"I saved you"

[swordedpast]

Characters: Archer and anyone who wants to greet him--so OPEN.
Setting: Tonight, room 3-16 and the hallway outside it.
Format: Starting with prose, but feel free go to action brackets if you'd rather!
Summary: Someone new shows up in the Tower and has some unusual reactions.
Warnings: Probable violence and likely angst.

There's a strange sound echoing out of room 3-16 tonight. What makes it even stranger is that the voice behind it is someone new. Here's what makes it so strange: it's laughter. There's a new person in the Tower, and he is laughing.

The laughter goes on for almost a minute, at times bubbling near to hysteria. Finally, though, it cuts off, and a much smaller sound can be heard: the *CRUMP* of paper being balled up and flung away. And Archer stalks out of the room.

(He just read the letter, you see. It said, I saved you. That's why he was laughing.)

He stands in the middle of the hallway with a disinterested look for a minute; apparently all the mirth has been drained out of him. Then he shrugs and throws his hands up in front of him. "It isn't very much of a new home. Well, why don't I test it out?" And without him appearing to draw them from anywhere, twin swords, black and white, flash into his hands.

He swings them at the wall, hard. And the blades shatter, and the shards vanish into thin air.

The man in the red coat is left blinking down at his hands, then at the wall he struck. He doesn't look too surprised, though--and what little surprise he does have on his face is rapidly fading to resignation.

Comments

I AM TOO LAZY FOR PROSE RIGHT NOW

[angramaintsu]

[ Rin ought to know better than to walk the hallways at night. Every time she does, she runs into something that's bound to irritate her. Monsters were welcomed with open arms, but beings that were sentient? They end up being the ones that bothered her the most. That reason alone is why she does wander around late in the night. No one dares to walk amongst beasts that will rip their flesh, so the chances of her being disturbed are at a minimum.

It's peaceful. Something she's never known most of her life.

So when she comes across a man who can make blades appear and disappear once they're struck, she can't help the snark that comes from her lips. ]

Seems a pointless ability, that.

FINE BY ME

[swordedpast]

[ He recognizes her. Of course he recognizes her. Something deeper than his sharp eyes tells him it's Rin, and he falls easily into responding to her just as if she were his Master, because of course she is, right? It's one stable thing about this bizarre new world, and he doesn't even realize what a weight it lifts off his shoulders, to realize that if his wretched, worthless world was really destroyed, at least one of the few worthwhile things in it was saved along with something worthless like him. ]

Yes, now is surely a good time for sarcasm, Master.

[ And so he responds in kind, sarcasm for sarcasm, because of course that's what it was--

Wasn't it?

And only then, after he's spoken, do his eyes catch up with his heart, and along with them the screaming instincts inside him saying that NO, something is wrong with this girl.

He recoils, and the swords are back in his hands as much as he finds himself loathing it. ]

Rin!

[doesnotgetit]

That's not going to help.

[There's a girl standing in the hall just outside the opened door, staring at him. Like some others might be, she was attracted to the sounds of laughing, and a brief clash.]

There's no way out of here, so don't try and break through the walls.

[swordedpast]

So I've discovered.

[ He's gone into full-on resignation mode now. ]

It's all right. Yes, it's certainly all right, because I've been in much worse places.

[chainsawn]

[ Urotsuki sleeps a lot. So much that sometimes she ends up sleeping at the wrong times and just flip flopping her whole sleep schedule right around - this is one of those times, so despite the threat of monsters she seems to be wandering around in the hallways of the dorm. With the blank look of her face she almost seems more like she's sleepwalking than anything else though.

It's then that she manages to spot the man with the vanishing blades. She stands there, quietly watching, her face still blank but there's a certain sort of interest about it. Was this guy maybe a little like her..?

.. Oh, wait. Maybe she should speak up then, or he won't notice her.. ]

It didn't do what it should..?

[swordedpast]

[ He pauses as the small voice reaches him and slants a neutral glance off to the side to see her. A girl. Just a girl, wandering these dark halls--he has a sneaking suspicion that that isn't very safe. But there's not a lot to do about it right now, and he shouldn't care anyway, right? (His world was destroyed. Wasn't it?) ]

I'm sure whoever created this tower thinks it did what it should.

[ He still hasn't turned to face her, or even changed his expression more than a little bit. ]

[surpassthelimit]

[Axel is always drawn to the sound of fighting. That's just the duty of being a soldier, which is how he would respond if ever asked. He didn't exactly catch the creation of any blades but he certainly did see the destruction]

Good job, you can hit a wall. [THUMBS UP.]

What were you hoping to do there anyway, genius?

[swordedpast]

[ More laughter, but not the near-hysterical sort he was indulging in earlier. This time it's just a bleak, tense chuckle. ]

Hmmm. Make the wall my friend?

...I wanted to see if I could damage it. I couldn't. In this setting, it's not really a surprise. But it's good to know.

[rainscented]

The sound of slow clapping echoes through the corridor.

"Hope you got a receipt for those," Rat was apparently taking refuge in sarcasm from the surprise of seeing some weird guy pull knives out of the air. Never mind that he'd done nearly the same thing further down the corridor, minus the 'magical weapons from nowhere' part, it was too early in the morning (or whenever) to acknowledge hypocrisy.

[swordedpast]

"It's not a problem. I didn't pay." Fortunately, the weird guy seemed to be just as capable of sarcasm, even after first showing up in a strange tower and being told that his world had been destroyed.

[prototyper]

[ Archer has gained +1 master staring at him. For the most part, she's unphased until the sharp sound of the blade hitting the wall, and then said blade shattering, causes her to wince slightly. Man, this guy seemed pretty pissed off. Then again, she was pretty mad herself for being here. She crosses her arms slightly as she speaks up. ]

Do you really think it would be that easy to break through? Unfortunately, our captors are much smarter than we think.

[swordedpast]

It was worth a shot. Or so I thought.

[ He glances back at her, his eyes dispassionate, the rage and frustration blanked out of them now. ]

I don't know about smart. But they do make some tough walls.

[scorchedchivalry]

I see you still retain your arm.

[Says the familiar yet not familiar Servant leaning against the wall at the end of the hall. If the black dress didn't give it away, then the taint similar to Rin coming off her would. Pale yellow eye bore into him.]

Hello, Archer.

[swordedpast]

[His arm? Why--

But he doesn't have the time to think about why she'd say something like that. No, because now he has to deal with the fact that it's happened again. He's in a strange place, he's being told that the world he came from was destroyed, and the only two people in that world he still cared about are--something else now. Something awful.

Fortunately, he's pretty good at covering up the hurt in his reaction. At least this time.]

Hey, Saber. You're not looking too well.

[Except for the fact that more resigned, regretful bitterness colors his voice than casual sarcasm there. That wasn't how he meant for it to come off.]

[puppy_lancer]

Oy, what the fuck?

[Looks like another crazy person.]

[swordedpast]

What does it look like?

The best explanation is probably that I'm new.

[eighteen_winters]

[Those swords... There were only two people those things could belong to and the sound that precluded their appearance confirmed it all most immediately that they didn't belong to her Onii-chan which left...]

Is that you Archer?

[swordedpast]

[He's wrapped up enough in his frustration that it takes him a moment to realize who's addressing him. Illyasviel von Einzbern. Master of Berserker. A girl he cared about a long time ago and only sees as an enemy now.

But why is she addressing him so familiarly?]

Does it matter to you?

[liquidouroboros]

"At least someone finds this amusing."

A blond soldier stepped out of room 3-16, having changed into a green and black SEAL uniform.

"I've heard better attempts at humor, myself." Of course he didn't believe this for a moment. The world destroyed and Liquid the only survivor? Laughable, at best. If anything was going to destroy the world, be it Ocelot or some force of nature, it would have to come through him first. That was just how Liquid's own special brand of logic chose to process this; he hadn't allowed anything to triumph over him, and therefore the world must have been perfectly fine.

Maybe it was denial. Liquid wouldn't have cared if it was; he would stick to believing that no matter what happened.

[swordedpast]

Though Archer wasn't quite looking directly toward Liquid--he was too busy staring at where his swords had been--he did take note that the other man had been in the room he himself had recently walked out of. He hadn't been paying attention to its other occupants at the time, but maybe now he could afford to do reasonable things like that. "Yes. You have a roommate with a great sense of humor. Shouldn't you be thankful?"

[marchwarden]

The hysterical laugh heralded the arrival of the newcomer but piqued the interest of another. On his way towards the floors above, Haldir stopped abruptly in mid step once he heard the maniacal laughter. At first, he assumed it to be none other than his mind playing tricks on him. As the laughter continued, Haldir realized this was no trick. Curious as of what sort of madness has claimed this unfortunate soul, the march warden allows his curiosity to lead him onward. Just when he was about to near the door, a man clad in deep crimson stalked out. He looked quite wild, almost feral in design, but the bored expression on the newcomer's face stated otherwise.

Watching in total silence as the man mumbled to himself, Haldir's dark gaze widened once two swords suddenly appeared within the hands of the newcomer. He lingered there at the end of the corridor dressed in a dark blue cloak, his eyes barely visible from under the hood of his cloak. From there he watched as the wayfarer thrust his blades upon the wall and watched in mild fascination as they vanished into nothingness. "Magic?" He mumbled in a hushed murmur.

"It would seem your magic does nothing here."

[swordedpast]

"Yeah, it would." For all his near-madness a few moments ago, Archer was now calm--though it was clearly the calm of resignation, closer to despair than triumph. He was only more lucid now because he'd accepted that his situation was terrible and there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it right now. "What about yours? Do you have any that works better? I'm open to ideas."

[vermicompost]

Kariya is on his way through the corridors, moving toward the elevator with the intention of going back to the meadow, when he hears the laughter. It isn't laughter that sounds happy. Quite the opposite. That fact strikes him. Curious, he moves toward the sound and arrives in time to see Archer emerge from his room and strike at the wall with his blades. He winces as they shatter. Those are no ordinary blades.

As he's standing right there, leaning up against the wall for support, he feels he should say something. "Hello." His voice isn't very strong, so he raises it to be heard.

"This place is powerful. It keeps us here. It isn't a good home, you're right. It's not a home at all." In that way, it's a good deal like his own family home.

[swordedpast]

The greeting doesn't get much of a response. In fact, for a good few moments, the man in red doesn't even look over at Kariya. Someone with such a weak voice, with such a faded presence, is probably not worth listening to right now. But Archer doesn't have a whole lot else to do, so finally he glances over. "Well, that raises the question of what is it. What do you think? A holding cell?"

He pauses. "Hah, no, I've got it." And the grin he flashes has more in common with his earlier laughter than any expression of joy. "It's a trashcan, right? The debris left over from some ruined places just has to be stored somewhere."

[whiteblackknight]

[The black cloaked figure known as Mr. Walker slumps noisily on the nearby wall. Bandaged but still bruised. Walking unaided by a friend or a crutch. Most would have spoken up in his position with a voice filled with a sweetened venom, sarcasm meant to laugh at the bitterness of irony.

Instead, however, his soft smile was genuine. The way he spoke, unmolested by any negative feeling.]

Quite a shocker, isn't it?

[The young man takes a deep breath, his voice straining with some amount of pain.]

[swordedpast]

[And you'd think that such sweetness and light, even from someone in such a terrible situation, would soothe an angry soul like this one.

Instead it only seems to make him more annoyed. The look he flashes at Allen is contemptuous.]

I didn't say anything about being surprised, you know.

[kindofademon]

Ryuunosuke comes around a corner, notices that Archer is standing outside of the room he shared with three others, and comes to a conclusion.

"Oi, are you a new roomie?" he asks, leaning against a wall. "As your senior roommate, does that make it my job to show you around?"

[swordedpast]

By this point, Archer's had a little bit of time to calm down. He's also had a few reasons to become even more upset. So it evens out, and the guy Ryuunosuke runs into eventually is no longer trying to attack anything, but he is pretty clearly brooding. And it takes him a few moments to snap out of it enough to address the kid.

"A new roomie, huh?" He looks up, refocuses his gaze, smirks. "I guess so. Well, you're not under any obligation to like me because of it..." Hey, wait. Did he just say that he's now Archer's senpai here? That's almost embarrassing. "You don't have any jobs because of me."