Author's Notes: No Susan sadly, and mainly just about Charlotte, but there are so many comical situations I could come up with, if I only had this scene, that I just had to do this. Hope you enjoy it, even though no canon character shows up. Let the craziness continue (and review)!
PLAYMATES
Charlotte liked to play out on a hill, where her music echoed all across Sto-Helit and she could hear it sail over the sea of green, lush grass. She liked the smell of the wildflowers peppering the fields around her's pollen, and she liked the clear, blue sky. Her hair liked it to, and always managed to wriggle out of whatever style she had managed to force it into so it could dance with the wind. The wind liked Charlotte's hair.
It was dawn, and as far as she knew, Johnny would be sneaking about the house trying not to wake anyone (he really had no reason to be up, but he liked practicing sneaking), Edward would be finishing whatever story he was reading under the covers, closing the book rapidly and trying to get a few minutes of sleep before he had to get up, and Susan would be the only one actually asleep. Where her father was, Charlotte really had no clue. He might very well be right where he should be, but she knew better than to assume anything when it came to her dear father beyond that he loved her.
The clouds were tainted with the rising sun, glowing in the colored light as it dyed the sky. It was cold and crisp, and her music flowed through fields like little fairies on wings. She smiled her mother's smile, closing her eyes in the joy of the moment and throwing herself into the song as she sat on the bench she'd brought out with her.
But someone was coming up her hill. Who, she didn't know, but someone much noisier and clumsier than anyone in her family. So someone was invading Sto-Helit. She grinned her father's smile, not bothering to open her eyes.
"Hi," Charlotte chirped. "Who're you?"
The sound of crunching grass halted abruptly, and she could almost feel the shock whoever it was who was coming up was feeling.
"Um..." he said nervously.
"Cat got your tongue? Let's try again, shall we?" she chimed when whoever it was before her couldn't find his voice. She stilled the humming strings of her harp and looked up at the brown-haired, dumbstruck boy before her. "Hello, my name's Charlotte Teatime. What's yours?"
"Bastian," he managed. "I'm Sebastian Oracatta."
She grinned, extending a pale, slender hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sebastian." She'd almost said 'Sebastian dear', so used to tacking the ending on to her sweet brothers' names as well as her parents' titles. But this Sebastian most certainly wasn't dear. "Why did you leave the city?"
"Are you the duchess's daughter?" he asked. "Are you Susan Sto-Helit's child?"
Charlotte clucked and shook her head.
"No, she's Susan Teatimenow. Don't you know?"
"Right. That was a while ago. She made such a name for herself before the marriage, though. Most people are used to her being a Sto-Helit," Sebastian explained, almost sheepishly. "But who is your father, Lady Charlotte? No one's really seen him."
The duchess's daughter laughed.
"Oh, but that's the point! He doesn't like being seen."
"Why not?"
"Because..." she trailed off thoughtfully, then shrugged, "he just doesn't. He grew up hiding in shadows; why change it now?"
"Was he a thief?"
Charlotte stood to her feet, glaring at the boy terribly.
"Thank goodness, no! He was an elegant Assassin, and don't you forget it!" she warned darkly. Sebastian didn't cower, though. He stuck up his chin. She lightened to a grin, and laughed again. "Are you scared of me? You don't seem to be. I suppose you have no reason to." She paused thoughtfully, "You called me a Lady earlier. I suppose that's right, then, isn't it? I'm Lady Charlotte. I never thought of that. I probably should have. But why are you here, Bastian?"
"Edmund dared me to," he answered dryly.
"Ah," Charlotte said with a nod. "And what must you bring back as proof of your escapade?"
"He didn't ask for proof."
"Then he's not going to believe you when you say you did. You're not getting anything out of this, except perhaps a bit of an adrenaline rush," she laughed again.
"Are you an only child, Lady Charlotte?"
"Oh, there you go again!" she chirped. "Lady." She giggled, "I rather like it. But no, I am not an only child. I have my dear brothers, Edward and Johnny. They are almost always with me, but now I have escaped for my morning revelry."
She played a quick scale, allowing the notes to fade out on their own. Bastian glanced at the harp.
"You can hear your playing even over by the farms," he said. "It carries and it's lovely."
"Why thank you. Now you can go and tell all your friends what makes it, if it was a mystery."
Sebastian grinned.
"I like mysteries. I'm training to be a detective."
Charlotte clapped excitedly.
"Oh, me too! Like mysteries, that is. I'm not sure what I plan to be when I grow," she giggled. "You're training to be a detective? Well, prove it!" Susan's daughter stood to her feet with a huge grin. "Are you a Hermlock Sholmes?"
Sebastian frowned, crossing his arms and looking her up and down intently. He narrowed his eyes.
"You have a cat," he said at last. "You have a cat. You're handy with a blade. You like to rough house. You've been out here since one-or-two-but-less-than-four-hours-before-dawn reading or something; you weren't playing then, though. And you wrote something yesterday."
Charlotte grinned.
"I don't have a cat. I wish I did, but I don't. I'm just borrowing one of Granddad's. But that's not really fair; you got it right to the best of your ability. Were there cat hairs on my dress? Did that give it away?" she asked.
"Yes, orange cat hair."
"And you saw the form of a knife up my sleeve, didn't you?" she asked, slipping it down her arm and balancing it blade up on her pointer finger with one smooth movement. "I've been trying to figure out how to hide it just right, but it's rather difficult."
"You did do pretty well. I didn't notice it for a while," Bastian offered.
"Thank you," she replied. "How do you know that I like to rough house, though? I can't think what could possibly give that away."
"Well, you have two broken fingernails, several bruises, and..." he squinted, trailing off, "...is that a bite mark on your cheek?"
A hand flew to the indent on her face as she grinned.
"Oh, yes – that was fun!"
Sebastian blinked.
"I just guessed from all that."
"You guessed well! And how'd you know how long I was out here? I know you knew I was writing because of the ink stains on my hand."
"The hem of your skirt is wet," he answered plainly, gesturing to the bottom of her black and blue dress. "It rained a little before 2:00am this morning, but the grass is dry now. You must have come out while it was still covered in droplets, but after it rained since just the edge of your gown is wet and not the whole of you. Besides, I doubt the rain would be good for your instrument, and since you are an experienced harpist, I'd think you would know how to take care of it."
Charlotte flipped the knife up and caught it by the hilt, grinning at the boy.
"How very clever of you. You really are a Hermlock Sholmes, Bastian. But what I want to know..." In a flash, the flat of her blade pressed up against the side of his neck, just below his jaw. She stood precisely three inches away from him, tilting her forehead forwards and grinning brilliantly. She shifted the knife slowly, harmlessly. "...is what you were doing up at 2:00am to know that it was raining?"
She spun around him in a pale blur, still smiling as she touched his back between his shoulder blades to catch his attention. Sebastian whirled around, seeming to find this all rather entertaining. Charlotte pressed the point of her dagger to her pointer finger, tilting her head. A person watching the scene would say that it almost looked flirtatious. "Are you a bad boy, Sebastian Oracatta?"
He raised a brow over his grin.
"Well, can you claim to be a good girl, Lady Charlotte?" he countered.
"Oh, yes. I'm a very good girl," she answered. "Well, mostly. Mostly most of the time.I can be, when I feel like it." She took a step forwards. "But you haven't answered my question."
"I try to do as I'm told," he replied, laughing.
"Not that one, Bastian; how did a charming young detective in training like yourself come to be awake during 2:00am?"
"Oh fine. If you must know."
"I must," Charlotte replied, nodding emphatically.
"I was switching spells," Sebastian explained. The duchess's daughter flashed him a confused pout, and he laughed before continuing. "Alan Kimmerman – he's learning to be a wizard – was planning on enchanting his team's soccer ball so it'd win the match."
"Oh, he was cheating?" Charlotte called. "What's the use of winning if you didn't? No, it's much more satisfying to merely suck you opponent dry." She grinned, her voice growing more excited as she spoke, "You said you switched spells. What'd you put in place of the enchantment for him to read, Bastian? Oh, what?!"
"A hair loss spell. It's all going to fall out the moment he's done chanting!"
Charlotte giggled.
"How very clever of you, Bastian. I think I rather like you. Maybe we could play sometime, you and I."
He smiled.
"I think I'd like that, Lady Charlotte," Sebastian replied with a low bow.
"I might warn you, though, Hermlock," she added idly. "You know how dangerous vampires can be?"
His brow wrinkled in befuddlement as he crossed his arms.
"Yes. But what do they have to do with the current conversation?"
"I'll connect it, don't worry," Charlotte reassured with a grin before continuing. "Double that, a vampire's dangerousness, and you have my brothers. If they find out that I'm playing with someone besides them, Johnny and Edward will come and kill you most brutally." Sebastian couldn't help but wonder if she was joking or not. "Do you still want to be my playmate? Do you know what you're getting into?"
"Could I have an example, before I decide?" Sebastian asked.
"You know the Hogfather?" Charlotte chimed.
"Mmhmm."
"My daddy came this close," she held up her pointer finger and thumb, barely an eighth of an inch apart, "to succeeding in inhuming him. The only reason he didn't was because my mother showed up and threw him off. He didn't even mind that he was killing a jolly old man who is the embodiment of giving, love, and the Hogswatch spirit. He also used to nail dogs on the ceiling before Mommy stopped him." Charlotte grinned, "That's how scary my brothers can be, and when those two unite, they're twice as bad."
"No problem!" Sebastian said dismissively. "We'll just be very, very careful."
The duchess's daughter nodded meaningfully.
"Very careful."
In a smooth, clean movement she chopped off a foot of her long, long hair so it fell three inches past her shoulders with her little dagger. Her tresses twisted in anger at the sudden and unannounced betrayal, and the the now separate ones in her hands writhed as if in agony. Charlotte grinned, passing the severed locks to Bastian.
"Here. Show this to your friends, and tell them... tell them you met Lady Charlotte. And if they still don't believe you, send them knocking to my door. I'll set them straight."
She giggled, fingering her pretty little knife happily.