"Think they'll be okay?" Redmane asks Thomas after Hannah, Tristan and Sam have left. "I mean, really okay?"
"Oh, I think they're in for an adventure, but nothing they can't handle," Thomas muses from where he leans up against one of the rebuild fence rails and peers off into the distance. "Part of me wishes I could see their faces when they discover their mysterious client is ... a goblin."
The woman blinks at that. "And you didn't tell Hannah that little tidbit because...?" she asks.
"Because it might color her perceptions. She' might judge her before she meets her," Thomas notes. He also can't help bug shrug and grin, adding, "Plus I thought it would be funny."
Redmane just rolls her eyes. "Well," she says, and gestures to the ranch buildings being worked on. "What do you think? I mean, it's no tree fortress, after all."
Turning back, Tom takes a moment to look over the ranch. "Well, what can I say? When I see it, it just screams of you," he says. "A tad rough around the edges."
"Nothing wrong with being rough around the edges," Redmane notes, and motions for Thomas to follow her as she heads off towards a field.
"Didn't say there was," Thomas comments. He stuffs his hands into the pockets of his worn jacket and follows after Redmane.
Past the stable and barns there's a slight rise of land, with a lone oak tree growing atop it. As they get closer though, it's apparent that part of the hill has fallen away, and a creek-fed pond is probably responsible. The pond is a bit weed-choked. "Once I get the chance, I'm going to clean out this pond," Redmane explains, sounding more like Agatha now. "The tree is perfect for a rope swing! My own swimming hole!"
"Not to mention your own mosquito factory!" Tom jokes as he moves closer to the edge to try and get a good look at the pond. "And it does beg the question on if your brought your swimsuit, otherwise ... well, I guess the horses won't mind..."
"I'll bring it next time," Redmane says. "I've noticed that any clothes I'm actually wearing when I go through a Siege will adjust themselves automatically. I mean, you may not have noticed, but there's a big difference between my 13-year-old body and this one. I think I must be around 18 or 19 here in Mirari."
"I don't usually stare at you," Tom quips as he stands back up and dusts off his knees. He then twirls around and bows to Redmane with a flourish, "But now that you mention it, you rather do look like a woman."
Redmane hrmmphs at the implication that she doesn't look like one normally. "Well, the only difference with you is a bit of height and stronger cheekbones. You got off lucky."
"I've always been dashingly handsome in either world. Hard to improve on perfection," Thomas says and nudges Redmane with his elbow. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"There's always your personality," Redmane points out, and leans against the trunk of the oak tree. "It's still a little rough around the edges after all. Now, someone like Tristan.. I don't think you could improve upon him much at all."
"Sounds like you've got a bit of a crush on him," Thomas teases and leans against the other side of the tree. "He lacks a sense of humor, you know. Doesn't smile much. Doesn't find the fun in living."
"A crush on an elf?" Redmane asks, looking incredulous. "They all seem a little too girly for my tastes."
"What then, is your taste? Ahearn?" Thomas asks as he peers around the tree trunk.
"Don't even joke about that," the woman says. "I don't know why he seems so possessive at times, but -" The thought is interrupted by a lilting voice calling out, "Countess! Lady Redmane! There you are!" from the direction of the ranch buildings.
Thomas blinks a few times, then laughs. "Don't tell me you have maids," he says between wheezes. "I ... wow. You ... servants."
Redmane just sighs and presses her fingertips to her forehead. "I'm over here, yes, Vi," she replies. The approaching woman is clearly of May, given that she looks a bit like an ambulatory flower. Her dress is made to give the impression of layered pink petals, her skin is a light green, and her hair is pinkish-purple with matching blossoms either woven into it or growing from her skull. "Countess!" she chides. "Do you know how late it is? You are supposed to inform me when you go wandering about!"
"She's quite capable of looking after herself," Thomas can't help but point out as he gives the odd flower-woman an appraising look. "Besides, she's not alone. Can't be much safer than around me." There he pauses, reconsidering that with a correction of, "Well, okay, so yes she could be safer than around me. A dragon's den might be safer, even."
"Are you one of the new gardeners?" the flower woman asks, before Redmane can say, "Thomas, this is my Chief Handmaiden, Violetta. Vi, this scruffy fellow is the Lord Explorer, Thomas of the Golden Hawks." The handmaid flushes and quickly drops to her knees to bow to Thomas. "My Lord! Please forgive my confusion!"
Thomas rubs his forehead now. "No bowing to me," he grumbles as he crouches down and tries to lift the woman back to her feet, "I've done nothing for you to warrant such deference." Thomas glances up to Redmane with a look bordering on pain for her having to endure such ... frou-frou. "Redmane and I are old friends and we has some business matters to discuss, is all. I didn't think I needed to announce my arrival."
"Oh.. of course not, My Lord!" the flustered flower-girl says apologetically. "I'm sure the Lord and Lady Castle will understand if the Countess is late for their dinner."
"Who?" Thomas asks.
"Oh crud, that's tonight?" Redmane asks.
"Very important local gentry, My Lord," Violetta explains. "Their vineyards employ nearly half of the local township, and they have been very eager to meet the Countess.."
"Well, I'm sure Redmane will charm them," Thomas says and flashes her a grin. "I suppose, then, I must cut my visit short. I wouldn't want to impose on your obligations."
"What? You don't have to go just yet, I want to talk about visiting the wolves still," Redmane says, sounding a bit desperate. "Then you must do so while we prepare you, Countess. You know how long that can take, after all."
.. Violetta comments.
"Now, if I were, say, your escort to this ... obligation, perhaps I could stay longer," Thomas suggests as he rubs his chin in thought (and leaves a smear of dirt on it). "Unless, of course, you feel I may embarrass you. Which ... truthfully, I would understand."
"Great idea!" Redmane says, and grabs Thomas' shirt to drag him along. "You can keep them distracted with stories and stuff, and I don't have a bottle of wine or other gift to bring. Just keep them from asking about politics or public policy and stuff. I won't be taking Civics Class until I'm a Junior!"
"In other words, you want me to handle the political stuff. Great. You know how well I deal with that!" Thomas says with a melodramatic sigh. "The things I do for you. I should be considered a saint." He bats Redmane's hand off his shirt and follows along.
Violetta gives Thomas - or rather, his apparel - a worried glance. "My Lady, we don't have anything appropriate for the Lord Explorer to wear." Redmane replies with, "Just wash his face and hands, clean his nails, and whack his clothes with a rug-beater a few times."
"Or I could manage a glamour and, well, make the illusion of better attire," Thomas points out.
"Oh my, how wonderful!" Violetta says. "I don't suppose you could teach the Countess? She refuses to wear even the barest amount of make-up."
"She doesn't need makeup. Real beauty doesn't require artificial cover," Thomas says quite plainly, then blinks as he catches himself in complimenting her. "Plus, ah, she isn't of fey heritage, you know. She can't do glamour. At least, not to the same degree."
"Oh my, what a shame," Vi remarks, heedless of just how red in the face her mistress is getting. They reach the main house, and several more flower-girls are there to who usher them into the bedroom - which is apparently the one habitable room in the house so far. It's got a comfy looking bed, a small standing wardrobe and some chairs, but is otherwise bare wood. There aren't even any curtains for the windows yet.
"I truly never thought of you as the type to keep a flowery house," Thomas comments to Redmane, then nods towards the handmaidens. He grins widely. "And ... a bed. That doesn't surprise me. I remember you had quite a fondness for locating beds rather than sleep on the ground. Even in the lair of the shadow beast ... you wanted to borrow the bed over sleeping out in the forest."
"Oh my?" Vi asks as she hears this. Redmane just sighs and heads for the bed, only to be intercepted by a handmaid. "You've been sitting in the grass, My Lady," the girls says apologetically, gesturing to the nice clean bedding. "When I said you can tell stories, Thomas, I didn't mean those stories," Redmane says as she's deflected and forced to stand. "People will get the wrong idea about us."
More girls roll in a large wooden washtub (or else a very short, wide barrel) and others carry in a folding privacy screen. Another holds out a chair for Thomas.
"Wrong idea? We were traveling and lodgings were of rather short supply. We made due with what we could find," Thomas notes as he heads towards the chair. Thomas glances over his shoulder, asking rather honestly, "Or are you saying you're embarrassed to be known as my friend?"
The screen goes up, and isn't quite tall enough to block Redmane's head though. "You know what I mean," the redhead mutters, and then seems to be engaged in some sort of battle with her servants. "I can get these off myself, okay!" she tells them, with a tone that suggests she's told them many times before already.
The chair-holding maid asks Thomas, "Would you like a washbasin and towel, My Lord?"
"Please," Thomas says as he finally settles down into the offered chair. Towards Redmane, Thomas comments, "So, I suppose I shouldn't tell them about the wolves, even thought we have been invited to visit them at our convenience?"
"I've no idea of how things are in December right now," Redmane notes, apparently unaware of the bucket being lifted up behind her. "Things might still be kept secret. I just hope it won't be too.. GAAH!! Cold!!" she cries at the end, as the bucket of water is dumped over her. "Sorry, My Lady," Violetta says. "It was warm earlier when we were expecting you to begin getting ready.."
A small table are set up next to Thomas' chair, and a washbasin, water jug and a selection of soaps are set atop it. One of the maids stands ready with towels.
"December is relatively calm right now," Thomas explains as he tries not to wince at Redmane's forced bathing. There he takes a moment to find the least scented soap and uses that to begin washing his hands and forearms in the basin. "Anyway, you don't have to come to the Wolves. I already responded that I would answer their request and that I would pass the offer on to you. There is no dishonor in declining. You have much to do here."
"Exactly why I'd love to go visit them," Redmane comments, wincing as the maids begin scrubbing. From the sound of it, they must be trying to remove an entire outer layer of skin. "I can't take much more of this."
"And traveling with me is preferable?" Thomas ask for clarification. When he finally gets his hands clean, wets down his face and begins to soap that as well. "You often just seem, well, uncomfortable around me now."
"Remembering certain things.. makes me feel a little awkward is all," Redmane notes. "I'm usually awkward when we aren't fighting something." Then the woman's head is covered with a towel, and a maid (likely standing on a stool) begins vigorously drying Redmane's hair. If it weren't wet, it might burst into flame from the effort.
Thomas rinses off his face and grabs a nearby towel. That he uses to wipe his face clean. "And knowing that, are you sure you want to travel with me?" Thomas asks, sounding for once genuinely concerned. "Redmane ... Muirien ... Agatha. I know I tend to, well, poke you a bit to see you jump, but, if it came down to it ... I don't want you uncomfortable. I used coming here as an excuse to just see you. Of all the people I know, we've been through the most. I don't have to, well, I don't have to pretend or really hide around you. I miss that now and then, even in my fortress in the forest." He offers the now dirty towel back to the handmaiden.
"Well, we need the time to work things out then," Redmane says, as she's freed from the towel and made to hold her arms up over head. "It's probably all I need to feel comfortable again, and be able to re-LAAXXX!!" Her eyes bug out and her arms come down so that her hands are gripping the top of the screen, while Violetta can be heard behind her saying, "But your backs into it, girls! My Lady, pleases relax and exhale fully, so that you do not get sore ribs."
"Will you need anything else, My Lord?" asks Thomas' towel-girl.
"Ah, the corset. Old nemesis, you meet again," Thomas quips with a grin. He then waggles his fingers at the towel girl, noting, "You were supposed to clean my nails."
"Of course, My Lord!" the girl says, and produces an emery-board and scraping tool, and then kneels down to work on Tom's manicure, saying, "Just rest your hands upon your lap, My Lord."
Tom does exactly that. Even after washing, his nails are rather dirty and the edges chipped and rough. "I must admit I'm surprised you let them dress you up as a formal lady," he comments. "I don't think it is necessary."
Redmane can only wheeze for a moment and looks a bit dizzy as she's turned around and surrounded by maids. After a few minutes of this, the screen is removed to reveal her in a gown with a rose motif: the skirts are of red velvet, layered to resemble an upside-down rose (and likely covering a few petticoats to give it some body). He torso is clad in a green satin bodice over the corset, which gives the impression of a stem-like waist. The square cut top is surrounded by silk roses to provide a bit of modesty, given the amount the girl's chest has been pushed up and out. "I've tried to avoid it, but there are just too many of them," Redmane says, sounding a bit dazed as she's led to a chair. Once seated, the attendants attack her fingernails with paints and her hair with combs, brushes and pins.
"You look better rough around the edges," Thomas comments after taking a minute to look over the dressings the handmaidens have forced upon her. "You don't look like you any more. You ... ow!" Thomas looks down to his own hands where the handmaiden with the scraper is working diligently at digging out some well buried dirt under his nails.
"Sorry, M'Lord," the manicurist says. It looks like the tool she's using is made from a thorn. Violetta consults a pocket hourglass as the rest of the maids work on Redmane. "I think we may make it on time!" she announces, just as Redmane's hairdo is finished. There's a crown of white roses (complete with thorns) woven together which lifts the hair to give it more body, instead of letting it just flow down close to her skull as it normally would, and a few well placed combs and pins to add a few extra decorations and make her head look, in general, more 'flowery'.
A green choker is the last thing attached, which also sports a few leaf-like extensions to cover the top of Redmane's shoulders. Her arms and upper back are left bare, since the corset holds everything else in place. "I feel like a tube of toothpaste," she comments.
Thomas just shakes his head, feeling quite a bit of pity for his friend. Pure torture is how he would describe it. So ... instead of having to watch it further, he closes his eyes and slows his breathing. The handmaiden working on his hands is the first to get a surprise as the pants beneath his hands ripple and shimmer. The worn, dusty travel clothing starts to take on brighter and cleaner hues. In mere moments they have taken on a deep red hue, like autumn leaves. The changes flow upward. The worn travel jacket shimmers as it shifts, taking on golden brown hues and the edges almost feathery.
The mid-thigh tails curve and point slightly, taking on a subtle touch of wings in appearance. His shirt changes color as if being soaked in bleach as it fades back to a bright white. Even his hair shifts, taking on a coal-black hue with an almost glass like shine. With his eyes closed and his breathing slow ... Redmane recognizes him more than ever; the strange man met at the tourney. The selfsame one who endured the battles in December. One who's age is hard to describe other than timeless. His eyes open, still their deep emerald green. A glance down at himself and he notes, "This will do. Not great, but easy to maintain." A glance to Redmane and he describes her as, "Very floral."
"Thomas, you look.." Redmane says, and then runs out of breath. A growl is enough of a hint to the maidens to loosen the corset a bit, and the bodice has enough slack to allow it. "Ah.. that's better," the redhead says. "You look.. very dapper, Thomas. Imagine if Ginny could see us now though. I don't know if she'd laugh or turn green."
"Both, I'd wager," Thomas decides after some thought. "Well, I suppose your handmaidens will do their final bits of torture until your guests arrive. I hope they at least have some sense of humor?" he asks hopefully.
"Oh my, the Castles are not coming here," Violetta says, and just gestures helplessly around the room. "The Countess is traveling to their manor by coach."
"This place looks fine to me," Thomas comments.
"I don't want to get into the habit of entertaining nobles here, Thomas, even after it's all renovated," Redmane notes, holding her hands out so the nail polish can dry. "Otherwise it's all I'll be doing when visit on the weekends and such during the Fall."
"You could always take lessons from me on how to not get invited to parties," Thomas offers and winks.
"That doesn't work when you're the Countess," Redmane notes. "I still have to find someone to really run things for me as well."
"I'll check my connections through the various houses and locate someone you can trust if you want," Thomas offers. "Though I think you could run it fine. But ... I couldn't drag you out on trips if you did."
Redmane raises an eyebrow at this. "Is that a formal offer of adventure then, Lord Explorer?" she asks.
"Right. Silly me. Why would you ever want to go on an adventure? Why, in a few weeks I expect you'll be wearing that corset all the time," Thomas deadpans and rolls his eyes.
"That's my Tom," Redmane notes, in a very Agatha tone. One of the maids enters to announce, "The carriage has arrived, My Lady!"
"Well, at least you don't have to worry about one thing," Thomas says as he stands. Offering his hand to her, he adds, "Should we suffer a terrible accident in the coach, you will be quite protected by all that cloth padding. Now, will the great floral pillow do me an honor and walk with me?" He grins rather widely and has to add, "And just think ... in all of that, I can make comments and you can't catch me. Why, the evening is looking up..."
Redmane stands and curtsies, then takes Thomas' arm. "I'll just have to trust you then, My Lord," she says. And then adds, "I'm not wearing heels. Don't think I wouldn't be able to run you down if I really wanted to.."