still doesn’t sit right with me.”
Hokasai laughed again, before swimming over to pat her fellow Foreigner on the head.
“That’s fine. This was my idea, so blame me if you need to. After all, in theory, this should help Master-dono out in the long run.”
Hokusai guided her young witchling down towards what was now obviously Gilles doorway.
She knocked on the door, and waited for the Mad Caster to come out.
“To whom do I owe the pleas– OH, Great Painter, to what do I owe this great boon?” Gilles was quick to bow before Hokusai.
An evil smile spread across Hokusai’s and Abigail’s now devilish faces, the keyhole in Abigail’s forehead glowing with power just as Hokusai’s brushes dripped with otherworldly colours.
“I head you have a book that connects to the Evil God of the Abyss? We need your help with a ritual.”
Hokusai and Abigail quickly ushered Gilles into his room, as they quickly informed him of their plan to ‘help’ Chaldeas.