[ the nudge to his ankle prevents a customary roll of the eyes at her purposeful obtuseness, but viago does seem pleasantly relaxed (for him) as the food is set down. for a moment, anyway. his eyes track every movement of the plate, mentally planning out what needs to be done. the waiter asks if they have need of anything else; viago ignores it, trusting that teia would play the role of polite socialite while viago fixates on the work.
he tries not to think about all of the meals teia eats without him. how many chances people have to kill her when he isn't here to test everything she eats. she shows great patience in allowing him to do this now, a silent compromise in tasteless liquids dropped on odd portions of the plate. a separate concoction for pork, salt, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, the butter and oil...
it takes roughly two minutes to finish his tests, quietly lamenting that teia ordered something complicated. he still has not touched his food. that will take another minute to test his own, practiced and easy. perhaps another minute or two to work up the nerve to actually eat it. but, for now: ]
Looks good.
[ the reward is worth it, he reminds himself steadily as he settles back into his chair, staring at his plate as if it were one of his precious vipers, curled up and poised to strike. the reward being teia not looking disappointed. it was worse than her being furious. he would rather she yell.
so, steadily, he picks up his fork to gently stir the pasta, ignoring the thrum of anxiety building in his jaw. he has to remind himself not to clench his teeth. he searches for something, anything, to talk about, and settles on something that he knows teia absolutely loves. ]
You really have no idea why Caterina called me here?
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Date: 2025-05-01 01:28 am (UTC)he tries not to think about all of the meals teia eats without him. how many chances people have to kill her when he isn't here to test everything she eats. she shows great patience in allowing him to do this now, a silent compromise in tasteless liquids dropped on odd portions of the plate. a separate concoction for pork, salt, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, the butter and oil...
it takes roughly two minutes to finish his tests, quietly lamenting that teia ordered something complicated. he still has not touched his food. that will take another minute to test his own, practiced and easy. perhaps another minute or two to work up the nerve to actually eat it. but, for now: ]
Looks good.
[ the reward is worth it, he reminds himself steadily as he settles back into his chair, staring at his plate as if it were one of his precious vipers, curled up and poised to strike. the reward being teia not looking disappointed. it was worse than her being furious. he would rather she yell.
so, steadily, he picks up his fork to gently stir the pasta, ignoring the thrum of anxiety building in his jaw. he has to remind himself not to clench his teeth. he searches for something, anything, to talk about, and settles on something that he knows teia absolutely loves. ]
You really have no idea why Caterina called me here?
[ gossip. ]