When several minute had gone by without an enemy being attracted by the flare of energy that had gone along with her summoning, the Rider, a tall woman with tremendously long hair and a build that otherwise matched her Master's, was called in and Saber's own Master propped up against a convenient wall so that he might contribute to the conversation without further straining himself. The Rider was unreadable - her expressions and words were carefully controlled, and anything that she might otherwise have given away unintentionally was hidden behind the hardened leather mask that covered the top half of her face and completely obscured her eyes.
Saber had to wonder how she managed to see anything.
Caster had settled near the wall opposite Shirou with his hood thrown back and his cloak mostly pooled in a disk on the floor around him. The sisters were sitting on either side of their crush, and Rider leaned against the doorframe, somehow without seeming the slightest bit informal.
Saber forced herself to stop pacing. "We need to plan our strategy," she said.
"Caster," Rin started after a moment, "how much do you know about the other Servants? You wanted to wait until this point to discuss it, you said..."
He shrugged. "A great deal about most, with live updates. Much less about others, from a different source, and nothing at all about one or two. By class...
"There are three Archers, all still active and all first-rate threats. The first is the last survivor of the previous war, whom Saber will be quite familiar with."
"What do you mean?" she asked, turning slightly to give him a hard look.
"Gold armor, stupid earrings, ego the size of Cincinnati? His name is Gilgamesh."
She snarled silently, and he nodded. "Yeah, I'm looking forwards to breaking his nose myself. Unfortunately, there's very little good news in dealing with him - I wouldn't call him terribly bright or perceptive, but he's as powerful as they come and, on top of all the Phantasms he's stolen from their rightful owners over the years, he controls what's probably the only holy sword more powerful than Excalibur."
"Which we don't have anyway," Rider pointed out.
Caster didn't say anything, but after a moment of watching him watch her, Saber did. "We do."
Rin caught on first. "I thought that King Arthur was supposed to be a man."
Saber... didn't quite shrug, but the particular flavor of impassive in her expression gave the same impression. "It was simpler to allow the misconception."
"You know my name, too, don't you."
"Yes. But it's not mine to reveal, is it, Lady Rider?"
"Wait... names?" Shirou asked.
Caster opened his mouth, then paused. "Er, before I start, would anyone want to field that and spare themselves a lecture?"
Sakura giggled, and shook her head. "Go ahead," she told him.
"Right. We Servants have our origins in, well, myth. There's power in stories; power that can be, at the very least, siphoned off by the mortal soul that lay beneath the original tale... which is in turn shaped by those beliefs. When an opponent is aware of our identities, they therefore have knowledge of our strengths, weaknesses and abilities - but if that information is secret, an advantage may be made of surprise."
"Sou ka," Shirou said, then grinned a little. "I suppose I shouldn't ask yours, then?"
"Nathan Baxter, not that it will do you any good. I'm not native to this timeline, you see..." he trailed off and gave Rin a concerned look; she looked like she was caught between choking and giggling.
"Does... does the name Uzumaki Naruto mean anything to you?" she asked, after a managing to mostly catch her breath.
"...as a matter of fact. Wow," he said, looking stunned. "hearing you ask that doesn't surprise me nearly as much as it should."
Rin started giggling again.
And tomorrow... *checks list* ...Escaflowne!
Ja, -n
(experimenting in organization)
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"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"