For Old Times' Sake (Arturia/Invite)

The small clinks of armored boots echoed slightly in the wake of the King of Knights roaming the halls. Arturia had donned her armor as a source of familiarity more than necessity. The sounds of her armor shifting in time with her movements was something she had long grown accustomed to, and in a perpetually ready to move place like Chaldea, it also felt appropriate. On top of that, she saw many Servants roaming in their combat attire. A few had adopted more casual clothing, but many seemed to feel the "be ready at any time" mentality was the correct one.

Clink. Thunk. Clink. Thunk. Clink. Thunk.

A second sound had entered into the rhythm of her armor. It was coming from a nearby room, and so she went to investigate out of curiosity. It was one of the few things to do between missions. Taking a peek into the room, it appeared to be some sort of training facility. There was an area she recognized as similar to a sparring dojo, much like the one at the Emiya manor, as well as an archery range. In that range was yet another sight she was not expecting here; the very same Archer from the fifth Holy Grail War. His image was unmistakable; white spiked hair, red cloak, black armor, and noticeably tanned skin. How she felt about this Archer was an odd thing; at one point he was a foe, another an ally, and another...an enemy in a different sense. No, more like he was the enemy of another side of her rather than her own. A name came to mind when looking at him though; Emiya.

"Archer? Is that you?" she spoke, making sure she indeed was speaking to the same Archer. It was not impossible for a look-alike to have been summoned, however slim the odds may be.

It really was him. The odds of that were...well, pretty small. Arturia had faint memories of how tricky it was for him to even be summoned in Fuyuki, so the fact he was here was nothing short of a miracle. Thinking on it though, this was also many years later on the timeline than the war in Fuyuki, so perhaps it was less impossible at this time. It was hard to say how far into the future Heroic Spirit EMIYA hailed from. All unimportant details though, as what mattered was his presence here in Chaldea.

"I was summoned relatively recently. I take it you've been around a bit longer." her response was casual, but her tone had not wavered. She watched as he turned to fire another shot at the target. This one, though, did not strike the center. She saw the string of targets with arrows in the dead center out of the corner of her eye, so the only real change was her own presence. Why that would be so distracting, there were several possibilities, but she decided to run a particular scenario.

"Perhaps you've simply spent too much time fighting with your swords recently." was the option she chose, taking a small jab at the unusual choice in fighting style belonging to this particular "Archer". Almost always fighting enemies in close combat with a pair of twin short swords, instead of actually firing on his enemies from a distance. The presence of the archery itself was not unusual; she had seen Shirou practicing it before and knew it to be something he was skilled at. Why it dictated his class to be Archer, however, was another question.

Her head turned to look at the dojo-like arena, noting the rack of kendo swords present. Someone in the chain of command either really liked Kendo or just liked the feel of a dojo. Either way though, it may prove useful for the reunion of the unlikely duo, even if one half was...rather different. "Shall I make sure you haven't gotten rusty, Archer?"

Arturia had a small smirk as Archer posed the notion of "mercy", walking up to the rack beside him and taking one of the swords into her hands. It felt familiar, and taking a couple practice swings with it, the weight was also familiar. She couldn't exert her full power with the weapon, lest it completely shatter on her opponent with one swing, but she could still hit with a fair amount of force. It would have to be more than she normally used on Shirou, since EMIYA was a Heroic Spirit, but this battle may prove to be more one of skill than power.

"Of course not. Though in the interests of not breaking Chaldea's equipment, it may be better to make this a battle of skill. No need for life or death training, after all," she commented while taking a few more steps towards the center of the arena. Her armor remained materialized, as both a hint of the nature of their battle and a limiter on her own prana expenditure. The more she put into maintaining her defenses, the less she spent on power. Though she could regulate it just fine, she didn't want to accidentally spend too much in a single strike.

"A point for each blow that would otherwise be lethal. How does that sound?" a simple set of rules for a simple sparring match, though she did not think they would need many rules for this. She took a ready stance on one side of the starting line, eyes meeting Archer's. The rest would be understood.

Archer accepted, and thus they began. Arturia, no, Servant Saber kept her eyes on her opponent as he made the first move. For a moment, white became orange and red became blue, but it did not cause her to waver. It was just a pleasant nostalgia mixed into a situation that demanded her full attention. In her mind, she saw the whole thing play out; he would make a strike against her, which she would parry to the side and follow up with a quick strike to the head to net her the first point. That was the course of battle that her instincts told her to pursue.

"Such a simple strike," she commented as the sword came in, only to be parried by her own. She used the parry to push his blade to the side, and quickly maneuvered her wrists to bring her own blade back in line. Without missing a beat, her arms brought down the sword in hopes of striking the head for the first point of their match, "could never strike me!"

It was all too similar to the matches between Saber and Shirou back in Fuyuki. He would attack in a straightforward manner, but would never land a single hit on her. Though he naturally improved, it was impossible for him to bridge the gap between the two in such a short time. On the other hand, while this version had much more time to improve, his technique was still the same as his younger self. There were some things that time could not change, but there was room for her to be proven wrong about this. It would all hinge on his response to this attack.