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Tweak says, "look, no hands!"

Lord Tobias Hurst, Duke of Devon (lord_hurst) wrote in toujoursliberer,
@ 2008-10-12 09:55:00

Entry tags:

character_development, nathaniel_piper, tobias_hurst

Grouse Season
Subject: An Afternoon Hunt
Who: Lord Tobias Hurst
Where: Bailston Abbey, The Hurst's Country Estate
Warnings:None
Open to: Everyone you would like to come along to the hunt, the Hurst family and friends, including friends of the Hurst children.

Hurst glanced back over at the moor, hushing the two dogs at his feet. The beaters and groundsmen had not long gone up, stalking through the heather-covered scrub. It was a fine day for it, one of them had said, touching his cap to Hurst as he'd passed earlier, with the sun behind them and the sky clear. True, the air was crisp, and no doubt it would get dark before he and his guests were tired of the sport, but the kitchens were prepared and ready to receive whatever was brought back to them.

Truth be told, Hurst was looking forwards to the afternoon. With most hunting seasons over and done with now, Grouse and Fox was the only available sport left at Bailston, and soon Rebecca would want to return to London, where the season of masquerades and parties was only just beginning. They needed to find suitable matches for the children, she would say, and they were unlikely to be hiding in the moors and gorse bushes of Devon.

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piperisalord
2008-10-18 10:12 am UTC (link)

"You just don't know what fabulous is my good man," Nathaniel replied, shaking his head at being called cheeky. Perhaps he was cheeky, but if that was the case he was very pleased and proud to be cheeky. He was leaning on his own gun, palm on the barrel as he used it for rest. "Well then, even if there isn't any grouse, and if I know you well enough, I'm quite sure that you have much of everything else prepared to compensate for the lack." Nathaniel's eyes were sparkling with glee and excitement, and they lit up even more at the notion of a bet. "Ah, you remember my weakness I see Tobias, I'll take you up on that bet, and add ten to the fact that I'll bring home most grouse."

Nathaniel was a very outspoken person though, he had been since his teen years, and though he probably could do with a lesson in humility. But then again, he had to always be humble when he was around his father as to not lose his inheritance, in both title and riches, so whenever he had the chance he changed completely. "I do I do, I just don't understand why father is insisting that I get married now. And by 31! You do realise that I turn 31 in April, do you not?" he asked, anger going through him again, though he calmed himself down quickly and brought his gun up to his face, aiming it at nothing and wanting to take a practice shot, but that would just scare the grouse off again, and he wanted to win. "I do find entertainment else where," he replied, though then turned his head to look at Tobias. "Do you?"

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lord_hurst
2008-10-18 10:41 am UTC (link)

"If there isn't any grouse we might have to go fishing." Hurst told him, with a small amount of glee. While most of his peers seemed to think the sport was for commoners, he had no qualms about spending several hours in the fast-flowing water of the river that ran through the estate, nor a day say on the bank of the lake. Still, he was an odd breed of man. "For I doubt my cook will be happy to raid her store cupboards if we come back with nothing, and I shall never hear the end of it."

It was at the young man's mention of bets that Hurst raised an eyebrow. "You, boy? Shoot more than me?" He laughed, "You'll fire more rounds, but you'll not get half as many birds."

"You are forgetting that I was married by 20, Nathaniel, and a father three times over before I was the age you are now." He said rather flatly, unimpressed with the boy's adamant words. Of course, Hurst had only counted his legitimate children, but one did not go around flaunting the others, especially after the damnable mention of his newest son in the papers had not helped matters much. "What I may or may not do away from home, young Nathaniel, is not something I shall discuss with my god-son. You forget that I can remember very clearly the day you were born."

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