"I have been taking care of mortal's souls FOR THOUSANDS of years," she retorts "Of course I know about parenting!"
"And I've been taking care of little Lenore for over 400 years! You don't know what she needs! She is perfectly fine and happy. She is much happier than she would ever be with you! I've been doing a GREAT job at parenting Lenore, thank you very much. I know what is good for her, better than you do."
And for a moment, there was silence. They only looked eachother in the eyes without saying a word. ((They were probably too angry at each other to the point where they ran out of mean things to say))
"...Whatever I...." Ophelia lets out a small annoyed sigh "I'll be in the kitchen making dinner." she says as she quickly walks down the stairs and heads to the kitchen. She starts rummaging throughout the fridge and then the cupboards only to find spider webs in them..
Ophelia stares in disbelief.
Ragamuffin is now pissed off for another reason. It follows her down the stairs and glares at her as she reopens the fridge ."What are you doing?"
"Well I was supposed to-" she pauses for split second correcting herself "... I believed making dinner for young Lenore would be a good start, but there's not even food here!" she slightly yelled, obviously grossed out and annoyed,but she tried to be as calm as possible.
The doll's features continue to narrow as it watches the woman reopening the fridge and cupboards,leaving them wide open. Ophelia angrily mutters something among the lines of"you don't believe me?, I'll show you!"
After a second or two she angrily turns back to look at Ragamuffin, her hands on her hips. All cupboards and drawers, along with the fridge was left wide open,appearing empty once again.
Its red eyes are glowing brightly with rage and its teeth are still bared and clenched tightly. It growls loudly:"Fine, I got your point,you didn't had to do all that!..And there is plenty of food! Go ask me if you want to find any, I know exactly where it is."
Ophelia pauses for a split second. "... Wh... What do you mean, you... You don't go to the market to buy food?" she replied confusedly as she looks at Ragamuffin who's standing at the doorway. The doll looks back at the woman, seeming very angry at her cluelessness. It scowls and rolls its eyes, getting very annoyed at her.
"Do you seriously think that mortals buy food from stores everyday to eat? That would put them in a massive amount of debt. No, we buy food once every month or so, and we don't buy much. We make sure to stock up on what we need. Do you seriously think that I buy groceries everyday?"
she scoffs, smiling in anger "WHAT KIND OF FATHER ARE YOU, NOT BUYING FOOD FOR YOUR CHILD?!" she snapped, she looks at Ragamuffin for a moment then looks away. "BUT OF COURSE, WHAT SHOULD POOR ME EXPECT!?NO WONDER WHY LENORE IS SO SKINNY AND PALE!!.." Ophelia turns her back on Ragamuffin's and starts putting all the the kitchen stuff back to the cupboards so that she didn't have to look at the doll thing anymore.
Lenore could hear the yelling from upstairs and she was very sad because of it...
The doll's eyes narrow with a mixture of rage and sadness. It doesn't like people pointing out little Lenore's paleness or skinny figure. The doll stares at her with anger boiling in its eyes as he walks closer to Ophelia "She is NOT starving! She IS perfectly fine! Do you not see her smile? She smiles and laughs every day, and she likes her figure to be in such good condition. Maybe you should learn a thing or two about what good parenting is like instead of complaining all the time!"
"Oh, I'M complaining!" she turned around to look at him again "I'm only doing what any right guardian should,CARING for the child.And her figure is obviously not good, along with the fact that the poor girl had never had a good life, and her now afterlife isn't any good either. She exists upon in an environment which is bad for her mental health. And she's smiling because she's obviously not well in health, due to all the trauma she had experienced in the past, yet this is the only thing she's ever known so she's TRYING to be happy when she's DEPRESSED. And her only parental figure is a vampire doll thing, how is THAT supposed to help?!"
The doll is deeply offended and angry at all of this. It stares at the woman, its features narrow."I care about her well-being. I try to give her the best life I can provide. I make sure she has a good time, I talk to her, I try to make her happy on the darkest of days. The mental health is definitely something that I have to work on, but I've been around her long enough to know that it isn't just trauma from her past. She's enjoying her little life with me. Don't you dare underestimate me."
Ophelia was quiet for a moment, seemingly thoughtful. "Well then." she says more calmly "Let's both take care of this young lady." she paused for a moment "She needs us both." she slightly smiled at him but the smile looked more bittersweet than anything. "Go wherever you must to find food. You know better what she likes, yes?" she clasped her hands as she talked.
The doll looks surprised to hear her offer to be Lenore's guardian, alongside him. It looks down at the floor for a moment, deep in thought. It seems like it is considering the offer.
"Hmm...I suppose we can share responsibilities, but only if your not going to cause problems...And yes, I do know what she likes, as I've watched her for many years. She likes to eat a lot of sweet and sour foods, and also she is quite fond of cheese.But her favorite are pancakes with sugar."
"...I'll make her pancakes in the morning.She mustn't eat sugar at night, otherwise she'll have trouble sleeping. See what you can find and I'll try to make do with it."
The doll was surprised to hear the woman agreeing with all of its suggestions. It doesn't believe that she would be that agreeable. It looks at the woman, still seeming very distrustful and skeptical, but it is considering her offer."Alright...I suppose we can try to do this together, if she will be properly taken care of. I will find the food she likes and then we can try to figure out a schedule or something. I won't let you mistreat her in any way."
"Of course, I could never harm the weak, especially a child." she replied as she headed towards the sink to wash her hands. But when she opens it, instead of water a flock of spiders started coming out!
The doll watches her as she's about to wash her hands and opens the sink only to see spiders. It's mouth quakes with shock and it looks disgusted. The woman quickly backs away from the sink and her features narrow.
"I don't even want to THINK about what type of living conditions you lived in before this. It is no wonder why the girl is so miserable..."
It seems like the doll is getting more and more upset as the conversation goes on. It scowls and glares at the woman..And so the same argument happens once again...
"She is NOT miserable! Not once has she ever expressed that she doesn't like living with me. And it is NOT because of me that her conditions were bad!" It seems to be completely in denial that it was a large reason as to why she had such a miserable life before she died.
Lenore is watching them from the staircase "Oh shoot they're gonna argue again!.." she mumbles to herself.
The doll looks over towards the middle of the stairs, and can see that the little girl has been listening to the entire conversation. It looks back up at the woman and glares at her. It seems like it is going to take every minute of the day to convince Ophelia that it is a good guardian for the little girl. It growls and crosses its arms, watching the woman.
"L-Lenore dear, how about you help me out when your fa... Mr Ragamuffin comes back with the food?" she faked out a small smile. Lenore listens along and quickly walks down the stairs and heads to the kitchen.
The doll raises an eyebrow, still looking at the woman. "Mr Ragamuffin? You are trying to convince the girl to think of me as her father now!? That is complete nonsense! I am not her father, I am her guardian.-"
"... yes, i know what you're saying," she replies rather quickly and shortly after he finishes his sentence. "We've made this conversation at least five times today and I have gotten sick of it. Just go bring the food."
The doll gets even angrier when the woman replies so fast. It doesn't like to be interrupted, especially when it is explaining something. This only angers the doll even more, and it growls at her."I am not finished speaking.But I shall go get the food." The doll turns around and starts to walk out of the room.
"... Thank God he finally left...."she mutters, smiling to herself. Lenore looks at her a bit confused as she said that
The doll turns around with one more glance at the little girl as she looks disappointed by her being happy about it walking away. It looks back at the woman once more for good measure before finally leaving.
Rather annoyed himself, it walks out of the kitchen and then out of the house, only to be nearly blinded by the sunlight. As he began walking down the hill, Ragamuffin notives Pooty,who walks up to him rather excited to see him.
"Hey, I was about to come over! " If he could express emotions, he would have a huge smile across his face"Where are you up to?" Pooty walks besides it as Ragamuffin keeps on walking towards the bridge.
Ragamuffin sighs in annoyance"... You wouldn't belive me, man..." He pauses for a split second;" Even if I told you,its one heck of a crazy thing... "
" Well I'm from there so what you've got to loose? Plus we're friends and friends share everything."
Ragamuffin then immediately stops walking and turns to face Pooty. He has a serious look on his face. "If I told you that some chick from heaven came over saying she's Lenore's guardian angel would you believe me?"
Pooty pauses for a split second, "... Did you just found out that angels are a thing?"
"N-no I-" The doll scoffs in anger "That's not what meant to say,"
Pooty's curiosity grows more and more as he watches Ragamuffin mess up his words and speak with rather small sentences "C'mon man just tell me!" he speaks with a mix of worry and awe.
"Ok, fine. So basically, now that you asked me where I'm going, I'm going to find food as she told me because she wants to make dinner... "
Pooty pauses for a second trying to process the information".. D-dinner? But you guys are mortals, you don't need to eat!"
"That's what I told her, but that woman....!" the doll pauses for a split second "It's for a good start, she said!..."
"Women work in such mysterious ways," Pooty looks up and sighs, being a little skeptical. "So now you're going to town to buy food?"
"Well, yeah, except I have no idea what I'm doing, because I don't have a penny with me, so I'm completely clueless. What does that woman want me to do, rob a backyard or something? I once spread fear, whoever heard my name would began trembling! And now, I'm being ordered around! But what can I do? The poor hurt soul of mine aches from the wretched agony and pain-!"
Pooty puts a reassuring hand on Ragamuffin's shoulder "I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll go together in town and we're gonna rob a vending machine."
Ragamuffin pauses for a moment "..What's that?"
"I'll show you when we get there."