"A good hot shower cures most of the ills to which flesh is heir, what?"

Farmhouse: Kitchen and Dining Room
Homey is the first word to come to mind when looking at the farmhouse's kitchen. Dark, wood-paneled wainscoting covers the walls to about waist height, dark beige wallpaper continuing to the ceiling. Twin refrigerators occupy the north wall, facing the large six-burner stove on the south. The kitchen counter runs the length of the eastern wall, broken only by the double-basin sink. Cabinets run above and below the counter and a twin-pane window is set in the wall above the sink. A small pantry is set into an alcove alongside the refrigerators, presumably holding the deep freezer as well as shelves of dry goods.
Some twelve feet above the floor, a large chandelier hangs from the ceiling, lighting the dining room and casting long shadows over the bar to the kitchen. A long table occupies the center of the dining room, three chairs setting along each side, and one on each end. On the west wall, a large window looks out on the trees alongside the western pasture. Set into the north wall is a large cabinet, its glass doors closed on shelves containing a full compliment of fine china and glassware as well as a few decorative nicknacks. On the east, a wide bar separates the dining room from the kitchen.
An opening in the southern wall allows passage to the front entryway of the house, while a sliding glass door in the kitchen opens to a clearing behind the house.

Cedric is always prone to going too fast up the road towards the farm, but today he does so even more spectacularly than normal. His yellow Mazda sports car barrels up the lane, skids at the corner, comes within an ace of sideswiping the barn, fishtails into the yard, and comes to an untidy halt at an angle only feet away from running into the field beyond. Scarcely is the engine off when Cedric leaps from the car and sprints into the farmhouse kitchen. "I got the house!" he whoops to anyone who may be inside. "I got the house!"

Pretty soon after Cedric comes Dillen. He's covered in mud from head to toe and were it not for the helmet, his head would have been covered too. He's fuming, ready to frenzy, and pissed beyond belief. "Who?... In the FUCK... Owns THAT car?" He points out front to here Cedric's car now resides. "I'm gonna fucking KILL them."

Activity stirs within the quiet farmhouse across the road. A face presses against a window, staring at the traffic crisis, then a hefty man, dressed in tattered wolfskins, waddles down the driveway to the road, where he studies the tire prints left by the Madza, and the deep muddy gorge created by the other traffic.

On finding the farmhouse bare, Cedric has just raided the fridge for a soda and sat down to await someone else's arrival. He blinks up at the muddied Dillen. "My dear fellow," he says in surprised tones. "It's my car. What on earth has you so het-up?" He's all politeness, but his chair inches back from the table, ready to leap up if it comes to blows.

Reggie continues his detective work by following the tracks up to the vehicles parked by the farmhouse, where he stands for a while, nodding to himself as he ascertains that their tires match the tracks, and no one has, for example, helicopter-lifted out the Madza and replaced with another.

Dillen just looks at Cedric as if he just turned into a lemur. "What do you think? Look at me? Do you think I wear this mud for my fucking health??" He's truly trying to keep from going further with his temper but he seethes further. "You passed... A motorcycle, sitting on the side of the road... Splattered me with mud. I mean LOOK at me." He makes sure to open his arms to give Cedric a good look.

Cedric looks at Dillen. "My goodness me," he apologises. "The state of the country roads in Washington is truly appalling. You have my most sincere apologies. I had some rather good news to impart here, and was staggerin' along a bit too fast, perhaps. You'll forgive me, I can't tell if I know your face?" He mimes wiping mud away from his own physiognomy.

Reggie trudges from the car towards the farmhouse, and cracks the door open to look in. "Where's the fire?", he inquires, before doing a double-take at Dillen.

"Dillen. Dillen Francis." The Get tilts his head to one side and peers at Cedric. He rummages around to find something to wipe some of the mud off and regain some bit of good appearance. Once found, a rather old towel under the sink, he begins the clean-up process. Then a shot to Reggie, "Ask Mr. Gas pedal here."

"Ah! We meet!" Cedric crows. "I've heard your name. A friend of yours is a relative of mine," he grins. "Cedric Ambermere, your very humble servant. Oh, that towel wouldn't clean a mouse. Put it down, do. Come over to..." He clears his throat portentously. "...to my NEW HOUSE and use the shower!"

Reggie squints in an exagerrated fashion at Dillen until he cleans up, then he exclaims, "Oh, it's you! I thought the Sands of Time had come back." He pushes the door wider open and steps into the kitchen. "That's your car?", he inquires of Cedric. "Do you know how much it rains here?" He pauses, as he looks out the kitchen window towards the field, "Do you know how deep that patch of earth is?" Unhurriedly, he continues his series of questions, "Did you know when it rains, earth turns into mud?" He finishes inspecting the outdoors and turns back into the kitchen. "New house, hm? That would be that 'sold' sign I saw, down the road a bit?"

Dillen keeps just using the towel which just seems to be smearing the mud now instead of cleaning it off. "New house?" Dillen raises a brow. "Lucky you." Another growl is given to Reggie before he looks to Cedric. "See. Genius there is explaining mud to you too." He shakes his head, "Only if you have some clothes I can use." He gives up with the towel and throws it into the trash can, folding his arms across his chest.

"Suitcases full of the things," Cedric confirms to Dillen. "As for the mud, Reggie, I s'pose I shall just have to sort out gettin' the barnyard surfaced over once my jolly old finances recover from the strain of the new house, hm? Do please both come visit... it's all of five minutes away in the car. Or two if I drive at the speed I did earlier," he adds with a rueful half-smile to Dillen.

Reggie looks over Cedric's impeccably pressed suit and floridly pastel shirt then slowly turns to Dillen, and repeats Cedric's statement. "Suitcases full." He turns back to Cedric, a grin pasted on his face, "How can anyone turn that down? Sure, I'll come visit. I'll get myself there. You driving him?" He indicates the much muddy Get.

"Let's make it seven, unless you want me in the car?" Dillen gives an upturned smirk of a Mmm? He pops his helmet back onto his head and moves out the door, grumbling something about someone taking their jolly old ass back to where they came from and that it had better not be prissy clothes.

Half an hour later...

Living Room(#2456RJ)
This is a large, warm and friendly room. The western wall is covered by a large picture-window looking out on the front yard. The carpet is white and thick. The front door is in a small alcove, opening out northwestward. Near the door, wide wooden stairs covered in the center by blue-grey carpet lead upward. The living room itself stretches north from the front door. The kitchen can be seen through an archway, and a door nearby leads to the study. A desk, a table, chairs and a couch decorate the room, elegant and expensive: glass coffee tables with gold corners, plush easy chairs, lamps with soft patterns of rose and gold amidst the white.
The stairs lead up to the second floor, and the door to the northwest goes outside. The study door is to the south, and the kitchen is eastward.

Cedric reclines in a chair, sipping tea, gazing round him contentedly. The room still looks a little spartan, and there are cases and boxes stacked up here and there.

The doorbell rings. On the porch is a hefty native man, dressed in patched-together wolf furs and and old, grimy work jeans, and holding a wicker basket by the handle. The wicker basket is lined in a clean blue calico print, which also covers its contents.

Dillen comes into the room looking much more like himself, only wet. His hair sticks up at all angles and what he wears makes him look positively wrong. It's a bathrobe, thick and luxurious with Cedric's monogram on the pocket. He looks around the place. "Nice shower." He admits, "With all the jets and stuff. I think you got out more stuff from my ears than I ever had." He scrubs a hand through his hair. "So. New place, huh?"

Cedric grins at Dillen. "A good hot shower cures most of the ills to which flesh is heir, what?" Then he hops up to open the door to Reggie. "Ah, here you are." He eyes the basket in some confusion. "What gives, Reggie?"

Dillen looks to Cedric once again. "Huh? Oh yeah, I guess." Dillen then peers to the door to see Reggie, "Looking for Grandma's house? It's down the block, on a hill, after the Three Pigs."

Reggie hands over the basket towards Cedric. "I found this baby in a basket on the doorstep--no, no, just kidding. Pumpkin muffins. Got good shit like raisins and walnuts. They'll go with the tea and crumpets. You are serving tea and crumpets?"

"Tea, yes. Crumpets, sadly, no," Cedric says as he takes the basket, with a pleased expression. "Can't get the deuced things for love nor money over here. Come in, come in. Can I get either of you tea? Pot's fresh and full."

Dillen just stands, spending quite a deal of time trying to figure out how to sit down without exposing himself.

Reggie steps into the house, with a brief wave towards Dillen. He peers briefly about, but the only muddy prints he sees are Dillen's, and he inspects the decor. "No crumpets?", he exclaims. "Nice house. All this came with the place?"

"Previous owner died or something," Cedric says offhandly. "Got lucky, really. You should see the upstairs. Very snazzy. And there's a decent size mirror in the guest bedroom for you know what."

Dillen rolls his eyes and decides to just flop into a chair, pulling the back of the robe up and between his legs. "No. What??"

"Well, damn", Reggie exclaims, "I've got to check that out. You rent that room out by the hour or anything?", he inquires, as he heads towards the stairs to investigate the upper story.

"For stepping sideways, clot!" exclaims Cedric as he follows Reggie. "Come on, Dillen, I know you've seen the bathroom up there but let's give you the grand tour."

Dillen looks down to make sure his naughty bits aren't on exhibit. "Yeah. Sure." He stands back up, keeping the robe closed. He gestures, "You two first. In case my ass decides to make me fall."