CCCXLI. Voice

[dark_butler]

[A quiet, almost distracted murmur of someone who doesn't realize he's speaking aloud, accompanied by quiet clinks, the sounds of drawers opening and closing, and something that might be a file rasping on metal.]One, two, three... I need more gunpowder. New shells. Should investigate gloves that make handling silver less problematic. Ironic to make

Comments

[voice]

[darkest0knight]

...I miss talking to you.

]

[dark_butler]

Honesty? I knew he missed me and I've missed him as well but the things between us. Others have forgiven me for betrayals, but I can hardly expect forgiveness after--

This is a curse. I don't want to be so exposed. It isn't right. I might as well be naked in the Square. I need to say something to him.

I'm sorry.

[voice]

[darkest0knight]

What curse?

Are you sorry? I can't tell anymore. I don't know what I used to know. Everything's so different. You were the one I trusted completely. Now I'm even doubting Henry when he says he can control the Hunter because what if it happens again? What if I don't really know anyone?

...am I speaking out loud?

[voice]

[dark_butler]

The one that seems to be making us spill everything that passes through our minds.

Think calm thoughts. Stay focused. Don't let your mind wander. Calm. Don't think of Henry with his hands on Alucard with his fangs in his flesh and the blood... Dammit! Think of work. Of flowers. Camellia. Chrysanthemum. Rhododendron. Rose. Lilac. Lily.

Answer him. Say something. I'm already saying everything that goes through my head, what more can I offer? He wants to know...

Yes, I am truly sorry you are hurt. But people get hurt and I was hurt and I do hurt and I far prefer the days when I... don't think about it... Honeysuckle. Pansy. What will I do when I run out of flowers?

[dreamsofnoah]

Do you~ know Pup too?

[dark_butler]

He is my familiar. Do I know this one? I don't think I do. She must be another of Pup's many friends. How fearsome can my familiar truly be when he insists on befriending the majority of the City?

[dreamsofnoah]

No you don't. I'm new here.

Pup's very sweet. I like him.

[dark_butler]

Another new one to come and go. Are you alone here or do you have people from home? And are you, by chance, the new friends who will play the squirrel game with him?

She's not cursed, so strike outs = deleted

[steeldame]

Hm. Is he trying to "replace" me with this girl, Asuka?

Perhaps you ought to walk away from the computer today, Walter.

[dark_butler]

Don't you think I've tried that? I certainly have, but I find myself back at the computer without thinking about it. It's much the same way you attempt to not think abut the pink rhinoceros and thus it is the thing at the forefront of your mind in much the same way I try not to think of the Elder Alucard sighing your name in his sleep on the network, but of course with you here, it is one of the first things I think of.

[steeldame]

Alucard. Is everything you think when you speak or see me about him? Because I seldom made that mental link.

[dark_butler]

I hardly think it is appropriate of you to be taking advantage of this curse in that fashion, Integral. I would say that I was certain that Arthur would disapprove, but I know him well enough to know that he would be one to press an advantage if it suited him. Darjeeling, lhapsang soochang, Earl Grey, jasmine...

[tinyvampiregod]

Mm I'll leave the cleaning to you. That way, everything can be done to your particular tastes.

We should have eaten Tony and let it at that. All the trouble and regret... or at least Lee. And Henry. You can eat Henry. Take my blood into you.

[dark_butler]

You always leave the cleaning to me, or if not to me, to one of your slaves. I don't expect anything else, though. I'd be a fool if I did, wouldn't I?

No, we should not have. For one thing that just hardly ever seems to stick with the stronger people here, and I really don't need eating a friend on my conscience. There's forsworn and there's forsworn.

[tinyvampiregod]

You're troubled by his disappointment. He has little right to it.

My lack of precision in cleaning is not from malice. Mostly. Do you mind when I set my slaves to the task? I should think not, it's being done at all, and not by you.

[dark_butler]

I expect you to be always and eminently yourself. Cleaning hardly fits that expectation. It is aggravating when you make a mess and have no consequences because "you" did clean it up, but it is a minor aggravation and one I have had decades to grow accustomed to, though I do wish your damned coffin would buy its own cigarettes.

Tony annoys angers saddens troubles bothers upsets confuses surprises me, but... I want to see him grow up, make his own choices, see things my way, do what I expect, not do what I expect, stop being so...

Cotton, silk, wool, rayon, linen, tweed...