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Post by emiya on Apr 13, 2016 2:41:07 GMT
I returned to my room somewhat wearily. The day had wore on fairly difficultly on me, and I was looking forward to being able to return to spirit form in peace and recover in safety. The halls seemed longer than they were normally...I really was exhausted, wasn't I? Soon it wouldn't matter, though. I just had to make it to the end of this hall, turn the corner, and...
Calling what happened an explosion would be correct, but not strictly accurate. The boiler room sprung a valve, causing hot water to build and eventually burst as steam needed a way to escape. In what was obviously a safety hazard waiting to happen, the central boiler for Chaldea's agent living quarters was positioned right next to the hallway, causint him to get pushed to the side in an avalanche of rubble and metal. I project my swords, blocking the more deadly looking metal shards and increasing my general physical defences.
Soon, it's over. Somehow, miraculously, I'm not in severe physical pain. Rather, I've managed to carve out a place for myself...I'm sitting atop a small mountain of metal and stucco, with the appearance of a kind of chair. The situation is somewhat familiar...though I can't place it off the top of my head. I try to push myself up, but it shifts almost immediately, and, tired as I am, I find myself sinking back into the chair for the moment, needing to catch my breath. Soon I'll shift into spirit form and make the rest of my way there...It would hopefully prevent things like this from happening again.
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Post by Rin Tohsaka on Apr 13, 2016 4:43:14 GMT
Rin wasn’t often this bored with herself, she would usually be able to find at least something to take her mind off things and vent her various frustrations on. Alas, she could find nothing of the sort due to her lab work already being wrapped up, most of the servants sent off on missions, and an overall feel of emptiness throughout the hallowed halls of CHALDEA. Perhaps in a few days when the missions were wrapped up and the servants were allowed to return home, business would pick up again, but for now Rin found herself alone. Though her face remained in its ever-serious demeanor as she returned to her room, papers in hand and observing the white hallways with her wondering eyes.
“It’s quiet, too qui-“ Rin didn’t even get to finish her sentence as some sort of explosion went off down the hall. Rin tensing up and dropping her reports as she felt the ground shake with the great force of the explosion. Rin’s reaction of shock quickly turned to upset anger as her mind deduced that it was most likely one of the troublesome servants at fault, ruling it out to be either Astolfo attempting to drive another RV or some other servants getting into a rough fight.
Either way, Rin began to angrily make her way down to the hallway towards the source of the noise. “When I get my hands on whoever did this I’ll..” Rin was shocked as she found the red cloaked servant lounging upon the pile of rubble lazily. However, this wasn’t any ordinary servant to Rin.
“A-Archer…”
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Post by emiya on Apr 13, 2016 4:57:46 GMT
I hear footsteps echo down the hall. It was undeniable, this looked bad. Very bad, in fact. As if he'd inflicted the damage himself and was lording about on it like it like it was some kind of throne. Oh well. His only possible choices were to push himself up, something he didn't want to do while the structure was as uneasy as it was, and entering spirit mode, something that might get him pegged as the perpetrator. And so, he sits, until a very familiar face turns the corner.
"...Rin." I breathe, shock clear on my face. It made sense. I don't know why I was so surprised, that Chaldea would recruit the prodigy of the Tohsaka family, the winner of the Fuyuki Grail War...at least, the one I remember. If anything, I should be more surprised I hadn't seen her until now. And yet...I didn't react sensibly. I sat there, eyes wide, in simple amazement that she was here. "It's...been a while, hasn't it?"
Her angry expression had caught me by surprise, but it only took a moment to deduce why. It should've been rather obvious...just what I was thinking anyone besides Rin would immediately react to the situation. "Urgh...I can explain. I believe it was the central boiler going right when I happened to be walking past...I should try to see if it's repairable, or there'll be a lot of human agents going without hot water." I fade into spirit form for a split-second, and as soon as I stand up, the rubble falls apart. Reforming, I stand in front of my erstwhile Master, unsure of what I should do. Eventually, I settle on a simple cause of action.
"We should probably catch up. I remember a particular series of events, and I should know if they differ from what you remember. Do you want to follow me into the boiler room? I can talk as I work."
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Post by Rin Tohsaka on Apr 14, 2016 6:45:38 GMT
Rin should’ve been angry about the evident destruction of the hallway wall, and the servant sitting upon it as if it were a throne attributed towards his own affinity for destruction. Though what was drawn to her attention now was rather the fact of who exactly the servant was, her old ally and servant, Archer. Though, now she knew his true identity as the heroic spirit for of her ex-lover, Shirou, from one of the many possible futures that could occur.
Though her shock at the sudden reunion between master and servant was quickly interrupted as her mind soon returned to the gravity of the situation at hand. The evidence was right in front of her that her old servant was up to his same old antics once more.
“Hmmph, it’s been a decade Archer, A DECADE! And this is how I find you for the first time in all those years? Ughh, I guess some things never change…”
Rin’s voice was certainly filled with slight irritation coupled together with heavy disappointment at her own expectations of the future Shirou. Though before her ranting escalated to angry babbling, Archer had suddenly gotten off the rubble pile and caused it to collapse right before a clearly tense Rin. “You could have at least been more careful getting off of your mess!” Even though the red cloaked man had clearly stated he had no real ties to it, Rin still felt the need to tie him to the accident.
The invitation to join him in the boiler room to catch up caught the Tohsaka’s girl’s attention however. Though still somewhat infuriated, even she had to acknowledge that talking about what had happened between them during the last Grail War was a necessary thing to do. She gave a slight nod in understanding as she followed him into the boiler room.
“So, how long have you been at CHALDEA now?”
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Post by emiya on Apr 15, 2016 0:45:51 GMT
Her first accusation stings, but I know immediately it wasn't anything I could control. "Rin. Be reasonable. I've been here in Chaldea. I wouldn't know whether you followed the footsteps of the Rin I knew or took some totally different path. Even assuming you did, I had no way to communicate with the Clock Tower and ask about you. Nor would they have any reason to believe me when I asked you to put me through." All of these were true...though I admitted I could have tried harder. Then again, the main reason was that I simply didn't wish to disrupt her life. She seemed like she'd be happy and help make younger, stupider me happy.
"I really couldn't." The mess, lying in it's heap, almost as a self-testament to how unstable it was. "In fact, I'm really not sure how it ended up supporting my weight in the first place. It just happened to clump that way." A comment she made, that had at first passed him by, caused him to speak up defensively as he first realizes it. "And it's not my mess! Like I said, the boiler exploded on me..."
Rin being willing to walk with me as I fixed the mess that poor maintenance caused gets a smile out of me. "Thank you, Rin." As I begin to inspect the damage, it's clear that things aren't good. While most of the rubble was wall and the primary force was simply escaped steam from the gargantuan water heater, delicate machinery was injured during the expulsion. "This will take a bit of time, so you might want to make yourself comfortable." Tools appear in my hand. Projection of items that aren't swords is mediocre in comparison to my specialty, but they work fine for what they need to do. I answer her question as I gather the damaged pieces together. "A few months. They've kept me pretty busy."
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Post by Rin Tohsaka on Apr 15, 2016 5:39:21 GMT
Honestly, Archer’s several excuses as to why he avoided communicating with her interested the magus very little. She naturally understood that reaching her at this time in her life could be difficult and that her old servant probably had far more important things to do. Still, it burned her inside to see him once again, after what had transpired over the course of the previous grail war as well as her recent breakaway with his past self. Just the sight of him sung her heart honestly and made her sweat, the reality of it all hitting her once again and the fact she could not ultimately keep her promise to the red cloaked hero.
Though, Rin would deal with it as she dealt with any emotional mess she found herself in, repress it and cover it with a coat of frustration and awkwardness. Though, hearing Archer plead that the mess wasn’t his fault did take her mind from it for a bit, even if she didn’t fully believe his story. “While I’m having trouble seeing you as being innocent in all of this, at least you’re taking the responsibility to fix the issue.” While she followed him into the darkened room, she made note of the complex engineering that had gone into making this place and immediately found the source of the issue was in fact a bad architectural choice.
Seeing Archer smile though brought a slight warmth in Rin’s heart and she couldn’t help but return it. Though it pained her at first, it really was good to see him again. “I just came in here myself, took up an invitation I got a few months back and well, saving the world isn’t exactly something you refuse!” Rin explained before taking Archer’s advice and finding a place on the floor to settle down.
“Well well, Emiya Shirou: once a famed “hero of justice” and defender of the downtrodden now working as a common lackey for an organization~” Rin teased with a small giggle as she inched up closer to watch him work.
“So you want to talk about the war? Last thing I remember was well,” Rin went quiet and was unwilling to tell him, “my promise I made to you…”
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Post by emiya on Apr 15, 2016 7:28:46 GMT
He could see his attempts to explain not speaking to Rin before today were falling on deaf ears. He didn't particularly mind...they weren't totally convincing. In any case, what he had to do was make up for his lapse now. He was going to apologize, when he noticed that she was looking somewhat strained. "Rin...are you alright?" He didn't want to consider the fact that it was emotional pain...he didn't know whether he was trammeling on something overly important to Rin.
Turning away to fix up the boiler, Rin's biting, backhanded admission brought a smirk to his face. Now that was the Rin Tohsaka he remembered. "Fixing things is a trait of mine that I was never able to shake. I just usually work on more messy problems than a burst valve." First he tests simply tightening the valve, to see if that would be a temporary fix that could buy time to put in a maintenance request. It was likely a fair bit of pressure was released by the release that struck him, so if that was the case...of course it wasn't.
Rin's quips drag him out of his examination of the problem facing him, and he shakes his head with a grunt. "I'm fairly used to working as a common lackey...if anything it's better than what the Counter Force would be using me for. And as for saving the world..." He takes a deep breath, heaving a sigh that soon becomes a genuine smile. "You're right. It's not something you'd turn down."
Tracing the valve to try and find the problem, he groans as his structural examination turns out something quite that simple. "Oh you're kidding me..." he grumbles, as hee projects a thin strip of metal, twisting it so he can dislodge some detritus that had become stuck in one of the smaller pipes. He'd have to continue examining to see if that did anything, but it was possible that was the problem. "Sure, we can talk about the war...but if you end mid-sentence like that, it's hard for me to tell. Since you know my name, I assume at least some things I remember happening. The chain of betrayals go down like I remember it? The fight with Shirou? Shirou's fight with Gilgamesh as you saved Shinji?" I throw in some things that would be clear indicators of what happened, to see if she really was the Rin I remembered, even as I continued to probe for problems in the mammoth boiler..
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Post by Rin Tohsaka on Apr 17, 2016 2:16:13 GMT
Though the events her former servant recounted were quite similar to her ow, Rin was still having issue trying to come to grips with it all. It had already been a decade ever since the fifth war had ended and both she and the red cloaked hero had parted ways for what seemed to be the last time. However, it always felt as if it had all happened in her dreams the previous night every night for the past ten years, always highlighting every painful detail and every terrible mistake she had made.
“So it seems you are the same Archer huh?”
Rin couldn’t help but smile, even she had been worried that CHALDEA had summoned another EMIYA entirely. However, it was still a small comfort on top of everything else going on in her mind. “You also forgot to mention how you kidnapped me and used as a bait for Shirou to follow,” Rin teased and even elbowed him lightly in an attempt to lighten up the mood between them.
Rin giggled and moved in closer, however it wasn’t so close as to be considered cuddling distance between the two. Just enough that Rin could feel comfortably warm around him and get an even closer eye on what he was doing. She had to admit, the prospect of fixing things and human technology in general still was a rather alien concept to her, but she was willing to keep her attention on it. Even here, Rin had to admit that it was nice to relive old times with him, even though she preferred a nicer setting personally.
“Hmm, so doing everyone’s dirty work for them still huh? Same old Emiya, just a different wardrobe tsk tsk.”
Rin condescended to him more as a tease than a disappointment, despite it being true. Rin however, was far more curious as to what her red cloaked servant had been up to and changed the topic rather bluntly.
“So ehh, finally meet a girl who can actually stand your idiotic mannerisms?”
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Post by emiya on Apr 18, 2016 6:15:47 GMT
I smile, as Rin's able to recount such awful things in a teasing, joking attitude. It wasn't easy hearing the actual content of what he did, but it was equally clear that Rin wasn't holding hard feelings. It seems their goodbyes had overtaken that.
"I...didn't want to mention everything. Some things are better left forgotten, I feel." That in particular. He was glad that pursuing annihilation no longer had to be his goal. "Fortunately, you do seem to be the same Rin. Or at least, similar enough...but well, you knew Second Magic theory better than I did." Continuing the examination, he traces the component materials to try and find more stoppages or damaged pieces. Finding another one, he cuts, clears, and seals it. As he was doing this, he could see Rin moving closer out of the corner of his eye, and his smile softens a bit.
"You wound me. But I suppose old habits are hard to break." Smirking, he moves along the labyrinthine network of pipes, keeping the work going "At least here it's part of the job description. Most Servants just aren't as conscientious or skilled." Keeping his small scrap of dignity protected, he finishes the tweaks until he's somewhat confident he can try turning the water back on. His distraction costs him as he nearly coughs as Rin's question comes. "Err...something like that, I suppose. It's complicated."
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Post by Rin Tohsaka on Apr 21, 2016 19:52:14 GMT
Rin took some comfort talking to him like this again, even though she had long broken things off with his younger self, she could still feel warmth in Archer’s company. Watching him work like this reminded her a lot of his former self and she couldn’t help but notice that no matter how much he denied it, he still was the same Shirou she knew and loved at heart. She didn’t even notice the fact she was leaning her head on his shoulder now, silently watching him work with a content smile.
However, at the mention of him having found someone, she jerked away almost immediately in response and let out a surprised “E-eh?!” as she back her head right into a pipe. What did she even expect? Of course he would find someone that was more than happy to deal with his nice guy attitude sooner or later, she knew him all too well. If her assumptions were correct, the feeling was likely one way and Emiya was just doing this to make the other happy, though she hoped this wasn’t the case.
“I mean…of course you do, not many girls can resist the charms and the cutlery skills of the great Shirou Emiya,” Rin chuckled as she rubbed the bruise on the back of her head. Though the smile was evidently fake and half of her wanted to go deeper and find out who exactly this lucky fox was. Nevertheless, she decided to drop it before things became to hairy.
“Almost done here Archer? As fun as watching you work around a water tank is, it’s getting rather close to dinner…”
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