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"Mr. Basil?"
The young mouse squeaked, her eyes watering with worry. This girl was Olivia Flaversham, daughter of Hiram Flaversham the Toymaker who was recently abducted from his shop, leaving Olivia alone. She had made her way with a kind stranger - David Dawson, a veteran surgeon - to the house of a very famous detective.
This is where our main character finds himself now...
Basil looked up from his papers, already annoyed with the small child in front of him. He never cared for children, especially not other people's children. He stood from his desk and sighed, "Yes, young lady? I am very busy if you couldn't tell." he said with an annoyed tail flick. The girl's ears drooped, "I can't find my father, will you please help me?" she whined, the noise sounding more like a loud cicada than an actual voice to him. He huffed, "Young lady, this is a most inopportune time. Can't you see I'm in the middle of catching my latest target??"
Shoving pillows at the stockier, more rounded mouse in front of him, he readied his latest piece of evidence: a Colt 1911 pistol that was found at the crime scene. Readying his aim, he allowed Dawson to rush out of the way with Olivia as he took a shot at the pile of pillows. This would be a problem later, but all he could care about was his case.
After being scolded by his landlady, Basil scrambled to grab the bullet he just fired, "Where-" he looked up from his searching to see the young Scottish mouse standing with the bullet in her hand, presenting it to him in a very polite manner. He hastily gave her his thanks and walked to his ballistics table. If this bullet matched, it would give him the evidence he needed to capture the one criminal he'd been chasing his entire career: Ratigan. Lining up the bullets, he was shocked to find that only the last markings did not match up. Basil let out a cry of disappointment and threw away the dead end. He trudged to his chair and collapsed, "He was within my grasp." He sighed as he sagged into himself and took out his violin.
Of course, Olivia took this as a sign that he was available to talk to and hastily went to bother him. "Now, will you please help me. My father's gone and I'm all alone!"
Basil sighed, he never liked children.
Well, if you couldn't tell already, Basil of Baker Street was - in fact - convinced to help the little girl when he found a lead to his greatest enemy. Of course, he wasn't very happy about this. He had taken the liberty of allowing Dawson and Olivia board at his home while they worked through the case. This was a mistake.
Quickly, Olivia took to looking through all of Basil's things. She tried on his hats, his coats, his shoes, even his disguises! She was practically infecting everything with her grubby paws. This did not make Basil any happier as he pushed her hands away from his tools. "Can you please stop touching everything." he said sharply. Olivia huffed, "What else am I s'posed to do." Basil was quick to answer, "Anything but touch my stuff. Go sit in a corner and cry if you like, just dont mess with my things." he said, a little too harshly. Olivia took this as anger and her ears sagged, she scampered off to hide away from the taller mouse, not wanting to bother him any longer. Basil hesitated, he didn't mean it like that - well maybe a little bit - but he didn't want Olivia to actually start crying. He put away his things and took out his pipe, lighting it and sitting down in his chair, "Olivia, you do not actually have to hide away." he said with a puff of his pipe, "Just- try not to play with my things, alright?" The girl nodded and slowly walked over to the fireplace to sit next to Basil. She sniffled a little and pulled a pillow over, laying down on it. It was very late after all, she needed to sleep hours ago but she was too worried. Basil shook his head, "Tired?" he chuckled. Olivia nodded sleepily, cozying up next to the slowly burning fireplace.
~
Hours went by as Basil gathered his thoughts. It wasn't unusual to see the detective staying up all night, but something seemed to be bugging him. He was pacing in his room, tail twitching with an impatient rhythm. "There must be something I'm missing.." he mumbled to himself.
creak
Basil's head swung around when his door was pushed open, "What in the-" he stopped. Olivia was standing at his doorway with a sleepy look. "Olivia" he huffed, "what are you doing up?" The girl yawned with a sniffle, "I.. had a nightmare.." said Olivia, holding back tears. Basil's ears drooped slightly. He sighed and walked over to the little mouse, picking her up gently and bringing her over to his own bed, "You may sleep in here, then." His tone sounded annoyed, but he was trying his best to be soft. Olivia reached her hands back up to him as he walked away, whimpering a little. Basil, frustrated now, turned, "What is it now."
"I dont wanna sleep alone.."
Basil looked at the time, "Well.. it is late." he pondered his choices. On one hand, he could go back to finding wherever Ratigan was stationed; and on the other he could go to bed and make sure Olivia got plenty of sleep after such a hard night..
Basil never liked children
But for one night
Maybe they weren't so bad.