N
Nothing is as satisfying as bossing others around.
She knows, of course, that it's not right. Papa used to often ask her to take Elfnein's thoughts into account: "Why don't you ask Elfnein what she wants to play, hm? It's not fair if you always decide, Carol," he'd say whenever she complained about Elfnein not wanting to play with her. But everything Elfnein suggested took place indoors—chess, checkers, dominoes, card games, and the like—it was so boring!
Right now, however, Papa and Elfnein aren't here to ruin her fun. While Tachibana takes an urgent call somewhere off to the side, Carol finds that she has ample freedom and opportunity to do as she pleases—namely, to disregard all of her father's admonishments about being considerate of others.
Within seconds of her resolution, she spots a couple of little kids playing in the sand box. Upon wandering closer, she sees one of them playing with a toy train. It's a dark blue color with golden wheels, cow-catcher, and whistle; there are even little windows along the side that are actually see-through.
Is it really a toy train? It looks like a miniature of the train they took once to Papa's hometown in the mountains….
She wants it.
"What do you want?" the older one demands when she reaches them, frowning up at her while the boy—the one with the train—glances around nervously. Maybe it's some type of sixth sense.
"I want that train." From this close, she can see it's made of wood and polished to shine. It's not the type of toy you just play with in a dirty sandbox.
"No," the older boy snaps. He stands up, saying, "It's my little brother's. You can't have it."
They're about seven and five, maybe four, years old. Intimidating them shouldn't be hard; the only problem is making sure neither Tachibana nor the kids' parents notice, but a quick glance shows that no one's paying attention to them.
"Too bad," she says in response to defense, taking a step forward as menacingly as possible to the younger kid, who squeaks, tears gathering in his eyes so easily.
Nevertheless, the older one places himself between them and stands his ground despite her best glower and crossed arms at them.
"Need a hand?" an obnoxiously posh voice asks behind her.
A spike of irritation flares through her at the interruption.
The moment she turns to confront the bothersome pest, the two boys make as if to escape; luckily, that supercilious voice sing-songs, "Not so fast!" and a rather tall girl with dark blue hair and a brooding scowl on her face blocks the boys' way out.
Interesting, but she darts a look to Tachibana, who thankfully continues to be preoccupied with her phone call.
"I-it's my brother's toy!" the boy snaps despite his edging away from 'Miss Brooding.'
"Hand over the train and we will let you go," the original speaker says—a girl about her own age with hooded eyes and a menacing smirk, her arms innocently clasped behind her back.
Very interesting.
"L-Let's just go, big brother," the smaller one urges, but his brother snaps with renewed vigor: "No! It's not fair!"
"Maybe you haven't heard of us." The upstart rich girl steps forwards to be level with Carol and declares, "I am Phara, and this is my cousin Leiur," which means nothing to Carol but evidently makes the two boys even more nervous.
Still, the older one stands his ground, blustering, "I don't care who you are! You're just bullies!"
This is proving to be more troublesome than it might be worth; by herself, she would've just resorted to maybe pushing the kids around a little bit—Elfnein, after all, often required some jostling to be persuaded—but she finds herself interested in seeing this play out.
"Oh? Then I suppose Leiur will have to… convince you," Phara smirks and gestures to an uncertain Leiur, who now squirms at the terrified looks that the boys send her.
It's looks like Leiur isn't the "brawn" to Phara's "brain," but Leiur apparently swallows her hesitation and raises one hand to shove the younger boy—just a little bit, barely making contact with her fingertips.
Just that is enough to make the kid burst into tears and willingly hand over his toy to Leiur, much to the distress of his older brother, who exclaims, "Bully! Give that back! It's not yours!" He goes so far as to lunge at Leiur.
Leiur responds with a stronger shove, enough force in it that the older boy ends up sprawled on the ground.
"Thank you for cooperating," Phara tells them, sweet and vicious. "If anyone asks," she adds, "you lost your toy at the park and couldn't find it, okay?"
"O-okay," the younger one answers, one pudgy hand wiping his tear-streaked cheeks and the other tugging on his brother's sleeve. The older one has the good sense to relocate them to the swings, thus bringing the whole confrontation to an end.
Not, however, to Carol's satisfaction: Leiur holds the train in her hands.
She turns to Phara, then, to ask, "What do you want?"
"Nothing much at this point," Phara shrugs, though her eyes have a calculating look to them, akin to… a hawk circling above a rabbit, like that time Papa took them to some hunting grounds.
Well, she definitely doesn't want to be eaten.
"Let us introduce ourselves properly," Phara says, and Leiur walks closer to stand just behind Phara. "I am Miss Phara Suyuf," she says in an awfully haughty voice.
"I am Leiur Darahim," Leiur murmurs, bowing her head so that her hair obscures her eyes.
Germanic names, the both of them. What a coincidence.
Deciding that introducing herself can't hurt, she replies, "Carol Malus Dienheim."
"Do you go to school nearby? We haven't seen you around before," Phara asks.
"No," is her terse answer, but Phara nods for her to continue. Reluctantly, she explains, "I just… moved here. My… guardians… haven't settled on which school I'm to attend."
As soon as the words leave her mouth, she wonders why she told them anything.
Tachibana appears before the conversation can continue—finally.
"You've made some friends!" Tachibana beams, clapping her hands.
Carol squints at Phara and Leiur; she wouldn't call them friends. She just barely met them five minutes ago and she knows for certain that they aren't the friendly sort—well, Phara isn't. The judge and jury are still out on Leiur.
"Hello," Phara smiles up at Tachibana, innocent as can be and not correcting the notion. "I'm Phara, and this is my cousin Leiur." Leiur gives a halfhearted shrug, her hands fiddling with the toy train.
"It's nice to meet you, Phara and Leiur. I'm Carol's guardian, Hibiki Tachibana," Tachibana replies. "I'm afraid we have to go, but I hope we see you around sometime!"
"Of course, Mrs. Tachibana." Nodding at Leiur, Phara suggests, "Leiur goes to Matsuoka Elementary—perhaps she will see you there when you resume classes, Carol?"
"Maybe." She shrugs noncommittally, squinting suspiciously at Phara; the only response she gets in return is a grin that actually looks honest.
Weird.
"Never say never!" is Tachibana's interjection just before they leave.
a/n:
I thought about this chapter for a couple of days. I'm finding that it's difficult to write Carol, thus the delay.
Heh, actually, I was originally gone because I stumbled upon a certain HP fic that really pulled me in; I spent quite a bit of time on that until a particular plot twist completely put me off finishing the story. Anyway, I'll try not to read longfics anymore, lol.
A couple of guests left reviews on "Counting Stars," to my delighted surprise. Unfortunately, there's no way for me to reply to them. Oh, well...
Please review!