Motor City Duet! ( Job w/charlotte )

Seth really was insistent on this. Apparently he was taking a look around the guild when he spotted a somewhat... intriguing, as he put it, person who was in a need of an asistence, lest he could come to a harm. And Charlotte certainly did not want that to happen, even if she didn't know him all that much. She did kinda know who he was, as she saw him when she joined the guild itself. But that was about it, not much in the way of interaction between them so far. So this would serve as a good team exercise at the same time. Filled with energy, just like Seth suggested, the girl did indeed approach him and offer her help with whatever task he had at hands. And with his rather strange and colorful manner of speaking, he did accept. Just like that the girl managed to find herself on the train that was heading to the famous Motor City, one of the larger settlements on this continent. Not that the girl knew about much that was outside the borders of Fiore, she was always holed up in her home that was in Rose Garden. And she rarely ventured out beyond the city walls either, so this would be quite the experience for her no matter the outcome of their job.

As the scenery behind the windows moved in rapid speed, the man seemed to quiet down significantly, which almost made him seem like an entirely different person compared to who he was just moments ago. Seth stayed completely silent for now as well, which left the girl a little bored, sitting on the seat near the window. Thankfully she had her little leather pouch with her, and from it, she pulled out a small plushy teddy bear which served as a little toy for passing time faster. Though she might be a little too old for toys like that, she still loved these little stuffed guys and would always carry one around. And it really did help with passing time, as they arrived before the girl even noticed that any distance passed at all. Once they were off the train, the girl sighed and jumped right in front of her partner with a big smile on her face, ready to talk a little bit more. Maybe it was just that he wasn't feeling well on the moving train, so now things coule be a little bit better.

"Mr. Horatio, you seem like a strong magician! But Seth said that you could use some help too, which means that this job could be actually quite dangerous. But don't worry, I'm sure we will be able to solve the dispute of those kids!"

Word Count - 454

Horatio followed after her right out of the train and onto the station where all kinds of sounds could be heard from every single direction. They were greeted by the screeching and wheezing of mechanicals, machines and engines along with the sound of steam escaping faulty pipes that lead all over the Motor City. This place was truly one of the future, showing the progress that humanity made even without the constant use of magic. It could be probably pretty accurate to say that this place was in fact even filled with those that were against magical energies, those who hated it's very concept. People like that really did exist in Earthland and Fiore, though some had to ask themselves what they were even doing in these parts, there were plenty of nations with far lower percentage of mages in the population. Or at least that was what Charlotte read in a book that she had bough recently. Most of her knowledge was from books actually, as she never fully attended any kind of school. She absolutely hated those places and even Seth would probably have some issues trying to force her into one. So instead, she just remained inside of her home and studied there. A person who preferred to stay in her comfort zone indeed.

It didn't take long before the man would try to reply, providing answer to the girl's question. But something a little odd happened, as he started his speech almost as a completely different person. It really surprised the girl who directed her gaze up into the skies, almost as if she was expecting a guardian angel to descend and tell her what was going on here. Instead, she merely heard milion of voices, whispering sweet little secrets to her. A soundless voice that only Charlotte herself could hear and magical energy that was perceivable only to her. Because of her confusion on the matter of Horatio changing his speech, Seth provided her with the answer and suggested that she should continue acting as if she did not know that there was someone else in that body as well. Shame too, as the girl now wished she could introduce herself even to the other personality, or whatever it really was, inside of that body with dapper clothing.

"Hehe, I'm glad. Seth taught me some tricks as well, but I can only do very few of them right now. And none of them are really impressive at all, it's almost as if I was not a witch at all. Oh, but... why do you wear clothes like that? They are pretty, but it seems like they could get dirty very easily in a place like this, with all the grease and all..."

She expected some fabulous answer that would explain that the man has to be in fact dapper all the time. But instead, he started backing up, pressing his back against the very dirty surface of the train that was covered in oil and mud. It also seemed like he was covering his pockets for whatever reason, which confused the girl once more. Again, she never really ventured beyond the walls of Rose Garden so she was completely unaware of any dangerous that could lurk in a city such as this. Thankfully, Seth had eyes just about everywhere, as well as the knowledge of all, the great insight. And he definitely didn't want the girl to lose what little jewels she managed to get for herself, as that would be simply heartbreaking. As the little runt extended his hand towards the girl, her eyes changed from the pure and unnatural white into perhaps even less natural gold color, a somewhat creepy smile flashing across her face. With a quick gesture, one of her hands touched the child's forehead and the girl's power activated. To the outside world, it probably looked as if nothing at all happened. But the thief slowly started backing away until he fell to the ground, crying and suddenly apologizing. Seth, who temporarily possessed Charlotte's body used one of her abilities to shift around the boy's emotions, forcing remorse forth and making him regret what he had done. And just like that, the girl was back to her usual self! Only now her hand was covering her mouth as she started coughing out some strange black liquid.

Word Count - 726

The girl could even hardly pay attention to what was happening in her current coughing fit. The black substance, the ink that was coming out of her body slowly overflowed her hands that she was using to cover her mouth, letting the substance drip onto the metallic ground beneath them. She could hear Horatio's voice, but it sounded like a whole buch of gibberish to her, a muffled voice that was too distant to hear. And among all that noise, she could also hear the little boy's voice, shaking and all scared. Seth altered his emotions, but perhaps the effect was too great for a regular human being? It was black magic after all, and the girl was now paying the price for it. And somehow, her partner did not notice in the slightest. And perhaps that was for the best, though there was the possibility that he was merely feigning ignorace. Though he did not look like one that would do such a thing, rather, the opposite.

This Horatio person loved to be in front of others, adorned and looked at with respect. He would not ignore someone that could give that to him, especially in a state such as this. Or at least, that was how Charlotte judged the man. But the question as why she was in this state, coughing up ink again, that was mystery to her. After all, it was Seth's doing, the usage of that spell. And he was in the habit of never leaving the poor young girl with the memories of when he was using her body like that. Only after a while she managed to calm down, a point at which the two men in front of her were almost finished conversing, one leaning down while the other was on the ground with the ivory white hat atop his hair. What exactly transpired between them, she was unsure. But Horatio would surely lead little Charlotte the correct way, she she probably needn't pry, as that would only create more questions for her partner to ask. Wiping the rest of the ink with her sleeve, she tried to fix her expression into a more acceptable one before asking one question, however.

"W..why is he lying on the floor like that, Mr. Horatio? Did he fall or something? It looks like he's lightly sobbing."

And he really was. Charlotte joined her partner at his side, looking at the boy who quickly picked himself up and started running in the opposite direction as Horatio shooed him. The girl was a bit confused with this, as she had no idea that it was her who caused him to fall onto the ground and dirty his clothes just like Horatio did with the train. He really looked like a bum now, didn't he?

Word Count - 467 (1647 total)

Horatio didn't really share much for some reason, as his impressive nature probably wouldn't be a reason for a little boy to be laying on the floor, crying. Whatever the case, it was thing of past now as they boy quickly disappeared in the crowd that was all around them. It was their speciality after all, capable of disappearing in the moment's notice to avoid undesirable gazes falling upon their small figures as they would perform acts considered rather vile by the more wealthy residence of this city. Though the girl had hard time how people like that would even look like and instead figured out that everyone who lived here was probably just a huge fan of a steampunk setting. Even she was, there were many different books witch such theme laying on the shelf in her little home back in the Rose Garden. And now she had the desire to read all of them again, so she surely would once this little job was done. But it didn't seem like that would happen just yet, as they pretty much just arrived into the city! Sure, they had the information they needed, but that would hardly speed things up all that much. They still had to deal with said gang of children. Hopefully they would listen to them and not resist too much, that would not be the greatest. Something that Charlotte really did not want that to happen.

It also appeared that the other personality(?) wanted to say something too, but Horatio managed to cut him off. It made the girl wonder if the two of them actually even knew of one another, if they were aware that two different beings were occupying the tiny space of a single human body. Something like that, Seth informed Charlotte many days and weeks back it could be rather dangerous. One body would not last holding too many forces. But if they lived in unison, then perhaps they were fine. She could only hope now, she had no right at all to butt into his life with it all, even though he knowledge could go beyond the reality itself with Puppeteer on her side, controlling her whole life. Or perhaps it was not very advisable to be taking advice from a puppet in the first place. In a sense, this girl was no different from the clockworks that could be found all over this city, gears that were mindlessly and tirelessly spinning. Only, the girl herself could tire, quite easily in fact as was confirmed by the ink that she expelled from her body earlier.

Some time later, they would find themselves in the most likely worst part of the city and the domain of children gang. Horatio quickly found some of them to follow and so they did. The girl remained silent to not alert them, to not fail their mission by scaring all of them away on accident. And since her partner liked being in the center of attention, she let him lead, following every step he made. She would only speak after him once they arrived at the ring as well, since his words didn't quite make sense for this place.

"But there are no houses here that could be grand enough for name like that. You need a large mansion at least to call Palace!"

Word Count - 558 (2205 total)

Charlotte didn't really understand the words that Horatio spoke, or rather the sentence that those words formed. And perhaps that was the whole point, the fact that he mentioned she would be able to properly understand once she grows older. That was the desire of many children, to grow old quick so they could understand, so that they could seemingly do whatever they could. Shame the reality wasn't like that at all, and being an adult was more problematic that anything a child could imagine. Charlotte was already informed of that by Seth, so she was wary. And she was glad that she was still fairly young, considered a little girl by many. She was still allowed to play around and not have any real care in the world. She only had to follow Seth's orders and everything would always end well one way or another. But there was another thing that Horatio's words provoked from the depths of the girl's mind. Yes, this place was far from grand... but Charlotte could now only wonder about how interesting would Seth's domain be. She knew nothing about the puppeteer, yet she knew that she could trust him with her life, that his control was better than her own. And because of that, he could have been from absolutely anywhere, roaming the strangest of worlds.

Would a being like him live in a majestic palace, build from only the purest marble? No, he was far too modest for something like that. More like a cabin in the woods, accompanied by a quiet river nearby. A perfect solitude in the heart of nature. Yes, that was the home that Charlotte imagined Seth would be living in. If it was the truth or not, she would probably never learn. But it was fun to theorize like this nonetheless. After all, Seth meant everything to her. A bond so strong that not another living soul in this would could understand it, no matter how much would they try. That was simply the nature of a relationship between puppet and her puppeteer. And while all of this was going down in the girl's mind, her partner bravely entered the ring, probably searching for a solution to this mess, a way to calm these children and make sure the gangs fall apart. And the girl watched his epic entrance, though he did not yet say anything to what looked like the leaders of the gangs. And she would not have time to hear it out anyway, as she suddenly heard several different sounds around her. And upon turning her head around, she discovered yet another group of children that were standing behind her, some of them quite unhappy.

Was she in trouble? Did she maybe do something wrong? She wasn't sure, a rather worried expression forming on her face. It was then that one of the boys reached out to her, making the girl back up into the fence that served as border for the arena, slight hints of tears forming in the corners of those pure white eyes. Strangely enough, that was enough for the boys to jump back as well and quickly apologize. It seemed that Horatio was far too busy with trying to figure out a solution to the problem at hand, so he most likely did not notice... but the girl he was with quickly vanished into the shadows along with the group of boys shortly afterwards. What he did in that arena then, Charlotte did not know, for she was in places unknown where she could not see her partner, and simply just way too busy to go back just yet. She only hoped that he would not get beaten up by the children in the mean time, or get thrown through a window somewhere around here. It took a while, but at some point, one of the boys would return and quickly run into the cage, shouting at one of the demonic kids.

"Boss, you need to see this! This girl showed us something super awesome! She calls them Magcats and says they're super cute, but they're also really scary, just like real maggots! And she also told us that she'll play tag with us, we never played with a girl so pretty! Come on!"

And after that, the whole crowd started storming out of the arena, ignoring whatever Horatio was doing or saying. Yes, all that Charlotte did was actually find some stray magcats nearby and show them to the boys. They quickly fell in love with the abominations, and wold never refuse an offer to play with a pretty girl. Because that was the reason they approached her back there in the first place! Not to hurt her, but to invite her over to play.  Though their idea was probably involving way more violence, so the girl found it appropriate to teach them some new, more fun games that would not consist of the boys beating each other up. Horatio would find her if he were to follow the trail of running children, sitting on the ground with magcats in her arms and all around her, everyone adoring the sight. Hopefully she didn't cause her partner too many problems with this, as he was surely trying his best in the arena to settle the dispute.

Word Count - 886 (3091 total)

The creatures really were rather unusual and anyone would be unfamiliar with them. After all, they were not quite from this world. But no one but Seth knew that, not even little Charlotte. She was yet to learn of her power and how great it could be, how much it could do. That it could be the shining beacon for entire civilizations, or that it could drown the entire world in darkness. Power like that, it was only natural that it would be taking effect even when held with very little care. And these magcats, as the girl called them, were result of that, among many different things. It was all yet to be revealed, and Seth liked stories himself. So they did not disclose any of that information, lest they could interrupt the flow of this world on accident. Something even gods did not want to do.

And while the young girl played with the half-cat, half-maggot creatures, she heard the low voice of her partner. Even though she was surrounded by a rather large crowd of muddy children, she was still able to spot her little her nearby. And she would give him the biggest smile she could, filled with positivity, excitement and the purest innocence. The fact that she was able to find stray magcats and even get the attention of all the children made her incredibly happy. At first, she though she would only follow more experienced and shining Horatio until he would effortlessly finish the job and show the girl how the world of magic worked. But she was quite wrong on that end, as she managed to find her own stage, filled with sparkling light. Placing the creature from her lap to the ground, she hopped onto her two feet and extended her hands into the air.

"Let's play tag! Who wants to play tag?" The boys looked around, eyeing one another for a moment. And there was not a single other raised hand or voice for the longest moment. At least until Charlotte moved her hands back down, one of them covering her own mouth, her expression filled with sadness. At that sight, the crowd went quite wild again, everyone suddenly agreeing to playing tag and cheering. Of course, something like that brought the girl's smile back as she swiftly ran over to her partner, letting the boys start without her. "Do you want to join? The more, the merrier as they say!" She even grabbed one of his hands gently, tugging on it with nearly no force at all, yet filled with expectations.

Word count - 431 (3522 total)