( without a crystal goblet of water obscuring his face or the physical barrier of an office desk separating the two, his emotions are easy to read, clear as the reflected sky in a still lake's surface.

surprise, wonder, and then true joy, breaking over his face like an early morning sunrise. The smile on his face probably helps too. )

My felicitations to you both.

( the name does ring a bell, and ties together the little pieces he's seen around wriothesley's suite, signs of a life lived that don't fully belong to the man living there. it would have been enough to simply have been the recipient of clorinde's recommendation or wriothesley's, but to have both? the man's intrigue only grows. )

I have not had the chance to meet him yet, no, but Clorinde did say that I would be welcome to call on him should I ever find myself in need of assistance.

( given his connection to wriothesley, no doubt it's only a matter of time before he runs into the other man. )

He must be quite the upstanding person, for both you and Clorinde to speak of him so highly.

( he knows well of wriothesley's reluctance to share too much about himself, a boundary he's not willing to push, but neuvillette can't help but find himself curious all the same. )