Sing to me

Harper

Come out into the sun and stay awhile
Come meet me at the comedown

Harper grins, pleased to have made a good impression as a first time house guest despite the clearly frustrating task that had been occupying Maea before he knocked. "Hopefully the food lives up to the excitement," he jests, feeling a touch regretful for the way he'd clearly surprised her with his touch and hoping to give her an excuse to move past it if she needed.

"Let me tackle the fire while you unpack the food, and then I can change into the extra pair I carry." Accustomed to taking frustrations and burdens into his own hands, Harper smiles encouragingly, hoping his decisiveness will be a relief. He only knows modern terms and treatments for anxiety, but if that's what he reads in her then certainty and direction is what he's trained to provide. Kneeling in front of the hearth, Harper investigates the current state of affairs, humming little notes of consideration as he pokes and prods.

"I think this main log in the middle isn't fully dry, which is why it's smoking out the house and not catching. Is it willow? Or maybe just green?" There's no need to do it really but it's nice to talk out loud and have someone around to actually hear it and be included by it. Using the sparse tools by the fireside - understandable given two Ancients live here and likely have little need for them - Harper wiggles the split log out and sets it in the ash bucket so it could sputter out or be set outside. Perusing the available wood to replace it with, he inspects each with a critical eye before deciding on one he finds suitable and carefully inserting it back into the smoking hearth. A bit of tinder and some careful, measured breaths and the embers catch and crackle, producing more flames than smoke this time. It would take a few minutes to catch onto the larger logs, but Harper sits back on his knees and cranes his head around to grin at Maea. "One problem down! What do you think of dinner options?" Inside the hot section she would have found paella with local seafood from King's End, fresh rosemary bread, and the crown jewel of homemade brownies. In the cooler beneath were the rare steaks, ready to be cooked to each of their desires (or perhaps not at all in her case).

And if his eyes hang on her expression, hopeful and nervous in equal measure with the desire to impress her, it's only because there's a subtle art to the gift selection of a first visit to someone's home. Or maybe that's just his mentor's training still rattling around in his brain, sophisticated and high-class in ways Caido doesn't reflect.

When no one's talkin' about you at all
When there's no more little job you gotta do