The noise drew Thaddius from his musings with a start. What was that?
It sounded again, short and quiet, just barely above the audible register. Of course, his first instinct was to check under his desk. Anything that small had to have been a child, so said his reasoning. It was only natural the confusion when there were no eyes or small bodies to greet him on his checking.
That was when he remembered a certain Prussian was seated in the sitting area, pointedly reading her latest acquisition.
His head turned slowly to face her, a short moment of observation producing another small noise and a slight jerk of her upper body. That conniving crooked smirk crossed his face at it. The cane aided his advancement, telltale clinking against the bare marble tiles loud as he still managed to stalk-limp his way toward her.
She peered over her book at him, quirked eyebrow before attempting to resume it. Another small string of hiccups ensued, Thaddius slowly leaning over the top of her book to try and make eye contact.
"I thought I told you to stay out of the liquor cabinet." he poked, the amused rumble on his voice the only thing betraying his mood. "Although, I must say. I never expected such a tiny noise to come from someone like you…"
She huffed, abyssal gaze finding his red-ringed jade easily. "I'll stahicay out of ze liquor cabinhicnet ven you start drinking." she retorted haughtily, redirecting her gaze back to her book. "Besides. I mahicake plenty of small noises. Und you know it just as muhicuch as I do."
The cane head moved the book down via the spine at that. "Oh please. I am aware of every noise you're capable of. But if you could be so kind as to … I don't know … hold your breath or something of that nature and be rid of these particular ones, I would be grateful. They are just a smidge … distracting."
"I voulhicdn't if I could." She picked up a glass sitting nearby, empty. "Breath holding nehicever vorked, und I'm out of water." Up she rose, a wisp of silk and cut crystal pieces, heading for one of the doors into the inner workings of the monstrous Citadel. "But if it bothict'ers you so much, I'll go get more."
She was gone before he had a retort, but that was quite alright in his books. She hadn't even noticed that the smirk had widened to a grin, after all.
He'd been waiting in one of the darkened maintenance corridors, just out of sight. She hadn't been all that difficult to track; the sound of rabid hiccups was rather easy to pick up walking down the corridor. The first glimpse of shimmering blue was his cue, pushing what little Dark Water influence he still had control of to the fore.
The result was downright terrifying; he lit up the corridor in full red-pulsing form, teeth bared, and a snarling yell unleashed. He should have expected that she would hit him, and none too softly.
With a yell of surprise of her own, she dropped the drinking glass and above the sound of it shattering as it hit the floor, she had struck him with that devastating jab straight to the middle of his bowing face. It ended the indirect assault rather suddenly. Rather than lose any temper at it, he took it in stride.
"You would punch a Darkbane in the face, wouldn't you." he muttered around trying to make sure she hadn't broken his nose again.
Her concerns were toward something else, disregarding briefly his indirect praises. "Verdammt, T'addius! Vat if I had been holding a feking veapon! You t'ink you vould haf learned after ze first time!"
"Yes. Well." He sniffed around the potential injury. "Nothing really broken this time. The most recent incarnation seems to be considerably more resilient than the second."
"I broke your nose ven you vere in zis incarnation, you …you scheissenkopf!"
"Your hiccups are gone." The sudden change in subject caused her to pause and make a small noise of acknowledgement. "I would say scaring you into action was worth it."
"You von't be able to smell anyt'ing ven zat starts swelling." she told him, starting to carefully round up the larger chunks of glass with a toe.
"Worth it."
No sooner had he said it, than the sound of another hiccup broke the air. It visibly raised the old Pseudobane's hackles, his head lowering as it snapped in the direction of the culprit. Xerxes had been passing by earlier in time to catch his mother's lost hiccups. To be fair, he looked terrified already at being caught with them.
Thaddius' eyes blazed with a sinister playfulness at the prospect of having new prey to chase. War only managed out a, "Run."
The boy took it, disappearing like a shot down one hall. The hulking industrialist was gone in the next second.
A/N: I hiccuped on a call at 4am. oops…
Thaddius being playful makes my life.
and yes, she just called him a shithead.
poor xerxes
he probably wont sleep for a week