I'm spamming you all *cackles*
we've got a bunch done.
Noelle comes to the table with plates, bowls and forks, then the food itself. Yuri watches quietly as a bowl of salad, some rolls, and then a meat stew were placed out. She pointed the ladle at Yuri.
"I'll give you food, but you don't get to start eating until everyone has some, understand? It's polite." Yuri nods, looking at the end of the ladle, then the food. It's obvious he's restraining the drool.
Finas seems to be watching Yuri out of the corner of his eye. "Remember Nylen Fedrock, Noelle?"
"Mmhm." She puts salad on Yuri's plate first. "He has the combat-dogs, doesn't he? Lambert?" Yuri watches the greens like he's not sure what they are, or if they'd move on him.
"Yeah. He's stationed in Halure, but he got one of the promotions to captain, so he has to be back in Zaphias." Yuri picks up a scrap of lettuce and pops it into his mouth, since he figured that the adults were busier talking. His expression is unreadable. And Finas clonks Yuri. The man must have the eyes of a hawk. "You were told to wait, lad."
Yuri sticks his tongue out, which had the still whole piece of lettuce on it, carefully picks it off, and puts it back on his plate. Then he holds his head with a muttered "Ow." Flynn watches him wide eyed. Noelle and Finas seem unperturbed. As though they were expecting all of this.
"He wants to meet all of us again, before he's posted to Ceazontonia." Yuri watches Finas sulkily, and this time, he only moves a tomato closer to him on his plate. With his fingers, of course.
"Do you know when he'll be in Zaiphas?" Noelle asks.
"A few weeks from now." The knight sets his pipe to one side. "And I think we need to teach Mr. Lowell some table manners."
"..." Yuri stares at him blankly, before poking the tomato. "... What is it?"
"It's a tomato, Yuri." Flynn states, smiling. "They're delicious!"
"Okay..." Before Yuri can pick it up with his fingers again, Noelle whacks the back of his hand.
"Use a fork." Yuri stares at her. "... The one with the points." Noelle realizes that Yuri's probably been on the street and stealing far more than he'd been cared for. Yuri eyed the silverware, and picks the right one. Finas demonstrates the correct way to use it, Flynn watching curiously. Yuri studies Finas using the fork, then mimics. Two attempts to stab the tomato to death failed with his right hand, so he swapped to his left. Then it worked. There was a flicker of fierce 'I got it!' expression before he stared at the tomato on the end of his fork, and ate it. He did notice that he needed to keep his mouth shut while he chewed, but he started stabbing more bits of salad while he was. Finas and Noelle share "all is not lost" looks before continuing.
"Has Captain Schwann put forward anyone for your brigade yet?"
"No..." Yuri watches Flynn's salad after eating his. After a moment, his fork snakes out and stabs in Flynn's, quickly retreating to his mouth before Flynn can do more than squawk.
And Finas bops Yuri again. "You've had yours."
"It's good." Yuri mutters. Flynn was guarding his salad with an arm now, but eating quicker.
"You have stew and a roll, as well. Finish that, and you can have more salad." Noelle says sternly, but has a bit of that 'a kid who likes greens!' thrill to her expression. Finas has an expression of "I hate salad." As does Flynn, but they both eat it. So Yuri mumbles and pulls the bowl of stew closer to him. He prods it with his fork, and then begins to stab again.
And Noelle proffers a spoon. "I'm sure you'll get it, honey." She says to Finas, reaching over to kiss him on the cheek. Yuri takes it, eyes it, then catches the kiss.
"Get a room!" he crows, before shoving the spoon of potato and broth into his mouth.
"We have several. And if you want to stay in any, then shaddup." Finas growls. Yuri blinks, then blinks his eyes wider. There was some strange emotion flicking about in them. Mostly surprise.
"Yessir." he mumbles, and takes another bite of stew. Flynn blinks in surprise. As does Finas, frowning slightly. Yuri does a very good job of shutting up for the rest of the meal. Puppy-dog eyes and plate holding were involved with his desire to get more salad, rather than words. And Noelle gives Yuri more. So Yuri happily, but quietly, crunches through the salad. Flynn looks puzzled.
"Not like you to follow commands, Yuri." Finas comments. Yuri stares at him, and pops more salad into his mouth. "You can speak now."
".. Oh." Yuri mumbles, and crunches through more salad. "Bed's are nice." he mutters, as if it explained it all, and crunched some more.
"Mom... Why do they call them 'greens' when tomatoes are red?" Flynn asks.
Noelle stares at Flynn. "Because they're the special ones, Flynn. They took all the red from the other ones, so that the rest of them aren't brown."
"Do turn brown, tho'." Yuri mutters, happily crunching. "Don't taste good then though.."
"The lad has a point." Finas comments.
Noelle gives Finas a Look, then turns to Yuri. "They turn brown when they go bad. Don't eat brown greens again, it's bad for you."
"... Huh." Yuri blinks, then eyes the salad. Not spotting any brown, which he poked it about for, he resumed eating it. Finas grins sheepishly at the Look, continuing to eat in silence. Yuri seems most interested in the greens, but after a few more bites, he blinks, and looks rather confused at his stomach.
Flynn does the same. "What's wrong, Yuri?" Yuri pokes his side a little, still looking confused.
"... not hungry." he mutters, sounding a little... awed. Finas and Noelle exchange glances, looking worried with a tinge of guilt. Yuri pokes himself once more, then eyes the remains of what was likely his fifth set of salad. He stares at the greens, then picks up his fork with a determined expression.
And Noelle pulls the plate away. "You don't need to eat it just because it's there." Yuri's expression says 'Yes I do', but he frowns a little, as if he's actually thinking about whether this was going to take away his bed for the night. "It'll keep until the morning." Noelle says, smiling. Yuri's expression brightens and he puts the fork back down. Flynn looks like he wonders why anyone would want to finish more salad than they had too. "I'm glad you like salad, Yuri." Noelle says. "Unlike some of the men around here." Finas chokes lightly on his drink.
Yuri blinks at her. "s'not crusty, or fuzzy. or squishy or slimey. It's a good kind'a crunchy." He sort of wiggles back into the chair.
"Is there a good squishy? Because I like gels. And they're squishy." Flynn asks.
Yuri thinks on that. "... Don't really like gels 'ny more."
"Right. Well. Time for bed." Noelle says. "Finas, would you make sure Yuri settles in?"
"Sure." And like that Yuri's out of the chair and watching Finas. "C'mon you two. We have a spare bed in Flynn's room." The knight leads the way. Yuri almost seems to be happily sing-songing about 'clean, bed, blankets, dry' and combinations of that sort under his breath as he follows Finas. Flynn's sort of just watching Yuri as he follows. Finas makes up the spare bed as Flynn gets ready for bed, handing a spare set of nightclothes to Yuri. Yuri stares at them for a moment, then sets to changing right then and there. Flynn blinks. Finas finishes the bed. Flynn climbs into his own. Yuri scampers over and wriggles himself a nest out of the blanket, watching Finas as if the knight might suddenly change his mind. Finas, instead, sits by Flynn's bed. Seems the boy can't sleep without someone there yet. Yuri stares, but snags the pillow and plays with it a little. He seems to by trying to figure out how to incorporate it into his blanket-nest, which leads to taking the nest apart and remaking it several times before he settles with being half on it. The fact he leaves a bit of his head poking out leaves him looking like some sort of turtle. Finas merely watches this. An amused smile on his face. With a little bit of blanket flailing, Yuri's in a comfortable nest, full, and warm, and nodding off already. Finas chuckles, shaking his head. Flynn is already asleep.
so... Random request.
I don't beleive their horses are s'posed to be called 'horses'
What should they be called? No, Not Horse-wriggles.
Just curiosity.
