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House Hunters Nusquamton

Kevin has 99 problems and the Mad Hatter is related to about 75 of them.

And so it has been decided -- by Kevin -- that a house is in order. It is a little cramped living with Oswald in his boarding house bedroom, particularly when one of the residents changes into a huge wolf once a month; plus, now the tiny Lacie is traipsing in and out whenever she pleases, and that just won't do either. And what will happen if anyone else from the other world ports over? Will the entire Baskerville House just plonk itself down in this glorified hotel? No, no, Kevin wants a house that he can stake out as his own territory. So about a week ago, off he went, prowling around the city for prime real estate.

As of this morning, it seems he may have succeeded.

"OSWALD." The knight bursts into the room, as happy as he ever gets, and wastes no time in plucking up Glen's sleeve and trying to tug him out. His imaginary tail is wagging in overdrive. "Oswald, come look, come look, I found a thing."

He looks like he's been rolling around in a field. Quite frankly, he probably has been. He's three days away from wolf night. It happens.

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He hummed a little as he listened-

"Sounds peaceful." A farmhouse, and there would be no worry of two werewolves running directly out into the city during those nights.

"It is, it is, and there's so much room. Brat and I can run and hunt, you'd be able to let your Chains out whenever you liked. There's a big old barn we can fix up, you can get a horse and go riding sometimes. The house itself is in pretty solid condition." He releases Glen's arm so that he can steeple his fingers together. "And we can get it for cheap. No one wants to live in it because it is haunted."

-- so yeah, there's the catch.

Haunted.

... "Is it a haunting that's anything like the mansion we were in on Halloween?"Because it had to be asked.

"Not that haunted. I went and sniffed around in it. There was nothing like -- no old blood or murder or mean teeth or anything. Just echo smells and bits of air in strange places."

Probably this will not make sense to anyone but another not-quite-human person who has ever smelled ghosts. Regardless, Kevin doesn't seem troubled at all by it, and given how offended Kevin gets over strange things, that's saying something.

"I think whatever's in there is just pesky. Some people will run away even if a door shuts by itself, so."

"It is still worth considering, and if it's just pesky..." He could deal with pesky.

Glen had dealt with pesky for most of his life, hadn't he? The sounds of the place were promising other than that, and if he didn't feel anytyhing malicious -if the Chains didn't- then what could be the harm of it?

"I think so. A haunted house in the city wouldn't be worth it, really, but..."

Kevin pauses, considering just what to say. The knight tries not to fuss over Glen, he really does. The duke broods quite enough on his own without his knight adding to his stress by fretting over it. But Kevin knows that Glen's hands have been getting stiffer with the chill, and though the man seems easier in his own skin now than he was when they first arrived, he hasn't truly perked up as Kevin had hoped. They certainly have their fun, but that's different than being happy.

Kevin should know. He's felt the difference keenly, over the past year.

"Everything else about it is so good. We came here for peace and quiet and it's better, but -- but there's still people who don't belong to us walking outside of our door every day, and other people in our kitchen, and I don't know who lives above us. You have to share the piano. If we moved to this place, it'd really be just us and Lacie, and there will be room for everyone else too. More than enough, even if we aren't all human all the time. We could hunt, have a garden, only come into the city when we want instead of for things we need." He twines his long fingers together; they're a little red from the cold air. "I think...I think this might be the right house."

He was silent for a while, even after Kevin was finished speaking, mulling over the words.

After that he nodded, looking from the knight and then past him, "It would be nice not worrying about... being walked in on while trying to have a moment to myself," walked in o by strangers, of course.

"You'd have plenty of moments here," the knight says, nodding. "It wouldn't matter how many of us showed up. You'd always be able to find a place to be by yourself."

His shoulders slump a little as he relaxes, and he drifts close enough to Glen that their shoulders brush for a few moments. Most people would frown upon the idea of actively encouraging the duke to become a recluse, but Kevin loves solitude enough himself that he sees no harm in it if that's what brings his favorite person in all the worlds some real comfort. Now he just needs for Glen to fall in love with the house too, and everything will be all set.

"...there aren't any pianos yet. But we'll get you one. You can have more than one. You can put one on each floor if you want; no one will argue with you."

"One would do." Within one room dedicated to it, where he could pu awa books and various papers filled with pieces. Those he wanted to learn of whatever world the peieces of this place came from and those he had composed himself.

Not just a piano either, despite it being his favorite to play. He did know other intruments after all, but none as well as he knew a piano.

"... Having a horse would be pleasent." There was just something enjoyable about them, as there were about birds.

"We could have chickens that don't sparkle, too," the knight says, turning them down the road that will lead out of the city and into the farmlands. Excited all over again now that Glen seems to be warming up to the idea, he scoots ahead a little and turns to walk backwards so he can watch Glen while he speaks, hands clasped behind his back. "Anything we wanted. We'd have the whole barn, and the fields. If the Jabberwock shows up we can even get her some pigs and make her take care of her own bacon."

Because the Jabberwock is absolutely the sort of Chain who would pick up a piglet and coo at it over what a lovely breakfast it would make someday. Alas.

She'd likely either name them all breakfast or after different types of bacon, dependin on her mood wouldn't she.

"Should any others come, we'd have the room and they could also have things to do." Lacie would have plenty of running around room. Perhaps terrorize any animals or take them captive while playing pirate. "She'd have to walk to bother the... robots in their own home." Robots were still weird, steam powered creations or not.

"That would just keep her calmer," Kevin says, pulling a face. "Having to walk, I mean. She's stronger than she was before the wolf thing. The more exercise she can blow that extra energy on, the better."

What a strange thing that would be in the Baskerville House. A sedate tiny Lacie who didn't feel the need to badger everyone around her every second of the day. Kevin knows it's theoretically possible because Big Lacie's fits did not flare nearly so often, but...

"We'd also not have to deal with that older you straying into the kitchen at odd hours," because he was an asshole. It seemed that his sister had an odd taste in men, and that sooner or later he would have to speak with this one for one reason or another.

His sister could handle herself, but he didn't want anything like another Jack fucking Vessalius happening again in any sort of way. At all.

Bleagh, that guy. Kevin has seen him swanning about town looking all smug in his swanky black inverness cloak, and avoided him like the plague. That's one advantage to having such a keen sense of smell, though Kevin has yet to figure out why exactly his older self smells faintly like magic, the dreams of tiny princesses, and fluffy murder all the time.

Probably better not to know.

"Lady Shelly's Break, too. He eats all the sugar. I think he just fills his cup with it and adds a little tea and then eats it."

At least Kevin here has the decency to just use up all the maple syrup when he wants to eat his sugar. Geez.

They also stock up on maple syrup just for him to consume to his heart's desire. Maybe there are a few maple trees about to where Raven can entertain the knight by showing him how to make a bit of it himsef. It might not make a lot, but it'd give him something to do from time to time right.

"Mm."

Kevin and his pet maple trees. He'll give them names and shed on them lovingly.

Already, the noise and traffic of the city are fading as the town center grows farther and farther away, replaced by trees and fences. Kevin turns again and resumes walking at Glen's side, silently enjoying the scenery and the company he's walking it with. When the city itself suddenly drops away and becomes rolling fields and scattered bits of forest, the change is so abrupt the air itself almost shifts. The paved road beneath their feet becomes packed dirt. Most of the leaves are dead and gone by now, but the colors around them become brighter, more lively.

At first, there's no sight of anything at all. Finally, perhaps half a mile up the road, a house comes into view, nestled in amongst the trees. The fences around it are broken in places and the fields are overgrown, and a few of the windows will need to be replaced. However, the house itself looks sturdy enough, sitting where it sits and quite minding its own business.

"That's it," Kevin says softly.

He's silent still as they approach, looking over the area and what he can see of it from where they are. There's a soft sound that escapes him, placing a hand against the top of Kevin's head after what could seem to be even longer-

"It could do with some work that we can do easily, and the area is a good distance away."

Glen liked it so far.

Kevin sighs at the touch, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. For a moment, his eyes close. Then the imaginary tail starts wagging again, and he reaches up to take Glen's hand -- not the sleeve, this time, but his actual hand.

"Come look," he says, tugging gently, mindful of the wounds beneath the bandages. "Come look."

He's leading him toward the front door. He wants to show him the whole house -- and, of course, he has a best bit, to be saved for last.

Glen comes along easily enough, free hand tucking within the folds of his cloak to help keep it from the cold. He didn't worry about the other since it was being held so carefully.

"Coming, coming."

The front door isn't locked; it has no reason to be, and though the hinges squeak, the door opens easily. Inside, there are a few bits of furniture scattered here and there, left by previous occupants, but for the most part the house is empty, just waiting to be filled up with new things to suit its new inhabitants. It needs a thorough cleaning -- there's dust all across the floor, enough that Kevin's previous explorations left footprints, and some of the paint is peeling here and there -- but all that is simple enough.

"This would be the sitting room, I think," he says, shutting the door behind him. He only lets Glen look a moment before he's hauling the other off to the kitchen first, and then a possible dining room, and another room down the hall, one with a huge bay window and bookshelves built into the walls. "And here -- I think this could be a good music room. You wouldn't have to add any shelves so there's plenty of room, and this -- the window faces north." Releasing Glen, he scoots up to the window, which overlooks one of the fields down the hill. "You'll get light in here all day, and the view, you won't have any trees or anything in the way. Here."

"We could fix the fencing and start something of a farm to sustain ourselves in time." He trailed further in once left, looking around the room before trailing towards the window himself to have a look.

It really was a pleasing view, and with some cleaning...

This really was a nice house.

"I don't know anything about gardening, but we can find out. It's not like we have anything better to do. And I can hunt, here. I saw deer in the grass earlier, right from the window."

Possibly this is why Kevin showed up looking like he'd been rolling through fields.

The knight continues with his tour, eagerly pointing out this or that room. There are several bedrooms -- certainly enough for the occupants of the house in the other world, particularly since Kevin has no intention of leaving Oswald's at this point, no matter what the Chains say. And all through the house, although there are creaking noises here and there and a door that, they are sure, was open before they had ducked into a separate room, there is no sense of anything malicious in the house. Perhaps it's just the daylight hours casting a festive light over it, but just now, it barely seems haunted at all.

"I know some," enough to help tend to what garden was on the Baskerville property. It would be a good place to start once the weather was no longer cold.

Nothing malicious, but Jabberwock has perked up from sensing something around the edges. More curious than protective as it curls at the edges of his shadows. Alrting him to every small thing that seemed out of place but never giving a sense of danger from it.

"I have to show you the best part now."

This requires taking Glen's hand again, apparently. Towards the end of the hall on the third floor, there's a staircase tucked away that leads up to the spooky old attic -- and in that attic, there is another staircase. On the roof of the house, there's a sort of tower, and that's where Kevin brings Glen now. The interior of the tower could be made into anything, really, but at the very top of that the stairs open up onto a balcony, railed in to allow anyone who wants to to stand and observe the landscape around the house.

And oh, but the view is glorious. Up this high, the skyline of Nusquamton can be seen in the distance, but mostly it's just hills and fields and patches of forest, rolling over and around one another as far as the eye can see. There's a proper wind and Kevin is obliged to tuck some of his long hair behind his ear as the air stirs it, and it'll be even more tangled later. But it's worth it to be able to look out on the world this way. No matter what time of year it is, no matter what the weather, the view from this place is going to be beautiful.

The knight has seen this before, of course. Now, he watches eagerly for Glen's reaction.

He steps closer to the railing, bandaged hand rested carefully against it as the other keeps within the folds of his cloak. The cold hardly bothers him with how he takes in the view there before and around the both of them.

Work could be done to make this a place to come for quiet and peaceful moments no matter the weather. A space to enjoy the land, an it isn't much like anything he'd seen in this place before.

"It seals the deal."

Kevin bows his head, mostly hiding the grin that almost explodes from his face, but it doesn't disguise the relieved huff. This place had seemed so wonderful, so enchanted him, that he really hadn't been sure what he'd be able to find that was better if Glen hadn't wanted it. But it's good. It's good that Glen can want something, anything, and that he can have it. And together, they can make this place a home where the whole family can be happy.

Sliding forward, the knight rests his forehead against Glen's shoulder. Instead of pulling back once he feels a little more stable, however, this time he lingers, indulging in the contact. Now, he thinks, they can really move forward from what happened.

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House Hunters Nusquamton

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