"Why don't you give me a tour of the whole house. Wherever the others are can be last."

"Sure," he says, grinning. "It's a pretty house! I like my house."

"It is! I was here once to meet Nerine but it was years ago."

"I never came here back then."

"Yeah. It was a long time ago. You went and got all - interesting to imagine naked."

"You can see me naked, if you want," he offers cheerfully. "You might've guessed I'm not shy about it."

"I did kinda guess, considering! Mmmmaybe. Since you're offering."

"Well, y'know. If you want. I won't be offended if you'd rather stick to imagination."

"Backing out of your tantalizing offer, huh?"

"Nope. You can absolutely still see me naked if you want to."

"Right, where in this big old house of yours is suitable?"

"Lots of places! Of which," he says, "my room is probably the prettiest, and it's also right up these stairs."

"All right then. Can I leave Mud in your kierten?"

"Sure."

"Ooh, view. Of the outdoors, for the time being."

"For the time being," Loel agrees, and then he starts taking off his clothes.

Patience flounces gracefully into a chair and supervises this process approvingly.

When he's done, he grins at her. "So how do I compare to imaginary me?"

"Faaaaavorably. Much less fuzziness around the edges."

"Good!" he says, laughing.

"Well, it's the kind of thing I'm cool with," he says, laughing. "But that doesn't mean I'm not also flirting with you."

"Suspected that, wanted to check, also flirting if you were curious."