Fanfic / Servant Shenanigans

Servant Shenanigans is a series of Fate/Grand Order fanfics with references to other Fate Series works — mostly Fate/stay night and Fate/Apocrypha. It's hosted on Archive of Our Own, and is written by DraketheDragon.

The fics are mostly Slice of Life stories but with a dose of angst and drama, focusing on the daily lives of the Servants in Chaldea, as well as their stories, and mostly their relationships with each other — relationships which more often than not take a turn for the romantic. Keep in mind that oftentimes the order of these fics does not match the time of release!

The fics are as following (by numbered order):

1. 2 Year Anniversary!: A "meta" Questions and answers entry answering fan questions.
2. Incorrect Quotes: Chaldea Edition: Meme compilation that showcases the dynamics of each group. Always marked as Complete but receives new entries.
3. Two Sides to a Coin: One-shot. Ritsuka Fujimaru character study.
4. We Stoke the Fires in Our Heart for the Long, Cold, Winter: Complete. Ushiwakamaru and Tomoe are summoned in Chaldea, and the aftermath of that.
5. Sometimes I Don't Know What I'm Thinking When it Comes to You: Complete. First release in the series. Follows the interactions and developing relationship of Cu Chulainn and Emiya from the end of Fate/stay night up until they're both summoned in Chaldea.
6. Sometimes the Fire Burns too Hot Inside: Complete. Explores Mordred Pendragon's first few days in Chaldea, along with the relationships he develops with other servants and his lingering issues.
7. The Time of Our Lives: One-shot. Artoria and Irisviel's first date. Takes place during the events of Sometimes the Fire Burns too Hot Inside.
8. With Time: One-shot. Basically an epilogue to Sometimes the Fire Burns too Hot Inside, featuring Achilles and Diarmuid.
9. Halloween Shenanigans: One-shot. Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Takes place during Sometimes the Fire Burns too Hot Inside.
10. How to Stop Pining Over a Ninja (and Maybe Gain a Boyfriend While You’re at it): Complete. Takes place from right before Halloween Shenanigans onwards, with flashbacks to the beginning of the game. Explores Proto and Fuuma's developing relationship, as well as the latter's issues.
11. ChaldeanChaos: Ongoing. Series of one-shots taking place after How to Stop Pining Over a Ninja (and Maybe Gain a Boyfriend While You’re at it), featuring the Chaos Crew as they record their antics.
12. We Are More Than Monsters: Complete. Covers the events of the Babylonia Singularity and the developing relationship between Fran and Mordred.
13. There is Such a Thing as Too Much Mistletoe: One-shot. Jalter and Jasel are forced to work together to "spread the Christmas spirit".
14. Oh, if Only I Could Stop Dreaming of You: Complete. Takes place right after Halloween Shenanigans, with flashbacks to pre-game Singularity F. Explores CasCu's issues and his relationship with his interactions with his version of Emiya.
15. Mash Kyrielight Makes Her Move: One-shot. Mash and Gudako's Valentine's Day.
16. To Peel Back the Oni Mask: Complete. Starts immediately after Mash Kyrielight Makes Her Move: Ritsuka summons Berserker Fuuma.
17. Memories Fleeting as Snow, but Far More Precious: One-Shot. Edgemiya's viewpoint of Christmas Eve.
18. Reach for a World that's been Forbidden from You: Complete. Ritsuka sends the Chaos Crew on a forced vacation.
19. Hold On Tight, We Won't Let Go: Ongoing. The Scandinavian Lastbelt from CasCu's point of view.

ATTENTION!!! This fic contains spoilers for the entire game, so you have been warned!

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This series contains examples of:

• Achilles' Heel: Which he really should be covering, as Diarmuid keeps reminding him, but he constantly forgets it. So getting his tendon severed each time they spar is entirely his own fault.
• Adaptation Deviation: For whatever reason, the Servants who appear in the fic's version of Singularity F are different from the ones in the game. Lancer Benkei has been replaced with Medusa (like in the anime), Rider Darius has been replaced with Boudica, and Hassan of the Cursed Arm has been replaced with Hundred Personas.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • While we do get a fairly good idea about Mordred's life in Fate/Apocrypha, this fic goes into far greater detail about it.
  • In the game, the events that lead to Singularity F are treated as a Noodle Incident, with CasCu giving only the barest of information. Here, we get to see everything from his point of view via flashback dreams, and later through Kage's.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Cu Alter is simply a fighting machine in the game, but here the other Cus reached out to him. Now he's still rather cold and stoic, but he has a sibling dynamic with his other counterparts, and even a boyfriend.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the game, Diarmuid and Fionn got along — Fionn initially made jokes on Diarmuid's expense that made him uncomfortable, but over time their relationship improved. Here, Diarmuid openly states that any attempts to fix their relationship don't work out, he avoids Fionn entirely and hangs out with the Chaos Crew instead.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Everyone calls Ritsuka "Gudao" or "Gudako". It's combined with Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep".
  • Ritsuka and Mash call Mordred "Mo-san".
  • Frankenstein's Monster is just "Fran".
  • After Artoria is forced to confront her views and her knights about the fall of Camelot, she starts calling Bedivere "Bedi" and Lancelot "Lance" at Bedivere's suggestion.
  • Achilles starts calling Diarmuid "Diar" in his head.
• All for Nothing: In the one Holy Grail War that Mordred managed to win - the one that had Cu, Emiya, Dr. Jekyll and Beowulf in it - his master was an Einzbern Homunculus. So not only neither of them gets a wish because forming the Grail would require the girl dying, she only had a few days left to live anyways. That said, it's more of a Bittersweet Ending for them, as Mordred still got more chances to try in the future, and Ilsi got to spend her last days truly free.
• Alternative-Self Name-Change: Courtesy of so many people having copies of each other.
  • The Cu Chulainn group has Cu (the Fate/stay night one), CasCu (the Caster in Singularity F), Proto (the one from Fate/Prototype) and Alter from the America Singularity.
  • There are four Artoria Pendragons: regular Artoria, Salter, Lily and the Lion King.
  • Ditto for Jeanne D'Arc, who has Jalter and Jasel.
  • Emiya Alter is nicknamed "Edgemiya". The one from Singularity F is called is at first called Archer by CasCu, later he's temporarily dubbed "Shademiya", and finally settles on "Kage".
  • Berserker Lancelot is dubbed "Bersekalot".
• Ambiguous Gender: In-Universe, Mordred initially refers to Artoria with masculine pronouns, and it takes meeting her in Chaldea to realize that his father is a woman. That's partially because Artoria was disguised as a man for the entire time he's known her, and he was not exactly conceived by conventional means.
• Ambiguous Gender Identity:
  • Ritsuka is biologically female, but genderfluid. They call themselves Gudao on days they feel male with he/him pronouns, and Gudako when female with she/her pronouns. They use a magic glamour to appear male when needed, gifted to them by Medea.
  • Chevalier d'Eon combines this with Ambiguous Gender. When questioned about it, their only response is "I'm me."
• Easy Amnesia: Edgemiya suffers from a very bad case, as due to Kiara's interference he has extreme difficulty holding on to a memory for more than a day. The only way he can keep functional is to write extessive notes on everything, up to and including a note telling him where he is and what to do each morning.
• Argument of Contradictions: It happens a LOT. Especially between Cu and Emiya.
• Badass Boast:
  • "I am Mordred Pendragon and I [insert something here]". By the content of those somethings, and the fact that he rarely says this phrase out loud, it soon becomes obvious that it's actually a Survival Mantra disguised as a Badass Boast. Flashbacks reveal that he used to have another phrase of this kind that served similar purposes: "I am Mordred le Fey and I'm not afraid of you."
  • CasCu's response to corrupted Boudica just as he turns the tables one her.
    CasCu: Archer doesn't need you goddess, Boudica. He has someone much better. He has me.
• Bag of Holding: Da Vinci invented one for Ritsuka to test so they can carry their supplies with greater ease. Ritsuka deems it a success. Later, Fuuma uses it to carry his nearly inexhaustible supplies.
• Be All My Sins Remembered: Mordred's reaction to Artoria trying to take the blame for the fall of Camelot all on herself, despite that everybody had their share of responsibility for it.
  Mordred: So don’t you dare try to take our accomplishments and mistakes from us, because they are ours. Not. Yours.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension:
  • Nobunaga lives for this trope, in the form of pulling pranks on the person you like as a sign of affection. She even Wrote the Book on it!
  • A very big part of Kage and CasCu's interactions, up until they confess.
  • The entirety of Salter and Jalter's relationship - at least, that's how some people In-Universe interpret it.
• Berserk Button:
  • Penthesilia's is to compliment her looks instead of her fighting prowess. As an unfortunate Cu finds out.
  • Do not call Mordred a girl.
  • Achilles avoids Hector because he flies into Unstoppable Rage whenever he sees him.
  • The Professor throws a fit whenever Sherlock Holmes is mentioned.
• The Bet: Diarmuid, Mordred, and Achilles have a ski race (in the middle of the night...) with the losers having to do something unpleasant and/or embarrassing: Mordred will wear a dress on Halloween, Achilles will wear a bunny costume, and Diarmuid will spend a whole day in Fionn's presence without insulting him. Winner is Diarmuid, and come Halloween he comes to regret it.
• Beyond the Impossible:
  • Normally, Servants cannot remember previous times they were summoned (Chaldea summoning system not withstanding). However, probably due to Gae Bolg's curse, Cu slowly starts remembering each and every Holy Grail War in which he meets Emiya, and eventually he starts remembering all of them with perfect clarity.
  • Cu Alter says that he and other Alters existing and being summoned should have been impossible, but Ritsuka did it anyway.
• Big Damn Reunion: Ritsuka and Mash are extremely happy to see Mordred after the London Singularity, with Ritsuka even attempting to glomp him. Mordred is beyond happy for the warm welcome, as he grew attached to them in that time.
• Big Eater: All the Artorias and Mordred love food and eat huge portions. That's partially because of Emiya's cooking — Mordred notes his father was nowhere near this excited in Camelot where the food was pretty bad.
• Big "WHAT?!":
  • Emiya and Cu's reaction when Medb proposed that they share.
  • Mordred's reaction when Diarmuid says they should set up Artoria and Irisviel on a date.
  • Cu, CasCu, and Alter's reaction when Proto said he tried to confess to Fuuma.
  • Jalter and Alter's reaction when Edgemiya agreed to kiss Alter to get him in Santa duties (It Makes Sense in Context).
• Big "YES!": Mordred's reaction when Ritsuka invites him to a fight as soon as he's summoned.
  Mordred: HELL YES!
• Bizarre Taste in Food: If it's a nutrient source, Bedivere has eaten it. Even things that should not even remotely be considered edible, such as Hands of God. He can even identify a tuna eyeball by taste. His odd tastes land him in the Chaos Crew.
• Blackmail:
  • Diarmuid threatens to tell Emiya, Chiron, and Nightingale all about Achilles and Cu's antics if they don't stop immediately. Mordred mentally adjusts him from "perfect knight" to "little shit".
  • Mordred asks Da Vinci for the footage of the Chaos Crew getting their ass kicked by a dinosaur exactly for this reason.
  • CasCu pretty much lives to gather blackmail. He even takes pictures and keeps notes.
• Blood Knight: Several Servants, but with some standout examples.
  • Cu, Mordred and Beowulf. All three of them end up in the same Holy Grail War.
    Emiya (thinking): Oh god, was everyone in this bloody Holy Grail War as bloodthirsty as Cu?
  • Chaos Crew's first reaction after seeing Mordred fight was to ask him for a spar. Diarmuid is not exempt from this.
  • Saint Martha gets a bit too excited during fights for a saint. Mordred finds this hilarious.
  • Proto's reaction to finding out that there's a simulation room is full of this.
    Proto: You mean I could have been fighting entire armies this whole time?
  • Jack the Ripper is... triggered by the sight of blood. For lack of better term.
• Body Horror: While investigating the case of the missing ale, Ritsuka, Mash, Ana, Fran, and the Professor run into something that Fran can only describe as a botched Homunculus.
• Call-Back:
  • When Jack sees Atalanta, they immediately stab her saying "that's for mommy", referencing how Atalanta killed Jack's master in Fate/Apocrypha.
  • Kage spends his first days in Singularity F looking for survivors in the burning city, just as he had survived back in the fourth war. He even cries that he should have expected to fail because "miracles don't happen twice."
  • Gae Bolg's curse was the driving force of the plot in Sometimes I Don't Know What I'm Thinking When it Comes to You, and is mostly forgotten afterwards. It becomes relevant again when the spear's fake copy created by Assassin switches trajectory to kill Kage - technically, the weapon never got its intended target.
  • When CasCu is stabbed by the fake Gae Bolg, he's certain he's going to die, but Kage is very insistent he can be saved, and is proven correct. He'd been stabbed by Gae Bolg before after all.
• The Cameo:
  • Sometimes I Don't Know What I'm Thinking When it Comes to You features cameos and references to many servants, such as Mata Hari, Penthesilia, Anastasia Romanoff, Dr. Jekyll, and more.
  • There is Such a Thing as Too Much Mistletoe features cameos from several more Servants, like Sieg, and Edgemiya. The latter becomes more prominent afterwards.
  • The Archer of Shinjuku makes brief cameos here and there, like when he is first summoned, or when he examines Fuuma's medication.
  • Oh, if Only I Could Stop Dreaming of You has even more servant cameos, like Vlad, Hector, Hans, and even a mention to Berserkalot. On top of many, many more.
• Cast Full of Gay: One of the fics has the tag "NO ONE IN CHALDEA IS STRAIGHT". Of all the people whose sexuality has been explored, only Fran does not belong in the LGBTQ community in some fashion. We have a genderfluid Fujimaru Ritsuka (who goes by Gudao or Gudako depending on the phase of the moon), trans-male Mordred, a huge number of bisexual people, and more.
• Coming-Out Story: Two Sides of a Coin is essentially Ritsuka's struggle to admit that they're genderfluid to their Servants.
• Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Something which often leads to some of those pretty boys realizing that the other pretty boys are extremely hot. There are a lot of hopeless crushes in Chaldea.
• Character Development: One of the driving forces of these fics.
  • Ritsuka learns how to be more confident about coming out to strangers.
  • Emiya Took a Level in Idealism and learned how to love and have hope again, and no longer wishes for self destruction.
  • Cu's "My Master, Right or Wrong" attitude is subverted, and he gets a wish for the Grail.
  • Mordred deals with his parental issues and his past.
  • Artoria learns how to open up to people and even love.
  • CasCu slowly re-learns how to hope, move on, rely on others, take care of himself and be truthful again.
• Characterization Marches On:
  • By the time we meet Cu Alter, he is far from the killing machine he was in the game, because the other Cu's reached out to him. While he is still cold and stoic, he is also quietly compassionate and deeply cares for his alts, who he has a sibling-like relationship with. He even gets frequently involved in their antics, and keeps everyone in-line like a responsible older brother. His characterization continues mostly off-screen, but is plain to see when he's around.
  • There is a very significant gap between Mordred's first appearance in Sometimes I Don't Know What I'm Thinking When it Comes to You and his next in Sometimes the Fire Burns too Hot Inside. In the meantime, he has gone through Fate/Apocrypha AND the London Singularity, which had a great effect in curbing his bitterness and allowing him to open up to people. Of course, it did not solve ALL his problems — far from it — but it was a good first step.
  • Diarmuid mentions that teaching Artoria how to show her emotions is still a work in progress.
  • CasCu lampshades this repeatedly about himself. He lost all his aversion to lying, to the point he doesn't even remember why he hated it, he thinks that the people who knew him in life would never imagine that he'd get into gossip, and he decided to put up a front precisely so that Ritsuka wouldn't notice how much people change over time.
  • Kage, who is younger than Emiya, is much, much more petty and hot-headed.
  • Caster Gilgamesh is far more considerate and hard working than his Archer counterpart. Everyone is puzzled by this.
• Cigarette of Anxiety: One of CasCu's methods of fending off sleep and calming his nerves. He uses his runes to light them.
• Clothing-Concealed Injury: The Chaos Crew advises Mordred to hide any injury he has - even if it's just a minor scrape - under his clothes whenever he's in any public areas because Nightingale will do off the deep end if she sees them.
• Coitus Uninterruptus: Mordred accidentally walks into Cu and Emiya getting busy. Apparently this happened to a lot of people, because Cu keeps forgetting to lock the door. In any case, the two just keep going.
• Combat Pragmatist: Mordred's battle philosophy is to take every single advantage he possibly can. From getting the drop on his opponents to stealing their weapons, there's no lengths he won't go to to ensure victory.
• Consistent Clothing Style:
  • Emiya always wears black, with the occasional red jacket.
  • The Cu Chulainn fondness for horrendous Hawaiian T-Shirts and leather pants persists even among counterparts. At least Alter picks his in more dark and subdued colours — the rest go for the eye-hurting bright. That said, Proto and Alter do have a set of semi-casual clothes for occasions.
  • Ritsuka's wardrobe consists entirely of Fun T Shirts.
  • Achilles wears ripped T shirts and his signature orange scarf. This along with his green hair earned him the nickname "Carrot Top".
  • Diarmuid always wears semi-casual clothes, with slacks, jeans and button-up shirts.
  • Mordred always wears his leather red jacket, and the rest of his wardrobe falls under "expensive delinquent".
  • Kage prefers wearing comfy and warm clothes with many layers.
• The Corruption: The Singularity F Grail infested the land with fire and death. When Artoria attempted to destroy it, it turned her into Salter, and made her The Corrupter. Eventually, all Servants save for CasCu fall. The signs of the corruption are paler hair, Darker and Edgier outfits, turning evil and/or insane, Volcanic Veins, and in same cases, changes or powerups in terms of ability.
  • A later scene shows that Kage still bears the physical marks of the Grail's influence, and he's terrified that it's still poisoning his mind. It's shown that the corruption twisted the philosophy and morals of the person into its worst form possible - for example, it made Kage think that the only way to end all all conflict is to Kil Em All.
• Cozy Catastrophe: The people of Uruk invoke this, as they continue their daily lives despite the unceasing siege of the city. It's to keep their spirits up and spit at the face of whoever is doing this to them.
• Crazy-Prepared: Fuuma. He carries everything from rations, to different types of flashlights, to sleeping bags, to several different types of poison/sedatives/painkillers, various other medical supplies, explosives... There's no end to it.
• Creepy Child: Jack the Ripper, just like canon. Even Proto is freaked out by her eagerness at the sight of blood.
• Cutting Off the Branches:
  • Cu and Emiya went through the Unlimited Bladed Works route of Fate/stay night.
  • The fics occasionally get very specific about which servants were summoned in which Singularity.
    • Fuyuki: Proto, Fuuma and Emiya.
    • Post Septem: Medea.
• Dead Person Conversation: Mordred dreams of Kairi, and the two have a discussion about Mordred's decision to confront Artoria.
• Dead Person Impersonation: In order to get close to corrupted Boudica, Kage and CasCu use illusions to disguise the former as the man who killed her.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Every time Emiya speaks it's to snark at Cu. At least at first.
  • Diarmuid is best well known for somehow throwing shade at everyone while simultaneously keeping a "perfect knight" facade.
• Death as Comedy: Narrowly subverted — the death part. Cu, completely blissed out from Emiya's food, jokingly proposes, and Emiya jokingly says yes. Cue an embarrassed Cu choking on a piece of salmon, losing his balance, and nearly falling off a skyscraper, requiring Emiya to save him. He's laughed at about it for months.
  Cu: Thanks for the save, by the way, I did not want to add death by salmon to my list of accomplishments.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Happens multiple times to Cu and Emiya while they were fighting in the Holy Grail wars. In one occasion, it was even a Mutual Kill.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Diarmuid's reason for kicking Mordred's ass? He ate all the cookies.
  Mordred: SERIOUSLY?!
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Mordred views any attempt to help him as other people pitying him, and he despises it.
• Draw Aggro: When Cu is kidnapped by the Assassin/Berserker team, Emiya calls Mordred to distract them.
• The Dreaded: Florence Nightingale, the psychotic Berserker nurse who goes damn near apeshit at the mere sight of a scratch. Everyone avoids her like the plague.
• Dream Stealer: One of Merlin's abilities. CasCu begs him to eat his dreams for a week, but Merlin shoots him down by pointing out that his dreams have a horrible taste, being all death and destruction.
• Drives Like Crazy: A trait that both Mordred and Irisviel share. And somehow, for Irisviel it extends to her gaming skills.
  Mordred: Kairi, my old master, was always like ‘Mordred, you can’t go 100 in the middle of a city.’ ‘Mordred, you’re going to run over someone.’ ‘Mordred, this isn’t a plane, you shouldn’t be lifting off the ground!’ And if it wasn’t that it was just incoherent screaming. He was like that when I flew the plane too.
  Irisviel: You got to fly a plane? I’m jealous. But yeah, Artoria was always saying ‘There is a certain side of the road you are supposed to be on Irisviel.’ ‘Red means stop, Irisviel.’ ‘Irisviel, please slow down.’ And she would get this really weird look on her face when I went fast around the curves.
  Mordred: But you’re supposed to go fast around the curves!
  Irisviel: I know! It’s no fun otherwise!
• Drowning My Sorrows: Diarmuid after he kills his own chance of getting in a relationship with Artoria.
• Dying Declaration of Love: Cu confessed his love to Emiya by kissing him as he was dying from Anastasia's attack. Next time the two were summoned Emiya was extremely pissed and confused.
• Easily Forgiven: Mordred. Despite everything he did, Bedivere still welcomes him to Chaldea, even if they're both awkward. Partially justified from Bedivere's side because he's still dealing with his own issues from the Camelot Singularity. Lily also welcomes him with open arms, even though she is a past version of Artoria. And Fran forgives him for everything that happened in Fate/Apocrypha.
• Embarrassing Nickname:
  • At first Diarmuid hates that Ritsuka calls him and his friends "the Chaos Crew" because he's trying to uphold a reputation of being the perfect knight. It grows on him eventually.
  • Mordred, initially not remembering Achilles, dubs him "Carrot Top". It sticks.
  • Shademiya really hopes he doesn't get stuck with that one. He gets his wish and is named "Kage" instead. He also thinks that CasCu and Edgemiya also sound horrible and wonder how the two can stand being called that.
• Establishing Character Moment: The introduction of Cu's Alternate Selves. Proto, the enthusiastic and confident teen, gives him a quick and enthusiastic handshake, proclaiming himself the best Cu, and then dashes off to Rayshifting, only to crash into a wall because CasCu called it a date. CasCu, the gossipy Gadfly, pretends to be extremely hurt by Emiya kissing another Cu, and then tries to get all the gossip out of them (as well as tease Proto). And finally Alter, the creepy but Only Sane Man of the group, having enough of CasCu's antics, smacks him with his tail and drags him off after letting Cu know they were here to greet him and they're all open for talking at any time.
• Everyone Can See It: People are horrible at hiding their romances and crushes in this fic.
  • During one of Emiya and Cu's Holy Grail wars, even though they tried to hide their relationship, Assassin, Berserker, their Masters, and Mordred all figure it out. And it turned out horribly.
  • Irisviel tried to keep her love for Artoria a secret but was not successful in it.
  • Mordred finds Mash's crush on Ritsuka so painfully obvious that he actually feels sorry for her. He also low-key attempts to play wingman.
  • Everyone who sees Proto and Fuuma in the same room realizes that Proto has a crush on him. Alter thinks that the only reason they didn't figure it out sooner is because Proto was very careful about not being seen in Fuuma's presence.
  • Achilles' crush on Diarmuid is incredibly obvious to anyone with eyes.
  • Any person who knows even the tiniest detail about Kage's existence immediately assumes that he and CasCu were in a relationship. In reality, they mostly hate each other's guts, but even they can see how things could turn out that way.
• Everyone Must Be Paired: The other driving force of the majority of the fics is romance. Other than the children, there are very few characters who don't end up in a romantic relationship of some sort.
• Evil Matriarch: Morgana. To her, Mordred was solely a weapon to kill Arthur. She never once gave him proper training or even taught him basic skills, and she even used things like poisoning and food deprivation as punishment. She's in the "to kill" list of several people.
• Exact Words: How Achilles and Mordred turn The Bet they lost to their benefit: Mordred dresses as King Arthur from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, claiming that it's a dress because it reaches below his knees, while Achilles' bunny costume is of the casino variant. Diarmuid regrets everything.
• Expository Hairstyle Change:
  • Emiya keeps his hair swept back because he thinks he looks too much like Shirou when it's down.
  • Emiya braids Cu's hair once they become boyfriends because he wants a piece of him to stay with Cu.
• Flash Sideways: Cu and Emiya recall events that did not happen in their timeline of origin. CasCu also has a minor case of this, as when he first sees Kage he gets a flash to their "main" versions meeting in battle.
• Flashback: Used a lot.
  • Everything relating to Singularity F, and through multiple viewpoints at that. As well as the direct aftermath.
  • Mordred's childhood, his days at Camelot, some of his experiences at Trifas, and his experiences at the Singularities before being summoned in Chaldea, are all viewed through his nightmares.
• Flashback Nightmare:
  • Mordred sometimes dreams of his torturous childhood and the fall of Camelot.
  • Fuuma combines this with Dreaming of Things to Come, as he sees things that will happen in his future.
  • CasCu suffers from such a bad case that Nightingale diagnoses him with Nightmare Disorder.
• Flat "What": Basically Kage's entire reaction to Chaldea. Including saying or thinking "what." multiple times.
• Foreshadowing:
  • When Cu and Emiya go for lunch together, Cu notices that the waiter seems overly eager in refilling their drinks, and he feels unusually buzzed for some reason. It's because the waiter is Semiramis and she had poisoned their drinks.
  • In the last chapter of Sometimes I Don't Know What I'm Thinking When it Comes to You, Emiya says that Cu would probably pick a fight with Diarmuid, Achilles, or both of them at once if he's left to explore Chaldea alone. This is the first mention of the Chaos Crew. ^note The fic was published and completed before Incorrect Quotes despite being third in the series.
  • There are several subtle and not-so-subtle hints throughout all the fics that there is something very dark behind CasCu's teasing and gossip, and the narration never fails to mention how tired he looks. Oh, if Only I Could Stop Dreaming of You reveals exactly what's going on with him.
• Freakiness Shame: Fran is ashamed of being a homunculus, and is astonished that the people of Uruk don't notice her unusual appearance.
• Freudian Excuse Denial: When Emiya asks Mordred why did he kill Artoria, after sharing the barebones basics of his backstory, he says that Morgana — his mother — had nothing to do with his decision, and it was entirely on him. Later it turns out to be more complicated than that.
• Fun T-Shirt: Ritsuka has established a "funny shirt day", and has forced every single person in Chaldea to wear one with a specialized all caps message. Also, other than the Chaldea uniform, their wardrobe consists entirely of such shirts.
• Fun with Acronyms: Jasel's name is actually a - played with - acronym for her full title, "Jeane d'Arc Alter Santa Lily". Jalter lampshades this immediately.
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • Farming Runs are a thing. In fact, we see more farming runs than actual missions.
  • Cu at one point brings up the class advantage Lancers have over Archers.
  • Ritsuka says that Diarmuid's Love Spot has gotten them off a few tight spots. In-game, Diarmuid gets the ability to use his curse as a skill.
  • There are several mentions of in-game skills, such as Mind's Eye, or having a riding skill.
  • E-rank luck is at full force, as every single card game proves. The Chaos Crew (luck ratings E and D) get such horrible hands that it's practically a running gag.
  • There's a brief reference to Ascensions; Proto had a fake version of Gae Bolg when he was first summoned, but now he has the real one. That's again something that happens in-game.
  • Another allusion to Ascensions is when the Chaos Crew gives Bedivere Black Beast Grease to try, and he asks them if they've informed Ritsuka about this.
  • According to Alter, some Servants can only be summoned after certain conditions have been fulfilled.
• The Ghost:
  • Gilgamesh has been summoned in Chaldea, but only gets a couple of off-hand mentions.
  • Ditto for Fionn and Hector, though that's because the main cast is actively avoiding them.
  • Overall, many characters are mentioned several chapters or even entire fics before they actually appear.
• The Glomp: Ritsuka attempts to glomp Mordred after they summon him. They also fail epically because Mordred won't even budge.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: When Cu and Emiya made their The Only One Allowed to Defeat You deal, Cu forced Emiya to let him follow him for the whole day until nighttime (they're fighting a Secret War after all)... and ended up helping him with grocery shopping and later sharing dinner. He's actually floored that Emiya does such mundane stuff in the middle of a Holy Grail War.
• Godzilla Threshold:
  • When Cu is kidnapped, Emiya's only solution was to ask Mordred for help, who in his view is the killer of one of his closest friends.
  • For Jekyll's master, it's unleashing Jekyll's Noble Phantasm, a.k.a. Hyde.
• Graceful Loser: Europa, the Rider in one of the Holy Grail wars. Even as she dies she's concerned about Cu — who just killed her — asks him if he'll be alright and wishes him good luck.
• Healing Factor: Achilles' isn't immortal because he's Nigh-Invulnerable (though he is pretty tough) but because he's able to fully heal his injuries at an incredibly fast pace. That said, injuries to his tendon heal by normal servant standards, and injuries dealt by magic weapons such as the various cursed Celtic Noble Phantasms take considerably longer.
• Heroes Gone Fishing: What the vast majority of the present-time segments of the story consist of, following Servants in their down-time between missions, with most of the major events of the game only being mentioned offhand or touched on in flashbacks. Thus far the only major events of the game to receive a significant amount of focus has been Singularity F.
• Heteronormative Crusader: Brad, one of the clerks in the clothing department, tries repeatedly to force his views on the servants by trying to convince them to wear clothes that he thinks are normal — for example, he tries to force Mordred into a dress because he's biologically female. D'Eon says that he would have been fired a long time ago if the world hadn't been destroyed.
• Hidden Depths: Cu lampshades this about himself when Emiya's surprised about him getting philosophical.
  Cu: I'm not just a pretty face, a spectacular body, and an amazing fighter. I have hidden depths, you know.
• Homing Projectile: Exaggerated with Gae Bolg. Thanks to its curse (inverting cause and effect, which turns the "heart gets hit" into the cause, and the "spear gets thrown" into the effect), it means that it just won't stop until it hits the heart. This is what kickstarts Cu and Emiya's romance. The curse of Gae Bolg was so powerful that it forced them both to be summoned in the same Grail Wars over and over until it hit Emiya's heart — because it failed back in Fate/stay night when Emiya blocked it with Rho Aias.
  • It's revealed that the effect of Gae Bolg persists across dimensions, and even through copies; when the Assassin-copy!Cu aims his copy of Gae Bolg at CasCu, it changes its trajectory to hit Kage, and it's only CasCu getting in the way that stopped it.
• Honorary True Companion: After they were summoned in Chaldea, Diarmuid and Artoria developed such a close friendship that he's practically a member of the Round Table at this point. Mordred even thinks that he speaks about her with the exact same fondness and awe that every other Round Table knight has. The two has supported each other through the toughest of battles and emotional challenges.
• Hopeless Suitor:
  • CasCu was flirting with Emiya for four months, even if Emiya wasn't interested in the slightest. It takes Cu's summoning to put an end to it. Turns out he was just doing it in an attempt to get over Kage.
  • Bartholomew Roberts instantly gets a crush on Fuuma the moment he sees him. Fuuma is not interested in the slightest, and doesn't get any of Roberts' incredible unsubtle hints.
  • Roberts later admits that he would have pursued Mash if she didn't have eyes only for Ritsuka.
• Hunk: Parodied. Hercules' Fun T-Shirt reads "HUNKULES". Yes, that's Berserker.
• Hypocrite:
  • Saint Martha says she doesn't do fight clubs, but she's a member of the workout crew, gets too excited during fights, and punches dragons.
  • Proto frequently accuses CasCu of being one.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • The Chulainns make fun of each other's outfits even though they all dress similarly.
  • Both CasCu and Kage think that the other wears terrible clothes, immediately followed by them trying to justify their own fashion choices.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: The Singularity F Corrupted!Assassin is revealed to be Hassan of a Hundred Personas. Their power? Create copies of people they have or are intending to kill as Assassins.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Ritsuka reveals that they were planning to go to Art School before all this.
• I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: This is why Diarmuid doesn't romantically pursue Artoria, and even helps her get together with Irisviel. Not that he's happy about it...
• An Ice Person:
  • Anastasia Romanova, the Caster in one of the Grail Wars. Her mere presence makes the ground freeze.
  • Corrupted Boudica turns Fuyuki into an icy wasteland that sale mana out of everyone and everything.
• Identical Stranger: Lampshaded by Kage when he spots Okita Souji, who looks identical to Artoria. And that was mere hours away from when he ran into his own doppelganger in the form of Angra Mainiiu. The latter even affirms that he's not an alt and that his looks really are just a coincidence.
• Improbable Age: Diarmuid and Achilles are impressed that Mordred managed to destroy Camelot at merely sixteen. He was actually nine.
• Informed Ability: Heracles apparently knows how to operate modern technology due to being lectured by Chiron (who took an interest in the subject), but we never see him do that.
• The Insomniac: Plenty of folks refuse to sleep because of bad dreams. With CasCu, it gets so bad that his skin gets a grey undertone.
• Internal Reveal: Emiya revealing his backstory and identity to Cu, and later Cu doing the same.
• Insistent Terminology: Mordred declares himself the Knight of Rebellion, not treachery.
• Job-Stealing Robot: Inverted; Emiya is accused of stealing the robots' jobs (said job is washing the dishes).
• "Kiss the Cook" Apron: Mentioned when Cu thinks that he should get one of these in pink to Emiya just to see his reaction. A later chapter reveals that he did gift him the apron and even got him to wear it once.
• Last-Name Basis:
  • To the point it might as well be Only One Name. Emiya is only ever called "Emiya", and he asks Cu to call him that. It's unclear if the other characters know he even has a first name.
  • Everyone calls Kotaru Fuuma by his surname (Fuuma) unless they are his closest friends. This list includes the grand total of three people.
• Lethal Chef:
  • Gawain somehow always managed to sneak into Camelot's kitchens and burn everything.
  • The Fuuma clan rations are so horrible that even Bedivere got knocked out by eating one.
• LGBT Awakening: Lancelot has his awakening when he reads a book on LGBT terms, finds the section on polyamory, and proceeds to freak out.
• Lightning Bruiser: Achilles is both immortal and incredibly fast.
• Little Bit Beastly: Cu Alter has a tail, fangs, claws, a growly voice, and is consistently compared to a dinosaur.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Out of the Chulainns, Cu is the only who doesn't know what happened in Singularity F, or about CasCu's feelings for Kage. He finds out after getting a dream leakage halfway through Oh, if Only I Could Stop Dreaming of You.
• Luminescent Blush: Emiya gets flustered very easily. As does Proto. And Cu. And Fuuma, though he can hide it behind his scarf. The worst of them is Alter of all people, his blush covers his entire face, ears, and neck.
• Made of Iron:
  • Beowulf ends up with a hole blown through his chest, a missing arm, several other injuries and mana deprivation, and he still manages to give Cu a good fight.
  • Mordred takes a full direct blow from Beowulf's Noble Phantasm and not only he survives (albeit with several severe injuries), but he manages to beat Emiya right afterwards.
• May–December Romance: A Downplayed between CasCu and Kage, with CasCu being the oldest version of Cu and Kage being a younger version of Emiya. The actual difference between their ages in only about ten years, but the two routinely play up the difference when they bicker, with CasCu generally calling Kage a 'brat' and Kage generally calling CasCu 'old man'.
• Magical Accessory:
  • Ritsuka's glamor is tied to a necklace with their family's names engraved on it.
  • Diarmuid's magical glasses that block his curse.
  • CasCu's nightmare-preventing totem looks like a miniature Gae Bolg necklace.
• Master of Illusion:
  • Medea, who made Ritsuka's glamor.
  • Semiramis in one of Emiya and Cu's Wars used illusions to disguise herself as a waiter or become invisible.
  • CasCu with his runes, which he often uses for pranks. It's revealed that he didn't start that way, and it was after Kage asked about it that he even considered trying.
  • According to CasCu, Scathach is also a formidable user.
• Me's a Crowd: Which is why Alternative-Self Name-Change became a necessity. Emiya complains about the sheer amount of food the four Artorias eat, and Cu is beyond baffled to meet his alts, but soon they are tight as brothers. Jeanne d'Arc who also treats her alts like her sisters. And Emiya himself has his Alter version and the one from Singularity F.
• Mental World: Reality Marbles — more specifically, Emiya's Unlimited Blade Works, since that's the only one we ever see. It clearly shows Emiya's newfound hope, as by the end of Sometimes I Don't Know What I'm Thinking When it Comes to You, there's blue in the sky of his marble. By contrast, the Kage's version of UBW is so depressing that CasCu wants to hug him on the spot.
• Metronomic Man Mashing: How Mordred defeats Achilles in their spar. Diarmuid even compares him to the Hulk vs. Loki scene from The Avengers.
• Mood Whiplash: The Professor materializing, full of danger and dignity... And one second later getting compliance utterly drenched by the torrential rain.
• Motor Mouth: Ritsuka when explaining their gender identity upon first arriving to Chaldea. This changes after they get their glamor.
• Mundane Solution:
  • Played with in regards to Diarmuid's Love Spot curse. Normally, it's not a problem because most women he associates with have high-enough magic resistance to be unaffected, but he wears a band-aid over it anyway. However, Nightingale later reveals that the band-aid is not fully effective in blocking the cursed mark, and suggests they remove it with a knife. She even vetoes more modern techniques like laser because they're not thorough enough. After Ritsuka vetoes that because the curse is occasionally useful, Diarmuid commissions a pair of modified Mystic Eye Blockers.
  • Discussed when Ritsuka complains that they can't use mundane punishments on Servants like putting them in a time out, so they have to get creative.
• Mundane Utility:
  • One of Emiya's masters had him doing the cooking and grocery shopping.
  • Kage uses his projections to make bolts and other tools.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Chaldea is repeatedly called a place of second chances.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Cu is willing to carry out any order from his given master even if he regrets it, as he's outraged by Emiya betraying Rin during the Fifth Grail War. His attitude starts to change once he gets to know him better.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In one war, Berserker and Assassin set up base in the Fujo Building.
  • Cu recalls getting in a volleyball match with Emiya and eating Shirou's cooking.
  • Ritsuka's male version glamour looks like the male protagonist version of the game.
  • Lancelot's Fun T-Shirt says "I FLY PLANES... SCARY, ISN'T IT?"
  • For Halloween, Emiya wore his fanservice-packed shirtless outfit from Fate/EXTRA CCC.
  • Also in Halloween, Artoria ends up in a lion onesie, courtesy of Irisviel.
  • Cu Chulainn from Fate/Prototype dubs himself "Proto", though his reasoning is that he's the original Cu in comparison to Older and Wiser CasCu (as well as him misunderstanding what "prototype" actually means).
• Navel Window: Kage's outfit post-corruption, which he maintains after he's summoned in Chaldea. He defends it as a "personal choice".
• Noodle Incident:
  • Emiya and Cu's Holy Grail Wars are filled with those, mainly because very few of them are actually shown in the fic.
  • The Chaldean prank war. All we know is that Diarmuid teamed up with Nobunaga for some reason, there were glitter cannons involved, Lily was giving Diarmuid ideas, Gilgamesh's pranks were "horrors" and CasCu was planting illusionary ghosts everywhere, and it seems like Romani was at the receiving end of many of these.
  • Chaos Crew has too many to list. Karaoke Night, Pizza night, the cream incident, several explosions and fires...
  • Bedivere can recognize Black Beast Grease by taste.
    Lily: Bedivere... When did you eat Black Beast Grease before?
    Bedivere: (freezes) Uh... It's been a while?
• Not So Above It All: Diarmuid is every tiny bit of the Blood Knight and pro-prankster the rest of the Chaos Crew is — he simply is more subtle about it.
• Oblivious to Love:
  • Artoria was initially oblivious to her own feelings towards Irisviel. Mordred says that unless Irisviel straight up courts her, she just won't get the hint.
    Diarmuid: She was being difficult about her crush on Irisviel. You know, 'No, Diarmuid, she's just a friend. Yes, I care about her a lot, and if she cried I would kill whoever made her do so, but that doesn't mean I'm in love.'
  • There is a "Hopeless Crush club" made of Proto, Fran, and Mash.
    • Fran's target of affections is Mordred.
      Mordred: You have romantic troubles!?
      Fran (looks at him straight in the eyes): Yes, I have romantic troubles.
      Mordred: Why didn't you tell me!? I could have helped you!
    • Hilariously Mash turns out to be oblivious to love because she was under the impression Ritsuka was oblivious to her feelings, while Ritsuka not only was aware and returned those feelings, but they thought they were dating this whole time.
  • A non-romantic example: Fran is convinced that the Professor only pretends to care about her, even though he genuinely sees her as his daughter and is always honest and earnest to her, and shows honest concern over her wellbeing.
• Odd Friendship: There are several groups and cliques within Chaldea that have very varied membership.
  • The Chaos Crew is basically a group of chaotic disasters that like pranking people. The members are Diarmuid, Cu, and Achilles, with Beowulf having an open invitation. Later, Mordred, Lily and Bedivere join them. They're also in pretty good terms with Saint Georgios.
  • The Gossip Crew, that controls Chaldean rumour mill, has Marie Antoinette, CasCu and Achilles, and later Lily joins them. CasCu also has the kid Servants like Alice or Jack on his payroll to bring in more gossip —or make the gossip — and Marie has a fully fledged spy network.
  • CasCu is also in good terms with Vlad, Hector, and Moriarty, who are the resident "proud fathers".
  • The Workout Crew is made up of Leonidas, Beowulf, and Saint Martha, who insists she doesn't do fight clubs. Mordred is in pretty good terms with them — especially with Martha. Occasionally they are joined by Chiron.
  • Fuuma is hanging out with the pirates of all people because he likes taking trophies (weapons) from the battlefields and places he visits. He also shares a friendship with Mordred and Da Vinci, as they spend their nights in the Simulation Room relieving stress and helping out each other.
  • The Prank crew consists on Diarmuid, Lily, Nobu, Merlin, and Angra Mainiiu. Kage joins them.
  • Kage ends befriending the Gudaguda squad in two days flat.
• Official Couple: There are many relationships budding, but here are solid ones.
  • Cu with Emiya, Cu Alter with Edgemiya, and CasCu with Kage.
  • Proto with Fuuma.
  • Artoria with Irisviel.
  • Mordred with Fran.
  • Jalter and Salter, though they won't confess because they're both Tsunderes.
  • Nobunaga with Okita.
  • Achilles' boyfriend is Patroclus, but he hasn't been summoned in Chaldea.
• Oh, My Gods!: Most of the characters are from time periods where Polytheism was the norm, after all. The Celts usually swear by Lugh, and the Greeks usually by Zeus.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In one of the Holy Grail Wars, Anastasia Romanova defeated Emiya.
• Older and Wiser: CasCu is the oldest version of Cu Chulainn around, and he's far more keen on strategizing, setting traps and reading than he was in his youth, and he has finally — mostly — tempered his bloodlust, even if he's still eager to fight.
• Once More, with Clarity: Borderline abused with Singularity F and its flashbacks. So far it has been portrayed via the POVs of four different people.
  • The War shown in Sometimes I Don't Know What I'm Thinking When It Comes to You where Cu and his Master are taken hostage by Berserker and Assassin is later revisited and expanded on in Sometimes the Fire Burns Too Hot Inside from Mordred's perspective.
• One Last Smoke: Mordred and Kairi shared one in their last moments as they thanked each other for everything.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The Archer of Shinjuku is called by everyone "Professor" because he hasn't told his name to anyone.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: After so many times of being summoned together in the Holy Grail Wars, Cu develops this attitude towards Emiya. It is mutual, as Emiya is tired of seeing him over and over. They both drop this over time as they bond and start working together.
• Only Sane Man:
  • Alter is the peacekeeper of the Cu Chulainn group despite being a Berserker.
  • Diarmuid is the proud owner of the Chaos Crew's single brain cell.
  • Marie Antoinette is the only one in the gossip crew who does not have drama in her life (backstories not withstanding).
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Cu Chulainn running away from a fight? Well, yeah when his opponent is Medb.
• Original Character: All the humans other than Ritsuka. We have the various Holy Grail War Masters - most of which remain unnamed - and many of the staff in Chaldea.
• Open Secret: About one third of Chaldea has figured out the Professor's True Name, but are keeping it to themselves. He doesn't seem to have much of a problem with this, as long as Ritsuka doesn't know.
• Our Homunculi Are Different:
  • The Eizenbern-type Humonculi, who are supposed to be vessels for the Holy Grail. The ones we see are Irisviel and Ilsi, one of Mordred's old Masters.
  • Mordred himself counts as one, as Morgana created him using Artoria's DNA.
• Papa Wolf: Lancelot, towards Lily. He forbids everyone from swearing around her and will enforce it with his sword. Never mind that they're not actually related, she's sixteen which means she already heard everything, and she's a past version of his boss.
• Parental Neglect: Mordred's main issue with Artoria is that she's basically... ignoring his existence. She knows he's her son, but she won't even look at him, never talks to him, never talks about him or even mentions him to other people.
• Parental Substitute:
  • Even now, Mordred still views Shishigou Kairi as a father to him, and even calls him a better Master than Ritsuka.
  • The Professor is this for Fran, even though she expects him to abandon her because he reminds her of her original father too much.
• Perfectly Cromulent Word: Ritsuka calls a horrible hand at cards a "flubadubadub". Mordred takes them at their word.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Mordred and Beowulf are banned from sparring with each other. Chaldea does not have the means to repair the damage they leave behind.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Lampshaded with Mordred's Fun T-Shirt.
  I'M NOT SHORT I'M CONCENTRATED AWESOME
• Portmanteau: How many of the alts were nicknamed. CasCu is obviously the result of combining Caster Cu, Salter is from Saber Alter, and Jalter is from Jeanne Alter. Emiya Alter breaks the Alter trend, as he's called "Edgemiya" from "Edgy Emiya".
• Properly Paranoid: After the incident where they were poisoned by Semiramis, Emiya and Cu become extremely paranoid of the entire class as they're "the biggest threat to those with secrets". When they drop their guard and forget to keep track of Assassin, it backfires horrifically, with Assassin kidnapping Cu's master.
• Proud Beauty: Cu Chulainn — at least Cu and CasCu — are of the rare male variant. CasCu combines this with Real Men Wear Pink, as he thinks haircare is Serious Business, and that nail polish looks pretty good on him.
• Purple Prose: The narration tends to verge into this whenever someone is describing their potential love interest. ESPECIALLY Cu and Emiya.
• Put on a Bus: Ritsuka falls into a coma the day after Kage's arrival.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Cu and Emiya invert this dynamic, as it's Cu who's dressed in all blue and has blue hair that's Hot-Blooded, bloodthirsty and flirty, while the red-clad Emiya is the jaded, cold and snarky one. It's also reflected in their fighting styles, as Cu enjoys each battle and adds a flair, while Emiya is purely practical and approaches them like equations to be solved.
  • Mordred and Artoria play this straight. Mordred always dresses in red, is super Hot-Blooded and fights with absolutely no technique but sheer brute force, while Artoria dresses in blue, is calm and collected with a difficulty showing emotions, and fights honorably with expert technique.
• Relationship Chart: Discussed. When the Chaos Crew talks about the potential marriages of Cu with Emiya and Irisviel with Artoria, it's quickly pointed out that this would make Cu Irisviel and Artoria's son in law. Achilles suggests making a diagram to keep track if it all.
• Reluctant Monster: Dr. Jekyll and Beowulf in one of Emiya and Cu's Holy Grail Wars. They are genuinely good people, but their masters force them in a "mad blackmail scheme" as Beowulf calls it, that includes kidnapping Cu's master — a teenage girl — and using that to capture him, and then luring in Emiya. Both Servants are extremely displeased with them, especially since it gets worse as Jekyll is forced via Command Seal to unleash Hyde — all while begging his master not to do it — and Beowulf being ordered to kill Cu and Emiya while defenseless, which goes against his values. Thankfully he manages to convince his master otherwise.
• Reluctant Warrior: Emiya has come to regret his decision to become a hero, and while he doesn't mind fighting Cu, the killing gets to him. Cu even says that Emiya is no warrior and blood doesn't suit him. It's noted that once Gudako started summoning more Servants, Emiya stopped going on missions entirely and now works full time as part of Chaldea's kitchen staff.
• Romantic Wingman: The Chaos Crew takes up this role for Irisviel to get her and Artoria together.
• Running Gag:
  • Mordred complaining about "stupid tall people".
  • Mordred also complaining about everyone giving him that proud fatherly smile except for his actual father.
  • Chaos Crew getting extremely bad hands in any given card game. It's the E and D rank luck.
  • Board games in general being a huge source of frustration to all.
  • Invoked In-Universe with the funny shirt day.
  • Everyone thinks that Cu's Hawaiian T-shirts should "burn at the stake".
  • Calling Alter a "goth dinosaur". Proto even calls fighting dinosaurs "killing Alter's relatives" at one point.
• Second Place Is for Losers: In Mordred's opinion, second place is first place loser.
• Semi-Divine: Quite a few of the heroes in Chaldea via Divine Parentage.
  • Cu Chulainn, who is the son of Lugh the god of light, has higher than average body temperature, is mostly unaffected by the cold and mildly glows in the daylight.
  • Diarmuid, who is the son of the Celtic god of death and part fae, has a body temperature that's unnaturally low by human standards, and his taste for pranking is attributed to his lineage.
  • Ironically, despite his parentage, Achilles somehow had a pretty normal childhood.
• Serious Business: Food for Salter. Especially her junk food. She threatens to murder people over throwing away food.
• Shared Dream:
  • As is canon in the Fate franchise, Ritsuka can dream of their Servants' memories.
  • Alternate versions of the same people occasionally share dreams. This is why CasCu refuses to sleep after Cu is summoned, as he wants to keep his experiences in Singularity F a secret.
• Shared Family Quirks: Mordred has identical eating habits to Artoria, which is lampshaded by several characters. Mordred doesn't believe them because back in Camelot Artoria was very proper and was willing to put up with some really crappy food. They also have several other similar mannerisms, and use their mana in the same way despite their different fighting styles.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • The whole Chaos Crew for Artoria and Irisviel. They even have a meeting to figure out how to get them together. And so is Medea apparently, because she wants to make the wedding dresses.
  • Mordred for Mash and Ritsuka, and later for Proto and Fuuma.
  • CasCu also jumps on the Proto/Fuuma ship.
  • Astolfo is on the Fran/Mordred ship, and plays wingman for Fran. And so is the Professor, who even sets them up on a date.
• Shock and Awe: Mordred's magical energy manifests as red lightning.
• Shout-Out:
  • Ritsuka introduces Mordred to the world of movies by making him watch all the Sharknado movies. Apparently, they forced everyone to watch them.
  • Leonidas thinks that the 300 is the best movie ever.
  • Mordred forces all of Chaldea to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The reactions of the Round Table are priceless.
  • Fran tops him by forcing everyone to watch The Princess Bride.
  • Fuuma's Fun T-Shirt says "IF YOU CAN READ THIS MY INVISIBILITY CLOAK ISN'T WORKING". Ritsuka forced everyone in Chaldea to watch all of the Harry Potter movies just so they could get the reference. Ironically, Fuuma skipped watching them, so the reference is probably lost on him.
  • CasCu is a HUGE horror movie fan. His favourite is The Exorcist.
  • For Halloween, Proto, CasCu and Alter dress up as The Three Musketeers.
  • Ritsuka and Mash dress up as Loki and Captain America from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Diarmuid has also watched The Avengers (2012) along with a few others.
  • After leaning his true name, Cu has a tendency to greet Archer with a teasing/flirty "Hey, Emiya~."
  • Kage forces CasCu to watch The Hobbit.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Cu and Emiya after they were both summoned in Chaldea. Chaos Crew just won't let them live it down, and Jalter (who shares a wall with them and thus can hear what's going on in their bedroom) finds them infuriating.
• Signature Scent:
  • According to Cu, Emiya smells like apples, cinnamon, and baked goods.
  • Proto smells like dogs.
  • Kage smells like blood, metal and chocolate.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Mordred's "training" from Morgana was basically her locking him in a dark room and forcing him to fight extremely dangerous things, depriving him food if he failed. Achilles freaks out when he realizes Mordred has no proper training whatsoever and resolves to teach him.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Quite a few characters swear, but none of them as much as Mordred. Though apparently Jalter and Salter are even worse.
• Slice of Life: Despite the drama, the series mostly focuses on the daily lives of the people in Chaldea instead of the game's plot, though it is very much present.
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: There are so many Servants in Chaldea with this particular kind of backstory that Diarmuid - who was killed by this twice - decided to start a support group.
• Spotting the Thread: CasCu eventually manages to put together that Kage is a modern day magus and a Counter Guardian simply by noticing several things about him that didn't line up with usual Servant behaviour.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Prior to being summoned in Chaldea, this was the situation Cu and Emiya were trapped in. The two would always be summoned on opposing sides of the many Holy Grail wars, having to hide their romance, which meant that they were counting themselves lucky to have a few hours for each other, dying countless times over and over, all for the slightest possibility of getting to the Grail and wishing for a chance.
• Stating the Simple Solution: While the Chaos Crew is trying to figure out a good way for Irisviel to confess to Artoria, after multiple suggestions, Mordred suggests she takes her on a date. It works.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Artoria and Mordred look identical and have very similar mannerisms.
• Stunned Silence: Artoria's reaction after watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• Stupid Sexy Friend: Achilles develops a crush towards Diarmuid.
  Achilles: How does he make chess look hot?!
• Supernatural Martial Arts: St. Martha practices an Angelic martial art that even Leonidas and Beowulf admit is "quite impressive".
• Supreme Chef: Emiya, Boudica, Tamamo and Tamamo Cat, which make up the Kitchen Crew. That said, only Emiya is acknowledged as the most supreme chef with any frequency, as he can even make impossible ingredients like basilisk meat taste good.
• Switching P.O.V.: Each fic is told through the POV of a different set of characters.
  • Two Sides to a Coin is told through Ritsuka's.
  • Sometimes I Don't Know What I'm Thinking When it Comes to You is told mainly through Cu's POV, but occasionally switches to Emiya's.
  • Sometimes the Fire Burns too Hot Inside is told mainly through Mordred's POV, followed by Diarmuid's, with Achilles and Cu also getting a few scenes. And at one point, Artoria.
  • The Time of Our Lives is told through Irisviel's.
  • With Time is told through Achilles'.
  • Halloween Shenanigans switches its narrator with every scene. It should be noted that the events of this fic are also covered in other fics, which have different narrators for it.
  • How to Stop Pining Over a Ninja (and Maybe Gain a Boyfriend While You’re at it) switches between Proto and Fuuma.
  • There is Such a Thing as Too Much Mistletoe is told through Jalter's POV.
  • Oh, if Only I Could Stop Dreaming of You is told entirely through CasCu's POV. It switches to Kage's once he"s summoned.
  • Mash Kyrielight Makes Her Move is told through her POV.
  • We Are More Than Monsters is told through Fran's POV.
• The Talk: Emiya and Cu once got lectured by Nightingale about sexually transmitted diseases. It somehow turned into them running for their lives, and a ban on making out in the hallways.
• Tampering with Food and Drink:
  • On the day Emiya and Cu went out grocery shopping together back when they were still enemies, they spent their evening eating together at a restaurant until the sun went down. Unbeknownst to them, the waiter was actually Semiramis in disguise, and she had poisoned their drinks. Eventually they both succumb to the poison.
  • Fuuma slips sleeping drugs and sedatives in the water supply of Bartholomew Roberts's crew so they would fall asleep, and he with Proto could make their escape unhindered.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Most Servants aren't very happy to work with the Archer of Sinjuku (who was summoned long before Epic of Remnant) because they have pinned him as a criminal - including Fran who calls him "papa". Mordred even accuses him that he's trying to spread his schemes to Babylonia, even though the Professor tells him that it'd be pointless to try.
• Telepathy: All the Servants plus Ritsuka can communicate by using it. It comes in handy quite a few times.
• Teleportation Sickness: Rayshifting is described by many to be uncomfortable.
• Tempting Fate: In the flashbacks of Singularity F, CasCu says that the only way he teams up with Kage is if hell freezes over. Guess what happened the next morning.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Nightingale's general approach to medicine. From burning down everything to sanitize them, to suggesting brain surgery to deal with a sleeping disorder, there's no limit to the lengths she'll go.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Part of Mordred's fighting style, which completely baffles everybody else.
• Time Abyss: Sometimes I Don't Know What I'm Thinking When it Comes to You implies that Cu and Emiya were summoned together in a truly unfathomable number of Holy Grail Wars.
• Too Much Information: Mordred's reaction once Cu goes on about how he gets god-level breakfast and gets laid every morning while the others are single. He throws in a Big "OMG!" for good measure.
• Training from Hell:
  • Achilles mentions that Chiron's idea of training includes shooting him with a ton of arrows on day 1. That said, Achilles is immortal, and Chiron is a legitimately good teacher.
  • Leonidas has scheduled a Spartan-style training regime for Servants early in the morning before breakfast. It's enough to crush some of the toughest folks around, but he's also noted to be a surprisingly good teacher and very patient with ignorance or failure.
  • Scathach's training is just as bad as Leonidas'.
• Trauma Button: Artoria is this for Mordred. The mere mention of her almost triggers a panic attack, and the sight of her does. Morgana is also this to him, as even thinking about her can potentially send him to panic.
• Unknowingly in Love:
  • Artoria doesn't realize that she has romantic feelings for Irisviel even though Everyone Can See It. Mordred even says that Artoria just won't get the hint unless she's properly courted.
  Diarmuid: [Artoria] was being difficult about her crush on Irisviel. You know, 'No, Diarmuid, she's just a friend. Yes, I care about her a lot, and if she cried I would kill whoever made her do so, but that doesn't mean I'm in love.'
  • Fuuma was so unfamiliar with the feeling of love that he initially assumed he was sick and went to see the nurse.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Mordred is an absolute powerhouse, but he has no skill whatsoever. Achilles sets out to fix that.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Brought up pretty frequently when the Professor is involved in anything, because he immediately strikes everyone as untrustworthy. Both him and Ritsuka point out that with the fate of mankind at stake, he has better things to do than scheming.
• Weak, but Skilled: Diarmuid. He's the slowest and weakest of the Chaos Crew, but he is exceptionally skilled and an excellent strategist.
  Cu: You don't fight [Diarmuid], you follow the script he's written without realizing it.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Fuuma was so unfamiliar with the feeling of love that he initially thought he was sick.
• Will Not Tell a Lie:
  • Cu loathes lying to anyone, and when he lies to his Master about Emiya, it feels bitter to his tongue.
  • Mordred hates dishonesty with a passion.
  • Diarmuid weaponizes it.
    Achilles: I do not look like a carrot! Tell him, Diarmuid!
    Diarmuid: A knight never lies.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • Several Masters that Cu and Emiya served under, and even Cu himself. It's Emiya's refusal to do so — even resisting a Command Seal — that makes Cu realize that maybe he's not an asshole after all.
  • In one of said wars, Jekyll's master pulls a gun and kills Cu's master, who is a teenage girl.
• Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Despite being a Combat Pragmatist, one of Mordred's core principles is that he never, ever gets civilians and innocent people involved in his fights.
• You Remind Me of X:
  • Achilles thinks that Patroclus and Diarmuid are pretty similar in personality - specifically, how they are almost always right and try to keep everyone else under check.
  • The Professor strongly reminds Fran of her creator, Victor Frankenstein.
• Younger Than They Look: Due to being a Homunculus, Mordred was subject to Rapid Ageing by Morgana. As a result, even though he looked sixteen by the time he destroyed Camelot, he was only nine. He generally tries to hide this.

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