Sageage

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

@ssw @Dosthou

Lancer Lily - Border of Shinto and Miyama

“Hmm, the rat killing went okay but I’ve ran out of cats. So I’m going to take a break. I kind of want to play this time, master, so I’m going to find a playmate!”

And luckily for him… his path was taking him to an ideal new friend. Another boy, obviously not of the era, obviously not a normal mortal was walking down the streets with a smile. A innocent youth whose life was snuffed tragically before his growth that would bring happiness and greatness could come about.

In a sense it was quite like Lancer, if he had remained an innocent fool all his life. A sad affair, at least in the case of that other one.

Not that Lancer really knew. All he saw was that there was a good potential playmate. Another boy that could keep up with him, another boy that was a servant.

Lancer suddenly bounced into the path of Gatekeeper, flying in from a few streets away. A violent approach for sure, yet one lacking malice or any killing intent. “Hey, want to play?” All grins, Lancer held out a hand, without any heed to the bulging of his sack from the grudges from the cats and rats from earlier.

A very odd greeting, a very odd boy.

A boy who simply looked to gain a new friend.

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

@manythings @reflection

Foreigner District

The Sensei

Confronted with the beyond human insanity of the abilities of two legendary souls, a mere mortal would often be confronted with what laid beyond the limits inherent to being human. A normal person would be unable to follow the movements, nor truly understand the level of ability shown.

Yet he stood there, a profound look in his eyes. Perhaps then he had the ability to not only follow, but comprehend the scale of the battle before him. What he looked with were not the limits of a man, no. He was a teacher who by no means reached into their realm. But he was one who ventured to a new foreign land and absorbed the many customs and techniques of a completely different world. To be confronted with something beyond his experiences and to understand it then was an ability that was almost inherit to Tlilpojuan. At first he looked with his plain eyes, but as the battle continued on he activated the clairvoyance of a master.

The words came to Saber through their link. “Her horsepower is immense.” The comment was perhaps not unexpected due to the strange nature of the master, but in a sense it was also practical. It was said that the masters clairvoyance desminated information about the parameters and abilities of a servant in the way most easily understood by the master. There was in another timeline, in the future, another master that was a native to the newland who saw the parameters of servants as rivers, with the speed that which they flowed signifying their potency. A man who looked towards new things, the idea of things such as locomotives being evaluated through the power that supported industry all over the world was not a strange thing. Nor was it strange then that the servants were evaluated in the same way that the power of the wonders of man were. By comparison with the capabilities of an equine beast.

“In comparison to yours... even without the reduction caused by my circuits she is an immense herd. Her speed especially so. This will be a difficult fight, Saber.” But there was no worry in his words.

“Saber, spur yourself on with your desire. Worry not for my circuits, or my ability as a magus.” I will withstand it. The abilities of Roland and Tlilpojuan were perhaps not the most matched. The greatest class, and a great hero with the man who most likely ranked the lowest as far as one’s calibur as a magus. Yet they were brought together by fate, and where the ability of his circuits lacked, his will would endure. It was only fitting that the knight who so boldly charged into battle fearlessly, so indomitable would gain a partner who would have to prove his strength of will and ability to withstand, just like his servant.

“Yet this is the first round.” came a calmer voice, his passion honing in with the focus of a martial artist. “Fight as you are, let her feel you out. She believes she is learning you, but in truth we are learning her. She is a cautious fighter that sense, but she’s brazenly inviting you into pitfalls and traps. That move is fine. But she’ll be on guard after that. So you’ll have to switch it up even further… Her movements are oddly fluid, too fluid.” In a sense perhaps that is the result of her own style taken to an extreme. But… “

He watched Saber’s actions while repositioning, walking to a place where he could look upon the interplay between the two clashing heroes. Not paralyzed by awe or fear, Tlilpojuan calmly looked upon the two even as his body was buffeted by razor-sharp winds that sheared away at the streets. Gale blades from their shockblades licked at his skin, unable to find purchase for the most part, but sometimes creating nicks from which blood oozed slightly. His reaction that it gained an almost whinny-like laugh as his eyes continued to watch the servants.

“I am afraid that if you sustain too much damage however it would be a danger to me, Saber. For I am no powerful magus. Activate your skill, Guardian Knight. There is no shame in using it.” The command came as Saber closed in, slamming his blade into the ground and moving to grapple and tie up the woman that was most likely a Lancer.

The first of his commands, but not the last as Tlilpojuan evaluated the flow of the battle as though it were a lesson plan.

The western giant’s voice boomed out, calling out to Lancer as much as Saber. The words carried with his cultivated ability to galvanize those who would listen to his tales (in exchange for lodging) and to those who counted themselves as his student (Hideyoshi). A call to action, a call to the dropping of restraint. “This is your exhibition match, this is where we etch the first taste of the war. If you rein it in here then we’ll have little but regrets!”

“Saber!” he called out without any care of hiding the class of his servant. “Now is the time!”
Images flooded Roland’s mind through their karmic link, the display of one’s body used as a weapon and the roaring of explosive flames playing out like a movie.

“It is time for that!”

The technique’s name branded itself into his mind. Tlilpojuan figuratively instructing his servant on the how, and to do.

“The first of my techniques in the war.”

Ashvapani Jintai Kyuudan-Hō

Ninefold Hoof-Cannon: Release From Life

Well, in reality it was a technique that codified a series of brutal kicks, with the images shown to Roland being more the potential that they could reach. Yet in this case it was simply a series of brutal kicks. This unorthodox instruction was perhaps perfectly fitted for Roland, who was a man who entrusted himself to glory, and so could abandon his body to follow the flow. Certainly it was a means of attack that was significantly different from what Roland had attributed so far. What Tlilpojuan commanded in the end was to start a new flow to the fight.

Even if Lancer understood their blows… they would simply have to create a stream that dragged her along helplessly.

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

On The Streets - Towards the Shopping District

The Sensei

Hmm. My plans?” he asked, more as a confirmation that Hideyoshi had indeed asked what he had heard. Tlilpojuan took a filled gourd and raised to his lips, speaking somehow while drinking. It was a talent on the level of his ability to eat and drink through the mask that was covering his face. “That is simple, is it not, Hideyoshi? The war has begun, the most western of experiences has descended upon the world. The battle that was in the making for 60 years is the one we are enjoying.” He shook his head. “There is no plan, save to simply participate.”

He nodded to himself, content with his own ideas before “Hideyoshi. The designs and dreams of sixty years, of longer than that come here. There are some who planned since the creation of this ritual, there are some who heard of it just recently and came here abandoning the usual of their lives here.”

He laughed. Truly it was like those who abandoned their homes to journey to a new world, to see new things, to conquer new land. Yes, the Grail War with its legends, and with how it brought together many from the world was truly the most western of experiences!

His glass slammed down on the ground. “What are plans in the face of all that? What are our experiences but a single moment of fuel compared to such a torch? Hideyoshi, to burn brighter is what I wish. To truly go west. I journeyed west, I learned many things with your grandfather, and in this foreign land.”

He suddenly leaned over, then dropped to lie on the dining floor of the Tohsakas. Almost like an animal without any sense of consideration for the situation and place, simply resting as he needed and saw fit. “Mhmm.” he said, words taking on a yawn-like quality.

The man who would be considered decently tall in the west in the day of the 21th century was indeed a giant in the eastern island in the current age. The mask only added to the impression of his height and size, and even lying idly, taking a bottle in hand. He looked not like a drunk a normal man would seem but instead like a sage in idleness, waiting for the world to sweep him along.

“I shall simply experience the war.” he said, his words pure in a sense.

What an idiot.

What a satisfied man.

He suddenly hopped to his feet, arms swinging as he landed on both of his feet at the same time. “It was a good meal. It was a good visit. I should however leave now, for the night ends soon. We’ll fight a number of times. Just as we have before the war. Please prepare the usual food then!”

Onto new lands, onto new experiences. Nodding to his student, he left wordlessly. Well, he was sure his student had plenty of responsibilities to deal with as the second owner. Even as a non-magus who was simply a martial artist he understood quite fine his duties.

Well then.

“Saber. Let us simply walk. They shall come to us, or we shall come to them. If we find no one then I will simply show you some more places to drink at!”

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

@Seirei no Hai @Argonaut @froppy

Lancer Lily - Fuyuki Harbor

“Hmm, hungry, and lonely. Well, that's not fun at all. But I'm going to have to go.” Lancer held a finger to his lips and began to sway from side to side in contemplation.

As for what he thought of that new girl?.... The strange new girl felt odd to him, and it was obvious that she was a powerful servant. Her words were intoxicating, or should have been. But to the mind of Lancer they were simply words. Words he listened to, words he simply shrugged at. Lancer opened up his sack and held it up towards the new servant, showing off its emptiness.

"There are rats all over that I need to kill. There used to be cats in here…. There aren't any cows here either, and I can feel that there aren’t any in the harbor. So looking with you would be dumb… I think” He shrugged. “It would probably be fun however.”

His eyes returned back to the hostile Caster who seemed quite eager to throw down… and realized something all over again!

“Oh, I need to get more cats speaking of." The spear returned back to his hand and he shook his head with a smile. “I’m here to kill his rats. I can kill him, but I can’t kill his rats without any cats.

“Master. I’m heading home.” he spoke out loud, and through their link, only now noticing that the interference was gone. Sack and spear firmly in hand. Lancer did not turn into his spiritual form to leave, but instead simply began to walk away in the flesh. Waving innocently at the Caster and the new woman as though he were simply visiting for a casual affair, he called out to the Caster with his unshaking sincerity. “I’m Lancer. I have to kill those rats, so make sure they don’t die before I get enough cats!”

He then began to skip his way out, leaving the harbor if fortune smiled(?) upon him.

Well, if fortune’s frown was a horde of rats then it certainly didn’t. So Lancer instead swung with his sack as if it were a fan, sending a gust of wind strong enough to send the swarm around him flying. To join them he leapt up into the air himself. His knees hunched over and he gave a final wave to the two before he jumped. The force of his legs shattered and cratered the ground, and the shockwaves released only knocked away the airborn rats even further. In his wake a cyclone of rats blew. Some of them luckily simply fell to the streets, not too harmed with the enhancements granted to them by the Caster. Some slammed against the walls and posts of the warehouses and storage containers, bruised, or even crushed from the impact. A few flew far enough to even fall into the ocean!

In the end it would not take long for Lancer to make his way to the outside world.

Yet as he moved something strange happened. Or rather, something strange had began to finally settle in.

The bag that contained the dying cats, the bag that slaughtered rats by the hundreds, the bounded field that was a place that gathered the dead and grudges. The breaking and remaking of the sack.

The element of the bounded field imparted, the grudges of the beasts collected.

Something moved along the surface of the cloth. The shape of a rat.

But there was nothing inside.

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

@Seirei no Hai @Argonaut

Lancer Lily - Fuyuki Harbor

Ah... it exploded. The gore of animals splattered across the harbor as the sack met with the construct of rats, both pretty much bursting apart from the force. Oh no. Without the bag he didn’t really have a thing that killed rats... not specifically anyway.

Still despite the problem it was with a light smile that Lancer responded to the strange rat man. “Well, I need to kill them, so I guess we’re enemies! So that means I need to fight you too.” the boy said without any malice. “If I have to fight you I can’t go and stay with you. I guess I could drop my spear however.” He nodded to the Caster before doing just that, tossing his spear to the ground. After all, if the strange old man was not in trouble and he was an enemy, then the spear could deal with it. A cat was what killed rats, but a spear was something that killed boars, deer and people.

A rune flashing to life on the spear similarly brought the spear to whip about itself. It moved slightly towards the Caster by its lonesome, a noble phantasm happy to cut down any rats that advanced. Primarily it seemed concerned with preventing any ill intent being directed to the Lancer himself as he scrounged for one of the scraps that used to be the sack. Running his hands across it, soon it was restored, back to normal save for a couple of frayed spots where it had burst open before a number of times.

Now there was only one problem, there were no more cats. “I’ll have to get some more!” he declared loudly. There were no more around so there was only one thing left to do.

“May I go now?” he asked quite bluntly.

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

@Seirei no Hai @Argonaut

Lancer Lily - Fuyuki Harbor

A song unheard, a grudge unnoticed.

Well, a certain sort of grudge, a certain sort of many grudges were noticed. Even Lancer, as seemingly oblivious as he carried himself recognized the cut off from the world, and the transformation of the harbor. A Noble Phantasm was invoked and what lied within this territory was without doubt, death. Yet the cheer of Lancer did not fade even as common sense, and even his strange insight all warned him of the situation as a terrible plight to be in.

Lancer continued his work, killing rat after rat until the coming across the man who the master of the vermin, wearing them as an armor. A frightful sight, an odd sight. But to Lancer instead of seeing a strangely armored servant, instead of seeing a massive threat, instead of seeing a fellow legend he simply saw one thing.

A giant pile of walking rats. So he did what he had been doing all night. He threw the sack of cats at it with the full power of a servant.

Poor cats indeed.

Wait... Lancer just realized something as he looked upon the monstrous frame of the Caster.

"Is that a person?" he spoke out loud. "Hang on, I'll save you!" Lancer cried as he took his spear into his hand. Genuine concern was clear on his face, along with a dawning distorted comprehension of the situation. The guidance that brought him to gather fish and cats, to fight the rats... It was all to help someone, to help this person! People were under the threat of the rats and were being swarmed.

See master? he said to the mage that was his anchor over their link. He really is a hero!

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

@Crusader Lord @Froppy@Art of Fun
@Seirei no Hai @Argonaut

Lancer Lily - Fuyuki Harbor

Smash.

Smash.

Smash.

Smears of gore upon the ground stuck to the pavement with such strength that it filled cracks caused from the impact the sack created in the ground with a tight enough fit to make it as though there was no damage done, simply a replacement or coloring of the ground.

Cries came from beasts as again and again death came to the harbor.

More and more the rats of the harbor dwindled in number. While the nature of animals left them accepting of death and the ephemeral nature of life, holding not the sapience to truly hold onto feelings and grudges the way mankind did there was nevertheless a growing sense of eeriness that settled in.

Doing the work of a butcher was a smiling youth, simply acting out what was within nature. Cats preyed upon rats, rats died to cats.

...Well, there was also a time where a bird that felt like those other cats he been guided towards, feeling that something was odd and that he should pick them up since they weren’t interested in fish, came by. So he threw the sack at it and killed it.

Broken bodies knitted back together, leaving nothing but scars as he placed his hands within the sack that dripped with gore. Pitter patter, pitter patter. Blood, mucus and fat dripped out and splattered from holes rended into the cloth by bones snapped into sharp shards.

“Ah, the bag ripped again..” he murmured as the sack was also repaired through his ability.

Lancer reached down to pat a few cats, smiling as the warmth of the creature met his hand, along with the softness of their matted fur. Even dried out and dirty like straw, it was a comforting presence to the youth who perhaps knew beasts better than men.

He lowered a fish in and cooed, comforting the cats that were mewling in perhaps no small amount of pain.

...But a fish was nice.

That was when he felt it.

Something was coming, something was coming. Danger was coming.

Lancer dropped the sack and manifested his wooden spear. He could hear nothing, nor see anything but he knew that something was coming. As such..

He felt the need to throw, he felt the need to defend. Lancer threw his spear with the might worthy of a servant, at his full power. The wooden spear flew, sending a gale of wind that scraped at the walls of the various warehouses across its path. Any nearby rats that were watching were torn away from the ground, mixed into a whirlwind following the torn wind from the passage of the spear.

The spear struck a bowl, and a battle of strength beyond human limits began with a loud impact that resonated through the entire harbor, sending shockwaves that even caused a nearby fence to be torn away, and nearby buildings to quake. Then it concluded with a quieter impact as the two objects clattered to the ground.

Lancer followed after and picked up both the bowl and spear.

“Oh, someone must have dropped this.” he murmured to himself.

They must be hungry he reasoned. So why doesn’t he do something nice?

Lancer plucked out the fattest cat of the bunch and placed it in the bowl, then threw it back at where the bowl came back from, aiming right at the Berserker of drink.

By the time the bowl crossed half the distance, the cat was unfortunately a mangled mess. Barely recognizable as such.

However it might make for an enticing meal for a monster.

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

The city was odd.Very odd, the very air itself charged with something. Yet even if he cared, even if he knew of the circumstances surrounding the city and the ritual that descended upon it there was nothing he could do.

To starve, to be cold, to be living a life without friend or family. Surrounding him were but enemies and rivals, that of the dockworkers that so held the treasures of the sea in a vice-grip. The fish that they dug up from deep in the sea were a dreamlike bounty, able to feed one for days. Some of the fish were behemoths that could even be enough to feed one for nine lifetimes.

The fact that humans not only caught such treasures, but also brought them into the harbor by such obscene amounts day by day both terrified, and induced wonder in him. But he was but a cat, so it did not matter what he felt. He simply acted as needed to survive, to not starve.

This city of humans was something that he lived in. It was a place where he survived, a place that he held no love for. There were no great concepts or higher-order thoughts in his mind, no ability to truly contextualize the many things he saw and were surrounded by.

All that he knew is that he lived in a world where he starved, watching a world of plenty.

There was no need to snatch fish, competing with the dockworkers as of late, the rodents that scurried around the city gathering in massive hoards. They too were acting odd, a mirror and reflection to the strange air that settled upon the city.

So they had been eating well as of late. At times the mice were strangely savage, fighting back and acting with a will beyond what they usually held. But they were still food, and so they ate and feasted.

But there was desire for something greater, an easier, more filling meal. All the more when suddenly one day the rats began to dwindle.

Ah, a fish.

Abandoned in the streets of the docks where no human lied. Fresh, still holding the vigour of life, and even a little damp. Strangely he smelled the scent of others of his kind, but did not see anyone else come to contest this prize.

So he, without reservation went in. If it was a trap then it was a trap well worth it. The guiding instinct of a beast warned him, yet the growl in his stomach pushed him on. It was not a matter of deciding that it was an illogical trap, that there was no reason for someone to bait out cats in such a way.

It was simply a matter of food being before him, and him requiring it.

His teeth sunk in, slipping past the scales and he- The world became dark, and he found himself drowning in the cries of his brethern.

What…

What was this?

He was drowning in a sea of cats. His kin were forced together in some cruel sealed off world. The salted breeze was no longer there, and he found himself losing himself to the heat, and hunger and claustrophobia. Let him out, let him out, let him out.

He felt the claws of other cats on his body, he heard the others cry out, acceptance of their situation drowned out by a momentary burst of desire as the newcomer was brought in with the fish.

He clung to the fish. It was his, it was his fish. No matter what world he was thrusted into, no matter how many of his kin crawled upon his body, that would not change.

Something happened.

The world they were stuffed in suddenly shifted, whatever they were in suddenly sent flying at speeds that exceeded that of the devices and vehicles of mankind.

It came to a stop and he heard cracks, of his kin, of his own body.

Blood gushed, bones shattered, and amongst the cries of cats all of them heard one faint and yet clear thing. The death cry of a rat.

Something primal stirred in them, a role of theirs reinforced and fulfilled as a vermin died. Mixing in with their pain, with their hunger, with their confinement. That feeling took a certain form, and mixed together.

Together the cats suffered.

Together the cats witnessed death.

Together they saw the death of vermin.

As night fell the harbor was strangely silent, an unease settling in that even a normal human could feel.

Ah… but more importantly.

He tasted his own blood dripping into his mouth, leaking past a broken fang still clutching a fish.

He still had what was his.

--
@Argonaut

Lancer Lily - Fuyuki Harbor

What was he doing? Asked his master.

He was fishing he answered.

What was he doing? Asked his master.

He was getting cats.

Why was he getting cats? Asked his master.

To kill rats.

Why was he killing rats?

Because that was a good thing to do. That was what his intuition told him, what the voices that guided him told him.

To remove vermin from a city one simply used cats. However the way Lancer utilized that logic was perhaps a bit odd, and quite inhumane. The fish that he gathered earlier were used as bait and food to collect the various strays of the city. Then it was a simple matter of transporting them and using them to kill rats. Stuffed in a bag, the gathering of cats became a strange anti-rat projectile, thrown again and again against rats wherever they were found. Lancer, with his sixth sense found many of them indeed.

When night fell he began his self-given task. The population of the vermin in Fuyuki’s Harbor taking an alarming and significant nose-dive as a result.

The broken bodies of the cats were healed again and again after each use.

Quite alarmingly some of those cats were in fact familiars by some of the masters in the war, giving them a confusing view of the inside of a bag, and a very confusing circumstance that was very hard to understand as far as what their familiars were being subjected to. All that was able to be gathered then was the fact that they encountered an oddly (and poorly) dressed young boy.

-

Sensei - Tohsaka Manor

He smiled, then frowned.

“Hideyoshi, Hideyoshi. Your response is not proper! It seems what you are hungry for then is a correction, and a reprimanding!”

Tlilpojuan swung out with a mighty fist. It was a fist Hideyoshi could follow, but one that simply presented an obstacle, a crushing hoof that he could not stand up against. His body could not follow his sight against such a blow, his knowledge could not compensate for the power that it held.

In the first place the punch of what the magus called teacher was one that was born of the arts he studied, and evolved beyond it.

It stopped before his face, the air pressure rushing over his face, messing up the hair of Hideyoshi even further, and also pushing his head back, straining against his neck.

A slight blast of air that was his way of berating his student, holding the fright of a blow, and yet not holding the damage that came with one. Focused in his fist was a certain killing intent, and yet he held himself back and restrained it from being a blow that made contact with his student each time.

“Hungry for food, hungry for knowledge, hungry for strength, hungry for nothing.

One must survive so that they are able to grow and gain knowledge. Lose or not if you survive you can learn. The ways of some of the swordsmen are foolish, choosing death after loss. One must live heartily so they can grow beyond life. There is no sacrifice in tempering one’s self away from the temptations and ills of life if they have not experienced the poisons and temptations.

Another strike roared out, the jab aimed this time at the chest of Hideyoshi.

It stopped moments before smashing into his chest. Before it could shatter his ribs and burst his heart and veins.

“We are hungry for knowledge for knowledge is a ladder. We wish to climb, but there is nothing to climb if there is nothing to learn.”

Perhaps that wasn’t the most eloquently put, but the man wearing the visage of a horse did not care, nor think that it was anything but profound.

A fourth strike stopped before the side of Hideyoshi. A strike that would have shattered his clavicle, and also his neck. A strike that kills, a strike that knocks one down, a strike that cripples. A strike against those who defied common sense that would not simply be rendered useless with a break, that could withstand a strike to their throat through various means.

“We are hungry.” he paused. The eyes of his mask stared into Hideyoshi, a seeming mirror to the strange logic (insight?) the man held at times. Was it a matter of a madman? An enlightened man? A foreigner’s values? A fool?

“We are hungry for strength as the end of our path, as proof of our growth. If we are strong we gain all we wish, if we walk with our hunger then we will attain strength. Ah? As for what comes first that does not matter. As long as it happens. Our path is not a path of thinking of such things, it simply is a matter of thinking that leads us to something.”

He broke away from Hideyoshi, suddenly releasing all the tension and deadly intent held in his body and waltzed right into the manor. Tlilpojuan dug out a bottle of beer and began to feast, alternating between it and some skewered chicken that he and Saber had decided to partake in as they were going from bar to bar.

“We are hungry for nothing because that is our end goal. I shouldn’t have to say that, should I?”

Ah, the most profound and important step wasn’t even thought about or really discussed!...

A most questionable move by a teacher.

“Please, meet Saber. If you don’t mind I’d like to meet your dinner of the day. Let us eat. We can then go to the Matous and ask to sit in at their dinner as well before talking with them further.”

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

Lancer Lily - River, under the bridge

“Hmm, my swamp, huh? I guess you’re right master. My swamp is my swamp, so I have to protect it. Well, that just means my swamp is somewhere I go back to after a hunt. Isn’t that what a grail war is like? You hunt other servants, you end up killing them and then you get a wish! Killing a boar or something is nicer because you get the meat and stuff immediately, but I went off on a hunt that wasn’t quick because I met some knights. I got what I wanted, and found something I wanted more than just a boar too. So, there’s nothing wrong with going out.”

He smiled. “I feel like I shouldn’t go to some places, but I don’t feel anything about staying here. Besides, you’ve seen my skill right? Master. So you have nothing to worry about.”

The youth leapt to his feet, surprisingly not stumbling or sinking even as his legs plunged deep into the murky mud. Nonplussed by his already uncomfortable and unsightly hide leggings getting completely soaked.

His Noble Phantasm, the symbol of a hero was quite unsightly, and in a sense it looked more reasonable after being covered in mud if one assumed they were disposable clothes meant to handle staining and disgusting work. But no, Lancer was summoned like that, summoned with that outfit adorning him when he appeared.

Further non-chalantly he held his hand out, a wooden-stick like “spear” appearing in his hand that he then thrust into the murk to lean on. “It is a bit like home, and you definitely can’t beat most of the masters or servants yourself.” He spoke without malice, simply citing what he saw and thought. “But there’s nothing to worry about. Besides, I’m suppose to leave home, aren’t I? I have to win the war after all.”

Without another word he leapt out of the swamp, bursting out of the mud with the full power of a servant. Hamel was covered head to toe in muck that flooded over him due to Lancer. The marsh he created shifted, waves spreading across the mud as though it were an ocean as it tried to reach equilibrium from the hole Lancer carved in.

The only solace then was Lancer reassuring his master over their link as he swiftly departed for the city.

“Bye master! I like our swamp. I’ll be back when I need to, but since I don’t need to be here there’s no point in being here. They say that a person should be where they should be right? I don’t feel that right there so I’ll leave.”

Running at inhuman speeds out of his spirit form he traveled through the city without restraint. A foolish thing to do, all the more if he was trying to hide himself. But in the first place he held no desire to keep conspicuous at all. He simply ran as he pleased without thinking of the consequences. His path was strangely devoid of people or watching eyes, as though taking the best path he could.

-Go right, he heard.

So he did.

Stop, go back and go around.

So he did.

The voices he heard, the instinct he simply felt. He entrusted himself to it as he pursued his goal.

*Splash*

Lancer dived into the river of Fuyuki, nothing but smiles as he slipped seamlessly from running in the streets, shattering the roads when he came to abrupt violent stops, to hunting fish with the stick of a spear he held.

Mother always said that fish helped make one smart. But more importantly... a good fish roast always tasted good and there weren't many boars or deer in Fuyuki from what he saw outside of that mountain or those forests. But something told him not to go there.

Well, fish it is!

Fate/Factitious Paradigm

On The Streets - Tohsaka Manor

The Sensei

“And now I must leave. There is but one warning I must give. A western storm descends upon Fuyuki, and it is best that you are careful.” A grave voice that spoke with great concern broken up by uncivilized chewing. “Ah, these rice cakes are delicious.”

He got up.

“As tempting as it is to ask where you get them I will not ask. When I am in a time of need please prepare them once more.”

Yes, the taste of those ricecakes were in a way a ritual. Some came to the temple in hopes of spiritual guidance, some for the peace of one’s mind through the idea of giving donations as though paying for it with simple money.

For him it was to visit some people he knew, and to eat. Then at times it was for eating… that. The food he had after the encounter with that man. The food he had after defeat, when a calamity would come, and when victory rose with the sun.

Ah, this was a time to celebrate.

The greatest most western event to ever happen in Japan descended upon Fuyuki.

It was what he came west (to the east) for.

It only after they descended from the temple that ge spoke with the person accompanying him. The foreigner man taking his time both in hiking a bit across the mountain despite its anti-spirit field that was a hefty pressure against his companion, and also in feeding and playing for a time with a dog that took shelter in the temple territory.

“Saber, there are many important things in life. The first is to eat well, the second is to train well. The third is to always look west. That is why I came here to this land.” He offered a snack that they brought with them from the temple as they came into the streets, back into the rest of the city. But whether the man titled Saber accepted or not, he walked on without altering his pace. The west, nor him, waited for no man whether they be legend or a simple pedestrian.

“Already it feels different in the city…”

He smiled, his lips spreading wide beneath the mask. His voice was filled with his thoughts, conveying his feelings purely as though making up for the mask of a horse that covered his face. As the two walked down the streets it was not odd that they were given stares here and there. Yet it was not that large of a stir, and all things considered it was barely one at all considering how strange the tall and muscular foreigner who had the head of a horse was as a sight in any sort of nation. Let alone the nation of Japan.

Yet he was a man who lived here for years, who, despite his eccentricities became known. The place that they left was only one of the places that he visited often, sharing tales, labour and simply his presence. The bonds he had managed to make somehow brought him acceptance, and free lodging at times.

“Ah let us go, let us go. With the war starting I should visit my pupil. He too is a master. As such it is my place to make sure that he acts properly even as he slips into being a magus.” Yes, Tohsaka Nagato had turned to magecraft after meeting Tlilpojuan. But the roots of the Tohsakas could not be forgotten, especially with how dedicated a youth Hideyoshi was.

Tlilpojuan was a man who always looked to the west, who always walked towards the west, who always raised his fists toward the west.

In the words of a famous bodshivatta and savior, he would go west. In the actions of a certain devil who visited upon his people evils, but also attained great glory riding a great steed… he would conquer in the west.

As such he carried most of his possessions on him. A harness strapped across his body held modified saddlebags, massive and barely fitting with the image of the man due to his non-asian size. As he walked he continued to stuff his hand into one of said bags, scooping up a handful of oats that he poured down the mouth of the mask. Somehow managing to partake and consume despite it not being his true mouth.

“Saber, was the temple not nice?”

Along the way he spent a bit of money on some rice wine, inviting Saber to try it while he guzzled it down as though it were but water. As such their arrival to the Tohsaka Manor was hardly quiet, straight, or all that timely.

“Hideyoshi, oh Hideyoshi! I am hungry!” he bellowed out towards the western mansion. Hungry for food of course. But he waited, expecting even as they technically became enemies to be welcomed in with what became customary words of exchange between them.

Hungry for food, hungry for knowledge, hungry for strength, and hungry for nothing (mu)