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What do you do for work when you need extra money?

[He asks quietly but confidently, without pause. Today he isn't as cheerful at the last time he made a post. He's still worn out, but somehow he looks even more exhausted than he did before. He's scruffy, and there's something about him that seems haunted and hollowed-out despite the mild-mannered calm in his voice.

He's pulling his coat on as he talks, and heading out from his room into the hall.]

What's given freely is good, but it doesn't count for luxuries, so--

[Once in the hall he stops, looking confused. He turns around to look at his door: number 307 in Sigyn's Welcome Hall.]

...It moved.

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...

[He sighs, running a hand down his face. This is getting ridiculous, particularly when they're now just doors apart.

He heads over to 302 and, after a moment of calming his breath, knocks.]

[He cracks the door open, only slightly.]

I was curious. That's all.

[Are we done here now?]

[If it's open enough to get his fingers in and pull, he will. No words for you yet, though.]

[The door swings open a quarter of the way before he puts his foot in the door's path and holds his ground. Turns out that corporeal bodies, while occasionally convenient, are a terrible detriment to one's ability to be stealthy.]

Do you mind?

Yes.

[He refuses to budge and lets out an exasperated sigh. At the moment he has little to say to Kiritsugu and little desire to be dragged into conversation.]

And how long do you plan to keep prying at this door?

[Kiritsugu is angry. He is, in fact, at the end of his rope. He doesn't want to waste time on things like this, he just wants to establish their relationship or lack thereof right now, so it's good and done with. As far as he knows they're going to end up enemies, so it's better to rip off the bandaid.

Thus, he pulls out his gun.]

[The surprise on his face lasts for a moment before fading into a smug, amused sort of grin. He's undaunted, of course, this isn't the first time he's had a gun pointed at his face, far from it, and unlike the countless incidents before this, he's not entirely certain Kiritsugu would have the resolve to pull the trigger.

Archer knows he doesn't remember enough of his father, it's one of the first things he'll admit about his dealings with Kiritsugu - with that in mind, and the barrel of a gun not far from his face, perhaps it was hasty to assume that idealistic foolishness went completely hand in hand with complete naivety.]

I have a feeling you won't have any reason to be in my room if you shoot me. Are you certain this is the best way to persuade me?

I'd rather not do this in the hall.

[His heart aches. It's been broken a thousand times, but it's breaking again now, though he keeps a calm expression. If Archer intends to stand between him and doing what he has to do, he'll shoot him. He'll kill him, and if he comes back he'll disable him. Of course, to destroy the last "family" he has may just destroy the last of his sanity as well, but that's a sacrifice he's willing to make.

This place is ugly. This situation is ugly. He knows he won't be able to save anything in the end. Still, if he doesn't try he'll be giving up, and he won't be able to survive like that. He has to keep struggling or he'll drown in his own self-loathing.]

[While he's somewhat impressed at the armaments, he can't help but wonder if Kiritsugu is overreacting, just a bit. While he doesn't move, he wears a considering expression]

No, I'd imagine that would be a pain in the neck to clean up.

Shi-- ...Archer. Let me in and talk to me.

...Did you really need a gun to ask me that?

[He moves aside, reluctantly. "Talking." Ha.]

Don't forget to take off your shoes. And the gun.

Edited 2013-01-29 10:10 (UTC)

[Sorry, he is going to keep both the gun and the shoes, only coming in so far as to close the door behind him.]

Whether I need it depends on you.

[He doesn't say a word, simply casts a disapproving glare down at Kiritsugu's shoes before turning his pants pockets inside out and holding both hands up. It's subtly mocking, but it gets the point across, he'd like to think - why the hell are you waving a gun aroundstill?]

...You say you have no interest in what happens to me beyond "curiosity". You resent the ideals you inherited from me, and think little of people. And yet you keep sticking your nose into what I'm doing and discouraging me from "heroics". I will tell you right now that even if it's fruitless, I will try to protect, if not "all worlds" as the gods say, this one. If you're going to stand between me and that attempt-- If you're going to encourage the destruction of everything, being my son won't stop me from killing you.

[There it is. That foolish, steadfast dedication, the exact brand that he saw from Emiya Shirou, something that refuses to be stamped out of existence. The difference is that Emiya Kiritsugu is not a child, naive and untested as Shirou was. Archer can only guess that Kiritsugu has lived through the consequences of his decisions and his ideals, and while his own mistakes couldn't number Archer's own, they must have dealt the same blows and left the same marks.]

...I don't doubt that.

[He doesn't know what to do in the face of it - the hole Emiya Shirou put in his chest was testament enough to that. To continue believing something that has betrayed you time and time again is senseless, it flies in the face of everything Archer has seen and felt, and stupid as it all is, it speaks to some time-tested mettle that he, perhaps, abandoned.]

Fortunately for you, there won't be a reason to shoot me.

Explain, please.

[The wounds Kiritsugu's ideals have left on him are deep, wide and still open. His heart is more crack than solid piece by now, but he can't stop. He knows it's stupid. He knows what he can and can't accomplish. It's just that he has to keep moving, or else what is there? It's as Iri once told him -- if he turns his back on the world, he'll end his own existence. Be it literally or figuratively, giving up on saving something would be killing "Emiya Kiritsugu", and so he can't. He has to pick himself up over and over, no matter how agonizing it is.]

If you're so determined to stay your course, then there's little I can do to deter you.

[He leans back against the wall, arms folded, pockets still turned inside out.]

That said, the least I can do for you is concede before your shooting me becomes another one of your regrets.

It's the only course I can take.

[He's upset with Archer, but it's still his son. Even if they can't see eye to eye, he'll try to be at least a little bit open with him about it all.]

I can't say that's the first time I've heard that. Even so--

[And then a pointed stare at Kerry's shoes]

That course should involve taking off your shoes.

Edited 2013-01-30 09:50 (UTC)

[Well, if they were friends and he was staying awhile he'd take his shoes off. But that's not how it is, right? Archer's just being sarcastic to pick at him, right? Or is there a serious miscommunication going on?

He slowly lowers his gun, watching Archer like he expects him to jump at him at any moment.]

You don't want me to stay.

Not if you're going to be tracking dirt everywhere.

[His room is the closest to "messy" that he'll ever let it get. There's a bow, arrows, and a short sword stashed carefully in the corner, and next to them a laundry basket with clothes carefully folded inside. There are stacks of books on the table, pens and pencils, and open notebooks with what looks like notes on runes. Also a small tea pot, two tea cups (one upside down, unused), and an electric kettle.

Was the kettle taken from the communal kitchen?

> Yes
No

Does he care?
Yes
> No

Almost reflexively, he closes the notebooks, stacks them up carefully, and arranges the pens and pencils on the table.]

[To put it bluntly: Archer's mixed signals suck.

And yet Kiritsugu takes his shoes off as requested. Maybe he really did get it all wrong...]

[He opens the kettle lid for a moment, checking for enough water for tea, then sets the water to boil and turns the unused cup over. He begins to reach for something else, then gives pause and eyes an empty spot on the table before standing and wandering to the bed to retrieve the box of tea there. (It had, an hour ago, been relocated there to afford more space on the table for notes) As he turns back to the table, he gives Kiritsugu a brief, somewhat expectant stare before tossing teabags into the teacups and waiting for the water to finish boiling.]

[He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know what this situation is anymore, or where they stand, or what Archer is thinking. He's not sure whether to let his guard down or not, and if he does whether he should be laughing or crying or cursing.

Thus he just stands there, though he does carefully set his gun down in the open.]

action you immature jackass;

action shut up you're not my real dad;

action wow rude;

action LOOK WHO'S TALKING?!;

action v PARENT, ^ CHILD, GO TO YOUR ROOM???;

action I'M IN MY ROOM YOU ARE OLD AND CRAZY;

action GROUNDED

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