♅ ninth

[themistress]

[Mistress has a baby, but you'd really be hard-pressed to get her to admit it. So, for the past few days, there has been a rowdy, ill-behaved little boy running around in the lobby. He doesn't seem to speak very much, though he does laugh, and he's fond of magically zapping people to watch them jump.

But Mistress doesn't care. She just lets him run roughshod all over the place without so much as a glance. But anyone in the lobby might notice something a little suspicious about the way she glares when he peeks around the corner of her throne and then turns her footstool to life.

It trots out from under her feet, and Mistress adeptly catches the little boy by the upper arm.]

Stop it, Child. Leave me be.

[The little boy sullenly sucks his bejeweled binky and pouts at her until she releases him, whereupon he goes back to running around and casting magic at people.]

Comments

[themistress]

I am not the only redhead in the castle. He looks nothing like me.

oh no i used the wrong too.......

[hellshaped]

Alright. I'm not going to argue about it.

[themistress]

Good.

[hellshaped]

[He frowns at the charred remains of his coat.]

Are you going to do anything about this?

[themistress]

What do you want me to do?

[hellshaped]

[Grumble grumble.] I don't know. Apologize, at least.

[themistress]

I'm not apologizing for what someone else's child did.

[hellshaped]

For the last time, he's yours.

[themistress]

I've never given birth, but I'd think I would remember it.

[hellshaped]

Well, no. They're magic kids. It happens every year.

[themistress]

Well, there you have it. Child belongs to the castle.

[hellshaped]

It gave him to you.

[themistress]

That doesn't mean I have to accept him. If you're so concerned, you take him.

[hellshaped]

[Eying "Child."] Well, I don't think he likes me.

[themistress]

He likes you just fine. Child, go to your new father, he will care for you from now on.

[Child just looks from Mistress to Hellboy, sucking his pacifier uncertainly.]

[hellshaped]

[FLAT LOOK... well, his regular looks are pretty flat. FLATTER LOOK?]

He's yours.

[themistress]

Well, if the castle can give him to me, then I can give him to you.

[hellshaped]

You can't trade children like goods.

[themistress]

I'm not. I'm giving him to you. Like a gift.

[hellshaped]

You can't do that either!

[themistress]

I don't think you get to make that rule.

[hellshaped]

That's pretty much basic human ethics, lady.

[themistress]

Not when it's not yours in the first place. I didn't want him, so I'm not obligated to care for him, and I have the freedom to give him away if I want to.

[hellshaped]

You can't just give him away to the first person who walks by! You don't know what kind of whack-jobs are in this place.

[themistress]

I'm not giving him away to the first person to walk by. I'm giving him to you. Are you a whack-job?