Had her back still been turned, Sebastian would have reached out and given Kirke a thwack upside the head after his comment. Clearly, Elsie saw they were about to settle it yet they hardly seemed to matter, did it? Sebastian closed his eyes, willing for the headache that was threatening to overtake him keep at bay. And yet for all that he wanted to hiss at Kirke to be quiet, when Elsie rounded on him, all he could come up with was to exclaim how Kirke had hit him first.

He already knew how that would turn out, and so he kept his mouth shut - which promptly popped open as she issued her decree that Sebastian would no longer be welcome.

His stomach dropped even further to the floor, eyes widening in horror as his gaze flicked to Kirke. It was just as well, seeing as Elsie dealt him about as much ire as she had done for Sebastian. Though this made it slightly better, he couldn’t help but feel the urge to complain that his punishment was far worse than her husband’s.

Again, not the point.

But were they to just simply resolve the problem here and now??

Sebastian looked to Kirke again, then to Elsie, then back to Kirke as her words hung between the three of them. Finally, Sebastian pressed his lips together and held out his hand wordlessly to Kirke.

---