[CLOSED]

[sweetlies]

who: Ciel, Jason Todd, Undertaker, Beverly Crusher
what: Ciel has an asthma attack
when: 9/17
where: Book store, hospital
warnings: None?

He'd had time during the day, business was slow and if he stayed, he might have fallen asleep in his office. So he'd sent a message to Jason, inviting him to join the teen at a local bookstore to pass the time. And with the intent of picking at his brain a bit for more reading material, things he could read to keep himself up at night until he was too tired to dream.

If he couldn't dream, he couldn't disturb anyone.

He got himself a cup of tea while he waited, resisting a cough. What an inconvenient time to get sick. Hopefully it wouldn't spread to Jason- maybe he should have thought this meeting over more carefully.

Comments

[sweetlies]

"I'm not sure." He'd barely heard anything about Undertaker after they'd found him at Weston and he'd gotten away. Now, he was glad they hadn't captured him. Really, what hope had he and Sebastian, or even the Queen, had in containing a grim reaper? Especially one so obviously powerful as Undertaker.

"Last I heard anything, Diedrich had said you stopped in on him in Germany and you were going to France." And there was the issue of the reapers in England. He'd already run into Grell and that wild-haired fellow. Would Undertaker risk them finding him?

[somakemelaugh]

Yes, there was that. He'd had to make his rounds after their meeting in the college. Things were coming together a little faster than he'd predicted, but the more he heard, the more he thought perhaps they may not have been remembering the same things after all. But it all hinged on one moment, and he could never be sure what, exactly, had happened after that time. He couldn't be present for every event, after all.

"My business does sometimes tend to take me away from home. After our last meeting, you only seemed to want that butler of yours to put me in chains, but I can't have that. But you're still your father's son. If you'd found yourself at your life's end before everything had played out, I still would have been there to lay you to rest."

[sweetlies]

"One of the missing students was a relation of the queen. I was obligated." That he'd failed to capture him, and that the queen hadn't been cross, had been a surprise and a relief. Last time she'd been displeased with his performance, he'd been framed for murder.

Ciel, himself, hadn't given much thought to how close and how similar things were for the two of them before arriving, he'd simply been relieved by the familiar face. Even more so when the pollen had stolen away his memories.

"I... admit, that's nice to hear. I'm sure you'd do right by me, like my family." He still had no idea what condition his parents had been found it. If they'd been found at all.

[somakemelaugh]

"Ah, yes. The Queen." The grin was back, but not for long. He still carried no love for Victoria and he thought he never would. She hadn't changed at all in her time on the throne and why would she? It was just such a shame that they would have to wait for her death to find out if the heir would be worth their salt, and he had no idea now when that would be and may not have been the one to know anyway.

He hadn't known when the Phantomhives would go either, and that was the worst part about it. Funny that once he had loathed knowing when and where all of those souls he would reap would be there for the taking, having to witness their end day in and out, but as soon as he'd abandoned it all, he was back in the dark about it all, just like any other normal human. There, he hadn't been afraid for himself, when he was at all, he'd been afraid for others. "It's the least I can do. I've been there for your family's ends for so long now, it'd feel wrong with me to let anyone else handle the deed. But if it's not your wishes to let me care for you in the end, I'll abide by it."

[sweetlies]

He glanced down at his hands, settled in his lap for the moment, and then back to Undertaker. There had never been a time that he was unsure about Undertaker's feelings for the queen. He'd said as much, and more, after his aunts funeral. He could remember his tie being yanked.

"I know you dislike her." He wished she'd stop calling him 'dear boy' but he hadn't yet found a reason to shift his opinion of her. At least her orders would hold no weight for him here, if the portal ever latched onto her. Doubtful it would, why would it?

He watched the ex-reaper for a moment, eye widening just slightly and then focusing back on his lap. Ciel had, in truth, thought very little about his death beyond the fact that it was coming. One way or another.

"I would rather you did, I think. At least someone might care then."

[somakemelaugh]

Dislike was one way to put it, but he nodded anyway and settled a little more into his seat. His tea had finished steeping and he took the bag out and squeezed what water from it he could and set it aside on a napkin to be tossed away later. "I've made no secret of it."

In truth though, he hadn't much of a choice in the matter. If they'd been in their world, he could simply do away with her, but that would attract far too much attention, even for a rogue like himself. Better to let her life run its natural course, even if she did trouble Vincent's son. "You say that as if no one else would be there. Is that really what you think?"

[sweetlies]

"No, you haven't." He agreed, easily. And he could see several reasons why he might dislike her but he doesn't argue them, doesn't try to change Undertaker's opinion. He was, after all, older than Ciel was, had dealt with nobles longer than he had.

"There might be people there. None of them that care about me though. Or really knew me." They all knew and cared about Ciel Phantomhive.