Tea for Two, Finally. [Done]

[Kari Muffin]

(( OOC: This takes place way before Theo is the Queen of Diamonds. Sera and I have been planning this for a while. XD; just never made it until now. ))

Theofilus took the teapot off the stove and wandered over to the table to place it on it's proper stand. Shinrai was coming over for tea, a little later than either of them had planned. The hotel would be a simple common meeting ground for the pair, since neither of them wanted to set foot in the other's court. The sparrow shook his head. A lot had happened, he was sure, since they had last met. Children, business, everything had stopped them from meeting.

He sat down to look at a few of the papers he had brought with him from the firm. Account troubles that Rogers and Kelasia couldn't quite figure out were left to him. He had half a mind to have Zane take his place, or at least offer him some sort of job. It was better than having his son work for a rival company. Zane was just as good at math as he was.

There was a knock on the door. Theofilus perked up, hastily shoved his disheveled papers back into his briefcase and hurried to the door. After a bit of undoing the chains he opened the door with a smile on his beak.

[seraaches]

This day had been quite long in coming. The stallion's tail thoughtfully tapped against his hocks. He was a King now rather than a Jack, and fully fledged into the Court of Hearts. He had grown and he wanted this relationship to work; he wanted it to grow into a friendship.

When the door began to open, he banished his fears and had his own, easy-going smile ready to greet the man before him. A Queen. It was amazing and a bit worrisome. He didn't want Theofilus to think he was pursuing this relationship simply because they were both in the Courts. Still, there was little he could do about it now.

"It's good to see you again," the stallion said easily. "Especially under less... stressful circumstances than before." He made a wry face.

[Kari Muffin]

"Yes, well, please come in so we can discuss less stressful things," Theofilus said as he stepped to the side to allow the horse inside the room. The sparrow shut the door and hurried over to his proper seat once the other man was seated.

The sparrow poured two cups of tea. He had no idea what the stallion preferred, but tea was the general default drink of choice. That, and besides water and wine, it was one of the few things that Theofilus was willing to drink. He placed the cup in front of Shinrai before returning his attention to his own.

"So. I've almost forgotten what we wanted to discuss. We've done quite a few things since the last time we spoke with each other. Where exactly do you want to start?" Theofilus grinned before taking a long sip of tea. Herbal gray could prepare the man for almost anything.

[seraaches]

The stallion nodded lightly at the sparrow's words; he was surprised to discover that he actually nervous about this interview with the Queen. Whether or not he preferred tea over any other drink, the equine certainly wasn't going to say anything about it right now. The foothold into this potential friendship was, as yet, far too tenuous to quibble over simple things like drink choices.

The man settled easily into his seat, accepting the teacup with no sign of his inner anxiety. "Well, that is the question, isn't it?" he replied quietly. He took a sip of the tea, then put the cup down to lean forward and regard the bird earnestly. "I've no desire to argue over the past, but it seems important that we both be clear on certain issues, hrms?" The stallion leaned back again, forgetting about his tea for now. "I've had a hard past," he said, tone briefly going a bit flat subconsciously. "I don't doubt that you have as well." Though the rumour mill never got much further than that. People seemed unwilling to speak badly about the Selkie Lakes sparrow.

[Kari Muffin]

Theofilus studied the equine over the rim of his glasses before putting them back in their proper place. "If we aren't supposed to argue about the past, I'm curious as to why you would bring up you past. However, I have no problem with such a conversation."

A King of Hearts from the Marsh. He obviously knew what he was doing if he managed to become one of the Kings of the current Queen of Hearts. He took another sip of his tea before speaking. "I can say things happened in my past that were a challenge, but I can't call my past hard."

He set his tea cup down and leaned back a bit in his chair. He was rather happy that his glasses did a wonderful job of hiding his eyes. Sometimes they gave away a lot of information. "But I suppose we should get to the point so we can make this meeting more enjoyable. I don't particularly care your reasoning behind attacking my friend. If you do it again and I find out, I will close all of your accounts. She is a very important member of my family and my team."

Being blunt was so much nicer than dancing around the issue. "Though I suppose the attack had something to do with the neutrality of the region. Which is perfectly understandable. But I think I would appreciate it more if you just attacked Lowlanders or some such thing. Though, I could just be saying that because I despise Lowlanders above all things to be hated." He hoped that would be enough of a change of subject to avoid the issue of dropping accounts and other messy things.

[seraaches]

Rai had a word for Theo's behaviour over this issue, but he settled on the more neutral term 'uncompromising' instead. The sparrow might be a Queen of Diamonds now and he 'only' a King of Hearts, but the stallion knew very well that he was not going to remain in this lower role for long.

The bird was obviously under a very large mistaken mindset. The account? Accounts?! A simple account with a shipping firm, good or not, could NEVER be traded for the life of his brother. Never. And if Theofilus thought that this little threat would dissuade him from any of the revenge he had planned; well, then. The bird would be in for quite the unpleasant surprise. In this, it seemed, the stallion had been quite mistaken; Theofilus could not understand his past. So be it.

His ears went back and grey-green eyes flashed dangerously for a moment. Whether this was based on his own inner thoughts or the sparrow's mention of the word 'Lowlander' was hard to say, especially since it didn't simply disappear after a moment, as one would expect a mere thought to do. The sharp intensity settled into his gaze and the equine reached for his tea to take a careful swallow.

"Nasty things, those Lowlanders," the horse said quietly, letting his controlled hatred sound in his voice. Theofilus, the stallion was interested in discovering, also seemed to have an inflated view of his own importance. Very interesting. "I assume your dislike comes from that quest, Queen Serafino sent you on. Pravus partnered with you on that one, correct?"

[Kari Muffin]

It was an idle threat. There wasn't much Theofilus could say to a King of Hearts without threating to break his legs--which would be entirely too idiotic to say to any Heart, rising in power or not. The sparrow sighed and tapped the edge of his teacup at the statement.

"Oh yes. Being paired with an unstable cat put things into perspective. He wasn't half as bad as the Lowlanders or the actual Lowlands. I thought I could feel sorry for such pathetic disease ridden people, but I was completely wrong." He paused to shift his weight. "They're monsters that destroy all things innocent. The boy I saved from there... he'll never be a normal person."

It was a stab to his heart. The poor boy had seen things that no one should have, and he had to live with them for the rest of his life. Then again, it could have always been worse.

[seraaches]

Rai had never met the boy referenced, in fact he wasn't even entirely certain of the name, but likely his experience as a child was wildly different from wot Theofilus had experienced and that almost definitely meant that they would not agree on the proper upraising for an emotionally scarred child. Ah, well. All that did was keep Rai from saying anything on that topic.

Neverthess! Common ground was achieved; a distinct and nearly overwhelming hatred for Lowlanders. That, at least, was exceedingly useful and entirely justifable. None of his forays into the Lowlands had ever been pleasant. But he and El had always made their presence known.

As for Pravus... well, Rai didn't know the other man well, but it likely was an unpleasant experience for Theofilus.

"If they really wanted to better themselves," the stallion said almost thoughtfully, though his voice hardened in underlying disgust. "They could. But they choose not to, and they live in filth and skum and steal from those around them rather than working to make their land better."

[Kari Muffin]

"I think even if they were to better themselves they would be beyond redemption. They're so set in their ways, and their children only learn from their horrible example. It's a vicious cycle, that can't be fixed unless their was an entire generation plucked out of the Lowlands and reeducated to be... well... proper Cards." Theofilus said as he tapped his nails on the tea cup he was holding. That was an awfully depressing statement. Tearing children from homes.... well no, actually it would be tearing children from run down shacks.

He sighed. "Ultimately Lowlanders prove the point that most people are just lazy bastards who are unwilling to change things for better or for worse. It's amazing how many poor people can be in one given area. Poor, diseased and rotting, might I add. I couldn't get the smell out of my feathers for weeks."

And the other horribly things that he happened to catch thanks to Eilwyn.

"What do you think would be a proper solution for such a complex puzzle as "fixing" the Lowlands?" The sparrow asked with a curious head tilt. He honestly wanted to see what Shinrai would say. If he had such strong feelings about Lowlanders, what would his hypothetical solution be?

[seraaches]

How... very interesting. Taken away from the Lowlanders for years now, Rai hadn't been subjected to much interaction with the rotting beings since he'd moved to the Capital. Nor did he care to rub elbows with them much at all.

Idly, he wondered if Theofilus had ever thought about wiping out the Lowlands entirely and the people within. Goodness knew that Rai and Elias had taken out quite a few Lowlanders during raids back and forth. The equine's history was rather sordid and likely not something the more sheltered sparrow should hear, even with the extreme hate evident in Theofilus' statements. The Selkie Lakes resident still struggled within himself; his morals and his hatred were at odds with each other.

Green, triangular ears flicked back lazily at the man's question and he gave Theofilus a small smile that hinted at darker things. "The land needs help," the stallion answered almost lightly despite the heaviness of their topic. "Get some good hardworkers in there and in just a few years the Lowlands would no longer be such a place of filth and rotting."