[center][h2]'Henson'[/h2][hr][@Raineh Daze][@VitaVitaAR][hr][/center]The mannequin's movement wasn't quite as jerky and stilted as before, but that provided little comfort to balance the situation. Now that it had been roused to attention by the external impetus of its creator, it was almost the opposite problem: its movement too smooth in bursts, like an invisible hand was repositioning it between motions in flashes too brief to perceive. Perhaps, as before, it was by dint of the apparently rudimentary techniques that had gone into its assembly-

[color=#aa8585][i][b]"Hmmmm. Feeling pensive, are we?"[/b][/i][/color] Or perhaps, as Saber surmised, it was all in concert to the morbid taste of its creator, if one could even stretch to refer to it as such. As when it played her words back to her, the voice that came from whatever distorted mechanical larynx enabled it to speak was soft, audibly feminine beneath the crackle of circuitry. But this was no vocal mimicry: the tone the voice carried now was far from robotic, the ambiguously [i]playful[/i] lilt of the unknown magus' voice animating even this grotesque proxy as they appraised their [i]uninvited guests[/i].

It turned its head to look past Saber, not moving its body from its station before her but rather turning its head to look in the direction of the doorway, towards Asteriel. As before, the gleam of the Servant's sword and the Einzbern's own efforts to conceal herself seemed to interfere with the red light of its vision, and a moment passed in which it seemed it might draw closer-

[color=#aa8585][i][b]"More's the pity."[/b][/i][/color] But after a moment, the mannequin simply crossed its arms, jerkily shaking its head. As much as was uncertain about the sudden shift in the situation, one truth shone through: whoever was on the other end was [i]rather[/i] enjoying themselves. [color=#aa8585][i][b]"I'd rather hoped that one so bold as to stroll in without so much as a by-your-leave would have a little more to say for themselves: but I shan't force the matter."[/b][/i][/color]

[color=#aa8585][i][b]"What say you, Little Miss Servant?"[/b][/i][/color] The skull twisted on its neck, returning the glare of those red lights to Saber. [color=#aa8585][i][b]"Is my humble little workshop to your tastes, or is it just another disappointment among many?"[/b][/i][/color]