"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

[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."

[vermicompost]

"I don't know what it is," he begins, taking a wary step or two closer. He pauses when Archer brings up his own theory. He doesn't like that idea, partly because it hits too close to home, and he frowns. He knows he's virtually debris as it is, but he has a little longer before that comes to pass, doesn't he? He isn't gone yet.

"A trash can? No, I don't think so. There are many people here, from different times and places. We've been brought here by someone, but no one knows why. It's more like a prison." It's been difficult for him to find out a great deal that's definite about this place, though he's tried. "That's why your magecraft doesn't work." It had seemed like magecraft. He doesn't know what else could produce blades like that.

[swordedpast]

The way this fragile man pauses at Archer's comment piques his curiosity just a little. Not much--he's definitely given up saving people, so why should he care about someone like this? But it's something to keep in mind for later: maybe he hit a nerve there, or something like that. "Did that look like it didn't work? It just wasn't strong enough. But, well, you're right. Some things just don't work. Those walls are something I can't even identify. This whole tower must be."

[vermicompost]

"It looked like it didn't do what you wanted," Kariya ventures. He's glad the other doesn't persist with his trash can theory, at least. He won't admit defeat, no matter what, so he can't agree with that idea. The people he's met here aren't trash.

"If you know magecraft, it could be a Reality Marble, or something like that." The non-expert magus nonetheless knows a few things about magecraft, if not much. "Some kind of Bounded Field..." Although an actual magus would likely have something less vague and generic to say about it. "If they can bring so many people here, they must be very powerful."

He wonders who this man is. He seems quite powerful, too.

[swordedpast]

"It didn't. But it told me something: my magic needs to be stronger. Information isn't useless." But he leaves that line of thought there, along with the metaphor about the trash--for now.

The use of familiar and specific magic terms makes Archer's brows raise. "Very powerful. I'd hate to have to face the magus who can make that Reality Marble."

[vermicompost]

"No, it isn't useless. Maybe it'll work, if it's stronger." Kariya's glad he hadn't tried attacking the walls himself. Using that much energy would have taken far too much out of him, and for nothing.

"Whoever it is must be here, keeping us trapped. I've been trying to find out more, but no one seems to know any specifics." At least, not the people he's talked to. Granted, he hasn't had a lot of time or energy for information gathering. "But I haven't been here long, myself."

The man doesn't seem overtly hostile, now that he's speaking to him, so he decides to introduce himself. "I'm Kariya Matou."

[swordedpast]

He may not seem overtly hostile, but there's not a lot of kindness there, either. As witnessed by what happens when Kariya introduces himself. Archer tilts his head a little in idle curiosity, then shrugs a bit. "Wow, is that so? I didn't know there was a Kariya in the Matou family."

Isn't it sad?

[vermicompost]

"Yes. You know the Matou family?" He shakes his head, sad but unsurprised. It's not exactly a shock that someone would know his family, but not him. "I'm not surprised you wouldn't know. I left them when I was young." And he came back, but why would they talk about that? He's not exactly a source of pride to them.

[swordedpast]

"Not well." Another shrug, a little deeper than before. "But they're part of the Holy Grail War--there isn't a point in hiding it, right? I'm a part of it too, so of course I know them."

He casts a glance over the other man, appraising and dismissive at once. "I'd say it's probably good that you left them. Magus families don't do so great for their kids. But that didn't work out for you either, did it?"

[vermicompost]

"Yes, they're always involved in the War." The horrible War. "I'm part of it, too." He says this before thinking it might be unwise to admit it, but he knows--or he's almost certain--that this person isn't involved in his Grail War. He's never seen him before.

"That's why I left them. Because of how awful they are. Not only to their children, to everyone."

He shakes his head, in answer to Archer's question. There's no point denying the shape he's in. Anyone could see it. "I had to go back."