Pretty rarely, but it counts.
"They'll die very quickly regardless," he shrugged, "things usually do. But at least they might brighten someone's day while their beauty lasts." Were all of his conversations before Novus centered so firmly over a chasm of bleak morbidity? It seemed everything since his arrival conspired to remind him of what he had lost, of the way Ruth rattled about in the hollows of his skull like broken teeth. It had been a long time since he had lost anything he cared about (by design). Maybe it had been like this then, too.
But the shadow of his thoughts could not reach so far as to stain his outwardly festive presentation. He was used to sharing only part of his hand, and appearances are everything in social circles.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all the same, Teiran." He straightened the flower crown, content not to press the issue unnecessarily. If she wanted flowers she knew where to find them, but she didn't seem like the sort to change her mind readily and he wasn't quite prepared to become that guy who tackled unfamiliar women in hopes of showering them with gifts. That's just weird. "Solterra," Raymond rolled the world about in his mouth with a historian's enthusiasm. "That's...east of us, right? What's it like, besides dry?"
Raymond didn't mind people without social skills. They were at times easier to talk to, easier to engage with, because they shot straight and spoke plainly.
"I'm not from around here," he added in lieu of an apology for his ignorance. Teiran hardly would have needed the reminder for any other purpose; his apparent disregard for conventions and ignorance of basic geography were quite telling on their own, and Raymond was not afraid to be identified as a foreigner.
Raymond.
and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
when the man comes around
and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
when the man comes around
@Teiran She's great!
aut viam inveniam aut faciam
