Home 26: Rooms to let, fifty cents

[Deathkeeper]

Arletane Keep

Edgar gets another twinge of satisfaction from the look on the servant's face when he sees his newly enlarged lord. He just looks so tiny. But Edgar won't hold it against him; the man is bigger than Edgar was a month ago. Edgar takes a little bag with his essentials and slings it over his shoulder; Pride will have only moments if she wants to make it look more presentable. But you can't do too much with togas and pockets.
"Greetings, Aethiiraxa. I thank you for coming on such short notice. I'll try not to make a habit of it." he tries to sound as noble and posh as he can. He hasn't quite figured out if Aethii prefers people who are casual or the full kingly routine. It probably helps that Nahira gave Edgar a bit more of a posh accent and at his current size his voice is quite deep and booming.

[bc56]

Arletane Keep

Aethiiraxa looks up at Edgar. He towers over her too. She smiles at him and rolls her eyes. "We both know you don't talk like that. You look quite impressive today. And the carriage is marvelous." Aethii points to where a carriage stands ready. It's easily large enough for Edgar, white in color with curling gilt patterns, and a pair of oversized white horses are hooked to it. He might recognize the woman sitting in the driver's seat as Pride. She waves at him, smiles, and winks. He's got this.

[Deathkeeper]

Arletane Keep

Edgar deflates a little but it’s mostly for effect.
”Yeah but I’m a count I have to get used to it eventually or they’ll think I’m some commoner who won his title in a poker match.
Do you like it? The new look I mean. I was talking to a Sidhe and she decided I looked good big so I’d look better bigger.” That’s only sort of true.
Edgar extends a massive hand so he can properly escort Aethii to the carriage. Once inside he intends to sit her close next to him to see if she really does enjoy being close to him as much as that long hug suggested.

[bc56]

Arletane Keep

"I like it! You're super big, but you're still soft and warm." True to what he was expecting, as the carriage starts its journey, Aethii snuggles up next to him. She's going to get tiger fur all over her nice dress, isn't she. She plays with one of her earrings gently. "So do you know where we're going, or did the angel arrange it without telling you either?"

[Deathkeeper]

Arletane Keep

"S-so you do like how big I am? Honestly I wasn't sure if it was a little too much. But I figure you have plenty of experience with having trouble fitting into places. When we first met you were pretty big and impressive." he figures that calling a dragon that won't be unappreciated.
Plus side he doesn't shed or anything.
"No, she didn't really tell me where we're going. Just somewhere nice. How'd she rope you into this, anyway?" He hopes Pride didn't tell her this is a big ploy to help his confidence.

[bc56]

Arletane Keep

"I do like it! There's so much or you to hug!" Aethii confirms. "I was, wasn't I. Being a little human is very different. Pretty soon, I think I'll go back to it. I miss being able to lay on my hoard. It's so uncomfortable when you have squishy skin." She laughs when Edgar asks how Pride roped her into this. "I was hoping you'd call me since we had so much fun together in the mines. Then she showed up and said that she could arrange for us to spend some time together if I just dressed up like a human woman a little." She twists around a little to give him a good look at her. "Do you think I'm pretty like this?"

[Deathkeeper]

Arletane Keep

"Oh no, but if you go back to being a big dragon we won't be able to do this." Edgar gasps as he lays a massive paw over her shoulder.
"Maybe you can find a way to store the enchantment away so you can use it when you want to. You look nice with it. Not that you didn't before." Edgar has no actual idea how magic works.
"I guess I'm not used to the sort of thing where I can like, tell someone to walk to your place and tell you I want to speak to you." Sending messengers is really weird when he's used to phones.

[bc56]

Arletane Keep

"There is something to be said for a small perspective, isn't there?" Aethii leans into the encircling arm. "I think I could do that. I'd just need help from a wizard friend." She wraps one of her wings partway around Edgar. "I could get one of those tell-a-phones people are always talking about. Some of my advisors have been telling me to modernize my kingdom since... 1796?" Unfortunately time is meaningless in the Nexus, so it's impossible to say how long that was. But probably a long time by human standards. Edgar's going to need to get used to the idea of living hundreds of years, isn't he?

[Deathkeeper]

Arletane Keep

”Well, I guess I might be big enough to still hang out with your full shape without getting crushed. And um. I can help you with a phone. But if you go back to being a dragon you might need to get your emissary to use it for you. You must have those right?”
She’s a dragon she has to have fancy emissaries and assistants.

[bc56]

Arletane Keep

"Oh yes. I have plenty of servants on retainer." Dragons rarely want for money. Aethii sizes him up. "It's hard to tell like this, but I think I might need two talons to hold you." The carriage begins to slow. Pride calls from the front. "Here we are!" Out the window, a building is visible, a Victorian manor house which has apparently been converted into a restaurant. The sounds of lively music can be heard from within. A sign proclaims the place as "House Esmerena." A number of other vehicles are parked outside. " I hope the ride was comfortable." "Oh yes, very."

[Deathkeeper]

House Esmerena

"Very comfortable, Miss." Edgar nods to Pride. He holds out a hand to escort Aethii inside.
Assuming the Victorian style doors are suitably large for poor Edgar, at least.
He'll assume he has a reservation.

[bc56]

House Esmerena

The door is indeed large enough for Edgar. The pair can walk in, and see what it's like inside. The first thing is that Edgar will probably be relieved to see that the clientele is incredibly varied. He and Aethii don't look out of place or even draw much attention. The second thing is that it is very fancy. Suited waiters walk between tables, and a string quintet plays lively classical music. The hostess looks at them and asks, "What's the name on your reservation?"

[Deathkeeper]

House Esmerena

Hm. Edgar's outfit is a little out of place. Oh, well. If it was a big deal Pride would have said something.
"Uh, Winchester, probably." Pride didn't explicitly tell him, but that would make sense, wouldn't it?

[bc56]

House Esmerena

The hostess checks her ledger. "Here you are, Winchester, party of two. Please follow me." She leads them to a back patio facing the west, where a table has been prepared. A waiter has just brought out a larger chair for Edgar. A pair of menus are handed out, and the pair are given a few moments to read and talk to each other before they order.

[Deathkeeper]

House Esmerena

Edgar sits down in the chair. It's comfortable, even if these chairs aren't as fancy and padded as the carriage seats. The patrons are varied but Edgar still towers over almost all of them. It remains a strangely empowering feeling.
"So uh, you do this sort of thing often?" he asks Aethii as he glances over the menu and the exorbitant prices he'd have run fleeing from only a short time ago.

[bc56]

House Esmerena

"Go to human eateries? Not often." This probably barely qualifies as a human eatery. The menu boasts sections for all sorts of races with unusual diets. One catches Aethii's attention quickly. "Ooh! They make food for dragons here!" She's reading that section of the menu pretty intently. "Ostrich drumsticks, whole side of beef, ooh, this all looks so good." She mutters as she peruses.

[Deathkeeper]

House Esmerena

"Can you...can you actually eat that much when you're like this? You're not that much bigger than a human." Edgar doesn't have to eat, but his immense size means he can put away quite a bit.
He'll probably just get some fancy meat dish. His taste buds are attuned towards the carnivorous like this.

[bc56]

House Esmerena

Aethii looks a bit sad. "No, I can't. But it sounds so good. 'lightning seared in house by our resident chef-mage'"" She reads off the menu. "I wonder if I could get a more human-sized portion?" Eventually she makes up her mind, and a waiter takes their order. The sun is beginning to sink, and the sky takes on a red-orange glow

[Deathkeeper]

[House Esmerena]

Edgar orders some brisket, because why not?
"So...any reason well, you're open to doing this? I would assume someone like you, countess of so many places she could drop one without too much issue, playing poker with gods, must be big and famous and swarmed with interested men and drakes." He thinks that's a colloquialism for a male dragon. He heard it on TV once.

[bc56]

House Esmerena

Aethii shrugs. "Dragons don't get out much. I haven't seen a drake in... a few decades? When you've lived as long as I have, you'll understand, but sometimes you just long to try something new. All this..." She gestures at herself and him and the restaurant, "Is very new." She laughs. "It's a been a lot of fun." She looks at him. "Your djinn pact makes you immortal, right? That's got to be a shock."

[Deathkeeper]

[House Esmerena]

Edgar rests his elbow on the armrest of his chair and his jaw in his palm.
"Yeah it's...certainly a thing. And Nahira is a handful. I don't know how forever with her is going to pan out. But at the very least as long as the place keeps running I'm free to go out and do all these things. Not as if anyone is gunning for her vessel right now anyway. I wouldn't have to guard it at all, except she wants to set up a court and everything. Just starting a ritzy business and getting rich isn't good enough for her."

[bc56]

House Esmerena

"Some people are hard to live with. But the thing about living forever?" Aethii says, "You have all the time in the world to make it better. I got invested in my kingdom. I like to think I made it better, didn't just drain treasure for my hoard but gave something back. But I'm not sure. It's hard to tell what the outcomes of our actions will be." Wow. This got philosophical quickly. Fortunately, Aethii gets it back to small talk. "The sunset is nice tonight. It's weird to look at it and feel small."

[Deathkeeper]

House Esmerena

Edgar decides not to bring up that the Arletane treasury was almost empty because Aethii taxed them without addressing the monster problem.
”Well, that’s only natural, isn’t it? No matter how big either of us get, the sun and planets will always be the most massive things out there. Pretty unlikely that will ever change for any of us.”
Even gods aren’t usually that size. Only maybe metaphorically.

[bc56]

House Esmerena

"I guess they are. But they look so tiny sometimes." Aethii looks up at the sky, but is interrupted by a waiter arriving with plates laden with rich, aromatic food. "Oh, the food's here!" She prepares to dig in with her bare hands as soon as the plate is set before her. Dragons and table manners don't exactly mix well.

[Deathkeeper]

[House Esmerena]

Edgar eats like someone who is still getting used to fancy food. He savors each and every bite, but also with gusto and quantity. Edgar can eat, well, as much as you'd expect a tiger who weighs an actual ton can eat. And his table manners aren't much better than Aethii's really. Maybe a little.
"Heh. We sure make quite a pair, don't we?" he asks, noting the pile of bones in front of Aethii and the huge set of empty plates in front of him.

[bc56]

House Esmerena

"Mmf?" Aethii swallows her bite of food. "We do! You're bigger than you're used to and I'm smaller. We're both living in ways we aren't familiar with." Last night, Aethii slept in a bed, not on her hoard. And she liked it! She's going soft!

[Deathkeeper]

House Esmerena

"Maybe. The only thing is that you're thinking about getting big again while I'm not sure what I'm going to do. If you were dragon shaped again do you think the difference would matter? I dunno. And wait is Pride paying?" Edgar can eat like only a demigod can. And if he's not paying...

[bc56]

House Esmerena

"Matter to what? It changes what I can and can't do, and how people look at me. Being a soft, squishy mammal for a few days has been interesting, but inside, I'm a dragon. I'm meant to be a big scary reptile. You aren't sure what you're meant to be. Maybe you'll figure it out." When Edgar mentions paying, Aethii suddenly checks her purse. "I hope she is. It would be awfully rude to set this up and not pay for it."

[Deathkeeper]

House Esmerena

"Oh, no. I mean, like. If you're you again, and you're all full-sized, would what I choose about me matter to you? Because well I uh.
Well I uh.
I like you. And uh. I want to keep being with you and doing stuff together. So. What you think means something to me. You know?"
Aethii I think he's saying he wants a third date.

Edgar tries to bury the awkward of what he just said by ordering another entree.

[bc56]

House Esmerena

"I like you too! You're fun to be around, and you have a nice perspective on things, and you aren't super full of yourself like the last guy I was with. I think I'd be happy spending time with you no matter what you look like." Aethii suddenly looks like she has an idea. "Hey, maybe you could try being a dragon sometime! Wouldn't that be neat?" She tried out being a humanoid. Edgar should try out being a dragon. "I wonder if you'd still be stripey?"