towerofanimus | [ 04 ] ✿✿ [ Closed ]

Entry tags:

[ 04 ] ✿✿ [ Closed ]

Characters:

Archer
Setting: Floor 19
Time: Sometime during the event
Format: Quick
Summary: Archer is sick. Rin is stuck taking care of him. Know a good cure to the flu? A punch in the face.
Warnings: Usual warnings applied with Rin.

[ The magus has her own ways of keeping warm. She's grown efficient in taking care of the small urges no thanks to this tower taking away her trusted partner, but also as a result due to the cold. What better way to keep yourself warm? While most others might seek out a partner to curl up alongside during the chill of winter, Rin found that in doing so, they exposed themselves to vulnerabilities she can't exactly afford in this place. With another person close to what she is walking around (frustratingly alive and well) and the place thick with Servants who are all too eager to live up to heroic part of their classification, Rin really can't take the risk of being weak.

Which is why the cold bothers her more than it should. Things inside of her squirm in unrest, urging her to seek out the comfort of another human being in all the ways that she should.

It sickens her to think of herself so frail.

Here in the library she's managed to keep herself from calling out to people. If she's sitting high in a public place, then there's no possibility she can let the facade down. All she can do is curl up in blankets with books nearby and read.

Something bothers her though. That Servant of her's... just where has he been this entire time?

With her eyes closed, she'll call for him through the link that only a Master and Servant shared. One of the utmost privacy, but more importantly, one where she can lower her guard just a little. Telling him to meet her here on this floor, in this specific corner, and to bring her an additional blanket.

Maybe if she's fortunate, he'll bring something other than a nutrition bar to snack on too. Tea sounds nice right about now... ]

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[ He bites at his lip. Her closeness makes him feel things he shouldn't. So he tells himself that he's imagining it. That she can't really be this close, and it's probably just his fever-skewed, vision-addled brain. The heat in his head subsides a little.

But the effort leaves him unable to resist saying more. ]

Why...? Well, that's obvious, Rin. It's because you don't really want to terrorize everyone and make them submit. You're not that bad.

You say that, but can you be confident in it?

[ Rin asks the most obvious thing. For someone who seems so unsure of himself right now, how can he be certain on that? ]

[ His voice is soft. ]

You stopped me from destroying that kid. I'm remembering right, aren't I? It was foolish, because if he were annihilated everything would be better...

But you still stopped me.

It would have done you no good to hurt him here, Archer. That boy... I don't know, but there's something about him that reminds me of you. Both of you are insistent on getting in my way, but I should remind you that death is meaningless in this tower.

[ Her hands find their way up and around his body in an attempt to hold him tightly. ]

I'll always be there to stop you.

[ She's holding him. A ragged breath of surprise escapes him. He's too weary to stop it. ]

I think...

[ He still can't remember, exactly. Everything is so unclear. ]

I think you always were. That's why I had to--

[ Why he had to what? He trails off, troubled. ]

Why you had to what?

[ This is an answer she needs the answer to, so she pries. Fingers digging into his flesh deeply, she doesn't relent in holding him dear. ]

Archer, what did you do?

[ The next breath that leaves him is laced with frustration. She can claw at him all she likes--it won't compare to the raking he's giving himself inside his own head. ]

I don't remember. That's your fault, you know.

My fault?

[ Her voice turns sour at that. ] What did I ever do to you? Well, besides stop you from hurting that one boy, but you told me that I saved a stupid boy once. I thought if I did that again, it'd be alright.

I just wanted--!! [ To be more like the girl he once knew. That's all. ]

Edited 2013-01-03 12:27 (UTC)

It's not that.

[ For a moment, his voice gentles. ]

It's all right. I should have expected you to save that kid. You always do things like that.

[ She always stops him when he wants to destroy himself. He doesn't know how he's sure of this, but he knows it's true. ]

No, this is something else. Back home, you summoned me wrong. It got worse when I came here. My memories aren't clear.

I didn't summon you wrong. You're the one who's screwed up, so don't place the fault on me!

[ Quickly she dives in to defend herself in another world. ]

Ha--!

[ Suddenly, he starts to laugh. Underneath her touch, his sides shake. For a few moments, he'd managed clarity, but suddenly it seems like he's lapsing back into his foggy near-hysteria.

He opens his eyes so that he can look at her, and not the bloodied things that haunt him beyond. ]

Hahaha. You've admitted it, Rin...

You've admitted you're still that girl.

I didn't admit anything!

[ One of those hands no longer grazes his side in favor of raising a fist towards the side of his head. ]

I didn't admit anything at all! I didn't admit anything of that sort so quit trying to make me become someone I'm not!

[ He just grins at that fist. ]

Well, I don't need to make you do anything like that, since you'll just do it yourself if the time is right. I'll wait for that, at your side.

Since I am your Servant.

I'll not do it just to defy you. Hope you're ready for a lifetime of being proven wrong, Archer.

[ Forcing her head back in against his chest, she'll mutter the rest of her insults into the hardened material between his flesh and her mouth. ]

S-Stupid Archer.

I'm used to lifetimes like that. I don't think you have the kind of heart that would make me experience one again.

[ The weariness and the illness make him confident. They also make it easier for him to dismiss the feel of her head on his chest as just another hallucination--she can't possibly really be doing that. ]

Shows what you know about me. You can stop acting as though you can guess my every move now that you've been proven wrong yet again.

[ Nope, not lifting her head from his chest. B-A-K-A, etc. ]

[ Since it's only a hallucination, it's okay if he rests a hand on her shoulder, right? He'll just do that. She's solid, and warm, and not bleeding or dying. He needs to feel that right now, even if it's strange to touch someone like that. ]

It wouldn't be interesting if I could guess every move, I think.

It would make things too easy, I'll admit.

[ Her shoulder sinks under the weight of his hand, but she doesn't pull away from the action. ]

Nothing's ever been easy.

Would you want an easy life?

[ His voice is soft, wearied from his struggle with the visions. ]

Edited 2013-01-05 23:29 (UTC)

[ All he gets in response to that is a nod of her head. She can't even bring herself to say that's exactly what she wants. Hard work is nice, but she's been struggling for so long that she can't even close her eyes and relax when near a knight who will protect her. ]

[ His eyelids flutter open just in time for him to see that nod. ]

Yeah...?

[ Something about that makes him angry. Where is her spark? Where is the girl who will fight and fight just to win?

But he's too tired out to question her on that now. So he says only one thing. ]

I see. I'll give it to you, sooner or later.

Don't tell anyone.

[ It's more of a plea than a demand, but the fire in her eyes has long since been snuffed out. ]

It can, it can be our secret. Something we can share together that no one has to know about. Just like me taking good care of you.

[ And he realizes: her eyes are blank and empty like his. There should be a spark in them. There should be a blaze in them. ]

...I wonder if this is another hallucination.

My Master, admitting that she doesn't want to fight.

[ His voice is unsteady again, and his hand on her shoulder starts to draw her closer against him. His other hand touches her waist, as if by pulling her close he could breathe the fight back into her.

But at the last moment, his body and mind rebels. She's too solid to be a vision. That means he's pulling a real live human being close to hold them. And that can't be. That can't happen. He lets go of her too quickly and lets his hands fall to his sides again.

And he remembers to close his eyes once more. ]

I won't breathe a word of it.

[ Bliss. That's how it feels whenever he touches her that way and it makes her think that she's capable of having someone there who cares for her. Her uncle does, but he never reaches out to hold her. Her parents did so long ago, but then she became this monster too unrecognizable to be loved by those who brought her into this world.

Not even Lancer held her like he would a lover. He had a wife back in his time and only she was worthy of that; to him, Rin was another maiden to lay in bed beside and nothing more.

There's a spark that struggles to burn brightly when his hand graces her waist. All she needs is for someone to blow a little on the flame and it would ignite in a way she never thought possible. That's all she can think about until the cold brushes against the parts he's left exposed.

Not even this man who believes in her truly being good can hold her.

The shackles form again and drag her through the depths of agonizing despair. Just like before she can't breathe without swallowing hard, but at least he gives her that promise. He breaks the promise of an easy life just to promise he won't tell anyone she wants it to be that way. ]

Mm, of course. Do you need me to get anything for you?

No.

[ There's nothing she can give him that she isn't already giving him. Her body near his, reminding him what's a vision and what's real. That's enough right now. ]

This isn't bad.

[ But that's the only way he can thank her. ]

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[ 04 ] ✿✿ [ Closed ]

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