[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/sqVuHkG.png[/img] [h2][i]Master: [color=salmon]Mercedes[/color][/i][/h2] [i]Workshop, City Outskirts, Tokyo[/i] | [color=blueviolet][i]Night One[/i][/color][/center] Mercedes smiled back at Archer, and kept seated for a few moments. Though the grail supported it's Masters in their summoning, she was still not used to supplying a familiar so powerful with mana, let alone the hounds he had summoned. [i]'It's not that bad, might take a little getting used to. It's good to get this out of the way,'[/i] she thought. A night of the twenty dogs roaming around would get her used to the mana drain. Familiarcraft was not her forte, as she had reminded herself multiple times throughout the night. [color=salmon]"Alright, while the puppies are out to play..."[/color] she began, standing with a small flourish after she felt she had rested enough. She walked over to the board holding the map and the potential master suspects. She took the latter down from the wall, swiftly skimming over her notes again. [color=salmon]"Finding out the enemy servant's identities are important, but if I can suss out their masters' identities too, it will give us an advantage - however small."[/color] Mercedes scrutinized the sheets, already mentally crossing some people off the list. She glanced up at Archer briefly whilst doing so. [color=salmon]"If I can figure some of them out, and we use your hounds to catch a trail, we can corner them. "Oh - but, don't worry, I have full faith in your strength too, Archer. If we get intercepted by a servant, I'm gonna leave that to you."[/color] She grinned as she continued. The enforcer turned to the map then and considered it. [color=salmon]"I was thinking we should keep a few other safe houses in the city. We can use them for anything we need... hmm, maybe [i]here[/i],"[/color] she brushed her fingers over a neighborhood closer to Tokyo's center. Another base to return to, even just one more, opened up many opportunities. It could be stocked with supplies of any variety, serve as a quick area to escape to should things turn south for her, or even make for a dummy workshop to lure in other participants. She'd get to work on securing them as soon as possible, so that the next night after the hounds brought back any information they could, she and Archer could launch a strategic attack. If she had learned anything during her years as an enforcer, it was that magi were just as routine as they were unpredictable. The sentiment may seem oxymoronic, but in her experience, it was true. [color=salmon]"I have some ideas, but I'd appreciate your input, Archer. You and I are strangers to this city, but if you see an area you might like as a bowman's perch just say the..."[/color] She blinked, realizing what she was about to say. She didn't worry about offending the man (she very much doubted any spirit would be at something as small as that), only brought the issue of their communication back to the fore front of her mind. She walked back over to the table, placing her notes down and picking the journal and pen up. She turned and held them out to her partner. [color=salmon]"You can use this - or anything else I've got in here - to communicate anything more complex than 'yes or no,'"[/color] she explained, [color=salmon]"Sometimes I can... [i]feel[/i] something, through our bond, but in the mean time I'll be working on understanding you better. And... there's something important I need to know."[/color] She fixed Archer with an easy-going smile, and to anyone else that's all it would appear to be. It was an expression she wore to put others at ease. However, like Mercedes was able to feel something from Archer, if Archer were able to feel anything from Mercedes he may sense the serious nature her aura seemed to take. Whatever his answer may be, they would work with it, but it was something that bothered Mercedes in the back of her mind. [color=salmon]"It's my understanding that a noble phantasm's true strength comes from calling out it's true name. Can you use your noble phantasm to it's full ability like this, Archer?"[/color] [center][@King Cosmos][/center]