Brand spanking new account for a not so brand spanking new muse.

[aged_angel]

I must say, I am at a loss for where to start. Proper decorum would suggest that we introduce ourselves, but in a sense we've known each other for a long time, haven't we?

[There's a soft tap as a gloved finger touches the edge of a planar surface; polished, and from the looks of it wooden in nature-- no doubt a piece of furniture.]

Ah, but that is a negligible matter. The more pressing question is, now that you have me, what do you propose to do with me? I'm well aware my younger self has been clamouring for more activity, and he has been waiting for longer than I have.

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[persistent_humanity]

[The smile those words receive is both bittersweet and genuine.]

I'm very glad you think so.

Of course, if this master of yours truly is worth so much, I should think that she must have had a rather stellar upbringing.

[Because honestly, she would be nowhere near as formidable as she is without the man that had raised her.]

[aged_angel]

No doubt your father would be pleased to hear so.

[As much as he would like to indulge in the feeling of being complimented, Arthur had provided pivotal components of her upbringing. The man had matured in his old age, much as Walter had in his own right.]

But I think he would be concerned to learn about the condition of your eye. May I ask what happened to it?

[persistent_humanity]

I'm sure they both would be.

[Of course she thought of him as her surrogate father. Besides, as much of a hand as Arthur had in her formative years, had Walter not been there after Arthur's passing, she wouldn't be half as well-adjusted as she is now. Considering that, without him, she would have either been placed in the care of Richard or Hugh Islands, there isn't a day that passes wherein she doesn't count herself incredibly lucky to have had Walter at her side when she needed him the most.

However, her smile fades as he asks about her eye. What can she really say? "Oh, you know, after you got captured by the Nazis and turned into a vampire, I ended up in a shoot-out with Major -- yep, that one -- after he essentially forced me to order your death. So, uh. Clerical error?"]

It...was an accident. Nothing to worry yourself over.

[The pause between her words, along with fact that she seems markedly uncomfortable about even answering at all, should be telling enough that it had been something serious. There had never been anything so severe that she couldn't talk to him about it, but this definitely qualified.]

Now -- about your placement. Are you looking at anywhere in particular?

[aged_angel]

[The hesitance does not go by unnoticed, and between that and the way the light seems to drain from his master's expression, it leaves him very worried; there's a tenseness in his chest, a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach as it comes to him that, whatever it is, it is something he cannot fix.

There has never been anything he could not fix.

But, whatever it was-- whatever event that led to the damage to the eye of the girl he had helped raise from infancy into womanhood-- it is something that Integra was clearly not ready to talk to him about. So, while the worry is plainly displayed on his face, he does not press her for it.]

Not as of yet, my lady.