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[swordboning]

...you've reached Archer. Leave a message and if it's suitable, I'll get back to you.

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[swordboning]

[At his own restaurant was probably the best place to find him. Now that he was back, he was all about keeping up his schedule. Mostly to keep his mind off things that had happened. No, he wasn't happy about any of it at all.]

That happens to be my name, yes.

[faithfulflame]

[Well, his schedule had best include dealing with this one, she's not one to leave anyone suffering out to dry.]

I'm aware. [A beat.] You've been missing for days. I have a feeling I know where you've been. Is there an enemy at work, or was it CERES?

[swordboning]

Can't you say that both are one in the same most of the time?

[It seemed like it to Archer. Difficult to think of a time where CERES couldn't be considered a foe.]

[faithfulflame]

Most of the time, yes. But there are any number of dangers here that aren't CERES, and the potential for enemies arriving from home as well. Was it a robot that killed you, Archer, or something else?

[Let's just stop beating around the bush.]

[swordboning]

A little from column A and a little from column B. It's not exactly as clear cut as you're making it out to be.

[faithfulflame]

Then tell me what's going on.

[swordboning]

To make a long story short, the robot killed Rin and took her Command Seals. When I refused to go for her romantic advances, she ordered me to kill myself.

[faithfulflame]

[Rei's eyes widen for a half second...going through some of the implications of all that. The psychic trauma alone...]

I didn't know a machine could take those seals. Or that such a command was even possible.

[A beat.]

You won't want to hear it, but I am sorry.

[swordboning]

You're right in that I don't want to hear it.

[Archer hates pity.]

But I also don't know what to do.

[faithfulflame]

[That is a first. Rei takes a seat.]

How so?

[swordboning]

Think about it. If someone who sported the face you care for ordered you to kill yourself, how would you feel? On top of that, I failed Rin in the first place, which is why she ended up being killed.

[faithfulflame]

[It's not a great comparison. One Senshi can't order another to do anything. They don't work like that. But she lifts her shoulders up and down in a sighing shrug.]

I don't know if you failed her. Those machines acted unpredictably. But I can see why you'd think that, and why you'd have difficulty facing her at the moment.

[swordboning]

I should have known it would have ended like it did to start with. When hasn't something in this place given a bad ending?

[faithfulflame]

You couldn't have known it would be so aggressively. Not everything ends this bad.

[swordboning]

I should have expected it though. I've lived most of my life expecting the worst only to fail here.

[faithfulflame]

Are you precognitive?

[swordboning]

To a level but in a non-supernatural way.

[He'd give an explanation if she wanted to hear it.]

[faithfulflame]

Then there's no way you could have known exactly what was happening. I'm precognitive, and I didn't either. As you're so very fond of pointing out, nobody is perfect.

[swordboning]

I chose to get rid of my machine before I activated it. I should have done the same to Rin's. That much can't be just discarded from my mind.

[faithfulflame]

No, it can't, but you couldn't have known. I didn't know what mine would do either, after all.

[swordboning]

Not knowing it entirely doesn't feel like it absolves anything. It more feels like an excuse.

[faithfulflame]

Except that it isn't. You know full well that the situation was beyond your control. You aren't a god, you aren't omniscient, and you're bound to obey commands given.

How does Tohsaka-san feel about it?

[swordboning]

I may be able to predict how things will go based on my past experiences but I can't read minds. I don't know how she feels.

[faithfulflame]

Have you talked to her?

[swordboning]

Not about this specific thing but it wouldn't do any good. She's as evasive as I am. Even more so since she doesn't mind lying about things involving herself.