Hello and welcome back to another chapter. This one is another interesting mix bag chapter hopefully you'll enjoy it because it was a ton of fun to write ^v^

Song Suggestion: Build our Machine by DAGames

Disclaimer: I own nothing Resident Evil belongs to Capcom and I, sadly, am not affiliated with them.

"Don't forget your signals," Charlotte says with a bored tone. A few seconds later a chirping clicking sound could be heard as the blinking indicator was turned on. "Better,"

Heisenberg rolled his eyes at the instruction. "I know how to drive." he says annoyed as they made their way down the road.

"M-hm," Charlotte replies as she shifts to relax in the passenger's seat. While she was giving him a bit of a hard time for forgetting his signals, he genuinely wasn't that bad at driving. It was October at this point and almost a month had passed since Duke's last appearance. Since then, Karl managed to get a driving permit, but he still needed to log 40 hours of 'practice' with a licensed driver in the car. Who would have thought the gut that already knew how to drive didn't need to be taught how to drive.

"Don't make me turn this thing around," Karl says with a slight frown.

"Well that would add another 3 hours on to your log, your choice," Charlotte replies with a slight smirk.

"Smartass," Heisenberg replies under his breath while focusing on the road. It had been a while. Now that the company was finally shut down, the two decided it would be nice to get away for a bit and unwind. He didn't mind that in the slightest, if anything it was a bit reminiscent of their old supply runs. Relaxing while driving and quietly enjoying the other's company... with the occasional bit of snarky commentary.

As nice as it was, it was also helpful to get away to try and ignore that with Charlotte's newly acquired free time thanks to being unemployed, He was having trouble getting time to work in the mini factory. Her bored tended to result in a few visits to the mini factory. He needed to find something else for her to do. She was clever, and she'd figure out about the lower floors if she was given enough time.

"In half a mile take the exit on the right," His phone announced.

"So, where are we going anyways?" Charlotte asks with mild curiosity.

"As I recall you didn't tell me where we were going last time until we got there," Karl points out as he follows the directions given by the small device.

"Fair enough," She replies with a shrug. It was rare for him to want to go anywhere, so she was content with playing along.

After taking the exit they drive continued and the busy city roads became more barren, trees filled with vibrate colorful leaves lined the roadways in a shower of Reds, oranges and yellows that danced around in the setting autumn sunlight.

"In 500 feet, your destination will be on your left" the phone says causing Charlotte to lean slightly to try and see, but the only thing in sight was a gravel path.

"Um?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow and watched for a moment longer as he took the gravel path. An aged wooden path with bright yellow words painted on it read Oak Grove Campsite. "Are we going on a hike?" She asks a bit confused. They didn't exactly bring equipment with them.

"Camping," Karl corrects with a smile.

"Without a tent?" she asks concerned, "In October?"

"Is there a problem?" He asks amused.

"Well it's a bit cold for that," Charlotte starts off, and they don't have a TENT.

"We can find other ways to stay warm," He says with a smirk.

"Karl," She says with a concerned frown. He might be immortal, but she wasn't, she'd freeze.

He rolls his eyes at that, "Relax, the place has rental gear. I called ahead."

"Oh thank heavens," Charlotte says somewhat relieved. Rental camping gear was kind of a toss up, and It was still probably going to be a bit nippy but at least they'd have something. Heisenberg parked the car by a log cabin with a sign that read 'supplies and sign in' and went inside. It took a few minutes, but he eventually walked out with a backpack over his shoulder and arms full of various camping gear. Upon seeing this Charlotte leaned over to press the truck release creating a quiet Plunk as the hatch opened.

Seeing the trunk open was a blessing in and of itself, granted he could have just cheated and opened it himself but, it was a nice enough gesture that she was paying attention. Karl packed away the borrowed camping gear and closed the trunk before getting back into the car.

"See, Easy as that," He says with a confident smile.

"Honestly, I'm just surprised you didn't steal it," Charlotte says with an amused tone.

"Eh, the day's young," He replies in return.

Charlotte rolled her eyes at that but nods. Despite her less than pleasant experience with the village, she did still enjoy things like hiking and camping. Sure she was used to things like cabins, but a tent wasn't so bad if it was just one night.

The drive only took a few minutes longer before the car was parked once more on a gravel lot by a wooden post with the number 37 painted on it.

"Looks like we got here at a good time," Charlotte says as the sun was starting to get low.

"We might be a bit pressed for time," Karl contradicts which confuses the woman.

"What do you mean? We're already at the site," She asks to voice her confusion. They just needed to set up the tent and get a fire started in the pit.

"I know," He replies with a smile. "We're not setting up here."

"... okay so where are we setting up," Charlotte asks with a raised eyebrow.

"We're going to find a better view for the night," The man answers but all the same waits in the car to finish the conversation. "Unless you really want to watch Mister Pimbleton across the way scratch his ass and walk around pretending he 'one with the trees'."

Charlotte looked up at the rearview mirror to find a man walking around with a beer in his hand while staring aimlessly. She wasn't sure if it was possible to look like a tourist to a camp site, but this guy managed. "Lead the way."

"Thought you'd see it my way," He says with a confident smirk before moving to get out of the car. Charlotte did the same and walked around the car as Heisenberg pressed the button on the key to open the trunk. Each of them grabbed their fair share of the equipment to carry with them and after closing and locking up the car the two made their way into the woods.

As the two were walking up a step cliff Charlotte spoke up once more. "You realize this is illegal, and we can get fined for this right?" Charlotte asks with an amused smile.

Hearing this causes Heisenberg to stop and stare at Charlotte with disbelief. "You're telling me that now?"

Charlotte shrugs as she continued to walk and passed him. "You made a good point before."

"But you're telling me that now," he asks again annoyed as he started walking again to catch up with her. "Why?" he asks as his frown remained.

"Just to make sure you know," She replied still calm as before. "It's our first time here, so we'll probably just get a small fine and a warning."

"Great, thanks for that," he replies sarcastically.

The two continued to walk before eventually finding a nice open area that was void of grass as the sun was setting. Heisenberg smiles a bit as he puts down the gear. "Here's good."

"You're the boss," Charlotte replies with a chuckle. It was nice seeing him so excited about something that wasn't in that darn shed. She could hardly get him to leave the place.

"Oh really?" He asks with a joking smile. "Well then, you figure out the tent, I'll make a pit," he says as he walks away to look for supplies.

Charlotte's amusement stopped as she heard the task. Possibly the most frustrating part of any overnight outdoor's trip, was the tent. All the same she walked over and put her collection of supplies down next to his and started unpacking the tent. To her relief it appears the gear was washed between uses and even more exciting, it still had all the parts however the instructions were nowhere to be seen.

"Well this is great," She mutters under her breath before sitting down and getting to work trying to figure out what part when where. It took a fair bit of finagling but after a good twenty minutes or two she had a fully constructed tent. She smiled at her handy work before looking over at the two bags that each contained a sleeping bag. They washed the tent so here's hoping they did the same for the sleeping bags... "Oh thank god," Charlotte says with a sigh of relief as they smelled of laundry soap.

By the time the pit and tent were set up the last of the sun's light gave way to the night sky.

"Are you not going to light the fire? Charlotte asks confused.

"Give it a minute, where are the sleeping bags?" he asks confused as he looks around the cooler where the bags were before.

"I set them up in the tent," Charlotte explains only for Heisenberg to walk over to the tent go inside and get the bags only to lay them on the dirt ground. "We have to sleep in those," Charlotte says annoyed by his actions. He asked her to set up the tent, and she did. What on earth was he doing?

"Can't see the sky in there, come on," he says as he motions for her to join him as he kicks off his boots and shifts to lay down on the bag. "I'll start the fire in a bit."

Despite her efforts to remain cranky about his actions, Charlotte's smile returned as she watched him shift to put his hands behind his head and stare up at the sky. After a second longer, she walks over and does the same, removing her shoes to lay down on the bag that he set down right next to his, so they could lay side by side.

Thanks to how far away they drove they were well away from the lights of bustling cities or towns. A cool breeze caused the woman to shiver before shifting to mover her bag a bit closer, so she could nestle up to the man next to her for warmth. Heisenberg chuckles slightly but obliges the silent request and put an arm around her though his eyes remained trained on the sky above. The two of them laid there quietly looking at the stars, and as Charlotte took the time to relax she twisted and played with the woven metal ring around her finger.

In the quiet unjudging silence of the universe, away from everyone else and the stress of the world, the two were finally able to relax. They were free. "...This is nice," Charlotte whispers while peacefully smiling.

"Yeah,"Heisenberg agrees with a similarly quiet voice that seemed rather uncharacteristic for the normally boisterous and confident voice. "I can't really see the stars from your place like I used to back at the village."

"Really?" Charlotte asks curiously as she glances over at him, before returning her attention to the vast cosmos above, "Huh... I never really noticed... though, I suppose I was a bit too busy looking around to make sure something wasn't going to jump out and rip me apart, to look up and notice them."

It was a fair enough point. He had the luxury of looking up since he was at the top of the food chain. "We'll have to go back some time," Karl suggests with a slight smile.

Hearing that surprised Charlotte. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Why not?" He asks in return with a raised eyebrow.

Charlotte paused as she thought over what to say or if she should say anything. He asked though so she spoke freely. "You gave up the factory... and even then it was practically leveled... are you sure you want to see that?"

"Yeah, I don't think it will bother me," He replies with a shrug. "Gave it up for something that was worth more," He adds while sparing a glance at her.

"Right, your powers," She says with a nod. Those were pretty important to him, and it seemed to bother him to be without them. Not that she blamed him, it was a part of who he was for so lo-

"Nope,"

"What?" Charlotte asks confused.

"Gave up the blueprints for that," He replies as an explanation.

"I thought you said you gave him the factory too," Charlotte points out to explain her prior question.

"I did, just not for that," Karl confirms with a slight smile.

"What did you trade it for?" The woman asks with a puzzled expression.

Heisenberg contemplates what to tell her before hesitantly replying, "... I'll tell ya when you're older,"

Charlotte rolls her eyes at this but doesn't press, knowing well enough that if he didn't want to tell her he wasn't going to and if he wanted to tell her and didn't when she first asked that she'd just be playing his game by continuing to ask.

As they stared up at the sea of stars a streak of light crossed the sky. "I think I saw a shooting star,"

"Meteor," Heisenberg replied with a slight smile. "Was browsing around the other night. Turns out there's some meteor shower supposed to happen. The best time to watch it is right after sunset. Think it was called a Draconid or something."

Charlotte remained silent in stunned awe. "... You planned this."

"Obviously," He replied with a short huff of laughter.

"No, it's just... I didn't think you'd be the sort to go out of your way for a 'romantic gesture'," She explains as her confusion returned once more. "You're usually an 'in the moment' sorta guy."

"Hey, that chess set took effort," He says clearly taking offense to that.

"True, I think I more so meant, you know. Events. Neither of us really plan ahead on things." probably because they're both used to being hopped up on fight or flight so planning ahead seems pointless. She chuckles a bit. "I mean case and point we decided to get married and did so a week later in Vegas because neither of us wanted to have to deal with planning it."

"Hold on now, you don't think that means it's not important to me, do you?" He asks as he shifts to sit up a bit so he could look at her. while his annoyed tone remained There was a small hint of concern.

"Of course not," Charlotte replies in return, after a pause she smiles and speaks again. "If that were true I'd have to kick your ass."

Hearing that causes him to smile a bit. It was like watching a declawed house cat try and pick a fight with a lion. He moves to lay back down since he felt content with her answer. "At the end of the day, it's a ceremony about two people making promises meant to be kept and that's what we did,"

"True," She agreed still smiling. While she was giving him a bit of a hard time, the fact he was trying made her happy.

He yawned as he focused on searching for more meteors and thought back on the promises that they made. Though, now that he thought about it, they didn't really put any effort into that either. They just sort of read the papers they were given, threw some rice, and called it a day...

"Get up,"

"hm?" Charlotte looked over to see Heisenberg moving to get up. What on earth has gotten into him all of a sudden?

"I said stand up," He repeats as he offers a hand.

But she was comfy... Fine. She accepted the offered hand and was rather effortlessly pulled up on to her feet and towards him. Once she was on her feet and close to him, he used his magnetic abilities to force the ring off her finger and into his hand.

"Hey,"Charlotte says with an annoyed expression. Was he dumping her? What the hell?

He wasn't sure what to say, it took a moment and a breath, but he eventually started to speak."You're the dumbest clever bitch I've ever met," he says repeating his usual sentiment which earned him a hard stare. "You're a pain in my ass, you're always pushing my buttons by having something smart to say..." He lists off and the hard stare remained. "You test me sometimes, and you push me In a way that no one ever bothered to try to before." the metal lord hesitantly admits, while trying to think about how to properly word what he was thinking. "I told you my crazy plans, and you said let's make them real." Hearing this caused the hardened stare he was receiving to soften. "I said scrap it, and you said just build more," he adds as he starts to smile a bit at the memory. "I wanted freedom, and you gave me the world," he says with a single laugh. "When I said it's worthless, you said it's priceless... and I love you for it."

At this point Charlotte was smiling back at him. "Because even with the garbage moments when we shout and get pissy with each other. You fought for me... no one's ever done that before." Sure he'd been in fights and battles before where people were fighting with him, but she saw him, believed in him, and fought for him... "We are broken people but," He paused once more to take the time to think about his wording since this wasn't quite normal for him. "I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather be broken with. Who knows? Maybe that's why we fit together so well."

"So,"At this point he clears his throat as he realized he started to ramble a bit. "I promise, not to be a complete asshole when you're being a little shit, like when you hog all the blankets at night," He says with a slight smile, as he watched Charlotte jokingly make a face at that. "To value or differences as much as our common ground and to be your strength as much as you've been mine," the man promises. "For better, for worse, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish," At this point he takes the time to put the ring back on her hand where it belonged. "And 'till death do us part."

While a good portion of that had been backhanded, Charlotte smiled and kissed him all the same, knowing well enough that it was his way of communicating since being emotionally vulnerable was difficult for him after everything he's been through.

"Ring," she says holding out her hand, "I don't have magnet powers like you, so I can't just take yours."

"Copy cat," he jokingly teased but shifts to do as she requests and offers her his ring.

"No, you're supposed to do this as a pair," Charlotte counters as she accepts the dark metal band. "You said something now I'm supposed to say something."

"Fine," He agrees since there was no real protest in the first place.

Good gracious what could she say to even come close to that... "Well, first off, you're an egocentric man child," She says as a retort to his first comment, "The second you're bored I know because I hear you taking things apart in a cry for attention," She adds with a laugh as he rolls his eyes. "But you're kind in your own way, and you challenge me to be more than I am," Charlotte says as her tone goes from its prior joking melody to a more quiet reverence. "And for all the times you break things, you always try to find a way to fix them too," She acknowledges before a small smile pulls at her lips. "The first thing I ever said to you was for you to get away from me... but now I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you in my life."

"We may not have won ever battle along the way, but we won the war, all that's really left is to keep moving forward even if we don't know what's ahead of us," The woman says as she gives his hand a gentle squeeze. "So long as I have you by my side it doesn't matter because regardless of what we find, we'll face it together."

"So, here's to our life together, my partner, my ally, my love," Charlotte says with gentle confidence. "I promise, not to be a brat all the time, even if I'm still going to push your buttons from time to time," She says with amused honesty. "I promise to grow and learn and experience this crazy life with you... For better, for worse, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish," Charlotte says in closing and offers his ring back to him which he puts back on. "And 'till death do us part."

Heisenberg smiles as she finished speaking and moved to hold the side of her face, so he could lean forward to kiss her. Charlotte's confusion returned as she could have sworn she saw a bit of sadness in his smile but, she was probably imagining it. Instead, she focused on kissing him back as a few meteors could be seen against the night sky above them.

'*'*'*'*'

A few days had passed since their trip to the park to camp. Even now, Karl contently smiled back on the memory while in the poorly lit hand dug basement of the mini-factory. Karl looked over the abomination he was putting together out of boredom. Not that anything really came of it without access to a way to breathe life into his creations.

Heisenberg looked at his latest amalgamation of cut down bones, shortened organs stitched together from parts of a deer, a coyote and a raccoon to make a strange pug size creature. The engineer looked it over with a slight frown. yep. looked like failure. He grumbled as he picked up the lifeless husk and walked over to the second ladder that lead further down into the ground. as he made his way into the smaller area dozens of decomposing corpses of road kill monstrosities could be found lifeless on the ground. the same way they were found just stitched together. even with his efforts of studying organs he hadn't figured out reanimation quite yet. not without a catalyst.

His frustrated grumbling continued as he climbed back up to his hidden workshop from his pit of rejects.

"Trouble in paradise Lord Heisenberg?" Duke asks with a smile.

Hearing the intruder's voice caused Heisenberg to quickly turn to face him. "What are you doing here you, fat bastard."

"Charming as always," Duke replies in return. "I was hoping to acquire some of your expertise." He admits rather plainly. "While the solution is eluding me I'm sure someone of your technical caliber will have no issue with this."

"And why should I help you," Karl asks annoyed as he goes over to his desk and attempts to ignore the man.

"Because you're bored," Duke replies plainly.

"... what do you want?" He asks instead as he hesitantly decides to hear the man out.

"I need you to design a machine for me and build it to my specifications," Duke replies and offers a folded piece of paper to Karl. "it would require a fair bit of work, but I need something that will allow me to completely control the environment of an experiment of mine."

He accepts and unfolds it to look over the details. "Easy enough to build." he replies with confidence. "But what do I get out of this."

"Well. Name your price," Duke says in return.

"I'll be expecting you to supply all the parts I need for it, that much is a given," Heisenberg says as he puts down the paper on his desk and starts writing down a list of supplies as he made a blueprint for the requested machine in his mind. "... I want mold samples, I know you have some. A regular supply of it and a safe way to store it."

"Consider it done," Duke agrees clearly happy with this despite keeping his excitement in check.

With that agreement made Heisenberg nods and hands over the list of required parts. "That should get me started. Once I have the parts it'll take me about two weeks. Then you'll have your machine."

"Excellent, and regarding our other arrangement," Duke starts, but Heisenberg cuts him of.

"Give it another 30 years. It's going to be awhile before she catches up," Karl says with a slight frown. The merchant's eagerness for that was off-putting.

"As you say lord Heisenberg," Duke replies with a nod. "I look forward to seeing your progress with this device."

H is hesitant but eventually agrees on the terms that Duke will supply him with samples of mold so often and provide a safe way to store it. Similar to his exit before wind and feather picked up leaving a shimmering trail in the air where Duke once was.

'*'*'*'*'

Just as Heisenberg had promised, with in two weeks the machine was built and taken away under Charlotte's nose and in that time he received a vacuum tight storage safe for the mold and several samples to work with. He was back in business. Another week passed after that bringing the beginning of November as Charlotte watched from the couch with some curiosity when Heisenberg walked past and started heading for the door.

"What are you up to?" she asks with a suspicious eye.

"Heading out to the factory," he replies as he waves off the question.

"Already? You just woke up," she points out. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I'll make a larger lunch later," He says in return and walks out.

Charlotte frowns as she watches the door close. He was spending an awful lot of time in that shed for someone who didn't have anything new to show for it. She'd stop by and everything looked the same as before. if anything some of the tools were even getting a bit dusty while others were so clean they look like all he did was wash them. Charlotte got up and walked over to the door as well.

"Wait 15 seconds to give him time to get to the shed," she says under her breath and counts down the seconds. Once the time passed she slipped out the door and made her way over to the shed to find that sure enough, it was empty. "God damn it Karl," she grumbled under her breath as she looked around a bit more. it didn't take her long to notice the folded over rug and the makeshift hatch it had been hiding. seeing this caused her to start to laugh from anger as she walks over and throws the hatch open. "KARL HEISENBERG You better hide anything you don't want me to see you shit,"

the hatch slammed shut in response.

"oooohohoho so he wants to die," she says annoyed. Fine. She walks over and picks up the chair, so she could set it down to face the hatch. He wanted to play 'who's the bigger brat'? she was REAL good at that game, she thought as she sat down in the chair with her arms crossed.

Meanwhile, down below Karl was silently cursing himself for not digging out a secondary exit... not that it mattered at this point she already saw the hatch.

"The longer you make me wait the more PISSED OFF I'm going to be," he heard Charlotte announce.

Maybe being a mole man wouldn't be so bad? ... nah he'd run out of test subjects and die of boredom in a week... That would be worse than a cranky wife for what, 4 days? He weighed out his options for a few minutes before eventually the hatch popped back open.

Charlotte stares for a moment to make sure it wasn't going to just slam shut again before getting up and walking over. "I swear if there's any spooky ass shit down there I'm gonna kick his ass, god-damn bull shit," She grumbles under her breath as she climbs down the rings to find herself in a surprisingly well dug out area with makeshift metal furniture, and he managed to get lighting down here?!

"Is that why you needed so many spare light bulbs?" She asks as she gestures to the ceiling while trying not to focus on the fact that the metal desk in the middle of the room was covered in blood and had a heart in a jar on it that looked like it had been cut open and sewn shut a couple of dozen times now.

"The shed was getting crowded," Heisenberg offers as an explanation.

Charlotte stares at him with an annoyed expression that asked loudly 'are you serious?' "So you dug a hole directly under it...Karl what if this caves in," She points out in return.

"Well I putt supports in so that won't happen," He points out with a shrug. she was going to be angry either way, just wait it out.

"Oh well that's good," she says sarcastically in return. Honestly if he needed more space he could have just ask- the sound of an odd distorted chortle caught her attention causing her to look around and notice the second hole off to the corner.

"There's more?" She says as her anger grew. "what the hell is down there?"

"You really wanna see?" Karl asks in return.

This cocky ass bastard, "make my day," Charlotte says thought it translated in his mind to 'test me I dare you'.

He understood the subtle message well enough. Challenge accepted. "Fine," he replies as he walks over to the pit and climbs down. it takes a few moments but eventually, he climbs back up with an odd looking small creature under his arm that was roughly the size of a pug.

"What the shit is that," she asks horrified as she watches it run over to her and start to sniff her leg. No, nononononono, no no. No. this was not okay.

you asked, he thought with a smile."It's gotta couple, different parts in it. I think some coyote parts, a bit of Raccoon. Mostly deer parts that I cut down though, and it acts kinda like a dog, so I call it Deerog." he explains as it eventually grows bored with smelling Charlotte and scampers off to explore the area.

Charlotte starts massaging her temple as she listens to him speak. "... Couldn't you just ask for a dog like a normal husband?"god-damn it why was it actually kind of cute? That's it. She snapped. She lost her mind and she's gone insane. None of this is real. Please be a nightmare.

"Well where's the fun in that," Karl asks in return. "I'm not doing anything illegal persay it's all dead when i find it. i just. fix it is all."

You are not helping your case right now mister. "It's not going in the house," Charlotte says with a tired, flat expression. she was done.

"Wasn't planning on it," He admits in return, it was far too useful since it was rather good at cleaning up the reject corpses. kept the place from smelling quite as bad.

"Good, I hope you two are cozy out here," She says as she turns around to go back up the hatch. she was washing her hands of this and he was staying out here until she was done being mad at him for this bull shit.

Tadah~ 3 hopefully this chapter fills a few requests. as more romantic wedding like event for the two and the answer to, what happened to the deer. it's kinda a disappointing answer, The original deer that he gathered didn't really make anything because he didn't have access to the mold and that was months ago. So, that's decomposing in the pit, but since there was some interest in a deer experiment I give to you, Deerog the Frankenstein pet.

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At this point, I also wanted to take a second to thank everyone who reads my work. from the silent lurkers to the frequent commentors, It means the world to me. I've received a few messages and comments over the last few months from various readers that want to start writing too, and it makes me so excited to get these messages! So, I'd like to take the time to officially make this a public offer. If you ever want to write, feel free to message me, and I'll be more than happy to help however I can. Additionally, I want to give public permission that if you're not sure where to start, you're free to use any of the characters I've made for any of my stories to use in your own works. I'm borrowing characters from Capcom and I didn't exactly get their permission, lmao. If I can do anything with my time writing, such as, make an encouraging space for others to try and do the same, I'll consider this the greatest success I could have hoped for. Let's all do our best and support each other :)

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Review Responses:

nadillaandlaprasthefireandice - glad that you enjoyed the fluff u we're going to be on a fluff train for a little while longer =v= he's definitely got some Frankenstein capacity now that he has access to mold again.

ScaryBerry - oohhh those are some solid ideas. I can definitely work with that. there's definitely some BOW activity going on in the background at the moment that Chris is working with. he might be in a bit over his head.

Charadrius - Duke being duke and making deals to progress his interests lol. Sl glad to have you along for the ride =v= Cheers!