By the Bonfire: Finding a hobby

His eyes lingered on the ingredients in front of him, then moved away from them and towards the individual who had been examining the side of his head. Without warning, she gripped his wrists and then brought them up and right in front of her eyes, each of her bright orbs scanned his fingers and sniffed at them before lowering them down.

He didn't make an effort to fight her, content with just letting it all unfold. He had put himself forwards and if this was how it was performed correctly, then he would leave her all to it.

Letting his hands return to his side, the woman moved her large paws up to cup her chin as best she could - though the end result was hiding half her face behind her hands like a scarf - and tapping away as she rocked back and forth. When she did speak, it was not quite an accusation but it wasn't all that casual either. "You did wash your hands with soap and water, didn't you-wan?"

"Yes." She had watched him do it as well, she had been looming over his shoulder the whole time and when he went to remove his hands she had grabbed them and forced them back into the water and told him to carry on until she told him to stop. For her to ask him this now, it made him wonder if her madness did more than just make her spontaneous.

"Hmmm…must just be you being a zombie that makes it smell bad." Shrugging her shoulders, she dismissed the puzzlement of it all and then turned on the direction of the counter top, making a sweeping motion towards it and then changing her posture entirely, standing up straight and whipping back towards him while wearing…

Where did she get those glasses from?

"Cooking session one! First rule, you must always address me as Sensei when in the kitchen! Understand-wan?"

"Yes."

Her eyes narrowed just a touch.

Oh, she wanted him to start doing that immediately then, did she?

"Yes, Sensei."

She preened, almost looking as though she was going to start fidgeting on the spot but held herself back at the last moment, yet the proud grin remained on her face as she turned back towards the countertop. "First thing is first, well, second thing is second because we just covered the first thing. But you know what I mean-wan."

He didn't.

"What we're going to be making is one of the simplest bakes to make, so simple that even a little kid could do it." She pointed a finger at him, it soon extended out into a hooked black claw which resided just an inch from his eye, he didn't so much as blink as it hovered there. "But don't think for one moment that I'm going to let my expectations slip-wan! I'm going to be watching you like a sparrow. A little tiny sparrow in the kitchen and trust me-wan, those little things are very scary. Very, very scary."

The grin on her face turned sharper, drawing her paw back. "By the time we're done here, you're going to be making some of the best cookies to ever exist. I stake my reputation as the best of the Tamamo-nine on it!" a beat, then she added on. "Which means that if you mess this up, we're both going to end up as bird food because I am certain she'll find us wherever we are…we'd never be able to escape."

Her paws came up, grabbing at the side of her head as she slumped forwards, looking a touch more panicked than before. "She'd find us, she'd come all the way back here to a point where she doesn't even exist yet and then she'd yell at me, and then she'd yell at you, and then she'd have us scrubbing pots until our paws turned naked-wan…"

Ash slowly blinked at her. "...What are you talking about?"

"Hm?" And just like that, she was back to her regular posture. "Me? I'm just talking about something that probably won't happen because with me teaching you, there's no way you'd end you'd mess anything up-wan." a beat, then her expression turned blank, her voice went toneless. "I'm being serious here-wan. Pawsitively serious. If you somehow mess up a cookie under my guidance, then I don't deserve to be in a kitchen-wan."

He stared at her once again, unblinking as he tried and failed to deduce what exactly she meant by this. Nothing came to mind and he found he was rather lost, like he had taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in a dead end. Was that even possible for a conversation?

Apparently it was.

An experience to be sure but he wasn't entirely certain it was a welcome one.

"If you say so." He went with the safest reply, turning his eyes onto the counter once more-

"Oh yeah, how come you aren't a woman at the moment? I thought you would have stuck with being a girl?"

Ash thinned his lips. "I did not want to cause problems or confusion, most know me as a man so I changed back to a man. Or returned to? Whichever works." he explained with a faint shrug of his shoulders. That and he noticed that there were a touch more stares than before, not hostile but more bemused, perhaps. Cu had just remained silent, then nodded once and walked off without saying anything. Apart from that, he noticed no real difference between the genders save for the cosmetic changes.

"Well…not like I'm going to complain either way." Tamamo-cat announced with a carefree tone of voice. "You looked like you could have gotten some of those ice cold maid energy and if there's one thing I could do without, it is a rival maid, especially when I need to cement my position now more than ever." thrusting her paw to the air, the woman all but yelled out her words, utterly uncaring for the looks that were now being directed towards them from the hall of the cafeteria.

Turning his head, Ash stared at the faces and was rewarded with a wave of the hand from Astolfo, a rather enthusiastic wave of the hand which devolved into him standing up and then swinging both his arms from side to side while smiling all the while. It lasted until Ash brought up his own hand for a short signal, then lowered it again. Astolfo grinned and then sat back down, speaking with the others at the table.

"Hey, eyes on the prize!"

"Yes…Sensei."

"Good."

This was a far cry from what he had been expecting to encounter when the summoning went ahead as planned, all he could really focus on was the attire - or lack thereof - of the tanned woman right in front of him, short white hair and a long veil of matching colour reaching all the way down to her thicks from the back of her head.

With only a small white dress, unconnected form fitting sleeves on either arm and black leggings around her shin, pointed curved red shoes. Her attire wasn't the most outrageous thing he had ever seen in his life and it was probably par for the course, though that was nothing compared to the sword she was wielding, if it could be called a sword.

A multi-coloured cone of light, held in place by four black spokes and clipped into a crimson handle, something that looked as though it would have been ripped right from a manga. His eyes moved from the weapon and then towards the face of the woman, dull red eyes stared right back at him. A vacant look that was rather similar to that of Ash, now that he thought more about it.

The woman said nothing, just staring at him with the sword held loosely at her side.

In fact, neither one of them said anything.

His patience in waiting for her to introduce herself went on for a couple few seconds, without even a twitch in her face or posture, like she was a statue of some sort. Eventually, he cleared his throat and stepped forwards, opting to be the one to take the first step in this little introduction, giving the woman the best smile he could muster up and extending a hand towards her.

"Hello there. I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru and this is Chaldea…Happy you answered the summoning." A quickly glanced over his shoulder and a nod of the head to Mash, something she understood immediately and stepped forwards as well to speak and introduce herself.

"And I am Mash Kyrielight. Demi-Servant of Chaldea."

The eyes of the woman didn't so much as wander from him, still focused on the hand which he had extended towards her. Almost as though there was something about it that was confusing, or at least he interpreted it as such. It could well have been offensive, or near enough for her. That might have been why she was seemingly content with just staring at the hand without doing anything.

His fingers started to falter, the arm lowered itself back to his side and he awkwardly disguised a cough as a clearing of the throat once more, not every Servant was personable but he had absolutely no clue who this was. Unless he was missing something, they could have been. Actually, he briefly recalled something during the last time they met Solaire, and it was only because of how weird it had been to consider.

A woman with a rainbow sword.

His eyes darted to the weapon once again, then towards her as he internally put the pieces together. This was the woman that Gwyndolin and Artemis had met and fought with during the time they were all waiting for them in the pit, which probably meant he should pass along a word of warning to Gwyndolin. Their debriefing of the encounter had involved a lot of silence and a lot of tense looks.

"S-so…" He drummed his fingers along his side, her eyes met his and the silence resumed once more. The smile on his lips was starting to hurt a little, probably going on for much too long. "...Do you want to tell us what class you are?"

"...Saber." The woman replied after a single second, not even a hint of emotion in her words. "I am Altera."

Still not ringing any bells.

"The Hun. Servant of the War God."

Ah, Altera the Hun-

His face blanked, bringing up a single finger as he furrowed his brows at the woman for half a second, then slowly turned his head away from her and towards the others in the room, the comprehension was quick to come upon Mash, who was now sporting a similar look as he was, then he glanced towards the screen where Romani and Da Vinci were standing, both of them were looking at Altera with fascination.

Then Romani's voice chimed through the microphone. "Am I putting another name on the board?"

The list of corrected genders was getting quite a few names at this point in time.

"Wait a second on that." He waved down the man, then turned on the woman once again who had sent a small look in the direction of Romani, only when he was facing her once more did she bring her attention back towards him. "When you say you're the Hun, and with the name Altera…do you mean Attila the Hun?"

Her expression twitched for a brief second, eyes crinkled and her lip turned down for a ghost of a second before it all reverted back. When she spoke again, there was an edge to her voice that hadn't been there before, a rather clear warning when coupled with her next words. "I don't like that name. I am Altera."

"Altera it is then." He didn't argue with her for a second on that, turning around and giving Romani a single nod of the head before he stepped back and allowed the Saber Servant down from the summoning plate, her eyes roamed the room before they landed on him once more.

"We are contracted. You are the Master and I am the instrument of destruction."

Oh wow, she really was like Ash, wasn't she?

On the outside, he just nodded his head up and down. "Alright then, so welcome to Chaldea, once again, at the risk of repeating myself. Happy that you showed up and looking forward to working with you in the future." turning side on, he gestured towards the door. "In the meantime, I'd be happy to give you a tour of the facility. Help you get a feel for it if you ever want to go for a wander round and introduce you to some of the people in the hallways."

Altera looked as though she was just silently judging him behind her cold expression, then the sword disappeared from her hands as she walked past him and towards the door, coming to a halt and then speaking once more. "If that is your command. I shall also use this as a chance to examine Chaldea as a civilisation."

He blinked. "I…Do we even count as a civilisation or are we part of civilisation?" it was a question directed towards Mash, though she didn't get a chance to answer it before Altera did.

"All is civilisation to me." Her head turned ever so slightly, just enough that she could look at him out of the corner of her eye. "And they are all good or bad. I shall determine if Chaldea is a good or bad civilisation."

Somehow he got the feeling that being a bad civilisation in her eyes wasn't necessarily a good thing. It probably wasn't a good thing on moral grounds, but being regarded as a bad civilisation on any other grounds around the person who called herself an instrument of destruction just sounded like a bad place to be in, period. He blinked, then straightened himself out as he realised what he had just come to terms with in the span of a couple of seconds.

Leaning towards Mash and speaking in a whisper. "Do you think it's telling that she literally just threatened all our lives and I didn't even blink at her? Because I think that's really telling to me and I'm slightly worried."

Mash opened and closed her mouth, a thoughtful look on her face for a couple of moments before she replied. "I don't think getting used to something like this is good, but I also think that it's better than being frightened all the time? I'm sorry, Senpai. I don't really know…I don't think that Altera-san was being threatening, I think she just wanted to make sure that Chaldea was a good place to work." she then flashed him a smile and nodded her head up and down, clenching her hands into fists as she did so and bringing them up in front of her chest. "And I think this is the best place to work, Senpai."

"Well, thanks for the confidence booster." He pat her twice on the shoulder, then walked towards the door and moved past Altera. "Hope that we live up to your expectations-"

"If you are not confident, then does that mean you are aware of your own flaws as a civilisation?"

He nearly tripped over when she spoke, catching himself at the last second and reaching for the door, it opened up as he thinned his lips, turning to face her and then bringing his shoulders up and down. "Pretty sure everyone has their own personal feeling on what good and bad is. I'm sure you felt the same way when you were…you know, back home. I know a couple of Servants who have their own little problems but on the whole…I think that we're a good place."

Altera stared at him with that same unblinking gaze. "I did not consider differences of opinions. Civilizations are good or bad. That is how they operate." she stepped past him without another word, leaving him standing there and staring off into space.

His lips pulled down into a touch of a frown, glancing and staring at the back of her head for a couple of seconds, then returned it to Mash. They both shrugged at one another, then took off after Altera, he was now debating on what would actually be classified as a good civilisation.

Chaldea was a civilisation, everything was a civilisation in her opinion.

It incorporated a culture, it was a gathering of many different individuals under a single goal. That was the definition of a civilisation to her, perhaps there might have been more nuance to it than she was aware, but that was beyond her ability to discern. Everything that existed before her was a civilisation, her role was to examine these civilisations.

In the past, she would destroy them without question, that had been her single goal.

But now…

Now there was a difference.

The Human Incineration, she knew of it the moment she had been summoned into the world, all of human history - every civilisation - had been turned into nothing. Both good and bad civilisations, those that should be destroyed and those that should have been spared. It was indiscriminate destruction of all.

That was not acceptable to her.

But neither was accepting Chaldea without question.

Any civilisation that existed needed to be judged, she needed to understand if Chaldea was a good or a bad civilisation. The only way she could conclude that was with examination of the entire facility from top to bottom, everything they did and everything they accepted, every single fibre of being within this place needed to be laid bare before her before she could determine whether it was a good or bad civilisation.

However, if Chaldea was a bad civilisation then what was she supposed to do then?

That had yet to be answered in her mind.

Their goal of restoring human history did not make them a good civilization. All would have strove for the same purpose, it was simply that of survival. Everything held a desire to continue existence, both good and bad. Thus, Chaldea's best chance at survival lay with undoing the Human Incineration, that alone might be a good outcome for some, but it would also mean that the bad civilizations would be returned to history. The ones she had personally destroyed as well.

They had been destroyed for a reason.

She stopped walking, her eyes turned further down the hall as something approached. A sensation that she knew of and yet was different to her, it was a familiar feeling to her sword. The sword of Mars, but at the same time it was so very different. Divine War, but not that which she was accustomed with.

"Something the matter, Altera?" The voice of Master from behind her, she did not answer him immediately. Though she made note of his tone of voice, unsure of what to make of it. Another time to address it, for now there was something approaching the halls from the front. Now she could hear the heavy steps, footfalls of a powerful being approaching her.

They rounded the corner a moment later, bathing the hall with their divine essence but it was limited, feeble. Not as strong as she would have anticipated, even with the possibility of them withholding some of their strength. In old armour, scaled and grey, a ragged cloth of aged material wrapped around their neck and concealing their lower face, tall hair like grass rising up from the top of their head.

Dulled golden eyes locked onto her own, a curious hum from the God and then a tilt of the head as they approached. They had no weapon, there was no sign of hostility. Curiosity, but not aggression. That was why she stayed her hand, to attack without cause was bad civilisation.

"Oh, hey Faraam." Master greeted the God casually, stepping forwards and raising their hand up in a short greeting. The God briefly looked in his direction and nodded once, then returned his gaze to her. "Ah, this is Altera. We're showing her around Chaldea, just summoned her."

"Altera…" The God - Faraam - repeated the name under their breath and then leaned back slightly, bringing their arms up and folding them over their chest. Their height was easily greater than her own, but size meant nothing. She had fought taller in the past. "A name I do not know, but I sense something connecting us…how peculiar that is, some measure of divinity about you but it does not feel…Have you some connection with a War God?"

"Why do you ask?"

A shrug of the shoulders. "A mere intrigue on my part and little else. What business you have with the Gods of your own land is no concern of mine, so long as it does not bleed over then we shall have no qualm with one another." unfolding their arms, then leaned closer and looked her over, something passing through those golden eyes of his. "You are not human but you are no Lordkin either…something new. Something very new to me…"

She remained silent, keeping her eyes on the God without even blinking.

He made a small noise, then returned to his original posture. "I expect no answers from you if you have no wish to give them. It is a passing similarity that brought me here and little else." turning his head, he nodded once to Master and then started to walk, moving past her and down the hallway before he paused, turned on his heel and looked down at her. "I await the time where I might see what relation you have with a War God, for it feels very strong to me…be you of their Covenant or their killer."

She did not blink, but there was something about his words that was strange to her. "If I had defeated a War God, would you not be troubled by this?"

"For what reason?" They sounded rather puzzled. "All beings who enter battle should be aware of the possibility of death. Not even we Gods are exempt from this, on a greater scale we might stand but we die all the same when faced with an equally powerful foe." he brought his hand up, rubbing at his chin through the fabric. "That being said, you will doubtless find others who do not share my reasoning. Supposing you did battle a War God and bested them in combat, then that just meant you were the greater warrior of the two. Nothing more and nothing less."

Her brows furrowed just a touch as she stared at them. "Is that all that matters to you?"

"No." He replied after a second, lowering his arm and shaking his head from side to side. "But it is what it is." he narrowed his gaze at her. "I see such a cold look, so distant and so separated from it all…Well, it is no more of my business." he straightened out. "I am Faraam, former God of War."

"Former?"

"I…parted from that title many long years ago." He replied, letting out a short breath and turning his back on her, walking through the hallway once more. "I am just Faraam now, nothing more and nothing less."

He was around the corner before she could even think of a reply, she could not think of a reply even now. Staring at the spot where he had vanished, then she turned to her Master and his assistant, looking between the two of them for a moment before she posed a question to them. "Is he the sole God here?"

Master blinked, then shook his head. "No, we've got quite a few other Gods here…Heh, we've probably got enough to set up a pantheon or something at this point, haven't we?"

Her eyes narrowed, that did not sound appealing to her in the least. "Is that what Chaldea's intention is? Return the Gods unto the world?"

"What?" Master turned to her with wide eyes, blinking rapidly and then bringing up his hands, waving them from side to side. "No, no! I was just making a joke, I don't know anything about returning the Gods to the world, I don't even think that's possible in the first place." he paused for a moment, then turned to his assistant with a tilt of the head. She silently shook it in a negative way. "Yeah, I didn't think so."

She relaxed, if only a little. "I see. Are they all like him?"

"Who, Faraam?" Master made a face "Eeeeh…they've all got their quirks and some are a little more…I'm not gonna talk about them behind their backs like that, just keep in mind that they're all very different." he turned away, then resumed walking. "But Faraam is one of the more down to earth sort of ones."

"Down to earth?" The words did not make much sense to her, surely they were all on earth, unless. Ah, she understood now. He walked along the ground while others flew, that was what he meant. Perhaps there was some greater meaning to his lack of airborne capabilities. That being said, she was rather puzzled by what he meant by abandoning his title as God of War.

She had not known that a God could stop being a God.

An unmoved shake of the head from within, she put the matter to one side and focused on the Master. He had not caught her words, or if he did he did not react to them. Instead he was already moving down the hall once more, only stopping to shoot her a small glance to check whether she was still following. She resumed her pace, acutely aware of the assistant behind her.

"Yeah, one thing you should be aware of is that we've had a little breach on top of the incineration as well." Master explained further, making a gesture with his hand as he walked. "Something to do with the Second Magic, or so the Director calls it. Basically we've got visitors from another history crossing over into our own for whatever reason, still not entirely sure as to why that is…but I'm sure we'll find out eventually. So if you see anyone that you don't have any knowledge of, they're probably from the other world. Like Faraam."

"I see."

Master made a small noise at her. "You don't sound all that bothered about that." he commented, that was all it was. A simple observation.

"I am not concerned in the least." She explained for his benefit, if he searched for an explanation then he would get one. "The influence of another world does not change my opinion or my role. I am a weapon of destruction, the nature of my enemies does not change their status."

Master pocketed his hands, then made a small humming noise with his mouth. "Fair enough, I guess…anyway, this is mostly just the 'up-for-lease' wing as we've called it. Most of the stuff around here is empty space at this point, think we've got a couple of storage rooms that aren't in use…" he paused for a moment, then stopped walking and brought his hand from his pocket to rub at his chin. "Think it's on one of the lower floors actually, couple of the other Servants keep going down with Nero for something-"

The name clicked with her in an instant.

"Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus."

Silence from the dark haired teen, he slowly turned around and stared at her with bright blue eyes full of bewilderment for a half couple of seconds - 1.43 to be exact - and then he replied slowly. "Yeeees."

"Of the Roman Empire."

"Unless there was another one I'm missing, yeah."

She maintained her gaze upon him, taking a single step closer which he did not retreat from. "Are you aware of the history of the Roman Empire?"

A nod of the head. "For the most part, I'm aware of the gist of it."

"The Roman Empire is a bad civilisation. You are contracted with Emperor Nero. Therefore, you are allied with the Roman Empire."

The expression they made was rather complicated, one she could not place, it switched every few seconds as they rubbed at their chin once more, then rested their hand on the side of the neck and stared at her for an extended period of time. "I mean, the Roman Empire has done bad things in the past and I'm not going to deny that. We've helped the Roman Empire in the past as well but I wouldn't say we were allied as much as it was that we had a common goal? But…"

His head teetered from side to side. "You can work with people without liking what they do. We've got Boudica here as well. You'd probably know who she is as well as what her history is like with Nero."

Boudica. Queen of the Iceni.

Her history was laid bare as well, as was the destruction that was done.

That…that was also bad civilization.

The actions against the Romans who had done her no wrong, it was true they were a bad civilisation, but then what was done unto them was no different. It was what made the Romans a bad civilisation to begin with. It was a paradox within her, Boudica had done that which she did not agree with the Romans for doing.

"I see."

That was all she could say, she retreated a single step and kept her eyes on the Master. Though he said nothing to her, still looking into her eyes. What was that she saw in those blue orbs, doubt? Intrigue? Scrutiny? Did he, perhaps, not believe that she truly understood the ramifications of what he had said.

"...But yeah, whether you agree with Rome or not…we've all got our reasons for being here now. We all want to keep on living…" Master muttered, rubbing his hand against his neck and drawing his lips into a thin line. "Nero is a biased source for how good Rome is, that's just how she is…Chaldea isn't going to keep slaves though, if that's what you're worried about. We're hardly a conquering army either…we're just…a bunch of people."

"You are a civilization. Whether you believe differently or not does not change it. You are a civilization."

A shrug of the shoulders. "If you say so." He turned away, offering a faint smile and continuing on. "Come along then, we've only got six floors with power so that's were most of the other Servants reside, we'll probably run into a couple of them doing…things, I guess."

She turned to the assistant and tilted her head. "They keep themselves active?"

The assistant blinked, looking startled at suddenly being addressed, then rapidly nodded her head up and down. "Oh, yes Altera-san. Some of the Servants have wanted to keep themselves busy when we're not being deployed, so they have set up a variety of different activities to perform. Some have been forming exercise groups, I believe that there is a rumour of a film club being set up."

Master abruptly whipped around. "Wait, seriously? How come I didn't know any of this?"

"You didn't?" Assistant looked rather surprised. "I thought that Kerry-san would have told you, it was her idea."

"I don't doubt that."

Intriguing.

Master continued to gesture in the direction of the rooms and spoke of them, she made a mental note of everything she encountered thus far. Storing it away, it was nothing more than names and titles. Harmless information that supplied her with nothing.

It was as they came upon the doors to the lift that she sensed something else, another Servant on the other side. Parting doors revealed the cloud of black miasma clinging to a dark plate metal, a single crimson band of light across the front of the head staring back at her. On the other side was another figure cloaked in darkness, though this was less hazing to her eyes. A simple black sheet draped over them with a mask shaped to look like a skull peering at her through the hood.

"Lord Fujimaru." The skull man bowed his head just a touch in greeting, when his head was brought back up he turned the mask on her. For a moment, it looked as though the mask morphed its appearance to resemble a raised eyebrow, but she detected nothing out of the ordinary. "Another Servant joins our ranks?"

Master nodded. "Hey, Hassan. This is Altera. Altera, this is Hassan of the Cursed Arm."

An Assassin.

The head of the Hassan inclined just a touch, but said nothing more on the subject. The three of them stepped onto the elevator as the doors closed.

"So, a bit of a surprise to see the two of you together…Or were you just getting the same lift and bumped into one another?" Master quizzed the two Servants, the shadowed armour remained silent, leaving it to the Assassin to speak.

"We were both enlisted for assistance by the Caster Pharros." Hassan replied to Master, bringing up a hand and gesturing to the silent Servant. "She required aid with something that would counter the effects brought about Noble Phantasm and personal skills. I believe her hope was to create something to penetrate such defences…though she was disheartened with failures thus far and sent us away."

"Ah, I see." A nod of the head from Master, he pocketed his hands and looked between the two of them. "I guess that would definitely come in handy if it works…though if it were that easy, then most people would probably end up doing it, wouldn't they?"

The Assassin made a small sound of amusement. "I would bring shame to the Old Man of the Mountain if I could be so easily seen within a single afternoon. My concealment is born of many experiences…Even the arts of magic have their limits, but that is nothing to the determination of Caster Pharros." the Assassin straightened. "She is rather determined, perhaps she will be met with success if one had a lesser skill in the art."

"That would probably have helped, but between you and Sasaki only one of you actually has Presence Concealment in the first place."

"True."

Employment of an Assassin and yet he spoke of there being only two, one of which did not even have the skill associated with the Class. Unusual, if they intended to make use of the Assassin then why would they have so few of them in the first place. They clearly agreed with the practice if they kept the Servant around, yet they did not have many. Then there was the other Servant in the elevator who had yet to make even a single noise.

She turned her eyes on him, staring blankly into the red visor of the helmet. She could gain nothing from them, some manner of mental interference that made them seem different from the world. It concealed much of their information and even parts of their physical appearance. A Noble Phantasm, but it was still active.

"Can you not turn off the cloud?"

The head of the Servant turned on her with a low metallic groan, the red visor flashed for only a moment, then a noise echoed from the figure. "Eeeeeeuuuuuuuu…"

She blinked.

They were a Berserker then.

"That up ahead is the training simulator which is…" Master trailed off, lowering his arm from where he had been pointing and putting it down at his side, tilting his head at an angle and raising a single brow. "Which is currently in use with someone. But yeah, that's where Servants go when they want to train or otherwise make use of for some reason or another…but mostly train. Every now and again it gets turned into some spooky forest or an old town for something."

He turned to his assistant. "Do we just use this for training or an Elizabeth concert?"

A nod of the head from the girl. "Yes, Senpai."

Altera did not know what an 'Elizabeth Concert' was and yet the moment he uttered the words, she felt a slight tremble in his voice, associated with fear or discomfort. That would imply that whatever it was, he did not personally like it or approve of it. Yet they spoke of it as though it was a common occurrence. Unusual, if they disliked it then why did they continue to use it? Was it a common feature of Chaldea?

…Were they bringing pain to their own subjects? That felt like something a bad civilisation would do.

"Huh…Alright then, figured we'd have done something else with it by now but I assume it's more with power constraints than anything else." Master scratched the underside of his chin, then shrugged his shoulders before he approached the door to the 'Simulator' as he called it. "Anyway, might as well pop in and say hello to whoever's in there, meetings have been fairly sparse but I assume it's because most Servants are headed off to the cafeteria at the moment."

"Why?"

He turned. "Hm? Oh, it's nearly lunchtime."

She still didn't understand. "Do they watch the other humans of Chaldea eat?"

Master blinked very slowly. "No? They go there to eat as well."

Her brows furrowed a touch. "Servants do not need to eat food. Why would they travel to cafeteria to eat?"

"...They like the taste of it?"

She found she did not have a response to that, further examination - for whatever reason - found that it was a reason she could understand completely and support. Though she was not entirely sure why that would have been. Nodding her head up and down to Master, she watched him made a small expression and then resume his walk towards the door, pressing a button and then stepping inside.

She followed suit, stopping only at the sound of crashing steel and combat, her eyes roamed the surroundings. Bright green fields under a sapphire blue sky, as far as the eye could see and yet it all looked too artificial to her. Perhaps it was the purity of the air or the shade of the ground, she could tell that it was nothing more than a physical deception and little else.

Her eyes moved away from the scenery and towards the sounds of combat.

"What in the heck?" The odd remark came from Master as he stared at the combatants, he sounded surprised for some reason. Though that did not make sense, he referred to this as training. For what reason would he be surprised at individuals' training?

A heavy crash.

She turned to the fight, a blur of crimson light danced through the air before slamming back into the earth like a comet, the towering figure of metal was knocked flat on it's back in the next instant, metal crunched and was sent flying, the giant was now bereft of an arm and yet in it's right, it still held onto a large axe.

It turned, swinging at the blur only to strike at nothing but the ground, the blur having moved and halted not far from it. A woman in purple clothing, long hair matching hair and a scarlet spear held loosely in her hands, idly turning it in her grasp as she paced around, the giant turned from the ground and faced the woman once more.

"I didn't know the Director would be here."

"Yeah…that's my bad."

She turned to the voices briefly, Master speaking with a blue haired man who held an aura of divinity. The red eyes of the Servant briefly flickered to her and widened for a half second before his lips thinned, raising a single brow and then diverting his focus back onto Master.

"I may have let slip that the Lass slapped up a Goddess when Teacher was in earshot of me and then she sort of…well…" The blue haired man looked rather uncomfortable, bringing his hand up and nursing the side of his head. "...She got interested and then stalked her out the second she could. Dragged her down here to see what she was capable of…The whole 'being declared the equal of a dragon' didn't do her many favours either."

"Is she going to be okay?"

"Oh, for sure." The man replied, then he paused for a moment, his expression started to drop. "Maybe…it'll probably be fine. She's got experience with this sort of thing, I taught her how to parry so she should probably be alright if someone takes a swing at her head…I think."

Altera turned her eyes and landed on another young human, a link of magical energy and a brief flash of her hand revealed the command seals of a Master. It meant there was indeed more than one. Director, a title of authority. This woman was superior to her own Master, perhaps in rank if not in skill. Armed with what looked to be a wooden pole as well and with an expression on her face which seemed rather panicked.

"Certainly room for improvement, that much is certain." The comment from the purple haired woman was swiftly followed by her body being engulfed with bright light once more, tearing away from the ground with a pulse and then shooting for the sky once more, blurring around faster than most could track.

The crimson blur rushed towards the white haired woman, she threw something at the ground and formed a barrier of golden light and stumbled away. There would have been little time for her to do anything else, not that it mattered as the blur struck the barrier and actually stopped for a fraction of a second, resistance against the attack.

It was only a fraction, the blur continued on and then swept the young woman up with it, the two of them vanished before they reappeared a short distance away, the white haired girl lying on her front, the heeled boot of the Servant lightly pressing down on her back between her shoulder blades and the butt of the spear residing just an inch away from the top of the woman's skull.

"Hmph." The Servant poked her in the back of the head, eliciting a muffled grunt from the individual beneath her, then stepped off. "You have fire, if nothing else…but your lack of skill is proof enough of inexperience, even the whetstone of battle has only granted you a dull edge…but it is better than no edge at all. I suppose."

Altera turned to her Master, then raised her brows. "Is this common behaviour?"

"...Not really." He looked rather disturbed, then looked at the blue haired Servant one more time. "Is this safe? I mean, is this actually safe? Because this looks like it's the opposite of safe to me."

A sigh from the man. "She ain't dead yet, is she?" he gestured towards the woman. "Look, if she was serious then the lass would have been dead long before you even got here. Teacher is just playing around, this is like teasing someone or something, that's all she's doing here, just a little bit of fun to pass the time…"

"You attack people for amusement?" She asked aloud this time, watching the display as the white haired woman stumbled to her feet, saying something that had the purple haired woman smile rather widely before she stepped forwards and shoved her back into the dirt, the 'Director' threw the wooden pole rather clumsily at the Lancer, who sidestepped with ease.

The exhale of the blue haired Servant drew her eye once more, then man rolled his red orbs and fixed her with an exasperated look. "This ain't much of an attack, just a light poke and prodding…really, any sort of combat the lass gets is good in the end to make sure she actually gets some experience."

He was current, but that was not the motivation of the Lancer Servant. By the words of this being, she was doing this not to better the fighting capability, but just for her own amusement. That sounded more akin to abusing the weak for one's own mirth, something which was the tried and true method of a hundred bad civilisations. It was not something she could agree with, it was not something that Chaldea should allow if they wanted to call themselves a good civilisation.

"...I see."

"The lass is sticking around for it, before you try and get all annoyed." The blue haired Servant pointed out rather suddenly, perhaps sensing her thoughts of the matter. "Lass had plenty of time to leave after the first time she got floored. She's been at this for a good ten minutes now, Teacher is probably seeing how far she is willing to go…consider it an endurance test."

Her eyes remained on them, she turned away and took a single step out of the Simulator and into the corridors once more, briefly turning and looking over her shoulder into the landscape for a short moment. The reasoning that was provided was slim, conflicting accounts of the same thing. If one fought, then it should be because they were a fighter. Enjoyment of war and destruction was bad civilisation, she found no joy in her actions. They simply were.

Chaldea was…confusing.

Neither elements of good and bad civilisation.

Something was burning.

That was the single thought that passed through her mind as she approached what Master had called the 'cafeteria' where humans and Servants would go for nourishment. Though she was certain that the location where they got their food was not supposed to smell like the ruins of an old city. Neither was she sure they were supposed to see a cloud of black smoke erupting from the open door and a small crowd stood outside.

She hastened her steps, moving past Master as he stopped to stare at the damage, she did not draw forth her sword right yet but she did shove her way past the others who were in the way, obstacles and little else. Where there was burning, there was often conflict. Until she was certain of the nature of Chaldea, she would not let it be destroyed.

Entering the room, her eyes landed on a blonde figure, wearing a simple raggedy tunic and a white apron, black soot in his blonde hair, a blank expression on his face as he stared towards the kitchen, all while a strange looking individual with animalistic features yelled obscenities at him. Accompanied by repeatedly smacking her hands(?) on the counter and a repeated use of the word donkey.

"What the heck happened in here and why is the kitchen on fire?" Master's voice echoed out the moment he stumbled into the room after her, that brought the attention of the room onto them.

The ginger looking cat person whipped her head around, then approached with an almost distraught look on her face. "It's absolutely devastating, Goushujin-sama. It's like he has no talent for it whatsoever. He just stared at it and then brought his hands up and whoosh!" she swung her arms wide and upwards, as though simulating an explosion. "Suddenly the kitchen is on fire and Red Archer is trying to put it out…unfortunately he used magic flames so it's a bit difficult."

"All my flames are magical." The blonde called out from where he was stood, a blank expression still on his face, his emerald green eyes turned to her for a brief moment and narrowed for a moment, before moving away. "And you said the biscuits required heat to cook."

"That's why we have an oven-wan!"

"Why would we have an oven with us on deployment to a Singularity?" The blonde replied without even missing a beat. He brought his arms up, folding them over his chest as he did so. "You described the use of heat. Pyromancy is heat, so why would it not work in the same way as an oven?"

She made a small humming sound. That sounded like a valid point to her, if heat was a problem then why would producing fire not be a solution. She turned on the animal Servant for their response, which was a series of noises as she stared at him as though he was an idiot. She was puzzled, it sounded like a sensible question to her. Her lips pulled themselves down.

"You can't just whip out a flame thrower from your palm and then point it at food and expect it to bake!" The Servant replied rather indignantly. "There is an art to this-wan! You're lucky it was me and now the sparrow, she would have really let you have it after hearing that…have you ever actually cooked anything before?"

A silent stare.

"Alright." Master stepped forwards, waving his hands down. "We can put this down to a harmless mistake, so long as no one was hurt…" he turned his eyes on the blonde, staring at them with a rather expectant look. Upon receiving no answer, he continued on. "Alright then, if no one was hurt then I'm not all that bothered…that being said, Ash? Please don't use explosions to try and cook food because that's not how it works."

""Why?""

Both she and the now named Ash asked at the exact same time, the two of them looked at the other and then back to the Master, his expression twitched at the question, his hands came up and he rubbed at his brows. "...Because it's more complicated. There are precise temperatures which you can't reach with just blowing it up…Now then, Ash? This is Altera. Altera, this is Ash. You two can talk amongst yourselves while I investigate the kitchen and see how Archer is getting on…and how much damage you did."

Master walked off without saying another word, shaking his head from side to side.

Altera remained silent as she watched him depart, then turned her head towards the blonde as he stared at her with that same look in his eyes. Taking a couple of steps towards her before coming to a stop. Neither one of them said anything to the other, she could think of nothing to say and it seemed he came to much the same conclusion.

"...Altera." He spoke after a moment, tilting his head and raising a single brow. His expression turned strained, as though he was desperately trying to think of something. "Hm. I would have assumed you would have used either Attila or Etzel as your name upon being summoned…Why Altera?"

Etzel…yes, she had been called that name once, hadn't she?

"...I wish to be called Altera."

He remained silent, then shrugged. "Hmph. Personal preference…Ash is not truly my name, but it is the one I have chosen for myself, so it is the one I use…"

Ash.

A curious name.

"...What were you doing?"

"...Attempting to cook."

"...Why?"

He fell silent, his eyes slowly turned down as he stared towards the ground. She was surprised that he did not have an answer already waiting for her. If he was making an attempt to cook - which ended in failure - then she assumed it was for a reason. It implied he was preparing for cooking for Master when in a Singularity, but the lack of a reply meant that it wasn't the sole reason.

When he did speak, it was slow and quiet. "...I just wanted to see if I could."

"If you could?"

"Hmmm. I had never attempted it before, I cannot even taste food." He admitted with a shake of the head, yet his expression remained totally devoid of emotion. His eyes were dull and lifeless. "In truth, it is a wasted effort. There are other Servants who can cook food for Ritsuka and they are more skilled than I…but I tried just because. I wished to see if it was possible for me to do."

She slowly nodded her head up and down. "I see. You wished to attempt something you had no experience in."

"...Yes."

The two of them stared at the other. "...It was a failure."

He nodded. "It was."

"Will you stop?"

He shook his head. "No. I am used to failure. I shall repeat until I have succeeded and then I will…see what I feel by the end of it." turning his head, he looked towards the kitchen and maintained his blank expression.

"I see." She turned her head and stared in the same direction, watching as Master spoke with a tanned man with white hair in red attire. The two of them direct their focus to the smouldering remains of something, still spewing smoke. "Are you one of the Servants from the other world?"

"...I am." He replied slowly. "Ash of Lothric…That is my identity."

"Ash of Lothric." She repeated the name, slowly nodding her head up and down.

He attempted something he had never tried before, he was allowed to attempt something outside his skill set just because it was there for him. No one tried to stop him or anything of the sort, they just let him try.

That was…good civilisation.

"Chaldea is confusing."

"Humans are confusing."

"Hmmm."

Master returned shortly there after, rubbing the back of his head. "Alright, good news is that the damage isn't actually all that bad. Archer would like to thank you for not using one of your stronger spells and…you know…blowing up the entire kitchen." he paused for a moment, then continued on. "Also Cat has agreed to continue your cooking lessons on the stipulation that she goes through every single ounce of safety in the kitchen first until you know it all off by heart…"

Ash nodded once.

"Also no more magic in the kitchen."

"If you say so."

So he was allowed to continue. "This is good civilisation."

Master briefly paused and turned towards her, raising a single eyebrow.

"She means she approves." The idle comment from Ash drew both their eyes, though in her case she was just content that someone understood her meaning.

"Right…knew you two would get along…" Clearing his throat, Master grinned. "Alright then, so…more to see. Come along then, Altera."

Chaldea was still a confusing place, she had not yet rendered final judgement, but for the moment…it was more good civilisation than bad. For now, that would be enough for her. She paused briefly as she walked past Ash, then turned and looked towards him for a brief moment, her eyes lingered on him before she spoke. "What were you in life?"

Ash grunted. "A tool."

…She wondered why he looked so similar to her. Not physically but there was something.

Did that mean that even she…?

She shelved the thought, then followed after Master.

He was correct. There was more of Chaldea to see.