[Doctor Gabriel]

Mr. Kite eyed his Servant suspiciously. He wasn’t sure if her last comment had been an insult or simply agreement. Either way, he was fairly confident that he should find the way she’d bowed insulting.

“Okay, listen,” he said rising reluctantly from the armchair’s soft embrace and heading toward the long forgotten garage’s back door,

(The only door now that he’d sealed the sliding grate that opened into the street shut right after he’d finished making the place livable.)

“I realize that technically speaking, I’m essentially at best a newborn and at worst a fetus in your eyes, but I’m going to have to ask you to stop with the whole babe shtick. I won’t pretend I’ve seen nearly as much shit as you have, but I promise; not nearly as green as you seem to think.”

Mr. Kite donned a dark, woollen pea coat and held open the door for his Servant with a weary tilt of his that said, “Let’s go.”

“I’m not asking you to respect me,” he elaborated, flashing Berserker his first genuine smile since her summoning, “I’m just hoping you’ll pretend to. Or at least promote me from Cabin Boy to Swabbie or somethin’.”