SO AS I PRAY

       since i’m starting to get the ball rolling here....

         My, would that she had been another so sensitive to allow such words to prick at her skin. Cocking her head, the blonde contemplated her reflection upon the glass window; gloved hand reaching up and sooner resting upon her mirror image. Disgruntled? Perhaps, though none stood to blame for her current disposition, in a sense. She had mastered many a thing in her lifetimes yet the manner in which to conceal an ill mood was not one of them; more so when she found herself to be…sulking.

      All the same, a trademark (albeit rather dry) smirk twinged lightly upon her lips at his statement, but Kiss-Shot bore no grudge on that score; rather the lack of proper conduct seemed oddly endearing–so would such insolence be overlooked in light of her mood. She merely hummed in amused affirmation to his outspoken inquiry, amber gaze to drift low and away from the venue before her to make the climb of her company’s person.

        “Charming, aren’t thee? If we art to toss about the very first thing to tug at our clever tongue, then alloweth us moveth down the list and blame thy presence, instead, boy.”

       From her initial reaction alone would his mind dub her as strange. Normally his words were one to entice anger. In fact it was his goal to chip away at people’s reserves to gain a flare out of them. A strange hobby that he placed on himself in order to further distance from the boy he used to be. 

                                               Weird.

       He wasn’t sure to find joy in her return or distaste in the ruining of his game. At present he could only put himself on guard against one who battled him back in whits. Insult for insult. This was something he deserved on some level he knew. “If not for your loitering upon the premises we’d both have been spared an unpleasant sight.” None the less it wouldn’t stop him from continuing what he started.       

She noticed the crease, but could not tell if it was in confusion or familiarity. Did he remember? Perhaps further recollection would be triggered if she instead asked him by name but he, or rather the he she knew, had no name to be asked for. A Nameless Hero of Justice. Archer was just the red Archer as far as anyone was concerned.

She nodded, holding up her left hand with her now defunct and solely decorative Command Spells. “Yes, I am, though I have no Servant as of now.” She paused, then the words flowed from her almost automatically.

“Were you my Servant, Hero of Justice?”

         There is an awkwardness between them that he cannot explain. She is hesitant in her mannerisms and in turn hopeful with her words. They are the actions of one who searches. An intrusive nature that falls short at his feet as he does not have the ability to appease her needs.

         For a moment he forgets it is but a girl that addresses him. Steel eyes growing as cold as the blades they resemble towards the Hero of Justice remark. While an old wound it still bleeds fresh within him. A chapter in his life that will never be closed. “No I am not yours.” He is quick to dismiss her now. This brought to life between them as his arms cross defensively over his chest. “My Master, while a young girl, looked nothing like you.” She was bold, rash, but above all else bursting forth with an unchallenged confidence.

Saber: Here, take my jacket.

Rin: I'm cold too.

She’s had run ins with people she thought she recognized before; passing resemblances, familiar auras, but this was definite. The man she witnesses here today is definitely the Nameless Archer. She would never forget one of her Servants (maybe even her original Servant? Her memories were still fuzzy on that detail).

Did he recognize her? Was it possible for him to, for this to be the same summoning that knew her? The way he looked at her seemed to imply at least some familiarity.

“Hakuno Kishinami, hello!” She paused. “This might sound strange but…by any chance, do you go by Archer?”

       The calling of her name only gains a crease in his brow in return. It is as if there are memories which linger, words on the tip of his tongue, that are unable to be brought to life. At the very least she does not bring forth a feeling of hostility in him which is rare enough.

       And then there is the call to him...

      “So you are a Master. I suppose that is of no surprise.”