[center][color=tomato][h1]Telamon Ajax[/h1][/color]

[i]-Master's Apartment, Across from Graveyard, Tokyo-[/i][/center]

[hr]

[quote][i]"Old friend, please, will you not help me?[/i][/quote]

That man had the [b]gall[/b] to beg him for help back then, to plead desperately for his aid, when he himself had gotten lost and tossed far from home by the whims of the gods. Especially after he and the others had disgraced him, a goddess making it so with her tricks, and had tossed aside all the help he had provided them like it was nothing. 

He had guarded them all! Protected them! He had slain many lords and soldiers, guarded their ships and their dead, and yet...the only rewards he received were shame and death and madness. His end never came on the field of battle, but by his own hands, as the only one to ever able to lay a scratch on him was himself in the end. It wasn't what that one hero who had prayed for his parents might have wanted, but he could only feel a kinship of sorts for that man in the end. 

[quote][i]"...Why do you turn away from me now, Ajax? Is your skull that thick, your head that stubborn over an old grudge wrought of pride? 

We were allies, once, brothers in arms who lifted up our arms for our brethren. And i am here, seeking the wisdom of the dead that i may return home."[/i][/quote]

Bah. What did this man know of pride? His cunning had been helpful during the war, but the man hadn't done anything on the front lines until Achilles had fallen. Then the man's wily patron of a goddess had warped the minds of the others, made them think Odysseus deserved the famed Achaean's armor...when the opposite had been true. 

He had been their bulwark, their shield, and their guard when all seemed lost. He had blocked the unblockable Duridanna, slain men from a great ways away by tossing spears and rocks, and more than "that" man had ever done for them out there! What had been tossed aside that day was not a mere prize...it was the very pride and might that had sustained their warriors out there. 

Let the fool pay for his foolishness, and how fitting it was for the rival of that wily goddess to enact revenge upon him! Such hubris and attitude as his had been could not be left unpunished by the gods, after all...

...but no, for now there was a voice calling out for him. He could feel the call to battle surging into his mighty limbs and frame once more, and almost smell again that ocean breeze that has once wafted in during the war against Troy. 

It was time. This time, there would be [b]no[/b] regrets.

[hr]

A great plume of smoke and light erupted from Cleo's summoning circle, though as the light began to fade she would not find her servant...well, standing at all [i]comfortably[/i] at least. The giant of man's head touched the top of the ceiling with great and frightening ease, one of only many generic servant spear weapons he could conjure up in his hands for use being held in the right hand, and...a giant of a hoplite shield with the infamous seven layers of ox hide covering it that was being held in his left hand. His body was covered in dark armor to boot, and a light rage almost seemed to subtly glint in those blue eyes of his...framed and standing out vividly as they did among the strands of his messy blonde hair. This massive wall of armored muscle, also known as the servant Cleo has summoned, then looked down at her without tilting his head. Not that he could have if he wanted to, without pushing against the ceiling. 

[color=tomato]"...Well, you chose a hell of a spot to summon me, a Shielder, of all people in,"[/color] the giant Greek said, letting out a notable sigh before moving too sit down on the floor with crossed legs. His weight hit the floor and cause the apartment room itself to very noticeably shake a bit, with the servant himself not seeming to care one bit about it before speaking once more as he set his weapons to his sides, [color=tomato]"So, you are the little mage who has designed to summon me to win the Holy Grail? Not any of those other tricky or cheating bastards?"[/color]

Ajax let out a booming laugh into the room, which itself could virtually be felt by any living thing with Cleo's apartment proper. But before the master might get out a word finally Shielder cut in once more with his gruff and booming voice. Not that proper speaking conventions were anything he cared about right now either. 

[color=tomato]"I like that, so i'll cut you a deal:

As long as you don't screw me over and piss me off, by doing something like denying me my wish on the Grail itself or trying to make me kill myself or something, then i'll protect you with my life and claim the Grail for the two of us. But if you cross me, well, there will be no gods in this world or any other who can keep you away from me. I am not going to be tricky, or cut corners here. 

Are we clear on things then....[i]Master[/i]?"[/color]

Aias' two blue eyes looked back into the eyes of his master, like piercing arrows from a brute of a soldier who had decided to get to business and cut out the red tape. He was a warrior, not some politician or scheming cheater like Odysseus. Was one reason he'd liked Diomedes so much, save in part that he also liked that the man for not having been in on the decision for who got Achilles' armor. How would this squishy mage respond, however, to what he had just told them? 

That would decide what came next. 

[@King Cosmos]