Scarlett looked over at their Director. '[color=add8e6][i]So, that's the name of the game is it? A threat to your authority, and you cower behind your name, your power, and your title. Spineless,[/i][/color]' she thought, as their Director detailed the mission outline, '[color=add8e6][i]Pull the plug. Team B for Bitches Expendable. Never you mind, your precious Team A failed you - possibly turned rogue, turned their backs on your little mission to fortify their own power. Pathetic,[/i][/color]' Scarlett tightened her grip on Heartbeat, as CHALDEAS's Caster chimed in, '[color=add8e6][i]Of course, kiss up Caster. That's all your Class is good for. Hope you powder your nose later with how brown it must get. I know you must buy lipstick daily to kiss that ass so much. Don't be a traitor, when your --[/i][/color]'

It was only the soft touch of Celtchar's hand upon her shoulder that roused Scarlett from her seething thoughts, and dispelled the hateful storm with calmly offered words - not of encouragement, but stipulation. Edicts. Simple. Plain. Easy to follow. Trust in herself, her Codes, the mission, and most importantly, in him; the Servant, honour-bound to defend and serve her.

"[color=add8e6]Right, then,[/color]" Scarlett says, her voice soft and, almost, melodic, as she departed with him to their aptly named coffins. The Director would kill them, at any moment he deemed they were a threat - be that to Humanity, as he claimed, or his Authority, as he'd subconsciously shown by bandying about his family name and directorial position. He was no Animusphere, that was certain. However, Scarlett never knew any of them, either, so what difference did it make? Their Director was just another Mage; another power-hungry, bureaucratic asshole pretending he was altruistic and just, when he was just full of shit.

Climbing into her coffin, Scarlett chuckled at the morbid irony of it...

...before she was suddenly somewhere else in time and space. A house. Dimly lit. Decrepit. It was cozy, in a way; she might have said as much aloud. An errant thought. It didn't distract her from the matter at hand. They needed a lay of the land, and to that end, she and her Lancer were best suited to the task of --

Then, Capricorn told Berserker to scout the surrounding estate. It was Celtchar's questioning that affirmed she wasn't hearing things. Berserker? Scout? The mentally deficient Class was supposed to watch over them?

"[color=add8e6]Are you serious,[/color]" she asks, "[color=add8e6]You send a Berserker to scout? The Servant with the shortest fuse on a hair-thin trigger is supposed to be our first line of defense?[/color]" Scarlett glared at Capricorn, "[color=add8e6]Not to mention, you summoned the Berserker that can barely form a sentence. I really hope, if anything is out there, we can get a sense of it with "Yes" or "No" questions![/color]"

Maybe, death was preferable. If this was the level of incompetence she was dealing with, Scarlett had a feeling she would be dead before they got to the end.

"[color=add8e6] Let's go find the Summoner, and stop the flow of Skeletons, Celtchar,[/color]" Scarlett says, once he suggested they seek out the summoning Mage. "[color=add8e6]You'll fare better, if you can fight at full strength. My blood is my ammo and your fuel,[/color]" she says, "[color=add8e6]I'll support you, and you'll defend me. As partners should.[/color]"[hr]"[color=6B573B][b][i]Ara ara~[/i]. Now, why would I do that,[/b][/color]" Bunbuku asks, smoking casually. "[color=6B573B][b]Berserker's got this. I'm sure the Pettan Knight will be a boon, as well, when she's done arguing nothing with Archie,[/b][/color]" she says, "[color=6B573B][b]No sense in wasting my magic, unless there's a reason. I am better served starting tea. After all, before electrical power, there was fire and steam. And, those happen to be my specialties.[/b][/color]"

Bunbuku would set off for the kitchen to see if there was another she could get to cooking. Sure, there were boundless actual reasons to set off a Bounded Field - Assassin, chief among them - but... well, no but. If she didn't get an explicit request, she wasn't wasting magic on anything that didn't relate to tea. It wasn't being difficult, it was having common sense - after all, if she tied her magic up in a Bounded Field, how would she make any tea in this gods forsaken wreck of a house?

And, speaking of, what kind of tea was she to make...