[Closed] Saber Studies

[arturiarex]

Who: Saber and Dr. Pellinore Warthrop
When: 3/18
Where: Dr. Warthrop's abode
What: Saber contributes to SCIENCE.
Warnings: Medical and/or scientific prodding.

The last couple of weeks have been a bit hectic for Saber, to say the least. Between the full moon and her work and her attempts to keep herself busy, she hasn't had a chance to follow-up on a promise she made to an acquaintance. She finally has some free time, though, and today she's going to make it happen. She doesn't know Doctor Warthrop incredibly well, besides their few interactions over the network and her attempts to help with him on the night of their arrival, but he seems to be earnestly doing his best to discover more about this place. She has a soft spot for that and so she pledged herself to help him (help her, as well) understand the changes they were all undergoing here.

She's bundled up in a long coat and tries to keep her hands in her pockets for most of the walk, but when she finally arrives at the right address, she double-checks her notes to make sure it's correct and then steps up to the door and raps sharply, three times. Very business-like, very matter-of-fact.

Then she waits for an answer.

She doesn't look like much in person - a young woman (or maybe man, she's a bit androgynous all covered up) waiting on the front stoop.

Comments

[chiastic]

Warthrop assumes a spot on the little sofa, its slightly tatty mauve colored upholstery woven in intricate patterns of raised wreaths and little birds. Whomever left the piece of furniture behind evidently had considered it either just worn or gauche enough to warrant donation to poor Mirrorbound. He sets the folio across his knee, withdraws a pen from its spine and turns to a new page. A date is marked in the upper right-hand corner.

"First, describe your default state. I've been led to believe that what is typical for wherever you came from may not be what is typical from where I came from, and establishing a baseline concept of normalcy will be imperative. A description of you, your world, and a general overview of what is most immediately different between here and there should suffice to begin with. For example, is there 'magic'"--the airquotes are implied--"where you come from? Are there any, to your knowledge, 'monsters'? What is the state of medicinal practice in your native land; what is your typical diet if it is different from the one you are being made to subsist on here; so on and so forth.

"I have no need for your whole life story or every minute detail, but a list of discrepancies? Yes, I believe that to be very necessary to the work."

[arturiarex]

Saber sits up straight, hands still neatly folded. She watches Warthrop with a hint of interest, a little curious as to how he plans to go about doing this. Apparently via questions - at least at first.

She clears her throat.

"It is... somewhat complex. Magic exists where I come from and it permeates almost everything; I myself was a magical being of sorts, having become a Heroic Spirit. To explain what that is... would take time. Suffice to say that my person and body were more composed and maintained by a flow of magical energy rather than by the normal laws that govern mortal men."

She pauses, considering.

"As a Heroic Spirit, I possessed great reserves of strength, power, and speed, as well as powers many would consider magical. I did not, strictly, require food or sleep. There were creatures of a magical nature - monsters, you may call them, but nothing as there is here. Medicine, at least in the last era I remember, was advanced."

[chiastic]

It's the sort of thing which by all rights should give anyone pause. Instead, Warthrop's hand moves with a fairly ceaseless rhythm across the page and he asks without looking up, "'Having become,' you said - meaning you weren't always one before?"

There are people who believe in possession, in the ritual conception of a spirit assuming a body, where he's from too. If these the the ramblings of a zealot masquerading as coherence, he will need to know it; and if it isn't--

Well. Then it is something different. And he will need to know that too.

[arturiarex]

"It is... somewhat complicated," Saber replies slowly, "But I was human before."

Or as close to human as she ever was, anyway.

"Heroic Spirits are people of great renown and legend who become Heroic Spirits through the power of their deeds and their great renown. They can then be summoned via a catlyst and magic to serve a Master in future eras."

Or in her case, cutting a deal with the World. Which is not something she wants to get into.

[chiastic]

A note is taken, the point of the pen scratching across the page.

"And once summoned, would you describe your form as wholly 'magical,' or that you are inhabiting a sort of living shell - a host, as it were?"

[arturiarex]

"Wholly magical," Saber replies calmly, "Composed of mana. Sustained by it. There was no possession of any sort, although a catalyst is typically needed for the summons."

She pauses and adds, "Typically an artifact. As far as I know, none of it involves the use of human hosts or sacrifices."

[chiastic]

His hum is mild, and if there is any note of skepticism it is quiet enough in comparison to the Doctor's typically full-throated dramatics as to be nigh on inaudible. And if his notes are rather more in the vein of 'The subject considers herself to be--', then that is no one's business but his own.

"You have no such artifact here, I take it." It is hardly a question. He skips right past is, assuming she will correct him if his conclusion is incorrect. "What other physical or... manifestation differences have you noticed between your time here in this place versus your state in your natural, hm-- your realm? Reality? The place you came from."

[arturiarex]

"No, unless you count the mirror. I am not versed in magecraft, however."

Saber is still prepared to be thorough and polite in her answers, egardless.

"I have lost strength, speed, and a certain amount of immunity from harm. I also now require normal food and am no longer sustained by mana. In addition, I have recently grown a... tail. Which is its own trial."