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Up until the aftermath of his fifteenth birthday, he'd never really had people ask for his name without already knowing it. There was no need seeing as everyone knew the scion of the Vessalius household, and those who didn't would never come into close contact with him.
His growing age was always a common question, āHow old are you now?ā like to the questioner, it was the most important fact to know -- he knew those were a farce. Those kinds of questions were common courtesy in the face of a future duke. He was used to questions upon his skills, how much he'd learnt -a lot, piano, dance, violin and he had a heck of a storytelling voice to boot. Rarely he'd gotten to meet smaller children but when he did, he loved reading to them and gauging the marvel in bright eyes as his own octaves rose and slowed with perfect pitch given the intensity of the paragraph under his nose.
He'd never had anyone ask of hisĀ favouritesĀ regarding personal taste. (Anyone besides Gilbert, but that hardly counted since Gilbert was his faithful servant and finding out his taste in foods was a little bit part of his job). Favourite animals though? That never really came up. And definitely not from Gilbert. Oz had a feeling it was because Gil was afraid that his revered young master's answer would be ācatsā.
So it caught him a little off-guard, someone suddenly brandishing this simple question. It was only for a few seconds that he blinked, before his brilliant smile showed as he laughed amicably in response.
And Oz thought on it. He liked animals enough, cute ones especially. Most of his favourite childhood memories brimmed with memories of playing with his little sister Ada and with aĀ worrisomeĀ Gil, along with Ada's cat. Torturing the feline-phobic Gilbert with Ada's cat when things got too boring was must and honestly he just always thought it would be cats. Cats were great; they curled up and made you feel wanted what with their demands and the way they rubbed fuzzy animal bodies against human legs. Dogs on the other hand reminded him of loneliness with their penchant for loyalty and the kind of loyalty that he didn't believe humans could hold forever. Since Ada liked cats the most, there was no reason they shouldn't be his favourites. He thinks they probably were.
Until the events of his fifteenth birthday.
He remembered clearly the fractured chaos, his banishment into abyssal dimensions, the stark difference between the two worlds and then finally... the single ray of light that came in the darkness that swallowed him, broadcast as a large and furry creature with rabbit ears and other rabbit traits but hiding within a boast of blood-stained name the form of a bewitching and young girl, who looked nothing like the monster they called her and yet everything like the rabbit creature her namesake took from. Far more needy than a cat, far more prone to loneliness. Small and precious. Vibrant and life-changing.
Oz smiled and with an air of knowing confidence. And fixing vivid green eyes on the asker, he answered.
āRabbits, cute little black ones.ā
Ā