"Seems like someone is jealous." Archer's whisper in Rin's ear made her shudder a bit in delight, but his actual words left her with conflicting feelings. Like with what he had said earlier, hearing her former Servant praise her abilities like this felt... rather good. Almost intoxicatingly good, as a matter of fact. On the other hand, she did feel a bit bad for the girl. It wasn't enough to stop the somewhat smug pride that welled up inside her, but it did stymie it somewhat. Nonetheless, Rin decided the best course of action was to keep her mouth shut. The Garrison girl had enough of a grudge against her as it was.
However, it seemed Archer wasn't done with the girl just yet. "That accent, I'd wager you're an American, aren't you?" He said this with a bit of a smirk, his arms folded across his chest once more.
The question itself was harmless enough, but Archer's tone suggested otherwise. Mille frowned a bit at that and nodded. "Yeah, I am. What's it to you?"
Lancer cut in again with a snort. "Again, don't listen to him lass."
But then feeling in the air shifted. Lancer sniffed the air, prompting Archer to lower his arms and look in that direction. Rin saw what the two were looking at, and noticed the rifle. Quietly, she began to focus prana into her finger, preparing to fire a
Gandr if need be.
"He's armed," Lancer said, a wolfish grin crossing his face.
Archer said, "I doubt he'll be much challenge to the great Hound of Ulster." He met the Celt's gaze and asked, "Want to invite him over?"
Lancer shrugged and called out, "Oy, if you're going to gawk at us, at least have the stones to do it in our faces."
Finn didn't mind a bit of excitement, but he couldn't help but admit that these weren't quite the circumstances he was looking for. The two men seemed more than happy to rip him to shreds, and seemed more than capable of doing so, and the Japanese girl close by, who he recognised to be Rin Tohsaka, seemed to be going on the offense as well. The girl that he thought was Mille hadn't cleared him yet either- so far she was just looking at him, her expression managing both to be confused and grumpy as she regarded him. The only one of the group that he couldn't tell the intentions of yet was-
"He's not hostile." And with that, Finn's question was answered. So at least one of them could tell he meant no harm, rifle or no rifle. With his finger pointing at the teenaged redhead, the little familiar continued. "He smells like her and wants to talk to Birdie."
The air seemed to grow thick and heavy as an equally heavy silence followed the familiar's words. The two girls in particular seemed dumbfounded.
Wait, smells like her? thought Rin.
Then, that has to mean-Oh no. Oh great.
I thought
that idiot looked all too familiar! Mille begrudgingly spoke up. "Yeah, from what I can tell, the familiar's right." She glared at the young man. "That moron's my brother. You don't have to worry about him attacking us, not even he's that stupid."
Rin looked over at Mille in amazement.
Is she like this to just about everyone?!
If this really is her brother, I think I have more than a few questions I want to ask him later. Finn, breathing a sigh of relief, gave an oddly cheerful wave for just being insulted and threatened with his life. "Hey there. Sorry about not coming over and saying 'hello' good and proper, but with this baby over my shoulder, I didn't know how friendly the reception would be. Either way though, it's my bad. Let's do this the proper way then."
With that, Finn walked closer to the group, taking care to appear as nonthreatening as possible. Once he was close enough, he carefully placed his rifle on the ground, hoping it'd make his intentions clear. With that, he straightened himself back up and gave the group a genuine smile. "Name's Finn Garrison. Like the little guy here said, I'm just here to see Mille."
He rubbed the back of his neck a bit. "Well, assuming this is Mille for sure. I saw this girl flying in the sky and thought it looked just like her, so I came here to see for myself. It's been a fair few years since my family and I've seen her, so I got curious."
Mille's frown deepened. "Yeah, it's me. Don't know what the hell you're doing here or how you got here, but well, here I am. So what do you want with me?"
Finn blinked. "I wanted to make sure you were OK," the young man said. "We haven't seen ya for seven years. Mom and Dad were a bit worried about ya. So I just wanted to see how you were doing."
"I mailed them letters saying I was ok. That should be the end of that. And I'm doing fine on my own. I don't need you patronizing me about going to the Clock Tower. I can handle myself, I don't need my big brother trying to baby me."
Rin, a bit flabbergasted, decided that now was perhaps the time to speak up. "Um, sorry to interrupt, but are you maybe looking for a room too? That seems to be happening a lot tonight."
Finn, finding himself oddly grateful for the interruption but still not satisfied, turned to Rin. "Miss Rin Tohsaka, right? I'm not with the Association, but I've heard a thing or two about you. Hear you're pretty good at what you do. Could probably give my sister a run for her money, talented as she is." With that, he gave said little sister a wink. That only served to make her glower at him, almost seeming as if she were trying to make him catch on fire just by glaring at him long enough. Finn winced a bit, affable as he was- he wasn't aiming to insult his sister, and yet he seemed to have pressed a button of some sort. She'd always been a bit of a pistol, but something seemed off...
Clearing his throat a bit, Finn continued. "So ah... well, I hadn't given it much thought until now, just arriving here and all, but yeah, I wouldn't mind a place to stay." He blushed a little bit. "And well, a safe place to store my rifle too. Whatever made me cross over left me without my rifle case, which is why I'm carrying it over my shoulder. I was in the middle of a job when I came here. I normally try to help take care of various creepy crawlies for a living. Things were business as usual when somehow, next thing I knew, I ended up here." He gave Rin a charming smile. "So yeah, if you know a place I could hit the sack and get my gun up and out of the way so that the wrong hands don't mess with it, I'd appreciate it."
"Yes, I'm sure there's a place for you to stay. Far away from here." Mille was still glaring at her brother. "I'm sure the Landlady's kindness only goes so far, especially towards someone carrying a loaded gun, even if said someone is a harmless idiot like you."
Rin decided she'd had enough. She addressed the young man with a polite smile. "Actually, as long as you're able to earn your keep, I'm sure you could get a room here. This place just so happens to be a large apartment complex. You'll still have to speak to the Landlady in person of course, but I'm sure you'll be able to work something out with her."
Ignoring his little sister's searing glare, Finn's expression brightened further. "Sounds good to me! So then, who's do I talk to about this stuff until the Landlady herself shows up?"