On one hand, Lucius found it unfair that Damien considered her too strange to be around people, but on the other he also understood his reasoning. Any immortal with seemingly horrifying resources should not be approached without caution.

"What did she say?"

Lucius flinched, and turned his head to look at Damien, whose cold gaze had been dyed with dread.

"Nothing of your interest." Lucius beamed at him with a gentle shrug. "We've never spoken before, but she's a member of your organisation so I wanted to get to know her better."

"That's not necessary," Damien answered before Lucius had ended his sentence. "She's rarely around, and any matters she's involved in will only concern me."

"But she's so pleasant to be around." The corner of Lucius' mouth quirked. "It was nice talking to her."

Damien didn't look quite so amused.

"And what was this pleasant conversation about?"

Lucius arched his eyebrows, having no intention to give Damien even the slightest hint of information.

"Mainly my breasts, as ladies do." He tilted his head. "And as I said before, it should be nothing of your interest. Even less so, your business."

Damien looked as though he didn't know what to think. He didn't seem particularly flustered, possibly because it was a very Catherine thing to do, but there was also no way he believed that had been the actual topic.

Lucius' gaze fell to the ground.

Or was there? Lucius hadn't spent enough time with ladies of the upper class, and Eliza knew he was a man. Did ladies discuss those topics? Was that a thing?

He raised his head. Eliza. He'd been held up by Catherine long enough to have no idea if she and Samueli had succeeded with their heist.

"Excuse me," he said to Damien before walking off to look around. To his relief he found Samueli rather quickly. To his horror he did not find Eliza, and Samueli was surrounded by a number of wealthy people.

To his surprise though, it seemed like they were actually having a pleasant conversation, and as Samueli noticed Lucius approaching the others turned their eyes in his direction as well.

"Oh no," Lucius whispered under his breath as he confirmed one of the men to be Lord Clausson. If Frey was indeed a cockatoo on his father's shoulder, he would have realised Samueli's unlikely presence there already.

"Ah, Lady Cromwell," Lord Clausson acknowledged with a nod before looking over Lucius' shoulder. "And Lord Hargreaves. What luck to have you both here at the same time."

Lucius wanted to turn his head and glare at the man who'd apparently followed him.

"I was just speaking to Mr. Faal here," Lord Clausson continued before he could do so, redirecting Lucius' attention to Samueli, who pinched his lips together. "I hear he's an old friend of your family?"

"Yes..." Lucius tried to find any hint in Samueli's expression to indicate where Eliza was, receiving none, however, he focused back on the conversation. "Yes, of course. You could even say he's been a father figure to me growing up."

Unless the two-faced manipulation was a hereditary trait, it seemed like Claus hadn't noticed anything off about Samueli, and before he could go on Lucius directed the attention elsewhere.

"I met Frey earlier. Is it really all right for him to be running off on his own? I thought he would spend the evening with you."

"Well, we keep an eye on him." Claus shrugged and nodded his head over to the lady next to him. With a closer look, Lucius would not have needed an introduction to see that she and Frey were related, though much like her husband she looked surprisingly young for being Frey's parent. "These types of gatherings tend to overwhelm him though, so he's retreated to his room for a while."

"He's spoken very fondly of you, Lady Cromwell," the woman said, not without a raised eyebrow. "You must have a knack for befriending children."

Lucius tried to mask the discomfort in his laugh. The lady had no intention of hiding her disapproval of an adult spending so much time with her son. With every right, Lucius supposed.

"You must be Lady Clausson," he said as his laugh died down, with as charming of a smile as he could muster.

"Valdís Magnúsdóttir," she corrected him, and Lucius suspected his lacking knowledge had decreased her respect for him further.

"Oh..." His eyes flickered in Samueli's direction for help, receiving a confused shake of the head as reply. "... My apologies."

How could he turn that poor first impression around? Claus was the town chief of course, but it would be a bad idea to be on poor terms with his wife.

His mind wandered back to Catherine, but he doubted any subject they'd discussed would be applicable in a non supernatural environment.

Unless ladies really did talk about each other's breasts, he supposed, and unthinkingly lowered his gaze from Valdís' eyes. Regardless, what would he say? Was size something to address, like Catherine had? And he assumed it was more of a private discussion, so bringing it up at the moment was probably a no no.

"Lady Cromwell?"

Lucius' eyes shot back up again to Valdís' face.

"Yes?"

"I was telling you that it happens a lot, so don't worry." Valdís' voice had softened, but the confused wrinkle on her forehead suggested she'd noticed the location of Lucius' stare. "I am pleased to meet you, of course."

"We were talking with Mr. Faal here earlier about how impressed we are with your initiatives," Claus gestured from Samueli to Lucius, almost spilling the drink in his hand, and Lucius suspected the man was a bit tipsy at the moment. "From what I hear, that soap making event was a big success, and I could not be happier to have contributed."

"It was a generous donation, Lord Clausson and Lady Magnúsdóttir." Lucius smiled contently as he seemed to have gotten the last name right. "We would never have gotten a hold of so much tallow for the event. And I hear you even sent oils."

"We value cleanliness a lot in West Kerilia," Valdís said, now even showing a faint smile. "I'm happy to see others do the same."

Lucius thought back to Frey's undesirable glove display. Perhaps a little too fixated on cleanliness.

"Oh, look!" Claus said as two young girls ran up to him. "Here are the other two."

"The..." Lucius blinked at the new additions to their conversation, including what seemed to be a maid following the two children.

"Lady Cromwell, this is Annarósa and Sigveig." Claus patted the two on their shoulders. "We couldn't just leave them at home when their older brother was allowed to come. I'm certain you won't mind."

"Oh..." Lucius said, looking from one rosy-cheeked girl to another with rising terror. "... There's more of them."

He looked up at Claus again before his sentence could be interpreted correctly.

"How wonderful, and such lovely girls."

"Pleased to meet you," the eldest, presumably Annarósa, replied with a grin missing one tooth, and her sister nodded in agreement. "Your dress is very pretty."

"Ah, how nice of you to say." Lucius breathed out. Perhaps these two were slightly more likeable than their brother. "I love your dresses as well."

The girls smiled, and then Annarósa turned to her father.

"Can we go now?"

"If you're tired you can go rest in our room, but your mother and I need to stay." Claus gestured to the maid. "Hildur will assist you."

Annarósa scrunched up her nose in a grimace, but took her sister's arm to walk away with her.

"So precious." Lucius smiled sheepishly as they watched them leave, and Claus arched his eyebrows.

"Should we expect you to have some as well in the near future?" he asked, and Lucius clenched his jaw to hide his dismay.

"I— I don't..."

"Your position is most commonly passed down to the next family member, so I would have expected as much." Claus tilted his head as he noticed Lucius' uncertainty. "At the very least, I believe Lord Hargreaves does."

It was a good thing Lucius' jaw was already locked in place, or he would have dropped his act entirely with a scream. Instead he turned his head to look at Damien who'd begun a discussion with the other, unknown lord of the group.

"Well... I haven't quite said yes yet, and, um... Lord Hargreaves already has a son, so it would be a bit strange, I think."

"Yes, that whole situation has been rather confusing." Claus nodded in agreement. "And the younger Lord Hargreaves held your position before, so one would think he'd be more suitable for you."

Lucius couldn't agree more. If only he could say it.

"Well... The younger Lord Hargreaves has more of a fondness for men, so marrying a woman and, you know, the child-making process, would be asking a lot of him."

Claus kept nodding, this time seemingly in thought.

"That is true, of course."

"Yes..." Valdís agreed, though she'd narrowed her eyes into an inquisitive stare at Lucius. "... Of course one would object to marriage, even if political, under such circumstances."

Lucius didn't dare move a muscle. What was she doing? Why was she looking at him like that? Of course he didn't want to marry Damien, but why was that fact coming up—

Oh.

He considered his inappropriate staring earlier, and the fact that a woman in his position wouldn't normally decline Damien's offer as she'd lose her power, yet Lucia hesitated. Didn't even seem interested at all.

His eyes wandered to the man who'd spotted him with Catherine earlier, and concluded that this feast would conjure a rather unexpected rumour regarding Lucia.

"At least we know Lord Hargreaves must have some form of interest in women though," Claus said, loud enough to get Damien's attention. "At least enough to produce one offspring."

"And one is enough for me, Lord Clausson," Damien replied, and Lucius envied his ability to be cold without facing social execution.

"Oh, you're missing out," Claus objected with a laugh. "Children are blessings!"

Lucius and Damien exchanged a rare look of agreement that Lord Clausson should not get to say that.

"And Lady Cromwell is such a promising lady too, at such a young age," Claus continued. "Did you hear about all the events she arranged earlier today? So inspiring!"

"I did," was all Damien's murderous voice had to say about it, and Lucius did a smug victory dance in his mind.

"Lord Clausson, I don't mean to intrude, but the situation in Rana is rather urgent, as I told you," the unintroduced lord butted in, and Claus looked at him as if having forgotten he was there.

"Ah, that's right!" He turned to Lucius one last time. "My apologies, but I have some matters to discuss with Lord Carrigan before the evening's over, so you'll have to excuse us."

Perhaps it was the intoxication, but the Lord Clausson currently walking away certainly didn't seem like the stern, business type of authority that the Hargreaveses were. Still, if theories were true and Frey had taken after him, there had to be a more sinister side in there as well.

Unless Frey was manipulating his father as well, and the bratty fluff of nightmares was the one actually in charge in West Kerilia.

"Maybe you're the cockatoo" Lucius whispered after Lord Clausson, low enough so he wouldn't hear, then chuckled to himself at the idea.

Then someone cleared their throat, and Lucius flinched.

"Lord Hargreaves," he said with poorly hidden disappointment. "You're still here."

"Their current business does not concern me." Damien's eyebrows were raised, likely having heard the cockatoo comment. "Yet, I have many other concerns at the moment."

"Oh, don't be jealous just because Lord Clausson likes me." Lucius flicked his wrist with a sophisticated chuckle. "It's not like he can stop doing business with you."

"I get the feeling you're trying to do your job alone after all, despite your inexperience," Damien began, but Lucius tuned out the rest of it as he'd spotted Samueli, who'd slowly made his way closer to the kitchen and was now giving Lucius a nod towards it.

"I'm most certain you're wrong, but unfortunately we will have to save this conversation for later," he interrupted Damien before striding off.

Eliza had to be stuck in there for some reason, or she would have been out a long time ago. Either she'd grabbed food instead of wine and been found out and was being interrogated, or she'd found no way to get out of there unnoticed without Samueli's help. But if so, why hadn't she just abandoned her mission, grabbed the wine for Catherine, and left?

"Maybe one of us will have to go in there and get her," Samueli whispered as the two of them reached each other. "Since you'll stand out, perhaps it should be me?"

"I think both of us would stand out." Lucius made a face. "But if I can distract the workers for a while you could sneak inside and just pull her out of there as quickly as possible."

Samueli nodded comprehensively.

"Sounds good."

"No, it sounds terrible." Frey said as he appeared next to them, and Lucius groaned.

"Your father said you'd curled up and hidden somewhere, why couldn't you keep doing that?"

Frey did not reply to this.

"Just... Go away." Lucius tried to shoo him with his hand. "If you don't like what we're doing, you don't have to watch."

"We need Lucia," Frey reminded him, expression that of a tombstone. "I don't know how, but you need to be able to do it alone. You can't marry Damien and give him access to your authority, so I'm asking you nicely to just try to not upset people."

"Alright." Lucius sighed. "I know this may have been a bad idea, but I need to sort it out."

Frey's accusatory glare remained as he eyed the men in front of him, but he drew a breath through his nose and released a resigned sigh.

"What do you need to do?"

Lucius raised his eyebrows, having not expected that development. Still, he saw the opportunity.

"Come with me." He grabbed Frey's hand and held it firm enough to resist struggling before heading towards the kitchen area, nodding for Samueli to come along.

"I never said I was going to help," Frey hissed as they stopped right before the corridor where servants passed through, but Lucius ignored him.

"Will you fetch the cook for me?" he instead asked a kitchen maid on her way back from the hall.

"Oh, uh... Certainly, Lady Cromwell." She looked around as if still not sure Lucius was addressing her, but nodded before disappearing into the corridor.

"What the Waste are you doing?" Frey snapped again. "You don't go over here to personally talk to servants, you—"

"Here's the thing," Lucius interrupted with a finger against Frey's mouth, instantly regretting it because it looked like the boy was about to bite it clean off. "Eliza's in there and we most likely need to get her out without anyone noticing, so Sam is going to sneak inside and get her while the staff isn't looking."

It was a new experience to see Frey's expression turn into one of confused remorse, but Lucius shrugged it off with a smile right as a cheerful woman of commendable height came up to them.

"Lady Cromwell, this is certainly a surprise!" Then she blinked as she recognized Frey. "And... Young Lord Clausson?"

"I don't mean to trouble you while you're busy, Mrs..." Lucius trailed off, awaiting an answer and hoping dearly that he wasn't supposed to know the BBT staff's names.

"Oh, Yanagi, my Lady," the woman replied, and Lucius' eyebrows shot up without him noticing.

"Yanagi?" he asked, finding it unlikely that there could be that many Yanagis in South Kerilia, and so concluding that this had to be a relative to Telmo, daring to assume it was her mother.

Mrs. Yanagi blinked.

"Is there a problem?"

"No no, just making sure I heard it right." Lucius smiled, and then pushed Frey forward. "We're just here because young Lord Clausson wanted to ask about the dessert."

"Oh?" Mrs. Yanagi turned her attention to Frey. "It must be quite the concern for you to come here in person."

"Yes, he's worried there will be no available options for him, seeing how he's terribly allergic," Lucius answered in his place, and while the boy said nothing Lucius sensed a hostile presence wanting to choke the life out of him.

Mrs. Yanagi looked genuinely concerned.

"Oh no, to what?"

"Uh..." Lucius spared Samueli a glance as he walked past them with a half empty tray of unknown origin.

"Flour," was the first thing that came to his mind. "... And eggs."

"Poor thing." Mrs. Yanagi shook her head. "It must be tough on you."

"Right? Just look at him." Lucius pinched Frey's cheek, simultaneously feeling Frey's soul leave his body for a second. "There's barely anything to pinch. Not at all acceptable for a boy his age, is it?"

"Certainly not," Mrs. Yanagi agreed, and to Lucius' immense pleasure she crouched down a little when addressing Frey. "But you know what? If you'd like, we'd be happy to whip something together for you."

"That sounds wonderful!" Lucius ruffled Frey's hair. "Doesn't it, Frey?"

There was a short moment, barely a heartbeat, but long enough for Lucius to note that Frey's smile failed to appear in an instant.

"Yes, that would be so kind of you!" He beamed as soon as his facade caught up with him, and Lucius let himself be impressed instead of horrified for once. "I'm certain whatever you come up with will be delicious!"

"Now, now." Lucius grabbed hold of him again before he could retreat. "What would your father say if you settled for anything but the best? I think we need to hear some options, don't you?"

Frey laughed softly, and the fact that Lucius couldn't see the murder in his eyes when it clearly was there in spirit was alarming.

"Mrs. Yanagi is the cook of the BBT. I have faith that what she chooses will be the best one."

"Always so modest." Lucius exaggerated a sigh and pinched both Frey's cheeks this time. Hard. "Everyone knows you're picky about food. It should certainly not be a secret to her. You should at least hear some of the options."

"I dried some fruit just a few days ago," Mrs. Yanagi suggested. "With whipped cream perhaps?"

"Or merengue," Lucius suggested. "That's a good one, right?"

"Of course, had I not been terribly allergic to eggs, that is." Frey sent Lucius a pleasant glance surely meant to slaughter him. "As you know."

Lucius hummed, never really having considered how merengue was made.

"Chocolate then?"

"Sounds lovely." Frey tried pulling away. "Make something with chocolate."

Lucius glanced towards the kitchen, hoping that Samueli and Eliza would have appeared, but like many other instances in his life, he was disappointed.

"No, wait," he therefore said, once again digging his nails into Frey's arm. "That's no good either."

"But I love chocolate," a suffering Frey tried, masking his desperation to get away. "And Mrs. Yanagi needs to get back to work."

"It's your love for chocolate that's the problem." Lucius shook his head with a pitying frown. "You know how your skin gets."

He turned to Mrs. Yanagi as well.

"Boys his age and skin problems, you know."

Frey almost broke character. His gaze darted between Lucius and Mrs. Yanagi while opening his mouth, clearly about to object and most likely go on a vain rant to boot.

But he closed his mouth, and let out a soft laugh instead.

"I believe my skin is as impeccable as always, Lady Cromwell, but thank you for—"

"Because you haven't had chocolate in a long time!" Lucius patted his shoulder. "See? It's working."

Even without Frey kicking Lucius to the ground before discarding his shoes in revulsion, Mrs. Yanagi seemed to sense the tension rising, and gently cleared her throat.

"Fruits and cream then?"

"Well on second thought I believe cream might be just as bad." Lucius grabbed Frey's chin to inspect his face while actually focusing his sight on the kitchen doorway. "See here, around his nose, and along his hairline. What would his father say if I began stuffing cream down his throat?"

A little while longer of pointing out, frustratingly enough, non-existent blemishes in a quietly dying child's face, Lucius finally noticed Samueli appearing from the kitchen, and he let go.

"Just dried fruit will be fine, I believe."

Then he patted Frey's shoulder again and the two turned around to walk away just after Samueli had passed by.

But where was Eliza?

"What happened?" he whispered to Samueli once they'd gotten far enough. "Where is she?"

"I couldn't find her." Samueli looked around at the crowd. "She must have left while we were distracted."

Lucius sucked air through his teeth.

"Is that a good thing, or a bad?"

"Remains to be seen." Samueli made a face as well. "We should hurry up and look for her still."

"Oh well, looks like it was all for nothing then, young Lord Clausson." Lucius rolled his head to the side and shot Frey a smug look. "But I admit I'm impressed by—"

"Let go of me." Frey's eyes were fixed forward, and there was a visible tension in his neck. His free hand had dug its nails into his arm in an unmistakably painful grip, and Lucius' smugness faded slightly.

"Of course," he said, having almost forgotten his own tight grip on Frey's other arm, and as soon as he let go Frey marched off without a word.

So his obnoxious facade did have a limit, Lucius noted. It was a pleasant discovery for certain, but it also made it harder to ignore the fact that the person he'd just bullied and humiliated was very much a child.

"Pondering if you let your immaturity stoop a little too low?" Samueli asked as he followed Lucius' gaze.

Lucius huffed, and turned up his nose.

"Why would I?"

Samueli sighed, but turned around again to look for Eliza.

"Is there a chance that she went back to Lady Marberry while we were stuck with Lord Clausson?"

"I still think she would have found us though." Lucius furrowed his brow. "Unless she's too busy flirting."

"Would she be flirting at a time like this?"

"Did you see Lady Marberry?"

Another sigh from Samueli.

"I don't see her around here either, so it doesn't help us anyway."

"Alright, uh... Why don't we walk up on the balcony in the entrance hall?" Lucius suggested. "We'd at least have a better view than here."

"Do they let people upstairs?"

Lucius arched an eyebrow.

"Lucia shouldn't have to feel restricted in a place she's supposed to move into, should she?"

Samueli pretended to gag.

"What are you talking about?" Anthony said as he joined them, and Samueli turned his head away to roll his eyes, receiving a reprimanding look from Lucius.

"Marriage to your father," Samueli truthfully replied, and Anthony chuckled.

"I didn't expect him to be your type, Mr. Faal."

Samueli seemed to ignore the joke, and Anthony's attempted smile soon faded.

Lucius discreetly shoved the old man's shoulder, and Samueli rolled his eyes again.

"That's funny," he dutifully replied with a voice dry as dust.

"What is?" A familiar face suddenly appeared beside them, and it was thankfully not Frey this time.

"Oh thank Phion." Samueli linked his fingers as Eliza raised her eyebrows at them. "We were worried something had happened."

"Well, things sure happen around here." Eliza shook her head with a bewildered expression. "I'm alright though, despite everything."

"What happened?" Lucius lowered his voice into a whisper that accidentally ended up as an accusatory hiss. "We thought someone had caught you."

"No, see, I was confronted by some of the kitchen staff." Eliza raised her hands in confused defence. "They were sceptical that I was carrying an entire barrel of wine, with all the right I guess since I'd filled it with other contents, and was heading for the back door. So I told them that Lady Mayberry had sent me."

"And that worked?" Lucius assumed, since she was standing there in front of them.

Eliza pursed her lips, face about as confused as before, but for other reasons.

"They did buy that Lady Marberry had sent me to fetch wine, but they still frowned at the quantity, you know?"

"I could see that happening, yes." Lucius nodded his head in a somewhat amused agreement.

"So they asked me if I was coming back for the other barrels later," Eliza declared with a face that was deeply concerned but also holding back laughter.

"... Beg your pardon?" Lucius blinked, exchanging a look with Samueli first to make sure he'd heard it right, then switching to Anthony who didn't look surprised in the slightest, only replying with an awkward shrug.

"I don't know what the Waste— Sorry, Sam— But I don't know what the Waste is wrong with the people here." Eliza threw her hands out, and Lucius gestured for her to lower her voice again. "I left that damned kitchen with seven barrels of not-wine! Seven!"

"How?" Samueli seemed to disregard her language through all the confusion. "You just ran up and down the stairs six times and no one stopped to find it odd?"

Eliza paused her own puzzlement for a split second to look insulted.

"I carried them two at a time," she said as she raised her chin. "Any more and balancing them up the stairs would've become difficult, but you better believe I could carry more than one."

"Of course," Samueli said under a soft laugh.

"I did get help though." Eliza's frown shifted back to disbelief. "I almost collided with a man on my second run, and honestly it took all of my willpower not to scream."

"Oh, that ugly?" Lucius cocked an eyebrow with a smile, but Eliza shook her head.

"Not at all, or... I think. Thing is, he was covered from head to toe with blood, so it was hard to see."

Lucius' face scrunched up in a pained grimace, and he glanced over at Anthony to confirm Eliza's encounter with the BBT's own sadistic torturer, and monster hunter.

"He told me he'd forgotten about the feast, and Lord Hargreaves made him go back to his room or something, or clean up maybe." Eliza scoffed. "Who has a room in a basement anyway? Especially in a place like this."

Lucius was willing to make an educated guess, giving the combination of Derek, the blood spatter, and basement room some consideration.

"Who knows?" He still put on a clueless smile, and Anthony did the same as if he didn't spend most of his time at said place. "People here are odd."

"I mean, I figured they would be a bit eccentric, but what the Waste? Sorry again, Sam. Oh, and no offence, Lord Hargreaves."

"But he didn't suspect anything?" Samueli asked, glancing around, and Eliza performed another headshake of disbelief.

"Honestly, I think he knew I was up to something. He scanned the barrels, and then me, then he smiled and offered to help me carry them outside. And I hadn't even used Lady Marberry as an excuse yet."

This time Lucius frowned in Anthony's direction, indeed agreeing that it seemed off that Derek wouldn't care about people stealing, but received no confused expression back, increasing his own.

"How do people stand to be around each other here?" Samueli looked tired as they walked outside to be rid of the crowd. "Each and every one of them are unhinged enough to exhaust the most resilient person. Blending in isn't even a problem, unless it's somehow the one way to stand out."

"Well, at least in the end you got that food." Lucius batted his eyelashes. "So it wasn't all bad."

"No, I suppose that part was a success." Samueli sighed, bringing out a pipe and a tobacco box. "I did get these as well."

"Ooh," Lucius said, eyes widening as he looked closer. "Can I try?"

Samueli held the box out of reach before Lucius could grab it.

"No children." He turned his head towards Eliza. "You wanna try?"

"We're the same age!" Lucius threw his hands out. "Why does she get to try?"

"You're not the same age mentally." Samueli gave Lucius a smug look as Eliza took the pipe. "Your mind needs to be over twenty as well."

Lucius sucked in a breath, ready to scream, but Anthony placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

"I'd like to try, if that's all right," he then said to Samueli, who quirked an eyebrow in his direction.

"Are you unable to afford your own, Lord Hargreaves?" he asked. "Then again I suppose draining the lower class for no reason is all right by you."

Anthony opened his mouth only to close it again, and Lucius shot Samueli another disapproving look.

"I... Guess I could pay for it, if that's what you're saying," Anthony tried again, and Samueli clicked his tongue.

"I don't want your money," he said as his eyebrows sunk. "You think I'm so desperate I'll require payment for tobacco?"

Anthony shook his head in frustration.

"I don't... I don't know what I'm supposed to say at this point."

"Just apologise," Lucius whispered with a weary look, and it was Anthony's turn to throw his hands out.

"Why?"

"It was a joke," Samueli said, to both Lucius and Anthony's surprise. "You can have it after Eliza."

"Oh." Anthony looked like he had no idea how to act anymore, so he only nodded while Lucius turned his attention back to the pipe.

"So everyone gets a turn but me?"

"Maybe I'm being stingy." Samueli shrugged, turning to Eliza and Anthony. "Guess you can both have two turns."

"Fuck o—" Lucius began, but closed his mouth before he could receive an impending scolding and further his supposed immaturity.

"Anyway, I have to apologise for my associates," Anthony acknowledged, looking back towards the house. "I'm used to them, so I never considered how jarring it must be to be introduced to all of them at the same time."

Lucius felt like he was responsible as well, seeing how he was somewhat familiar with the eccentric ways of the BBT, but he'd happily let someone else take the blame.

"For what it's worth, I think you're one of the more normal ones," Eliza said to Anthony with a supportive smile. "From what I hear at least."

Anthony dared a soft laugh, and raised the pipe as he got it.

"To being normal then."

"To being normal," the other three agreed, and Lucius could finally breathe out in relief.

Then he turned to Eliza.

"Do women like to talk about each other's breasts?"