The turning of a page was the only thing that broke the silence in the otherwise still apartment, a periodic, slight ruffle. What a strange incident to find oneself in, to be whisked away so easily and for such a foreboding cause. Why her? She had no doubt she met the requirements of being a Master, but she had yet to hear from anyone else.
Half lidded gaze turned to the floating blue cube on the table, this was the only thing she needed to master right now. She had no doubt one of those interfering humans would also be involved with this, if she found one of them they could put an end to all this and go home. The witch sighed; these furnishing were awful.
Now, they’d said she was to expect a servant, one of these Heroic Spirits as it were. Currently she was looking for any possible way to hasten their arrival, these were not ideal conditions in which to be idle. While there were many rituals in this tome,many of them seemed outdated, irrelevant and quite energy consuming. If she was going to try one, it would have to be the right one…
“Hwuh?-” Wait, what had happened, where- oh. She’d made that sound. In response to something else it seemed… Removing her skewed glasses she ran a finger slowly under one eye, noting the strange tingle on the back of her hand; that mark. Adjusting the glasses, she put them back on and turned to this Rider.
“Then perhaps you should have used the door.” Somewhat softly spoken.
“Though that was likely out of your control and now it is done; you can turn around” she paused “Rider.” What kind of rider she could only assume. What was his mount? His vehicle? There was much she wanted to know.
“I am Patchouli, and I’d prefer you refer to me as such over anything else. I will admit this is a new form of magic to me, but I am becoming familiar with its intricacies, you will not want for mana. Now; who are you?”
She fought back the urge to sigh, that was probably more words than she’d shared with the last five people she met.
'Given the option,’ he replied frankly, tilting his head back to look at her. ‘I would have taken it. Unfortunately for your sake, that isn’t the case. You’re right; everything up until now might as well have been a setup. An elaborate one, at that.’
Her question to his identity had been expected; he felt that, even in the haze of wherever he happened to be before this, he had ruminated on this for quite some time after learning of the rules of this summoning system. Whatever he answered, she might take it as truth. His lies were few and far between, but a half-truth would suffice here.
'Then, Patchouli, call me Rider. I’d prefer to make a habit of keeping my identity anonymous, even in private. It’s enough for you alone to know my name; I’m just a soldier, top class, by the name of Eren.’
He made a formal bow, mind drawn back to the days where such customs had to be followed in a hierarchy; though, truth be told, he wasn’t half in it. 'I have to admit, I don’t know much about this magical business, especially regarding this system of “Servants-Masters” or why it’s necessary – or how I managed to make it here, which is still making my head run in circles; but regardless of that – I’ll be, uh, counting on you.’ He turned his face away as he said this. 'Yeah.’
By this point, he seemed sheepish. The formality of an introduction had taken over him and he had found his words much less crass than normal. Maybe for the sake of both of their first impressions, this was a good thing.
But a setup to what? How much of all this was necessary, and how much more was there they did not yet know? It was intriguing certainly, but a mystery hanging like fog just for obscurities sake... The sooner this was all over, the better.
Wanting to remain anonymous made perfect sense, especially if what she’d been reading was true. A servant’s identity could reveal many things to other servants specifically. Why such a thing existed she was yet unsure.
“Rider it is then. And a soldier, I suppose that couldn’t be more appropriate for the situation, at least.” Eren. The name wasn’t known to her yet, but it’s one that would stick.
Half lidded eyes widened ever so slightly as he bowed, it was actually rather refreshing to see some manners. Though he did seem a little stiff, perhaps it was a side effect of the summoning? If not, well, then he would be out of luck with her. Standing up, she brushed down her creased outfit slightly and looked up at him.
“Are you really? Counting on me, I mean. Seems like a bit of a risk seeing as we’ve only just met.” After stretching an arm out slightly, she moved over to the kitchen side of the room. “You seem to have a basic grasp of the situation at least. And though I am only coming to grips with this place, I was an accomplished mage long before I came here.”
She broke her gaze to look down at the counter, arranging a few things. “There’s a few things I would like to ask you, as I’m sure you would of me.” Her eyes returned to his “But first; can you brew tea?”
