application @ discedo
OOC Information
Name: Dana
LJ: lovexamination
Contact: lastend @ plurk
Characters played at Discedo: (fem) Japan | Axis Powers Nyotalia | nihonna
IC Information
Name: Archer
Canon: Fate/Stay Night
Timeline: Unlimited Blade Works route, post-day 10.
Canon Resource Link: @ TYPE-MOON wiki
Personality: One thing that stands out about Archer upon first glance is that he's a very enigmatic man who is frequently more than a little confusing and nearly impossible to understand. Although on one hand he may seem to be a man with a serious, silent demeanor, resembling that of a cold-blooded warrior, that first impression is quick to melt away once he opens his mouth. Only when the atmosphere and the situation is serious and he has a reason to does he act that way; and even in those situations, that doesn't last for long. Generally, Archer is a very laid-back, calm and composed man who carries an indifferent, relaxed and somewhat carefree attitude towards life and everything in it. He's honest, straightforward, doesn't pull punches, and doesn't mind saying what he thinks- which isn't really always a good thing. To be blunt, Archer is a jerk. He's a man with a quick, sharp tongue whose speech generally consists of sarcastic, snarky remarks, mockery and insults, all varying in levels of subtlety, some indirect and some horribly direct, and he's completley shameless and doesn't hesitate to insult someone straight to their face. He has the time of his life making fun of people and treats everyone in his surroundings with absolute disrespect. The fact that he delivers it all in a calm, casual, nonchalant tone of voice without hesitation just brings it out further. As a result, Archer is a constant source of frustration, irritation and annoyance towards everyone he knows, being someone who knows exactly how to get under your skin, frequently does it very much on purpose and has a hell lot of fun with it, while being hard to get back at because of his indifferent attitude. In other words, he is what you can call a troll. It says a lot that Rin's first impression of him about a second after summoning him and after he opens his mouth is "This guy has a twisted personality" and that he manages to rile her up within the space of a few seconds.
Still, there's far, far more to him than that. First off, Archer is in no way a social man; he’s incredibly solitary and puts up a well-guarded front, rarely speaking about himself or his feelings and sometimes coming across as distant; he’s the sort of man who’d rather watch from afar instead of involve himself directly, but he will do so and act when he needs to. When he isn’t a snarky, sarcastic jerk his normal demeanor is that of a serious and quiet person, unless he has anything to say or a reason to do anything; once again, it's once he opens his mouth and the situation isn't serious enough for him to hold back that his personality shows itself in full. However, once you get to know him and becomes closer to him, which may be a bit difficult but not impossible-it becomes apparent that he’s not really as much as a bad person as he seems. For such an amazingly rude guy he’s equally capable of being polite in some situations and he even apologizes for being rude to Rin and acknowledges his mistake in a totally honest way-- though he doesn’t treat her any better otherwise; he still makes fun of her as much as earlier, and during the prologue, which is narrated from her point of view, in scenes where she interacts with him Rin switches back in her narration between liking him a little bit and disliking him, thinking things such as ‘he’s actually a pretty good guy’ one moment ‘he has a twisted personality after all’ the next, thinking good things about him and taking them back a second later. Archer can easily flip between being the jerk he normally is to showing a more strangely softer and even likeable side, depending on the situation-but it shows a lot more around those who know him better and who he is to some degree close with.
Additionally, for someone who normally carries an aura of a serious, intimidating older man, he's actually surprisingly pretty immature when you get down to it. In her narration, Rin describes his behavior as seeming childlike and pure at one point despite carrying an "offensive air". Archer has a side like that to him- he can behave in surprisingly childish ways and this contrasts so greatly with his usual behavior it's can be very strange and confusing, and yet strangely endearing and even likeable once you understand the motivations behind his actions when he shows this side. Still, one eventually gets used to the contrast- and the same goes to Archer himself, as he's the sort of person who needs getting used to- and eventually one can clearly understand that he’s definitely not what he initially appears to be. It takes a certain kind of person to tolerate him enough to grow to get to know him and get to see the different sides to him, but once you do it becomes clear that there's so much more under the surface and that the surface itself may not be genuine. It's never really made clear if Archer's outer personality is a mask or not, although it's likely to be faked to a certain extent, if not entirely- and perhaps it was originally a mask that eventually became his real self after many years of wearing it. Still, Archer may continue being a troll even towards the people he's close with or likes, but when he feels that way towards a person, when the time comes, he won't hesitate to show it and actually be very kind, sometimes more straightforwardly and sometimes in his own weird, special way. One needs patience, tolerance, and the ability to see beyond his outer personality, to appreciate and recognize the subtle and less obvious things that mean a lot more than they initially appear, to slowly get to know and understand Archer, and then get to see what he is underneath for themselves.
Still, to truly understand him it takes more than that. Because even underneath this, there is far, fare more buried; and it's all much more complex and it's what Archer hides and closes up from nearly everyone, a side of him that's directly rooted to his backstory and origins. The thing about Archer is that when he's not driving you insane with being a jerk and getting under your skin, he's confusing the hell out of you. Archer is a very enigmatic man who is often very difficult to read, whose true thoughts and feelings can be nearly impossible to discern when he wants them to be, whose behavior and personality can contradict itself and make no sense at all, whose speech can be incredibly cryptic and vague at certain times, and in general is the kind of guy who's just impossible to get. It certainly isn't helped by how nobody has the slightest idea or can ever figure out which heroic spirit he is, either-- though there's an excellent reason for that, and that being his mysterious true identity and origins. Still, just as Archer is solitary man, he is also incredibly secretive. He doesn't talk about himself, he keeps quite a large amount of secrets and keeps a lot of things to himself. He even lies to protect those secrets at times, even if he's normally honest, and he would lie without hesitation.
In fact, despite having a honest personality at the core, during the right times he wouldn't hesitate to use trickery or manipulation either; he has proven himself to be quite capable of it when necessary, if in a subtle way, and he wouldn't hesitate to switch sides, backstab- or even pretend to do any of these things- if he believes that he needs to. It's not like he is the sort of guy that likes being a bad person just for a heck of it, trolling and teasing aside; his alignment in-story is Neutral for a reason as it's what he truly is to the core. He doesn't care about anything else other than himself, his goals and wishes and the things that pertain to him personally. He's not necessarily a bad person either, but he's purely self-serving and selfish while in no way deliberately cruel or malicious. He takes no pleasure or enjoyment in cruelty nor kindness and doesn't make it a goal or strive for either. Again, he's completley neutral. When it comes to his goals and the things he needs to accomplish, he shows an absolute, unwavering determination to accomplish them- and he's the sort of man who believes that the ends justify the means, who knows that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. (In fact, in his case, earnestly, honestly good intentions are precisely what landed him in hell- though this has nothing to do with it.) Coldly calculating and logical in many cases, Archer is someone who simply does what he has to do or believes he has to do, suppressing all his emotions and personal feelings to reach an objective conclusion, to determine the best course of action and to get the best possible result. He is a man who would do anything for the sake of getting to his goal, regardless of what it may be.
❝A hero's pride, huh? ...Man, everyone says the same thing. Even Caster had such a ridiculous thing. What good is honor once you're dead? I honestly can't understand how you people think.❞
So if he needs to use immoral means, so be it. And if he needs to get his hands dirty? If he has to stoop really low, be underhanded and do disgraceful things? So be it. He already killed more people than he can remember for the sake of saving other people in the past. Though, he wouldn't kill unless needed, he wouldn't do anything unnecessary- only what he needs to do, but he's deeply cynical in his mindset in worldview, the main reason he and Shirou get along so badly, and is perfectly ready to do hurt others and make sacrifices if that's what it takes, and ridicules and looks down upon those who think otherwise. He essentially relies on nothing but planning, calculation and reason. Archer is a man who doesn't have any pride- he sees it as worthless and looks down upon it, but the thing is that he has no pride not just as a heroic spirit, but not as a a person of a human being, and if it's honor before reason for some, it's always reason and his goals before anything else for Archer. Not having any pride is actually also the reason he's a troll who's difficult to troll right back in the same way, and why he insults so easily while being difficult to insult back; there's not a lot you can say that can get to a guy like that, and he's nearly impossible to offend. Although it actually takes surprisingly little to get to him through other ways, once you learn to push the right buttons- by doing things to surprise and shock him, doing or saying things that he deems stupid or illogical, or by just confusing him. He reacts with a lot of shock when he hears about how Rin isn't participating in the War to get the Holy Grail and grant her wish with it; similarly, when she uses her command spell to get him to obey her, which gets him to yell at her for doing something reckless, and later earns Rin a lecture and explanation on precisely what she just did. In other words, Archer is weak against unexpected things, much like his Master.
And even past that there's much more to him. The core of this man, his origin and identity, what he hides and keeps a secret above anything else, is the key to understanding him. Time and life experiences can change people quite a bit, and Archer is a prime example of the extent to which these two things can change a person or even make one completley unrecognizable from their former self. Because, Archer wasn't always the person he is right now. In fact, in the past he was someone painfully, completley different. His true identity is that of a future version of the main character of the series himself. What he used to be, what his origins are, is a boy named Shirou Emiya; a naive and reckless but genuinely good, kind-hearted person who wanted to become a hero that can save everyone- a boy whose biggest wish was to save and help people and to see everyone in his sight safe and happy; a boy who, more than anything, didn't want to see anyone cry. Who held on tightly to his ideals, stubbornly, without letting go or loosening or weakening his grasp not the slightest bit and who had no sense of self, who could only live through others, who couldn't make his own happiness and didn't know how to make fun, incapable of being selfish, placing no worth on his own life or on himself, always putting others on the top of his priorities, always willing to sacrifice himself-- in other words, a boy who was far too selfless for his own good.
Yes, he certainly made quite a drastic change since then and made a very nice 180 degree turn from what he used to be. But that is a result of believing in his ideals, pursuing his dream restlessly, running down the path he chose without stopping, without looking down or hesitating- and being betrayed by everything he believed in; his ideal, his very path, everything he wanted to protect. Jaded and hardened and broken more and more by experiences over the years, this is how Shirou Emiya became such a completley different person. Within the story, Archer plays the role of a foil to the character in question before his true identity is revealed, being the same person as him and his complete opposite in so many ways. In his eyes what changed is that he opened his eyes and understood, realized his mistakes and how wrong he was- but only after learning the hard way. In his eyes, that his ideal was useless and wrong, paradoxical and a contradiction that amounted to nothing; that his dream was impossible, unachievable, and he never truly made it come true ever once; doing the right thing never paid off; no good deed ever went unpunished; it never resulted in him gaining anything; all he received in exchange was regrets, for being so foolishly naive- this is what he believes.
❝This is his memory. The reason he changed so much. I can see bits and pieces of what will happen to Emiya Shirou in the future.
I don't know if it was correct or not. Nobody will be able to determine that. The beautiful things were ugly and the ugly things were beautiful. There was nothing disgusting, once you look at it objectively. So why is there such a deviation? Those are what he saw the most.
…But still. It seems he did not care. There was an ideal and an oath he had to protect. He did not care what he lost to do so. Even when he was betrayed, he believed there would be a next time if he did not betray himself. He did not show grief or pain. He is like a cold-blooded machine to others. He was a convenient existence, so he was conveniently used. He was only a tool in other people's eyes.
But the machine had an ideal it wanted to protect, so it accepted its role as a convenient tool. It's not something to go around proclaiming. The more he kills and the more he is unable to save, the less he can talk about his ideal. The only thing left for him is to obstinately protect his ideal until the very end. And the result… the ideal Emiya Shirou dreamed of has never been accomplished, and he found out that it's just nonsense dreamed by a fool who is only a nuisance to others.❞
What he truly is, deep down, is a broken man who carries on his shoulders a lot of baggage, on a mental and emotional level, from his past, from everything that happened, from everything he saw; he's described as a worn-out-corpse, and that may well be what he truly is after all that happened. He is already dead, after all- and like a ghost, he has has nothing but endless regret over everything that happened, everything he did, when he was alive, and the one and only person who he truly carries hatred, resentment, and anger towards- is himself. And that is only one of the reasons he's so willing to kill himself, just to cause a huge time paradox to remove himself from existence- it might not to anything, it might not have any effect, it might have such a tine change of succeeding, and even the possibility that he might be able to try was close to zero, more or less a miracle- but in his desperation to escape the hell he's in it was the only thing that kept him going. To him, it was his only hope and the only faint, dim light within the darkness. So when he confronts Shirou and they fight, it's not surprising that he puts that mouth of his to good use, not just letting all that out-- all the feelings of regret and anger towards himself that have piled up over the years-- but criticizing and completley deconstructing Shirou to his very core. And there's nobody who would be better than him, who probably knows Shirou better than Shirou himself does. And the fact that he even launched such a lecture and criticism, and in the middle directly acknowledges that in the end it's himself he's angry at, himself that he's aiming this at, by switching from saying "you" to "I" and directly talking about himself- says a lot. Rin described Shirou as someone who hates himself more than anyone, and the years haven't changed that.
Difficult as it may be to believe that Archer and Shirou Emiya are the same person, even if from different timelines and worlds at first, it certainly does make sense when one thinks about it a bit after finding out about Archer's past and what happened to him. More than that, however, is that there still certainly remains a part of him, deep inside that is Shirou Emiya. It's his origin and the person he used to be, and it has never truly disappeared, even if it may be deeply hidden and is barely recognizable. His snark and sarcasm and honest frankness did not come out of nowhere- Shirou would probably be much like him if he weren't so polite and so much of a nice, friendly guy. This is shown in one scene where he and Shirou interact before Shirou knows about his identity and they argue in an extremely childish manner- both of them insulting the other and speaking quite similarly. It's something that one doesn't notice until finding out that they're the same person, but even their speech patterns have small, subtle similarities- and it's shown that Shirous's domestic tendencies haven't disappeared either. In other words, despite all the time that passed and all that happened, he is still a housewife deep down as he used to be. In the prologue, while he is annoyed at Rin's first order being to clean up the mess he made in the room he was summoned in, by the next morning it's clean and spotless as though there was never a mess to begin with (because he seemed to actually feel a bit bad about making that mess, even if it was due to his botched summoning, though he of course didn't show it at all, but it just further shows that part of his past personality still remains). And not only that, he cleans up the kitchen and offers Rin a drink, then makes her such delicious tea that Rin is amazed and impressed. Of course, once he notices how much she likes it, he makes sure to use it to make fun of her because he's Archer.
Still, there's a double meaning to this-- the fact that a part of him that's still Shirou still remains also means that Shirou's altruistic good-heartedness, kindness and selflessness, which may have been buried and trampled over and broken and shaken by everything Archer went through and by Archer himself- yet barely recognizable shreds still remain of it. Throughout Fate he acts as a strange sort of mentor and helper towards Shirou, giving him advice (disguised as his usual insults and snark), he sacrifices himself without hesitation to help Rin, Shirou and Saber escape by fighting off Berserker- but not before killing him six times, taking out six out of his twelve lives in the process-- and does it calmly, following Rin's reluctant order to keep him busy so they can escape and only responding to it with 'You don't mind if I beat him up, right?' and even in Unlimited Blade Works, his own route, following his fight with Shirou, he pushes him out of the way when Gilgamesh attacks him and takes the attack for himself- the attack that meant getting impaled and stabbed by a whole bunch of very real swords, more than once, and yet he endures it, and this is after already getting stabbed by Shirou once; later, he disappears and hides and pretends to have died, only to appear at the very end and pretty much save the day and help everyone, saving Rin and Shirou at the very last moment when they both need help most- but not before giving Shirou the confidence he needed to defeat Gilgamesh; the fact that he assured Shirou that he can do it ended up saving them. It says a lot that Archer helped Shirou this much and saved his life- considering that Shirou is the very person who he was trying to kill all this time and whom the goal of killing has pretty much been the only thing that kept him going for a very long time- not to mention that he was just trying to kill him a second ago. Although Archer is yet to experience this character development, he has the potential for it. Another example of this sort of behavior is when in another route, when Shirou loses his arm, Archer, about to die, arranges for his own arm to be taken from his corpse and be transplanted to Shirou to replace it. It ends up turning into an extremely dangerous weapon that ends up leaving Shirou braindead by the end of the route and killing him from overuse (he gets better in the True End, though) but at the same time, it also saves him and helps him more than once.
He's not someone who can't stand losing, and as a man who has no pride, he is anything but a petty sore loser. He is perfectly and easily capable of acknowledging and accepting defeat and admitting to his own mistakes and doings things like not only apologizing but completley switching his attitude towards something without any shame or awkwardness due to past issues. Like Shirou, he's very straightforward and honest at heart- he's not the type who beats around the bush. And, by the end of Unlimited Blade Works he is reminded by Shirou of the dream has has abandoned and disregarded as foolish, futile and hopeless, finds a sort of salvation in saving Rin and Shirou and doing what he did- and goes back to his hell smiling, for the first time really bringing out and showing that part of him that's Shirou. When he says his last words, his hair is down and makes him much more recognizable as Shirou even in appearance; he refers to Rin as "Tohsaka" again, the same way Shirou does, and speaks in a tone that's exactly like his. So that is proof that at least the side of him that's Shirou hasn't been completley lost. He is not a man that has no hope; perhaps that's also to show how he really is Shirou in origin. This restless, unrelenting determination and refusal to ever truly give up or surrender is another trait remaining from Shirou.
So to sum up- Archer is seemingly nothing but a jerk, but his true nature is that of a cynical, bitter, hardened and jaded version of Emiya Shirou filled with nothing but regrets, essentially a product of everything he went through. He is the sort of person who at his core is genuinely good, but not nice. He has serious issues, and is broken and cracked, but not beyond help or salvation- even if the sort of salvation he currently seeks is to kill his own past self and cause a time paradox-, and there are parts of him that can still be fixed even if he himself cannot be put back together.
Powers & Abilities: Archer is a Servant. More clarification on what that means here- but essentially, it means he's an incredibly powerful magical being, as well as a Heroic Spirit of the Counter Guardian type. This means being capable of feats that cannot be comprehended by humans but only by other Servants and magical beings. In Archer's case, though, there's nothing much like that he's capable of besides his already present skills and abilities, listed below; he can detect magi, he has some extremely minor magic resistance, he can't be killed or defeated easily by a human or anything that's not a fellow Servant, but that is essentially it for his natural abilities or attributes as a Servant.
He has a few other skills, listed directly in the game;
Eye Of The Mind, Rank B: "Insight fostered by training. A "combat logic" that allows for calm analysis of the situation and the enemy's ability in spite of danger, and consideration of all possible actions in a particular situation. If there is even a 1% chance of a comeback, this ability greatly improves the chances of success."
Clairvoyance, Rank C: "Vision. Allows clear vision of distant targets, and improves body movement and vision." Though he cannot see through objects, from the right spot he would most likely have a good scope of most of, if not all of Demeleier.
Magic, Rank C-: "Knowledge of orthodox magic." Because Archer was a magus in life, most of his skills and fighting actually relies on his magic quite heavily; his knowledge of magic is actually quite limited, but he has trained and perfected the magic he does know, and through that he is able to use it to the extent he does.
His magic overall can be divided into three methods which he is able to use:
→ Strengthening Magic: Also known as reinforcement; it's essentially exactly as it sounds, as it takes an object and strengthens/reinforces it, improving its capabilities, increasing its effectiveness in a variety of ways, and he is even capable of using it on himself and his own body, thus improving his physical capabilities. When using it on objects, his own spin on this ability lies in analyzing and understanding structure and design of objects as if he were viewing a blueprint, and additionally, he can use this magic to chance the shape of an object; Shirou, who is his past self that is inexperienced with this magic, was able to make his bow out of a stick after a little bit of training, so it is unknown how much Archer's skills in this extend and what he would be able to do. This magic is actually his main and central ability as the other two aspects of his magic are essentially extensions of Strengthening.
→ Projection Magic: Simply put, magic that allows Archer to materialize objects out of thin air and create them out of nowhere- although that's only figuratively speaking since they're actually made out of magical energy, but it's essentially the same thing. Archer is capable of reproducing anything as long as he has personally seen it, even if just once; Archer's unique spin on this magic allows him to use it much better than normally, as he not only recreates the object's shape and appearance, but also its entire history and everything regarding its existence and creation, and as mentioned, he is capable of grasping its substance and structure merely from sight alone. He is the most skilled in this in regarding to reproducing weapons, sometimes his bow and arrow but usually swords, and most commonly uses this to project a pair of twin swords which are what he usually fights with.
→ Unlimited Blade Works: Titled "Infinite Sword Creation" because that it essentially what it is. A longer and better explanation is here, but to describe it in the most simplest of terms, Unlimited Blade Works is Archer's signature and special ability to materialize his mind within the form of an inner world placed inside a magical barrier, a special sort of ability called a Reality Marble within the Nasuverse. The inner world in question is an endlessly stretching field covered with endless swords, all created, projected by and belonging to Archer-- most likely every sword Archer has ever seen in his entire life that he is capable of recreating. He is actually able to use and fight with those swords- both by taking them out of the ground and actually fighting with them against someone one-on-one, but the method he usually prefers is using his magic to control those swords, raise them into the air, and "shoot" them at his enemy, effectively using them as arrows; a "rain" of swords, metaphorically speaking. Additionally, anyone he is fighting within the barrier have their abilities reduced to be equal to him. Finally, once he uses Unlimited Blade Works, he is able to bring out the swords from within it into the real world and use them the same way as his normal projections, thus allowing him to spend less magical energy then usually necessary for projection.
He also has a number of mundane, human, non-supernatural skills and abilities not related to his status as a Servant/heroic spirit; he's obviously skilled in both archery and in swordplay, and in general in battle, and one can assume that, since he's physically very fit, he has a well-trained body and that he's pretty strong and agile (seriously, look at those muscles, man). Last but not least, he's surprisingly adept at housework and chores, at things like cleaning, cooking and brewing tea and otherwise being a housewife... which is probably a lot less surprising once it's revealed that in life, he was someone who was a very skilled cook and would do chores around the house even as a kid (because his father refused to...)
What items will they be bringing with them to Discedo? His clothes...
Posting Samples
Third-Person Sample: Frankly, Archer had no time for this shit.
This was the annoyed thought that he kept repeating to himself as he walked through and explored this new and unfamiliar place he has supposedly been summoned to. Even though that didn't even make sense. If it had been at any other time, it would have, but right now, considering that he was contracted with a magus and in the middle of a Holy Grail War, he definitely should not have been summoned into another time to perform his duties as a Counter Guardian. Partly because he didn't want to. The good thing about the Holy Grail and being a Servant thing was, it was at least a temporary break from that duty. That part was nice. Besides, you know, the whole thing with it finally giving him a way to achieve his goal and do the whole killing Shirou Emiya thing. Yeah, that was pretty cool, he thought dryly, and the whole taking that chance away from him was not cool. He'll have to complain to someone about that later. At least talk to him and warn him before doing this stuff, damn it.
And as for this place- considering he was usually summoned to sites of disasters to clean up after the humans who made them, this definitely looked like somewhere he'd be summoned. The wasteland he arrived to looked like the result of not one disaster, thought, but several at most. Except... it seemed empty. A barren, empty wasteland devoid of life-- it made him think of that, and he was familiar with that scenery, wasn't he? Yes, it was the sort of scenery that he knew more than well indeed. His own mind was like that. The inner world created when he materialized it- only fitting for a person who was empty on the inside, like him.
He set these brief thoughts aside, however, or rather threw them away as though they were never there; focusing on the situation at hand was infinitely more important. So he concentrated on where he was. When he walked in deeper and looked closer- it looked far less devoid of life than his earlier impression told him. First off- while it was destroyed and looked like a very post-apocalyptic sort of scenery at first glance, for Archer, who was sensitive towards these sort of things- he could definitely feel traces of life here. Strangely, though, even though as a spirit, Archer was also sensitive to remnants of feelings left behind by the dead- he couldn't feel anything like that here. No, he felt as though he could sense-- far, far less than usual. Strange. No, it wasn't just that. Something definitely didn't feel right. Archer narrowed his eyes, to nobody in particular but to himself, and stopped walking. It was slightly risky, since it would potentially be a waste of magical energy if it would prove his suspicions wrong-- but he needed to test something. Within his mind, he conjured up an image of Kanshou and Bakuya, the twin swords he would so often use, and went through the standard procedure of Projecting them as he did over thousands of times, the process he was more familiar with than he was with his own left hand.
...Nothing. It wasn't just that nothing appeared in his hands. He felt cut off from something. Like his Magic Circuits just weren't working, no, as though they weren't there at all. Whatever it was, he ignored it for a while to mutter "Dammit." to himself, in what was a great understatement of his current feelings on this matter. Of all thing that had to happen... yet he remained calm, switching to a cold-blooded, calculating, logical man with a mind of steel as he often did in these situations. ...It felt far less effective then usual. Damn, he was slipping, it seems. Maybe he was just getting to old for this job. The fact that he still had no idea was the hell was going on didn't change, though. No, he was only more confused. With a sigh, it took a little thought for him to conclude that maybe he needs to talk to someone first. If there really is someone in this city-- he'll have to find, no, check and make sure that there was something resembling human population there. So, he walked deeper and deeper into the city-- not even taking notice of the communicator in his hand or bothering to wonder when the heck did it appear there.
It was only then when he decided to indulge himself for a little bit by thinking back, to his last memory before coming here. Shirou, Saber, and his last conversation with them. He frowned to himself and wondered if he should have just killed him right then and there. He's been planning it for so long- maybe if he had just done that, if he would have finally achieved this one goal, he could have avoided this, too. He was bluffing, of course, and didn't truly mean these thoughts; it would have been a reckless action. Not to mention that he couldn't have, with Saber there. Damn, that girl really has been getting attached to her Master. The same as what his last shreds of his memory from that time told him.
This will all make things difficult indeed. But he knew from the beginning it wouldn't be an easy goal to accomplish. But this goal was his only hope. It was everything, the only thing he had. And it had been what kept him going for a seemingly endless amount of time while he was stuck in one hell. Who's to say it couldn't serve the same purpose in other- or just here, should it need to? All in due time, he thought. He will kill that brat eventually, with his own hands, and finally, finally-- end this. It's the goal he has been striving towards for what seems like an eternity. There was no peaceful rest, no end for him in sight- unless he did that.
First-Person Sample: [ Considering that some serious shit has recently went down before he made this post, the person on the video feed seems pretty calm about the whole thing, like he couldn't care less about what he's talking about. ]
Well, that was that. It's what happened, it was unfortunate, but now it's all over, so get over yourselves and stop brooding. You're just wasting your time, and not to mention, it's completley pointless and will do more harm then good. Look, we want to get out of here, right? So morale is important. Sulking just lowers it. At least do it in private and don't bother anyone else with it, geez. [ Can he get any more of a jerk yes he can you haven't seen half of it, man ]
...Well, anyway, that's not what I'm here for. [ And at that, his expression changes completley to a much more serious one- the cold, calculating expression of a man focused on his goal and caring about nothing else. ] More importantly, I'd like to know a few things. What's the longest span of time anyone has been here? I'd like to find out when those kidnappings started and how long this has been going on. Judging from what I heard, this has been going on for at least a year, but there's no telling. So I'd like to speak with those who would consider themselves having been here for a long time. A year or more. I'd like for you to tell me everything you know about this place and all the information you've gathered about it in the time you've been here.
...Oh yeah, and one more thing. To all of you. If you see a red-haired, yellow-eyed idiot who calls himself Shirou around, talking about stuff like saving people and being a superhero, ignore him. That kid's not worth your time. You might see him accompanied by a girl with black hair and twintails wearing red and black who likes to yell at people and call them idiots. Especially him. Don't touch her. If you do anything to her I'll kill you. Anyway, that's all. [ and on that pleasant, cheerful and happy note filled with sunshine, rainbows and niceness, the feed ends! ]
Name: Dana
LJ: lovexamination
Contact: lastend @ plurk
Characters played at Discedo: (fem) Japan | Axis Powers Nyotalia | nihonna
IC Information
Name: Archer
Canon: Fate/Stay Night
Timeline: Unlimited Blade Works route, post-day 10.
Canon Resource Link: @ TYPE-MOON wiki
Personality: One thing that stands out about Archer upon first glance is that he's a very enigmatic man who is frequently more than a little confusing and nearly impossible to understand. Although on one hand he may seem to be a man with a serious, silent demeanor, resembling that of a cold-blooded warrior, that first impression is quick to melt away once he opens his mouth. Only when the atmosphere and the situation is serious and he has a reason to does he act that way; and even in those situations, that doesn't last for long. Generally, Archer is a very laid-back, calm and composed man who carries an indifferent, relaxed and somewhat carefree attitude towards life and everything in it. He's honest, straightforward, doesn't pull punches, and doesn't mind saying what he thinks- which isn't really always a good thing. To be blunt, Archer is a jerk. He's a man with a quick, sharp tongue whose speech generally consists of sarcastic, snarky remarks, mockery and insults, all varying in levels of subtlety, some indirect and some horribly direct, and he's completley shameless and doesn't hesitate to insult someone straight to their face. He has the time of his life making fun of people and treats everyone in his surroundings with absolute disrespect. The fact that he delivers it all in a calm, casual, nonchalant tone of voice without hesitation just brings it out further. As a result, Archer is a constant source of frustration, irritation and annoyance towards everyone he knows, being someone who knows exactly how to get under your skin, frequently does it very much on purpose and has a hell lot of fun with it, while being hard to get back at because of his indifferent attitude. In other words, he is what you can call a troll. It says a lot that Rin's first impression of him about a second after summoning him and after he opens his mouth is "This guy has a twisted personality" and that he manages to rile her up within the space of a few seconds.
Still, there's far, far more to him than that. First off, Archer is in no way a social man; he’s incredibly solitary and puts up a well-guarded front, rarely speaking about himself or his feelings and sometimes coming across as distant; he’s the sort of man who’d rather watch from afar instead of involve himself directly, but he will do so and act when he needs to. When he isn’t a snarky, sarcastic jerk his normal demeanor is that of a serious and quiet person, unless he has anything to say or a reason to do anything; once again, it's once he opens his mouth and the situation isn't serious enough for him to hold back that his personality shows itself in full. However, once you get to know him and becomes closer to him, which may be a bit difficult but not impossible-it becomes apparent that he’s not really as much as a bad person as he seems. For such an amazingly rude guy he’s equally capable of being polite in some situations and he even apologizes for being rude to Rin and acknowledges his mistake in a totally honest way-- though he doesn’t treat her any better otherwise; he still makes fun of her as much as earlier, and during the prologue, which is narrated from her point of view, in scenes where she interacts with him Rin switches back in her narration between liking him a little bit and disliking him, thinking things such as ‘he’s actually a pretty good guy’ one moment ‘he has a twisted personality after all’ the next, thinking good things about him and taking them back a second later. Archer can easily flip between being the jerk he normally is to showing a more strangely softer and even likeable side, depending on the situation-but it shows a lot more around those who know him better and who he is to some degree close with.
Additionally, for someone who normally carries an aura of a serious, intimidating older man, he's actually surprisingly pretty immature when you get down to it. In her narration, Rin describes his behavior as seeming childlike and pure at one point despite carrying an "offensive air". Archer has a side like that to him- he can behave in surprisingly childish ways and this contrasts so greatly with his usual behavior it's can be very strange and confusing, and yet strangely endearing and even likeable once you understand the motivations behind his actions when he shows this side. Still, one eventually gets used to the contrast- and the same goes to Archer himself, as he's the sort of person who needs getting used to- and eventually one can clearly understand that he’s definitely not what he initially appears to be. It takes a certain kind of person to tolerate him enough to grow to get to know him and get to see the different sides to him, but once you do it becomes clear that there's so much more under the surface and that the surface itself may not be genuine. It's never really made clear if Archer's outer personality is a mask or not, although it's likely to be faked to a certain extent, if not entirely- and perhaps it was originally a mask that eventually became his real self after many years of wearing it. Still, Archer may continue being a troll even towards the people he's close with or likes, but when he feels that way towards a person, when the time comes, he won't hesitate to show it and actually be very kind, sometimes more straightforwardly and sometimes in his own weird, special way. One needs patience, tolerance, and the ability to see beyond his outer personality, to appreciate and recognize the subtle and less obvious things that mean a lot more than they initially appear, to slowly get to know and understand Archer, and then get to see what he is underneath for themselves.
Still, to truly understand him it takes more than that. Because even underneath this, there is far, fare more buried; and it's all much more complex and it's what Archer hides and closes up from nearly everyone, a side of him that's directly rooted to his backstory and origins. The thing about Archer is that when he's not driving you insane with being a jerk and getting under your skin, he's confusing the hell out of you. Archer is a very enigmatic man who is often very difficult to read, whose true thoughts and feelings can be nearly impossible to discern when he wants them to be, whose behavior and personality can contradict itself and make no sense at all, whose speech can be incredibly cryptic and vague at certain times, and in general is the kind of guy who's just impossible to get. It certainly isn't helped by how nobody has the slightest idea or can ever figure out which heroic spirit he is, either-- though there's an excellent reason for that, and that being his mysterious true identity and origins. Still, just as Archer is solitary man, he is also incredibly secretive. He doesn't talk about himself, he keeps quite a large amount of secrets and keeps a lot of things to himself. He even lies to protect those secrets at times, even if he's normally honest, and he would lie without hesitation.
In fact, despite having a honest personality at the core, during the right times he wouldn't hesitate to use trickery or manipulation either; he has proven himself to be quite capable of it when necessary, if in a subtle way, and he wouldn't hesitate to switch sides, backstab- or even pretend to do any of these things- if he believes that he needs to. It's not like he is the sort of guy that likes being a bad person just for a heck of it, trolling and teasing aside; his alignment in-story is Neutral for a reason as it's what he truly is to the core. He doesn't care about anything else other than himself, his goals and wishes and the things that pertain to him personally. He's not necessarily a bad person either, but he's purely self-serving and selfish while in no way deliberately cruel or malicious. He takes no pleasure or enjoyment in cruelty nor kindness and doesn't make it a goal or strive for either. Again, he's completley neutral. When it comes to his goals and the things he needs to accomplish, he shows an absolute, unwavering determination to accomplish them- and he's the sort of man who believes that the ends justify the means, who knows that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. (In fact, in his case, earnestly, honestly good intentions are precisely what landed him in hell- though this has nothing to do with it.) Coldly calculating and logical in many cases, Archer is someone who simply does what he has to do or believes he has to do, suppressing all his emotions and personal feelings to reach an objective conclusion, to determine the best course of action and to get the best possible result. He is a man who would do anything for the sake of getting to his goal, regardless of what it may be.
❝A hero's pride, huh? ...Man, everyone says the same thing. Even Caster had such a ridiculous thing. What good is honor once you're dead? I honestly can't understand how you people think.❞
So if he needs to use immoral means, so be it. And if he needs to get his hands dirty? If he has to stoop really low, be underhanded and do disgraceful things? So be it. He already killed more people than he can remember for the sake of saving other people in the past. Though, he wouldn't kill unless needed, he wouldn't do anything unnecessary- only what he needs to do, but he's deeply cynical in his mindset in worldview, the main reason he and Shirou get along so badly, and is perfectly ready to do hurt others and make sacrifices if that's what it takes, and ridicules and looks down upon those who think otherwise. He essentially relies on nothing but planning, calculation and reason. Archer is a man who doesn't have any pride- he sees it as worthless and looks down upon it, but the thing is that he has no pride not just as a heroic spirit, but not as a a person of a human being, and if it's honor before reason for some, it's always reason and his goals before anything else for Archer. Not having any pride is actually also the reason he's a troll who's difficult to troll right back in the same way, and why he insults so easily while being difficult to insult back; there's not a lot you can say that can get to a guy like that, and he's nearly impossible to offend. Although it actually takes surprisingly little to get to him through other ways, once you learn to push the right buttons- by doing things to surprise and shock him, doing or saying things that he deems stupid or illogical, or by just confusing him. He reacts with a lot of shock when he hears about how Rin isn't participating in the War to get the Holy Grail and grant her wish with it; similarly, when she uses her command spell to get him to obey her, which gets him to yell at her for doing something reckless, and later earns Rin a lecture and explanation on precisely what she just did. In other words, Archer is weak against unexpected things, much like his Master.
And even past that there's much more to him. The core of this man, his origin and identity, what he hides and keeps a secret above anything else, is the key to understanding him. Time and life experiences can change people quite a bit, and Archer is a prime example of the extent to which these two things can change a person or even make one completley unrecognizable from their former self. Because, Archer wasn't always the person he is right now. In fact, in the past he was someone painfully, completley different. His true identity is that of a future version of the main character of the series himself. What he used to be, what his origins are, is a boy named Shirou Emiya; a naive and reckless but genuinely good, kind-hearted person who wanted to become a hero that can save everyone- a boy whose biggest wish was to save and help people and to see everyone in his sight safe and happy; a boy who, more than anything, didn't want to see anyone cry. Who held on tightly to his ideals, stubbornly, without letting go or loosening or weakening his grasp not the slightest bit and who had no sense of self, who could only live through others, who couldn't make his own happiness and didn't know how to make fun, incapable of being selfish, placing no worth on his own life or on himself, always putting others on the top of his priorities, always willing to sacrifice himself-- in other words, a boy who was far too selfless for his own good.
Yes, he certainly made quite a drastic change since then and made a very nice 180 degree turn from what he used to be. But that is a result of believing in his ideals, pursuing his dream restlessly, running down the path he chose without stopping, without looking down or hesitating- and being betrayed by everything he believed in; his ideal, his very path, everything he wanted to protect. Jaded and hardened and broken more and more by experiences over the years, this is how Shirou Emiya became such a completley different person. Within the story, Archer plays the role of a foil to the character in question before his true identity is revealed, being the same person as him and his complete opposite in so many ways. In his eyes what changed is that he opened his eyes and understood, realized his mistakes and how wrong he was- but only after learning the hard way. In his eyes, that his ideal was useless and wrong, paradoxical and a contradiction that amounted to nothing; that his dream was impossible, unachievable, and he never truly made it come true ever once; doing the right thing never paid off; no good deed ever went unpunished; it never resulted in him gaining anything; all he received in exchange was regrets, for being so foolishly naive- this is what he believes.
❝This is his memory. The reason he changed so much. I can see bits and pieces of what will happen to Emiya Shirou in the future.
I don't know if it was correct or not. Nobody will be able to determine that. The beautiful things were ugly and the ugly things were beautiful. There was nothing disgusting, once you look at it objectively. So why is there such a deviation? Those are what he saw the most.
…But still. It seems he did not care. There was an ideal and an oath he had to protect. He did not care what he lost to do so. Even when he was betrayed, he believed there would be a next time if he did not betray himself. He did not show grief or pain. He is like a cold-blooded machine to others. He was a convenient existence, so he was conveniently used. He was only a tool in other people's eyes.
But the machine had an ideal it wanted to protect, so it accepted its role as a convenient tool. It's not something to go around proclaiming. The more he kills and the more he is unable to save, the less he can talk about his ideal. The only thing left for him is to obstinately protect his ideal until the very end. And the result… the ideal Emiya Shirou dreamed of has never been accomplished, and he found out that it's just nonsense dreamed by a fool who is only a nuisance to others.❞
What he truly is, deep down, is a broken man who carries on his shoulders a lot of baggage, on a mental and emotional level, from his past, from everything that happened, from everything he saw; he's described as a worn-out-corpse, and that may well be what he truly is after all that happened. He is already dead, after all- and like a ghost, he has has nothing but endless regret over everything that happened, everything he did, when he was alive, and the one and only person who he truly carries hatred, resentment, and anger towards- is himself. And that is only one of the reasons he's so willing to kill himself, just to cause a huge time paradox to remove himself from existence- it might not to anything, it might not have any effect, it might have such a tine change of succeeding, and even the possibility that he might be able to try was close to zero, more or less a miracle- but in his desperation to escape the hell he's in it was the only thing that kept him going. To him, it was his only hope and the only faint, dim light within the darkness. So when he confronts Shirou and they fight, it's not surprising that he puts that mouth of his to good use, not just letting all that out-- all the feelings of regret and anger towards himself that have piled up over the years-- but criticizing and completley deconstructing Shirou to his very core. And there's nobody who would be better than him, who probably knows Shirou better than Shirou himself does. And the fact that he even launched such a lecture and criticism, and in the middle directly acknowledges that in the end it's himself he's angry at, himself that he's aiming this at, by switching from saying "you" to "I" and directly talking about himself- says a lot. Rin described Shirou as someone who hates himself more than anyone, and the years haven't changed that.
Difficult as it may be to believe that Archer and Shirou Emiya are the same person, even if from different timelines and worlds at first, it certainly does make sense when one thinks about it a bit after finding out about Archer's past and what happened to him. More than that, however, is that there still certainly remains a part of him, deep inside that is Shirou Emiya. It's his origin and the person he used to be, and it has never truly disappeared, even if it may be deeply hidden and is barely recognizable. His snark and sarcasm and honest frankness did not come out of nowhere- Shirou would probably be much like him if he weren't so polite and so much of a nice, friendly guy. This is shown in one scene where he and Shirou interact before Shirou knows about his identity and they argue in an extremely childish manner- both of them insulting the other and speaking quite similarly. It's something that one doesn't notice until finding out that they're the same person, but even their speech patterns have small, subtle similarities- and it's shown that Shirous's domestic tendencies haven't disappeared either. In other words, despite all the time that passed and all that happened, he is still a housewife deep down as he used to be. In the prologue, while he is annoyed at Rin's first order being to clean up the mess he made in the room he was summoned in, by the next morning it's clean and spotless as though there was never a mess to begin with (because he seemed to actually feel a bit bad about making that mess, even if it was due to his botched summoning, though he of course didn't show it at all, but it just further shows that part of his past personality still remains). And not only that, he cleans up the kitchen and offers Rin a drink, then makes her such delicious tea that Rin is amazed and impressed. Of course, once he notices how much she likes it, he makes sure to use it to make fun of her because he's Archer.
Still, there's a double meaning to this-- the fact that a part of him that's still Shirou still remains also means that Shirou's altruistic good-heartedness, kindness and selflessness, which may have been buried and trampled over and broken and shaken by everything Archer went through and by Archer himself- yet barely recognizable shreds still remain of it. Throughout Fate he acts as a strange sort of mentor and helper towards Shirou, giving him advice (disguised as his usual insults and snark), he sacrifices himself without hesitation to help Rin, Shirou and Saber escape by fighting off Berserker- but not before killing him six times, taking out six out of his twelve lives in the process-- and does it calmly, following Rin's reluctant order to keep him busy so they can escape and only responding to it with 'You don't mind if I beat him up, right?' and even in Unlimited Blade Works, his own route, following his fight with Shirou, he pushes him out of the way when Gilgamesh attacks him and takes the attack for himself- the attack that meant getting impaled and stabbed by a whole bunch of very real swords, more than once, and yet he endures it, and this is after already getting stabbed by Shirou once; later, he disappears and hides and pretends to have died, only to appear at the very end and pretty much save the day and help everyone, saving Rin and Shirou at the very last moment when they both need help most- but not before giving Shirou the confidence he needed to defeat Gilgamesh; the fact that he assured Shirou that he can do it ended up saving them. It says a lot that Archer helped Shirou this much and saved his life- considering that Shirou is the very person who he was trying to kill all this time and whom the goal of killing has pretty much been the only thing that kept him going for a very long time- not to mention that he was just trying to kill him a second ago. Although Archer is yet to experience this character development, he has the potential for it. Another example of this sort of behavior is when in another route, when Shirou loses his arm, Archer, about to die, arranges for his own arm to be taken from his corpse and be transplanted to Shirou to replace it. It ends up turning into an extremely dangerous weapon that ends up leaving Shirou braindead by the end of the route and killing him from overuse (he gets better in the True End, though) but at the same time, it also saves him and helps him more than once.
He's not someone who can't stand losing, and as a man who has no pride, he is anything but a petty sore loser. He is perfectly and easily capable of acknowledging and accepting defeat and admitting to his own mistakes and doings things like not only apologizing but completley switching his attitude towards something without any shame or awkwardness due to past issues. Like Shirou, he's very straightforward and honest at heart- he's not the type who beats around the bush. And, by the end of Unlimited Blade Works he is reminded by Shirou of the dream has has abandoned and disregarded as foolish, futile and hopeless, finds a sort of salvation in saving Rin and Shirou and doing what he did- and goes back to his hell smiling, for the first time really bringing out and showing that part of him that's Shirou. When he says his last words, his hair is down and makes him much more recognizable as Shirou even in appearance; he refers to Rin as "Tohsaka" again, the same way Shirou does, and speaks in a tone that's exactly like his. So that is proof that at least the side of him that's Shirou hasn't been completley lost. He is not a man that has no hope; perhaps that's also to show how he really is Shirou in origin. This restless, unrelenting determination and refusal to ever truly give up or surrender is another trait remaining from Shirou.
So to sum up- Archer is seemingly nothing but a jerk, but his true nature is that of a cynical, bitter, hardened and jaded version of Emiya Shirou filled with nothing but regrets, essentially a product of everything he went through. He is the sort of person who at his core is genuinely good, but not nice. He has serious issues, and is broken and cracked, but not beyond help or salvation- even if the sort of salvation he currently seeks is to kill his own past self and cause a time paradox-, and there are parts of him that can still be fixed even if he himself cannot be put back together.
Powers & Abilities: Archer is a Servant. More clarification on what that means here- but essentially, it means he's an incredibly powerful magical being, as well as a Heroic Spirit of the Counter Guardian type. This means being capable of feats that cannot be comprehended by humans but only by other Servants and magical beings. In Archer's case, though, there's nothing much like that he's capable of besides his already present skills and abilities, listed below; he can detect magi, he has some extremely minor magic resistance, he can't be killed or defeated easily by a human or anything that's not a fellow Servant, but that is essentially it for his natural abilities or attributes as a Servant.
He has a few other skills, listed directly in the game;
Eye Of The Mind, Rank B: "Insight fostered by training. A "combat logic" that allows for calm analysis of the situation and the enemy's ability in spite of danger, and consideration of all possible actions in a particular situation. If there is even a 1% chance of a comeback, this ability greatly improves the chances of success."
Clairvoyance, Rank C: "Vision. Allows clear vision of distant targets, and improves body movement and vision." Though he cannot see through objects, from the right spot he would most likely have a good scope of most of, if not all of Demeleier.
Magic, Rank C-: "Knowledge of orthodox magic." Because Archer was a magus in life, most of his skills and fighting actually relies on his magic quite heavily; his knowledge of magic is actually quite limited, but he has trained and perfected the magic he does know, and through that he is able to use it to the extent he does.
His magic overall can be divided into three methods which he is able to use:
→ Strengthening Magic: Also known as reinforcement; it's essentially exactly as it sounds, as it takes an object and strengthens/reinforces it, improving its capabilities, increasing its effectiveness in a variety of ways, and he is even capable of using it on himself and his own body, thus improving his physical capabilities. When using it on objects, his own spin on this ability lies in analyzing and understanding structure and design of objects as if he were viewing a blueprint, and additionally, he can use this magic to chance the shape of an object; Shirou, who is his past self that is inexperienced with this magic, was able to make his bow out of a stick after a little bit of training, so it is unknown how much Archer's skills in this extend and what he would be able to do. This magic is actually his main and central ability as the other two aspects of his magic are essentially extensions of Strengthening.
→ Projection Magic: Simply put, magic that allows Archer to materialize objects out of thin air and create them out of nowhere- although that's only figuratively speaking since they're actually made out of magical energy, but it's essentially the same thing. Archer is capable of reproducing anything as long as he has personally seen it, even if just once; Archer's unique spin on this magic allows him to use it much better than normally, as he not only recreates the object's shape and appearance, but also its entire history and everything regarding its existence and creation, and as mentioned, he is capable of grasping its substance and structure merely from sight alone. He is the most skilled in this in regarding to reproducing weapons, sometimes his bow and arrow but usually swords, and most commonly uses this to project a pair of twin swords which are what he usually fights with.
→ Unlimited Blade Works: Titled "Infinite Sword Creation" because that it essentially what it is. A longer and better explanation is here, but to describe it in the most simplest of terms, Unlimited Blade Works is Archer's signature and special ability to materialize his mind within the form of an inner world placed inside a magical barrier, a special sort of ability called a Reality Marble within the Nasuverse. The inner world in question is an endlessly stretching field covered with endless swords, all created, projected by and belonging to Archer-- most likely every sword Archer has ever seen in his entire life that he is capable of recreating. He is actually able to use and fight with those swords- both by taking them out of the ground and actually fighting with them against someone one-on-one, but the method he usually prefers is using his magic to control those swords, raise them into the air, and "shoot" them at his enemy, effectively using them as arrows; a "rain" of swords, metaphorically speaking. Additionally, anyone he is fighting within the barrier have their abilities reduced to be equal to him. Finally, once he uses Unlimited Blade Works, he is able to bring out the swords from within it into the real world and use them the same way as his normal projections, thus allowing him to spend less magical energy then usually necessary for projection.
He also has a number of mundane, human, non-supernatural skills and abilities not related to his status as a Servant/heroic spirit; he's obviously skilled in both archery and in swordplay, and in general in battle, and one can assume that, since he's physically very fit, he has a well-trained body and that he's pretty strong and agile (seriously, look at those muscles, man). Last but not least, he's surprisingly adept at housework and chores, at things like cleaning, cooking and brewing tea and otherwise being a housewife... which is probably a lot less surprising once it's revealed that in life, he was someone who was a very skilled cook and would do chores around the house even as a kid (because his father refused to...)
What items will they be bringing with them to Discedo? His clothes...
Posting Samples
Third-Person Sample: Frankly, Archer had no time for this shit.
This was the annoyed thought that he kept repeating to himself as he walked through and explored this new and unfamiliar place he has supposedly been summoned to. Even though that didn't even make sense. If it had been at any other time, it would have, but right now, considering that he was contracted with a magus and in the middle of a Holy Grail War, he definitely should not have been summoned into another time to perform his duties as a Counter Guardian. Partly because he didn't want to. The good thing about the Holy Grail and being a Servant thing was, it was at least a temporary break from that duty. That part was nice. Besides, you know, the whole thing with it finally giving him a way to achieve his goal and do the whole killing Shirou Emiya thing. Yeah, that was pretty cool, he thought dryly, and the whole taking that chance away from him was not cool. He'll have to complain to someone about that later. At least talk to him and warn him before doing this stuff, damn it.
And as for this place- considering he was usually summoned to sites of disasters to clean up after the humans who made them, this definitely looked like somewhere he'd be summoned. The wasteland he arrived to looked like the result of not one disaster, thought, but several at most. Except... it seemed empty. A barren, empty wasteland devoid of life-- it made him think of that, and he was familiar with that scenery, wasn't he? Yes, it was the sort of scenery that he knew more than well indeed. His own mind was like that. The inner world created when he materialized it- only fitting for a person who was empty on the inside, like him.
He set these brief thoughts aside, however, or rather threw them away as though they were never there; focusing on the situation at hand was infinitely more important. So he concentrated on where he was. When he walked in deeper and looked closer- it looked far less devoid of life than his earlier impression told him. First off- while it was destroyed and looked like a very post-apocalyptic sort of scenery at first glance, for Archer, who was sensitive towards these sort of things- he could definitely feel traces of life here. Strangely, though, even though as a spirit, Archer was also sensitive to remnants of feelings left behind by the dead- he couldn't feel anything like that here. No, he felt as though he could sense-- far, far less than usual. Strange. No, it wasn't just that. Something definitely didn't feel right. Archer narrowed his eyes, to nobody in particular but to himself, and stopped walking. It was slightly risky, since it would potentially be a waste of magical energy if it would prove his suspicions wrong-- but he needed to test something. Within his mind, he conjured up an image of Kanshou and Bakuya, the twin swords he would so often use, and went through the standard procedure of Projecting them as he did over thousands of times, the process he was more familiar with than he was with his own left hand.
...Nothing. It wasn't just that nothing appeared in his hands. He felt cut off from something. Like his Magic Circuits just weren't working, no, as though they weren't there at all. Whatever it was, he ignored it for a while to mutter "Dammit." to himself, in what was a great understatement of his current feelings on this matter. Of all thing that had to happen... yet he remained calm, switching to a cold-blooded, calculating, logical man with a mind of steel as he often did in these situations. ...It felt far less effective then usual. Damn, he was slipping, it seems. Maybe he was just getting to old for this job. The fact that he still had no idea was the hell was going on didn't change, though. No, he was only more confused. With a sigh, it took a little thought for him to conclude that maybe he needs to talk to someone first. If there really is someone in this city-- he'll have to find, no, check and make sure that there was something resembling human population there. So, he walked deeper and deeper into the city-- not even taking notice of the communicator in his hand or bothering to wonder when the heck did it appear there.
It was only then when he decided to indulge himself for a little bit by thinking back, to his last memory before coming here. Shirou, Saber, and his last conversation with them. He frowned to himself and wondered if he should have just killed him right then and there. He's been planning it for so long- maybe if he had just done that, if he would have finally achieved this one goal, he could have avoided this, too. He was bluffing, of course, and didn't truly mean these thoughts; it would have been a reckless action. Not to mention that he couldn't have, with Saber there. Damn, that girl really has been getting attached to her Master. The same as what his last shreds of his memory from that time told him.
This will all make things difficult indeed. But he knew from the beginning it wouldn't be an easy goal to accomplish. But this goal was his only hope. It was everything, the only thing he had. And it had been what kept him going for a seemingly endless amount of time while he was stuck in one hell. Who's to say it couldn't serve the same purpose in other- or just here, should it need to? All in due time, he thought. He will kill that brat eventually, with his own hands, and finally, finally-- end this. It's the goal he has been striving towards for what seems like an eternity. There was no peaceful rest, no end for him in sight- unless he did that.
First-Person Sample: [ Considering that some serious shit has recently went down before he made this post, the person on the video feed seems pretty calm about the whole thing, like he couldn't care less about what he's talking about. ]
Well, that was that. It's what happened, it was unfortunate, but now it's all over, so get over yourselves and stop brooding. You're just wasting your time, and not to mention, it's completley pointless and will do more harm then good. Look, we want to get out of here, right? So morale is important. Sulking just lowers it. At least do it in private and don't bother anyone else with it, geez. [ Can he get any more of a jerk yes he can you haven't seen half of it, man ]
...Well, anyway, that's not what I'm here for. [ And at that, his expression changes completley to a much more serious one- the cold, calculating expression of a man focused on his goal and caring about nothing else. ] More importantly, I'd like to know a few things. What's the longest span of time anyone has been here? I'd like to find out when those kidnappings started and how long this has been going on. Judging from what I heard, this has been going on for at least a year, but there's no telling. So I'd like to speak with those who would consider themselves having been here for a long time. A year or more. I'd like for you to tell me everything you know about this place and all the information you've gathered about it in the time you've been here.
...Oh yeah, and one more thing. To all of you. If you see a red-haired, yellow-eyed idiot who calls himself Shirou around, talking about stuff like saving people and being a superhero, ignore him. That kid's not worth your time. You might see him accompanied by a girl with black hair and twintails wearing red and black who likes to yell at people and call them idiots. Especially him. Don't touch her. If you do anything to her I'll kill you. Anyway, that's all. [ and on that pleasant, cheerful and happy note filled with sunshine, rainbows and niceness, the feed ends! ]