Dinner with a Werewolf

[IamLEAM1983]

"I pray you never have to," he replied, sighing more out of comedic familial exasperation than out of an honest desire.

"You see," he explained, "he disapproves of me. How could anyone disapprove of Archibald Aloysius Holden is beyond me," he said, briefly faking a pretentious attitude, "but I suspect yesterday's dashing spy is today's crusty social conservative. It doesn't change the fact that to Forsythe, I'll always be that anti-conformist young fool who refused to follow the family's traditions and who was reckless enough to go and give the War of the Fifth Coalition a try... Nevermind that I was balding by the time I died and could have been the father of a young whelp of my own, at this point."

He then rolled his eyes. "And yes, he honestly is called Forsythe. Whatever you do, do not refer to him as Jughead, even if my own name is rather fitting for this particular comparison."

There was a pause. "Unless, of course, your second name happens to be Veronica."

[TennyoCeres84]

While knowing he was being rhetorical, Crystal chuckled. "My middle name is Rose," she explained. "Though, I'm sure your uncle would dismiss the thought of my being a proper lady. Some traditions need to be broken, as progress would never occur."

[IamLEAM1983]

"I would agree, but not all of us immortals are socially malleable," he nuanced. "Dinner dates are one thing, while text messages and IM systems are another. I do have my limits, after all. Uncle, however? I wouldn't be surprised if he honestly missed the days of gaslight and cobblestones. I wouldn't put it past him to criticize me for choosing a supposedly unladylike partner."

He shrugged. "That would be his own sodding problem, obviously. I, on the other hand, can only appreciate the beautiful irony of a werewolf being named Crystal Rose."

A smirk touched his face. "Such a delicate name for such a capable and fearsome individual... Not that you would frighten me, of course, but the idea of sharing a hunt with you could very well be an intriguing prospect."

[TennyoCeres84]

Crystal smirked. "That is an interesting prospect, even though hunting's a rarity for me. Just no horses, silly red coats, or French horns. Besides, I find hunting with guns boring. They're good for self-defense when you're on duty, but I have to hold back an eye-roll when one of my officers brags about bringing down a large buck and how he's going to mount the head on his wall along with all his other trophies. It's wasteful and tacky," she commented, then realizing the lord had animal heads from his days of hunting. She visibly winced and regretted her words, leaving her face to meet her palm.

[IamLEAM1983]

"Oh, oh no! It's quite alright!" he gently protested. "I understand your criticisms, as I've seen far too many hunters take to the fields if only for these very heads you spoke of. In my family, however, and in my kitchen? If a beast was felled by my father or by myself, every inch of it was put to some amount of use. Even in generations past, I carefully monitored deer populations outside of the city. Those animals I killed were split between my cooks and the Bucks' tannery and their pelt resellers. The nerves were dried and used as rope where applicable. Before gaslight, every ounce of animal fat was carefully preserved. After gaslight, it was broken down into a component of our animals' shared food supplies."

He gave her an earnest smile. "Trust me, I've never been one to take to sport without the tiniest form of an environmental conscience. None of it was perfect, of course, the time's technologies being what they were, but I was held in higher respect by Canterbury's rangers, as a lad, than my father's usual hunting accomplices. These boorish idiots left proud stags to rot in clearings and thought nothing of leaving orphan fawns to die. Oh, do I remember Mother's face after some of these expeditions - how did we balk!"

Archie shook his head. "There were four of us, and the servants never officially ate from our own groceries. Whenever my father made an affair out of his end-of-season hunting, we'd be saddled with an overabundance of venison. The end result was us being forced to bend conventions and to allow the help to liberally swipe red meat from our larders. When he took to the woods alone, we had enough to complement our reserves for the winter, and not one deer head more."

[TennyoCeres84]

"Good. It's nice to know that breeding of yours has some practicality to it," Crystal responded contemplatively, then smiling. "It's funny. Ever since we met during the fight against those Abominations, my wolf spirit showed a strong liking toward you. She generally watches over the lower-ranking officers like one would with packmembers with a general protectiveness, but she's been getting good vibes from you."

[IamLEAM1983]

"Good," replied Archie, stapling perhaps just a bit of sudden Victorian countenance to his poise for the sake of humor. "I couldn't say I happen to be looking forward to getting scrapes and scratch marks from the second most important lupine figure in town. If it ever damages my floors or my clothes with its claws, believe me, we will have words, it and I."

Despite the apparent severity of his tone, there was a twinkle playing in his eyes and a smirk hiding behind his mustache.

[TennyoCeres84]

"Oh, no worries. Your sacred floors and impeccable clothes shall remain unharmed," Crystal assuaged, smirking back. Her eyes briefly looked a little predatory, although not in any particularly harmful manner. "Though, there might be some scratching involved in other places at a future point in time, if you catch my drift," she teased, chuckling.

[IamLEAM1983]

Archie kept the teasing game going with an affected look of light mortification. "Mrs. Lowell, please, do contain yourself! What would poor old Lucius think of us, if we were to defile this wonderful setting by gallivanting about like young and eager servants left in a barn?!"

He then shifted to a more conspiratorial look, head bowed and eyes kept on Crystal's. "Not that I particularly care about what he thinks but - you know. Appearances and whatnot. Plus, we haven't even received our cups that we've already taken to whispering tantalizing innuendo. Shouldn't we at least wait for dessert? Then, at the very least, we could both preserve the facade of this having been strictly professional if some of our respective colleagues happen to be nosy."

The Clank let out a pleasant sigh. "Still, it has been a while since I've had the pleasure of regaling someone with the plate engravings my clothes usually keep covered. There is a certain mystique to realizing that an artisan's delicate work will only be seen in intimate circumstances. It makes me cherish my pectoral and abdominal designs just a mite more than the rest."

He then seemed to remember something. "Oh, of course; you've probably remained unaware of the design aesthetics that were common in my day... To put it simply, as we Automatons cannot feasibly obtain tattoos for ourselves or reproduce birthmarks our fleshly bodies displayed, some of us have a few surface plates swapped out for more fanciful designs. Someone apparently thought it fitting to cover me with a sailor's worth in various engravings, and I do suspect some of my Indian and Russian colleagues tossed a few suggestions around before my armature was built. A scant few were purchased and added by myself, as well.

If anything, I felt obliged to cover everything in a swath of harmless pastoral or floral details. My old vicar's Anglican sensibilities would be less shocked by the Masai design upon my left breast it if happened to be surreptitiously designed to look like an oak's branches and a few suspended acorns."

[TennyoCeres84]

Rolling her eyes, Lowell dismissed her teasing of the clank and smiled. "I like to rib people from time to time. I certainly won't push you into an amorous encounter that quickly, but it is amusing to see how you react."

She nodded at his explanation of the detailed artistry that could be found on the bodies of automatons. "You're right. I was unaware of the aesthetic choices of yesteryear's artisans when it came to adorning the chassis of a figure such as yourself. I'm intrigued at such a visual syncretization," Crystal noted.