Tohsaka Mansion - A New Day

She thought for a moment. "Option three is my favorite," she decided. "That should still give us enough time to prepare for the Dead Apostle if need be."

"Then, let's continue our work and wait until the mana REALLY starts flowing." the mage grinned and helped Caster finish up his homunculus.

Lazarus perked up at the energy coming from the battle. "Well, that is quite a lot of energy. Shall we go now, or wait until things have died down a bit?"

Yui gritted her teeth, sensing the massive energy as well. "That had to be a Noble Phantasm." After a few seconds, she felt the second swell of energy wash over them. "...And another one!"

She turned to Lazarus, then to Berserker, who waited patiently in the corner of the room. "If we don't go now, the battle will be over before we know it. Berserker, go." Berserker nodded obediently, and she turned back to Lazarus. "The two of us can stay here. I'll trust Caster to look after Berserker if things get out of hand."

Lazarus nodded, "Caster, please accompany Berserker?" he asked politely with a smile.

"Of course." With a bow, Caster concealed himself as a spirit and followed after Berserker.

Berserker smiled at Yui and darted out of the mansion, leaping immediately to the nearest rooftop and leaping in the direction of the battle.

As the battle continued, Lazarus passed quite a few moments with Yui quietly. His mind seemed far off as he fiddled with the finishing touches to the homunculus and wrote down notes. Eventually her turned to the woman beside him, "Miss Yui...I'm not very good at putting things in a delicate manner."

Yui stood on the far end of the room, watching the battle through a crystal via one of her familiars. Upon hearing Lazarus, she perked up and looked curiously in his direction.

What an odd thing to say...

"Umm... Yes?"

"I'm glad you agree!" He continued, mistaking her inquisitiveness for affirmation. "I have recently been contemplating my mortality quite a bit as of late. And the mortality of those around me, and I've been debating within myself the role I might play in the world. I decided it would be advantageous to continue my bloodline. I also think that you would benefit from that as well! Moreover, our genetics combined would be...well, a child between us could be almost unstoppable." he seemed rather chuffed at the idea, but his expression changed as he remembered that you can't just randomly ask a friend to have your baby. "Oh! I'm not of course saying that we should have to have sex, or be married-not that you aren't marriageable!-umm...hm. This isn't going well. Do you have any thoughts?"

Yui was speechless for several seconds as the gears in her brain processed Lazarus' words. Sex? Marriage? Child?!

"W-w-w-w-what are you saying?!" she stammered, her face turning bright red. "Y-you want to have a baby with me?!"

Her thoughts raced, and she was barely able to make sense of it. It's not like she hadn't thought about children before; mages prized their bloodlines above anything else, and as a Tohsaka, she had expected it to come up at some point, now that she was a young woman.

But in the middle of the Holy Grail War??

Yui tried to calm herself, though her face only grew redder as the seconds passed. She covered her mouth and looked away to try and remain composed.

"I mean... I can't say I'm not flattered. I wouldn't... necessarily object to the idea... It's just..." She took a deep breath. "Unfortunately... I can't have children."

"Oh...I'm so sorry. I had no idea. I hope I haven't upset you." his brow furrowed with concern. "However, as a fellow mage, I find it hard to imagine your parents haven't tried some sort of-well I suppose it doesn't really matter. I don't want to seem like I'm forcing you into the idea. But if you wish them, I do know several good spells for curing infertility, no matter whom you decide to procreate with! "

Yui chuckled in embarrassment and looked away again. "Well, that's not what the problem is..."

She chewed on her tongue. She'd never told anyone else outside the family; not that she really socialized much. Her heart beat faster.

If there was one way she would describe Lazarus though, it was as an open-minded person. He certainly couldn't see him being shocked or appalled. But, she still couldn't know that for sure without saying anything.

She took another deep breath, trying to bring her heart rate under control. She didn't know if he truly cared about her as one person to another, but he did earnestly want to help her. And to this point he had been a reliable and trusted ally. She owed him the direct truth.

"Actually, I'm trans," she said finally. "So... I guess I don't have the right equipment for the job," she added with a nervous laugh.

He stared at her for a moment and blinked, before grinning and continuing, " Well, there's spells for that too you know! Many families have children who don't...'have the right equipment' as you so delicately put it, for whichever job they need." he chuckled a little and leaned back against a table. " Thank you for sharing that with me." He smiled kindly at her, his eyes were kind and warm, small wrinkles at the corners. " I...don't really think much about sex in terms of connection. I consider it in procreation, and I know that other people value it highly. It has a purpose, and it can make many have strong biological reactions. Even without that influence personally, I do care for you very much, Miss Yui. Unexpectedly, I have a very deep emotion for you."
" Obviously we have more pressing things to concern ourselves with, and it's dangerous to become extremely connected to a person, but by the same token the time we have to express feelings may be short, and so I thought I'd let you know that. I'm not interested solely in your bloodline, but you as a person as well. And I believe you deserve to have that in life, whether or not I end up being the person to provide it for you." He was quiet then, and still for once as he pondered and left her to ponder.

Yui's blushing returned in full force. "It means a lot to hear you say that..." she mumbled, curling her hair around one finger. "I sad to say I haven't given anything but the War much thought since we've been working together but... Well... I certainly don't dislike you... Goodness..." She coughed awkwardly. She wasn't doing a very good job of talking about this.

"I guess... I do like you too," she said. "I couldn't say how much exactly, but I don't mind the idea of h-having..." Her heart started pounding again, and she unconsciously fanned her face with her hand. Now wasn't the time to start getting wound up!

"A-Anyway." She quickly changed the subject. "My father had told me about a spell that could change female anatomy to male, but I haven't heard of one that could do it the other way around. I suppose sperm is probably easier to create than a viable womb. But, it's probably not impossible."

Good lord... What made her think this was a more comfortable topic to shift to?!

" Oh! It absolutely isn't!" As usual, Lazarus bulldozed right into the intellectual side of things eagerly, despite the recent somber moment and embarassment of his companion. " Really there are a lot of things about the male anatomy that make it quite easy to form all the parts you would need. The spell just needs to...put everything back inside, as it were. You already have a cavity there which I'm sure you know. Ovaries equate with testes and phallus with the vaginal canal. It's relatively simple to make the cavity a proper birthing environment!" The mage grinned broadly. He loved to share knowledge more than anything.

"Really..." Yui mused, interested despite the awkwardness. "I honestly didn't know that. I'd certainly be interested in learning more about those spells..." She then coughed. "I mean, when there's not a War tearing apart the city, of course."

"Oh! I have some books I can lend you!" he shot down to the basment, and soon came bounding back up with a large stack. "I've written a couple of them myself! Here!" He dumped the pile into her arms, but not until she reached out to accept it. "Also, I have considered the fact that one of us might die. If possible, I'd prefer it be me, and working with that scenario, I've left some biological samples in case it comes to that. But if you don't want them you can just throw them away....or sell them! They'd probably fetch a pretty good price to be honest!"

"Uh, thank you!" she chuckled, a little flustered. "I'll make sure to look through them when I can. And hopefully," she added with a shy smile, "we do both make it through this war."

"I hope so too," he said smiling softly. He then selected a book out of the pile he'd brought and sat down to read it himself. He should brush up if anything came of this conversation.

Yui continued to watch the battle through her jewel, scrutinizing the enemy Lancer. She could already tell how twisted a person she had to be from their last encounter. Now, though, she was sure of her identity.

But... that couldn't be possible, could it? She furrowed her brow in concerned.

Another familiar circled the area at a distance. Another enemy presence had disappeared shortly after they felt two Noble Phantasm activate. They were too late on the scene to witness the battle, but Yui wanted to hope it meant a Servant was taken out.

The second familiar searched for signs of the Servant's Master, or anything that might clue them in on the Master or Servant's identity.

Lazarus flinched at the sound that ripped through the air. "Perhaps we should call them back? We could deploy the decoy and let them recover? I'm worried for Caster and Berserker doesn't seem to be doing well."

Yui worriedly clenched her fist. The two of them were in a precarious position, indeed, but she was still confident in her Servants. Through the familiar, she scanned Lancer.

"Lancer seems almost out of energy, and Berserker still has a lot of health. I'm most worried about Caster." She looked up at Lasare. "Without the ability to move, we would have to use Command Spells to recall them. I'm not sure we should right now, but I suppose we should be ready to use them if the urgent need arises."

"Agreed. Let's just keep an eye for now." Caster would have a lot of help from his natural healing abilities, but he still worried that if this noble phantasm kept them inactive for too long that Lancer could deal a devastating blow. He worriedly rubbed at the seals on his hand.

Yui felt a measure of relief from seeing Lancer vanish, defeated, but she still gritted her teeth in anger. She couldn't believe the things that woman had said. How dare she? What kind of vile mind could a person like that have?

She tapped her finger on the table as she anxiously awaited the Servants' return.