Lady exited the vehicle, stowing the keys in the pocket of her black jeans. The place looked reputable enough with a small guard..no..bellhop at the door... and a clean lobby manned by a quiet clerk. At her Mistress' words, she nodded. "I do not think we were followed, but it would be wise to scout. Find a room and speak to no one unless necessary. I will return."
With that, she dissipated into the morning light and scoped out the lobby first, tailing her mistress. No one was occupying the sitting area or the bar, and there were no strange presences to speak of as Valerie paid for herself a room. There were no presences in any of the floors either. At least none made by any of the other servants. Lady went further to the roof for a moment, and looked out over the city they had come to. The immediate area seemed to be for business and market. It was a far cry from the market areas of her own land. While they were large and plentiful, the human world bizarre lacked the sort of character she was used to. Focusing, she could feel a glimmer of something powerful. It sat ever so faintly at the edges of her instinct. Something was out there, not close, but there nonetheless. Noting the lay out of their area, she returned to find Valerie walking down a hallway on the 4th floor.
"Lady?"
Lady heard the call of her name from down the hall but did not re-materialize herself. It would be best for anyone watching, even casually to believe that Valerie was in the room alone. Only one woman coming and one woman going was less noticeable than two. Yes, Mistress? she replied, her voice echoing in the mind of the woman. The area is clear, but I do feel a presence far from the building.
Valerie glanced around... then relaxed, nodding to the air. She closed her room door behind her, a small sense of relief lightening her tension. "Another participant in the war, maybe? Help me ward? I don't want them finding us." She stalked throughout the room, opening doors and looking under furniture.
Once Valerie was safe inside the room, Lady made her herself know, filtering into view in front of the woman. A look of concern etched on her face as she stepped forward. It was worrisome that her mistress could not ward her own keep. " Apologies, but I am no Caster, Mistress. Are there no spells of protection in your training?"
Valerie shot her a sharp, weary look. "Of course there are. I just assumed you had them too." Her need to rest was becoming more pressing, but she pushed it back. She huffed to herself as she walked the room, mumbling under her breath. The wards went up. She pulled off her ashy long-sleeve shirt, revealing a more comfortable undershirt, unstained by soot. The command seals shone against her clean collarbone. She brought herself to the bathroom, grabbing a towel and turning on the sink. "What can you do then?" she eyed the servant in the mirror, wetting the towel before bringing it to her face.
It was sharp words coming the girl who had asked her not 2 hours before what she was meant to do in the Holy Grail War. Lady raised a challenging brow at her Mistress while the woman cleaned herself off. The temptation to make a staunch point flickered in her mind, but she realized that Valerie was still staggering from a terrible loss. "Win the Grail and keep you alive long enough to use it," Lady replied with a cool edge to her voice. Valerie put the towel to her face and she waited until that was done before grabbing her shoulder. Spinning her Mistress to look her in the eye Lady gave her a hard gaze back. "To do that you must trust in my abilities, even if I do not tell you what they are until the the time comes. There is no room for doubt in this war, least of all in me." Having made her point, Lady's eyes softened and her grip loosened.
Valerie yanked back, a hard look being leveled up at Lady as she made her point. "Trust is a two way street, how can I prepare for what I've barely been informed about if I don't even know what my partner is capable of? Or who I'm going up against?" Her voice was rising, past a reasonable level. But Lady was right to assume that her temperament was coming from today's events. Still, she couldn't calm herself, snapping. "There's a person out there that knew my family's intentions. Which means they know of me, while I do not know of them. They murdered my whole family just to get a place in this war and they will not be pleased to discovered I still made it through. They could know everything about me while I sit here, blind and dumb. And you ask me to simply trust that you'll pull through? No. I am not a child. I will not follow orders. I need answers, I need to be prepared, I-" A sharp burst of fire erupted in her fist. She clenched it, putting it out. She took a deep breath, speaking through her teeth. "You ask for too much trust when I do not even know your name. I could die. This is not a time for boundaries, you must trust in me too."
A little smile came over Lady's face and she gave a Valerie a bow, her long braid sweeping over her shoulder, before rising again. "That is the attitude of a woman who will win this war," she stated without a hint of offense, "You could die and I could never redeem myself, but as a team we can avoid that. I can assure you, Mistress we will find the one who killed your family. I have sworn my soul to that end. " She picked up the cloth from the sink and offered it to Valerie. "And I do trust you, I would never have sworn the gifts of my blade to you if I did not." Lady backed away from the room and let the woman finish cleaning off, standing at the ready. When she emerged from the bathroom, Lady nodded. "I await your instructions."
Oh. Valerie slowly closed the door, realizing the servant had intended to rally her out of her self-pity. And rightly so... This was not a time to mourn, this was the war. Finally, it was happening. She could cry over her lost future later. She had work to do. She bathed, taking her clothes with her in the shower and washing the soot from them too. It would be best to not stick out. She was hoping her long seclusion would make her hard to identify out in the busy streets of the city. She left her clothing hanging to dry on hooks in the bathroom, her wet hair braided down her back as she came back out in undergarments and a towel. She nodded back at Lady. "This place is secured for now, but I worry about the presence you felt off in the distance. Do you think you check it out without falling into danger?"
Valerie was right to want to investigate the presence, and Lady gave a brief nod of approval. "If it is another servant it will be difficult to tell how they will react to my presence. If they attack, I am more than capable of defending myself, unless you would prefer I return to you and do not engage." In her opinion it was far too early to engage in a fight unless she was forced to do so in defense of her mistress.
"No," Valerie said without hesitation. "Gather what information you can. Then disengage and come back. We're not ready for this yet. I have questions I still need answered." She flopped onto the bed, pulling out her spare money and holding it out towards Lady. "See to your own needs, and perhaps to the car? I would like to visit a certain library tomorrow, if our circumstance allow it. I don't know enough, but I plan on rectifying that. We will not walk into this blind.
"Aye, I will see that it is done, Mistress," she replied, taking the currency, "Should you be in an emergency, and you absolutely must...call on me with with a command seal and I will come." On her way out of the door, she took a glance back at Valerie. She had lost everything in a single day and it was a hard thing to face for anyone. She was all to aware of what it was like to have the things you held dear stripped away. Pushing those sorts of thoughts from her head, Lady started out on her own.
First, she put the car in a space designated for the hotel, though her parking job was less than spectacular, it was within the lines...mostly. After that, she began Shops were opening and cars were passing by as she walked down the avenues. Things were so different, even the air smelled strange. She wandered through shops, simply looking and remembering while she scouted for the presence she had felt in the early hours of the morning. A boy ran past, ignoring his mother's calls for him to slow down, and tripped on the curb. Lady's lunged forward and caught him by a handful of his t-shirt. "Easy," she chuckled. She wasn't about to tell the boy not to run. Life was too short not run and see all there was to see in it. Setting the boy to his feet, she gave him a little smile and kept going along her way.
Scouting and window shopping ate away the hours until the same tickling presence appeared. Was it this servant who was stolen or another of the 7? Her mistress had instructed her to investigate and so she would. Walking toward the source, she followed the feeling as it grew in the back of her mind until she stood outside a small bar. The Silver Field. If it was a servant inside, they would have undoubtedly felt her own presence as well. There was no point in hesitating. Grabbing the handle, Lady pulled open the heavy door and stepped in. The inside appeared like every other tavern she had seen in both the human and her own world, but it was also empty save for a few people. Most of them were sitting at the bar and of those two stood out. A large man with brown hair, and another much smaller to his left. Walking casually over to the bar, she selected a stool to the right of the larger man and climbed it, feeling that there was no move for hostility yet. With a sweep of her honey-colored braid, Lady nodded to the bar keep. "I will have a drink of what this fellow is having," she said quietly, before catching the eye of the servant next to her, "It is a fair day for a drink, even so early, would you not agree?"