Re: lakeside mansion; hugh c./dietre a.
Still looking faintly troubled, Dietre nodded, accepting Hugh’s assurance that things were better. “I see…” He would have commiserated with him on the bad breakups, but none of his relationships had actually reached an official dating status, save one, and he wasn’t prepared to talk about Aleksi just yet. “I’m happy to be helpful for you. Meeting you… is helpful for me too, I think.” Was it insulting to sound unsure about that? Dietre hoped not.
“I try to bring her with me everywhere, if I can. I’ll bring her.” As he spoke, he took the stick from Sieglinde’s mouth and indulged her by throwing it. He wasn’t about to stand out there in the cold playing fetch all afternoon, but he couldn’t deny her just a few tosses. He kept meaning to have her registered as an emotional support animal so that he could take her wherever he went without issue, but he almost never left home so he wondered if he should really bother.
“Ah, she is,” Dietre answered the bilingual question. “I mostly speak to her in german when we’re alone.” That placed his accent should Hugh have noticed it. Dietre spoke so softly, and so rarely, that the majority of people didn’t get a chance to pick up on it. It was german with his pronunciation colored with a hint of british english. If he hadn’t been so isolated as a child he would have lost it by now, but being a social recluse left it intact. Sometimes it made him sound a little haughty, depending.
Sieglinde returned with the stick and Dietre threw it again after warning her it was the last one. He watched her dash off with that same fond look in his eyes. “My roommate used to sneak her food when he cooked, so I think she would be very appreciative if you cooked for her too.”