Let's Play!

" Master."



she begged softly, looking up at him.

It fell on deaf ears.



"Stop it already. What's wrong? I have better things to do than to be chasing white rabbits." He bent over, looking under the sheets and things.

Victoria looked up at Ilford, not liking this at all, looking to the floor, still scared. She wanted to hide... This was weird and creepy, and she shouldn't have to go through this.

Suddenly there was the crinkling of shifting shard of class and a scrape. Then there was a squeal and something zoomed around the room again.



"GET OUT!" Lot roared into the air and the creature shot right past Elizabeth, perhaps even brushing her leg.

Victoria squeaked slightly, and moved towards her master, scary or not, he still seemed safer in her mind as she looked up at him and mouthed a light, inaudible thank you.

Lot looked at her disdainfully and then scowled as Ilford tried to get out of the bowl. The snake stopped halfway out. Any further and he would fall. Serves you right.



"Any other meltdowns you want to have before I walk back upstairs?"

" No, master."



She said softly, looking at him, noting his temperament, Victoria couldn't stop her question until it already fell from her lips.



" Have you ever been happy?"

Lot stood absolutely still. It didn't seem like he was breathing as he stared not only at Elizabeth, but through her. That was one of those questions that you couldn't blow off or dodge. Well, you could if you knew that it was coming, but this was like a snowstorm in the summer.



"Yes." He told his legs to swirl him around and stomp off, but they didn't seem to want to do it.

" do you want to be again?"



she asked gently, not understanding, as from her point of view, he didn't.

Lot looked at her, his blonde hair falling well in front of his honey brown eyes. He didn't say anything for a long time. It wasn't that his anger had faded even. It was like he had been frozen, like he was functioning outside of himself.



"Happiness is ephemeral, Elizabeth." And then, for the very first time, he looked away from her and the action was not one of spite or contempt.

" It's worth it, master. You should try being happy more. Without some sort of happiness, one might as well curl up and die."

Lot looked at her and for the briefest of moments, less than half a blink, there was a flash of pain in his eyes, something that could have easily gone unnoticed. But then he gave a faint smirk.



"No, Elizabeth." He crossed his arms. "I died a long time ago when I sold my soul. You'd do well to remember you're dealing with a demon."

" Dead or not, happiness is worth it. "



Victoria replied honestly, looking up and pulling Ilford down, chiding him about being a big chicken, petting him all the while, eyes never leaving her master.

Lot shook his head and turned away from her now.



"Don't forget to finish." And then he left.

" Yes master."



she purred softly, placing Ilford in the basket she was going to take to her room and do up for him to sleep in when in her room, finishing tiding up the place.

Meanwhile It was looking at her from the doorframe, though it didn't dare go in this time. It could be seen if she looked low to the ground and at the edge of the wood, but its goal was to watch, not to be seen.



Lot had a series of metal chutes set up in the kitchen. He was working with a screwdriver and attempting to get two joints together over the top of the refrigerator.

Room perfectly tidied, she looked about and then lifted the chair she'd fallen in love with, filled with snake, basket, and a couple dresses.



" You know, Ilford, this might be a smidge easier if you were on my shoulders to balance me out...."



she informed the snake as she started climbing the stairs upwards.

The snake just looked at her from where he was coiled lazily in the basket. He was actually rather comfortable as he was and didn't indulge Victoria's complaint.



Lot, however, had managed to connect the entire track and now was fiddling with some wires and the gears in the grandfather clock he had moved into here. The metal shoot when from the clock, along the window sill, over the spice shelf, above the refrigerator, behind the sink, and finally ended underneath the first cupboard beside the door.

Taking everything to her room, she looked to Ilford.



" I'm going to make food, so you'd best come along if your hungry."



She informed him, walking off into the kitchen, and looked about it as she saw the chutes, and then stared at her master. he'd lost his mind.



" master?"

Lot continued his tinkerings until he clipped the metal cord with the shears and then he closed the front of the clock.



"Just wait." He then walked to the other end of the chute and screwed a strange, funnel-like container to the cupboard. The man grabbed a box and when about pulling out the packing.



"I decided that since you like my snake so much, you need your own pet too. I don't want you falling ill from homesickness either, so..." He pulled out a glass bowl containing the American standby: a goldfish.



"And you don't have to do anything at all. Watch." The clock struck the twelve hour and there the sound of a clinking and then a marble popped out on the chute, riding along and landing in the funnel eventually, knocking fish food out of the bottom and into the fishbowl.

Smiling sweetly, Victoria couldn't take his actions any other way then what they were. Sweet.



" Thank you, master."



Certainly she planned on having a real pet later, but this was a nice start.



" I'm gonna call him Moby."



Victoria purred, smiling, and looking at Ilford not far behind her.



" Eat the fishie, we eat you for din-din, kay?"



She purred, petting him and picking him up, showing she wasn't being mean, working on starting on dinner.

Lot watched her now, not exactly curious but kind of.



"What are you cooking?" Meanwhile, the faintest of scrapes could be heard from downstairs as It moved around. It didn't even register in Lot's mind.

" I think I'm gonna make dear steak, and maybe slice up some fruit or something, i dunno, I haven't completely decided, Ilford seemed happy with all suggestions."

Lot looked at the creature.



"He's a tank. But he likes you, so you're alright." It was strange, his foul mood seemed to be completely forgotten. It was almost like he was a normal person.

" If he ate me, I'd give him indigestion."



Victoria replied, smiling as she handed a scrap to Ilford, deciding on the fruit and steak after a few more moments, seasoning the steaks and placing them in the oven to start cooking, starting to work on the fruit.



" Master, what do you do for fun around here?"

Lot looked at her and then exhaled with boredom.



"I tinker with things." The man looked her over.



"But I suppose you wouldn't like that sort of thing." He thought for a moment.



"There is a library..."

" Tinkering isn't bad, but I love books... whatelse?"

Lot looked at her with one of those 'really?' looks.



"It's a huge old mansion. There's a lot else. What do you want?"

" I dunno, I mean, I always use to ride horses and race gokarts, and that sort of thing, but that's an outside thing... Inside I read, painted..... I sang once in a while... Played my hammered dulcimer...."

Lot blinked.



"You realize that you are in Europe, right?" He sighed.



"Just look through the mansion. I'm sure there is plenty of things left over."

" what does location have to do with enjoyed past times? "



Victoria asked, smiling at him as she finished up dinner, serving up three plates, placing one before Ilford and bringing another to her master.

"People in Europe are completely different from Americans. I'm not sure which ones are bigger screwballs, but they are both very different."



Lot looked down at the plate and pushed it towards Ilford.



"I'm not hungry."

Victoria pouted obviously, watching the food pushed away, then looked him over.



" They both enjoy some of the same things. However, I don't see myself socializing with them very much, so what would be the problem master? Anyway, what do you enjoy doing, with people?"

"I don't." And that was that. Nothing more to it. Lot knew that she was trying hard to talk to him, but, well, this was rather dry to him. Like a stale twinkie in the back of the cupboard. Unpleasant.

Victoria looked him over, making a small face.



" Then why have someone here?"

Lot looked at his hands, tearing off a hangnail absently.



"Would you rather be in the rathole I found you in? Or perhaps you would like someone who really enjoys girls like yourself." He didn't look up.

victoria looked down at him, then to the floor.



" You didn't buy me as a charity case, I know that. I just don't understand why have company, when you seem so bent on not having it most of the time."



Victoria pointed out, turning to go set down and eat her food.

Lot just rolled his eyes.



"I have to go out tonight. Try not to get eaten or burn the house down." Subject change? Yes. Did he really need to tell her? No.

victoria sighed, wanting to rip his weiner off with how difficult he was being, nodding anyway and eating her food, slightly depressed at the thoguhts he'd triggered.... cringing slightly when she pictured Lot ' enjoying' her.... she didn't get the feeling he was a passionate man... more like a rough one.

Lot got up, smirking as he turned around. He wasn't even sure why he was so pleased with himself, but he was. He walked out and across the hall to the window, looking out. He was still with earshot, though.