The East Quarter

"..."

Assassin kept silent as he scanned the girl's form from head to toe, taking in her sight. Certainly, from where he was, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. If anything, it almost felt like her complete normalcy was the thing that he found to be wary about, but all things considered, he was the Heroic Spirit here, and mage she may be, but the girl was merely human. The Servant didn't think it to be too haughty or presumptuous to doubt that a human could do much to someone like him as either of them were right now; after all, even if it was harder than it ought to have been to ward off thoughts that this was in some way a trap, the other part of Assassin's mind doubted that much harm could come to him. Maybe it was just a product of his old life, wherein working within the shadows caused him to be more wary of what he couldn't see, even more than what he could see at first glance.

Furrowing his brow and returning Chloe's smile with his own forced, somewhat awkward smirk, Assassin formulated a response, not bothering to introduce himself since it felt like she seemed to know about him, and as a Servant worth his title, did not feel inclined to give his true identity just yet. "Finally, huh? Sounds like you were waiting for me. If I knew I was keeping a young lady waiting..." He trailed off, resting his hands on his hips, before continuing with a new train of thought, "More than that, I'm not exactly used to being waited on, nor am I even used to people knowing about me, Miss... Daveen, was it? A young mage like you hanging out in a place like this... It's a bit conspicuous, I must say."
 
After parting ways with Max, Alex made his way back into the city. It was still late into the night, and was the perfect atmosphere for scouting around. He turned invisible once again and jumped to the roof of the closest building. From there he began to jump from building to building within the area, stopping occasionally to look around and search for anything out of the ordinary. His searched continued until near the time his master had given him, he hadn't sensed any other servants within the quarter, so his assumption may not have been correct, unless the servant went a long ways away from his master.
He made his way back across the city, and back towards their safehouse.
 
She rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, I suppose you can say that. But I normally come up here to do homework anyway. It's not unusual really. Just not usually.. this.. late heh.." The breeze picked up slightly and the young girl turned her gaze towards the shore line. "My family heard about the Grail War, but decided not to attempt to find an artifact for me for various reasons despite my protests. So I'd been trailing the Mages in the city a bit, or at least the ones I suspected to be participating from the local area. And before you ask, no I was not the one who took out your Master. I honestly am not quite sure what happened there."

She bit her lip. "But it left me with an opportunity and I wanted to take advantage of it, despite my parent's wishes. And seeing that you've at least have the ability to be without a master for this long, means you're at least a powerful servant makes the opportunity too good to pass up." She turned her gaze back to Assassin. "So.. Tell me. What is your wish if you were to win the Grail?"

@Ver
 
Assassin cocked an eyebrow as the girl responded to him, initially rambling about her homework, and then about the Holy Grail War. Well, that was new. The Servant always imagined Masters to be something like ambitious mages from equally ambitious families, but a tricky little minx like this... Well, she was interesting if nothing else. He frowned slightly as it was revealed that the fate of his Master remained a mystery, but at this point, if he had ceased to be for the time being, then there was only one thing to do now, and it was clear on the girl's part as well if she went out of her way to summon him here.

When she finished talking, Assassin remained silent for a while. He bit his lip lightly, then let out a soft laugh, as though amused by something she had said. "You know, kid... To tell ya the truth, I'm pretty ambivalent to the thought of putting a little lady like you in jeopardy -- maybe you ought to listen to your parents -- but I guess I don't exactly have a choice. I can only imagine Masters are in short supply, so I guess I don't actually have much of a choice," he sighed, as though relenting to the thought of letting her be his new Master.

When the final question was posed to him, his laughter stopped abruptly, his brow furrowing as the Servant looked toward her, and then away, toward the sky. Just like before, he remained reticent for a good amount of time, as though contemplating an answer, before a soft smile tugged at the edge of his lips, and he only shook his head, looking back toward Chloe with a patronizing smile.

"You'll have to work for that answer. Just like you'll have to work to find out who I really am. After all, I am an Assassin-class. Secrecy is my specialty, and I need to trust you're a capable Master before I divulge any of that to you, unless I simply must use my Noble Phantasm, but let's hope it doesn't come to that," he said, before putting his gloved hands on his hips, "So? If we're to make this official then, I guess you ought to formally make a pact with me then."

@Knosis
 
The girl gave him a look and then sighed. "Well, even if you can keep secrets from me, I feel obligated to tell you one thing before we make this official, then it will be up to you whether or not we make it." She brushed a strand of hair from her eyes, looking to the sky.

"As you probably gathered, I'm just a high school student. This was my senior year of high school. Things were supposed to be pretty exciting, you know? I just inherited my family's crest. I was supposed to go to the senior dance, date boys, get excited about joining a university. And if the opportunity came, try to bring honor to my family's name for the Grail War. No pressure or anything, right?" She smiled silently for a moment.

"Then I collapsed one day. I woke up in the hospital two days later, my mom trying not to cry. Lots of doctor visits later, and they determined I was terminal. There was nothing any of the doctors here could do. They gave me six months to a year to live." She turned her gaze back to Assassin. "So if you choose to be with me? You're on a time limit to win this thing. I'm willing to give it everything I've got to help us get to the end. I've got nothing left to lose. I'm a decent enough mage, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to rely more and more on you as the time goes on. But at least you'll have a decent mana supply, and sharp wit to keep you company."

She held out her hand for him. "That work for you?"

@Ver
 
The bespectacled Servant tilted his head slightly as Chloe spoke. Dances, boys, schooling... Yes, those were the things that normal girls would be thinking and worrying about at this age, hmm? But she was not granted the luxury of normalcy. No, she was afflicted with the curse of this life. The sort of life in which she stood by herself atop the roof of her school by herself, calling out. Calling out for anyone. Calling out for... someone like him. Calling out for a friend, especially in her time of dying.

The thought of a normal life was but a luxury to her, just as it was to Assassin when he was alive.

It reminded him of...

Assassin sighed. Shaking his head briefly, he walked over to Chloe and got down on one knee, looking up at her from there and taking his gloved hand in hers. "A time limit? Well... I prefer to think of it as... We have all the time in the world. It's just that our world happens to be near the end of their cycle, so if nothing else, if we're fated to go out, then let's go out with a bang then, little lady," he said with a sympathetic smile.

"I'm in your care then, Master."

@Knosis
 
The girl visibly relaxed, relief that he he still accepted her as his master despite her limitation. Her slender fingers grasped his firmly, a bright smile spreading across her face. She really could have been a pretty girl.

Somehow, he had known the words she had needed to hear. There was a spark in her, a small one. But there it was, fighting with everything it had to stay lit. To give it one last shot and leave a blazing mark upon the world to show she'd tried and gone out how she wanted to. "That's the plan at least." She said quietly, not trusting her voice to speak louder in that moment. Few moments later, a few words spoken, and their pact was sealed. Her command seals lined up the side of her right arm, only visible on her hand where it curled around her pinky.

"And I'm in yours." She smiled and tilted her head.

"Well, looks like I have a lot of catching up to do. But at least for now, let's get to a more secure area. My parents are currently out of town on business, so my room should be a good place to stay for a short while anyway." She stooped to pick up her books and her backpack. "It's a bit of a walk though. Once we're there, we can discuss what you've learned so far this war." The frail girl started for the fire escape, pushing her glasses up her nose. "We'll need to work a bit more quickly to catch up."

@Ver
 
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"Your room, eh? Would I be the first boy to see it?" Assassin commented playfully when Chloe suggested moving elsewhere. As she gathered her belongings, the black-clad man placed his hands back onto his hips, looking upon her with a more easy-going, relaxed expression than before, now that circumstances had changed.

Walking by her side, the Servant gave another one-armed shrug. "You need not worry about catching up, little miss. I am not so far ahead of you. After all, as an Assassin-class, I specialize in reconnaissance, though while I've gathered a decent amount of information about some of the other Servants in this War, I hadn't had much of an opportunity to... cook up a scheme with my Master, as it were," he spoke, seeming to prefer to discuss the War as they were now instead of waiting.

"In fact, the both of us were in the middle of a nightly patrol, and even considering the thought of forming an alliance with at least one of the other Masters around, though if you'd much rather return home than continue the patrol I was on before, then... I suppose that will do as well. This is quite a bit to take in myself, after all."

@Knosis
 
The young woman gave him a cryptic looking grin. If he was allowed his secrets, so was she. And she was not about to answer his question.

She thought about the situation he'd come from and pondered. "No, I think we need to stick together for now. I do like the idea of forming an alliance potentially still. But whoever took out or whatever happened to your previous master, may actually come back for me. And I'd prefer to have a longer lasting relationship with you. Not to mention even though you may not have a lot of information, I'd like to start formulating an idea of what we have going on."

Once down from the fire escape, she started heading south, towards the white sandy beaches.

@Ver
 
In dark spaces lurked dark things. Slinking, skulking things that called shadows soothing and light horrible. Beasts both large and small- hiding, hunting, stalking prey from those unknown depths. Consuming and devouring those too weak to fend off death at tip of sharp claws, or sharper minds. This was the nature of those deep dark places. Haunting places that carved into the landscapes like their very denizens carved flesh out of flailing victims.

The old subways were no exception. Old claw marks into the very flesh of the earth, snaking their way through out the city. They were meant to be veins and arteries for the monster that is the city above, pumping the life blood of mindless workers to its various metal and towering organs, but as time passed and interest waned in a grand transportation network so too did the money, leaving only the most used lines in any semblance of a healthy condition. The rest were left to rot, with only a bare minimum of maintenance, or in the case of the East Quarter Line, completely closed.

Instead of commuters occupying the stations and trains traversing their tracks the East Quarter line was filled with darkness and whispers- from rats and other creatures who had weaseled their way into artificial caverns. No one with any right mind would even deign a curiosity to enter the East Quarter line. Which made the very distant shrill whistle of a train that should not be there all the more eerie to the lone occupant in that deep dark hideaway.
 
It hadn't been long since Max had returned to the disused subway station, having left early in the morning to make a trip into the city. A couple of hours in a salon later, and his golden blonde hair had been dyed a dark black. A minor change, but enough to throw off any masters or servants looking for him based off of Ruler's description. Presently, he was flicking through a city guide to attempt to pinpoint likely-sounding spots for a magus to set up shop, when the train's whistle cut through the silence like a siren.

Startling at the sudden - and very unexpected - noise, Max was on his feet in a moment, reaching for a weapon. This station was derelict, and cut off from the rest of the city's network of tunnels. There was no way that a train should be approaching, if there weren't some magical involvement. He briefly considered the command seals on his arm, weighing up the wisdom of calling Alex back to him before knowing exactly how much danger he was in. No, he only had three uses of those seals, and he needed to keep them for only the direst of emergencies - or the greatest of opportunities. For now, he would try and figure out what was happening alone.

Taking a few moments to equip himself with a shotgun loaded with anti-magic rounds, and strapping Seraph at his hip, Max moved out of his makeshift chambers and started down towards the platform. He took mental note of the traps and wards he passed along the way, plotting a route to lead any attackers through if needed, but otherwise moved with cautious haste. He slowed as he descended the steps down to the platform itself, stopping at the end of the stairwell and peering warily out into the dim light beyond.
 
The platform was empty, deserted save for the trash and debris that'd found refuge over the years. The cool air whispered empty words to the boy, the natural sounds of the deep dark place, not the wailing call that'd drawn his attention. There was no train and no sign of its passage, the atmosphere still and soft like an old corpse. The emptiness was so sharp, so unnatural compared to the sureness of that forlorn wail that any doubt in the youth's mind was far more sinister a thought than the usual, banal questioning doubt often was.

Between that moment, in the short, waiting blink of an eye, something flashed. As Max opened his eyes that quick sliver of time was replaced by the still, empty space, but he caught something at the tail end of opening his eyes. He knew it as surely as the train whistle called him down. Each time he blinked, whether by reflex or to shudder his vision, that snap shot came back, and each time he saw more and more of the picture. Or rather pictures. Snapshots of the platform, but alive and from different times. The only unifying element of each picture was a shadow cast in front of Max, growing longer and longer until at the end of that moment, when everything returned to normal- save for the feeling of something watching the newly raven haired man.

"There is not a time line where you pull that trigger and do not regret it." A voice, low and gravely, but flowing like water, spoke right behind him.
 
Max was no stranger to the abnormal manifestations of mind-magi, the way they could manipulate a person's perception of the world around them to instil anything from paranoia, to fear, to love. This was something more than that, though. No mind-mage ought to have been able to affect him so easily without him realising, which meant that this was a servant's doing. Assassin, perhaps? The idea was enough to send a chill down his spine. If he was caught alone by that class, regardless of the specific spirit, he would likely be dead before he could call Alex back to him. If not that, then Caster would be a reasonable second bet, but almost any spirit could in theory possess similar powers.

His heartbeat raced as the onslaught of images continued, growing faster and more intense moment by moment - or was it all across a single moment? - until it reached an abrupt peak and there was... nothing.

No, not nothing.

Max whirled around, aiming his shotgun, ready to shoot despite the unknown speaker's words, but something gave him pause. Perhaps instinct, perhaps something else, something stopped his finger as it twitched on the trigger. He stared down the barrel of his weapon towards the source of the voice, schooling his breathing to a level calm and stilling his finger. Control. Always maintain control, no matter what they throw at you. If you can keep that, then you can keep the upper hand. If you lose that, then you've already lost.

"Tell me who you are and maybe I'll consider heeding that advice," he answered stonily, narrowing his eyes.
 
The figure behind the tense young man was easily two heads taller, and his position on the stairs made that discrepancy even more apparent. Even from that perspective though it was hard to peer through the abyss underneath the massive leather cloak draped over the speaker, and the only details apparent in those dimly lit spaces was two deathly green eyes staring Max down- with no concern of the shotgun leveled at him.

There was a looming moment of silence between the two, that was only broken by an abrupt step forward from the intruder, whose footfall was so heavy and cumbersome that it sent the chains and fetishes around his neck jangling. Then the figure took another step, jangling again, and then finally a third. The two were now close enough that the barrel of the shotgun was dangerously close to brushing against the figure's midsection.

"A traveler... between worlds, and a collector... of peculiar, perilous, and perverse... oddities... and a participant... in this game... " He answered in the low, flat tone he'd spoke with before, indifferent to the other's attitude or fear.
 
"A servant, then," Max kept the shotgun raised, though he was more than aware that it would do him little good against a servant. If this one had wanted him dead, he already would be -- unless it was the type that liked to toy with its prey. In that case he would need to entertain it for long enough to find an opportunity to bring Alex to him with a command seal without being immediately taken out.

"How did you find me? And what is it you want?" he asked, taking a half step back as the figure drew closer. The hulking form was unsettling, and had an air of inhumanity about it. They didn't seem like the Assassin type. Caster, then, until evidence suggested otherwise. Likely possessing some form of divination magic to have located him here, but keeping them talking with questions - giving an opportunity to lord their superiority over him - might give him the opportunity he wanted.
 
The mountainous figure stood silent, giving no sign to confirm Max's remark. Nor did he answer the questions right away. Instead he kept his slow, forward plodding pace, pushing the young man back until both were standing on the platform. It was a gift, the time Max desired in order to summon his servant, and it truly felt like one as the figure towered over him.

"I see what your eyes cannot, comprehend what you cannot, contemplate what you will not... your secret place, in this deep dark space... is still unknown to those you hunt," he answered as he took a step to the side, circling around Max. His footfalls were still heavy, arrhythmic beats on the old concrete, adding a soft thud accompanied by a sour twang of jangling metal.

"Your goals, and mine... they are not in contest," he added, his tone taking a slightly sharper edge to it, "but the means to those goals are... but you have a part to play in this game, and as such I am not here to ask anything of you, instead I'm here to offer..." The figure paused in his procession, craning his head to the side and looking down at Max once more. "A deal."
 
Time it might have been, but the servant's piercing green eyes stayed fixed on him throughout. If this servant wanted it, he would likely be dead before the summoning phrase finished leaving his lips. No, if he was to call Alex, he needed them to be distracted somehow. His mind remained on that thought as they spoke again, and he turned to follow them with his eyes.

"Not in contest?" The declaration prompted Max to raise an eyebrow. "Only one person can win the grail. Do you mean to say that isn't your goal?" He wasn't sure what the being meant by him having a part to play, and he wasn't sure he liked it. Whatever the servant had in mind for him, he disdained the idea of dancing to some spellcaster's tune - whether magus or servant. Too often did their kind think it their god-given right to dictate others' lives for them.

"And what makes you think I'll trust any deal you have to offer? If you are a servant of the grail war, your master is opposed to me, even if you aren't."
 
"Your perspective is narrow, tunneling," the figure remarked offhandedly and letting out a soft bellowing noise akin to a sickly exhale. The cloak over the titan's body shifted slightly before a gnarled and pockmarked green hand slid out from behind the draping leather. In it's six digits was cupped a silvery chalice nearly the size of Max's head, but held without issue in the being's grip. Runes, scripts, and all forms of characters wound their way over the surface of the cup, and in such intricate and amazing patterns. All the wonder of such an artifact was nothing compared to what was inside it- a bubbling, black effervescent flame that sat still as water in the cup as brilliant star like flashes ebbed in and out of existence.

"You won't, I do not ask for trust, but I trust you to know that the sweetest nectar is bait to the most insidious traps," he replied, holding the cup further out but still not offering it yet, "and that this is no sweet gift, I do not deal in charity, and ask a price must be paid in turn for goods... or services rendered."
 
Max eyed the chalice and its bubbling contents, watching it for any sign of an attack. Such things came in many forms when dealing with heroic spirits. But when no imminent harm came from it, he returned his gaze to those luminous green orbs within the hood. "And what, exactly, is that? Say for a moment I'm willing to bargain with an enemy, and set aside the fact that any deal you offer me is as likely to be a poison chalice as it is a fair trade. What are you offering me, and what do you want in return?"
 
"There are no enemies, only opportunities, but if you were to drink this, then I have misjudged your intelligence," the figure said flatly, though a small gravely noise proceeded the words indicating perhaps some amusement at the thought. He held the cup slightly aloft, the black fire casting an unnatural white light over them. "I offer you a font of knowledge, a door way to the totality of all that was, is, and will ever be..."

With his hand out stretched to the side, the figure began to slowly pour out the bubbling flames. The black ethereal substance fell from the great height, but did not splash and splatter like water as it hit the concrete. Instead it pooled like fire might over a gas soaked floor. A moment later, once it had reached critical size, the pool broke lose and flowed towards the nearest wall. It spread out across the base before climbing upwards, and consuming the wall in its other-worldly flames, but unlike the floor, where the flame was black and obscuring, the primordial fire left a white glowing surface- forming what looked like a door way.

"I offer you an introduction to..." Behind the glowing barrier a silhouette stepped into view from the side, a man in profile. "The Veiled Man."
 
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