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That was the feeling that screamed out at Kat from every corner of this room. Despite being on the edge of the building, there was no natural sunlight coming into this room. There were thick, heavy curtains drawn over the window allowing only the barest hints of natural light in. The room was mostly lit by a single lamp sitting on the desk belonging to Gaston’s mother. It wasn’t doing her any favours either.

Before getting to that though, the rest of the room was in a rather sorry state. The only place without dust on it was a clear path to the desk, one that must have been tread every day, and the desk itself. Though the lack of dust really only indicated that these things were in regular use, not that they were kept clean. The chairs pressed up against the wall, presumably for meetings in this room, were not exempt from this. All bar one had a good deal of built up dust from misuse.

The walls were completely free of embellishments, and the desk was stacked only with paper, a few quills, and a pile of string for binding stacks together. A few shards of glass could be seen pressed up against the edge of the desk, blackened with old dried ink. Kat wondered if they were still around because they were so out of the way, or if nothing would change if the pieces had landed somewhere else. The paper bin to the side was filled with scraps, though Kat wondered who was to thank for that. Chances were, it wasn’t due to the lady in front of her.

Her hair was brown, but it seemed weathered and uncared for more like bark then chocolate. Streaks of grey were already visible in a few places and even if it was done up in a nice bun, it spoke more of practice and repetition than true care for her appearance. Her outfit consisted of a coat that was missing its sleeves and tight leather pants that were probably cutting off at least some circulation. Her arms showed she was once a strong women, old disused muscles still vaguely noticeable under a layer of fat.

Has face was weathered with a decent amount of tanning. Her wrinkles were minor though, mostly framing her mouth, and went along well with her scowl. She had bags under her eyes and the question of how well she’d slept in the last few years was obvious at just a glance. Still. One thing remained. Her eyes were hazel. Containing flecks of green and brown and they raked over Kat and Lily both. As if she was taking in every single detail she could see, as well as a few she couldn’t, all at once. “Well? You wanted to see me?”

*You know Lily. I’m no longer sure this is a good idea...*

.....

[I’m having similar thoughts. I can’t decide if we’ve walked in on a grieving mother or a hungry lion and I am equally uncomfortable with either of those answers.]

*Well we’re already here what do you-* Kat’s transmission of thoughts were interrupted by a loud clicking of the woman’s fingers. “I do believe it is only polite to include all parties in a conversation, don’t you think? Now. What are two demons, or a demon and whatever she is,” Gaston’s mother gestured at Lily, “doing trying to speak with me?”

“Um... why did you think we were talking?” asked Kat. Lily cringed at the question. Even if Kat was smart enough not to just admit it by accident, the way she said was more than clue enough. If Gaston’s mother hadn’t already.

“I do believe you are ignoring my question. Still, I’ll give you an answer... but I expect some of my own. The answer is that I HAVE EYES. You pair clearly zone out when you use whatever telepathy you have and if I couldn’t spot something like that my trading house would have gone under a long time ago. Now. My name is Belle. I am asking one final time before I kick you out. Why are you here?” Belle paused for a moment before pointing at Kat with a quill, “And I want her to answer,”

Kat glanced over to Lily with a ‘what the fuck do I do’ look on her face as she desperately tried not to mentally transmit the question. Another light click forced Kat’s focus back to Belle, who was just staring back with a raised eyebrows. So Kat panicked a bit. Her eyes flashed purple and everything slowed. Kat also quickly closed her connection with Lily, both to not overwhelm her and to make things less obvious.

*Ok. Um... what the fuck. I wish I could talk this out. In fact, I bet I’m already pushing things. What the heck do I even give as an answer? The truth? I don’t even really know what the truth is. We are here for Zuhra and Apep sure but I won’t deny I really want to find out what happened to Gaston and that curiosity is driving me. But like... what do I admit to? What would she WANT me to admit to?

All of it? None of it? Do I want to provide our official documents? That might sound like a good idea but I agree with Lily’s hungry lion analogy and feel like I’m going to get my head bit off if I give her a wrong answer. I mean. I don’t really know how she’d feel about me saying ‘yeah we’ve been hired by a guy that wants to seduce your dead son’s fiancé so we need to know how he died’. Pretty sure that’s... not a good idea.

Did Apep no he died? I don’t have time to go fishing for that memory to check. Dammit. If he didn’t know, or only suspected it’d be so much easier. I could also say we’re here because Jara asked us to be but I’m really not sure what the expected scope of this investigation was. Maybe I’ll just go for minimal detail? Mention we’re looking into Zuhra, and of course found out. We were talking to the Matron and you were nearby so we thought we’d ask? I mean... it might be a little cold but it’s probably a better option then the others.*

Kat let time resume all at once and suppressed the slight feeling of nausea it caused to go from her fastest mental speed back to normal all at once. Apparently that sort of thing was better done gradually. Kat also didn’t miss Belle opening her mouth so Kat went first, “We’ve been looking into Zuhra and found out about Gaston at the orphanage nearby. She didn’t know much about him or what happened though... so we came to talk to you about it...” the words came out a little quickly, perhaps she hadn’t quite returned to normal speed.

But Belle was experienced with people. With listening. With the details. She could hear it just fine, “That’s not all though? Correct?”

Kat gulped and went to answer, only to wince at the realisation that was already an answer. Belle took the chance to sigh and say, “I’m not terribly surprised. Don’t think I missed that little mental trick either. Not sure how much time it gave you to think things over but I DID notice. You’re lucky I’m pretty sure the cat one can’t talk to you like that or I’d already be throwing you out. I might be willing to talk. But I’d like to ask a few more questions of my own. Think you can handle that?”

Kat didn’t really have anything else to do other than nod, and once she did, Lily followed suit. “So, my first question is are you both demons? Following on from that, if the answer is no, what is the other one? Oh and what are your names? I might not be exactly pleased with this, but I might as well give you that much respect.”

Kat glanced at Lily only to be interrupted by Belle again, “I believe I was clear. I’d like YOU to answer those questions. I’m well aware you can’t lie, unlike her potentially,”

“Um... I am a demon yes, and no Lily isn’t a demon. She’s a Memphis beast person. Oh right. That’s her name. Lily, and I’m Kat,” explained Kat awkwardly.

“Who summoned you?” asked Belle.

Kat glanced at Lily and back to Belle, “I’m not entirely sure I should tell you that. I mean... yes we’d like to talk but that seems... well it seems like it’d be creating trouble to answer the question,”

Belle shrugged, “I fine myself not particularly caring of if it causes any trouble or not. I promised to talk in exchange for questions of my own being answered. So, I need to know. Who summoned you? I’d ask why as well, but I doubt you’d tell me. Even if I’m pretty sure I can work that one out by myself,”