A Unity of Solitude (Gavin and Archer's intro)

It had been an interesting life for Gavin thus far. He didn't exactly have what you would consider to be a conventional upbringing. After all, not every 18 year old was a yakuza hitman, and even fewer were a yakuza-hitman-magus...The magus part of it all made him a valuable commodity for his employer. If Gavin wanted something, normally he got it. Money wasn't really an issue. He had paid off his mother's debt long ago. Now he stayed because A:It was all he knew, and B:He was far too valuable to his employer to let go; even more-so now.

"Ahhh, you've arrived Gavin. I'm glad you could make it on such short notice. Please have a seat. There is some important things we need to discuss." Kaotomi said as he took another sip of his saki. Gavin wordlessly took his seat, taking note of his employers unusually content demeanor.

"It must be something big...you aren't normally this cheerful."

"Yes well, I'll let our good friend Yamato explain the details but I think you'll be very pleased as well. Go ahead Yamato, tell the boy what he has to look forward to."

Yamato was an older man, and fairly grizzled looking. Not to mention he was a ruthless teacher. Gavin couldn't remember how many times he had endured the man's often painful method of instructing. "Gavin, you are going to be taking part in a war." Gavin's eyebrow quirked ever so slightly

"You mean the one you mentioned before. The Holy Grail War. You were pretty thorough on the details of that event. So it is time for it again I'm guessing."

Yamato nodded "Yes, and you are going to be representing us. So we are going to have you summon your servant tonight. You stand the best chances in this War, Gavin. You are a trained killer. I doubt there are a lot of people who will be taking part that are part of that unique profession. However, finding the other Masters will be the tricky part. Thus, you are going to be going undercover, so to speak. Posing as a student so it's easier for you to gather information. We've already enrolled you. Don't do anything stupid like take your guns to school. That would probably end up on your permanent record not to mention get you expelled" The older man laughed at his own lame joke which set Gavin to clenching his teeth. He hated it when people thought they were funny.

"A school, huh? Thanks for nothing. I could have done it fine without having to spend my day hanging around with a bunch of...kids."

Kaotomi locked a stern glare on Gavin "You'll do as you are told Gavin. It was decided this would be the best way to do things. Just look at it as another job." Gavin sighed irritably

"So you want me to summon a Servant....Win a war...and grant you a wish. I know you aren't having me do this for my own benefit. What's your wish? World domination? Money? Women?"

Kaotmoi smirked slightly "You're thinking too small. As you know, I'm not capable of mage craft myself. But with that kind of power I wouldn't need to worry about and of the things you listed. I want to be the most power magus ever to exist. The rest will follow after."

Gavin folded his arms and eyed his boss flatly "You haven't watched Aladdin have you...?" He didn't care either way, the wish wasn't really what had his interest. It was the war itself. "I'll do it. But only because I’m sick and tired of knocking off fat business men. I want the challenge."

Yamato stood up "Then come with me. Everything has already been prepared. " Gavin climbed to his feet as well and started after his teacher. They headed down into the basement, the place looked like it was some sort of arcane laboratory, and right in the middle was a very complex looking circular glyph. Yamato handed him a very old looking leather bound book. "Stand in the circle and read this out loud. Then use this knife to draw some of your blood and let it hit the sigil."

Gavin accepted both the book and the knife, unphased by the though of having to cut himself. "Right....simple enough. You plan on staying and watching?" Gavin asked with a strange sort of edge in his tone. Yamato nodded

"Of course. It isn't every day you get to see a Servant summoning."

Gavin once again shrugged and stepped into the circle and started reading the words from the book aloud. As he did so the glyph on the floor began to glow. Dimly at first, but soon it was bright enough to clearly illuminate the entire gloomy basement. Gavin spoke the last work and slammed the book closed with one hand and tossed it aside before taking his knife and cutting his palm. The blood flowing freely from the cut and dripping down onto the floor at his feet. As the light dimmed and the smoke cleared, a single figure stood in the center of the sigil. Light locks, curvy shape and odd clothing paled in comparison to the attentive, striking cerulean eyes that appeared unamused and focused on Gavin and only him. She stood quietly, letting the air around her slow and quell itself from the mana that was in the air only moments ago.

She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, staring down this boy who now owned the title of her 'Master'. He was fair on the eyes, in the least. She didn't particularly care whom it was who summoned her just yet. She firmly believed that in order to develop a relationship with those who summoned you, it needed time and interaction. She was prepared to be loyal, but she was not yet ready to respect this man. No, he'd have to work hard to earn such a privilege. Once the air had calmed, she stepped forward, staring with no emotion and half lidded eyes at Gavin. She said nothing, and only continued to circle around him, giving him a look over. She finally stopped once she had made a full circle and stopped in front of him. She crossed her arms, resting them under her bust, tilting her head at him.

“ So then, you're the recipient of my servitude, no doubt? I must say, I was truly expecting someone of different esteem to have summoned me, as well as someone of maturity and wisdom. Alas, you'll have to do. Regardless of who you are, as long as I can successfully achieve what I intend, we should have no issues.” The woman stopped to ponder a moment, knowing that her speech patterns probably came off blunt and rude, but she was much too old to deal with these kind of details. “So, Master, dare I ask of you your name, or would you prefer I procure it by alternative measures?”

Gavin stood in place as the strange woman circled around him, he even waited till she was finished speaking before he himself spoke. "I'm Gavin. Your Master. And who are you?" Gavin's gaze flitted over the woman, mostly looking for a weapon that might indicate her class. She didn't look overly impressive and her clothes didn't really make her stand out as anyone that he would know from history. Her attitude however suited him just fine however.

The girl responded with a flourish and a deep bow reminiscent of a gentlemen of the Renaissance. Once she held the pose a good minute, she stood erect once more. “ You may refer to me until further notice as Archer. And this,...” she continued, pulling the two large flintlock rifles from her back holsters, and held them out, “...is Mephitz and Tophele. Whilst I know it to be unnecessary to waste breath on such trifles, if I may request a single thing of our tandem, it is that you refer to them by their names as well.”

The guns themselves were impressive, with intricate designs covering them. Their length were pretty well as long as the girl herself, though it seemed effortless to hold them, as she swung them backwards and back on to the holsters on her back, which helped conceal them under cape and scarf. “ Tell me Master, that individual there,...” she nodded towards Yamato, “...why is he present? I will safety assume he is an associate, however, I would have greatly preferred you alone as opposed to an audience.”

"Seems like we have a bit in common."Gavin glanced over at Yamato "Him? He's nothing." and with those words Gavin drew one of his pistols from inside his jacket and without a moment of hesitation there was the thunderous bang and Yamato collapsed onto the ground lifelessly with a hole between his eyes. "The second he needed me more than I needed him, he wasn't any more use to the boss anyway." He lowered his steely gaze at his former teacher's corpse "Payback's a bitch." He lowered the pistol and returned his attention to Archer. "There, you have me all to yourself."

Archer looked between the body and Gavin with the same amount of enthusiasm of a potato, before lifting her arms to shrug. “ All of humanity has at least one common trait, Master. It is the difference in the persona of one another that makes us unique. It seems that I seem to have a penchant for encountering those of a homicidal, haughty nature.” she sighed, walking over to the body of Yamato, giving it a poke and whispering something beneath her lips. She stood again and walked beside Gavin. “ I fail to understand why you would extinguish another so simply without first weighing the consequence of your action. A simple 'please remove yourself from my gaze' would have sufficed. Mercy.”

She pushed aside some of the stray hairs beside her cheek, watching him momentarily. “ I'd like to establish a few diminutive details. First, to be blunt as most would and to use terminology more common with other, don't be stupid with me. I am a warrior in which you need employ strategy. I will not lie, nor will I arrogantly brag of my exploits. I am as any other. Second, you are a magus, therefore, many of my abilities will greatly aid you. If you are a coward, be prepared to die; though, based on what I have currently witnessed, I doubt that will be too ample a problem. Do you have any questions of me?”

Gavin smirked ever so slightly "No question. I guess I would be considered a warrior by modern standards, myself. I never go for a kill without a plan. As for asking him to just leave...."Gavin glanced at Yamato's corpse again "The bastard had it coming. Him and I had personal issues. He was my teacher, and since he didn't have the balls to do this himself, and had me do it instead, he wasn't any use anymore." He paused a moment "I thought about asking you to kill him. To prove your loyalty. But then I thought, that wouldn't prove anything since he was a stranger to you. That and I didn't want to miss out on the chance to put the dog down with my own hands."

The room remained quiet, before Archer made a strange light sound, before letting out an authentic laugh, lifting her hand to her mouth. She gave her head a shake, lowered her hand and ceased laughter, regarding Gavin quite bemused. “ Here I was perturbing over the idea that this would be a tedious endeavor. Alright. I'm fully preconditioned to act as your procurator. Use me as an extension of your own arsenal. Perhaps there are intriguing aspects of life we can among to learn from one another.” She smiled once more at him quickly.

"I just need to go talk to my boss and find out where we'll be living, then we can get out of here and start planning our strategy." Gavin tucked his gun back into the holster under his jacket and snapped up a nearby rag to wipe the blood from the hand he had cut during the summoning, tossing said rag onto Yamato's blank face as he headed for the stairs. "Mephitz and Tophele, hmm? That is the name of a devil isn't it? When you put the names together anyways." He started up the stairs.

“ Close enough. But yes. You're inquiry is indeed correct. Mephistopeles was an alias for the devil himself. The center of many lore and terrifying tales. That is the name of my Mephitz and Tophele...” Archer blinked slowly at Gavin, returning to her emotionless self, merely quirking a brow. “ You, as in my MASTER, are subservient to another? I do hope you do not intend for my to show this individual any form of loyalty or respect as I shall be holding in reserves for you?”

"Tch. You don't have to show him an ounce of fake respect. The man doesn't deserve it anyway. I just do jobs for him. I'll probably end up killing him one of these days but for now he's just a source of income; though he probably thinks he owns me. You can flip him off if you want. I won't mind. Oh, and I actually named my guns too, though I don't generally refer to them by name around other people. It's more a private thing."

“ Thank heavens.” She answered, following Gavin closely. She had to admit, she judged this one wrong from the get go. He was a bit more violent than she had been looking for in a master, but he wasn't some trigger happy psycho, and his violence seemed to have run deeper than just murder, but his cynical views did peak her curiosity. It had been some time since she could engross herself in her curiosities. “ I hope to learn the names of your arsenal and my kin in the near future.”

Soon the two reached the doors to the large study where Gavin had left Kaotomi and walked right in without knocking, slightly startling his employer as a result "Ah Gavin. Done already...."Kaotomi paused as he took note of Archer. "So...that's your mighty servant?...It's a...You summoned a bloody cosplaying librarian..."

Gavin narrowed his gaze at Kaotomi "Just tell me where I'm living and going to school so I can go home and get some sleep." Archer stepped into the study with Gavin, allowing her vision to dart around. The decoration and state of the room was very much like those in power from her time, a noble of sorts. She disliked it. It had some reading material, which was well enough, however. She paid little attention until she felt her brow furrow. Her gaze may not have changed, but her eyebrows mad it clear she wasn't pleased at Kaotomi's comment.

“ Bloody cosplaying librarian? While I know not of this 'cosplyaing' terminology, I do not take kindly to insults. So, excuse my curtness, but shut your mouth before I blow a hole through it, kindly.” She looked away quickly, in her own gesture to insult him equally, returning her attention to Gavin only. “ Master, you are a saint to deal with such common charlatans.”

Kaotomi stood and shouted "Gavin, keep that bitch in line or else! Don't you dare forget who you owe your life to you ungrateful little bastard!"

Gavin's right index finger twitched slightly "I think about her plenty, Boss. Oh, and you might want to get a cleaner down to the basement. Yamato handed in his resignation. Anyway. Address?" Kaotomi faltered for a long moment, absorbing the meaning of Gavin's words before he growled low.

"You'll be going to Tomiya High. Briefcase by the door has the address, your uniform and any information we have that might help you find the other Masters."

Gavin nodded and snapped up the briefcase and turned back toward the door "Lets go Archer. We have a war to plan."