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ᴡʜᴏ: Boyd Langton, Topher Brink, and Gretel
ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ: Boyd's Penthouse
ᴡʜᴇɴ: Forward dated to July 6th, Evening
ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs: None
sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: Boyd has dinner with his ward and his best man-friend.
ғᴏʀᴍᴀᴛ: Prose unless we get sick of it.

Boyd slowly walked around the his dinning room table, making sure everything was prepared. Not that there was a lot for him to inspect. There were only three places at the table and they were all set close together like a family dinner. Which it was in a way. At least he hoped it would end as such. He still wasn't sure how Topher was going to react to the news that he was Gretel's guardian. He didn't want Topher to think he had tried to replace him while he was gone, even if in part that might be a little bit true.

Only a little bit though. The two of them couldn't be more different. Topher devoted to science, Gretel to magic. One nervous, one calm.

Now that he really thought about it this dinner would either be the smoothest he'd ever hosted, or a complete disaster. He'd just have to wait and see, doing his best to play referee if it turned for the worst. Now where had he put that scotch?

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Gretel wasn't used to having dinner with more than one person, or anyone who wasn't Hansel. And she wasn't used to having it an actual dining room, or anywhere that wasn't in front of a TV, the floor of a cave, or mom and pop diners. It was strange but the way that many 'normal' activities were strange to her and thus she'd been looking forward to the meal.

When she arrived, she was impressed. Boyd's place was much nicer than any home she'd ever been invited into and, more importantly, it was spacious enough to sooth any nerves she had about being here. Gretel inspected everything within sight near the entrance, calling out as she did so.

"Mr. Langton?"

Boyd also enjoyed space which was why all the furniture and design in the penthouse revolved around providing as much of it as possible. Where there was furniture it almost always of dark wood with clean simple lines. Modern Japanese would be a very appropriate description of the place, the two bonsai trees and the koi pond near the entrance only cementing that fact.

Quickly moving from the dinning room Boyd smiled as he saw Gretel. "I'm here and I'm glad you showed up first. I wanted to give you a chance to look over my home and get comfortable with it before Topher arrives."

Hopefully comfortable enough to reside in it someday.

Topher had quickly made himself at home back at the new Rossum. It was a familiar place with familiar rules which made it easy to forget all that mess back home. Of course the promotion was more than a little stressful, but he wasn't going to think about that tonight.

There was no hesitation as he went inside the penthouse; at one time it had been his home too.

"Sorry I'm late Boyd! There was a new episode of Pawn - oh, uh, company." Catching sight of the girl Topher just stood there awkwardly. Girls were strange, even young girls. No, especially young girls.

Gretel offered Boyd a tight smile and a shrug in return before turning attention to Topher. She eyed him critically and offered a slight wave in his direction.

"Hi. You're Mr. Langton's friend, right?" She glanced back to Boyd in confirmation.

Boyd smiled at Topher and nodded toward Gretel."Topher this is Gretel, my ward. Gretel this Topher. Gretel will be joining us for dinner tonight and hopefully a lot more in the future."

His mouth opened to say hello, but his brain failed to make the connection that words needed to be formed. Looking back at Boyd he frowned slightly.

"You're ward?" Somewhere deep down was a very unhappy six-year-old.

"That's what the papers said." Gretel supplied with a slight nod, stuffing her hands in her pockets and rocking back on her heels to stare between the two men.

This is the reaction from Topher was exactly what he was worried about. "Yes Topher, my ward. You know how the natives are towards Imports anyway, well it's even worse with children as they are treated like they have no rights. They were going to send her into the social services system and I couldn't allow that."

He didn't want to let Topher feel abandoned, but he didn't want him to think that Gretel wasn't important to him either. It was going to be a fine line he'd have to tread the rest of the night.

Topher continued to frown as he turned to the girl and nodded a hello. He'd been sheltered from the native vs. import sentiment that surrounded the City. First by the Master and then by Boyd, so he couldn't really understand what the big deal was.

Shrugging his shoulders he threw on a grin that read "I'm completely cool with this" even though he was not and tried to relax. "So when do we eat?"

"Almost everyone around here treats kids like they have no rights, not just the native people." Gretel muttered, still watching the two men earnestly. She was no stranger to people not liking her or her presence, and thus it wasn't hard for her to pick up on Topher's awkwardness about her being around. Such a vibe would usually put her into fight or flight mode, butshe was mollified by the notion that Boyd didn't mind her being here and the prospect of food. AS it was, the mention of eating had her perking up.

Boyd glanced back over at Gretel and nodded in agreement. "That's true, though I'm hoping we can keep most of the conversation tonight a bit lighter. Anyway I was going to give Gretel a tour, but since you're here we'll just eat now. The table is set so get comfortable and I'll tell the chief to start serving."

Topher simply shrugs and makes his way over to the dinning area. He already knew his way around and was familiar with the staff. For a moment he frowned and looked over at Boyd again.

"You didn't change the cook did you? He made great waffles."

"Nicer conversation. Got it." She trailed behind, stopping to examine the room and grinning at the men. "Waffles?"

Boyd stopped next to the kitchen door. "No, it's the same chief and Gretel if you'd like some waffles I can have him make some."

The advantage of being able to imprint a single man with all the culinary knowledge out there was you didn't have to worry about any inconsistencies in what he produced.

Edited 2012-07-08 00:39 (UTC)

He wants to give Boyd a look that says Waffles for dinner is crazy, but that actually sounds better than the vegetable dish that is sent out.

"Oh, gross. You didn't sneak Claire's notes on healthy eating into the kitchen, did you?"

Gretel shook her head at Boyd. While she was still at the age when eating something sweet trumped all other food groups, she was already interested in what was being brought out.

"What's gross about that?"

Boyd nodded in affirmation to Gretel and took his seat, letting the staff come out of the kitchen and do the serving. He was hoping Topher would have had a better response to the food, but oh well, there always was the one member of the family who was a picky eater.

"No, Topher I didn't sneak Claire's notes into the kitchen. I just wanted to try something different."

It wasn't so much that he was a picky eater as he knew what he liked and didn't like. Despite the face he allowed the green things to be placed on his plate.

"So, uh, how did you two come to this guardian agreement?" Boyd didn't strike him as the sort to adopt some kid from the street just because.

"He saved me from getting arrested after the librarian got mad at me for taking books." She sat opposite of Topher, fidgeting in her chair. "Then he offered and I said okay. You'd have to ask him why he'd want to in the first place."

Boyd took a moment to finish chewing his food before he looked over at Topher and answered the question he knew was coming. "It was the easiest way to fix the problem and make sure no bothered her again. That and she struck me as quite bright, with a great deal of potential. Someone very deserving of a person who would watch out for their interests and ensure they could have a chance to achieve that potential."

"Well, aren't you the lucky one then." No, he wasn't in the least bit jealous as he stabbed his green beans, he just really hated green beans!

Gretel beamed at Boyd's words. She'd always been easily pleased with praise, a side effect of rarely receiving it. With more sincerity than she had meant to let in her tone, she replied, "I am, I think. Not a lot of kids get nice people looking out for them and nice friends and get to visit other universes."

She was shot a noticeably smaller and faker smile at Topher from over top her glass. "Right?"

He smiled back at Gretel, clearly showing his approval for her handling of the situation. Oh, he cared deeply for Topher and would spare him any discomfort if he could, but his new ward deserved her own space in his life. As he saw it she was merely staking it out. Topher would adapt, eventually.

Also he'd always found a bit of competitiveness brought out the best in his people.

"We're all very fortunate. Here we get to build new lives, meet new friends, make new families." At this he glanced at both of them seriously for a moment. "And I think I've spent too much time doing my own PR because I'm starting to make speeches all the time."

Topher was less than thrilled at how proud Boyd seemed to be of Gretel. It's not like she was a genius or even Doll worthy. No, clearly Boyd would have to be reminded that Topher was here first.

How to do this was entirely another matter.

"So, where are you living? There's a new complex going up in the lower city."

"Me? The MAC." She stabbed at her vegetables. "Easiest place to stay around here."

"I'd prefer sometimes that she didn't, but only because I worry. I respect her desire independence though." Of course he had his people keeping a close eye on the MAC anyway so a bit of extra observation for his ward wasn't especially taxing on them. "I hadn't heard about that new complex, though. Who's building it?"

He shrugged. "Some native company. It's a bit out of the way of our set up, but like you said, she's all about independence."

"What are you saying? That I should move?" She asked, frowning at Topher and turning to give Boyd her best 'I don't like that' look.

"I respected your decision, despite my misgivings at the time, when you moved into Whiskey's home with Peter. So I'd like to respect hers." He had hoped Topher wasn't going to be this passive aggressive, but maybe he should have been more cautious.

"Look, it's very important to me that you two get along. That's one of the reasons for this dinner. Topher you know you'll be responsible for Rossum if anything happens to me. We've talked about that. What I didn't talk about was that in that event I had also planned to give part of the company to Gretel. To make sure she would be taken care of. Do you understand now?"

Boyd sighed. Family could be so difficult sometimes.

Topher stopped his fork halfway to his mouth as his brain shut down momentarily. When it finally caught up and processed Boyd's words Topher dropped his fork and let out a weak laugh. "You're such a joker, Boyd-man. I really was believing you for a moment. Some strange kid having a stake in Rossum...funny, but not really."

Gretel was slack jawed with her own disbelief, staring hard at Boyd. "Part of a company? But I don't know anything about that kind of stuff! Just let this guy have it all." She jabbed her thumb at Topher.

"I wouldn't expect you to involve yourself in the day to day running of the company. Topher would be able to handle that. I want to give you part of the company to give you security, financially and legally. If you're member of the board, and a shareholder people won't be able to use the law against you so easily. Because you'll be able to put all of Rossum's legal department into handling it." Boyd's tone was firm. He didn't want to budge on this.

"Topher I know this seems very strange, but it's the best solution for a worst case scenario. You'll be the majority shareholder and I'm sure you'll be able to handle it, but I want to make sure you have some help. In fact I'm making plans to ensure anyone I don't trust won't end up on that board. I've worked too hard, and there's too much that could go wrong to leave it to people like that."

"Okay, we're going on the extreme side of strange to what the hell are you thinking? What we do...I don't care how intelligent she is there are still things the kids, even smart kids, shouldn't be around." Sometimes he was hit with all those moral feelings and having spent so many years ignoring them Topher now had no idea how relate his thoughts to others. He was panicking and thinking about all the many things that could go wrong with this strange kid having a hand in Rossum.

"Why don't you just have her legally declared independent and set her up with a trust fund?"

Gretel glanced between them a bit nervously, frowning deeply. "I wouldn't have to actually do anything? Because Topher's sort of right. Not about the kid thing. Kid's understand things, even bad things, a lot better than some people think." She shot him a disapproving look. "But I don't know if that's my place."

"It's nice of you. Really nice. But you don't have to do things like that for me. I can manage without getting in other people's way." She glanced at Topher again.

Boyd glared at Topher, hard. "We haven't discussed that work Topher and we're not going to. And I'm not just going to give her a trust fund and leave her on her own! I wouldn't do that to you and I'm not going to do it to you. I want you both to have someone you can rely on."

He turned to Gretel. "Running Rossum might not be your place, but it could help you find it maybe. Also you wouldn't be getting in my way. You'd be helping me. You and Topher would be able to make sure no one steals this company."

That glare hurt, but Topher couldn't let things drop. "This is because of the Master thing isn't it?"

Gretel chewed on her lip dropping her gaze from the men to her plate. Being told she would be able to help prevent something was more in the line of things she was comfortable with. But she didn't say so, not when she could see a more heated disagreement brewing in front of her.

"Master thing?" She asked quietly, testing to see if this was a discussion she would be part of or if she would be expected to excuse herself from the conversation.

Topher caught another glare, but there wasn't much Boyd could do now. "No Topher, it's not. That wasn't your fault. I should have been here. He manipulated you and used what you gave him to hurt a lot of people. All I want to do is make sure the tech can't get out again to do something more like that and even I need help to do that. So will you."

Now Boyd turned to Gretel. He didn't want to involve her with this, but she was a bright girl and hopefully she'd understand it. So long as he phrased it correctly that is. "The Master was a man who employed Topher before I arrived. He took some of the technology of our world that Topher had rebuilt and gave it to the Major, who did a lot of damage with it. He also used it himself. Topher was in the dark though and even though I had infiltrated his company as head of security I couldn't prevent it. I was able to destroy what pieces of the technology he had." He'd also used some of it to found Rossum and secure it's funding.

He didn't understand this at all. Boyd was suppose to trust him and now there was this strange girl that had wormed her way into Rossum while he had been gone; it gave Topher a headache.

His plate was pushed away and Topher stood up. "I'm not feeling too good. It's probably better if I go to bed early." That was a rare thing indeed, but if it meant he didn't have to deal with whatever this was then Topher was willing to change routine.

It wasn't a hard thing for her to understand, she'd been in a similar situation before she arrived. Gretel would have said as much, but her attention was focused back on Topher and his sudden desire to leave. She bit back the less than kind remarks she wanted to make about how he was acting. "You're leaving?"

"Topher, don't. Please." This whole dinner was turning into a disaster and while he wanted to yell at Topher for acting a bit childish it wouldn't help anything. "We can talk all of this out."

He doesn't leave, but he's obviously not comfortable staying at the table. This was too much of a change for him to handle. "What's to talk about? Minds are made up. You may as well move her into my room."

Gretel snorts and the sass she had been trying to hold back comes forth. "Geez! My brother acts less like a sulky kid and he just reached double digits," she crosses her arms and resists rolling her eyes. "Besides I'm not moving anywhere."

Edited 2012-08-03 20:56 (UTC)

"Topher! I am not replacing you!" Boyd stood up as he shouted. "And Gretel don't antagonize him. Maybe this situation isn't ideal from either of your points of view and I'm willing to smooth things over where I can, but I am not changing my mind on some things. Gretel needs the protection and the responsibility of Rossum and you Topher, need someone to help you, especially in areas you have no knowledge about. Like magic."

Boyd took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "I have to look at the big picture at the what ifs. It's not pleasant and I wish I didn't have to, but I'm the only one that can. Sometimes it means I have to make decisions you both won't understand at the time. You will both have to trust me though that I am doing it to try and keep you safe."

And that was the really worry, wasn't it? Boyd's seemingly sudden attachment to this strange kid was a bit too much for Topher. Topher who was alone aside from Boyd. Topher who couldn't imagine being left to fend for himself and the company without Boyd. He didn't want the help of some kid; he wanted Boyd to promise not to leave.

Still refusing to sit, he gripped the back of his chair. "You need to reread your sci-fi Boyd because everyone knows magic and tech don't mix." He sighed and moved to sit. "And I do trust you, I don't know if I can trust this -- whatever this is."

She bristled under the reprimand and clenched her jeans in her hands under the table. She glared weakly at Topher from the corner of her eye, keeping her head turned down.

"Trust has to be earned, right?" Gretel replied quietly. "I don't totally like it either, but Mr. Boyd thinks it'll work out. So I'll give it a chance. You could at least try it and see if it's going to be worth it."

Boyd approved of Gretel's attitude, but he didn't let it show on his face. He needed them both to be a bit worried right now if he was to get this back on track. "We don't know that magic and tech won't mix and even if they don't having access to both is important. Especially here where we never know what we might have to deal with."

"Gretel is right though, you don't have a reason to trust each other, not yet. That's why I want you to get to know each and to help each other. So please for me would you try? I'm not expecting miracles just some effort. So sit down and we'll eat and we'll talk about anything, but the business, alright?"

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