Fates Supports/Avatar(M) Yukimura
C Support
Avatar: Hm? Whose map is this? And what are all these figurines?
Yukimura: Lord Avatar! My apologies! I've made a mess of the table.
Avatar: So this all belongs to you, then?
Yukimura: Yes, I thought I'd run through some tactical exercises for our next encounter.
Avatar: By all means, continue. Your advice has been invaluable to us. You are a man of singular talent and genius.
Yukimura: I would not go that far, milord. I merely had good teachers. The knowledge I possess was given to me by King Sumeragi and my father.
Avatar: You learned from both of them?
Yukimura: Yes. I learned the fundamentals from my father, who was minister in his day. Later, I was sent to serve the king as an aide. I saw firsthand how he took my father's strategies and took them even further.
Avatar: Is your father still around?
Yukimura: No, he died on his sickbed when I was still quite young. However, I spent much of my youth poring over all the papers he left behind. Battle strategies, fighting techniques, tactical manuals—all sorts of things. Afterward, the king more or less took me under his wing. I suppose you could say that King Sumeragi was like a second father to me.
Avatar: I know he... He died trying to protect me. I'm so sorry. It's my fault we both lost him.
Yukimura: Lord Avatar, stop right there. It was never your fault. It was King Garon's. And it happened long ago. There is no benefit in us discussing this now.
Avatar: I know, I know.
Yukimura: Now, I think I should clean up this table. I finished the exercises before you got here.
Avatar: All right. But please, allow me to help.
Yukimura: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
B Support
Avatar: Yukimura, what tactics would you suggest we use in this situation? If we pursued, it would leave our allies over there vulnerable, which seems reckless. However, it would also take out a huge number of the enemy in a single action. And the gains made from their sacrifice might save many lives in the fights to come.
Yukimura: ...
Avatar: It's a very difficult situation, don't you agree?
Yukimura: ...
Avatar: Yukimura?
Yukimura: Ah, my apologies, Lord Avatar. You are correct. It's a very difficult situation. The only thing to do is to decide for yourself which loss was acceptable. It reminds me of something.
Avatar: What's that?
Yukimura: The one and only time that King Sumeragi scolded me.
Avatar: He scolded you? What could you have possibly done to make him upset?
Yukimura: It was during a discussion much like this, where we considered different scenarios. I developed a plan involving puppets and traps that would decimate the enemy. It was an extremely effective plan, saving many of us while eliminating the enemy. However, when I recommended the plan, King Sumeragi grew very angry.
Avatar: What did he say?
Yukimura: "It's not a matter of killing as many people as possible. That is not what war is about." He placed much importance and value on the lives of enemy soldiers. He did not believe in killing any who surrendered. Nor did he approve of killing without giving a man a chance to surrender. It was this latter point my plan was in conflict with.
Avatar: Hm.
Yukimura: At the time, I thought he was being a soft- hearted fool. But now I see his wisdom. The plan you presented to me tries to reduce the bloodshed of your own allies. But you should not be so quick to shed enemy blood needlessly either. Conquerors make a wasteland and call it a peace. This is not our way.
Avatar: I think I understand.
Yukimura: Many people naively think reason and logic are opposed to emotion and compassion. In truth, the former cannot exist without the latter. The simplest decisions are, at bottom, rooted in the inner life of the individual. A person cannot walk across a room without asserting some kind of value. I believe that understanding this is the hallmark of a master tactician.
Avatar: I will remember your words, Yukimura. Your words...but also those of my father.
Yukimura: I believe that would please him greatly.
A Support
Avatar: Yukimura, do you have a moment?
Yukimura: What do you need, Lord Avatar?
Avatar: I've been thinking a lot after our last conversation, and I want to say something. My father is no longer with us because of me. And I am tremendously sorry I caused you such pain.
Yukimura: Hm? Didn't I tell you the other day that you needn't say such things?
Avatar: Even so, I only realized after our talk just how large a role he played in others' lives. Not just in my family's lives, or even in all the people of Hoshido's lives. But in the lives of those he met and knew personally, simply as a man. And, in particular...I realized just how important he must have been to you. You looked so happy and peaceful while you were talking about him... So I DO feel I need to apologize to you.
Yukimura: Milord... The truth is, when I heard that Lord Sumeragi died, I indeed resented you for it.
Avatar: Yukimura...
Yukimura: I was still very immature, I must admit. But as I grew older, those feelings faded. And in their place, a new respect for the king arose. Lord Sumeragi fulfilled his greatest duty as a father by protecting his son. Now I feel his end was one of the few befitting a man of his integrity and virtue.
Avatar: I'm not sure it's my place to say this, but I think he would be happy to hear that.
Yukimura: Thank you, Lord Avatar. It does me good to hear you say that as well.
Avatar: He was a father to both of us. As his sons, let us strive to live up to his example.
Yukimura: Yes, and to do so in all things we are and all that we may someday become. As warriors, as statesmen, as fathers... All things.
Avatar: Yes. I believe we can do it, so long as when one of us falls the other helps them up.
Yukimura: You can rely on me, milord.
Avatar: And you on me, Yukimura.
