Chapter 2: Emotionless
As the sky began to darken, a plane made its final descent. Docking at the entrance of the airport, the plane unloaded its cargo of both occupants and their baggage. A teenaged boy made his way off the airliner and made for his luggage. He wore a light jacket of red and green, with black jeans. His hair was red, unusual for where his home was, but was surprisingly at home in America. His glasses gleamed, showing his luggage's location on a conveyor belt in the matter of seconds. Aribu of house Yuzen. That is what he shall be known as in this War, as his father so delicately put. As he carried a letter showing his house's invitation, he couldn't help but think of what he was meant to do. Well, more accurately, how he would do anything. As part of the invitation, his family had been granted access to the Ritual of Summoning. It was unfortunately also a Blood Contract, forcing them to sign under penalty of 'sudden and immediate disqualification' if its contents were to be shared or copied in an unsanctioned area. Such as in the family basement. Now it was he and not his father who would 'win glory for the house'. He would never say such things aloud, he did respect his father, but while his father was arrogant and reckless, he was far less outgoing. Some called it shy or cautious, but his siblings knew better. He just preferred playing his cards close.
His glasses once more pinged him, a number of mages were nearby. Poorly hidden circuits. They were either like him, invited to participate; or far more likely, to escape the possibility of being used as a Servants battery. Not as that would happen, as unlike the Fuyuki Grail, this one has a more selective way of gathering masters. With blood contracts allowing for more well versed masters to be brought aboard. 'It was only natural, as bringing in outsiders not truly as learned as sanctioned magi is truly a foolish way of-' the brooding of Aribu as he was swiftly knocked over by a boy not too distant from his own age. His hair stood up straight and was a raven black. His clothes were clearly that of a tourist, a clear stereotype if he ever saw one. But something was off about him… 'oh his head should be on… his… neck. What?' Aribu took off his glasses, the boy's head suddenly clicking back into place as the reality of what is actually isn't a magic projection set in. "- could you please forgive me?!" He was ranting about something in Japanese, that didn't set in until Aribu pushed himself back up. 'Right he pushed me, he's not some undead spirit. Just an idiot.' Pushing the image of his bugged artifact aside (for what else could that have meant) he was about ready to lecture him on the necessity of looking around when he heard someone beat him to a literal punch- er kick. As a young lady jumped over him and landed her sandals right in the face of his incidental assaulter.
"I TOLD YOU TO LOOK OUT DUMMY!" The woman's exclamation was somewhat welcomed, he would've punished him in a more extreme manner, but the amusement of seeing his first interaction's consequences so soon was far better. He was about to leave them to their bickering when a thought came up. "Actually I know a way you two can make it up to me." The young lady turned around her dark hair shoulder level and even. Her clothing didn't scream tourist as her… companion's did, but did make him think of a student as it looked like a well-to-do uniform of sorts. "How so?" He raised his hand and let out the oldest trick a Magus could know on them. Hypnosis. "You can let me stay, as I think you can assume I am your family's cousin." The girl blinked before quietly saying "Sure thing, anything for family."
"I don't recognize you though." Aribu, turned his hypnosis swiftly on the young man as well, before he could break the hypnosis effect. "You certain? Didn't your guardian tell you about meeting up with me stateside to find a place to stay?" The boy just looked more confused now. "No, sis did you forget to tell me we were to meet up with some family we never met before?" The sister was still looking right at Aribu, making the answer easy to fabricate. "C-clearly she didn't, I thought you had a better memory!" He wasn't sure how this kid could break through his hypnosis without being aware of it, but it wasn't a good sign. He would have ditched them, but with his face likely already memorized by this kid, he shouldn't just turn tail and leave. Not yet. The boy was clearly expecting something like this, if he was paying more attention to his sister than him. Aribu used this to his advantage. Spying the luggage the girl had behind her, he caught the name tage stuck on it. Notomo. Perfect. "Yeah my father was your uncle?" The girl's eyes widened in exclamation, a sign the hypnosis had completed fabricating the story. "Oh, your Naga's kid. Sheesh, you were pretty hard to recognize with that red hair." The girl smiled, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. The boy seemed to have relaxed, having likely bought the story with his sister's reaction. "Bye the way, I only got your guys pictures but not your name, mind telling me?" The girl smiled wide, "Aimi Notomo, this blind dumpster is Shimo, my brother." "Aribu Notomo, great to meet you both."
The trip to the hotel they agreed upon was filled with stories, most true. Aribu would create some tales if only to make his connection to them seem more real. But to the surprise of Aribu, the hotel was just a resting point.
"You own land in the States?" Aimi smiles wide, as if a smug of showing off their family wealth. "We own great swathes of land outside of Japan, ours being quite the business family after all." She left it at that, seemingly to let him fill the gaps by himself. It didn't matter, he planned on getting his servant tonight. And his family provided him the perfect catalyst. An esoteric pistol with quite a bit of magical residue. If it wasn't a catalyst, the ritual would still pull a servant for him to use. But why leave it to fate? This weapon's owner had to be quite the effective killer. Just recovering it caused quite the pain for the magi sent to take it.
The hotel itself seemed to rest on a latent layline, one of the reasons he had asked them for this one in particular. It was child's play to convince the guards to let him have access to the basement for some privacy in the ritual. It may not be a proper workshop, but it would suffice.
Drawing the summoning circle, he laid the pistol in the center to prepare the summon. Whoever it belonged to would likely want it back after all. He began his chant, to summon the servant. The ritual began to meet its climax. Red spirals swirled their form giving shape to a humanoid figure. As the red smoke cleared, he was left staring into the mask and hood of his servant. The figure spoke, his voice gruff and utterly flat, betraying no emotion whatsoever. He could already tell this servant is going to be hard to get along with.
"Another war to fight? I suppose that must make you my master"
Aribu wasted no time in inspecting his servant. The man had scaled armour covering his chest. His face was obscured by his mask and shroud. The armour itself was a dark grey while the hood was as red as blood. 'Why was that the first color that sprung to mind?' The shroud covered his right shoulder while his left had a strange scaled covering. He also had an open front skirt (not that he would say it aloud to a clearly scary fellow) attached at the belt, which itself had a holster where the catalyst now rested and a- 'is that a combat knife?' The more he looked at the servant the more confused he felt. Aren't servants meant to be ancient heroes?
He shook his head, now was not for questions but introductions. Then questions. "Indeed servant, I am your summoner, thus your master." He projected his voice as best he could to command the servants respect. He didn't make any motion to suggest any of that. "I was hoping you would be a bit more no nonsense, so we could get this over with quickly." The servant vanished where he stood "But it seems I'll need to go on my own, I am the Assassin servant. Try not to get yourself killed while I get you the grail." Aribu did not know how to react to Assassin' attempt to drive the war in their favor. On the one hand, not lifting a finger to win was definitely a bonus, but he wasn't lazy. Masters and Servants MUST work together to win. And he wasn't going to let this one tell him to sit out simply because he didn't fit his style of shut in. He looked down at his command seals. Their shape gave him the impression of a broken blade of sorts… kinda. These things were pretty esoteric, so he wasn't sure what to make of them.
He could feel Assassin moving through the hotel, for reasons only known to the servant most likely. He would lead this Grail War. It is by right of being a Master, and no Servant, no matter how powerful or experienced will push him aside to do their own thing. His pride as a Magus will not allow such a thing.