Jarek knew Lotte's disposition, he'd treated it. They wouldn't be here, at the cusp of a new paradigm, if he didn't know. She had always been prone to suggestion, if not by others, then definitely from her own voices. Still, it grated the older man to see his son carry her allegiances away like that. A touch, some well placed words. The beautiful girl followed suit, turning on the good doctor, echoing what Kell had said. She should know the Ovrem father was never wrong. Their commune believed it, and she should too. It was even more of an insult when she stayed with Kell's course even after his physical influence had gone away from the room.<br/><br/>He was about to teach her, as he always did, his mouth even opened to spill the lesson onto the receptive blonde head. But she stood and it was lovely again, all the way to his bookshelves. She liked those books. Charlotte had been raised on words. They were holy to her. Jarek didn't realize that it might be he who was easily swayed, as long as it was Charlotte that turned him. Unthinkable, that the man who ruled this little world would be someone else's soldier, puppet. At the very least, in this paradox that played out for no one real but the blind actors, Charlotte wouldn't know what to do with this power.<br/><br/>Raker saw from its chamber in her heart. It thought it was beautiful too, the roots she'd set in the father. It was tied to everything the man was. His legend, his pride. The story he'd like to write. Charlotte, naïve and small, was the very key to his immortality. Raker coiled like oil in her blood, apart from the flow but twisting around it, trying to fit. Black slick into blood soak. It wanted to tell her, but it thought it should wait. Raker also loved Lotte.<br/><br/>Jarek sighed to himself when she put her shapes to the light from the glass. He'd picked her before she was this sprung bloom, but he was very happy that she'd grown from the hunched, knifing girl into this beam of a person. How can you lead the way if you're not of the light. He felt the tinges of a man, youth in his flesh, but he had no rush. It was an eventuality that he'd have that too. All the women in this place were available to him, after all. And he'd stay especially close to Charlotte. He desired it, but had enough sense to know that couldn't be important, not now. If he'd not visited her when she was made to wear the splitting hospital gown, he could resist now.<br/><br/>There was no need to explain, after all. Little doll and her small mind eventually saw what she'd done, the insult of it. He came to her, starved for her apology, but pretending he was allergic to it. Look, what a great man I am, free of ego. "Not at all, Lotte." he assured her and touched her cheek in a much less impressive way than handsome Kell. "Oh, you're tired?" worried forehead, engaged eyes. He had dark hair too, but only on his temples, the rest was silvered or alabaster. Split on one side.<br/><br/>He nodded and helped her up, as though she'd not been spry enough to move her feet like his office was her ballroom. Raspberry blushing girl with summer in her hair, skating across the mats and polish. He held her hand, held her shoulder, walking. "How about some food? I'll have them cook something special for you. And desert. I've had a room prepared." he went on as they came through the doors. It just so happened that a boy with similar hair as her was waiting there. "Ah, John! Please. Charlotte has had a day, and she wants rest. Show her her room, and fetch her something delicious." Jarek did not feel threatened by the shorter male as he did his son.<br/><br/>John, of course, was ecstatic to help, and reached for her hand when Ovrem let it go. Like a child with an unbidden treat, he moved her a little faster, so the God of their belief wouldn't change his orders. He smiled brightly when they turned a corner. "Oh, I'm so glad I walked by!" he said. Raker told her John was lying, and that it was a forgivable thing, since he cared about her. "And I'm glad you're here." John put his other hand on top of hers, too. "I missed you, and now I won't have to drive out to the hospital to see you. I'll be here for you anytime." It sounded like he was taking an oath, fingers over hers.