"Yes, a puppet master." the girl stated, nodding. She held a rather cute doll - or was it a puppet? - in her arms. It was very different from it's owner. The girl had long gray hair tied in a low tail, wearing very casual clothes. The doll, in contrast, had short black hair in a traditional Japanese bob cut, wearing a pure white kimono. It actually had a toothpick-like sword strapped to it's back. Xanxus, Squalo, Levi, Lussuria, Belphegor and Fran all stared at her with equally skeptical expressions. What was so special about this prematurely-graying teenager which attracted the higher-ups' attention so much that she was sent directly to the Varia without so much as a test? "Um. That sounds unbelievable, doesn't it?" she chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her neck. Xanxus raised an eyebrow at her, as if saying 'no shit, sherlock'. The girl looked around. "Well, do you have something made of steel? Anything strong, really." she asked, looking around again. Lussuria took off one of his knee guards and slid it over to the girl, adjusting his ridiculous sunglasses. "Thank you." the girl let go of the doll, and elastic cloth suddenly appeared around her right hand's fingers. The area between the now-floating doll and her fingers shined somewhat...upon closer inspection, the shine was given off by metallic strings. The girl threw the knee guard into the air with her free hand and moved the fingers on her right hand in a normally impossible fashion.
The doll flew upwards to the knee guard and drew it's sword, the tiny blade very quickly reducing it to tiny slivers of metal. The girl moved her fingers again, the doll flying back before the metal hit the table. She held the doll in her hands again, the cloth disappearing with the string. "That toothpick is sharper than my sword...?" Squalo gasped, staring at the girl. Lussuria looked surprised, with the rest of the members silently wondering different things.
"I need to find out how to make my knives that sharp."
"Interesting...she might be worth it after all."
"That was pretty cool...how did she make that doll fly? It wasn't an illusion, that's for sure."
"Her fingers...how do they move so...?"
"Well...how was that, Mr. Xanxus?" the girl asked, smiling ever so slightly when Xanxus nodded in approval. She carefully kept the doll in a briefcase and looked around at who would be her new team mates.
"Your name." Xanxus requested shortly, obviously not wanting to know it himself. Just for convenience's sake.
The girl nodded. "Call me Ratatosk, after the Yggdrasil Squirrel of Norse mythology." she bowed politely, pushing up her glasses. Xanxus nodded before raising an arm, signalling for everyone to leave before throwing a room key at Ratatosk and hitting her on the forehead. She winced in pain before catching the key as it fell.
"Ushishishi. The prince already has another name for the squirrel." Belphegor immediately sniggered when he caught Ratatosk outside the door, smirking. The girl looked up at him with cooly disinterested black eyes. "Since we already have a froggy here..." he glanced over at Fran, who was very quickly walking back to his room. "You are a mouse. Rats are too big, and you're tiny...mousy." his smirk switched to a grin, showing off his pointed teeth. Ratatosk blinked and walked around Belphegor, not really seeming to care. "Oi. Who do you think you are, treating a prince this way?" the fallen prince growled, following the small girl. She was even shorter than Vongola Decimo, looking like a thirteen year old instead of fifteen like Xanxus said she was. It didn't help that she had no figure to speak of whatsoever.
"You can't be a prince. Aren't princes supposed to be living in palaces, waited on by servants?" Ratatosk pointed out, still walking down the hall and glancing up at the room numbers every so often. Belphegor followed behind her, almost snarling at her behaviour.
"Do you want your life to end early, mousy?" Belphegor hissed, drawing a few of his knives. Ratatosk spun around and stared at him, her briefcase opening by itself as the doll climbed out and floated up. "Ushishi. Stupid peasant mouse." the blonde jumped back and threw the knives, smirking when the doll drew it's sword and quickly deflected the blades. So what if they tore up the whole hallway? He needed revenge. The doll flew towards him and made to stab at his arms, but he quickly dodged it's attacks.
"I don't want to fight. I don't even know who you are, and we're supposed to be team mates." Ratatosk growled, somehow keeping her flat tone at the same time. Belphegor scowled, throwing more knives at her which she deflected with her briefcase.
Belphegor was about to throw more knives, interrupted when someone yelled his name. "Bel-senpai!" Fran ran over, looking slightly worried. "Don't tear up the hallway! Xanxus-sama would rip you apart." he exclaimed, then panting with his hands on his knees. Was running over here that tiring? Belphegor paused, then kept his knives and straightened his clothes out while Ratatosk quietly kept her doll. "Wouldn't do any good to kill your roomie, anyway. I heard from Lussuria-senpai." he pointed out, shrugging. At this statement, Ratatosk's eyes widened in horror while Belphegor scowled again.
"What...? That's ridiculous." Ratatosk muttered, folding her arms. She pushed her glasses up her nose again and quickly calmed down. "Well. Whatever." the squirrel looked up at the door beside her and unlocked it with her key, walking in and turning into a section of the room that had supposedly just been cleared out for her. The wall had been knocked down completely, leading into a somewhat small space that held her part of the room. A single-sized bed in the corner, a economy-class sized closet, a desk, one somewhat stylish table lamp, chairs and a chest of drawers. Fair enough - she didn't need much space. Ratatosk took out her doll and placed it on the desk, followed by a sewing kit. A uniform would be given to her later...she could just alter it then.
"Oi. Mousy. You don't have anything else?" Belphegor suddenly called from outside Ratatosk's 'room'. The girl turned and an irritated expression flashed across her face before she shook her head.
"I was called here very suddenly. They didn't give me time to pack anything except Kaede." Ratatosk replied, looking down at her ghost-like doll. Belphegor looked just slightly disturbed at this...she named her dolls? "Um...what is your full name, Bel-senpai?" she asked, watching her tone.
Belphegor walked into the 'room'. "Ushishishi. I am Belphegor. You will continue to call me Bel-senpai or Prince." he replied, leaning on the desk so that he was blocking Ratatosk's view of 'Kaede'.
Ratatosk hated the tone that Belphegor took with her. She could tell that he didn't respect anybody except himself and maaaybe Xanxus. "In return, you will call me Ratatosk. Or kohai." she controlled her tone, wanting desperately to lash out at the arrogant 'prince'.
Belphegor frowned. Who did this peasant mouse...squirrel think she was? "Kohai it is...you're persuasive, mou...kohai." he stopped himself before Ratatosk could attack him - he was at close range and he wouldn't stand a chance with Kaede behind him anyway. "Is Ratatosk your real name?" the prince asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ratatosk shook her head. "Nope. It's just an alias." she replied without her expression changing, her black eyes empty as ever. "Would you please go away, Bel-senpai? I need to take care of Kaede." she quietly stared at Belphegor until he became unnerved, turning to walk into his section of the room. The squirrel sat down at the desk and took Kaede apart, cleaning each part carefully.
"She's so creepy." Belphegor thought as he lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Not only because of that ghost doll." Kaede was a very, very creepy doll. As if it wasn't enough that it didn't have eyes to accompany it's Belphegor-esque grin, it even wore clothes that were meant for the dead1! Maybe it was to scare people away from her. The other reason was Ratatosk's eyes. They were pitch black. Her pupils could barely be seen with the darkness surrounding them. They were scary enough already...then Ratatosk just had to keep that emotionless expression all the time. Fran's expression was similar, but at least he had a little bit of emotion...even if it was exasperation or mockery. The girl's stoicness just made her eyes look like holes. "She should wear contact lens." he thought, clenching his fist as if he wanted to crush the chandelier above him.
A series of loud knocks came at the door. Ratatosk rushed over and yanked it open, met with the feel of leather to her face. She caught the material as it fell and adjusted her glasses, then looking up to see the angry face of Superbia Squalo. He leaned down and snarled at her, reminding the squirrel of a shark. "This is all your fault, kid! Who do they think I am, sending me to deliver uniforms like some maid? Voiii, I wanna just kill you right now, you...!" the silver-haired swordsman drew his blade, going into what seemed to be the Edarl stance. Ratatosk almost squeaked, stepping back. She didn't have Kaede with her...this spelled trouble. Suddenly, the squirrel was pushed back, falling straight onto her behind. Squalo's eyes widened. It seemed that the self-centered, selfish, sadistic fallen prince had ran in front of Ratatosk with his arms spread in a protective stance.
"Oi. Don't hurt her, sharkie." Belphegor said, frowning. Squalo relaxed and raised an eyebrow. This was strange, to say the least. He had expected Belphegor to actually watch him slice Ratatosk into ribbons, laughing gleefully. The shark sheathed his sword.
"Voiii...You have a crush on the squirrel or something, Bel? This isn't like you." Squalo asked, hands on his hips. Belphegor scowled and shook his head furiously. The shark flipped his hair and glared at the fallen prince. "Sure, whatever you say." he snarled with a smirk before turning and walking off. Belphegor turned around to face Ratatosk and closed the door behind him.
"B-Bel-senpai?" Ratatosk's eyes widened when Belphegor held out a hand, silently telling her to take it. She grabbed his hand and let him pull her up, then dusting herself off. "Why did you...?" she tilted her head to the side, her normally emotionless face suddenly becoming almost cute in confusion. Belphegor smoothed down his hair and his scowl made a complete 180, turning into his usual slasher grin.
"Don't get me wrong, kohai." Belphegor chuckled, folding his arms. "I only did that because I want revenge. This prince was slighted by this squirrel-kohai, so he wants to get back at her himself. The prey cannot die by anybody else's hands." he explained, letting out his trademark 'ushishi' laugh right afterwards. Ratatosk blinked, then smiling. "...Why are you smiling?" Belphegor asked, his grin turning into a frown again.
Ratatosk chuckled, her eyes very suddenly becoming full of life. "Thank you, Bel-senpai." she bowed politely and rushed into her 'room', leaving the fallen prince to be confused at the door.
Belphegor scratched the side of his head. "Women are weird." he muttered, walking back to his section of the room and changing into his pajamas. A black and purple striped t-shirt with brown shorts. The prince climbed into his overly opulent bed and curled up with a doll of himself, complete with the slasher grin and girly tiara...crown. Lights off. Now the only source of light was Ratatosk's 'room', with it's single table lamp on the desk.
Ratatosk took off her tie and socks, then looking at her uniform. All of it was black leather. If Xanxus designed these uniforms, he would have to have been on crack while designing them. If they were designed by Lussuria, the squirrel wouldn't be terribly surprised. Yes, the gay necrophiliac probably designed the outfits. "Is he into BDSM or something?" she thought, staring at the uniform. A sleeveless top with a zipper on the front which would most likely cling to her body. A pair of similarly clingy elbow gloves...she would have to cut the fingers off later for freedom's sake. A pair of impossibly short shorts and...garters with knee socks? This was just ridiculous. Ratatosk shrugged and readied her sewing materials, making a few alterations. Fingers on the gloves cut off, the spare leather used to lengthen the shorts just slightly. It would do until she asked for a custom uniform. The squirrel sighed and left Kaede on the desk, curling up in her bed. Lights off.
A/N: My first Reborn! fanfic. I was kinda hesitant about posting this, since it involved an OC, and I'm always afraid of OC-related flames. Hope you enjoyed it, yeah?
1: In Japan, a pure white kimono is worn by women(not sure about men) when they are being buried. Kaede the doll has a Japanese-esque bob cut and she wears a white kimono. Do the math.