The Hall, Dhemlan, Kaeleer, Monday Evening (Fandom Time)

[glacial_queen]

The Coach arrived on the landing web with a slight thump. Lucivar frowned a moment and then sighed. "So, I'm not a professional Coachman."

Karla looked up innocently. "I didn't say anything."

"But you were thinking it, witchling. I could tell." He hopped out of the Coach and opened the door for them, helping Karla out first. "Ready for your first view of SaDiablo Hall?" he rumbled at Warren.

From the landing web, only a side of the Hall could be seen, towering over acres of thick, lush lawns, gardens in a riot of colors, and even the hint of some not-so-distant woods.

"Show-off," Karla muttered, though she couldn't deny a bit of pride, either. "Let's go inside. They're probably waiting on us, I'm sure."

[Up late, but for SP goodness! Still for one, and nfb. Karla and Warren will be back on the island tonight.]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"Terrorizing Warren?" Karla huffed. "Terrorizing me is more like."

His offered arm got him a slight eyebrow quirk and a wry smile before she she slid her arm through his. "Aren't you just having tons of fun."

She tried to sound accusatory, but there was no hiding the relief in her posture or the concern in her eyes. She'd never admit it in a million years, but she often worried her Fandom friends wouldn't like her family.

[wwiii]

Well, Karla's family thus far certainly had Warren's family beat. And not in a bad way, fortunately.

"If I wasn't enjoying myself, I'd be halfway to Fandom again by now," he assured her. "This is fine."

[glacial_queen]

"You just like the puppy," Karla snarked. "Or have a fondness for pinpricks.

They followed Jaenelle and the kindred down the hall and back through the room that they'd come out of earlier. Through that room was yet another and then they were in one of the smaller, informal dining rooms, the one used most often when the coven and boyos were in residence.

Lucivar was there already, chatting with an older male, one who looked just slightly beyond his prime. His black hair had silver triangles at his temples and a pair of spectacles were worn over golden eyes. Next to them was a much younger male, thin and lightly muscled. Like Karla, he was pale, with white-blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes.

The three of them looked up at their entrance. Jaenelle headed to her customary seat, Ladvarian and Kaelas by her side.

It seemed silly to do introductions when it was easy to figure out who was who, but from Saetan's raised brow, it was clear she was expected to do so anyway. "High Lord, may I present my friend, Warren Worthington the third. Warren, this is Prince SaDiablo, High Lord of Hell and Warlord Prince of Dhemlan. Next to him is my cousin, Morton, future First Escort of my Court."

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

Saetan vanished his glasses, giving Warren a slight bow. "Welcome to our home, Lord Worthington. I hope you've enjoyed yourself today."

He shot a warm smile of amusement towards Jaenelle. "Karla has mentioned you in several of her letters. Though not, I believe, to the extent that she has done so with my daughter."

[glacial_queen]

"I write about all my friends," Karla said, sounding a bit exasperated.

[wwiii]

Warren, for the most part, seemed to be taking this in stride. So far, so good, and the fact that the most abrasive person he'd spoken with thus far was the other person with wings was doing wonders for his confidence.

In that he was confident that he'd leave without making too much of an ass of himself, at least.

"Well, I hope she's had good things to say," he replied, nodding his head slightly as he glanced at Karla. "About all of her friends, of course. And I have been enjoying my stay here so far, thank you. Kaeleer is very beautiful."

His basis for comparison was Fandom Island and the tops of a large number of buildings in New York, but his opinion stood.

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

Lucivar would be pleased to know that he was the most abrasive person that Warren had run into today.

Morton, on the other hand, was more than willing to give Lucivar a run for his money. He didn't have the Eyrien's natural flair for it, but he was willing to try nonetheless.

"None of my letters have mentioned you," he said, giving their linked arms a significant glance.

[glacial_queen]

"You know very well that all your letters are edited," Karla snapped. "It was your idea!"

The letters he received from her were very bland, boring, and signed with a different name. They both knew full well that his mail was being read.

As for his glance, it just made Karla hold on to Warren's arm more tightly. So there.

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

Morton shrugged. "You've still never explained who the male you're dancing with in those pictures is."

[glacial_queen]

"And you've never explained where you got those pictures from!"

Odds were Emma, but she wasn't the only possibility.

"It was Homecoming! I was a princess! Dancing was expected!"

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

"But you get so defensive about it," Morton retorted, slightly cheered by riling his cousin's temper.

"Also, no hug hello? I'm hurt."

[glacial_queen]

Karla stomped over to Morton, giving him a brusque hug. "Hello," she gritted out. "Jerk."

[glacial-warlord.livejournal.com]

It took another moment before Morton would let go. The strain that came from living alone in Glacia for the past two years fell away briefly as he held his cousin in his arms and verified once again that she was safe. Happy. Unbroken.

"You haven't been wearing your sunhat," he murmured into her hair.

Finally letting her go, he looked over at Warren, giving him a kind of chin-jerk of greeting. "Hey," he said.

[wwiii]

Hey, the chin-jerk really was the universal nod of tough males. Warren inclined his own chin in turn, much the same way. If this was going to turn into one of those contests of machismo, then he was game, sure.

"Hey," he returned, and then found himself smiling again, in spite of himself. "I can see she wasn't kidding, when she mentioned her family who so thoroughly looks out for her well-being."

[glacial_queen]

If it turned into some kind of contest, Karla could cheerfully smack the both of them in the head.

Males.

"That's a lovely spin on it," she said. "I called it fussing. Possibly even mother henning. Who nags about sun hats?"

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

"I do," Saetan, Lucivar, and Morton all said in unison.

"Well, as amusing as this has been," Saetan said mildly as Karla just threw up her hands, "why don't we sit down and pretend to be civilized for Karla's guest. It will be good practice, if nothing else."

[changeable-eyes.livejournal.com]

There were six chairs around the table; Jaenelle already sat at the foot and the head was clearly reserved for Saetan. Lucivar took the seat to Jaenelle's right and Morton sat next to him. Normally, Karla would take the seat to Jaenelle's left, but after a brief second of wordless communication between the two of them, Jaenelle turned towards Warren and gestured to the chair next to her.

"Please, come sit next to me and tell all sorts of stories about school that Karla would prefer you didn't," she offered. "Besides, I'm certain that Lucivar's been looking forward to grilling to about flying since you met."

[wwiii]

Warren hesitated for a moment, looking at the seat, and then looking across the table at Lucivar, and then at Janelle, and then, shrugging, he did sit down. Between the two girls, he realized, which would make for a very welcome buffer in the face of awkwardness that he could only hope wasn't radiating from him, at this point.

"Thank you," he replied, taking the offered spot with a nod. "Though I would hate to disappoint. I can't think of anything especially exciting about Fandom that she wouldn't feel comfortable sharing herself, I'm sure."

[hells-highlord.livejournal.com]

"I highly doubt that," Saetan said dryly. "I often have the most interesting conversations with her friends at times. For example, we so very rarely hear about any of the adventures she has directly from her. Or any of the invasions I have been informed your school occasionally undergoes."

[glacial_queen]

"I tell you things!" Karla said, slipping into the chair next to Warren. "Don't look at me like that," she added, glaring at Morton. "I was a stuffed animal for most of the last one. Wasn't in any danger at all."

The footmen carrying in trays of food made for a welcome distraction.

[wwiii]

"Right, no real danger," Warren said, glancing at Karla again, and then once again shrugging. "There hasn't been anything like that in a while. Mostly, it's just the weird little things. Squirrels, new students, the Vice Principal..."

Deadpool was in a category all his own.

"That sort of thing."

Hey, look! Trays of food!

[glacial_queen]

Karla gave him a grateful smile. "Things have been very quiet this summer anyway. Mostly parties and celebrations. Warren and I share our birthdays, actually. So that day had two parties, a surprise party for me and another for him."

[changeable-eyes.livejournal.com]

"I remember that," Jaenelle said, smiling. "You'd gotten him the coat from Aldric just a little before that, right?"

She paused as yet another footman filled the glasses in front of her, one with wine and another with water, then took a sip of the water. "Lucivar had given her the idea, after he'd spent all morning growling about none of his shirts fitting right."

[wwiii]

"It's hard, finding clothing that fits around wings," Warren pointed out, stretching his wing just slightly. "The coat is easily the gift that I got this year that's being put to the most use."

It beat cramming himself under that coat and harness, by a long shot.

[offers-choices.livejournal.com]

"Tell me about it, boyo." Lucivar snorted. He also flexed his wings a bit; reflex against the thought of having them confined under anything, even fabric.

If Warren told him about the harness, Lucivar would probably spend the next three days shuddering.

"Unless you're in Askavi, the Territory where most Eyriens make their homes, finding proper clothing is a right pain in the ass. Aldric might cost me a quart of blood every time I visit his shop, but it's worth it." Helping himself to the bowl of fluffy mashed potatoes that Holt had just set between them, he added, "What did your family do, all this time? At-home alterations?"

That's what Lucivar called his habit of 'cutting long slits in his shirts and calling it good.'