Hare and Hatter
Before the Sablier arc starts here's a little build-up for the AU arc that's going to take the place of the Head Hunter arc in the manga. I'm really excited for this, I've been planning it for months!
Part Three
Chapter Thirty-five
The books and papers Liam had been carrying had been part of a delivery to the records room, one that he made quite often to keep his office from overflowing with the things he took back to it.
He found the Records Keeper, the man did have an actual name but Liam was probably the only one who ever used it, busy scrabbling through papers and looking worried.
"What's wrong, sir?" he asked, setting the books on the corner of a table and coming over to look at what he was working on.
"Ah, Mister Lunettes." the Records Keeper gave him a smile of relief when he saw him. "I'm afraid there's been a mistake with Lord Oz."
"A mistake?" he repeated, confused.
"A rather terrible one." said the Records Keeper, "It seems as if Lord Oz was never formally presented to society and yet he has been making visits on the other houses of nobility! This is destroying his reputation!"
"But he did have a coming of age party." Liam pointed out. "He's quite infamous for it, in fact."
The Records Master flapped a pudgy hand impatiently, "No, no, that doesn't count. It wasn't completed and there's still the scandal around his disappearing in the middle of it. Of course it seems no one but I has noticed this shocking fail in etiquette. We can't have the reincarnation of Jack Vessalius making such a huge social mistake. It would look horrible for Pandora." he nodded, his shaggy salt and pepper hair getting into his eyes as he did so.
"Yes, I suppose it would." Liam agreed tentatively. "I'm surprised no one has made steps toward arranging another before the situation made a stir."
"Well, there is the matter of his father." the Records Keeper said. "I, of course, don't know the circumstances but I've heard he isn't fond of his son. I can only guess that he intended to keep Lord Oz front venturing out by restricting his social status but since that obviously didn't work we shall simply have to arrange a presentation party for Lord Oz at Pandora."
"Can we do that?"
"Of course we can." the other man huffed. "We are Pandora, after all. It wouldn't be too unseemly for us to hold the party since Lord Vessalius is known to be a busy man. Though there would be some approvals that we would have to get from him." he tapped his chin thoughtfully, "That might be difficult since he's currently traveling."
Liam looked up at that, "Traveling to where?"
"Sablier, last I heard." he said. "I know you're busy, Mister Lunettes, but I don't suppose you could find some time to take a quick trip out there to get his signature? This is a matter that must be dealt with at once if Lord Oz's image is it be salvaged."
He had to work to keep the smile from his face. "I think I can manage that, sir."
That was how he ended up on the next train to Sablier, Hare whispering in the back of his mind -something that he couldn't quite catch and was thus ignoring- and a sheaf of paperwork on the seat next to him. He hoped he wouldn't end up arriving too late to be of help to Break and the others but rather suspected that by the time he tracked them down they would have already gotten into trouble.
Which meant all he could do was sit there and try to remember the layout of the Sablier shantytown so he could could find the Nightray's orphanage and start searching from there.
TBC