The Park, Sunday Morning

[crimson_sister]

Lucille had woken up in a comfortable home yesterday, with a very cheerful child making a terrible racket by attacking the piano. They had had tea I assume and some leftovers, but now Lucille was quite worried about her brother. Her parents were nowhere to be found, which was a good thing of course, but poor Thomas might be lost somewhere.

She hadn't been able to find him. Now she was sitting on a bench in the park, with a glass jar with a few dead spiders - there had been surprisingly few of them where she was staying - serious and with a straight back, prepared to murder anyone who might have hurt him.

Not literally. She was just a child.

[Open!]

Comments

[stykera]

Stark was just passing through the park and had not done anything to anyone's brother at this time so hopefully there wouldn't be any murders forthcoming.

"Are you all right?" he asked when he spotted Lucille. Usually children in this park looked decidedly less unhappy.

[crimson_sister]

"I am quite well, thank you," the girl said. "Although I am looking for my brother. He is only three and I think he is lost."

[stykera]

"Haven't seen any small boys today," Stark said. "And none that small yesterday. I'm sorry."

[crimson_sister]

Unfortunately for Lucille, looking for her bother here was futile.

"I will find him eventually. Have you seen my doll? Or my spider box?"

[stykera]

Stark shook his head regretfully. "I haven't seen those either. I could help you look? If you like."

[crimson_sister]

"I don't need help," Lucille announced stubbornly. "Have you seen my parents, then?"

[stykera]

"I'm afraid not," Stark said. "I don't think I know your parents. And I don't think I've seen anyone's parents, at all. Are you sure you don't want help?"

[crimson_sister]

The man with the mask didn't seem dangerous, but people could never be trusted.

"I don't want to find my parents. But I worry that my brother might have fallen into the pond. Would you help me look. You can have a spider for your trouble."

She held up her jar.

"They are not very impressive, I'm afraid."

[stykera]

He was only dangerous when the situation really called for it!

"I don't need a spider." Though that was the first time Stark had ever been offered one as payment. "But I can help you look. You probably would have heard splashing if he were in the pond. And the birds would have made noise, I think."

[crimson_sister]

"Not if he fell in yesterday," Lucille said. "I have been looking for him since then. When I woke up in a strange house he wasn't there."

[stykera]

"Someone would have noticed," Stark said. A squirrel, at the very least. "Could he have woken somewhere else?"

[crimson_sister]

"I never let him out of my sight," Lucille replied. "Mother gets angry when he starts crying."

[stykera]

"Probably best to avoid that then. We'll look and see if he turns up."