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

[anachronisticbilliards]

Shirogane jumped at the knock and replied with a slurred grunting noise in the vague tone and cadence of a return "Good morning." He forced himself out of bed and scrambled to make himself look presentable, and really, he did so with an impressive amount of speed.

But that bed was still there, and he was still so tired. Even though he was now fully dressed, he could still lie down for a moment, couldn't he? Just another minute to see if he could shake off those last vestiges of drowsiness.

This probably was not the smartest thing he could have done.

[professorwolf]

Yep, a lack of Shirogane in the hallway ready to get to work, or even the sounds of the man behind the door getting ready, meant one thing: Lyall opened the door and stuck his head in. "Mister Oogami, you are late," he announced sternly, upon noticing which bed was still inhabited.

[anachronisticbilliards]

Shirogane jumped at the sound of Lyall's voice. He started to move, to get out of the bed, slowly at first until he realized that Lyall was actually looking at him this time. He scrambled to his feet and tried to smooth his slightly rumpled clothes so that he looked vaguely presentable.

"Ah..." Before he could properly apologize, he was caught up in a massive yawn. "I...uh...sorry. Sorry." Another man might have made an attempt to cover with some sort of excuse, say he wasn't feeling well, perhaps that he was exhausted from the work of the day before, but Shirogane made no attempt to do so. Excuses weren't his style. "It won't happen again."

[professorwolf]

Of course it would happen again. Lyall knew how things went, and he usually had to roust one or two servants or maids of a morning. But he accepted the comment for the moment. "I should hope not. Do you have another pair of trousers pressed? You've managed to wrinkle those beyond endurance." He wrinkled his nose and added, "And your cravat is hardly tied at all. Come here, let me fix it."

Yes, he did sometimes take his staff's wardrobe choices in hand himself. He had a reputation to maintain, and letting his underlings look less than put together simply would not do.

[anachronisticbilliards]

Trousers? Shirogane glanced back to the small wardrobe where he kept his effects. He tried to keep extras of everything, if only because one might never know what sort of emergency might spring up. "I believe so..." He would have turned to go retrieve them at that moment were Lyall not insisting upon fixing his cravat. Really, he felt that his getting the cravat looking that good while half asleep had to speak well for something; they'd never been of much importance in his life before. A man showing up in a gambling house with a poorly-done cravat often caused others to underestimate him, which was useful if the man with the sloppy cravat was planning on fleecing everyone else in the gambling house blind. Shirogane's purposeful sloppiness in that department had, unfortunately, become somewhat of an entrenched habit. He stepped forward to allow Lyall to fuss over it, privately thinking that if any piece of his wardrobe was most useless, the cravat was it.

[professorwolf]

The fussing didn't take long, at least. Lyall was a deft hand with a cravat. "There, that's better." He stepped back again to look him over, gave his jacket a little tweak, then finished: "See about the trousers and then check the bulletin board downstairs for anything the Masters might have requested during the night, would you? Everyone's going to be requested downstairs for morning chores once I roust the last of them."

Though Shirogane was among those last. He wouldn't have long to get down there and get himself in order.

[anachronisticbilliards]

Shirogane turned to retrieve a non-rumpled pair of trousers once Lyall seemed satisfied with everything else. "I'll be as fast as I can, sir." And he meant it; he was reacting with the appropriate amount of hustle. He'd been cheered a bit at Lyall's saying he had to rouse more of the servants; that meant he wasn't necessarily going to be the last one.

[professorwolf]

He'd be close, if he didn't hurry. Lyall watched for a beat to make sure he wasn't going to wind up back in bed-- while he understood the urge, on a dreary day like today, that didn't mean he was going to give into it himself-- before ducking his head back out.

He ducked his head back in a beat later to add, "Also, it looks like rain. So do wear sturdy shoes, in case you are asked to go outside in it." Coats, as always, were downstairs for those forced out into the mud, but shoes not so much.

[anachronisticbilliards]

"Don't worry, sir, I'll make sure to do that." In addition to fussing over his pants, Shirogane set himself about finding that pair of shoes.

[professorwolf]

"See that you do." Lyall ducked back out again, and, as the hall currently appeared to be empty, resorted to a trot to pick up speed and hopefully his own energy level. While he could discipline people for dragging, he couldn't necessarily blame them this morning....

((aaaand end there, too :) I need to tag into the new stuff XP ))