xp_logs | Kurt and Topaz || Late-Night Encounter

Kurt finds Topaz on a late-night walk - and learns a little more about the girl then she means for him to.

Topaz had gotten to know the not-quite-dark halls of the mansion quite well.

She was currently on her way downstairs to make a cup of tea and resume her nightly haunting of the floors. She did this more often than she was willing to admit, but spending all night tossing and turning in bed wasn't going to do her any good.

What she almost certainly wasn't expecting was a deep blue figure stepping out of a doorway on near-silent furry feet and saying, "Good evening, Topaz."

That was definitely new. Topaz jerked just a bit as she turned quickly, blinking in surprise. "Evenin' Mr. Sefton," she replied in her usual monotone, crossing her arms loosely over her chest.

"Having trouble sleeping?" he asked conversationally, falling in beside her. "It seems a common problem here."

"Not particularly." She shrugged, trying to pull off nonchalant and more or less succeeding. Of course, how she was going to explain wandering the halls after midnight was beyond her, but hopefully Kurt wouldn't ask.

He wasn't going to make her, for something so minor, and instead just shrugged. "Well, then. Where were you headed?"

"Kitchen. I was gonna make a cup of tea." Topaz paused for a moment, tilting her head. "What're you doing up so late?"

"Sometimes I like to check on things", Kurt said casually. "Just a walk around the open parts of the building, to make sure all is well." Or appeared well to the best of his ability to know, at least.

Topaz filed that bit of information away for later use. It'd be good to know to try and prevent any other encounters. "Yeah? There can't be much goin' on around here at night, is there?"

"Usually not", he agreed. "But it gives me peace of mind to see for myself. And sometimes, well... someone might be ill, or distressed, or just out and about and not opposed to company."

"Hmn." Topaz kept her eyes on her feet, watching the simple progression of one in front of the other. "If nothin' else, late night walks are nice. Peaceful."

"True", Kurt said easily. "I grew up where you could hear nothing but nature, sometimes I do like some silence."

"I couldn't get any peace for a good eight years. Always somethin' goin' on in an orphanage." As soon as the words were out of Topaz's mouth, she cursed silently. Did the staff here know she'd been in an orphanage? She wasn't exactly sure what was in her records, or if they were that detailed. Why had she even said that?

Kurt tilted his head at her with mild curiosity. "You were in an orphanage? But I had thought you were with your father before you came here."

Oh stupid, stupid, stupid. "Luca was my adoptive father," she replied grudgingly. She'd brought this one on herself. "Before he and Alice took me in I was in an orphanage in India."

"I see." He smiled slightly, not missing her reluctance. "Do not worry, no one will hear any of your story from me if you do not want them to know. I was adopted too."

Topaz tilted her head, looking over at Kurt. "Yeah?"

"As an infant", he confirmed. "I was born looking this way, you see. My mother was taken in by a gypsy clan when she was in labour, gave birth and then left me in their protection. I was raised as one of their own."

"At least you had a good family." Though possibly a bit crazy, Topaz added silently, remembering the dinner Amanda had dragged her to before Christmas. "Your mother sounds like a piece of work though." She'd never understood how parents could just abandon their kids.

He couldn't hold back an ironic laugh at that. "Topaz, you do not know how right you are. Having met her, a piece of work is being kind... but precisely because of that, she did me a great favour."

"Guess everyone has to do somethin' right in their lives." But at least he knew. Not that Topaz was bitter - she'd loved Luca and Alice, they'd been her parents, for all intents and purposes. But she didn't know her birth parents at all. "Even if the right thing is just leavin'."

"So it seems." Kurt nodded and turned the subject back to her. "So Luca and Alice brought you back from India to England?"

They were talking about Topaz again, then. "Yeah, when I was eight." She shrugged, tightening her arms a bit over her chest. "Never really got why they didn't just adopt a British kid, you'd think flyin' all the way to India would be too much of a hassle."

"Perhaps they wanted to help a child in greater need than most in Britain", he suggested gently. "Or perhaps they were only visiting with no real intention of adopting anyone but loved you on sight. It does happen."

Whatever reaction Kurt was expecting, it more than likely wasn't for Topaz to start laughing. It was an admittedly humorless sound, but still. "I can almost buy the wanting to help someone bit, I'll give you that one." Not that she wanted to think of herself as a charity case. But it wasn't like this was the first time the thought had occurred to her.

He looked at her seriously, almost sadly. "But you cannot buy the thought that they saw you and wanted you as their daughter immediately?"

Topaz pressed her lips together, still smiling with no amusement as she walked along. After a moment she just shook her head. "No." She could list the reasons - but she wasn't going to give Kurt more to work with.

Kurt walked beside her, silent for a long few moments. Finally, "Then I am sorry that they never gave you reason to believe that."

She stopped walking without meaning to, or even really realizing what she was doing. "They took me in," she said quietly, her arms tightening so much it looked like she was starting to fold in on herself. "Whatever the reason, I owe them that."

"It is a start." He looked down at her. "But the way they treated you matters as well."

They'd treated her well - great, really - Topaz would never deny that. Until Alice had died, at least. And that was where things got...complicated. Had Luca just lost his mind, or had he finally shown his true colors? Had he been hiding his darker side - hiding Taboo - behind the well-mannered, middle-management persona? She'd never know now, of course. But it drove her mad just thinking about it.

After a moment Topaz dropped her head so she was looking at the ground, closing her eyes. "They were good to me. Until the end, at least."

Kurt raised his hand, almost touched her shoulder, but then just left it hovering an inch or so above. "The end. Yes, I... heard a little about the end."

Topaz looked up again, surprise sparking for a moment in her dark eyes. "How - Amanda," she answered her own unfinished question, gaze shifting wearily to the hand hovering so close to her, though she didn't move away. She wondered what the woman had told the mansion staff - how much did everyone know?

"She told us what was important for us to know while you are a student here", he confirmed simply. "Something of your circumstances, but I think far from all. I would like for you to feel able to tell me the rest, if you choose, but it is a choice and is up to you."

She opened her mouth for a moment...then closed it and shrugged, shaking her head. "I'm sure Amanda told you everything important."

He had, just for a moment, had a flash of hope that she might be about to talk, but... apparently not yet. He nodded. "As you wish. The offer stands should you change your mind, I would like to hear your story."

She would never change her mind, but she nodded all the same. "I'll remember that. Thank you."

"You are very welcome, Topaz."