November 3, 1888: Morning Rounds

[professorwolf]

Date: November 3
Time: Early morning to breakfast time
Location: All over the estate
Characters: Randolph Lyall (professorwolf) [OPEN]

Every morning started out the same, generally, in a country manor house, unless there had been some major to-do the night before. There were servants to wake, meals to be begun, lists to write up for approval of the housekeeper and the Lady of the houose, and curtains to open to the dawn light, even if a student or guest happened to have fallen asleep in the room in question. It had happened before, particularly in the library, and often resulted in a rather rude awakening.

Lyall actually found those moments highly amusing, particularly in the case of the students asleep at their books or gadgets, though he'd never let on.

He was among those up earliest, mostly because he needed to make sure everything began smoothly, but in part because he did like seeing the house come alive. This morning was a bit harder to drag himself from bed than usual, and he blamed the humidity, which was already rising by dawn. He dressed and headed out on the morning routine to wake the parts of the house that the masters rarely if ever saw, and to get a start on the day.

Run into him in any part of the house with a problem, a question, a complaint at being woken by drawn curtains, or even just a good morning... if you're up that early.

Comments

[muscovy]

Ivan woke up early and snuck out of bed and out of the room in search of a bathroom, but then got lost in the house that is still foreign to him. It doesn't help that the day is thick and weighing down on the people in the house, which is also the reason why he didn't bother getting dressed yet, just padding around in his nightgown with still sleepy eyes, trying to locate either a bathroom or at least find his father's bedroom again, both of which have obviously failed at the point when he finds himself in the main hall.

And he really needs to go. Maybe... he peers down the stairs and wonders if he could sneak out and just use the woodlands beyond the house for it, but there are ...things in the hall down there, and they looks scary and he's not sure how to get past them. What if they take offense? And what if he can't open the door to the outsides? Maybe he could find the kitchen exit or something, but for that he'd have to find the exit...

[professorwolf]

Perhaps lucky for Ivan, the head butler was coming down the stairs into the main hall just then. He spied Ivan immediately, and didn't recognize him at once. He knew most of the children in the house, since most of them belonged to servants and, really, there weren't that many. But that one was unfamiliar.

"Are you lost, young man?" he asked as he reached the bottom, approaching with soft steps. Some on staff liked noisier shoes, but Lyall never did. He preferred not to be easily noticed.

[muscovy]

Ivan almost jumps and just so manages to control his bladder. Wetting himself would be the worst in a new house like this. "Out." He's not quite sure what the butler just said, he didn't listen carefully enough to dissect the foreign words, but he gestures towards the door at the other end of the hall, hoping to make clear what he needs. Finding an actual toilet would be nice, too, but at this point all he wants is a hidden place outside where he can pass water.

[professorwolf]

"Out?" Lyall can't imagine what anyone would want with the out of doors. It is, after all, pouring rain. He frowns at Ivan, approaching quietly and attempting to look nonthreatening. "I think that might be a bad idea, lad. It is raining, after all. Is there somewhere else you need to find?"

What else might bring a little boy out of his room so early? Unless he was naturally an early riser. It hasn't occurred to him yet that Ivan might not understand him, either.