[center][h3]Juniper Delorano[/h3] [i][sub]"would appreciate an answer."[/sub][/i][/center]
[hr]

Juniper was absolutely fixated by the feathered interloper, her bloodshot eyes beginning to burn with pain as she remained staring at the Crow as if they were a picture instead of a person. She was so focused on the intruder that it barely registered with the girl that her sister was trying to force the Doctor to whisk her away to her room. For once she was thankful that Otto was a stubborn old bastard, since for the first time tonight she actually wanted to be stuck in this room. Juniper drank in the Crow’s words as they spoke, a smile of schadenfreude creeping onto her lips as they carved into her aunt with their tongue. 

The smile quickly crumbled as the Crow finally caught Juniper starring; the young girl nearly got whiplash from how quickly she turned her head to look away, a natural reflex shared by the shady and the awkward. Juniper had caught the nod from the Crow before she had looked away. [i]What was that about?[/i] she thought as she felt her heart in her mouth. Juniper decided that the Crow must’ve been looking down on her, as she could clearly be nothing else but an “unimportant party”. Yet it had not felt like the usual disregarding looks the girl felt that she received almost daily; there had been something unfamiliar there, made almost impossible to interpret thanks to their mask. 

However, there were more pressing matters to worry about at the moment. Otto seemed absolutely determined to show the Crow the door, despite the stranger stating that they not only were acquainted with their father but had more information than any of the others regarding who had been behind his savage murder. [i]The idiot![/i] Juniper would’ve been grateful to Meldyr for requesting that his soldiers escort the older man to his quarters if the captain hadn’t also included her in with the group of people who were now liabilities. As much as it shocked Juniper to admit, only her aunt seemed to be the one acting sensibly in the room: they needed to know whatever information the Crow had wrung out of one of father’s assassins. 

Quickly, too; Otto wouldn’t keep Meldyr’s men distracted forever, and Juniper couldn’t bare the thought of being kept in the dark. As a daughter she had been absolutely ungrateful, and if she tried to do anything to make right the wrongs that had been committed against her family and father that she would surely fail. Truly, she would be the first to admit that, but that did not change the fact that she deserved to know the truth, even if there would be no comfort in knowing it. Juniper had her doubts that the Crow would answer her aunt. They seemed to rightfully despise the woman, but, despite her feeling as if it were a longshot, perhaps they would listen to her plea.

Juniper stood up, giving her sister a quick, unapologetic look, before turning her attention to the Crow. She could feel the eyes of Meldyr’s men turn from Otto to her; she didn’t have long before one of them grabbed her and escorted her away for her “safety”. If she had been on her own she could have easily threaten the men’s job security as she was often to do whenever she was confronted by one of her family’s guards that was simply trying to follow their orders, but surrounded by her family it would be quite impossible for her to get away with the usual lie that they would be sacked if they laid a single finger on her.  She just prayed the Crow would answer her before they took her away.

“Tell me their name!” she said, startled by her own shouting as her eyes were unable to decide whether to look at the Crow’s mask or their feet. She felt fingers brushing against her shoulder as she took a step forward, one hand pressed against her chest while the other reaching out like a starving beggar reaching for a piece of molded bread. “Please. Tell me the name of the bastard that orchestrated my father’s death.”