[X] Push him to go outside. He won't do his mood any favours by continuing to hide away in this dark hole like Chaldea will just forget about him. If he's self-conscious about his appearance then fine, you and Orochi will go with him and make everyone accept that he's a part of this community.
That'd be awfully hypocritical of him, given how he got his gold in the first place. He didn't even fight Fafnir fairly - sneak attack from below.
[X] Respect his wishes and leave. You'd rather show you're willing to listen to him rather than push him until he bites back.
You're not so foolish as to challenge a dragon in his lair, but leaving Siegfried alone here, with nothing but his horde and his thoughts for company seems ill-advised. Still, a few seconds more of conversation could hardly be denied, particularly if guised as mission related. Perhaps that'll give you enough time to think of something more substantial.
"We won't bother you much longer, I promise. But it seems prudent that you should be as aware of our new companions as the rest of us. In Rome, we managed to recruit Spartacus, Germanicus, Remus and a Counter-Guardian - a servant of the collective will of mankind. I also recently summoned Maid Marian."
You begin to give a brief sketch of their various abilities, mind racing. Siegfried needs human contact of some description or you'll end up having a temperamental dragon squatting in Chaldea. He seems reluctant to engage, due at least partly to his - no, Fafnir's- lack of trust in others. You suspect that there is also an element of shame related to how obviously non-human he has become. Dracula and Orochi look perfectly normal - well, they look human, anyway. You suppose you could just see if Einzbern could set up a shift of people to come down and talk to Siegfried through the door, but that seems not only a waste of resources but also likely to backfire by agitating the aforementioned temperamental dragon.
So, a method of communication that does not require movement nor directly viewing the other party. You have something like that. It's in your pocket, as a matter of fact. And you know that Chaldea has at least 49 spares.
"I must confess, the Counter Guardian worries me. He may be trusted to do what's best for humanity, no doubt, but there's something off about him. I hope that it's nothing more than my pride as a magus making me look askance at a man who so casually mixes magecraft and technology. But I think I've talked enough." You say, nodding to the dragonslayer.
You make to leave, gesturing for Orochi to follow, but stop in the doorway. The hallway lights wash out the fire, and you can see the vague shape that is Siegfried perched atop the gold.
"Incidentally, if you want to talk to Corday or one of the other Servants without having to leave your room - well, I can procure a few sets of phones. Am planning to, actually. It would make it easier for Servants to communicate with each other or Chaldea's more mundane staff without having to track them down in person. It seems only appropriate that you should have the amenities as the rest of us. Leonardo may have to modify one for you - I understand the glass is prone to scratching - but it shouldn't take a minute."
[X] Push him to go outside. He won't do his mood any favours by continuing to hide away in this dark hole like Chaldea will just forget about him. If he's self-conscious about his appearance then fine, you and Orochi will go with him and make everyone accept that he's a part of this community.
The Chaldea staff have at this point been through at least one invasion of homunculi as well as interacted with Yamata-no-Orochi, Charles Henri Sanson, and Dracula. They can probably handle seeing a dragon-man, especially if the story of his fight with Karna is common knowledge. Also, apologies if I bring that particular scene up too much, I'll try fanboy less from now on.
[X] Offer to update him on the others. You think you might have seen a hint of interest when you mentioned Corday and Sanson. Perhaps hearing about the steps they've made will motivate him?
That is what I would normally want to do, it give him a bit of a push without being so forceful about it, it also could allow us to set something up for the future...for some reason I just see Medea and Seig both staring each other down over some sort of game table with Shinji in the middle just glaring at Rostam while Charlie just busy squeeing over the Arch-Sorceress and Half-Dragon arguing about his Home Brew Servant classes
On the other hand we might be able and drag him out to go have that particular conversation with Charlie NOW.....and I very very much wanna see Seig hit by something so out of context from his current mindset. But in the end I bow to my desire to not get eaten by a Dragon.
[X] Offer to update him on the others. You think you might have seen a hint of interest when you mentioned Corday and Sanson. Perhaps hearing about the steps they've made will motivate him?
[X] Offer to update him on the others. You think you might have seen a hint of interest when you mentioned Corday and Sanson. Perhaps hearing about the steps they've made will motivate him?
Still just Siegfried's human size, no great and terrible wyrm ready to burst free of Chaldea like an egg. Still bipedal, even if the shape is lying atop the gold like a cat upon a favoured perch. Half-curled, half splayed out, hovering on the border between relaxation and wary alertness. Siegfried clutches Balmung's bare blade tight to his chest like a pillow or a toy, jealously guarding it from any who would take it. The bright sigil on his chest throbs like an infected wound in time with his heartbeat. His flesh is peeling away as if necrotising, scales bulging up unnaturally from beneath the meat. Cancerous tumours making him split at the seams. Black talons curl from his fingertips, having punched through flesh that clings to his hands like ragged gloves. Wings, malformed little things with peeling membranes, twitch against his shoulderblades. A tail curls from the base of his spine and over one leg, stunted and weak.
I think it's sorta interesting to note how ill he looks. He's probably been dipping hard into Monstrous Strength as a way to ward off bad feelings, and greed-as-an-illness is a pretty common metaphor. I doubt we can reverse the changes (and it isn't really our fault exactly, he was pretty withdrawn and we've had crisis atop crisis to manage) but I think we can probably, like....harmonize them?
We should approach it from that perspective. Not really undoing it all but getting these feelings to sit healthily in Sieg. It's okay to feel possessive of your treasures but the real treasures are the friends you make along the way, stuff like that.
"I ran away and hid when I was in pain too," Orochi goes on as if Siegfried hadn't even spoken. "But I wasn't... hurt. What I mean is I wasn't wounded, but it hurt. In those days it was hard for me to understand what that meant."
Hee, I think it's neat and really sweet how Orochi's taken it upon himself to do for others what Rostam did for him. Make them feel better and reach out and make them feel like it's okay to be themselves.
[X] Offer to update him on the others. You think you might have seen a hint of interest when you mentioned Corday and Sanson. Perhaps hearing about the steps they've made will motivate him?
I think Sieg has pretty much just talked himself into this place where everyone in Chaldea is jealous of him and hates him and so he has to hate them first, all preemptively-like. We need to open him up to it, tell him about how things are going, make him want to want to be a part of the community. Versus steering him out into the crowd like a Type-A personality soccer mom determined to show off their kid. And then we could make some suggestions about where he could go and leave Orochi to talk him into it a little.
If we forcibly pry him out of the room he'll just go slinking back if he gets frustrated and disappointed. Plus this is a good way to recap some stuff for people who are just now joining/getting back into the flow of things.
"Siegfried, I...", you sigh, and then pull the slender, shirtless Orochi to your side with one arm. "...I am going to level with you. I really want to fuck this snake."
He stares for a long moment, eyes burning. Orochi flushes and squirms under his scrutiny.
[X] Offer to update him on the others. You think you might have seen a hint of interest when you mentioned Corday and Sanson. Perhaps hearing about the steps they've made will motivate him?
[x] Offer to update him on the others. You think you might have seen a hint of interest when you mentioned Corday and Sanson. Perhaps hearing about the steps they've made will motivate him?
I think trying to push him out has too much potential to end badly, but we need to get him to open up on his own.
[X] Offer to update him on the others. You think you might have seen a hint of interest when you mentioned Corday and Sanson. Perhaps hearing about the steps they've made will motivate him?
Normally yeah, but as pointed out Siegfried is kinda having...idk Fafnir's ego or whatever imposed on him and it's making him basically act like a human sized Gollum, so yeah it'd be hypocritical but it'd also fit how he is right now.
Plus he looks kinda like this so I'd expect people to sidestep "you take from the dragon's horde" if we ever get him to play d&d
Something I noticed here, but Siegfried seems to be getting a little selective with his memory. Karna talked shit about him, but that's all he did until Siegfried attacked him. Probably just a symptom of overdosing on Monstrous Strength, but still something worth considering in future dealings if he's starting to misremember things.
...Or he might just consider what Karna said to be provocation enough that it counted as throwing the first blow. I dunno.
You nod to yourself slightly. Forcing Siegfried to go out and socialise at this point would be self-defeatingly optimistic. You understand at least in some regard - while magus society may value to pursuit of power and knowledge above almost all else, showing up to a dinner party covered in Formalcraft tattoos and scales from experiments with dragon's blood would seem simply gauche.
"Corday and Sanson have done well, you may be pleased to know," you say. "They even managed to bury the hatchet, as it were. Not that it was easy, of course."
The half-dragon stays inert in the shadows, but he doesn't sit bolt upright and breathe fire at you either.
"As if it weren't enough that they shared history, with all that happened in France, and having to adapt to life here... well, to be honest I can only attribute my success primarily to luck."
You slip your hands into your pockets and mull over your next words. Siegfried gives you plenty of time.
"Sanson had to kill Marie to save me," you say at last. "Neither of us would have mentioned it. He admitted he resented me for it, and with no one to turn to that resentment only festered and grew. All the while having to endure an urge, a drive, to execute those of us here with..."
You glance at Orochi. "... chequered pasts."
Orochi gives a pained little half-smile.
"Ultimately we came in contact with a worldlet in which that drive had consumed him," you go on. "A version of him that had become connected to the Root via his Origin- ah, forget the terminology. It's hardly important. I suppose what was important was that his duty was not set in stone. What separated him from the indiscriminate killer we faced was his own will, his choice to temper the call of his Origin with a code of ethics. I confess I thought that any measure of control over the urges of an awakened Origin was impossible - but I can hardly argue with the results, can I?"
You fall silent again. Siegfried continues to breathe, slowly and deeply, but you can tell he's not really asleep.
"... I feel I did a far better job handling Sanson than I did Corday," you admit. "I was myopic. I didn't stop to think about how she must have resented me for sending her away to fight with you and the others against Gilles, leaving Jeanne with only me to protect her. How she must have loved Jeanne and hated herself for being unable to save her. How it would feel that Sanson would be taken at his word over her again and again."
Siegfried shifts a little. A few golden coins rattle and ring as they tumble down the main pile.
"I suppose I saw two kinds of justice in their potential futures," you go on. "Sanson's was cold and mechanical, without humanity or discrimination. Corday's was hateful and bloody and fuelled by well-meaning passion. I would like to think the sight of the extremes helped them come a little closer together in the middle. And I suppose, in Corday's case at least, taking 'failure' to mean a chance to make every decision wiser than the last."
You look at Orochi again. He's fiddling nervously, hands down by his stomach. You spy a few snakes worming out from the collar of his robe, perched on his shoulders, tasting the air as they look at you and Siegfried.
"I apologise," you say, somewhat embarrassed. "I must be boring you." You glance down, taking a moment to collect your thoughts. "I failed in France. We may have saved the country and taken the Grail creating the singularity, but I failed Jeanne. I failed to see how she struggled and I failed to help how I could. Such unobservance was... beneath me. It will not happen again. And I suppose I'd just like you to understand that when I show an interest in you and your wellbeing, I mean it."
More silence, same as before.
"That is all I wished to say," you finish respectfully. "Thank you for your time. Orochi and I will leave now."
Siegfried's Bond Level has increased.
You turn away from Siegfried and tap the door button, letting light and fresh air flood mercifully back into the room. You hold your composure, stepping through and waiting for Orochi to follow before shutting the door again and greedily sucking down sweet, smokeless air. Orochi gently pats you on the back.
"Were you planning to keep visiting him?" you ask once you're confident you aren't suffocating any more.
"Mhm!" Orochi nods enthusiastically.
"Good. I'd hate another unexpected event or twenty to wipe away any progress I made with him." You pause, then remember something. "Any news on the other new arrivals? They must have been settled while I was recovering but I haven't had the chance to learn any more yet."
Orochi nods again. "The wolf one is really angry. He took my spot in the gardens and now nobody wants to go there any more. I went to see the vampire because I thought he could scare him away but he seemed upset. He said he wanted to keep reading so I didn't bother him."
"Nothing out of Spartacus?" you ask.
"Who?"
Your brow furrows. "Curious...." You shake your head. "Thank you Orochi, you've been very helpful. Don't let me keep you."
Now it's his turn to look confused. "Keep me from what?"
"From... you know. The other things you would otherwise be doing."
He looks at you blankly.
"Oh," you say. "I suppose you'd be rather light on for prior engagements, wouldn't you?"
He nods, still blankly.
"Didn't you say you had made some friends in the staff?" you ask. "It should still be roughly breakfast time, if you go to the cafeteria you might be able to catch them."
"Oh! Oh thank you for reminding me!"
"Mhm, well I hope you-hrk"
Orochi pulls you into a hug so tight that your bond with Galahad is probably the only reason it's not doing some permanent damage. Clinging to your front like a limpet, chin on your chest. You feel a strangely smooth, cool and sinuous texture slither and loop around your neck. You've never held a snake before. There's something fascinating about the sensation. A few more snakes drape themselves over your shoulder like big cold cables.
"Wh-" Your voice cracks. You cough. "What's this for?"
Orochi pulls back, contrition etched all over his face. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just that last time..."
You wave your hands as if clearing smoke. "No, I'm not upset I was just... surprised. That's all. What were you going to say?"
Orochi fiddles with the sleeves of his robe. "I was... I wanted to say I missed you. I heard some of the things that happened in Rome and I was afraid. You're... you're nice. Not just to me but other people too."
You really aren't. While you'll have to accept a certain level of histrionics from an entity like Orochi, with so little time to become jaded to basic human interaction, it's still patently obvious that what you're doing isn't special. One of your new jobs is managing the magical menagerie Chaldea is slowly accumulating, and you're sailing through that courtesy of social conduct lessons drummed into you from childhood and a great deal of luck. What little knowledge you have, of course, tells you that trying to disabuse Orochi of this notion would not be productive in the slightest. Embarrassing as they may be, it's better to let him hold on to his naive notions.
You sigh. "You may hug me- gnrk!"
It must last somewhere between ten and twenty seconds but your best guesses are all over the place. Honestly it's extremely distracting and hard to concentrate, and it takes a lot of will to stop yourself sighing with relief when he finally pulls away. But he's content again, and an unequivocally happy Servant is a rare commodity around here. He waves goodbye, you wave back, and you watch him leave for the cafeteria with a spring in his step.
You wonder if there was ever a time in your life when you were as happy to be alive as Orochi. The thought just makes you sigh. You've wasted enough time as it is. You send Marche a quick message (without spelling errors this time, you must make up for your earlier carelessness) about the Siegfried situation and tuck the phone away again, pondering your options.
[ ] Dracula seems melancholic the way Orochi tells it, and you can hardly blame him. Perhaps it's best to try and help him puzzle out the riddle of his existence sooner rather than later.
[ ] Spartacus bewilders you. You should be hearing about him punching holes in the walls instead of using doors and breaking into Lev's cell to piledrive him. But instead he's just in his room. Could Rome's cultural weight being lifted really affect him so?
[ ] Remus was hardly personable back in Rome, and he's unlikely to get much better the longer he stays here in Chaldea. Maybe you can take some steps to placate him now, before he second-guesses his choice to follow you too much.
[ ] 'Maid Marian' piques your curiosity, and as the Servant you know the least about (barring that mysterious magus-turned-Counter Guardian-turned-Servant) it might be best to get her out of the way early.
[ ] Lev's in his cell - and despite your worst fears, nothing's exploded or been invaded yet. Against all odds he might just be secure. If that's the case, best to interrogate him sooner rather than later. You want answers.
(Next time I swear)
I drew him!!! I was so happy to see him again after all of Rome and wahh, I'm just so happy? To read him again? :lol Thank you Zerban!
