"I believe this is what they call in the lower circles of society 'blackmail material.'"

[ladynorbert]

Title: Appointment
Fandom: 'LXG: In The Mirror Darkly' - RPG
Genre: General -- it was really supposed to be crackfic, but it turned out kind of...sweet. o_O
Character/Pairing: Rowan Bridges, Elizabeth Quatermain, Noriko Sakai, Kitten Sawyer; Luke Ellis appears by mention only
Rating: G
Word Count: 864
Notes: Rowan is played by clez, who helpfully proofread this to make sure I got him in character, and provided some of his lines. Noriko is played by utopia_tears, and it was a rather crazy RP session with her that inspired this whole thing. Kitten is played by sethoz. Luke is played by without_ascript. Written for this week's quote_ficlets prompt.
Summary: He is, surprisingly, a rather tame wolf...sometimes.



Noriko Sakai's expression, as she stared at the book, was comically disgruntled. She was a voracious reader, with a particular fondness for history and mystery, but this was just...why did Luke think she needed to read this? Was he just torturing her?

"You look displeased," remarked a clipped English voice. Noriko looked up to find Elizabeth Quatermain, the captain of the ship on which they all lived and her own older 'foster sister,' watching her from the doorway. "You mean you've actually found a book you don't like?"

"I don't know what Luke's trying to do to me. Am I being punished? Listen to this." Noriko glanced at the page again and read, with exaggerated drama, "Look on my works, Ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains." She looked back at Elizabeth, exasperated. "This is so boring!"

"Well, I can't imagine why he has you reading Shelley," Elizabeth mused after a moment's thought. "But I'm sure there's a reason. I'll ask him, when I see him next...I came to see if you girls wanted to come up on the tower for a while, I know you enjoy watching me practice."

"I wouldn't mind, but Kitten's busy." A mischievous light came into Noriko's eyes. "Which reminds me...remember our discussion a few days ago?"

"About what?"

"Rowan's hairstyle."

Elizabeth gave a small sigh. "What about it?"

"I found out. It's not bedhead." She looked triumphant. "What? I knew you weren't going to look into the matter. Even though I think you should," she muttered, too low to be heard.

"How...exactly...did you acquire this knowledge?"

Noriko opened her mouth, hesitated, and shook her head. "I think it's something you have to see to believe." Abandoning the poetry, she jumped up, grabbed Elizabeth's hand, and started pulling her through the long corridors. "Just be quiet...we don't want them to hear us."

Nonplussed, Elizabeth allowed herself to be fairly dragged along by the eleven-year-old. As they neared Kitten's room, they slowed. "Shhhhhhh," Noriko said again, releasing her captive and creeping to the doorway. "There -- see for yourself," she whispered.

Quirking an eyebrow, Elizabeth peered cautiously around the doorframe, and promptly dropped her jaw. Kitten was kneeling on her bed, the picture of concentration, with a hairbrush in one hand and a comb in the other. Sitting on the floor in front of her was the resident werewolf, cross-legged and calm, letting the little girl do whatever she wanted with his hair. It stuck up, as it usually did, in all manner of off directions, but it was obvious, now, that Kitten was the reason -- this time, at least -- and...it was hard to be sure, but one might almost suspect that Rowan was enjoying it.

Elizabeth stared for several minutes, torn between two powerfully conflicting reactions. On the one hand, she wanted desperately to crack up laughing. The situation was entirely too absurd for words, Kitten playing 'beauty parlor' with a werewolf nearly a hundred years her senior, and he apparently having a good time in the process.

On the other hand, she was exceedingly moved by the scene. Throughout everything else that was happening around them, the battles with vampires and the constant changing of scenery and her own dramatic shift in personality, the one thing Elizabeth wanted to do was to help the two children live relatively normal lives. She longed for them to grow up happy, and safe, and as unaffected by events as humanly possible. So to see the smaller girl playing a perfectly normal game, acting as a little girl should, and clearly enjoying the attention...it cut straight to the heart that Elizabeth tried so hard to keep sealed in ice.

Rowan said something she couldn't hear, and Kitten giggled. An involuntary smile crossed the Lady Captain's face at the sound, and in spite of her initial inclination to stay outside, she stepped forward to knock gently on the open door. "Well, are we having fun in here?"

Kitten beamed at her. "Beth okay?"

"Beth okay. Kitten okay?"

"Kitten okay." The usual exchange was, at best, a forced truth, but they managed to at least sound like they meant it. "Kitten brush," the child added importantly.

"So I see. Do I need an appointment," Elizabeth asked, teasingly, "or can I just assume you'll do mine next?" She glanced down at Rowan, looking highly amused. "I believe this is what they call in the lower circles of society 'blackmail material,'" she added.

"Well, that's hardly fair," he returned. "I'm just making a child happy."

"You are," she agreed, "and I'm much obliged to you for it." He had, in fact, just risen considerably in her estimation.

He just offered her a crooked sort of smile, getting to his feet. "I don't think you need an appointment," he said, "if you wanted a turn."

"Beth brush," Kitten put in, apparently agreeing. She pointed almost imperiously at the floor, and both adults laughed.



The quote was "Look on my works, Ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains."