Questions thread

[Cherry Lover]

Hmm, OK, I guess the way it goes doesn't seem utterly ridiculous, although I'm not sure Dark Sakura would kill Rin so much as swallow her, based on the last Bad End....

As for the heart, if you cut Sakura's heart out and removed all of Zouken's worms, I don't think Angra Mainyu would be able to get a hold of her. If it already had a connection, though, it would retain that. I don't think her heart would make much difference at that point, though, once AM gets a connection it's entirely down to her mental strength to resist him.

[Andoriol]

Hmm, OK, I guess the way it goes doesn't seem utterly ridiculous, although I'm not sure Dark Sakura would kill Rin so much as swallow her, based on the last Bad End....

Oh? Okay. *makes note*

But yay! Sort of vaguely reasonableness! Is there anything else that jumps out at you as weird or ridiculous (though not utterly ridiculous)?

As for the heart, if you cut Sakura's heart out and removed all of Zouken's worms, I don't think Angra Mainyu would be able to get a hold of her. If it already had a connection, though, it would retain that. I don't think her heart would make much difference at that point, though, once AM gets a connection it's entirely down to her mental strength to resist him.

The last time it's not much of an issue. By that point, since Archer OC knows the source of the problem, he can fix it. The only reason he didn't do that the Ninth or Eighth time is because he doesn't know the source of the Shadow having completely forgotten it's connection to Sakura, since it's been over a decade since he played the game by that point. He's already had to deal with his own (if lesser) taint for a long time and knows tricks to teach her, and if everything else fails, he has Holy (capital H in fact) items which can lock down on that taint for her, not purge it, but keep it from affecting her mind (provided she doesn't draw on it).

... actually, I think I'll go with him giving up one of his few items that he uses for that exact reason to her. Tapping more into his own taint to make up for the fact that he's giving up a portion of his power in the form of his heart.

The main reason he removes the heart has less to do with keeping AM from affecting her so much as to kill Zouken really, really dead.

[Cherry Lover]

Hmm, OK, I guess the way it goes doesn't seem utterly ridiculous, although I'm not sure Dark Sakura would kill Rin so much as swallow her, based on the last Bad End....

Oh? Okay. *makes note*

But yay! Sort of vaguely reasonableness! Is there anything else that jumps out at you as weird or ridiculous (though not utterly ridiculous)?

Well, it still seems somewhat contrived in general, but I think that's unavoidable.

One thing that does stick out a little, though, is the bit with Sakura allying with Rin and Shirou. Whilst Sakura would not be willing to fight against Shirou, I'm not sure if she could really form a proper alliance with them whilst Zouken is alive. Zouken would ultimately force her to oppose them in the end, and the way he did it could endanger them.

The last time it's not much of an issue. By that point, since Archer OC knows the source of the problem, he can fix it. The only reason he didn't do that the Ninth or Eighth time is because he doesn't know the source of the Shadow having completely forgotten it's connection to Sakura, since it's been over a decade since he played the game by that point. He's already had to deal with his own (if lesser) taint for a long time and knows tricks to teach her, and if everything else fails, he has Holy (capital H in fact) items which can lock down on that taint for her, not purge it, but keep it from affecting her mind (provided she doesn't draw on it).

Ah, OK.

Well, Sakura is generally rather strong-willed, so it's difficult for AM to affect her anyway. I suspect it would be considerably harder if she knew of the shadow at an earlier time, since she doesn't want to hurt people.

... actually, I think I'll go with him giving up one of his few items that he uses for that exact reason to her. Tapping more into his own taint to make up for the fact that he's giving up a portion of his power in the form of his heart.

Ah, OK.

The main reason he removes the heart has less to do with keeping AM from affecting her so much as to kill Zouken really, really dead.

Yeah, makes sense.

[Andoriol]

Well, it still seems somewhat contrived in general, but I think that's unavoidable.

One thing that does stick out a little, though, is the bit with Sakura allying with Rin and Shirou. Whilst Sakura would not be willing to fight against Shirou, I'm not sure if she could really form a proper alliance with them whilst Zouken is alive. Zouken would ultimately force her to oppose them in the end, and the way he did it could endanger them.

Hrm, even if the Servant was essentially up in his face about getting her into an alliance with them and obviously determined to protect her? Again, I haven't gotten through Heavens Feel so I don't have a total understanding of Zouken's intentions and such.

[Cherry Lover]

Well, it's not that Zouken wouldn't allow it, it's that he'd expect her to still go all-out to win the war. Which means that he'd expect her to backstab Shirou when it was convenient to do so. In HF, Shirou is already out of the war by that time, so it's not an issue (and Sakura expected she would probably have to fight Rin eventually), whereas here he's not. Plus, in HF Zouken is obviously the enemy for Shirou and Rin, so Sakura expects them to try to take him on (and, thus, bypass this issue), whereas here he's not even mentioned as far as I can tell.

It's not impossible for it to happen, but the danger for Sakura is that she would be forced into backstabbing Shirou, so she would probably avoid any kind of formal alliance. She would, however, probably assist him if he was in danger.

[Andoriol]

He's not mentioned mostly because I had no clue what he would do or how he would feel about these things.

Hrm.

[KAIZA]

Erm, I have a small question that's been nagging me for a while: if Rin died at some point during the Grail War (say, due to Kotomine stabbing), how would that affect, say, Sakura? How would she react to it? How about Shirou?

Just wondering about characterization, that's all.

[Cherry Lover]

Well, I would expect Shirou to be extremely upset by it, just because he hates people getting hurt.

As for Sakura, it's more complicated. A small part of her would be happy that Rin was dead, but I think that she would mostly be extremely upset at losing her sister. I suspect there wouldn't be much of an outward reaction, though, especially not with Zouken still around, and I doubt it would affect her personality much (she's long ago given up on any hope that Rin will ever come to save her, and she's already sad in any case).

[KAIZA]

And what if Zouken were out of the equation (as if she were already rescued from him or such)? Would that change anything?

[SINIB]

Um, is shinji still around?

[KAIZA]

Umm...honestly, hadn't considered him. I'd like to know how it'd go for either scenario.

[Cherry Lover]

And what if Zouken were out of the equation (as if she were already rescued from him or such)? Would that change anything?

Well, it depends somewhat on how she'd been rescued, and whether she'd had any kind of reconciliation with Rin. Also, it depends what exactly you're talking about when you say "change". Her feelings would probably not change an awful lot, but her actions might.

Umm...honestly, hadn't considered him. I'd like to know how it'd go for either scenario.

Well, Shinji gives her another sibling, so that might help remove some of the pain. Again, it depends on the situation.

[SINIB]

It also depend on if he continues to rape her.

[Cherry Lover]

It also depend on if he continues to rape her.

It does, although I suspect that Zouken dying is likely to involve some mechanism that also stops the rape, at least in the long term.

[KAIZA]

OK, back to this topic, to be honest, I had something like Fate in mind, where Shinji's, well, dead. As for reconciliation...well, I guess there'd be a bit of that? They'd still be in the middle of the war, I suppose...

And, in what would it depend on how she'd been rescued? I'd assume part of that is referring to Rider?