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Thallium wrote: ↑Sat Jun 02, 2018 7:16 pm Rose is a graduate from the Maddie school of stealth it seems, or maybe its the other way around. Come to think of it, have those two ever been seen in the same place at the same time?

tony1695 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:03 pm Rose is just like an Igor, isn't she? You need to keep her in line of sight at all times lest she just decides to appear wherever it's most convenient.

James Polymer wrote: ↑Sat Jun 02, 2018 9:22 pm Maybe she's like "Creepy Watson" from the Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis video game, in that Trace forgot to code her walking animation?
https://youtu.be/13YlEPwOfmk

MuonNeutrino wrote: ↑Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:23 pm Ok... something is up with Rose. How is she always exactly where she needs to be, and how does she know where everyone is? I mean, I suppose it could just be rule of funny - 'the butler is always right behind you' *is* kinda a trope - but still, it's been pretty conspicuous.

Keep in mind, she's the seneschal of the estate - essentially the manager, not just a servant. She'd be in charge of the administration of the entire estate - managing the household budget, coordinating the (likely dozens) of staff/servants/slaves, making arrangements in the master's name when he's not present, etc. While it seems clear that her duties also include being Trace's personal interface with the estate (unsurprisingly, as she's the one basically in charge of the place), she'd also have plenty of administrative tasks to do that ought to be occupying most of her time - she shouldn't be just following Trace around ready to pop out when he needs something, that's the duty of a bodyservant, not a seneschal.

And yet, she always seems to be *right there*, the instant she's needed. From the first time we saw her again, she was waiting right at the door to open it as Trace walked up. There'd normally be no particular reason for her to be hanging out by the front door, but she's right there the moment he arrives. She goes off to make tea, and then manages to carry a teapot (and probably cups too) into the room, set it down on a table, and walk up behind Eric without anyone noticing. The next morning, she mysteriously appears right outside the bedroom door after she's mentioned, and I think it's worth noting that from her 'Putting what together?' response she was *not* there early enough to overhear the rest of Flora's statement. After the quartet heads out, she's once again conveniently right there to answer the door when Brahn's hapless templar show up. Later she's right in front of the gateway down in the garden the instant it opens, and then has gotten all the way back inside and up onto a balcony before everyone has even gotten through the portal. And then of course today she teleports right behind Trace the moment he says her name, and again from her response she was *not* there a few seconds earlier because otherwise she'd have heard what they were talking about.

In other words, Rose is always showing up in places she doesn't seem to have had any particular reason to have been hanging around, and seems to have a talent for appearing quickly and quietly out of nowhere. One or two instances could be explained away - for example, perhaps someone sent word up to the estate that Trace was on his way - but it keeps happening, and with notable attention drawn to it. Even completely ignoring things like Rose's cryptic lines here, it really seems like there's something odd going on.

Now, assuming it's not just rule of funny, it could still be something as simple as being a feature of the estate's magical amenities. One could easily imagine that the obviously absolutely-top-of-the-line estate of the *Grand Templar* would have plenty of magical enhancements, and indeed in addition to the defense spells and a permanent magical gateway 'back door' we've also seen magical voice-controlled lights and room service tables, so it seems that the estate definitely includes magic as part of its functioning. I could imagine that there'd also be utility spells to assist in the running and management of the estate, so perhaps that could include things like sensory spells that let Rose mentally keep track of what's going on, or even teleportation spells to let her get around the estate as needed. But of course there's also things like the various speculations about Rose being a ghost bound to the estate or something like that, and her cryptic statements in comic 1018 definitely don't dispel those sorts of speculations. (For that matter, her lines here also could be interpreted in some interesting ways if one wanted to.) Whichever, though, it's definitely suspicious.