Shi no seppun.

Decorum

[April 20th, 1999]

"Thank you again for your time and acknowledgement, I look forward to seeing you"

Josh placed the receiver back on the phone and jumped up out of his chair, punching the air in victory. He had finally gotten through to Master Greenwood himself, as the troll (as Josh only called the Butler in his mind) was on vacation for two weeks and therefore not around to answer the phone. Master Greenwood had seemed in good spirits, friendly and eager to meet face to face. Josh couldn't celebrate for too long, however, as he recalled the events of last time he tried to contact face to face with the Master. He sighed, a smug smile playing on his face as he sat back in his chair, leaning his elbow on the armrest as his thoughts wandered down the route of a merger or agreement between the two estates, the profit for them both, split equally of course, and the future prospect of the endangered McDonnell estate. Left to him by his late parents, the McDonnell estate came under a lot of scrutiny, especially as its size had been at least halved by his foolish father's gambling habit, and Josh was determined to restore it to its previous beauty. As his thoughts danced about the future, Samuel appeared by the door

"Managed to get hold of the old twit then?" Samuel yelled as he wandered across the room, a cheeky grin on his face, disrupting Josh's happy thoughts

"Aye Sir, tomorrow we meet face to face to discuss profit, gain, margins, et cetera" Josh waved his hand dismissively "All that boring ironing out talk before we go public with the announcement of the merger, should it pay off" he raised an eyebrow "something you might not understand so much, Mister 'I need money not an education'" he chuckled as Sam mimed punching him in the face

"I did pretty well with both money AND education!" Sam snorted as Josh began grabbing bits of paper he'd written percentages and other boring, math-type stuff on. Sam turned his nose up at a wayward piece of paper that fell from the pile and landed by his feet. He picked it up and scanned the page once, handing it back abruptly as he couldn't make head nor tail of the damn scribbling, which left Josh trying not to laugh until he piped up

"Hey Josh, doesn't this mean a chance to see that blonde again?" Josh scratched his chin thoughtfully, pretending she hadn't entered his thoughts. But of course, Sam knew better.

"Perhaps a certain opportunity might represent itself" Josh smiled to himself, "Of course, there's a high chance of seeing her more often as I'll be doing business with whom I assume to be her legitimate Father..." Josh trailed off; a small traitorous part of him excited at the prospect of getting to know her better, while another, smaller part of him was terrified. He'd dreamt and thought about her so many times, often in various stages of undress; could he separate the two long enough to speak to her as though she'd never starred in any such fantasies?

"Well, we have until tomorrow, right? I guess this should call for a celebration!" Sam's face lit up, "You get the alcohol, I'll get the lads together to toast the McDonnell estate's comeback to social hierarchy" Sam laughed and ran off before Josh could protest, evidently to make some calls. Josh shook his head, calculating how long it would take to get the alcohol out of his system, as he couldn't face Master Greenwood under the influence. He rolled his eyes as he thought to himself: That damn socialite.

****

[April 21st, 1999]

Rose sighed, and set her pencils down. She'd been drawing a fantasy scene for over five days and had just started applying colour. Beneath the pencil tip, a beautiful, silver-haired water nymph rose from a river surrounded by trees. Rose had modelled the nymph on her own late Mother, Lady Hope Greenwood. The nymph had incredible wings pointed downwards as she jumped from the water, droplets spraying across the entire page. Rose was excited, this was the one thing she had found that she was good at and couldn't wait to get the entire colouring on the page before presenting the nymph to her Father for his birthday. She smiled; cradling her aching hand a moment before setting the pencils back in their case and storing the nymph away safely, ready to be worked on again the following day. Rose took herself out to her balcony and pulled her sunhat slightly lower to avoid the glare on her eyes. Olivia came to greet her, having finished her chores for the day.