[ The familiar floats, its cyclops eye staring at Sebastian with an eerie awareness; Douman lets it circle in their periphery for a few beats, idle as he peers into the expanse of the water spreading in front of them. ]

A bit of both, I supposeー there seems to be an office of sorts at the bottom of this pool, [ he gestures down into the depths, where the faintest outline of a semi-study is visible among murky shadows. Something that looks like a desk, a cabinet, and rows of impossible bookshelves. ] And it's so often that the rooms of bureaucrats are treasure troves of illicit information.

[ Big smile. Humans simply have not changed from the time he served in the Heian court, centuries ago; he doesn't expect alien races in other worlds to be any different. ]