Week 6 After Party(??)

[itsagazebo]

[Well... that was sure a thing.

A fucking terrifying thing, but a thing, nonetheless.

Eddie stokes the fire a little, trying to chase back some of the shadows creeping up on the circle. He might not be able to do much but he does his best to try to make it seem at least a little more comforting than it feels. He crosses to the woods and picks up a a bunch of long narrow sticks, bringing them back and setting them near enough to the fire for people to grab them if they want. Archer might be cooking in the kitchen, and he sure as shit isn't going to interrupt that to ask him for food, but he does sneak in just long enough to grab the makings for s'mores.

So there are now sticks, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate bars near the fire. He also snagged some of the blank paper and crayons Richie had been using to make drawings for the time-out shack, so if anyone feels like some art therapy, there ya go.

He can be found lighting a marshmallow on fire. He doesn't seem interested in eating it, though, since it looks like it's about to melt off the stick.]

Comments

[bladeisme]

...Because Shirou was my friend.

[He desperately wants to say something about Boa, but he thinks better of it.]

And I'm just...tired.

[soylentprotag]

[Mitsuru will find that a pack of crackers, some marshmallows and chocolate and an entire stick are getting dumped in his lap -- not so roughly that they start falling off, but Lenka is definitely pointedly putting food on their resident shitkitten right now. He'll stay standing behind them for now, but he will scruff somebody if needed.]

Mitsuru, you should eat something. Ichigo, it would probably help to talk to the others right now. They'll need you.

[His voice is quiet, but it's not quite a suggestion on either end.]

[killtheanimals]

[He looked about ready to say something pretty dang dismissive, so it's really for the best that he got caught off. He turns to look up at Lenka from his seat, unimpressed, but - fine, he gets it.]

Fine.

[Ichigo can talk with others if it bothers him.]

[soylentprotag]

[Eventually, once Ichigo heads out, Lenka will sit down and take some of the marshmallows and things for himself. He's still absolutely not mastered the art of roasting them, but no better time than the present, when they have some time to take here and regroup. Of course, everyone's idea of regrouping is different.]

... I still don't know how to make these properly. [Lance taught him the basic idea, but.. experience is still lacking] Mitsuru, it's all right to want to learn more. About Archer, about magic. Just remember that we're mourning, too. Keep your voice down.

[killtheanimals]

[He sets about preparing the marshmallow on his own stick, staring into the fire like a defiant child after a scolding, because he pretty much is.]

He can mourn on his own if that's what he wants.

[That's what Mitsuru had done. But he will obligingly keep his voice down.]

[soylentprotag]

[He'll just give him a half-smile, a little sad and somber, but appreciative that he's being quieter and listening. Ironically, it's always slightly more volatile after a trial, even when it's not one as contentious as last week's.]

That's not the way Ichigo does things. Just like the way you do things is different. [he and Mitsuru might be a little alike in funny ways, he thinks but doesn't voice] You want to see what you can take from it. How you can keep going.

Arguing with Ichigo won't get you that.

[killtheanimals]

He'd rather impose his presence on others.

[He says, without a shred of irony. Anyway, with the marshmallow secure, he holds out out to the fire, legs crossed.]

Archer definitely can't be trusted to want to help us in the same way Red does. But he may even understand things she doesn't - and that magic of his...

If we can capture details about it while it's fresh, we might be able to learn something.

[soylentprotag]

He's trying to help, but after an execution, it's hard to be clear-headed.

[That's his way of acknowledging that the argument was indeed two-sided, and also why he urged Ichigo to move on to others rather than sticking around. Sometimes, it's better to just remove everyone from an equation that's going nowhere good.

And he isn't going to explicitly say so, but executions includes Boa's, just by necessity. His marshmallow has been on the fire for a while and is starting to burn, but it hasn't caught fire yet, so that's an improvement. Maybe.]

Archer won't help us in the way that Red does. But there are ways he can help us, and ways that we can work with him. [he says that with a certain confidence] We should all try to understand him in the ways that we can. He told me that he deals with the end of the ritual, and the change in protocol Red and Stan wanted to request.

[So here's your nudge to go clamp onto Archer, bitty bulldog.]

[killtheanimals]

[Don't worry Lenka, there's plenty more globs of sugar for you to roast when this one ends up failed.]

I plan to talk to him more, myself.

[Already on it.]

It would be a waste not to, especially when Red is likely running out of information to give.

[soylentprotag]

[He almost smiles again -- it shouldn't be funny or amusing, really, the way Mitsuru approaches the world... but there's something both effective and hasty about the way he likes to just steamroll over everything and everyone. It isn't a good trait to indulge all the time... but it helps, when pointed correctly.

He should know.]

We'll count on you, then. Just be careful. He isn't as forgiving as Red.

[He's not entirely sure Archer will just stop at tossing them into lakes or drugging them, that is.]

[killtheanimals]

Neither of us are particularly interested in feelings, from what I've seen of him.

[Unlike Red and Blue and "maybe you should try to understand her."]

That's a lot easier for me to work with.

[soylentprotag]

I wouldn't say that's completely true.

[Archer doesn't make it as obvious as Red, or Shirou, for that matter. But his involvement in the last trial and his entire interaction with Shirou (and Red, when they see it)? Not exactly the pinnacle of impartiality. In that sense, he and Mitsuru might be a lot alike, after all. He never did say who it wasn't true for.]

But I do think you can work with him. Are you going to... ask him for magic tips?

[killtheanimals]

[He tilts his head slightly, eyes narrowing a bit.]

Which part?

[Are you trying to insult him here, this is important for him to know.]

...That seems like the best chance. He doesn't mind talking about it, at least.

[Other areas are potentially minefields that he has no insight, no counter for. Best to stick to what he knows and work from there.]

[soylentprotag]

The part about feelings. You're both human, even if he's... whatever he calls himself. A Counter Guardian.

[He's not actually trying to insult, just call out a bit, gosh. Also, have some Archer information, I guess, in case that's news.]

Oh. You've already gotten advice from him?

[That's almost surprising, but then again Lenka doesn't know the first thing about magic, so he wouldn't really know Archer's approach to it, either.]

[killtheanimals]

We don't really like to talk about them, at least.

[Even he could tell it was like pulling teeth during the trial.]

And yes - he gave me advice on controlling my magic, as well as casting faster. That was the first time he came with deliveries.

[soylentprotag]

[He dips his head a little, conceding the point. He's not much of a talker, himself, but even he does a bit more talking about feelings than those two. Very likely. Something of a feat.]

Shirou told me that... when he makes swords, it's not very efficient. Not with the way his magic works. Archer must have found some way around that. Some way of improving his magic.

[Not just some way around it, really -- this is more like smashing through a limit at full horsepower and bringing an entire parade along.]

[killtheanimals]

I can't imagine how much he would have needed to work to achieve that. Emiya's power was really pathetic even by Vision's standards, and no one there could do anything like what Archer did.

[soylentprotag]

Shirou is a hard worker. But...

[Lenka's not sure, how much hard work you could put in to make something like that world.

It had felt real even through the barrier, the arid wind and the shock of sword after sword after sword slashing through the air and the ground. He knows nothing of magic, but instinctively -- somewhere in the lizard brain -- he knows lethality and something vast and terrifying when it manifests itself around him.

That wasn't ordinary anything, never mind magic.]

Archer said that he was contracted to humanity's collective will to survive. I'm not sure what that means. But there might be something in this world that gives him that strength.

[killtheanimals]

So he's just receiving a boost that allows him to achieve it?

[Hmmm...]

Even so... I think he would have needed to train with it in some way to control it to that extent. Even if you're receiving extra power, you have to be able to control it.

[In his case, it came to him naturally, probably thanks to the goddess-given, magical equivalent of training-wheels.]