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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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[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.

[faithfulflame]

And how is she holding up? Death is traumatic. I know...better than most.

[swordboning]

Ask her yourself. You'll get a full understanding of the situation then.

[Namely, Rin won't tell the truth on how she's feeling.]

[faithfulflame]

It's not my place. I don't know her.

[And she hasn't spoken to the girl since she came back.]

[swordboning]

Exactly. That's how Rin treats most of anyone. Including myself right now.

[faithfulflame]

That's not really what I mean, Archer. We've never said more than ten words to one another because by all counts, and I don't intend to change that without prompting. We have nothing in common except for you, really. But if she's treating you differently, that's a bad sign.

If you need a place to stay and recooperate, you can use my...spare bedroom

[She almost said Ami's room...but catches herself.]