milliways_bar | (no subject)

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There are unexpected advantages to having a fair bit of upper body strength. One of these, Carlotta has discovered, is that once she got the hang of compensating for the weight of the frame on her leg, is that she's able to complete certain household tasks while standing on her hands.

It made Libby laugh until her sides ached when she came into the house earlier to find Carlotta balancing on one hand dusting. Though she gave her quite a scolding for overdoing it.

She enters the bar on her hands, realises where she is, and walks on her hands over to the nearest sofa. She carefully turns the right way up, taking care of the metal cage around her leg, and slides into the comfortable seat.

There, she orders tea.

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"Neat feat," says the man leaning by the fireplace with a crooked smirk.

Carlotta scowls slightly.

"Don't mistake me for being weak in this." she warns.

It's mostly a bluff, and she still feels weaker than usual. But she's pretty sure it would hurt kicking someone in the balls with that frame.

"Most people would use crutches," he says. "What happened? Did you annoy somebody with less patience than me?"

"Accident." Carlotta says. "In the war effort."

"War?" Urquhart says. "You? Did you want the Goth to be proud of you?"

"Dad's already proud of me." Carlotta says. "As I am of him. As for the war; I did what I had to do, no more than anyone else would."

"You call him dad?" Urquhart says.

Cute.

It sort of slipped out, but Carlotta keeps her expression level.

"I learned around here that you can have more than one father." she says. "I'm getting modern like that."

"But he's not doing it with your actual father, I take it?" Urquhart smirks.

Carlotta grabs a cup off the table and hurls it across at Urquhart, with good aim.

Urquhart steps aside, so the cup shatters against the stones of the fireplace.

As it breaks, it spatters him with hot coffee all over, drenching his hair, his cloak, and his boots.

"I'm sure he's not doing it with anybody."

"That is not for discussion." Carlotta says coldly. "Neither of my parental figures' love lives are any of your business."

"Demeter's is quite full of variety, I take it," Urquhart says. "She detests me, alas. I wouldn't push her off at all. In either shape."

"Shut up." Carlotta says.

She's not in a position to fight him, so she tries to get up and find Teja. She grimaces in pain and leans on the chair.

There's a small grey cat that hops on the back of the chair, then onto her shoulder, and from there hisses at Urquahrt, as that man is quite obviously annoying her, and nobody ought to annoy Count's humans!

Urquhart chuckles. "I believe he's cursing the air blue in feline," he says.

Carlotta nearly falls when the cat lands on her, and grips the side of the chair harder. Damn the injury, making her so tired all the time!

"And well you deserve to be cursed." she says. "Teja is not like you, and you have no right to talk of his romances in such a way. Nor Demeter or my father. Go back to your den of iniquity if you wish to think about such things."

Urquhart laughs out loud, and Count hisses more.

"My den of iniquity!" he chortles. "That's priceless. I don't want to imagine what you picture when you say that. I have a child's drawing and a flowery apron hanging in pride of place!"

And some rather chewed-up dog toys lying about.

"I have every right to speculate about anybody's romances. It's what people do, you know."

Carlotta's eyes narrow.

"Do you speculate? Or interfere?"

Because someone's been messing in Teja's love life lately, and she's note entirely sure it's Charlie.

"While the Goth is quite handsome, and I wouldn't be averse to interfering if he'd just shut up," Urquhart says, "I doubt he'd like to be interfered with, I very much doubt he'd ever shut up even if he did, so the answer logically must be that I merely speculate."

"Did you meddle in his affairs with Charlie?" Carlotta asks.

Urquhart chuckles. "I thought there were no more affairs with Charlie," he says, feigning innocence. "Charlie got changed. He's for hire again. Not that he'd sleep with me, though."

"Well stay out of it." Carlotta says, working her way around the chair and then going back onto her hands.

Should have brought the crutches.

Count had gone when she'd started moving, and now, suddenly, he returned, with Teja in two.

"Lean on me," he says. "Give not that foul man the satisfaction of looking at your legs from the wrong direction."

Carlotta slowly rights herself, balancing on her good leg to flip upright to hold Teja.

"He was impugning you." she says. "And I came in on my hands, so I left my crutches at home."

"He will ever be impugning me," Teja says. "He has no honest work; mind him not. Where do you wish to go?"