Give me your hand, you beautiful and tender form!
I am a friend, and come not to punish.
Be of good cheer! I am not fierce,
Softly shall you sleep in my arms!

Franz Schubert

Every single person has to face death one day. No matter whom we are or what we do for a living, death comes for us in the end. His dance is one we know from birth but never think we know the steps. We hem we haw but never can we avoid his door. He watched and taps the glass to see if the sands of time have fully fallen.

But what happens when death takes an interest in us before our time. He sees the sands tremble on the edge and think ‘I wound who he is?’ so off he goes and finds the man that the hour glass belongs to. He wants to see what happened when with knowledge dear, our time we’ll spend. Will we seek to beg, to borrow or steal the sands that needed to extend our reel? Or will we do like some honest folk have done and hold out our hand and dance his measure?

Sam leaned back and looked at the clock that hung behind him over his cubical. Another day another dollar. he sighed. This had not been his plan when he had first got out of high school; this had just been a stepping stone to his next job. He had answered these phones now for thirteen years without a change in sight. When he had first joined the firm they had said that he did not need a degree in business or marketing. All he had to do was answer the phones and answer the questions of the other person. In five to six months they said he would move up to learn the business, now he did not even know what the firm did.

He had had dreams that would have made him big, the book still sat in his desk at home. He had written in out when the student took their own life when he was a freshman in school. A book about how death was really a nice woman that only took those that needed to go on to the next world. Now he could not even look at the tattered old notebook that it was in. pages were falling out but he really did not care. He no longer had time to read or write anything. The last thing he had read was a book for a class that the bosses had informed him that he had to take or lose his job. Maybe it would have been better to have lost it. At least then he would not be stuck here at a quarter to eight in the evening still answering the phones from the callers on the west coast. Sighing he sat back up and took off his head set. That one had been the last caller now he could go home.

Home, two room flat in a falling apart building, Home where all that happened was the clinking of the old pipes in the walls over his head. Pulling his coat off the back of his chair he caught sight of his reflection. He was a fair looking man, not to noticeable in a crowed. That was until you saw his eyes. While his face looked mostly average, his black curly hair only ended at his shoulders his eyes made every one look twice. Now in his mind there was nothing special about his two color eyes, so one was green and one was near black, so what. But people could only stop and stare as he looked at them. it did make a striking picture, he had to admit but who would care.

"This will be your first solo mission in a while, will you do alright? We don't need you to get rusty and not get the job done on time."

A twenty-something looking male walked through the city streets, talking on his cellphone. A normal sight, unless you listened in on his odd conversation. "I'll be fine, Grim.I'd never lose my touch." The man smirked, continuing on his way with his phone pressed to his right ear.

"Alright then, man, if you say so.I have a big appointment with a bunch of commuters on the subway tonight, so I should go get ready for that."

"Don't get yourself hurt again..And don't reveal yourself to any of the targets until moments before it happens, They were NOT happy with that last bunch knowing who you were and flipping out when they got to Them." Before he heard a response, the man hung up and continued his walk. He stood at 6'2'' and had black hair that curled in a bit, touching his lower neck but not yet hitting his shoulders, unless he leaned back or in some angle like that, of course.He had long bangs that covered his forehead and threatened to hide his dull grey eyes.He was rather handsome, with a long slender nose and soft, almost perpetually smiling lips.

He had pale skin and was rather thin, not thin enough for bones to show but it looked like fi he got even slightly thinner that they would.He wore an almost form-fitting light grey t-shirt with an artsy design of a graveyard in black on the lower right(in his perspective while wearing the shirt), the hillside cemetery's, well, hill was made of swirls and splotches seen on any artsy t-shirt you would see on a teen-mid twenties hipster, and some of the tombstones weren't complete, with little cut outs in them shaped like paint splotches.Other than the generic half-oval shaped graves there were crosses, and on the top of the hill stood a statue of an angel holding a scythe.

His jeans were sort of grey-ish dyed as well, the hue of blue ont hem looking like that of a sky on a stormy day, grey with just a slight hint of blue in them, and on his feet he wore a pair of rather generic looking black canvas sneakers, with pure white laces, soles and tips as if they had never been worn before this day.

As he passed through the streets to that dull-lifed man's apartment, some odd things happened around him..A seemingly perfectly healthy girl suddenly had a heart attack, a sports car with a young couple in it zoomed past only to crash not even a half a mile away, a businessman jumped off of a roof..Death seemed to follow him wherever he went, and he never even stopped to see if any of the horribly injured or killed people were alright, as a normal human being would.Nope, he just kept strolling along, listenign to his mp3 player with a pair of skullcandy headphones on high volume, blocking out the world..

"..The seasons don't fear the reaper, nor does the wind, the sun or the rain.."

(Heeeere's Fate! C: )

As Sam dashed out the door of his office building he heard the subway train pull out of the station. Well he would have to take the bus then, no like he cared one way or another. Dashing a crossed the street and down a side street he barely caught the Bus to his home. A few people turned to star after him, wondering what he was running to.

“Almost miss it Mac.” The driver smiled as Sam dropped in the price for the ride. He would have liked it better if he could have just used his card but it seemed that the idea of paying with your debit still had not taken on, on the bus. Reaching up he yawned and ran his slim fingers through his curly hair.

“Nah would not have missed it, you always sit here talking for a bit before driving off.” The driver smiled at his comment then handed him a transfer stub. Sam stood at the average height of 5’8” with a slim body. The type of slim that most people thought was beautiful in a woman but only gangly in a man.

The bus ride was rather uneventful as they slowly crawled through the city. Latter he would say he was lucky to have missed that subway train but for now he wished that he had caught it. The smell of the bus’s always made him feel like he was in an old fashion train. There was the smell of the unwashed beggars’ that took the bus around the down town of the city when it was Fairless. Then there was the smell of old rotting alcohol that someone had barfed up the last time they did not want to pay for a cabby. On a few of the seats there were stains that you just did not want to know what they were.

Reaching the building Sam sighed. Home, what a funny thing to call this place. not even his neighbors would call this place home. The mom down in two B was always complaining about how she had no money to move into a new home that would be safe for her little boys. Over in Eighteen B was a couple that wanted kids but could not adopt because of the condition of the building. Walking up the stairs he pulled his keys from his pocket. As he reached his door he fumbled them and dropped them to the floor.

(I really want to draw Sam now..His appearance makes me wonder if you're going for the yur-character-became-a-reaper ending! Most of my reapers look really weird or have weird eyes.(Fate is an exception, but Charon has natural burgundy hair and gold eyes, Grim has gold eyes, and Gwyn has rings for pupils))

The rather monochrome man picked up Sam's keys for him and handed them to him. "You alright there?You must be my neighbour. I'm..Not too proud of calling this place my new home, but eh, if it gets me a place in this gorgeous city, I can afford to suffer until I can afford a better place.." He laughed. "I'm Fate Delacroix, I live across the hall."

(I notice I give a lot of my more bad ass characters teh last name Delacroix.. 8D; I just think it's a really really pretty last name.)

((Sam’s last name and look of eyes came from the assassin in Hogfather. The assassin just looked so interesting in the movie I just had to kidnap his eyes and last name.))

"Thanks." Sam took the keys back and stuck them in the door, before smiling. “I am Samuel Teatime.” He pronounced his last name Tea’a’taim’e. “ah so you’re the one that moved into three C. just to warn you, you will be woken up at seven each week day by mister smith in five C yelling at his wife for his briefcase and their kids will run up and down the hall screaming till they have to head to school.” Leaning against the door he turned the key and pushed hard with his shoulder. The door stuck often enough that he had grown used to shouldering it open. “And don’t really expect to move up in the world. Everyone here says they are going to move out of here quickly but they only seem to leave here when they die.” Sam tried to avoided looking the man fully in the face. It was not because he had anything against new people but the last few times he had they had run out of here screaming in fear about his eyes.

"Well I sleep with my headphones on almost full blast, I'm used to noisy neighbours and my job doesn't make me wake up early, so it's all good.." Fate rather gently took Sam's chin and turned his new neighbour's head towards him. "Sorry, I have a thing about eye contact when I'm talking to someone..Your eyes are gorgeous, if you thought they would freak me out.Heterochromia I think it's called?Where your eyes are two completely different colors." Fate smiled that smile of his, soft and kind but somehow haunting, his eyes were a dull boring grey but there was something about eye contact with him that was unsettling. "And I'm sure I'll get out of here soon.I know you've probably heard that a thousand times, adn you just see the same neighbour being rolled out in a body bag months later. I'm not them."

(OOOOhhh you just told Fate he can't do something. XD Sam, that is teh number one thing not to say to him.)

Sam was startled when Fate touched him. No one usually touches someone that the just met, it unnerved him, just as fates eyes were. His eye lashes fluttered, he could not believe it. “Sorry just so used to no one wanting to see them.” he blushed when he said that his eyes were beautiful. “I don’t know what it’s called, I know my parents told me at some point but I blanked it.” Looking down at Fate’s nose, he now knew what everyone was talking about with his eyes. Even though Fates was a gray they seemed to be hiding something else to them. “I always heard it called Fay Touched. Did you know some historians think that Morgan La Fay had two colored eyes?”

(he said 'don’t really expect' that was not a command)

"I had never heard that, I'll have to look taht up when my internet gets hooked up.Maybe IF it gets hooked up, I don't know." Fate laughed. "I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to see them. You're unique, nothing to be ashamed of.Well, then again, I don't know why people think my eyes are unsettling. They're boring grey.With the combo of my hair, I look best in monochrome greyscale clothing..Not a bad color but it'd be nice not to look odd in bright colors. Ah well, that's life. I'll catch you later, alright? Nice to meet you, Sam!" Fate gave a cheerful smile, before putting his headphones back on and unlocking his apartment, walking in and shutting the door behind him.

(Well, in his mind he said he couldn't. :P That's how Fate works when it comes to that.)

“y-yah.” Sam watched Fate walk into his apartment. Now that was one odd guy. He seemed like he might be a great neighbor but still quite odd. Sam smiled to his self as he opened the door and walked in. then his smile faded as he remembered that there was nothing to do here and he had already read the last book he had bought. Putting his bag down he looked around the kitchen area. “Food need to get more food.” Opening the fridge he sighed. “Should have stopped off at the market before coming home.” Walking back to the door he thought about his new neighbor. maybe he would like to know where the best market is in the area. I should ask him, if he just moved in, he most likely does not have any food in there.

(ah I see)

Fate got into his room and plugged his iPod into the stereo, sitting on a table made from a cardboard box temporarily, in front of his airbed, all temporary, until he could get furniture..Or that was his story at least. beside the stereo sat an hourglass, which was full on the top almost, and with the rate teh sand fell it had about a month before it would all be at the bottom. "Samuel Teatime" was engraved into the base, and there seemed to be a hole on the top that could be opened up, so more snad could be poured in..But what was the point of that, when you could just flip it over?

Walking a crossed the hall Sam knocked on Fate’s door. He probably would have no interest in going to the market at this late hour, Sam looked at his watch to check and see if it was to late. It was only half passed nine, not too late. He felt kind of odd knocking on old miss’s Smythson’s door. Or should he say the late Miss’s Smythson’s door.

Fate paused his music and got up, answering the door. "Ah, hi Sam. What's up?Couldn't get enough of me?" He laughed. "I kid, I kid, my ego isn't that large." ANd there he went again, speaking rather oddly and trying to keep constant eye contact.Such an odd man..He was honestly surprised that Sam wasn't wondering how one got the name 'Fate', or what kind of parents would name their child that, unless Fate himself changed it to that.

“Well I was thinking that you might like to know where the best market is that is close.” He held a reusable bag in his hand as he looked at Fate’s nose. The nose was the best place he had found that he could look at him and not have to look into those eyes. “And I have to run to the market and thought you might want to come along.” A smile tried to sneak out of the corner of his lips. “You don’t have to come along if you don’t want to.”

"I'd love to, I do need to get some groceries, so I can actually make something for myself in the morning instead of getting something on the way TO the supermarket.After a road trip to move, thus much restauraunt food, you kind of get tired of it." He laughed and grabbed his iPod and headphones, wearing them around his neck as a pair of small speakers. "Ready to go. I'm sorry for not being all eco friendly but I have no reusable bags.I always intend on grabbing one or two, but when I lived with my mother I had no need to..Before you say anything about me being a thirty something in my mom's basement, I'm only 23, just moved out after college..MMan, she would throw a tantrum over this place..Beggars can't be chooser's though, first apartment's like a first car, it's going to have it's weird issues."

“I think every ones mother would throw a fit over this place unless you came from a trailer park. That is the only way this is a step up.” He offered a set of reusable bags to Fate. “You can have those two, I have better ones now and so I don’t need them. I was planning on leaving them at the shop for someone to take.” The bags were made so that they could be stuffed into a little pocket on the outside of the bags and then hang off a keychain. Sam turned and walked towards the door. “So what do you do for a living?”

"A trailer park is a step up?" Fate laughed. "Oh, thank you.I have to save up to buy furniture, anyway..I'm sleeping on an airbed with a cardboard box for an end table, I didn't have room in the truck for my furniture..Because my dad road tripped with me through the country in a pickup truck, not a U-haul or whatever.Worst week ever, I never want to spend that long with him alone ever again."

"I recently graduated in a type of computer science, game programming to be exact..So currently until I can get my foot in the door that equates to office bitch..And because of that, I work from home, for now.I'm working on programming a game, it might end up being a side project for a bit when I get my actual first job, which is probably going to be coffee shop bitch. Not really a step up, but I don't want to be the coffee bitch for the other programmers first." He laughed.

"I figured if I made a game first, that's technically a foot in the door. Gives me an example for people to see and play, and I could get hired for that instead of just for my degree..I also am an artist, so I do all my own pixel art for the game etcetera etcetera I'm talking your ear off now."

“No no the Trailer park is the step down.” Sighing Sam listen as Fate talked about what he did. he had never met a game programmer before this. Most of them from what he had heard had the nice condos a crossed town. The stairs creeked as they walked down it but Sam did not really notice the sound under Fates talking. “it is ok If you’re talking my ear off I did ask you what you did.” the air had cooled quickly since Sam had come home. It was only the sign that winter did not want to let go

"That's what I meant, I'm sorry, I guess my mind went somewhere else for a minute." Fate laughed.

"Well I thought that you simply asked for my profession, and I gave you my life story, almost." He nervously chuckled, looking around the area around him as he walked. "That breeze is nice..Nice change from the hot summer.I prefer the fall months over the summer, especially now that summer doesn't equal three months of screwing around with friends and playing videogames."

“It is true that I did ask for your profession but you had to tell the story to explain why you did not have a job yet but what you were looking for. Who knows I could have had the connection to get you on the road to you career.” Turning down the block Sam looked at Fate from the corner of his eye. I wonder what he would have done in my shoes with my job. Would he have stayed as long as I have, is me staying as long as I have wise? Cars honked by as they continued walking.

"I'm not quite ready for that yet..Skipping past office bitch is nice, That's for sure..What do you do?" He said, before turning to look one of the drivers he walked past in the eyes, and simply smiling and waving. The driver was a rather old man, who just stared at him in terror, as if he didn't see the calm, casual Fate that Sam and everyone else saw, but some sort of monster. A few miles down the road after Fate passed him, he crashed as he began to have a heart attack, killing himself and two others.

(Fate doesn't ALWAYS become this personal with people. c: soemtimes he just does things like that, for people who aren't as special, even though sam's life is boring there's something that interests him. <3 )

"well when I started I was working at the is law firm answering the phones but now they have turned into a big mega company that not only does law but they also cover insurance and many other things that I don't really know much about. I still work the phone's." he sounded tired of it but he could not see a different job open to him. "I had hoped that I would have been promoted, they told me that I would within the year if I worked hard but they seem to like me where I am. recently I have been thinking of trying to find a new job but I am worried that...." he trialed off as he looked at Fate from the corner of his eye. " you really don't want to hear about this do you." Sam made it more of a statement then a question. up head they could hear the sound of some one calling out what the prices of fish and meat was. "that would be Vinny's Market. they have the freshened fish in the city and their meat is all grass feed." he was proud of the little market that he shopped at, and Vinny's kids had kept the prices down to keep all the old customer coming back. with the new boom of the Organic food demand they had been getting more new customer each day.

"No, no, I'm interested.I know it's nice to get things like that off your chest.Not good to keep things that are stressing you out in like that, they build up and build up until you can't handle it anymore.Although, I think all thigns happen for a reason..So maybe what time you might think you have wasted might not have been such a waste at all..Although that part of my beliefs may have been obvious just by thinking about my namne for about two seconds." Fate laughed.

"Nice place..Always good to know there's still little family owned things like this in a big city.You'd think with so many giant companies that most if not all of the places like this would be long gone, sadly to say as it is.."

“I am worried that I have spent too many years at my work so now if I were to try to get a new job it would pay less then what I am getting now. I am also worried that I won’t be able to get any jobs other than those at fast food joints.” Picking up a cart Sam put his bags in the cart and smiled. “Sounds kind of stupid I know but that is what I feel. I never did get a collage degree, family never had the money for that sort of thing.” Sam waved to one of the workers before walking down one of the aisles to the back of the shop.
“The only reason they are still open is because the family has an allergy to the hormones that people put into meat these days. If they don’t make sure they know what is going into their meat they can’t eat it. So there will always be one of Vinny’s kids or grandkids running this place.” Walking up to the butcher’s counter Sam looked over all the different sales they were having. “What good today Tony?” the man behind the counter had curly bright red hair, and a very heroic jaw.
“I would not take the fish today, even if it is on sale. Tom bought it down at the fish market from a new seller, I say it smells off but he insists that it was fresh caught.”

(Warnign: this first bit of this post may be slightly depressing, considering Sam only has a month left to live)

"It's never too late to try, if you don't like your job. you have at least sixty more years until you kick the bucket, ti's not like you'll die in a month."

"Ah, that explains things..I'll jsut follow you, so I don't make an idiot of myself, I haven't been shopping on my own a whole lot, actually.." Fate laughed. "Kind of embarrasing to admit, btu it's true."