The High Priestess and The Fool

[Malkavian Riddler]

"Which witch!" Digital cried, confirming loudly with a nod of his head.  He reached out to press the tip of his finger against the side of Kerr\'s nose with an accurately steady hand before removing it and looking at his fingertip as though he\'d extracted something (even though he\'d placed it on the exterior of Kerr\'s nose, he seemed to be inspecting it as though something could be discovered there).  "You shouldn\'t have taken his name away."

[Existentially Odd]

For once, Kerr didn\'t have to ask which \'he\' was being referred to, and the smile that had begun when Digital had crowed his first couple of words died a slow and obvious death on his lips.  He swallowed, attempting to dislodge the lump that had crowded into his throat, to no avail.

"I thought it was over.  He never really liked them anyway," he whispered, flogging a dead horse just to see if it could win a race against the others.  The justification fell on ignorant ears, of course, but the pain of that regret swelled in him suddenly and fiercely.  Kerr slid forward on the couch, his curled legs pressing against Digital\'s and his hand now grasping the other vampire\'s, to pull his attention off the flawless fingertip.

"I told him I would put them back one day, if we worked.  Will I put them back for him?  Will we work?" he implored the psychic urgently, the fingers wrapped over the younger\'s squeezing.  Deep down, he knew it was a pointless question to ask, that the empath only spat out what was gifted him and could not be directed like a divining rod from the Gods, but in that instant he was sick of not knowing.  All the circular discussions they\'d had on this couch, in addition to the confused desperation every time they walked out of another psychiatrist\'s office with no answers urged him onto asking.

Even if it was pointless, he had to ask, for the chance that he might know something for certain.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Digital, for once, had an answer that was completely sane and utterly logical.  Free from persistent voices if only for a moment and gifted with the kind of clarity that the average human being takes for granted, Digital smiled at Kerr and gently squeezed his hands back in a gesture he hoped was comforting.

"That\'s up to you," he said.  He blinked, his dark gaze behind his goggles were clear, until he lifted his face and looked towards the toaster instead.  He was lost to it again and began darting his head this way and that to see if he could catch his own reflection off guard - which was impossible, seeing as he couldn\'t see his own reflection in it, the device was angled the wrong way.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr nodded defeatedly, even though he had no audience to see the gesture.  He\'d known... understood the capricious nature of Digital\'s gift... yet he\'d still hoped.  Sometimes, he just wished he could find answers, not more questions to things - part of him wondered, even now, if Digital\'s final answer about whether he and Ben had a future or not was up to him because his actions might change the circumstances irrevocably, one way or the other.

Or whether it really was what it was at face value; maternal advice from who had no more idea of the answer than the one asking the question.

"You\'re right, I suppose," he mumbled, letting go of Digital\'s hand and shuffling forlornly back to his corner.  He watched the youngster trying to catch a glimpse of himself and wondered if he should be asking him to leave or offering him the toaster.  He\'d likely just use it to burn something.  "Would you like me to cook some more toast?  Or put that lot through a second time?" he offered politely, noticing the last batch standing to attention in the slots, cold and lifeless now. Like them.

[Malkavian Riddler]

Digital looked away from the toaster and to Kerr before he grinned his big grin, the one that showed all his teeth, and didn\'t say anything about the toast, though he did have a lot to say about other things.

"You\'ll come around, oh yes you will.  You\'ll find the witch first and her answers will be as helpful as mine."  He levelled a pointing finger towards Kerr, not meeting his face but not too far off it either.  "The Master of None will be closer and Brom Bones shies away.  Who is the Headless Horseman?  Not I, he said with an angry laugh.  Ha!  Ha ha ha!  Ha!"  Digital sprang up off his seat and ran for the toaster, reaching out to grip metal that should\'ve seared his skin painfully but he only clutched harder at it, inattentive to the sizzle as metal met fingertips.  As sober as Digital had seemed a second ago, now he was the epitome of madness as he hopped around Kerr\'s office like a crazed jester.  "Tippy toes they silently go, round and round like a snake biting its tail.  Round and round until poof!  No more!"  Digital stood stock still, thinking he\'d gone dim but with Kerr still looking at him, such a feat was impossible.  "Well, my Irish friend, the door it is," he said, then stalked towards it intending on a very undramatic exit considering the display he\'d just finished.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr blinked at Digital\'s sudden animation and could only nod when the youngster headed for the door; he allowed him to take his leave while he wrote furiously everything the man had just spat out... what he could remember of it, anyway.