In need of a home (introduction)

[crimson_sugar]

There might be, on the stairs of the Mansion, a young woman, proud and determined, a shivering little girl clinging to her skirts.

She isn’t pretty per say, no, the young woman is not, but there is charm and grace in the way she holds herself, willfulness and a sense of education, even if her accent, when she speaks, though polished it may seem, is

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[littlebetter]

Gaheris, going out in the morning for his usual quick walk--he goes early so he won't run across anybody, because he still has difficulty interacting in a very normal way--stops when he sees them. It's really the girl who catches his attention. He remembers a girl, a different girl, a little girl with mouse-brown hair and her mother's sharp face, but he remembers her very distantly, like looking through cloth.

For that he stops and looks at them properly, and edges towards them.

[crimson_sugar]

Sugar looks up - the man looks... remarkably old-fashioned.

A hand is on the girl, protectively - because you never know, and Sophie is the only being in the world Sugar truly loves.

[littlebetter]

"It's all right," he says, softly. He has just a bit of an accent, a faint accent that's a bit like Scottish but not quite. "No, I don't mean you any harm."

[crimson_sugar]

“Is that so?” she looks wary - but young girls, in the gutter of London, are such easy pray…. “Then are you from Edinburgh, or Glasgow?” The question and the nervousness make her cockney come out a little more, London’s finest peeking through her classy, worked elegance.

The tension wakes Sophie, and she stirs, staring at the knight. “Who is the sir, Miss Sugar?” Bluntly - and the governess returns the question with a glance..

[littlebetter]

"Orkney," almost absently. He's paying a little more attention to Sophie. "Gaheris. What's your name, lass?"

[crimson_sugar]

Sophie fidgets under the scrutiny, cowers a little more against Sugar, who wraps a protective, reassuring arm around her.

The little girl looks at her governess, inquiring. As Gaheris gave his name… Sugar decides good manners should be kept. She nods.

“S-s-s-sophie,” the girl replies, timidly, hiding against Sugar. “Sophie R-r-ra.”

“Sophie will suffice,” Sugar cuts, dryly. She did take the child away from her father - she’s protective both of Sophie, and of their secret.

[littlebetter]

"Sophie, that's pretty," soft. Gaheris is trying so, so hard not to be weird.

[crimson_sugar]

Sophie peeks up. No-one's ever told her anything nice save for Sugar. She looks at Sugar, as if her governess knew the answer. The red-head mouths, say thank you, and so Sophie says, shyly, "Thank you, Mister Gaheris."

[littlebetter]

"You're welcome. How old are you?"

[crimson_sugar]

"Six and three-quarters, sir," she says, shyly still, but less afraid for Sugar's reassuring presence.

Sugar, who is a bit disturbed by the interest in Sophie which Gaheris is displaying - but as long as he does nothing funny, she lets it be.

[littlebetter]

"Ah, you're a big girl," he says. He has a manner about him, where the things he's saying could easily be condescending, except you can tell they're not--he's just being nice and a little socially inept.

(The girl was older than that. She was--older. Ten, perhaps. He doesn't remember. Like looking through cloth.)

(the memory is fuzzy and fumbling in his head, and wanting to get out, but he can't remember, he can't remember, and his tongue says, without his meaning--)

"My daughter--"

(daughter?)

[crimson_sugar]

"You have a daughter, Sir?" Piped up, curiosity making her just a little louder for it.

[littlebetter]

Gaheris gives her a gently bewildered look. "I think I did. Or I will. I don't--"

[crimson_sugar]

Sophie just gives Gaheris a confused look.

[littlebetter]

The expression changes to one of apology. "I forget things."

[crimson_sugar]

"It's alright, sir," she says, "I forget things too, sometimes."