Sum Quod Eris

But, some needs overpowered others and here he was, focusing more on the act of placing one foot in front of the other than on the buffeting wind and snow. Not many people were out in this weather and even fewer passed his way, likely because of deliberate avoidance. That was perfectly fine in Kariya’s opinion, being unsure of his ability to keep up much conversation while engaged in his personal battle.

However, one person did approach him. An odd occurrence, especially when bearing such a formal offer. Despite the renewed wave of pain it sent through him, he couldn’t help but look up to see who such a person might be. His appearance matched his voice, almost as if he had been plucked out of an old historical novel. There was something else he noticed about the other, something much more difficult to describe. It was almost the spark of familiarity, though he had no memories of meeting a person so distinct.

He wasn’t allowed to muse long on the matter, seeing as his balance was being increasingly threatened by traitorous muscles. He needed to provide an answer to that polite question. Many would simply shrug it off, a certain measure of independence necessitating that they make their way on their own. Pride might be a better word. Of course, pride was what whispered in Tokiomi’s ear, the sole motivator of each action and word. If there was one person to whom Kariya never wanted to be compared, it was that man. He would not stand on pride. In fact, if he declined the offer it was more than likely that he wouldn’t stand at all after a few moments.

Perhaps now Death was just doubting human resilience again.

He noticed the man's fight to keep upright, to keep going. In these conditions, a fall might prove fatal. So Death quietly kept an eye on him, not knowing how else he could help.

Despite the arctic weather, only a few layers of clothing were worn, certainly less than required at a time like this. As if Death was one to talk, with but a dress shirt, vest and tailcoat, but his case vastly differed from the norm.

It wasn't much, but Death removed his formal white gloves and held them out tentatively.

"Oh, but this is no place to talk. Shall we change our venue to someplace a touch more homelike?”

…Of course, he was naive to expect him to be so forward with his answers. But he was right. It would be nicer to go somewhere warm. Getting a bite to eat didn’t sound too bad.

"Very well then! Onward ho!"

Death probably sounded a tad too excited for the five-minute walking trip, but rarely did he venture out so boldly; in his mind this was a grand undertaking.

"Ah, allow me to elucidate the snowplough incident. It was a dark and stormy night... or was it during the day?"

"...I don't remember! Anyhow, the blizzard had worsened to the point where you could barely see your immediate surroundings, but still I was determined to take my daily stroll. As I went about business as usual, that godforsaken snowplough ran right into me. Hardly saw it coming. It packed me into a snowbank so badly that it took hours to get out..."

Of course, a normal human probably would have died of asphyxiation or organ damage, but Death glossed over that little detail.

For the moment, he was just glad they made it to the hotel in one piece. He folded his arms and nodded to himself with a pleased look on his face in light of his small accomplishment. The man was nice enough to deal with Arata potentially getting him even more lost than he already was, though by the looks of it, it didn’t seem like he had much of a choice. The least he could do was give him his name.

Death nodded contently as he started into the lobby, glancing back upon realizing his discourtesy. He was not yet accustomed to providing a name in return, as most knew it at first glance.

"…Ah."

Of course. How could Shidou forget him? Dasoku Winters, the strange man he met with an assortment of equally strange trinkets and valuables, a man who was too generous for his own good and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He sighed to himself, fearing what bizarre path this conversation might take, before flashing a smile to him. Despite his complicated opinions of the man, he still saw him in a positive light, so his smile was genuine.

"Ah, I will admit, the rigors of life have wrought somewhat less desirably upon me. I do mean to say I have faced its cruel and unrelenting calumny, evidenced by when that snowplough ran me over as I slogged through the last blizzard, but I shan't complain... Oh, but this is no place to talk. Shall we change our venue to someplace a touch more homelike?"

He surveyed the surrounding area, having honed his navigation skills to a considerably sharp(er) edge, and pointed down the street.

After the two parted ways, he would probably have to stop goofing around and get back to his master. Part of him was worried about her safety when there was a gun-totting badass wandering the halls of the hotel. At the same time, he was worried for the safety of the other guests in the event they did something to piss her off. 

Maybe she’d be fine on her own for a bit longer…

It was the Servant’s duty to see to it that the master was safe, or something like that. In most cases, he was sure that she’d be fine but in a situation like this anything could happen. The man standing next to him might even be a threat. A thought that Arata shoved to the side the second it entered into his mind. There was no way…right?

Definitely no. Didn't stop Death from laughing about it, however. He gave an inward sigh, a sort of etiolated nostalgia there settled. Idle chitchat and an atmosphere devoid of the gravity which too often tore down walls. Masters, Servants, it didn't really matter to him. He'd gladly spend every day meeting nice people like this.

As they finally reached the hotel, Death gave his companion a smile of parting kindness, total honesty written on his face.

"Keep it close huh..?"

Arata looked down at the two grimoires he kept on him at all times. Both were items and partners he got in his search for the reason he became a mage in the first place. The only reason he decided to do something like study magic was so that he’d never have to deal with someone disappearing on him like they did back then. He believed that if he became strong enough then he would be able to achieve his goal, and now there’s a magic artifact that just might be the shortcut he needs.

He backtracked and thought about his master for a moment. It was true that she also had a wish for the grail. Even though everything he knew about magic was telling him that the grail might not be something he wanted to rely on, it was his job to make sure that she got it at the end of this. Well, at the very least he had no intention of letting her get killed in this ridiculous war so he resigned himself to do that much.

"Sounds good to me."

A smile tugged at the boys lips as he turned to his companion. He paused for a moment to survey their surroundings after having lost track of where they were.

"Ah, I hadn't noticed how far we've forgotten. How time flies in such a way is a mystery to me. Not that Time flies per se, but..."

Death almost rolled his eyes at the thought of that guy, Time. Despite the form he took, which looked about the same age as Death's physical body, Time couldn't be any stuffier than a Victorian tea party or a turkey on Thanksgiving. Secretly Death wanted to get him on a plane and make the "time flies" joke.

"So my boy, what will you be doing after we part? Perhaps got a lady friend waiting in the wings?"

He laughed, poking a little fun at his companion. Death had rather forgotten what true enjoyment felt like. The other "existential powers" weren't the best of company; Time always seemed preoccupied and Fate, well, Death never liked him much. Life, now Life did not manifest as a single being, rather, it divided itself among every human in the world, dwelling there, simply being.

So every person Death ever talked to was Life as well.

Perhaps that was why she felt so drawn to the being before her, not that she could have known at least. Manaka could be seen as the embodiment of an obsessive love, one she would take unto death, one that she would love even to or after death. But that could be a conversation for a later time.

Death truly wanted to say, "All hell's gonna break loose," but that seemed a bit ominous so he merely shrugged his shoulders.

True though, he sensed a strange disruption in this city, like an invisible barrier was putting a stopper on his senses. The crying and screams of the dying were growing quieter in Death's ears until he could barely hear them. The other concern with that barrier was, if Masters were to die, their souls would be stuck here, unless they went straight to Death, which he doubted. The Grail wouldn't allow such an easy way out. So perhaps each and every one of them was caught in a cycle perpetuated by killing.

Sad.

"Ah come on, I’m sure a few bites won’t hurt."

Having cleared up any anxiety concerning their location, Arata felt more inclined to engage in his companion’s idle conversation. It seemed like something weighed on his mind as he began to speak about the odd sounding man living next to him. 

"That sounds kinda scary…"

The idea of being kept up at night by the sound of someone messing with a gun at the dead of night wasn’t something Arata was prepared to entertain. There was the small chance that it might be a model that he thought was, cool but based on the slight description that he was given, that chance was slimmer than he liked.

"I guess you can’t really tell the guy to knock it off in that case. He might think you’re trying to pick a fight and turn the hotel into the set of some kind of action movie. How did he even manage to get a gun into the hotel in the first place? Then again…"

"Geh... He's probably some trigger-happy lunatic, knowing my luck. It's kinda scary the stuff people smuggle in. I guess Fuyuki lacks a good Transportation Security Administration. They would've jumped that guy, and a lotta other people around here, in ten seconds flat."

Death groaned lightly as he started to vaguely recognize his surroundings, which actually looked like somewhere as opposed to a dizzying blur of color. Soon he'd be back at the hotel for another unrestful night's sleep. Or, more specifically, a night of him just lying in bed pretending to sleep so his Servant didn't suspect anything.

He rather wondered about his walking buddy, knowing neither his name nor story. Of course this young man had likes and dislikes and interests of his own, but it wasn't really Death's place to pry. It was as with every other human he encountered, in this city or not. At least he actually had feasible opportunities this time around.

"...Then again, considering all the weird junk I've got in tow, I'm not really one to talk. Lemme tell ya kid, when you're a world traveler, all the little things start getting real sentimental. That's okay though, find whatever you love in life and keep it close."

She laughed at his explanation, a sweet melody, a soft chime, and an angelic smile to go with it. “Yes, I suppose you could be right. Most would only look on the surface and make their guesses from there, yet the core always has the possibility of betraying appearances. I believe whatever color you like best would suit you, though.”

She walked a bit in front of him for a bit, and twirled, her dress fluffing up slightly from the action. Afterwards she met his gaze, and continued on with her response, “Although, the colors I wear are my favorite. I enjoy blue and silver,” A pause as she saw a slight change in the man’s expression, “Well, I suppose it would be white and that is just fine as well. There is another color I enjoy, but I love these colors the most.” Love, the word seemed heavy from her mouth, a contrast to how light everything else sounded. It must have been strange, for anyone that noticed at least.

The smile on her face had never left as if etched into a porcelain doll.

Love. Death rarely spoke about love, but the two of them shared more similarities than one might suspect: strange, inevitable, and poetic. Human beings were condemned to both love and die and suffer from the two.

What strange creatures.

The good news was that Arata was no longer completely lost. The buildings around them were becoming more familiar as they walked. At the very least, he remembered getting lost in this area. He was confident that sooner or later they’d arrive at the hotel in one piece.

His companion’s mood seemed to have lifted considerably from his earlier panicked and sullen disposition. It seemed he was truly worried about his positioning. Perhaps it was a habit of his, not that Arata had much room to talk.

"The breakfast is pretty good. I never thought I’d be awake in time to catch it but my roommate is pretty strict, so I’m always up early."

Since Death never required any form of sustenance, he had no idea what would happen if he tried eating. An odd picture started forming in his mind, him trying to drink some milk and all of it just going out the back of his head.

"...but I really should watch my calorie intake..."

Death looked to the boy walking with him, picking up on what almost seemed like nervousness about his roommate, as if he were one in a shotgun wedding. Something of the sort. Luckily he appeared to be familiar with the area, or at least more familiar than Death. They navigated the area with far more certainty than earlier.