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 Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 7:08 pm
FLIGHTY CREATURES
season winter; three weeks before the new year
occasion further banquet preparations
location the home of the count of alderin
summary andrus and chloe meet again and discuss flighty things He had ridden to the home of the Count. The weather was suitably cold for the season and his mother had advised against it, but a thick blanket of snow had fallen overnight and Andrus had rightly predicted mud and ruined roads along the way, and had decided to avoid a potential carriage disaster by minimizing to a single horse.
The colt was a new one, liver chestnut with a pear-shaped star and bright, friendly eyes, three years old and quick with his feet. Andrus was an admirer of his sire and had declared upon seeing the colt that it looked a spitting image of the elder. He had been itching to take the horse for a ride since its arrival at Darrowdown several days prior.
"New horse, m'lord?" An eager stablehand reached for the colt's bridle as Andrus swung out of the saddle. "He's a fine lookin' one, that."
"Rides like a dream," he agreed with a laugh, giving the horse a hearty pat. "You take good care of him for me, Toby, and make sure he stays nice and warm."
He stepped into the grand foyer as two guardsmen pulled the double doors open. His gaze went up the double staircase, seeking the Countess when she swept into sight, paused dramatically at the railing to peer down at him, and proceeded to glide down the stairs with her immense gown trailing on the steps behind her.
"You will be pleased with the progress we have made on the preparations, Lord Kinross!" She declared, stopping long enough to extend her hand and for him to kiss it in greeting before taking his arm and all but dragging him toward the ballroom.
Before she could launch into a new tirade about the new themes and altered decorations, Andrus paused and gently extricated himself from her grasp. "If you don't mind, my lady, I would much appreciate if I could meet you there in several moments. It was a fair bit of a ride from Darrowdown, and I would much prefer you see me after I have had the opportunity to freshen up." A smile, an appeal to her inherent vanity.
The Countess pursed her lips and nodded understandingly. "Of course, of course," she reassured him, casting an approving nod in his direction. "I will meet you in the ballroom shortly, then."
Andrus nodded his agreement, waiting until she had disappeared behind the doors, before turning almost ponderously down the hall. He could take the opportunity to freshen up - and would probably have to before he went to see the Countess again - but there were some other things on his mind.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:18 pm
The first snow was always an exciting event for the orphans of Palisade. Although it brought with it a permeating kind of chill and ghastly winds, each and every child gathered by the windows to watch the flakes fall, bundled and bolstered by the fireplace downstairs. The next morning was full of snowball fights and the construction of various snowy men, not to mention a fair amount of red noses and blue hands. Chloe would have loved to have stayed around longer, but her employment with the count and countess had become somewhat regular in the past week. It was pleasant for the pocket, but she was fairly certain that one more imperceptibly imperfect floral arrangement would make her scream. At the moment she was tasked with creating aesthetically-pleasing party favors for the upcoming ball. She had been at it for over an hour now, having been told multiple times that the vision had changed and that she must simply begin again.
For all of the tedium, though, Chloe felt quite alright. The window nearby allowed her to peer out into the world with its white blankets... ah, a blanket. What she wouldn't give! Unfortunately, acting as a maid meant dressing properly for the occasion. There was no room for multitudinous skirts or layered stockings when the scrutinizing eye of a noble was upon you. Ribbon was becoming harder and harder to tie as her hands shifted colors and went partially numb. The fireplace was not lit here and the nearest source of heat was at least three rooms away. She didn't want to consider the scolding she may receive if she was to be seen outside of her assignment. Instead she used her stories to keep her mind off of her hands.
Somewhere in this wintery cold, there was a family sitting by a fire, cheeks and noses rosy from the heat rather than the cold. She imagined that hers was one of them, still whole and beloved. Her father sat reading a book while her mother and she created delicate paper snowflakes to decorate the front hall. She had always remembered her home in great detail although it no longer stood in modern times, and she certainly had never forgotten her parents. Indeed through childhood she had made it a point to think of them at least twice a day, to imagine them through her chores, as painful as it may be. Everyone was smiling, happy. It was to be a pleasant season.
Back in reality, Chloe smiled and ducked her head. Her mind was a welcome distraction from the elaborate favors, wandering though it was. The arrival of a horse was heard but not seen, and the servant began wondering on sleigh rides and suitors calling. Certainly this was the best season to fall in love, if such a thing truly existed. With a sigh and a little tilt of her head, Chloe tried once more tie the tiny blue bow in her hands.
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:00 pm
He took to wandering down the hall, deserted but for the occasional young maid who, without fail, ducked their heads almost apologetically and scurried past down the hall. Most of them left him a wide berth, as if afraid of drawing too close - to him, or to his nobility? It made him wonder, to say the least, if he was really so frightening, or if it was simply his birth that him so. What if they had met on a street, dressed in the same clothes? They wouldn't have scurried past so cautiously then, and he thought they needn't have now.
But who was he to change the traditions that had grown over so many generations?
The heel of his boots echoed down the hallway, try as he might to conceal them. In the utter silence that enveloped this section of the mansion, he felt like a rather large and clumsy beast in a small room, making noise where he ought to be silent, though he had no way of accomplishing the latter. And where did he think to wander to anyway? There was nothing down this corridor, nowhere to freshen up so the Countess would not see him as disheveled as before and think he had simply lied to get away.
But still, he wandered. It wasn't as though there was any real sort of charm in this lonely hallway. Charm, it seemed, was reserved solely for smaller and cozier places. Here, everything seemed distant and unreachable, towering above him and anyone else who dared venture through. There were vast doors to unknown rooms, almost a foot thick and heavier than they ever had the right to be. There were paintings hung in gilded frames more ornate than the art itself. And at the end of the hall, there was a wide arch, an open doorway into a room that widened to twice the width of the already-expansive corridor.
He glanced in, expecting it to be empty and unlit, expecting it to exude the same kind of cold as the rest of the house. And it was, for the most part. But it wasn't empty.
Andrus paused at under the arch, watching her tie ribbons in the silence and the chill. What had she looked like before? Quite the same, he answered himself. Just the same, really. It hadn't been that long ago, after all. "You... ought to have that fireplace lit," he said finally, hearing some of his words bounce back to him in soft echoes. "The Countess' maids will do it, if you tell them being cold is not conducive to good ribbon-tying. The Countess would not stand for sorry ribbons." Even if she would stand for frozen hired help.
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:19 pm
It was not unusual to hear the clicking of boot-heels in this echoing mansion, and so Chloe paid them no mind. She had not had the time to learn the difference between worn and noble shoes if such a thing existed, but given who these footsteps belonged to she might have wished that she had. In her mind, the sounds became that ricocheting off of the stone in some untouched catacomb, someone lost whether they had meant to be here or not, untold adventure and horror awaiting them. She was lucky, she realized, that nobody ever asked her what was on her mind. Even in the world of scandalous novels she was fairly certain that her own stories would be abhorred. They lived at home in journal for good reason!
Of course this was no tomb and there was no brave soul. Chloe had not expected the resonating clicks to stop at her door, and so it took her a moment to realize that they had stopped at all. She began to lift her head before actually peering up and very nearly asked if there was something she could assist with. Upon seeing the eyes upon her, she froze.
Hands no longer delicately tangled bows, but simply hovered above the favor quite as the girl's gaze remained still on the man before her. Andrus.
Clearly this nobleman had some connection to this house, although Chloe could never know herself regardless of her level of curiosity. Perhaps it had something to do with the nubile young daughter returning so soon. What was her name? Claudia. A perfectly romantic name. The servant had her own images of the young woman, but had never met her herself and, again, likely never would. Perhaps her employment would last so long as to assist at the ball itself. She'd certainly had her hand in so many different things that she would be able to find her way around a banquet table.
"...I should not bother the countess," she offered finally, her voice softened. It would not be proper to ask for the fire to be lit for her alone, and this was the only place that she could find to work in peace. She could light a mean fire herself, but that would be using wood meant to warm nobler hands. The cold wasn't so bad, or at the very least was not unusual. The orphanage was not particularly well-supplied, and anyone living there more than a month would surely feel their share of the cold. It was a fact of life, and not one that particularly bothered the girl.
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:27 pm
"Perhaps she ought to be disturbed," he said, glad that she had replied. Part of him had thought that perhaps she might seem him and flee like she had the last time, or that she might simply refuse to respond. He had obviously done something wrong last time, and though he couldn't say he was sure what, Andrus thought he had an idea. "Then she might realize some others exist in her surroundings." Unbidden a smile came to his face and he stifled a small laugh that suggested he had meant no harm by his comment, other than to acknowledge that the Countess was, indeed, somewhat more vain than she needed to be. Perhaps they, as a social class, were all guilty of the same faults.
"But even the cooks in the kitchens will do it. My brother and I spent some time with the Countess' son when we were children, and we all ran roughshod over the house. Of course, that was before we learned that there were, well, differences between people, and we learned a fair bit from the stable boys. They all knew how to bend the rules, as it were." And for half a moment, he seemed to drift back to those old and nostalgic days, when even his world had been simpler. They had all just been children in those days, and nobody had much minded when the sons of lords mingled with the sons of the common folk, at least not when it happened on private property. At the very least, the mothers had kept a less stringent eye out for such trespasses. Little by little, though, they had all grown to know their places in the world.
"Not that I am telling you to do so, perhaps the cold suits you better. I couldn't possibly know," he added quickly, both to draw attention away from his moment of nostalgia and to reassure her that she needn't listen if she didn't want to. Like it or not, Andrus had to admit that there was a sort of uncertainty in his mind. He wasn't entirely sure how he needed to act around her after the last time, or what she expected of him now. Or whether there were even expectations. They didn't know each other, after all.
"Chloe," he said finally after lapsing into a silence. "I hope you remember when I told you last time we met that I meant no offense. If you did find some in my actions, I do apologize. I don't usually dance with hired servants in my acquaintances' homes, but," he paused, wondering what he could attribute that strange slip-up to. "Ah, whims of your typical spoiled gentleman, or what have you." He offered a stiff shrug and a warm smile.
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:55 pm
Andrus had himself a more captive audience this time, and a more willing one at that. The fact that he had made Chloe cry had been mostly forgotten or had at the very least become a lesson learned rather than a horrible nightmare. Upon further thought, the orphan had decided that perhaps there had been more behind it than just a young noble taking advantage or teasing. He had been a bit different than the others in the way he spoke and the way he moved, especially with a woman whom he had seen reading in public and who had fled from him in tears. It said something that he had approached her a second time at all.
Having her curiosity on his presence somewhat sated, the servant needed to figure out how to respond. There was a possibility that Andrus expected the same submissive and overly-polite manner of the average maid and only seemed to enjoy the fact that she was somewhat abnormal. Chloe's eyebrows furrowed and relaxed in waves, her mouth working as her visitor spoke. He was hard to understand, hard to read... but perhaps it wouldn't hurt to open up just a bit. This was a man who had taken her by the hand and held her to his chest, after all. He had put his hands on her hips, and it still brought a little flutter to her chest.
"I know how to start a fire, milord," she replied, nodding softly, "I simply should not leave my station lest I get a scolding. Besides, the cold isn't so bad, don't you think?" The favor that Chloe had been working on was lifted, displaying a tiny, well-tied bow under even the most frozen hands. After a moment she noticed that the dangling ribbons were not identical, and so put it down to fix it before turning back to Andrus. She liked to believe that there had been more to the moments they had shared previously, rather than just some flight of fancy. She hoped that he was being kind and reasonable and somewhat untruthful in his explanation.
"I know that you meant no offense, milord. I'm sorry if I worried you." Her eyes flickered down to her lap, hands folding there, and then turned back up to the noble. "I enjoyed myself, Sir, if I may be so bold. I was just... overcome in a moment."
Briefly she thought back on the first time she had seen him, silhouetted to starkly against the rest of the crowd. It had been almost magical, and here he was again. Why not give him a chance? A smile crept slowly across Chloe's lips, her already flushed cheeks going warm.
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 3:02 pm
He almost added then, as a joke, that in that case she would be welcome to start his fires any time, and might have, if the socially correct voice in his head that his upbringing had drilled into him hadn't decided to mention that such a comment would likely only make the situation awkward instead of breaking the ice like it was meant to. It would be best, he reminded himself, to reserve such comments for more familiar company like Jordun, or perhaps even Kit. Certainly, he did not wish to make Chloe any more uncomfortable than she might already be.
"I suppose not. There is no snow in here, at the very least." he conceded. There didn't seem to be much need to push the issue, if Chloe didn't want a fire, but mentally he made a note to seek out one of the cooks before he left. Perhaps if someone brought the fire to her, she wouldn't object.
"I am pleased to hear that," he said, the light in his eyes dancing. "I was hoping you would. That was the whole purpose of the exercise." He hadn't, after all, really broken into dance simply to fulfill his own erratic whims. It had been years since his last impulsive adventure, and he wasn't quite as prone to random fancies as he had been in his childhood. No, his intentions had been quite unselfish that day, odd as it might have been for a member of a class that was notorious for getting its way, and only its way. That day had felt somewhat different, though, and full of possibility.
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 3:53 pm
His intention had been to overwhelm her? Initially Chloe was offended, but she thought on it a moment. Certainly this man who had now sought her out twice now did not mean to cause her harm. He would have gotten there by now, if that was the case. Perhaps he had simply meant to overwhelm her in the way that she had been at first, charmed and tingling and entirely lost in the moment. Yes, that must have been it. Simply remembering the moment was enough to make her belly flip.
For some reason, this development made the servant all the more comfortable in Andrus' presence. She still thought that he was a bit silly to try and insist that they were similar, but he was kind and impressive and most of all different. There was no reason to push him away if he was willing to chat. Adult friendships were hard for Chloe to form, let alone relationships with attractive noblemen.
"If I may ask, Sir, what is your business here at the home of the count of Alderin?" She still spoke properly, maintaining that ingrained politeness that would earn her a scolding if given away. Andrus was different, she sensed that much in him, but how different? It would be best to skirt the edge of indecency rather than dive right in with her natural personality. Everything in her wished that they were like the characters in her stories and that something was bubbling under the surface here.
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 4:11 pm
To be overwhelmed was such a beautiful thing, and far more intriguing than being underwhelmed. In the absence of both, life was simply... an existence, and there, Andrus found himself growing bored. It was remarkably easy to fall into a rut, to live the same day over and over again without any change, speaking to the same people, carrying the same conversations, riding the same roads day after day. It was safe and comfortable, and that made it all well and good, but some days simply required excitement.
"My business?" He echoed, almost surprised that she had thought to ask. Indeed, though, his recurring presence on the property was somewhat out of the ordinary, and under normal circumstances, he might have paid the Count and Countess a visit only once in several months. Most of their meetings would likely have occurred in public, perhaps at the theater, where so many of their class were like to be on any given night.
"I suppose you have heard that the guest of honor for this banquet you are helping to prepare is the Countess' daughter," he said after a pause. "The Countess has simply... requisitioned my assistance in light of her daughter's return. Although if I had to be frank, I would insist that I do not understand why. I couldn't tell her whether the flowers on her porcelain plates were bent the right way, or which type of pink matched her daughter's eyes."
Neither did he have much interest in telling the Countess such things, but there was no way to say so without unintentionally offending the poor woman or suggesting that he was rejecting her daughter before ever having met her. He had more or less done it the moment he had caught wind of the Countess' plans, but there was a more diplomatic way to do things, even if it demanded that he spend time pretending to admire porcelain and wall decorations.
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 4:28 pm
Chloe arched an eyebrow and her smile pushed to one side of her mouth. He didn't know, did he? If he did, he was doing a very good job of pretending to be a proper and kind gentleman. Indeed, he seemed to be much less excited than was at all proper once beyond the countess' eyes and Chloe was made to wonder if they were perhaps more similar than she had been willing to admit. It was beyond her why such scrutiny was necessary for a coming-home party. Sure, decorations were wonderful and even fun to put up, but when it became a chore rather than excitement what was the use? Parties were meant to be about celebration and friends and family, not showing up the folks down the road. The nobles' priorities seemed skewed, but wasn't that what made them who they were? Nobody expected a lord or lady to be particularly talented at debate or meaningful discussion, nor to hold much respect for others or have particular skill in saving money.
"So you are set to be the girl's suitor?" Chloe asked, knowing that any particularly noble folks would take offense and be done with her immediately. It was a good test, if nothing else, for Andrus' senses of propriety. She wanted nothing more than to have a good conversation, to feel just a little twinge of that closeness that he had offered upon their first meeting. Please be different, Stormy Eyes, please... ? "Or perhaps the countess wishes that this were years ago so she could make it certain. Claudia must be very excited." There was a bit of a jovial tone to her voice, and she continued about making favors.
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 6:26 am
The talk of suitors was a sensitive one when it came to the upper class. Until the arrangements had been set in stone, it always seemed best not to mention anything to avoid the rampant rumors that would start, especially when those arrangements would most likely not be made in the first place. His first instinct was to deflect the question, answer with something vague and subtly change the subject. And he might have, but for the realization that his instinctive fears might be unfounded. Chloe was not likely to engage in gossip sessions with the Countess, after all.
"That's not the official story," he said finally, reluctant to shed the wrong light on the situation even if he did discuss it. This was something he would have liked to share with his brother, but Jordun had been absent from Darrowdown for several years and they rarely discussed sensitive matters by mail. "To be honest, I might rather keep it that way."
For all that he told himself it wouldn't happen, though, a fair bit of it depended on his mother. She had considerable influence over the situation, much as he hated to admit it, and if she was determined to push the arrangement, she would. He could only hope that she had not decided it was time he took a bride. Andrus was happy to play the role of socializing gentleman and harmlessly flirt with all the right ladies when it was required of him, but marriage was permanent and something he found himself shying away from more often than not. He had seen his mother suffer enough to hope he never left a lady in the same situation.
"I couldn't tell you how she was feeling," he added with a wry smile. "I've never met her before." And he almost hated to be shallow, but he couldn't tell Chloe what she looked like either. That was almost as nerve-wracking as the prospect of being trapped in a joyless marriage for the rest of his life.
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Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2012 7:15 pm
Chloe's face tilted slightly upward, a substitute for a rude raise of the eyebrows. She knew that nobles often arranged marriages, even as the tradition became somewhat dated, but she had never imagined that Andrus would not have even met the young woman before her coming-home gala. Of course, she was jumping the gun a mite when it came to assuming the countess' intentions. Perhaps she was simply trying to introduce the two and see if love would blossom rather than force a relationship for some sort of personal gain. The maid wondered suddenly just how influential of a family Andrus hailed from. She did not pay much attention to the nobles' business unless it was how they preferred their floors scrubbed, and so she had never heard the name 'Kinross' before. It meant nothing in the long run. Andrus could easily have been from a family more influential than the law. A speck of worry crept into her chest, but it disappeared as suddenly as it had come. He could be from anywhere and born of anyone. He was still different.
"Well, I hear that she is a rather beautiful young lady, if the servants are to be believed," Chloe reassured her company, although she had heard no such thing. It was time to change the subject. Andrus was clearly at least minutely upset about the likely setup between himself and the absent Claudia. She almost wished that she could see their first exchange take place, however.
Unfortunately for the redhead, her mind went again on one of its wandering sprees. She was comfortable now with the gentleman before her. As her thoughts wandered she turned back down toward her favors, and when she turned up again her brows were slightly furrowed. "What is it about you, I wonder? I saw you in the park, and only you. Strange that you should continue to appear in my life."
Knowing that what she said was a bit odd, she countered with something else entirely unrelated. "The countess is asking your opinion of the decorations? Is it common of noblemen to have interest in such things? I certainly didn't think so."
She was talking far too much, she realized. She had work to do. This was no friendly holiday call. Lord Kinross had merely happened to wander into the room... which went along with her suspicion of him arriving where ever she found herself. She turned back to her bow-tying and favor-wrapping, turning her gaze up respectfully whenever Andrus spoke. It was not simply social expectation, but she was truly interested in whatever the man had to say. They saw one another rarely and he was her window into the world of the nobles.
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Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 8:45 am
"Is she?" He nodded. "She's fortunate, then." Looks were never the key factor in marriages in their world, but a beautiful lady would naturally have more suitors. Many of them would undoubtedly be idealists who fancied their chances at love, but there were just as many well-titled men who needed neither wealth nor someone else's name and who simply wanted a beautiful woman to keep them company. Claudia's future was set, if indeed she was beautiful, only not quickly enough for her mother's liking.
"I'm still not like to marry her, though," he said without quite thinking, and immediately regretted saying so. Perhaps he had forgotten whose company he was in, or perhaps he simply wished the potential arrangement to fail that badly. In either case, there was no retracting what he had said. Andrus shook his head, seeking his next words with much more care. "Not that I ever mentioned such a thing."
The change in subject came as a welcome distraction. It certainly was strange, and he could have said the same of her as well. They seemed to have a certain affinity for finding each other - or rather, he for finding her. "Coincidence." Andrus shrugged, which he did rarely. His father did not approve of vagueness and Oban used to snap at him and assure him that shrugging was neither here nor there and would not be tolerated in his presence. "Or perhaps your parents are attempting an arrangement similar to that of the Countess," he joked with a devilish smile.
"Decorations?" He echoed. "No, I don't suppose we do. I imagine the Countess was simply trying to interest me one way or another, though she didn't choose the most fitting way to do so." Bows were, after all, just bows to him but the Countess seemed to think that there were bows, and then there were bows. He did not claim to understand.
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:25 pm
A brow quirked up as Andrus spoke of the engagement in such a fashion. While generally the young man spoke freely, he seemed somewhat guarded in this respect. Perhaps engagements were of more importance than Chloe had imagined beyond the obvious life-long commitment. It was reasonable for him to not share with a servant of the countess. If she did have an interest in setting the lord up with her daughter, there was a chance that any lavish gossip would make it to her ears sooner or later. Of course, Chloe had no personal loyalty to the countess nor to any of the other maids. Perhaps if she was a more spiteful person she might have given him a reason to worry, or if his little act upon their last meeting had affected her in a more negative way. It was now a very free-spirited and positive, uplifting memory that she would not have traded for many things. Even if he did end up falling for the potentially luscious and charming young Claudia, the red-haired orphan would always have their dance. The thought struck her as rather stricken with unreasonable romance and she colored slightly beneath her winter flush.
At the mention of a parental influence, Chloe could only smile and peer down at her feet. It was not unreasonable to assume that everyone you met had parents in such a world as this and so she took no offense. It would simply not do to burden Andrus with her own problems either, even with him being as open as he had been in the past. Nobody wanted to hear a sob story and, most times, she had no interest in sharing either. Were her parents still alive, Chloe was one year from her coming-out. She would have been now finishing traditional school and have a more decent understanding of appropriate social graces and the feminine arts. They were not, and she was not. The chances of her finding a beau in her lifetime were not good.
Once again she turned up an shook her head gently, the smile still lingering on her lips. "You're an odd duck, Lord Kinross. I would not be surprised if the countess had no idea how to entertain you, even with her extravagant social history. All she has to bring you is a particularly flighty maid, for certain." Her smile turned only slightly wicked. Let the lord see that she was not so prim and proper and see if he ran then. Perhaps he found a woman with an imagination to be attractive, but what of one that was willing to jest?
"I can assure you that there is no such arrangement, by the way. Certainly I would not have been allowed to read in a public park to first meet my intended suitor. Certainly I would have had at least a bouquet of flowers to woo you properly." Now finished with her last favor she continued on to another, her fingers feeling warmer in the company of her... oh, whatever Andrus was. The multitasking was getting simpler as she relaxed into a comfortable realm of inappropriate conversation. "Truly, milord, you stood out from even the trees as you stood there... scolding your driver or whatever you were doing at the time. It startled me."
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 10:19 am
If Andrus had known the reason for her blush, he might have told her that their dance was not just special to her. He remembered it just as well as she did, and it was a fond memory for him as well. There were moments when he still wondered what exactly had driven her to flee from him afterward, and he might have asked had their current conversation not seemed to be going so smoothly. He was loathe to bring up anything that might intercede.
"Perhaps I am an odd duck, Chloe," he conceded, matching her devilish smile stride for stride with his own grin. It was a change, to be certain, to talk to a woman who was prepared to give as good as she got and one that he took well in stride. Change was what kept them all on their toes, after all, and Andrus had never been one to enjoy the same parties thrown by the same people over and over and over again. "Then it seems I have a certain attraction for flighty creatures, does it not?"
She reminded him of Jordun. Not of him, per se, but what he had had with his younger brother, an openness that didn't exist in many other relationships among members of the upper class. The gossip and cutthroat nature of the nobility put a damper on much of the potential for such friendships to develop. With Chloe, it was simply... different. Perhaps in part it was the very fact that they were from two worlds. What he could tell her, or she him, that could be spread through their respective worlds? Would it matter? He didn't know, almost didn't want to know or overthink it. She deserved more than that, more than the petty and calculating analysis that seemed rampant in upper class relationships.
"Ah, but that is where they are wrong," he lamented, studying her deft movements with the ribbons and bows. "I noticed you. Your book did you more good than any bouquet of flowers might have done." He leaned closer, as if to impart a whispered secret to her. "Men aren't so easily wooed with flowers. We can't tell one flower from the next." A book, though... a book was different.
Andrus straightened and smiled again, shaking his head. "It must have been my impolitely raised voice, then," he decided. "That was quite terrible of me. I was quite late, though, you must grant me that at least."
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