A Job For You (Char and Daddy)

Charlotte smiled happily and she wondered about all of the comedies that she had seen, most of them had some element of comedy if only dark humour to try and make the audience not too depressed. After all what's the use of a depressed audience? They'd all be crying and not taking in the play.

"I think it's nice to have a mix, I don't really want to be that depressed when watching something, after all...why watch something if all it's going to do is make you sad?"

Unable to stop her nervous fidgit as she felt like she was under scrutiny for a moment Charlotte grinned and giggled softly as Cobalt told her that she was going to be 'fending off boys with a hammer' that she severely doubted.

"Well thank you Cobalt but I don't think that I'll be fighting many boys off with a hammer or no, but it's nice to hear someone thinks that."

Her face now glowing with a large red blush Charlotte looked up at Cobalt and almost passed out when he kissed her cheek wrapping an arm around her as he did so, turning around to face him she blushed harder.

"Cobalt...you know you shouldn't do that..."

Seeing Charlotte smile happily at the weird image he'd given her with his idea of a tragedy/comedy hybrid, Cobalt felt something inside him that he wasn't sure he was ready to deal with; his fatherly side. He'd buried that side of him six years ago but apparently it was back,

"I guess being depressed while watching my act would be bad..." he admitted, but secretly thinking that it would be equally as sick if someone laughed at the tragedies he made, "Sometimes you watch things because they make you sad. You take messages away from something if you're not bent over, laughing at it."

Cobalt chuckled a little and materialised a small hammer with a wave of his wand. He handed it to her with a smirk,

"Just in case." he told her with a wink before grinning slyly, "Maybe Arsen could do with a few smacks..."

Cobalt grinned at the way she was blushing. To be honest it made his suddenly younger body tingle a little but he clamped down on it savagely. She was a student after all,

"Awww you're no fun." he teased her with a wink as he hugged her a little tighter, "Just enjoy it."

Charlotte smiled happily and she looked at Cobalt with her head tilted to one side as she thought about what he had said to her, she had never really needed to take many messages from films or books, mostly because she had learnt them all already...but she could see his point.

"I agree, maybe you should add a few personal jokes in just for me, that way only I'll laugh, and everyone else can be serious."

Gingerly taking the hammer Charlotte held it awkwardly by the handle and swung it through the air a little, testing it out before she handed it back to Cobalt with a small, shy smile on her lips.

"Why don't you keep hold of it for me, that way you get to beat up the person. It sounds like you want to."

As she felt Cobalt hug her more Charlotte bit her lip and wound her arms around his neck to hug him closer to her, this felt so weird...she thought...she didn't even think this was technically legal to be with a Professor like that.

"O-okay then...I'll relax."

He chuckled a little and had a sudden thought of himself, standing with a knife over the body of a dead man, making a witty quip that he could then show Charlotte in a penseive memory. That would be very weird and he was sure that she wouldn't really want to hear anymore jokes like that when they related to his work,

"Well we'll see okay?" he chuckled a little, "Although I could throw in some jokes about my younger form. That way only you'd really get the reference. But I can't openly joke... I have a reputation to think of!"

Vanishing the hammer with a smirk, Cobalt pretended to look innocent,

"Well maybe I'd take a swing at Arsen..." he muttered before scowling a little and whispering, "Or a few hundred..."

Cobalt hugged her warmly for a few minutes, liking how she'd relaxed in his embrace more as a sign of her comfort with him. He sighed happily as he broke the hug and reverted back to his adult form with a smile,

"You give great hugs."

Charlotte smiled as she heard Cobalt chuckling and she wondered what he was laughing at, maybe something personal that she didn't need to know about. Folding her arms around her chest she leant against the wall of his office, liking the feel of the cool stone on her back.

"Oh yes of course! Your reputation as a big strong assassin would be severly damaged by joking around. You could always act like the Joker, scary and funny!".

Pouting softly as Cobalt said that he would like to hit Arsen with a hammer Charlotte wondered what exactly had gone on between them to make them both upset with each other:

"Did Arsen upset you or something Cobie? Why don't you like him?"

Charlotte grinned as Cobie stopped hugging her and was now back in his adult form much to her relief, it really wouldn't be good if she started fancying his younger form now would it? May make things a tad awkward.

"Well thanks!"

Cobalt sat on the edge of his desk and shook his head a small, far away, smile,

"No... no I don't think I could pull off the Joker level of crazy anymore." he told her with a small smirk, "Being The Joker level of insane is a young man's game. I tried it for a while but it's hard work staying that insane. Even Aspen has moments of sanity."

As the conversation turned to Arsen, Cobalt's smile vanished and almost turned to a scowl before he schooled his expression into something completely neutral,

"Arsen is a demon by birth and by nature Charlotte. His father is one of the strongest and most blood-thristy demons there is. Even with all the self-control in the world there is a huge chance that Arsen is just a ticking time bomb. A firebomb in this case." he told her quietly before sighing a little, "You're a good kid Charlotte. I can see from here that you are a good, decent and compassionate human being. Sorry to break it to you but you are everything that Arsen Salvator cannot be."

He smiled slightly and ruffled her hair before smirking and winking at her,

"But don't get any funny ideas about molesting my younger form."

Charlotte tilted her head to one side and wondered where she had heard that name before, then it clicked, he was Arsens uncle, which only made her worry about him even more, what was his uncle thinking? Dragging Arsen down into his insanity.

"Well that's just too bad Cobie because that would have been extra cool of you, maybe you should act Joker crazy on a job, you're still young far from being an old biddy yet!"

Grinning softly Charlotte moved a little closer to Cobalt and she sat on the desk by his side but she gasped as she heard just how mean Cobalt was to Arsen, and she knew that he was wrong. Arsen was so sweet to her, so kind.

"I'm sorry Cobie but I disagree. You don't know him like I do and if you did you might not be so mean about him. Arsen is a lovely but troubled person and I want to help him."

With a small blush Charlotte nodded her head, she didn't want to end up with a new friend and a friend with benefits.

"Of course I would never dream of it."

Seeing that Charlotte showed no small amount of distress in her body language, her scent changing slightly as the beginnings of distress became evident. It seemed she knew about Aspen. That might make his job easier,

"I tried it for awhile." he admitted quietly, his shoulders sagging and his entire demeanour shrank to that of an older man as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "When I first started out it was hard to break onto the scene, as it were. You had to have some kind of gimic going for you. I picked Joker-level insanity because it looked like fun. So I went to work, putting on a mask of insanity every time. It was hard to do that, to detach yourself enough to pretend to be insane. And then... then it got too easy. After a long time the mask stayed on for much too long. It became hard to live without it. I almost went insane. Thankfully I met a... friend, and I managed to sort myself out."

At hearing her gasp, Cobalt knew that she was going to either scold him for his opinion or at least tell him that he was wrong. When she spoke he knew he was right and he merely arched an eyebrow,

"So he's lovely to you? That's nice. Really is." his eyes narrowed, "I've watched the 'lovely' young boy tear a child's heart out and set it on fire in front of the child's mother. He then burnt the skin and muscles from the mother, leaving her a burnt and blackened skeleton. You see Charlotte, your 'lovely' friend is more prejudice towards muggles than I could ever be to him. I don't go on little trips into the muggle world to burn people alive. Oh you can blame some of it on his uncle but not the way he enjoys it. Not the casual disregard for life. I kill people for money and I show more regard for the lives of my fellow man, magic or not."

Cobalt smirked a little before giving her a wink,

"Oh you can dream about it." he told her slyly, "Your dreams are private after all."