Black and Red | Kuroshitsuji | Sebastian Michaelis x OC

Village of Dogs

To be honest, it had been a while since Thalia had been in such a plush environment, and without having to hide herself too. She would admit that, at first, her eyes kept darting around for something that would be easy to pilfer but after a while it became apparent that there was nothing nearby apart from the servant's belongings. In the end, she gave up and slumped against the door, wondering how badly it would hurt if she just shoved it open and jumped.

The maid turned to her, distracting Thalia from her rumination of escape. The woman had a ditzy air, and wore a pair of ridiculously round, circular glasses that didn't allow Thalia to see her eyes through the glass. "Hello, my name is Mey-Rin. What's your name?"

Lie to her. Thalia smiled back. "I'm Thalia. It's nice to meet you." What the hell, I said lie to her! Thalia pressed her lips together before turning to the young boy. He had large, blue-green eyes and buttery blonde hair held back with red barrette clips. "What about you?"

Well, it was only her first name. Thalia wasn't exactly a common name in England, but it wasn't particularly rare either. At least it wasn't French. Besides, if she couldn't lie and make a clean getaway, then the next best thing was to integrate herself into their cute little group and earn their trust. Perhaps then they would be willing to spill some secrets about the two sketchy ones at the front. 

"Oh, uh, me?" The young man blushed slightly at her attention. "I'm Finnian, but you can just call me Finny."

"Finny," Thalia repeated. "I like it." Finally, she turned to the next guy, a scruffy-looking blonde with a cigarette wedged between his lips. She couldn't help grimacing faintly at the sight, the ribbons of smoke bringing back bad memories. "And you?"

The man nodded at her with a cheery grin, which did a lot to dispel the unfortunate resemblance. "I'm Bard," he introduced himself. "So, if you don't mind me asking...why is your hair that colour?"

Sharply Thalia's fingers flew to her hair, and she cursed silently. The one noticeable thing about her appearance, and she'd completely forgotten to hide it again. "It's a genetic thing." Finally the lie came easily, the same lie I used whenever something like this happened. "It happens to the women in our family." 

It was too bad that she couldn't get rid of the colour somehow. The last time Thalia had tried to trim off the red, the tips of her newly cut hair had turned red again, like it was a still-bleeding wound.

All of their eyes widened and all three of them nodded in understanding. They'd bought it. Thalia smiled a practiced smile, but just to be on the careful side she tucked the ends of her hair underneath her coat.

Finnian turned his head and continued watching the empty road. Suddenly, he beamed and pointed straight ahead. "Another villager sighted!"

This villager appeared to be an old woman, bent over with age, and wearing a drab, grey cloak. She was pushing a baby stroller down the lane, so slowly that she might as well not have been moving at all. Thalia's eyes narrowed with bafflement at the apparition inching closer. She didn't know if it was the mist, the grey, or her mind screaming that no one in their right mind would take a baby out in this sort of weather, but something about that woman freaked her out.

Apparently, this was not a universal opinion. "Tanaka, stop for a minute!" Finnian called out, and obligingly the carriage clattered to a halt less than a foot away. The woman had stopped as well, and was simply pushing the stroller back and forth, and back and forth, like one of its wheels had gotten stuck on something. Clearly overeager, Finnian jumped down from his seat and ran over to her. "I'll help you, miss!"

"Be careful, Finny," Mey-Rin slipped out after him, worry in her voice. I followed after, glad to be less confined and one step closer to bolting should the need arise. "I don't think you should do that. If you're not careful, the baby will be hu-!"