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So I guess this was some kind of party where you “purchase” someone's “box lunch” who is essentially up for auction. The purchase money goes to some charity, in this case, some wildlife fund, and you would gain the services of the person whose “box” you purchased for a day. Services to be defined as… whatever the two of you agreed upon. Heh.

I ran into Ryn there up for auction. He had a flock of chicks around him, all seeming to fight over who purchased his box. He waved me over as they bickered and I came up to talk to him, bemused. He lamented that he had noticed that I left the last party with Regil, and that he was surprised to find that Regil had for once stubbornly refused to let him get a word in edgewise or really allow him to spend any time with me at all.

I commented that it had surprised even me, Regil's behavior, considering that he (being Ryn) had initially come across as fairly aggressive while Regil was… not so much. I mentioned that his attitude seemed to change completely when he learned I wasn't dating priest. I wondered out loud, smiling, if it were possible that perhaps Regil had a few more scruples than Ryn?

Ryn chuckled at that, and instead of responding to my taunt, asked me instead if I was going to purchase his box. The bickering girls turned around at that and all collectively stared at me in absolute silence, to see what I replied. That was a little bit awkward.

But, pretending not to notice the girls, I decided to keep the tension going between Ryn and I. No release yet, sir. So, I reached up and ran a hand across his cheek to the back of his head and and through his hair, leaned my face up toward his like I was going to kiss him, but stopped just short, and then stared up into his eyes and whispered, “it seems that you are a bit too expensive for poor me at this current time, as you must know I don't really have much of an income right now. Perhaps next time when you are a little freer.” I leaned back away from him and released him. He frowned at me dramatically, and I gave him a playful, implicative smile, turned to the girls and pointed at him over my shoulder, “he's all yours.”

Their bickering started back up as soon as the words were out of my mouth, and I slipped out of the crowd to go around and look for something, someone a little different than usual. I glanced about to see what else of interest there was and noticed a rather young guy chatting with presumably a bunch of his friends who were loitering about him but not seeming too interested in purchasing his box (or the boxes of any others, for that matter). Curious, I decided to go up and talk to him and see what his story was.

He introduced himself as Percival Wentworth, and before I could even ask, he explained to me that he was 16 (and a quick Life-magic assessment told me that was the truth). In fact, it seemed he had a birthday coming up soon, which was kind of a shocker, considering how young he appeared. I was vaguely amused that he knew what I was going to say before I had even opened my mouth. He must get that question a lot.

I smiled, and asked him what his interests were. He told me he enjoyed gardening, building stuff, especially working with wood. I inquired of him what he would be doing as like… a career or whatever, to sort of get an idea of his social status in this Alestian nobility pecking-order. He explained that he was going to be going to the university soon in order to learn a trade, and so he wasn't sure what he'd end up doing as yet. He was pretty small-statured, which suited me just fine since I was about the shortest person I knew. But despite that, he seemed to be made of decently sturdy stuff, seemed enthusiastic if shy, and was pretty cute despite my reservations about how old he appeared to be, I decided after a moment to go ahead and purchase his box. His loitering friends cheered in a rather embarrassing manner, and he blushed furiously, and I found myself smiling despite myself. Indeed, their antics were quite different from the likes of Ryn and Regil.

With fees paid and box collected, Percy and I made our way to the door. I finally noticed Regil from a distance on the way out, also up for auction and drowned in a swarm of skirts. I could see him lift a questioning an eyebrow at me through the chaos, and I smiled at him, shrugged, and waved goodbye. He waved back and watched me sidelong all the way until I was out of sight and out of the building.

I drug young Percy off to a bistro nearby to have lunch (I had his box lunch, and he ordered something), and then we headed back to “The House”. Grey gave me an “oh good grief” look as I entered the house with Percy, and I smiled and greeted him pleasantly, explaining that I had brought a workhorse home for the day. Grey simply replied, “indeed,” and departed the room.

I set Percy to work doing some exterior painting, then a little bit of weeding. I helped as well, which enabled us to get things done a lot faster. I chatted with him as we worked, and he really did come across as shy and timid, not very sure of what to say to me when I asked him questions. Like, instead of just saying he was going to the University to decide what he wanted to do, he phrased it in such a way that it sounded like he was asking me if it was okay with me that that's what he was planning on doing. It was almost as if he was awed by my presence or something, which would be really weird, so I tried not to think of it that way. But either way, he took the work I gave without complaint and accomplished it with skill and aplomb. Such that the work was, anyway, not very skilled labor thusfar.

After the fence, I had him repair some furniture in the house and then took him out into the back and told him I wanted him to work on a design and the initial building phase for a pool house. He looked at me sidelong and told me that he wouldn't be able to get much of the actual work done on it in what remained of this day, and I told him that was okay, I'd just pester Grey into finishing it up later.

So he set to work with a surprising amount of gusto, surveying the space we had to work with, thinking, drawing figures, measuring. It was fun to watch him, concentrating so hard on such a task that he did seem to enjoy. His shyness melted away quickly as he worked, and he actually proceeded about his task with a good amount of confidence in his stride now. I had just given him this task as something a little more interesting to do, figuring Grey would have to fix it later, but now I was really interested to see what he come up with.

Once he had his initial plan laid out, we gathered the building supplies and I took direction from him and assisted him in laying out the skeletal framework of the building.

Between the two of us, we were able to get the basic skeleton erected and as the sun started to set, we tossed over a tarp over it, affixed it into the dirt in several places around the edges, and headed inside.

After each chugging a good deal of water, I told Percy that I had one more thing for him, but that he could refuse this one if he wished, no big deal. He said okay, and then I drug him back to my room and had my way with him. For what it was worth, he really seemed to be enjoying it (having made no indication he was opposed to the idea), so I went with it full tilt.

It was unsurprising to discover that he was a virgin, although after talking to him a bit, I learned that he had fooled around a good bit prior to this. He seemed kind of in shock at our (my?) antics, and I felt a bit bad. At this point I again gave him the option of heading home if he wanted or needed to be back (or was uncomfortable), but he told me he wanted to do whatever I wanted. He seemed genuine, so I told him that it was my preference that he stay, and he said okay eagerly.

Percy's eagerness and general cuteness definitely had potential. So, I decided to take him on as a protege. I saw him off the next morning, but not before making plans to see him the next day and begin his “training”.