You got a disclaimer in the first chapter, and I ain't gonna put up any... dammit this counts as one, doesn't it? Well, this time I mean it! Disclaimer's on the first.
Time came and went, and what seemed like days passed by in weeks and weeks, months, as the young Juliet Butler came and went from the manor. An oddity to the staff and a vexation upon the young Fowl (his words, not hers), Juliet had come to carve herself a bit of a niche within the aged and ancient walls of Fowl Manor. Originally a charge given to Domovoi by their parents as the family business became more and more involved and nannies became somewhat... untenable, given it's volatile nature, it was decided by them that Juliet would be best held in the care of her elder brother. Thus, she had come to stay with the Fowls (after no small amount of discourse by both parties, specifically Angeline and their parents, given that Artemis Senior didn't seem to care either way, so long as he wasn't interrupted and Butler's duties to Artemis were put first).
Juliet herself didn't really seem bothered by that fact, honestly, as long absences were common for her mother and father, and had been since she was born. She knew they loved her dearly, and they tended to shower her with affection when they could, but she would be remiss if she didn't miss them dearly when they were gone, sometimes for weeks or even months on end. She didn't really understand the real reasons, of course, aside from Dom telling her that they were "important" and her accepting that with as much face value as she could at her age. But she would still get lonely, and still get upset because of it. It was part of the reason Butler had made the initial suggestion, in fact, and Angeline felt that Artemis Jr. could use a playmate, as he was always so serious all the time and could use some people closer to his own age.
The start had been rocky, admittedly, as Juliet was a fighter, and Artemis was anything but, and thus had far different interests, though she had gotten him to try martial arts (for all of ten minutes, before he huffed, declared the whole exercise a pointless waste of his potential and locked himself in his study) and he'd managed to get her to sit down long enough to give her some measure of a lecture on advanced mathematics (she had fallen asleep in less than ten minutes and stayed that way throughout the entire affair, not that the young genius noticed), but they'd still managed to work out a comfortable middle ground, eventually. After some violence, and perhaps a few stern lectures from the elder Butler on just what is and isn't an appropriate target for a sliding tackle, of course, but, well, they had managed.
"Butler!" A detached, somewhat strangled cry came from the living quarters, just shy of the adjacent kitchens, which, of course, was one of many that the bodyguard had come to recognize as Artemis's pleas for rescue from his over-energetic playmate. Maybe managed was a bit of a strong word, the older male granted as he put down the carrot he was slicing and shook his head, before coming to the poor boy's rescue.
But they were connecting, and Butler was glad to see it. Juliet had been having a rough go of it in the last few years, and with his leaving for a permanent position with the Fowls, he had been more than a bit worried about the girl. And he had been so when she first came to the manor, given it's size and just how few actual people lived there outside of the help, but when he introduced her to Artemis most of those concerns vanished. The boy was scarily intelligent, and undoubtedly brilliant, as he'd started working on upper high- and even college level schooling some time in the last six months, but he was also only five, and as innocent as one could be when one was a genius. Being intellectually mature was far different from being emotionally mature, and Butler had been worried for the boy, young as he was.
Artemis Sr. was a brilliant man and a master criminal, and he was raising his son to be his spitting image, setting impossible goals for the child to meet and then going beyond whenever the boy came close to accomplishing said goals. A brilliant teacher and a skilled plotter, he knew exactly what he would need to teach his son to be just as dangerous as he was, and while brutally effective, it was also viciously cruel. Artemis Sr. was a genius of a kind, though not nearly on his son's level, and while his boy was brilliant, he was experienced, and he had no problem turning that experience against the child to twist him to his own ends and means. Artemis Sr. wanted a legacy, never mind that he was making a monster in the process, and Butler knew there was nothing he could do to openly oppose it. So he was subtle, and he had plotted his own quiet rebellion, and yes, he had used his kid sister as a piece of that plan, but the result was good for both of them. Butler was not a cold or cruel man, but he was pragmatic, and he didn't feel a whiff of guilt for doing what was best for the girl he'd loved since the day she opened her brilliant blue-green eyes and the boy he'd seen as an extension of his family since the moment he laid eyes upon him.
He would protect them both, from the monsters within and without, as a good Butler should.
And he was the best.
Honestly a little shorter than I would have liked, but it seemed like a good place to sit down and stop. I had always wondered just how Juliet came to stay with the Fowls in the first place, so there's my little take on it. Yes, it's more Dom-centric, granted, but I go where the wind takes me, as the saying goes. I was worried that it came off like I was switching perspectives there for a second, but it seemed to come off well enough. And yes, I do like to use parenthesis and run-ons, and I know it's technically bad grammar but these are perspective pieces, mixed in a combination of inner monologue and observation. It mirrors how I think when I'm feeling introspective, so there you have it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, short as it was. This version is unbeta'd, so please forgive any issues you see. If I spot any I'll fix them as I go.
Anyway, R&R, because they are my food and drink, and I hunger for more! Heh.
See you around, folks!
