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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[jarndyceheir]

He has not been much sleeping, lately, and at first light, emerges to take a walk. A man from her own time, then, very young still, vulnerable to both the familiarity of someone from his own time and the sensuality she radiates. Not to mention a lady in distress.

[crimson_sugar]

By the time light has broken, the little girl is sprawled on her lap, sleeping soundly, and when she sees the man exiting the home, she whispers a call, softly.

"My Lord?" Quietly. "Forgive me...."

[jarndyceheir]

"I'm not a lord. Mr. Richard Carstone, at your service." He comes closer, voice quiet so as not to wake the child. "What are you doing out here?"

[crimson_sugar]

"T'was too early, Mr. Carstone," she replies, quietly, voice elegant and charming still for her care towards the child.

"I would not wake the landlord, lost as we are."

A small pause.

"Miss Sugar, at your service as well."

[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..

[eyrienprince]

Lucivar's pissed, but not at anyone, just in general, which is why he comes out the front door looking even more like a thunderstorm than usual, wings flared and face set in a frown. He stops, mostly upon noticing the child, and tries to gather his temper. "Lady?"

It still comes out as a snap. Dammit.

[crimson_sugar]

Sophie starts, shrieks, wraps her arms around Sugar, clinging desperately, crying and screaming without stopping for a long while. Too stunned for starters to do anything but stare and hold the girl of barely seven years against her, she goes quickly from fear to anger.

“You scared the child - she is innocent. If you have a matter, take it up with someone your own size.” Clearly, that wouldn’t include her, but, well, Sugar is protective of her ward. She caresses the child, makes cooing sounds. Because even if she just scolded Lucivar, well, he is an angry looking guy with batwings. He is scary. It’s just that the girl is a wench who writes about horrible things and who loves the kid - so she’s got spunk.

[eyrienprince]

Lucivar starts when the girl screams and his expression shifts from one of anger to one of alarm and then to shame and he kneels down, tucking in his wings, wishing he knew more calming magic. "I'm sorry," he says, extending a hand, gently. "Sorry, bright eyes, you didn't deserve that. I'm not mad at you."

Her fright grates on his nerves, but he refuses to let it. Not now.

[crimson_sugar]

If it would take a more than that to win Sophie's trust, it gains he, and Sugar, at least, a sobbing silence.

The governess' frock is stained with tears now, but she pays it no heed, only cooing and reassuring the girl. She still looks at the man with annoyance - but she keeps it to herself - man - or demon? She never went much to church, never thought much of Hell.

Yet, it is a possible explanation.

[fitzroyal]

Henry is coming striding back from wandering through the woods, frowning, hungry, and worried, and stops when the fresh bloodscent of a young woman, rich and sensual, reaches his nostrils. He crosses nearly half the distance before he manages to stop. "My Lady," he calls, "You are out so late."

He's all too aware he needs to get back to bed, but...

[crimson_sugar]

“Aye, good sir, lost travelers waiting for the household to wake, and beg warmth and broth, perhaps,” she replies, quietly, soothing the girl, though Sophie remains despondent as ever, lost in contemplation.

American, perhaps? She met some of those, back in the days of the brothel. She eyes him, wary, but he reminds her of those would-be poets who came at the tavern, the one where she met William. Not a hooligan, no, though…. Why would he be out so late, himself?

[fitzroyal]

He gestures to the door. "Go in as you will. No one holds the door, and there are beds aplenty."

He recognizes and places her accent and adjusts his bearing accordingly. It's easy, for him, to don the air of another time, one he has lived in.

[crimson_sugar]

"Thank you," she replies, standing and giving curtsy. There's a change - Sugar is used to paying attention to such things, as she spent a lot of time spying on William, on Agnes, adapting her behavior to her patrons.

She stands, curtsies, smiles. He looks young, barely a few years younger than her, and so beautiful... "My name is Sugar. This is Sophie, my pupil."

[thornofcamorr]

Locke steps out the front door and closes it behind him, on his way out to look for Valen, looking better than he has...well, since he arrived at the Mansion. And so when he turns around and sees a woman and a young child looking confused, he sweeps an elegant bow, though there's a touch of the mocking in it, as it should be. "Madames, you look a trifle lost."

[crimson_sugar]

“Only a trifle,” Sugar chuckles, and the bow earns him an amused, if wary grin from the child. “though if you find us lost, you might not be so yourself….” She stands, prompting a shivering Sophie to follow her lead. A small curtsy, as is wont in the Victorian age, and the child awkwardly bobs one as well.
“You bow funny, sir,” she enunciates properly.

Sugar looks at Sophie, bemused. This is the first time she is not, well, fearful and crying in front of strangers.

[thornofcamorr]

"I am rarely lost," he says with a broad grin, inviting her to believe the lie. He gives Sophie a special grin. "It's more fun my way. You should try it sometime."

[crimson_sugar]

Sophie blushes, hides behind Sugar, but keeps looking at Locke with intrigued, devouring eyes.

The older girl laughs, lightly. "Quite a feat," she says, smiling. "You know, far and few between are those who win her heart so easily."

Well. Locke is being remarkably charming, this morning.