[@T Risket][@Diggerton]

Kat tilted her head in mild interest as Lancer watched the bag of tea leaves as though at any moment the bag would come to life and attack him with supernatural ferocity and hatred. While she was still uncertain of many things in the supernatural world, she had to wonder if the sheer amount of rather excessive hate directed towards the simple offering would somehow imbue it with the very qualities that Lancer seemed to proclaim it had with simply a stare. Some type of supernatural self fulfilling prophecy? If any look could have actually done it, it would have been the one that Lancer leveled against her tea. At that moment, Eddie spoke up and she took advantage of Lancer's distraction to stow the teabag back inside of her laptop bag. 

[u]"Good find Kat... I hope it's alright if I call you Kat instead of 'Ms. Shepard', it may be our first day on the job, but I hope we can all get along."[/u]

Kat nodded easily at him, giving him a brief smile. [color=8882be]"Kat is absolutely fine. Much preferable to Miss isn't it? We will be spending quite a bit of time together it seems and it would have just gotten irritating after a while in any case."[/color] 

Eddie then seemed to attempt to protect her in some regard, or perhaps he was simply thinking of the team's unity as a whole, or perhaps even thinking of how best to present himself to Mr. Orion. Kat hoped it was not the first thought that had crossed into her mind. She did not need or want any unnecessary protection, it simply made her uncomfortable and she had been doing rather well holding her side of the conversation. She did not particular sense any malice or ill will coming from Lancer, he was simply an ass, or as she had so often heard her American roommates a 'total dick.' Kat did not see any reason why they couldn't get along regardless. In any case, this seemed only to continue Lancer's tea based vitriol, now redirected at Eddie. He let out a fairly acidic verbal jab at Eddie than began rummaging around the bags and stowing several items away in his pockets. Kat thought briefly about doing the same, yet she knew very little beyond conjecture what it was that she was supposed to do with these items. It would most likely be more beneficial to leave it to those who would know more about what to use these for. Lancer obviously knew what it was he was looking for and what he wanted, perhaps he was already extremely familiar on the supernatural?

After he had grabbed the items he had wanted. He continued his tirade against Eddie after Eddie had commented about questioning Mrs Smith, in an admittedly rather awkward way, but certainly not in one that deserved this amount of scorn. Then Lancer did a very strange thing, in the admittedly long list of strange things from her perspective. He made the comment about chaperoning the trip to the library and then looked at her almost as though to see if she was watching. The expression on his face spoke almost of a challenge though still there was general disdain for Eddie and the world around him. He turned back away from her and continued talking. Kat thought about this rather strange action for a moment. With that glance, he had become less of a general ass in her mind and something more akin to a verbal sportsmen looking for a worthy opponent. While Eddie was friendly with him, he seemed to have become only more and more hostile towards him. Lancer seemed to be a strange man looking for someone to challenge him, as for why she simply could not say. With that thought in mind, she thought on what to do next. If she continued her current policy of challenging him- it was possible that he may tone down somewhat having found a suitable opponent, however it was also possible that she was mistaken and he would only get worse. However the situation as it was obviously needed to be resolved, or at least patched while their employer was present. 

When he was done talking, Kat looked towards and gave him a deliberately slow blink. For every movement on a game board there was a counter move, if she commented on not needing a chaperon on her excursions, he would be able to start himself up again and come after her. Instead she choose to simply ignore the comment, blinking at him only to let him know that whatever game it was that Lancer might be playing, she knew how to play as well. Instead of replying to his comments she asked, [color=8882be]"And in a case such as this one, what is the 'more direct approach?'[/color]