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Dino wasn't quite sure how he had managed to get so much tea in his kitchen. He knew his maid was bringing it in, claiming that it was good, and since he was good to her, he deserved it. Chai, black, white, green, herbal, rooibos....It was getting rather ridiculous if you asked him. Oh, and many fruity varieties of each one. He could run his own goddamn tea shop if he wanted at this rate.

It didn't help that as a joke, his butler had gone and bought three new tea sets.

Oh he was fine with them joking around and such, but now it was a little excessive. Even his newly hired chef was trying to come up with things to do with them. Wine would have been easier, you can do a lot with wine...But tea? Currently she was working up a storm with one of the many varie-teas of chai, some kind of creme desert he thought. But it didn't help he was expecting company....

His friend, his only friend, and fellow noble was going to be in town. And boy would Kian be in for a surprise. Dino was fairly sure it was going to turn in to a tea party. Maybe. Or he'd just have to throw a larger one soon.... He waited in the living room, stoking the fire just a bit to keep the room warm. He was supposed to be here soon, wasn't he?

As soon as the bell rung at the gate, Dino was trying to finish stoking the fire. By the time Kian made it in, he was just about done, though not quick enough to divert him from the rather...cluttered kitchen.

The cook was working up a storm, too busy trying to make chai tea in cream to be bothered to greet him. Canisters of tea were in every open space, including a rather magnificent stack on the kitchen table. Tea. Tea everywhere. Each, however, was clearly labeled, and there wasn't one that didn't sound absolutely whimsical or vaguely interesting. But where had it come from?

"Ah, Kian, my friend!" The voice sang out, Dino leaning against the door frame of the living room. "How was your trip? Safe I hope? I've heard unsettling rumors, though rumors they might just be." He stepped forward, smiling brightly. Four kisses, one on each cheek, one on the forehead, and one on the nose. "It is so good to see you. You've seen my newest collection?" He wrinkled his nose a little, looking over at the large amount of tea. "We're....trying to figure out something to do with it." He gave a rather nervous laugh, wringing his hands a little.

"So if you'd like some tea to drink, pretty much name it, we've got it. We're still sorting through what would be good for cooking or drinking..."

Dino let him go with a huge grin. It was customary for three kisses, but Kian, being his important guest, definitely deserved the fourth. Most definitely yes. "Oh it's fine! The fire is roaring, if you need to warm yourself up. And my lovely butler will take your coat." The butler was indeed standing at attention, ready to rid Kian of his extra layers.

"Ahh, I've heard a few things. Not very many, but word on the street is many have closed to go pay pilgrimage to the Wardwood." He sighed, shifting on his feet a little. "I have not gone. Perhaps it is because I'm foreign to these lands...But I have not seen one of these guardians your people speak of. I've heard plenty, but seeing is believing."

"Ah...The maid." The male wrung his hands a little more. "She found a seller of bulk tea, and...decided to get me a gift. More of a prank, if you ask me. And then my butler got me two tea sets to go with it." He wrinkled his nose a little at the older man beside Kian, though it quickly turned to a grin. He didn't hold a grudge against them, and didn't mind the teasing of his servants. "You say chai or jasmine, but what flavor?" It became even more evident that there was more there than any one household needed. "My cook is a lovely woman. She's trying to make things with them! But there are just some more suited to drinking than cooking...."

Dino doesn't seem the slightest bit bothered by the man flushing. It's quite normal, especially when he greets Kian. Perhaps the kisses are getting to him? He didn't even have the slightest idea that Kian perhaps had become one of the ranks in the chosen.

"Ah, I wouldn't say making fun of me." He himself rubbed the back of his neck, laughing the slightest bit. "Just being a little overeager. You don't really have to talk to her, I'm fine with it...Really." He assures his friend, hands up in the air defensively. The woman was someone he trusted....And if Kian took up another battle with her, he feared he might lose her at last. The woman even teases him more about not flirting enough with the ladies....But he suspects she knows why, and is in no way going to tell.

"Anything? Including the chocolate mint herbal blend?" Dino teases, shrugging with a bit of flair that he's always had. "Fine, I'll choose something to warm you up. You're going to need it, the cold seeps into the bones, I swear." He does, however, stop at the mention of perhaps traveling to the Wardwood. "I....uh...." He mumbles, thinking it over. "I'm not sure what to think of the rumors, to be honest....And I...I don't do well int he cold." With that, he disappears to the kitchen, and there's the obvious sound of canisters being moved about.

Dino was about to object to Kian not resting. Why, he wasn't sure. Surely the man had arrived by carriage, and hadn't had to lift more than a finger for his trip. He did, however, shoot a glare behind his shoulder as he finally picked out two specific blends, and gave a huff. "I'm not scared. I just don't like to be out in the cold. Wolves be damned, I'd manage to skin one. From the inside out!" He wasn't being serious. No way.

Looking between the two canisters in his hand, he held them out to Kian. One was a chocolate chai, the other a cherry white. "Either of these?" He frowned, tilting his head to the side. "And yes, perhaps I should. I'd need more tea sets...Though I could give them away as a gift for coming....And the dames would flock to my residence." There was a frown this time at that.

"I'm from somewhere where we take pride in our heritage!" It was clear he was bluffing about the skinning, but not about the pride. He was a Prazina after all. Though he was probably long forgotten, and the name didn't carry much weight here in Sunderland....

Dino turned bright pink and stared at Kian for a while, finally letting out a sigh. "Like any would be interested." He mumbled, taking the canister and handed it off to his chef with a few words Kian hadn't really heard before. It wasn't English, no, but she understood quite obviously, and got to work boiling some water. "Come. We can sit and wait by the fire."

"I can't.....I just...." Dino let himself lounge in an armchair, sitting sidewise in it with his legs hanging over the side. He gazed up at the ceiling for a while, making various faces, obviously in thought. "Fine. But then you have to make an effort too." The mischievous smirk was back. "No way I'm letting you do this to me without the same happening. But I still doubt anyone would be remotely interested. No way."

He did perk up a little about Kian's last question, happy to get the topic aside. "Oh, nothing much has happened...." He trailed off. "Dames, still flighty and frightened as always. Got told off by one. She packed a punch, let me tell you. Redheads." There was the slightest laugh to that, he wasn't too upset by it. "But otherwise, it's been slow. No parties. No one's really coming out of their homes after the rumors started and all....How about you?"

"Yes an effort for you! I'm not the only one who has a lack of friends." Oh Dino went there. He could tell Kian was thinking it. "But she dropped her glove...And she was cute. I couldn't help but keep up appearances." He laughed. "No kisses though. Those are reserved for only those most important to me." And Kian being his only friend, he was pretty high up on the list. "Not that it isn't polite. At least where I come from."

"Pah...." Dino was clearly avoiding the party idea, "Like anyone would bother to come besides the usual lot? They'd be disappointed at the lack of wine. Been trying to turn over a new leaf. Plus they're all scared white by the talk of disappearances and wolves about."