tampered | Log: Ongoing

When: Friday afternoon
Rating: PG?
Characters: Walter Dornez

dark_butler and Bebedora

im_bebedora
Summary: Bebedora wants to see Walter's soul, and Walter wants to know if there's anything under the hat.
Log:

Earl Grey has a distinct fragrance. The bergamot oil that flavors the black tea is citrus, but Walter always thought it was more floral than citrusy.

Walter sat in Cafe Juliet with a tea service for two and a plate of biscuits on the table. He held the cup of tea in his hands, letting the heat seep into his cold flesh and occasionally raised it to his face. More often than not, he set it down without letting it touch his lips, but once in a while, he took a tiny sip, just enough for the flavor to fill his mouth and flood his senses.

He still couldn't consume human fare and he refused to taint a good tea with blood as Alucard did, but those little sips were enough.

So, Bebedora wanted to see his soul. He was curious as to what she would see. He was curious to see this puppet without her strings.

So, he sat, he sipped, and he waited.

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Walter had noticed the peculiar newcomer when she passed the window and followed her with his eyes as she came in. He rose from his seat when she approached and quirked an eyebrow, bowing slightly in response to the curtsey.

"Hello, Bebedora." He pulled out the other chair for her. "Please, sit down. Let me pour you some tea."

"Tea starts as a plant," he said, waiting for her to be seated and then pushing her chair in for her. "Different plants depending upon the tea. This one-" He sat down across from her and picked up the tea pot. "-is made with black tea and flavored with oil from the bergamot orange. It is best with milk and sugar."

Wondering how she could see with the hat over her face was a minimal concern. She was... not human, that much was obvious on all levels.

He truly was curious about what she saw when she looked at him, since she was clearly looking around, despite the hat.

"What color is curiosity?" He poured, and since Bebedora seemed oblivious to the customs, he added some milk and sugar for her, setting the cup in front of her. "You may share with your rabbit."

He had a history of humoring odd little girls. Why not the rabbit?

"And try the biscuits. They go well with the tea."

"Then there's hope for you as a civilized person," he said, smiling to show it was meant in jest.

So the rabbit truly was joining them. Walter considered whether he should offer the thing some tea and biscuits. He'd watch it for cues before deciding.

"How much do you see just from looking?"

Walter glanced back into the Cafe, and in moments a waitress appeared to take his request for another place setting and more refreshments.

After she had set a cup in front of the rabbit and refreshed the tray of biscuits and the tea pot, he poured the third cup of tea and picked up his own for another sip.

He had been empty once, drained of everything that had been his own before being rebuilt. It had a certain peace that this girl either didn't have, or had in a very different form. Still, he felt a certain sympathy based on that vague commonality.

"What does seeing all that do for you?"

Such a peculiar answer. Such a peculiar little creature. By now he was starting to get the inkling that his expectations would constantly be challenged around her.

This either despite or because of the rabbit. It was peculiar, but he had lived in the City for almost an entire year. It was difficult to turn his head with peculiar these days.

Better then, to clarify the heart of the matter. "You can know everything, but you don't? You know things by seeing them?"

That was a very odd little habit. It certainly highlighted her inhumanness, but that was alright. Walter had grown accustomed to any number of inhuman quirks in others and in himself.

He nodded, since her explanation both enlightened and obscured. "You know everything, but if you knew it all at once, you wouldn't be able to function? So you know things in smaller bites?"

Pup would love the rabbit. Probably to death. Best they be kept separate.

Walter raised his cup to his lips, but didn't bother drinking. It had gone cold and ruined both the flavor and the pleasure he derived from the warmth.

Setting the cup down again, he considered how to put it in terms the puppet would understand.

"If you knew everything at once, you would have too much in your head to be able to think or talk. So you know it in smaller pieces that you need at the time?" It was a guess. It could be totally off the mark, but it made sense.

He raised a hand and the waitress came to bring him a fresh cup and a hot pot of Darjeeling.

"That is for you to say, not me," Walter said, lifting the fresh cup to his lips for a sip. "As you are the one who said you can know everything."

So many oddities here. Not the least of which was the silent rabbit that continued to munch on the biscuits laid out on the table.

"Does your rabbit have a name?"

"Perhaps a better question," Walter mused as he glanced between the girl and her... pet(?), "is whether your rabbit would like a name."

As an afterthought, he gave the rabbit a small answering wave. Just how intelligent was the creature anyway?

Right. Look to the vampire who had named his familiar "Pup" for suggestions on naming an animated rabbit toy.

The only thing that came to mind was that book about rabbits that he had read to Integral when she was a girl. There was a rabbit character who was the legendary hero's loyal companion.

"Rabscuttle," he said, after dredging the name out of his memory. "How does that sound?"

Walter watched the rabbit's reaction with a certain bemused good humor. He had learned to curb his expectations in the City. Too many of the citizens were too peculiar by his standards. This, however, was somewhat beyond the pale.

Still, when one shared residence with both Pup and Alucard, one learned that little was impossible or even improbable.

"Right, then." Walter held out his right hand to the rabbit for a handshake. "Good day, Rabscuttle."

If Pup could shake, Rabscuttle could shake, Walter reasoned, and it was clearly correct. Who knew what went on behind that face? The range of possibilities was limitless. Much as with the girl/puppet/mystery.

"You're welcome. Use it in good health." Alucard would be amused to hear this tale.

"And what do you think of Rabscuttle's name, Bebedora?" he asked, turning his attention to the girl again.

To think, her rabbit had never had a name before. Walter felt just a bit pleased with himself for helping to correct that oversight. No matter how silly it might be.

"There is a book in my world, called 'Watership Down.' It is about rabbits and their lives. Not a fluffy, carrot-eating book, but a hard book about right and wrong and war and peace." He thought about reading that book to Integral. It had been far more to her tastes than something simple and light like "Peter Rabbit." Such a long time ago, when things had seemed simple. When he did not know or remember the treacheries to come.

"Rabscuttle is the mythical companion to a sort of rabbit trickster/hero/god in the book's rabbit mythology. Loyal and true." He smiled at the odd pair. "And that seemed appropriate from what little I have seen."

"After naming your rabbit," Walter said, favoring her with a gentle smile, "I cannot be anything but your friend."

Yes, she'd ended up firmly lodged in the "little girl" category. Alucard was going to take the Mickey out of him for his (wholly uncreepy) soft spot for little girls.

"And the library here has many books. The librarian's name is Lucien. If you'd like, I will ask him to find it."

Log: Ongoing

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