Prompt: Write about a kid who has too many adult responsibilities.
Two figures enter his office to sit down on the couch; a short statue elderly man with black rings around his eyes and a redhead youth with an eye patch over one of his eyes. Komui took careful inventory over the two and when he fixed a look over at the younger, he was shocked to see a single green eye stare solemnly back before the eye drifted past him to look at something beyond.
As he negotiated terms and contracts with the senior Bookman, he wondered what had happened to make such a child, who looked to be the same age as Lenalee, maybe a bit older, to have such grave eyes that seemed to see through everything and suck in his soul.
Throughout the two hours that the Chief Officer of the Black Order and Bookman argued and cajoled with each other, Bookman's apprentice had not said a single word besides introducing himself at the beginning of the meeting.
Komui had looked up when the door to his office opened, letting in a pair of people. Both strolled in and stopped short before his desk; the older one tipped his head in an acknowledgement of respect while the younger one bowed gracefully.
Komui hastily stood up and grasped the elderly's hand to shake it.
"Welcome to the Black Order. I am the Chief Officer, Komui Lee, and the Head Chief of the European Branch. May I inquire as to your names?"
The two chanced a look at each other, the meaning behind the look lost on Komui, before the adult of the duo stated firmly, "You may call me Bookman," nudged the younger one, "and this is my apprentice," and took a seat on the sofa facing Komui's desk.
The younger followed suit after stating in a soft but deadpan voice, "You may call me Junior," not unlike the tone his master had used.
Komui's breathe had hitched for a brief moment. Bookman.
He had read and heard many stories about this Bookman clan. They observed history and recorded it with an unbiased mind; training was hard with children taught at an incredibly young age to close off their emotions and no relationship of any kind was allowed. 'Relationships clouds judgment,' he remembers reading in the corner of the dusty library. What a sad life, he had mused.
He sighed, as Bookman signed the dotted line of the contract that they had finally agreed on with an elegant scrawl before passing the paper to his apprentice. Junior's eyes glazed over the document with a critical eye, glanced at his master, and also signed, his signature thin, with looping characters in his name.
As all three stood up to shake hands to cement their acquaintance with one another, Komui was once again drawn to the eye of the apprentice who looked listfully back, an inexplicable expression rippling over his face for a split second before it drawn to a blank.
And as Komui lead them out towards the main hallway of the Black Order, intent on giving them a tour, a voice niggled at the back of his mind.
"We've had bad luck with our kids- they've all grown up."
The quote is said by Christopher Morley.
Hope it makes sense.