Rin's efforts to take charge only ended up with a sword pointing straight at her face.
Geez, what a psycho- I was only making sure the group had leadership, no need to shove a sword in my face. She was about to say something, but before she could hardly even react, the darkened Archer had made his trademark twin swords manifest, and gracefully threw them just inches away from cutting off body parts, Kansho taking a bit of hair, Byakuya mere inches away from taking the tip of the half-demon's nose.
The blades were dismissed in a shower of crimson sparks before he moved to Rin's side again. "You should have shot a gandr in that bastard's face." Then he held out his hand to take her into his arms.
"You never even gave me a chance to try," she said with a smile. She was about to take his hand when Shuya responded to the corrupted bowman's challenge by giving him a heavy headbutt.
"Hey!" Rin turned to glare at the half demon.
Well, didn't get a chance to do this earlier, may as well try it now. Rin pointed her finger at Shuya and prepared to fire a
Gandr.
Rin wasn't the only one ready for battle, however. Rider had changed into her battle clothes as a precaution. However, any actions she could have taken were halted by Kiyoshi's angered attempt to defend his Auntie. However, Rider calmed the boy down, reassuring him that not only was she well defended, but that she could also defend herself, before turning to the half-demon.
"I know that Rin's attitude can be grating sometimes. I've had to live with it for 30 years."
Archer chucked. "So she hasn't changed for thirty years. Why doesn't that shock me?"
Rin just glared at him.
"But, that does not give you the right to threaten her in that manner," Rider continued. "If you don't want to take her orders, then just ignore her. It's not like she can enforce it. But, if you start making threats like that again, then I'll be joining a very long queue of people waiting to beat the shit out of you.
Understand?"
***
"She seems alright. Plus she's my Landlady now, it'd be stupid of me to raise too many objections about her." Mille's eyes hardened with determination. "And I'll manage. I got a bit of rest, so I should be more stable now. I just miscalculated how much prana I used is all. I'd be a terrible magus if I let a little bit of exhaustion stop me." She turned to see the burgeoning conflict and sighed. "Looks like you need to put me down anyway. Those three morons are already fighting amongst themselves. Team Asshole indeed."
***
"Sounds about right." Finn gave Forest a warm smile. "You seem like real good people. I know Mille'll be safe in your hands."
"Oh
please. I can take care of myself just fine. Stop using me as an excuse to flirt with the pretty vampire and actually do something
useful, would you?"
Finn rubbed the back his neck. "Eh heh... Well, I should probably get over with my group. I'm sure... Isa was it? I'm sure Isa would appreciate it if we get moving to find her sis-" Before he could finish, however, the racket from the commotion coming from the rest of his team reached his ears, and he turned to see what was going on. He winced.
Ho boy, looks like we're off to kinda a rough start. Whelp, time to make myself useful. The young freelancer ran over to where the others were fighting. Mille eyes widened as she watched him go. "That's not what I meant at all! Wait you idiot! Come back! You're just going to get yourself killed!"
Finn forced himself between the three. Even realizing what a precarious position he was in at the moment, he still kept on a friendly, calm expression. "Alright, come on now, that's enough. I know things are getting off on the wrong foot, but we need to try and get along long enough to get those sisters back together."
Trying to remember what little he gathered from overhearing, he turned to Shuya first. "Look, I get why Miss Tohsaka's attempt at takin' charge rub ya the wrong way, even if I don't think she meant anything by it. But we'll work together as equals, I assure ya of that. Just get through this long enough to help the girl out, and I'll buy ya a drink later. Sound fair?"
Next he turned to Dark Archer. "I don't blame ya not being too happy about him attacking your girl. But if you keep retaliating, that's just gonna make this drag on. The sooner we get this done, the sooner you don't have to worry about him threatening Miss Tohsaka anymore."
Finally, he turned to Rin. "I know you meant well, and I certainly wouldn't mind having ya as a leader. But it looks like that isn't going to work out, at least with our friend here still around. I don't think his reaction is right, but we need to work together if we wanna get this done."
Rin put down her finger and sighed. "I get what you're saying, but it's not my fault if he can't handle anything."
"Please? For Isa?" He gave her a smile that could charm birds out of trees, his eyes so full of warmth and sincerity that it nearly made Rin want to gag.
Rin groaned and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Oh
fine. But only because we have more important things to do than bicker."
Kiyoshi, then trotted back over to her side.
"Are you OK, Aunty Rin?" he asked.
Rin sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's going to take more than some creep to take me down." She grinned. "Your Auntie's pretty tough, you know. Both strong and elegant. That's the Tohsaka way."
The normal Archer smiled. "Indeed, your Aunt is quite strong, Kiyoshi." It changed into a smirk. "Though I don't necessarily know about
elegant..."
Rin forced a smile on her face.
Calm, elegant. Calm, elegant. Calm, elegant... "Ha ha ha, oh Archer, you kidder. That's just his way of saying you have the best Aunt in the whole wide world."
"If you keep telling yourself that enough times Rin, it might have a small chance of coming true."
She smiled sweetly back at him. "And I'm sure he's looking forward to all the cookies Uncle Archer is going to be making him. Because Uncle Archer would never turn down a special request from a special nephew, not when he knows it'll make him sad." Rin's smile gained a wicked edge. "Because Uncle Archer knows what will happen if he makes his special nephew
sad, now doesn't he?"
Archer sighed, now resigned to his fate of baking dozens upon dozens of cookies. Especially since he knew when Hakuno finally got wind of it, she'd fully endorse the endeavor 100%.
Truly, she is the Red Devil... ***
For the most part, Archer had kept his mouth shut for a great deal of the goings on, either because he hadn't gotten the chance to respond, someone else had stepped in to resolve the issue, or he simply had little to do with the situation.
Things seemed to be going... somewhat less disastrously, but then Rin's far more irritating far taller look-alike spoke up. She apparently didn't like them too much, and honestly Archer couldn't care less. One less thing he had to deal with, as far as he was concerned. However, Forest understandably had a retort of her own, and his darker counterpart had this to say:
"Well, nice to know in some dimension that Rin and I failed as parents and brought up some stuck up bitch."
Rin herself blinked in surprise before it finally sunk in. "Wait... she- she's
ours?! B-but that, how, why.
Her?!"
"Honestly, I'm not surprised that it didn't sink in. The philosophy she said her father stated doesn't sound like something I'd endorse, let alone teach my child. Plus the general denial. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if the 'me' in whatever universe our 'daughter' wasn't really me at all."
Then things took a turn for the worse. The girl heard what Forest said and launched into a tirade in response.
Honestly, if some version of me does somehow manage to have a child with Rin, I hope to all hell she doesn't end up like this brat. He rubbed his temples. "You didn't hear a word I said. I told you, the man your brother defended from me tried to kill my Master,
an innocent girl, in cold blood just to stop a fight that wasn't even likely to happen. I know for a fact that that man's killed others with the same reasoning. I threatened him not only because of that, but because I don't want his stupidity getting anyone else killed. But in spite of your brother's hypocrisy, the main sticking point is, like Rin mentioned, that he threatened to do it in front of my Master, the very same girl who almost
died thanks to that very man your brother defended. He had no right involving her."
Archer glared at her. "I'm not about to say that I'm proud of my accomplishments, no. I won't even say I'm not a coward in some ways. But it was your brother's choice to involve himself. I could have responded to his provocation, but I didn't. If anyone is the coward, it's your brother. If he wanted to deal with me, he should have dealt with
me. My Master had nothing to do with it, and the fact that he threatened to make her watch my death for something I did entirely of my own volition is beyond cowardly. And now he hides in a castle, not even having the guts to challenge Rider face to face, issuing threats behind a woman that isn't even there. Who's the true coward, then?"
He sighed. "Also, you clearly have no respect for your elders, your comments to Forest were out of line and petty, and you somehow manage to make your 'mother' look saintly in comparison, which is quite an accomplishment."
"Hey! She's 50% yours too, you know!"
The bowman smirked. "Ah, but her father clearly isn't me, not truly. Which means she couldn't have inherited much from me. Clearly she's mostly yours."
"I can think of at least one thing she inherited from you," Rin muttered.
Archer laughed. "Give me some credit, I did say you're a far better person than she is. Not even you could produce someone
that bad."
Rin gave a lopsided smile. "I guess you couldn't produce someone that bad either. Even you aren't
that horrible."
"Look, we get it, your tsundere for each other, would you just get a room already!" Mille stood there for a bit after her outburst, and then turned as red as a beet. In her opinion, no proper magus outside of Japan should know what "tsundere" means. "T-though I guess I can't blame you for reacting that way about that stuck up, self righteous witch at least." She turned to Forest. "You're a vampire right? Honestly, after what she threatened you with, I think you're in your full rights to bite her. I don't think anyone would mind if you did, either."