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[Hello Savrou, did you miss vague ~~shit~~posting about random questions? No? Here, have another! Only this one is with audio, and no odd name other than "Saber." Sadly, the man on the other side is somewhat unused to talking for deep or thought-provoking conversations. Someone help him.]

I have a question.

[...wait, he's supposed to ask everything at once on this thing. Right. This is... definitely not something he's used to. He starts again, trying not to sound too stiff.]

Do you have stories? [Uh. Hm. That still doesn't quite explain what he's looking for. Hang on, let him clarify.] By that I mean your worlds. Your homes. They could be recent, or from the past. Histories, legends. Fairytales. Any of those.

Do you remember any of them? What were they like? [Clearly, this isn't weird to ask anyone, right? It's normal? Siegfried has no idea what "normal" means. He's really bad at this.]

There were many, back in my home. Some faded over time, and others remained. It depended on where you lived or where you were from. [A beat, as if an afterthought:] And if you wanted to believe it or not, I suppose.

[IS THIS HOW YOU HOLD A CONVERSATION he hopes he's doing this right.]

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[The vague ~~shit~~posting must stop. Especially when they open with some variation on 'I have a question'.]

You would be hard-pressed to find any civilization that doesn't have at least an oral history. Or stories meant to teach some lesson or moral.

[The vague ~~shit~~posting will continue until morale improves.

There is a very audible pause here.]

That is true, though I would imagine it differs depending on the worlds we inhabit, and whether they're remembered at all in the first place.

[~~FUCK IT'LL GO ON FOREVER.~~]

Well I'll tell you right now, it's going to be hard for anybody to describe stories from their timeline that have been forgotten.

But you're right, stories will absolutely vary based on which timeline you're from. I imagine you've never heard of Ryan the Lion, for example.

[It's a good thing. Trust her.]

[~~THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS~~]

That's not- you're right, sorry. [The apology sounds very much like it's something he's used to saying.] What I meant was the different variations between the same kind of worlds.

[Is he going to elaborate? Probably not.]

I haven't. [And that surprises him, because he knows so many legends already simply from what he is. "Ryan the Lion" isn't anything even remotely familiar.] Is that one specific to your world?

Edited (HTML PLEASE...) 2017-08-03 21:35 (UTC)

[~~THAT'S IT, I'M TURNING THIS ARC AROUND.~~]

[He might not elaborate, but something about the phrasing pings her. Hard.]

Right. Constants and variables.

[Elizabeth leaves a fairly pregnant pause in there before she continues.]

... one of them, yes. Or, from a place I visited. Really he was a character used by a children's daycare center to teach model citizen behavior. It was propaganda, essentially.

Edited (MY HTML IS ALWAYS PERFECT OF COURSE) 2017-08-03 23:35 (UTC)

[~~WE CAN'T STOP HERE THIS IS SAVRII COUNTRY~~]

[That just completely went over his head.]

Constants and variables?

[The only reason he knows of the differences is thanks to reading the network, mostly. Does he actually fully understand it? Somewhat. Heroes can change due to who tells the legend, after all. And the Throne never has issues with assigning different classes for them.]

Ah. That's... different from what I was expecting. But it does still count. [He frowns, thinking.] I'm more familiar with stories such as the ones of gods and tales of bravery and impossible odds.

[~~TUCK AND ROLL, GET ON THE HYDRA'S BACK.~~]

It's a principle of quantum physics. In every timeline, there are constants-- things that will always be the same no matter what-- and variables-- things that cause timelines to branch off. Sometimes they can be as mundane as whether you had coffee or tea for breakfast, sometimes it's one side winning a war over the other. This is the reason sometimes people arrive here and have different recollections of similar events, or even completely different impressions of how "Earth" is. Variables create these differences.

[Yeah, she can definitely teach physics, look at her go...]

Well, that's not the only thing I'm familiar with. Here, why don't I name some things I'm familiar with, you can see if any of them ring any bells. That might be a good reference point.

[She thinks for a while-- gods and tales of bravery and impossible odds...]

What about the Greek myths? Hercules? Jason?

[~~IT KEEPS HAPPENING~~]

That's... familiar, actually. The concept. I understand it. [And he does, for how many times has a story shifted and changed the hero as a result? The Throne has an odd sense of humor and summoning can always change if one desired class is already taken.

What may surprise Elizabeth is how much he replies to her when she begins saying the myths.]

Hercules, a divine hero in Greek mythology. Son of Zeus, half-brother of Perseus. He was born with incredible strength and used his wits in situations where strength would not suffice alone. In his first marriage he was cursed by Hera into madness and murdered his children, and sought penance through performing trials by his enemy Eurystheus for ten years. They later became known as The Twelve Labors of Hercules. He died to being poisoned by the blood of the Hydra that remained on a bloodstained tunic that was given to him by his wife.

Jason, leader of the Argonauts and the seeker of the Golden Fleece. Son of Aeson, and husband to Medea. He rode upon the ship the Argo and ventured with his group across the seas and many lands before he was tasked with three obstacles to overcome- to plow a field with the Khalkotauroi, to sow dragon's teeth into the field and kill the warriors that came from there, and to overcome the sleepless dragon that guarded the fleece. He achieved these with the help of Medea, and returned to give Pelias the fleece. He later died alone due to his treachery and rebuking of Medea.

[He pauses, curious. That's the most he's spoken since arriving.] Do either of these sound similar to what you know?

...Yes, uh. Yes, exactly what I'm familiar with. [Wow. This guy has a very thorough knowledge of these characters. Perhaps he's some kind of historian? It would make sense, if he's specifically asking about stories and myths.]

Alright, let's try something a little more recent. How about Robin Hood?

[Historian would be a good cover-up if he was looking for one. As it is, Siegfried has to pause for just a moment before he thinks his answer through.]

Robin Hood, the one that I'm aware of- he was a faceless man who stole from the rich and gave to the poor consistently. He led a group of Merry Men, used a bow, and was always an enemy to the Sheriff of Nottingham. Little John and Friar Tuck usually accompanied him where he went, and he fell in love with Maid Marion.

[A thought occurs to him.] What about Odin, or Asgard? Have you heard of those?

Sounds about right, though I don't remember him being faceless... Hooded, yes, comes with the name.

Odin and Asgard-- both from Norse mythology. Odin is known by hundreds of names, is married to the goddess Frigg, and has many, many children-- the most well-known being Thor and Baldr. He's constantly searching for greater understanding and knowledge, and sacrificed one of his eyes to drink from Urd's well at the base of Yggdrasil, the world-tree. The lesson behind that one is sometimes in order to gain something great, something seemingly equally important must be sacrificed. But ultimately, the knowledge is worth the eye.

Asgard is where Odin and the rest of the Aesir live, connected to the 'mortal realm', Midgard, by a rainbow bridge called the Bifrost.

Alright, maybe something a little harder-- [This has somehow turned into a game of who knows more obscure things instead of a compare/contrast session, but Elizabeth's enjoying it.] --The Morrigan. Heard of her?

[The fact that she has similar legends grounds him, somewhat, compared to everything else. And while she may think of this as a game, he hasn't quite picked up on it yet. To him, this is still comparing.]

The Morrígan, Celtic Goddess of War. Sometimes seen as one deity, but more often not seen as three- Badb, Macha, and Nemain. She is used as a symbol of death and doom in battle, and is a shapeshifter according to who she wants to see. Her most common form is a crow.

What about Kamsa and Krishna?

Ah! There's one-- I know Badb, Macha, and Anand or "Annie" sometimes. But the rest is pretty much the same.

[Hrk, he's hit one of her blindspots. Elizabeth is well-read to be sure, and her self-education was thorough, but some things do slip through the cracks. Especially anything that wasn't centered around Europe or the west in general.]

Krishna sounds familiar... though I couldn't tell you anything about them. That's one of the ones I'm not read up on, I'm afraid.

I see. That's interesting, to find the slight differences where they are.

[He shakes his head at that, even if she can't see him.]

It's not well known unless you're familiar with Hindu mythology. And it's one of the few that I do know.

Kamsa was a king who ruled the Vrishni kingdom as a tyrant, with absolute rule over everything. He overthrew his father when he did not want to relinquish the throne and retire, allowing Kamsa to coronate himself as the new ruler.

One day, he was told in a prophecy that he would be slain by Devaki's eighth child- Devaki was his sister. Fearing for his life, he imprisoned her and her husband, and killed each child when she gave birth. When the time came for her seventh child, the god Vishnu had her child transferred to her husband's first wife's womb, and spared him. By the time she had her eighth, the gods conspired in favor of them and allowed Devaki's husband to escape with the child, and return with his first wife's own newborn daughter. As Kamsa arrived and went to kill the child, she fell from his hands and revealed herself to be a goddess, telling him that his death was imminent.

There were many other trials left for their eighth son, who was named Krishna. In truth, he was an avatar of Vishnu, therefore he was capable of god-like deeds. When he and his younger brother were older and invited to wrestle against Kamsa's greatest fighters, they both went and defeated them with ease. After doing so, Krishna dragged Kamsa by the hair into the arena and killed him, allowing Kamsa's father to retake the throne.

[Hindu mythology is morbid as anything.]

Which are you more interested in?

Anything. [Ana pls help he needs some familiarity.] What's a legend that's well known for your home?

Thousands of years ago there were many gods of my home. Each god had their own role -- health, fertility, light, death. Though these gods were loved by the people they were not so content with each other or each other's rule.

Ra was the King for a time -- of the gods and humans. Though he held his rule the other gods attempted to overthrow him, though it was not til he was old that his reign weakened. ( Things for humans hadn't been so peaceful or wonderful, but his reign lasted ) Then humanity turned against him.

( What a wonderful... legend? Though it's not the end of it )

[There is a pause as he thinks, mind running over lore and legends from ages past.]

Ra sounds familiar. Is he an Egyptian god? [That's the one he knows of.]

He is. You've heard some of this tale before.

Only some. I don't know much about his entire story.

[He's full of shit, but he doesn't want to seem too suspicious for knowing what he does.]

Edited (OR I COULD ACCIDENTALLY HIT ENTER TOO SOON.......) 2017-08-08 17:41 (UTC)

Then I'll fill in the rest of the gaps for you.

( You can't just have half a story now, can you? )

After humanity rose up Ra wished to punish them, though after many were slaughtered he realised he could not bear to see those he'd cared for destroyed. In the end he withdrew from Earth, giving up his rule and returning to the sky.

[Half a story or half a legend, he doesn't mind her taking the reins and speaking again.]

So he chose to become a god instead of continuing to hurt his people. [She can't see him nod, but he's using it as a way to confirm the similarities of what he knows.] That sounds familiar to what I knew, before you finished the tale. Thank you.

I don't...really know any stories. [The voice of someone who has only just had this occur to her.]

There's the creation story of my tribe, I guess. Our history. I learned about a couple of the other tribes too. But I'm no storyteller, that's probably for the Matriarchs. [She half-laughs, a little huff of breath.]

Your tribe? [That's not exactly the first thing he's expecting to hear, but then again, he's on a planet in space that he's never even heard of, and he should be dead.]

Sorry, I don't mean that in a disrespectful way. [He pauses, trying not to make this more awkward.] I'm trying to find similarities, mostly.

The Nora, my-- Oh. [It takes her a second to realise he's asking what a tribe is.]

It's... [She lets the word draw out. How do you describe what a tribe is?] They're a group of people who live in the same area. They have things in common that make them different from other tribes - uh, most of the time. [She's a Nora and has nothing in common with them except living in the Sacred Lands with them.] They dress the same ways, they believe the same things. They follow their own laws.

[She's speaking more slowly as she goes on, voice trailing a little as she realises she's not describing what makes her a Nora at all, just what makes the Nora what they are.]

I see. [And he does- it's been so long since he's heard someone say they belong to one. Years; centuries, even.] We have countries, where I'm from. People may not always have things in common, but they feel proud of their home, and what they do there. [A beat.] A long time ago it used to be much more like your tribes, from what I was told.

Who are the Matriarchs?

Maybe it was the same thousands of years ago in my world. A thousand years ago we had...corporations, and countries. Back when the Old Ones existed. But no one knows the Old Ones' history - maybe that's how they started as well, first as tribes, then countries.

The Matriarchs are the leaders of the Nora. They're mothers with two generations to their name - then you have the High Matriarchs, who have three generations after them. [That's 'grandmothers' and 'great-grandmothers' to literally anyone else.] They uphold the laws of the tribe.

[She pauses for a second, wondering if she wants to say her next words... Then she says them anyway.] I don't know as much about them as other Nora do, though. I was raised an outcast.

It would make sense that way, it seems. [A thousand years ago in her time- the thought isn't as boggling to him as a Servant as it may be to other people, but it's intriguing nonetheless.] I don't know much about how things started, but I'd think it was similar.

But I haven't really heard of something like your Matriarchs. It depends on where you are for how things are ruled and held, at least for my world. [He pauses.] But mothers with two or three generations to their name- that... is familiar, somewhat.

[When she mentions being an outcast, he doesn't scorn her, or ask why. Instead, he lets out a huff, intrigued by her world but not really condoning anything he's heard.] Many things have changed over the years for me, but there are some things that stay the same, regardless of what happens.

Matriarchs seem pretty unique to the Nora. I've met some of the other tribes and they all do things differently. Another tribe has something called Ealdormen, one of them has a Sun King... [She knows and even likes the man himself, but the title will never stop sounding a little ridiculous to her.]... There are even more tribes further away, and probably a lot I've never even heard of.

What about you? What kind of country did you come from? [She's been talking about herself this whole time, and his last comment has successfully caught her interest.]

A Sun King? [He doubts it's anything similar to any legends he knows, seeing as they're clearly from different worlds.] That would make sense. There's many places around the world- it'd be impossible to visit every one of them.

[For a human, at least. Not that he mentions it.]

Ah, well... [Siegfried thinks for a moment on how to answer her. While it's an honest question and one that's just asking out of curiosity, already he's calculating on how exactly to answer her. Reveal too little, and that won't be a satisfying answer. Reveal too much, and he risks exposing who he is to her, or someone else. While he can't sense any Servants here now, he has to be careful.] It's one ruled by kings and queens through many generations. The roads that were once traveled by horse are now traveled by cars, though I'd imagine horses are still around on farms nowadays. The people's views have shifted from more of a constant sense of survival and into comfort.

It's... something like this place, I'd say.

[Even if she'd had her entire life there and dedicated it to exploring, she'd never have seen her whole world. And there could be thousands of tribes out there, but the ones she knew were wrapped up completely in their own affairs and their own territory they might never strike out and find any more.

He's describing a world nothing like hers, anyway. She suddenly laughs, remembering something.] The first time I talked to one of the Carja - the tribe with the Sun King - he told me there had never been a Sun Queen because of course the sun was male. I'm glad to hear that's not universal.

[Of course, then there's her tribe, where there's no such thing as a Patriarch.]

So, what's a horse? And a car.

[Siegfried lets out something that sounds like an amused huff, finding the idea about the Sun King never being a Sun Queen a little hilarious.]

It isn't universal for me, at least. There's several Sun Queens or Sun Goddesses that vary due to the culture or the country that the story comes from.

[He has to pause and really think of how to describe the both of them to Aloy, however. How do you describe something so common back home to someone who's never even heard of it before?]

A horse is an animal- it runs on four legs, has a mane, and usually runs across meadows in groups. Horses graze in fields most of the day, and you can ride on their back as a method of transportation- provided the horse knows you and is comfortable with being ridden. [Yeesh, this is more difficult than he thought.] A car is... another form of transportation, but it's a machine. It has four wheels and can move much faster than a horse.

[That sounds absolutely terrible in describing it, why is this so hard.]

We have carts where I'm from, but they move about as fast as the person pulling it. [Machine-powered carts sound like something the world could make a lot of use of - if her tribe ever stopped being afraid of technology for long enough to see.]

Actually, we have something a little like horses, too, but they're machines. You can override them if you have a special device, but usually they attack on sight. I think I was the first one to ever ride one.

[She laughs as something occurs to her.] Sounds like the opposite of your world. We have machine horses and you have machine carts.

People pull carts in your world? [That's not an answer he's expecting, but based on everything else she's said, he doesn't doubt that it's definitely true.]

That's... actually not that hard to imagine. [He's heard of legends that would have something like that- and if a Rider ever had one, he wouldn't be surprised.] Why would they attack? Most horses are rather calm, so long as you don't startle them.

[He lets out an amused huff.] It sounds like it. I'd imagine a lot of people have differences like ours between worlds.

I might know someone who could tell you a few.

[Sorry, Elena, he's still a little wary- so the question that comes back sounds a bit defensive.]

Would that be yourself?

I could tell you some, sure. But I was referring to my husband. He's been all over the world back home. He'd have more to share.

Ah. Sorry. [For automatically assuming.]

What interests him most about them?

No, no need to apologize.

The thrill of discovery, I think. He'd...had a personal mission he'd been set on for so long. That also drove him.

[Siegfried goes to say "sorry" again, but catches himself.]

I can understand that. I've met several people with the same mindset.

[Magi are complex people, and Masters even moreso over Servants. Siegfried hasn't had the chance to really ask how or why they do what they do.]

It's good to know that not everything changes when you come to a new place.

Not everything. But over time, a lot can and a lot will.

It changes here then, as does everything else. [She can't see it, but he's nodding.] I see.

How long have people been on this planet?

A handful of months. And before that, we were up in space traveling aboard a ship.

[That... sounds almost impossible to him, but he knows better. It's just really hard to imagine.]

What was it like, being on there?

Different. Being up in space, where I'm from, only people trained for it go up to the stars. You need to be able to withstand the difference in gravity and the endless void.

If you aren't used to it, it can get to you. In a bad way.

I've heard of those. [He doesn't know the word for it, but he's familiar with it.]

And that wouldn't surprise me. [A huff.] I don't think anyone could simply adjust to something that different.

It takes time. For anything. You'd have to be a superhero otherwise.

[There's definitely a sound at her mentioning superheroes, as if he's recognizing what she says, but won't comment on it.

Instead, he changes the subject.]

My name is Saber. [A pause.] Thank you for being patient with me.

[With all his questions, and him not exactly knowing everything.]

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