[All he’s ever done in the world, he’s done for his family. Even when it had meant wading into a river of blood up to his throat, the blood of the god damn innocent, he’d done it, because clearly the rest of the world wouldn’t care, and he was the only one who could. Sometimes that was taking Baron Kelvin’s abuse as the sole target, the sole source of responsibility, and sometimes that was conducting a sick show where children died. Either way, it was all so his fellow siblings from the streets wouldn’t suffer.]

[Doll suffering now goes against everything he’s tried to do, and, when he breathes in, it feels like his very lungs are rattling. He doesn’t want her here…. But he doesn’t want to break her heart. Not anymore than it’s already been broken with the kind of things they’ve had to do.]

….Make a deal with her ta learn some fae magic. Somethin’ ta protect ya somehow, or get ya out of a tight spot. Promise ta make that yer first contract before anythin’ else.