hopelessly average.

What exactly was it about her that was attracting so much attention today? Usually she passed by entirely unassuming but perhaps she could only depend on that natural camouflage for so long in a city so sprawling.

Normally, she wouldn’t reply but she couldn’t help but be surprised by his (hopefully) unintentional accuracy.

{ seventhprinces }

[ ✧ ] “Analysis displays minor signs of depression and a lack of confidence. What weighs your mind, human?”

Although Ayaka had never put her feelings into as many words, their accuracy was clear in the way the magus’ feet stuck to the concrete like they had been glued there. Of course, she wasn’t going to admit to anything about herself in the presence of a complete stranger, but she couldn’t help asking.

Her earlier answer hadn’t sat well with her, the dissatisfied question still relentlessly turning over in her mind, and so when given an opportunity to revise it, she volunteered her answer a little more easily. It still wasn’t a perfect fit - certainly she wouldn’t describe their relationship as a pair of friends - but she knew it was something. A something that mattered enough to her that she could speak with confidence.

Her shoulders can’t help but fall at the question, finding that not a single name came to mind. Even as a child, she had found connecting with others too difficult and her repeated rebuffs of good-natured attempts to include her into the little groups that were naturally formed by classmates made each person give up sooner or later.

She never could manage to decode the meaning of these brief periods of change in the other girl’s demeanour but she had long ago decided that they never boded well. Heartbeating quickly for an entirely different reason than one might first expect, she very carefully placed her hands behind her back.

Although some distant part of her registered how corny that line was, she wasn’t paying it much heed at the moment. In fact, she was certain that her thought process had hit a complete flat-line.

“Wha–”

seventhprinces

The moon seemed particularly beautiful tonight as Arcueid pranced through the city streets. Even with her powers restricted, the years and years of combat she had gone through were more than enough to have her outclass any would-be adversaries here. At least, in terms of the thugs who’d just tried to jump her on the streets. The fact that they were even attempting to attack a woman in the first place showed just what kind of people they were.

And how little effort Arcueid needed to put forth to dispatch them.

As the last of her would-be assailants fell, Arcueid turned behind her at the sound of… what sounded like squeaking. As she did, the True Ancestor stopped almost dead in her tracks as she gazed over at a young girl who seemed to shine with the moon itself. Sure, that was probably just how it was being angled, but still. It couldn’t have been a coincidence… she absolutely had to know this girl. 

「Hey, what’s wrong? Was that little performance of mine awe-inspiring, perhaps? Really, it was nothing, but if you liked it, then I’m glad! Gotta clean up the city streets somehow, right?」

Doubtlessly, it was an everyday occurrence: some overconfident group with something to prove deciding to air their new-found superiority on the first target they could agree on. Ayaka, admittedly, had never been one to easily slip into others’ shoes, but she could see no point in it no matter what angle she approached it from. They were all under a higher authority anyway - who cared if they were more powerful than another in the same position?

Of course, this inflated sense of importance backfiring was equally common, enough so that the few people who hurried past offered nothing but a little snort of amusement at what was rapidly becoming an entirely one-sided fight. The magus would have joined them in simply continuing on with her business in the rising light of the moon were it not for the fact that very glow was holding her fast in place.

It framed her perfectly, a spotlight to the ease and grace of the blonde’s movements. Her first thought was that there was no way someone like that could exist, even as the proof to dispute it stood before her. That peculiar feeling was so similar to the indelible sight of a Servant that it would have been stranger for her not to stare.

The King’s insight told him that the girl seemed to realize who he was. If that was the case, his opinion about her improved ever so slightly. Still, her lack of words was really off-putting.

“Speak. I grant you permission to speak in my presence. You seem like you had something more to say.”

Gilgamesh’s tone of voice was commanding and carried with him a natural authority that was beyond that of a mere person. It was obvious that his position as king wasn’t just for show. However, too many people had forgotten the respect and fear of it so most people remained ignorant to this and merely labeled it as some guy with an ego.

His permission given, though forcing her hand to avoid facing his irritation, did not improve her ‘gift’ for communication much. The girl was not certain herself what she had intended to say, as her initial thoughts would draw attention to the odd change between the Archer she knew and this one - a trend in this city, apparently.

“Well, to find a Master out of the blue. This is certainly weird.” The tan-skinned servant on red said while running towards the short haired girl who was sitting in a café, totally ungentlemanly of him he sat on the table next to his coffee, and grinned.

“Yo, why is a cutie like you participating on the Grail War? Shouldn’t ya be concerned with highschool, a boyfriend and such? Eheh, or maybe you were unlucky enough to become one?” Avenger liked to tease people, one of the minus points of becoming an embodiment for All the World’s Evil compared to his original attitude before being used as the scapegoat.

seventhprinces

Encountering Servants outside of the battleground had become so commonplace that aside from the initial startle at being addressed at all, she simply watched as the boy who seemed so close to her age languidly took up space at the table as though he had always belonged there. His barrage of blithe questions were met with silence as she attempted to draw a parallel between his distinct form and the war she had left behind until, admitting defeat, she thought of her own circumstances.

“I-”

She remembered deliberate steps, an almost amused voice echoing her father’s final words to her. All things are subject to cause and effect. You have nowhere to run. One hand curled into a fist under the table as she offered the honest truth to someone who, pulled from their original time to fight in a war they couldn’t possibly care anything for, might understand it.

Rushed callous and experienced fingers spun the spear in hand, only to raise it above his shoulder and glance down at the mere girl who worked herself to clear the air. He was doing nothing but observe her, confused by the way she still trembled. Did he truly look that intimidating?

So came the more puzzling subject. The blue warrior blinked twice, gawking still at her general direction before lifting the lance behind him, digging the pointy end on the ground. “I dunno what yer’ talkin’ about,” he finally admitted, the tone of his voice now stormed. “Misaya…? It ain’t ringin’ any bell, girl.”

She didn’t mistake him for anyone now, did she? Or was he a participant of a war she belonged in?

“Um, Reiroukan-san?” she ventured, having only chosen to use a more familiar address in deference to the fact that Servants tended to begin and remain on a first-name basis.

And yet, she was not truly surprised by his admission. A majority of those she had met under the supposition that they were warriors of the Second Holy Grail War had no knowledge of it, a fact she still had difficulty coming to grips with. Was there really another world out there with so many differences to her own while remaining so similar?

his reaction to the product of a nervous girl’s courage was an equally skittish reaction of his own, a stiff-shouldered jump and a reactionary cough that dominated the majority of his torso’s muscular strength. he could only stare at his feet sheepishly as he came down from the shock.

( n-no, it’s no problem … none at all. i-i guess i’ll check four then. one tends to s-switch around so much i don’t k-know how to tell my left hand from my r-right after spending some time there … t-thank you! )

Surprise was fading and with it, much of her hesitance. Her words came with faintly more assured, along with an oddly emboldened suggestion. It must be something about the way those she had met thus far acted - a counterbalance of kindness to the harsh asepsis of the city.

The expression that was obviously rendered taken back had soon smoothed out and the evidence of it was the very curve that now decorated his lips. If there’s no Holy Grail, it means there’s no reason to terminate her and for that, Lancer was glad.

“Then loosen up, girl.” He found it cute how she stuttered and he would tease her about it, but he rather not make her more intimidated by him. “I’m not gonna kill ya, so rest easy.”

A very small, halting laugh came in response to words that were a little too on the nose to be a comfort. But of course it had been nothing personal, just a natural result of the war, and so she gave her best attempt at remaining calm despite herself.

It did work, if only just.

“Right,” she confirmed, though it sounded more like she was still trying to convince herself of its truth. In a rush of lingering nervousness, she filled quiet space with a question.

It had been coming back to her slowly, scattered fragments that bloomed to life in dreams and the spaces between thoughts and actions, even since the sky was left with a scar to remember the parallel city that had appeared there.