Tohsaka Mansion: THE WAR BEGINS

Lazarus spent the night studying before heading to sleep. He would have to be well rested tomorrow. Not long after the sun rose the mage awoke and showered, gathering his servant and began searching the mansion for Miss Tohsaka.

Yui was already in the kitchen when Lazarus found her, frying eggs on the stove and humming to herself. He could see the back courtyard through the windows in the kitchen, with a large fountain and several flower beds. Berserker knelt by one such flowerbed, picking flowers and sniffing them contentedly.

Yui turned around when she heard Lazarus enter, and smiled. "Good morning. Sleep well?"

"I did! Thank you very much!" He breathed in the smell of her cooking. "Would it be rude to ask if I might also have some eggs? We can plan over breakfast."

"Of course not! I get up super early every morning, so I figured I'd make some for all of us." She scratched her chin thoughtfully. "I don't think Servants need to eat, but I cooked extra just in case they wanted to, anyway."

She finished the eggs and moved them onto four plates beside the stove, which already held steaming sausages and pancakes.

"Berserker!" she called out the window. "Breakfast is ready!"

The Servant dutifully hopped to her feet and hurried inside as Yui set out the plates.

Lazarus immediately helped himself to some food, insisting that Yui sit so that he could fix her a plate partway through, and doing the same for his servant. He also dished out a plate for berserker before finally sitting down himself. "So! I have some ideas if nobody else would like to start!" he exclaimed, beaming.

"Ah, thank you!" said Yui bashfully as Lazarus fixed her plate. She took a seat by Berserker, who started daintily poking her eggs with her fork.

"Please, go ahead! I'd like to hear what you have in mind."

"Well, the first part of the plan is, of course, very basic. Mostly reconnaisance. Find the masters, deduce their servants. Once we do that, we can attack in the best way. And since we'll be working together, this should honestly be quite easy." He talked more than ate, but definitely enjoyed what he was eating. "Have you found any other masters yet, besides myself?"

"As it happens, that's pretty much what I was planning on doing, too. I've only had a few familiars scouting the city until now, but have spent the last month preparing several more. I have found only one other Master--the one I was most expecting to find, naturally. They are a member of the Einzbern family, one of the three founding families of the War. They've purchased a large swath of land in the forests south of the city. There are several barriers and traps set up around its perimeter. It may be one of the only areas in Fuyuki more well-defended than this mansion."

"Well in that case, we can leave it for last. However if it's alright with you, I might like to leave a familiar there permanently to keep an eye on things?"

Caster plodded down to the source of the noise, stretching. His robe slumped off of his shoulder, his hair falling elegantly into his face. "Starting without me, Lazarus?" He sat in a chair at the the table and smiled at Yui. "Do you have any tea, my dear?"

"Of course," Yui replied, rising from her seat. "I'll get a pot started right away."

She kept talking as she walked to the counter to set a teapot on the stove. "I do already have a familiar staking out the area, but more could never hurt. The Einzbern Master will be one of our greatest threats, but if they ever happen to leave their base, we could catch them by surprise.

"That reminds me, though. Naturally, the Einzberns know my location as well. Their familiars can't see anything within the Bounded Field over my grounds, but they likely saw you arrive. They'll probably assume we're working together. At the moment, though, I think that will work to our advantage."

Caster rubbed his chin pensively. "If you ever need a feint or a false lead, perhaps I could have my homunculi work on some frivolous project that could distract an observer."

"That might work. For now, though, I at least want to stay put here. As long as we don't leave the mansion, onlookers won't have any idea what's going on. It's always possible we could be attacked here, but with two Masters and all the protection this mansion has, that wouldn't be a wise move."

"I agree, however I definitely like the homunculi idea for later in the war! Now, as we begin to take down the other masters, we could definitely use the intimidation to our advantage in the case of the Einzburns. Personally, first I think we should go after the person who is murdering people. It will draw too much attention to everyone." He turned to caster, "I'm so sorry, I tried to wake you but you just wouldn't have it!" he said with a chuckle.

Yui's face turned grim. "Yes, I saw that. Has to be a Servant devouring souls to get an edge in the war. The Church won't like that, but we can't wait for them to act. It sickens me to think that a Master would resort to such acts, but I'm not suprised." She pursed her lips in thought. "We can send familiars to Miyama to look for clues. But, they might not be enough to detect the activity of a Servant."

Caster's voice slid into a grousing whine. "It's not my fault you're so warm." He speared his fork into a sausage and nibbled one side, then hummed appreciatively. "You are quite the cook, Miss Yui!"

He listened to the Masters back and forth while chewing, gears turning in his head. He turned to Berzerker. "Is there anything you might be able to do that could help?"

Berzerker jumped, not expecting to be addressed, a piece of egg tumbling off her fork. She appeared to think for a moment, before shrugging and patting her mace, still gripped tightly in one hand. "Mmnh."

"We could go ourselves, and send the familiars out as scouts. It will give us a few more moments to prepare. I think we should definitely go in expecting a fight."

"Hmm. I'm not sure if I want to leave the mansion. If something goes wrong..." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "But, unless any other Masters have teamed up, it's doubtful anyone would risk attacking us openly."

Caster chuckled. "Yes, I suppose that always helps somehow." He picked the fallen egg up with a napkin and scooted some of his helping onto Berzerker's plate. "Leaving the mansion at any point will be a risk, and our opponents will eventually deduce that we're here if we don't. The only advantage we have then is time and familiarity with the grounds. If you prefer, we could have a base team and an away team?"

"Well, we have to leave eventually. You should make sure to be comfortable with it. Confidence will make you at least seem stronger to our enemies." He smiled kindly at her and finished his breakfast. "However if it would make you feel more secure, we will have some preperation to do. We could send out familiars first to see if they find anything while we prepare. Then when they return we can strike out ourselves! Is that satisfactory?"

"I like Caster's idea. If we are close enough to sense them, they'll sense us, too. So if we go ourselves, we may scare them off before we get close enough. If we send familiars, we can at least spy on them without them noticing us. It may also give us enough information to get the drop on them. Besides," she chuckled. "If someone does decide to eventually attack us here, we have an overwhelming home field advantage."

"Definitely! We have the first step of our plan! I'll get a familliar ready!" Lazarus exscused himself to another spare bedroom he had selected for magical workings. He began to mentally leaf through his spells as he moved furniture to the edge of the room, or even out of it altogether, so he could prepare his space.

"Okay! I will send my familiars out ahead of yours while you prepare."

Caster patiently poured himself a cuppa and plopped two sugars in. Marvelous, this modern age. The sugar seemed to flow like ale, and even though the tea wasn't quite the same, it was prepared in less than half the time.