#earthrunes

"Ah, certainly. Pasta?" Hopeful

"Do you think the kitchen could accommodate us?" he asks.... the maid. Whose name he knows. Certainly.

"I shall ask them for Pasta..." Selene curtseys , then says "And Lord Hume, I've seen how you act on the internet. You never punch down. I think you're more like Baron August than you realize in that." And she withdraws to do that. She's pretty thing, her appearance fluid but usually lovely

August blinks.... something about her attitude... words.... hmmm....

"She's nice" He blushes "But thinks far too much of me"

"She... I think she might be attracted to you, Lord Hume. I'm bad at that sort of thing but..."

"Ah, disregard my comment; I'm likely wrong."

"What? Oh.. well. .uhm.. the sidhe gift helps I .. guess?" He seems surprised though "You think she.. no, disregarding"

August shifts awkwardly as they just stand there "I... I'm not good at reading these things." he explains.

"Is it weird to envy boggans?" He asks apparently sharing the feeling

"Traditionally, Sidhe don't envy anyone. But... all Kiths have a purpose to and from the Dreaming." he admits.

"Well, their knack"

"A blessing, yes. I know a few boggan of my House who are valued for exactly that skill."

"Lords?" From the door way, that pretty piskie again.. her hair shifted slightly but it's her, "The meal will be ready in 20 minutes"

"That is, they can see the needed, and will call for help. And mortals....." he pauses as they are graciously interupted. "Thank you very much. Ah. We'll.... ah, we're on the way."

He indicates to Hume that they should head in that direction.

"Uhm, thank you, Selene" He says, and checks his hair.

She responds by straightening his collar and wiping at his shoulders as if to keep dust off his voile "There. And welcome" She curtseys againa nd walks off

Hume looks confused

August gives Hume WIDE EYES.

"I... based on recent evidence.... I might not have been wrong, after all."

"I'm .. a sidhe. I'm used to being considered pretty to LOOK at, but ... other sidhe girls tend to ignore me. And commoners tend to pat me on the head like I mean well but move on. WHat''s..what's this?"

"It was -not- a pat on the head." August points out with absolute accuracy "She touched your collar and your shoulders."

"-Both- shoulders."

"I didn't even realize I HAD shoulders" the somewhat scrawny hacker admits

"Your fitness efforts will make a different." the Baron has a swimmer's build; lean, but with muscle strength. His own combat practice has added to it.

"Well, that must be true" he says as they walk "Baroness Coradel makes me practice enough that they do hurt. The shoulders I mean"

August nods. "It will help; your body is going to grow, like it or not... but you can shape the direction it grows in."

And they reach the kitchen.

The kitchen staff redirects them to a dining area. what does the baron think this is? Fenix? They do things properly here . This dining area however is one of the smaller cozier ones, so it's just the two fellows

A lovely brunette, wait, that's Selene again, brings out their food "Careful, it's hot"

The spaghetti and lasagna options both look delicious

"This looks wonderful. Please express our thanks to the kitchen, and apologies for the inadvertent detour."

"My fault, My lord. I thought they let people do that," She blushes "Boggan chefs and cooks have mildly tyranical tendencies"

"It's not your fault" Hume says "You're new here right?"

She nods

"Well, there you go" He says

"Indeed. -I- should have known better."

"See, we'll blame the baron" Hume throws in with a bit of juvenile smugness

"We'll do no such thing" Selene informs him

But she smiles

"Now, I'll leave you two to talk. Noble stuff but will be near enough to hear you if you call for more"

August sips his tea, and takes up a bite of lasagna. He glances at Hume.

"Ah, thank you but we're not really ..."

August eats.

She smiles "Well, noble stuff or not, happy to serve" And she slips away

Hume watches her go and eats. Looking thoughtful

Then he says "Should we talk 'noble stuff'?"

"I haven't the faintest idea what that would be, but...."

"I think it involves either raising taxes while avoiding forests, or setting up memorial gardens"