"What the fuck!" goes the exclamation.

The crying from the next room continues unabated.

He might as well go that way and see who's there. "Excuse me?"

A tall six-armed mannequin stands at the edge of a bed containing a young crying woman. The mannequin is wearing a suit and holding a large book which it promptly snaps closed when Haru enters, folding the book and its arms into its torso before somehow folding its torso into itself, vanishing.

The young woman takes a moment to get her breathing under control so words can work.

"What is the emergency?"

"I don't know where I am or how I got here."

"Oh, hm, if it's safe for you to wait a minute outside my drawing room, I can be with you sh-shortly."

"Yeah, I can do that."

He steps out.

Lucette summons a servant with the tap of a plate ringing loudly enough to be heard outside her quarters, and so in fifteen minutes she is dressed an amount that won't be scandalous and can sit down with the strange man in her drawing room.

"Sorry for the delay - I'm Lucette Oakhill, this is my family's city manor outside of London."

"Cool. I'm Traceless, I'm a Canadian esper, can I trouble you for a phone?"

"I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the terms Canadian, esper, or phone."

"Where'd your six-armed thingy come from?"

"It's my demon."

"What's that?"

"The thing that haunts an Empowered?"

"I don't know what an Empowered is."

"Nobles with abilities beyond what everyone else has - well, not strictly only nobility but there are few exceptions here."

"Okay, so, hypothesis: I'm in a different universe."

"Why that rather than you simply being far away from Canada?"

"They have espers in England, and they don't have demons."

"You are confident of this?" Information about distant lands is not especially reliable so far as Lucette can tell.

"Extremely."

"Well then... I'm curious for information about your land of origin but perhaps it is more immediately useful for me to answer questions about mine."

"Being as it's the one we're in, yes. I'm coming to the conclusion that the apparent low-technology situation isn't just for the aesthetic, so there's that, what year is it?"

"1745."

"...I'm from 2034. Espers started being a thing in the 1970s, but I'm pretty sure that demons were not a thing in my world even in this calendar year."

"Oh, I'd still probably like to hear quite a lot about everything that happens."

"In this world demons, and the empowered they haunt, have existed for over three centuries."

"Anyone know why?"

"No, unfortunately."

"What do they do? Did they just attach themselves to various noble families?"

"Each empowered has a corresponding demon in addition to extraordinary abilities. The demon grows in power over time and can be kept relatively under control by giving it regular chances to haunt the empowered, though ultimately it's necessary to limit their growth via marrying another empowered."

"For those of us who just arrived from another dimension and know the world 'haunt' as an exclusively fictional or metaphorical word..."

"It varies based on the demon but it is universally exceedingly unpleasant."

"Why'd they go with noble families in particular?"

"They didn't initially, but it was initially feasible to become a noble if you were empowered and it runs in families. Additionally, it is difficult to survive without knowledge of how you have to allow hauntings and marry and few commoners know those things, so the occasional commoner who is empowered either fails to handle their demon or is shunned or killed. At least that's my best guess - people do not often talk about empowered commoners and many nobles deny they exist at all."

"You can simply not allow a haunting, but instead you have to allow them, because..."

"The demon gets stronger and eventually is able to manifest fully and run wild."

"And you can't... kill it or something... because..."

"Before they have fully manifested they'll just vanish as mine did. Usually, if anyone is around besides their victim they'll vanish until they are strong enough at which point they'll probably still vanish if threatened sufficiently I expect. Once they have manifested fully it can be possible to kill them but it is very very difficult to do so and requires scores of empowered working together, at least some of whom will not survive the attempt."

"I assume that somebody's already tested what counts as someone being 'around' and has tried to kill a demon with a longbow?"

"Within sight is sufficient for being around, and any individual empowered who is being haunted can do much more damage than a longbow."

"So, hypothetically, if your demon couldn't tell if I was in the room or not, and I did a lot of damage to it, would this be a good thing?"

What a suggestion.

"I would still expect it to avoid the damage or vanish but I'm not certain which. Married couples can co-habitate during each other's hauntings and don't to my knowledge have the ability to significantly impede their demons in doing so."

"I don't want to demonstrate, because my magical powers have side effects - no demons, just side effects - that I can't get rid of if there aren't other espers around, but if there's a way to get me to and from home I think it might be worth trying. I kill monsters professionally."

"I... would avoid repeating this suggestion to others until such a time as it became feasible, if I were you."

"...why."

"Being present for another's haunting typically only occurs for married couples and the proposal that you do so, however much a plausibly good idea, sounds very much like you are proposing you participate in something that is ordinarily reserved for marriage."

"Ah, well, as you have apparently derived that was not my intention, I don't have to want to marry people or do anything remotely like it to want to save them from monsters, I save dozens of people from monsters every week and then never hear from them again."

"That's commendable - you have powers yourself then?"

"Yes, like I said. In my world esper is the world for a person with powers. I can turn selectively imperceptible and I can fly, though, again, not doing it right now."

Nod.

"Flight is near universal among empowered." She'd demonstrate but it would probably be unladylike and she doesn't have a good enough reason to justify doing it anyways. Also she's really bad at it.

"I guess that's some compensation for routine appointments with a demon! Becoming an esper is involuntary and very awful for a week but after that it's more or less up to us how much power-use backlash to accumulate. Which in my case works out to not flying except for tactical reasons."

"It is generally only really awful for empowered for an evening each week or two, though duration and periodicity can be adjusted for the particular haunting."

"Still adds up to more than a week total after not very long. Does this start when you're born, are people leaving their babies alone with evil demons every Tuesday?"

"No. Typically demons and abilities only manifest late in adolescence, though it can vary."

"Do the demons... talk? What do they want?"

"I would not be surprised to learn that some demons talked though I haven't heard of any specific instances. Insofar as I can determine the intentions of my demon I believe them to be purely malevolent in nature."

"Man, I was expecting you to say that but I'm disappointed anyway."

"If they were anything else they wanted I'd much prefer to give them that. Well, so long as it didn't involve the suffering of other people."

"Yeah, that's how monsters at home seem too and it's very frustrating."

"I do wish the universe - or a universe - would allow for the existence of powers and not for malevolent monsters beyond those that are human."

"Sometimes if our monsters are captured alive and the dungeon that spawned them dies, the monsters can live and are usually harmless afterwards. I have a monster cat. Nothing like that for demons?"

"Nothing that I've heard of."

"Alas."

Indeed.

"Given that you have abilities it would probably be wise for you to present as foreign nobility, assuming you believe you can manage that."

"...well, is anyone going to call me on it if the habits of the nobility of Canada are whatever's convenient for me?"

"I wouldn't expect so, though they might still object to some habits depending on what they are."

"Can I get away with being an emperor or should I lowball it."

"There will probably be confusion about your lack of an entourage or plan to return home if you are supposedly an emperor."

"Am I going to be asked to demonstrate my abilities, actually, like, maybe I could simply not present as having abilities since I don't want to use them when I can't recover from backlash."

"I suppose people might notice if you never use them at all. You can present without - most nobles don't have any."

He's handsome enough people will want to believe he is a noble regardless.

"Is anybody likely to be able to get me home at any point?"

"Such a power might exist but I haven't heard of any? Unless flying very far would suffice."

"No. We know where everything on my planet is, most definitely including London."

"I believe at least one empowered has ventured beyond our planet, though only so far as the moon."

"My planet has a London. Also people there speak English. I think alternate dimension, not another planet in the same contiguous space."

"I'm not familiar with the concept but I believe I follow."

"Oh good, I have no idea how much science fiction I'd have to regurgitate badly for that to make sense.

"Anyway, my name is Haru."

"Not Traceless?"

"That's my esper codename. Doesn't make a lot of sense here."

"Ah, yes, those do exist but aren't used in polite company."

"...when are they used then?"

"When attempting to prevent or commit crimes. Or when campaigning against wild demons."

"Those situations are... not polite?"

"The first two, and in particular committing crimes, are not. Campaigning also isn't but it can still be considered noble and sometimes success in it can result in someone's nom de guerre entering standard usage, typically attached to their natural name."

"Okay. Well, I can use my normal name here."

"That would be reasonable."

"What are my immediate prospects for, like, food and shelter and all that good stuff."

"You can stay in this manor's guest house and meals can be provided there, and I can arrange for you to be invited to much of my social calendar."

"Should I want to be invited to much of your social calendar?"

"I suspect if I am known to be housing a foreign man who does not attend social functions there will be... unfortunate rumors, which I would rather avoid."

"Gotcha. What's on the calendar, for some reason all I'm coming up with is tea parties but you probably do things other than tea parties."

"Courting season is due to start soon, which will mostly mean balls. You will not be expected to attend all of the balls so long as you don't present as empowered but attending none would be marked for a visiting noble."

"Is it going to be a huge problem if I don't present as empowered and then have to do power stuff in an emergency? Is it going to be a huge problem if I do not want to court any eighteenth century nobles in an alternate universe?"

"If you are known to be an empowered and don't court it will be an issue - if empowered fail to marry within a few years of first showing powers their demons will grow out of control regardless of how often they seclude themselves, and wild demons are a threat to everyone. A wild demon that manifested so close to London in particular would be a disaster."

"Ugh. Can I just pretend to be married to my partner back home?"

"Distance renders marriage ineffective."

"...what a concerning sentence."

"It is typically not a significant issue and probably has positive effects insofar as it discourages long military campaigns and abandonment of a man's familial duties."

"If I were from this planet and was in fact married to June and had through no fault of my own been transported across the sea, would she and I just be, like, summarily executed?"

"It would be possible for you to cross the Atlantic if you had a wife in the colonies. I expect someone would be willing to fly you there if you were not capable of doing so yourself and a ship was not fast enough."

"Ah-huh. - is there any risk a demon will decide to attach to me just because I am here and have superpowers."

"My guess would be no due to how they run in families but I'm not completely certain."

"They run in families now but they picked people to attached to some three hundred years ago, yes? I'm probably borrowing trouble, but."

"I'm not certain why they picked who they did three centuries ago but it was a very small portion of the population. Hopefully that means they are likewise unlikely to pick you."

"Hopefully. I assume it'll be obvious if one does? And... then I have to marry someone and stay in close proximity to them forever?"

"You can leave them for a limited amount of time and eventually, most probably when you would be between fifty and seventy years of age, you would lose your powers and demon."

"Is there a specific inflection point that just normally happens in that age range or is that as mysterious as the rest?"

"Typically it happens during use of empowered abilities and those who use their abilities more often and intensely will have it happen first. Additionally married couples lose their powers at the same time."

"Okay. So something like a resource pool where you run out of magic after you've used enough of it?"

"I've never heard of powers breaking before someone was ... thirty eight, if I'm remembering correctly. Most instances of even constant power use at that age won't have that result."

"Okay. ...what are your powers?"

"I can create fissures in the ground, in addition to the ubiquitous abilities empowered possess: flight, strength, durability, health, celerity, and somewhat enhanced senses. And greater cognitive capabilities supposedly though I am less certain that one is more than boasting on the part of empowered."

The fissures aren't the only aspect of her personal power but she keeps both her lesser and greater capabilities to herself.

"How are those - assigned -"

"Family is the primary influence I know of. Personal abilities sometimes relate to the demon in some manner as well."

"Are demons like... spontaneously generated per person or do they seem to come from somewhere else?"

"I'm not sure I understand the question."

"Does it seem likely that your demon existed before it started haunting you?"

"I don't believe so. Some families claim their demons are inheritable but I suspect them of simply being similar individual demons."

"In what ways do demons seem to vary?"

"Form, torment, amount of haunting necessary to satiate them, the exact factors that determine whether they will haunt someone at a given level of power, and possibly some other ways that aren't coming to mind immediately."

"Whether they will haunt someone at a given level of power?"

"Certain things dissuade demons from haunting at certain levels of satiation - the presence of additional people is the most common but light for instance will also repel many demons if they are kept satiated. Hence it is common to use lighting and the lack thereof to control the schedule of hauntings."

"What's the - progression, if you keep putting off a haunting?"

"Typically light becomes ineffective first, then later small groups of people, and finally the demon manifests fully. They additionally grow in capabilities and form if not satiated - hence wild demons being much more dangerous than is typical."

"Does it disempower the person who's putting off their demon at all, is there any conservation of power involved?"

"I believe the strength of an empowered is independent of the strength of a demon, though some claim that stronger empowered have demons which are generally stronger I've never heard the claim that allowing one's demon to grow stronger could influence one's powers."

"Huh.

"I would... really like to be able to do more in this situation than I can reasonably do without access to any other espers to take care of the backlash from using my powers, so if there is any chance there is anyone I should be talking to about traveling to an alternate universe where it's the future et cetera..."

"There is a family with badly underutilized transportation powers, I suppose it's not impossible that one of them can help and is persuadable to do so."

"Why are they badly underutilized?"

"The current head of the family can create portals and only will do so occasionally, in return for political favors, rather than using his power at even a small portion of its economic potential. Most people do not find this as objectionable as I do, I'll admit."

"Okay. So I maybe want to pretend to be noble enough to have valuable favors to dispense in exchange, if nothing else. Given that Canada is already colonized in this timeline I should probably say I'm from somewhere else but I just look Japanese, I don't speak the language or anything - I can actually speak Tagalog, I could pretend to be from the Philippines?"

"I haven't heard of Canada but it's possible I know it by a different name. Nobility from the Philippines would be expected to speak Spanish. I know very little about Japan and expect others to know even less... possibly you should pretend to be from an entirely fictitious country."

"I know French but not Spanish. Canada is presently a French possession and I guess might mostly be going by 'New France' at this point - if the history is like mine. I'd at least expect to run into issues if I used other place names from my home. Toronto. Lake Ontario. Etcetera. So I'll be from, uh... the land of Oz... no, I won't be able to keep a straight face. I can be the... king of Narnia? ...I can just make something up out of nowhere but I worry I'll forget details."

"I would recommend against being a king for the same reasons I recommended against being an emperor." 

"Valid, it's just the literary Narnia has kings. I will make something up. I am the... duke...? Is duke still pushing it?... of, uh..."

"Duke would be acceptable, and so would Narnia."

"I don't want to be a duke of Narnia, I'd slip up for the same reason, because literary Narnia does kings and queens and there's not really dukes around, in the books. I guess I can pick a Narnian region. Duke of Beruna in Narnia under King Peter Pevensie."

"Peter Pevensie would sound like an implausibly familiar name for an unfamiliar country, I expect."

"Uh. Under... Aslan."

"That would work."

"Is my name okay, Haru Swan? Haru is short for Masaharu."

"Yes, I expect that will work fine."

"Will it be too weird if we speak English in Narnia?"

"People will probably accept that some of the nobility have learned it more easily than it being universal."

"...should the commoners speak French or Tagalog in Narnia, those are my options. I was thinking of doing Korean next but I haven't even started."

"Say some things in Tagalog?"

"Hindi ko pa kasing mahusay ang Tagalog."

"Yes that will pass as distinct enough should questions about the first language of Narnia arise."

"Okay."

"If that's all that relevant at the moment I can have a servant show you to the guest house." It's still early enough that she can try to get some sleep - her haunting will have to be delayed a day.

"I guess that's the urgent stuff, sure."

And so Lucette will manage to get most of a reasonable night's sleep.

And Haru Swan, Duke of Beruna, will go to the guest house and eat what is locally a midnight snack and go to bed to try to acclimate to the time zone.

The next day Lucette checks with Haru as to whether he would be available to attend a small dinner in the evening.

Yes. Can he get a crash course on Londoner dinner etiquette please. Also maybe loaner clothes that are more appropriate, for while he arrived in what is definitely the traditional costume of Narnia he only has the one outfit.

Lucette has a distant cousin who is approximately the same size and she can prevail upon their household for clothes and have them adjusted by a tailor Haru can meet with this afternoon.

"As for etiquette... I suppose I can go over silverware usage, when it is acceptable to unbutton a suit, what sort of language to avoid, and perhaps what general topics one should avoid. I am not sure what else to cover - I expect you can decline to dance without it being impolite given that you only just arrived."

"Is that a very courting activity? I don't mind learning the local dances, being familiar only with the Narnian variety."

"Dances are mildly a courting activity. Given that you aren't empowered only likewise unempowered might interpret them in that light and there is substantially less pressure for them to court each other regardless."

"If I'm here for the long haul I should know how to dance, maybe you can point me to somebody who wouldn't mind teaching me and won't read into it too much."

Lucette wouldn't mind teaching him but would read something into it and more importantly other people would read something into it.

"Yes, I expect I can find you an appropriate tutor."

"Thanks."

The tailor has an opening earlier in the afternoon so they get to that before etiquette lessons. As it turns out there are several different suits available for him, as well as the option of having embellishments sewn on or added - small tactfully placed gems are popular, as is a minor amount of lace or a flower pinned above the left breast.

He does not have strong fashion opinions but the lace is kind of girly in, uh, Narnia, so maybe not that if he's narrowing it down.

Some gems then, since without any adornment it would appear overly plain for the current season which does not feature so many of the accessories as when this jacket was last fashionable.

Yeah, sure, he like gems. Blue matches his eyes, if they have anything really dark blue.

They do! They also have a dark blue suit that can be matched with slightly lighter gems if he prefers that to the black suit with dark blue gems.

He will defer on this, he's, uh, accustomed to the Narnian traditional costume and having others handle his wardrobe when anything else is called for.

The dark blue suit with lighter gems it is. It's unfortunate that there isn't a suit the right color to do the reverse.

"Please don't worry about it, it's gracious of your household to accommodate me on such short notice regardless."

The tailor isn't actually affiliated with the household and the man who brought over the clothes was just a servant but it's understandable that a foreigner would be confused about this.

The suit will be ready in time for the evening along with more casual wear options for future informal wear. Would he like to figure out the remainder of his formal wardrobe now or another time?

Now's fine, there's nothing else on his schedule at the moment.

It turns out there is rather a lot to decide on when putting together an entire wardrobe.

...well, his opinions are all about what looks comfortable to move in and what looks girly to Narnian sensibilities but he can have opinions and also if necessary make arbitrary decisions.

That will suffice.

"Oh, are you still at this - Mr. Hull I'll have to steal Haru away for etiquette lessons I apologize. We'll have to figure out his next round of outfits another time."

"I didn't know when to expect you, I apologize."

It's quite fine.

She's had the dining table set with two each of tea, dinner, and dessert cutlery at different seats so she can demonstrate them as he follows along.

"A lot of this I will probably be able to pick up by just not being the first person to eat in any given course and copying other people, I'm more worried about terms of address and how worried I should be about accidentally cursing and stuff."

"If you accidentally curse the reaction will be noticeable and you should apologize and claim the word means something different in Narnia if at all possible. The most formal mode of address you are likely to need to use is someone's title followed by their family name, though Lady will suffice for women and Lord will often be acceptable should you fail to remember the title of a man. In less formal discussions Mr or Ms are acceptable for men and women respectively - you can mimic what others do if you are unsure. First names are typically only used in private and you would not be amiss to avoid using them entirely."

"Stifling. Okay. I assume I can't invite people to call me Haru and I'm going to be Duke Swan all the time."

"You could ask to be called Mr. Swan without being very impolite. Or you can claim Haru is in actual fact your last name and Swan your first."

"I can be Mr. or Duke Swan, I'll just kind of hate everyone all the time about it."

Lucette would offer to be an exception but there are servants around and people talk.

"Is it the formality itself that bothers you or something else?"

"Formality itself."

"Would it be better if you claimed Haru was a title?"

"No, it's the whole atmosphere, not the literal syllables."

"Ah, alas. I apologize for my society's inflexibility."

"Not your fault, as far as I know."

"It is not - I would have done a much better job designing society if I had had the opportunity."

"Well, I'd hear all about it but we probably have more etiquette to cram into my brain."

"We do, unfortunately."

And here is a circumspect description of what language not to use, as well as a list of generally safe topics of conversation (music, food, architecture, and fashion) and another list of things to avoid with less safe topics that are liable to come up. Gossip in particular is liable to be discussed and it would be ideal for Haru to be vague and diversionary when possible and default to weakly positive opinions when nesscary. She additionally presents him with her written notes on these subjects.

"Some of this is more cautious than strictly required but the less cautious version would be too complex to learn in an evening without risk, I expect.."

"Understandable. Is consulting these notes socially acceptable or do I have to do it while I've ducked out?"

"I don't think it would be acceptable, unfortunately."

"Alas. Is there a standard thing to say if going to relieve oneself or do you just absent yourself from the room without explanation?"

"Absenting yourself would be ideal if it can be done smoothly, otherwise a generic reason for leaving could suffice, such as you being needed elsewhere or a wanting a breath of fresh air."

"Okay."

Once he thinks he's absorbed all this she has some selections from books for him to analyze the politeness of.

He does slightly better at this than you might expect from his distaste for the concept and his recent exposure to the rules. "I might be better at literary analysis than I am at social skills," he observes.

"Well, hopefully the skill transfers somewhat?"

"One hopes."

"You being able to catch some of the examples that weren't directly implied by the rules I mentioned is promising for some amount of cultural overlap at least."

"It's not overlap with my actual culture, it's overlap with cultures I read old books from."

"Oh, that's strange to imagine but I suppose makes sense. What is your culture like in similar situations?"

"Oh, if I were going to a party with dancing for one thing I'd be dressed like I was when I first showed up - some people get up to more interesting things, I'd be the most boring-looking person in the room, but nondescript, not underdressed. Everybody would introduce themselves by first name or nickname and I would only learn their last names that night if there were two Michaels or if somebody was related to another person I already knew. People swear a lot and it means nothing unless they're also really angry while they're doing it. Also there would be less... gender... happening... to everyone... like I could dance with boys and it wouldn't be marked or anything, girls wear pants, people's grandmothers wear pants it's been normal for so long."

"Oh. That sounds extremely nice...."

"I've never worn pants before," she adds, somewhat inanely.

"I guessed, yeah."

"Gender restrictions seem sometimes useful - especially for empowered - but I do wish there was substantially more thought put into what was actually important."

"Actively useful? How?"

"Empowered are much less likely to die in childbirth and more likely to have empowered children, so it makes sense for there to be increased pressures on empowered to produce heirs. Additionally I understand it to be the case that gendered expectations make matchmaking easier due to common preferences."

"Personally if my children were exceptionally likely to be tortured by a demon for most of their lives I would get a vasectomy."

"I think that's a disservice to commoners who benefit from sufficiently good empowered nobility but I understand the perspective."

"If the portal guy can do portals you lot can import worthwhile guns and see how demons like those. And espers! Lots of us if the guns won't do the trick."

"To my knowledge guns are not entirely effective against wild demons, though perhaps yours will be different. I also suppose access to your world would offer alternative economic benefits beyond those that our abilities can provide. I do think my own suffering is far outweighed by the benefits of using my power to do irrigation or level land in certain areas presently unsuitable for agriculture."

"I'm glad you find the tradeoff worth it, just, I would not have kids under these conditions, because what if they don't."

"That's a reasonable position - though not one I expect my husband to share so I couldn't exactly afford to insist on it regardless if it were mine."

"The obligatory marriage thing seems like it would be complicating. Does divorce work, can you like - swap spouses within whatever grace period you get?"

"Unfortunately no."

"Yikes. - how does widowhood work."

"The shock of one's husband dying relatively often breaks a woman's powers and the exceptions are able to re-marry. The reverse is very rare but I believe similar."

"Why are widowers so much rarer?"

"Empowered rarely die outside of conflict with other empowered or a demon, which are the affairs of men. Additionally powers break simultanously for a wife and husband so there is not a period of time when one is safe and the other is not."

"Uh-huh."

"Mm."

"Anything else I need to know for the dance et cetera?"

She thinks for a moment.

"Oh, we should establish an explanation for how you came to be here - it can be largely the truth probably - and also perhaps some details about how we met that will be less improper than reality."

"...the truth is that we have no idea how I came to be here, but sure, we can pretend I landed in a different room of the house."

"And a few hours earlier I suppose. That we don't know how you came to be here at all is likely acceptable, people will guess it was related to a wild demon most likely. Will Narnia have its own empowered?"

"Is it too weird if we don't? I might not have all the details straight enough."

"I think it would be odd but others won't."

"...why would you be the only person to notice this would be odd?"

"People will like to flatter themselves that our part of the world is particularly special. Not everyone will believe you based on this, but enough will to form a social consensus."

"I guess I can say 'not that I know of' and leave open the possibility that privacy on the topic is very effective."

"That would work."

"Anything else?"

"I don't believe so. There is an hour before we leave so I should be off to prepare myself. I'll meet you outside at my carriage." Possibly she should arrange for a second carriage in the future but its permissible to occasionally travel to an event with a male guest who one is not courting.

"...are there preparatory steps I should be taking."

"You should wash, and then choose and don one of the outfits you agreed upon with the tailor - I can send a servant if you'd prefer help navigating doing so. Avoid orange, red, or green so we do not match - though I don't expect you have any options in those colors as Mr. Hull is no less aware of the season's fashions than I."

"I do not know how to tie a cravat, nor what the standard washing procedure without running water might be, so yes, send someone please."

"Of course. Possibly tommorow we can find you someone permanent for your stay but for the moment my head maid's husband will have to suffice."

"I expect he knows both of those things. Do I need to figure out some means of self-support, financially. Is that a vulgar thing to contemplate if I'm a duke. Does it being vulgar mean I don't need to do it or just that I need to do it without help."

"It's customary for a host to provide for their guests so you will not need to do so. It would also be considered unseemly of you to try, as my society is extremely unreasonable."

"Right, but is it in fact feasible for me to be your guest indefinitely?"

"It will be acceptable for the year or two it will take me to find a husband, at which point I can try to persuade either him or my grandfather to support you." 

"Okay. Thank you for your hospitality. See you in an hour."

He goes to get servant assistance with bathing and dressing from the maid's husband. He can mostly borrow the shamelessness he'd have about this if he were severely backlashed, without having to actually be.

Bathing need only be his hands and face if he's bathed his body relatively recently and hasn't done strenous physical activity. Getting dressed isn't very complicated with help but clearly would have been without.

He had a shower before his mysterious departure from Narnia and hasn't been running around much since then, so sure, hands and face only, presumably a bath after all the dancing. He thanks the servant for his help and meets Lucette at the carriage.

"I've realized," he tells her, "I don't actually know your own rank, which may come up."

"Unmarried woman do not often posses specific ranks and are instead refered to as a Lady. My maternal grandfather is Albert Oakhill, the Earl of York and I am considered a Lady because my husband will inherit my grandfather's title as he has no heir. The details of this are well known but sensitive - my father was born a commoner, perhaps with a Baron is his family two generations back but it is difficult to be certain, and in order to save face my grandfather manuevered to have him knighted before announcing his marriage to my mother. People may allude to my background and if I am introduced formally it will be as 'Lady Lucette Oaklhill, granddaughter of Albert Oakhill, 10th Earl of York' but I do not expect anyone will outright mention any of the details."

"Gotcha."

"It's a complicated position to be in - my husband will likely have the opportunity to inherit younger than most and my grandfather is quite wealthy despite the Earl of York not historically being so. However, my own parentage is mixed and would not under ordinary circumstances make me a lady at all."

Lucette arranges her pale orange gown, adorned with light rubies close enough in color to obscure the numerosity. She is also wearing white gloves, unobtrusive yellow shoes, and a diamond covered hairclip that is not actually doing all that much to contribute to her hair's complex braiding. Her make-up is relatively natural and immaculately applied. 

Haru is just glad he didn't happen to land in a powdered wig era.

Lucette doesn't love the options but the challenge of succeeding at fashion is at least somewhat interesting.

The carriage ride is smooth for a carriage ride, which isn't very, and brings them to a large manor on the outskirts of London that is nonetheless smaller than the Oakhill city manor. A servant is on hand to help them down from the carriage and from there it's a short walk to the dining room.

"Lovely to see you Lady Marburry, and I am most thankful for your willingness to accept my rather last minute addition to your party - may I introduce to you Haru Swan, Duke of Beruna in Narnia. Duke Swan, may I introduce you to our host, Lady Marburry of Stufolk." says Lucette, using a less formal title for the lady as unlike Haru she is not a new entry to the social scene.

"It was not a bother at all, I'm delighted to make the acquaintance of any guest of yours, much less one who has traveled from as far away as Narnia. Welcome to my manor, Duke Swan, I am honored you made my humble party your first in London."

"Thank you very much for accommodating my arrival, Lady Marburry." He could make some dozen different possible comments and he's going to not because it would be far too easy to fuck it up.

"It's a pleasure! Please enjoy - I must attend to other arrivals alas."

And Lucette can introduce him to other people, with slightly less formality, a trio of which will eagerly question him about how he arrived in London and whether it was a difficult journey.

"I found myself quite unaccountably transported into Lady Oakhill's residence all at once, and could not begin to tell you how it happened, but at least the voyage had the virtue of being brief."

"Is this a common occurence in Narnia?"

"Not at all."

"How curious, are there wi-"

"Oh let's not talk of such weighty topics so early in the evening, especially when we havn't even asked Lord Swan about the lighter parts of Narnia. I for one would like to know whether their own fashion is very different from our own."

"Exceedingly, yes, I've had to borrow clothes so as not to appear too outlandish here."

"Oh, what wouid you ordinarily wear to an event such as this?"

"The event also would be strange in Narnia but analogizing as closely as possible I'd have arrived in a finely knit shirt, and heavy woven blue trousers, both cotton."

"Just a shirt?" asks a scandalized young woman.

"For indoors, yes, Narnians favor a very little-layered approach. Getting there I might have had a jacket against the weather."

"And would women attend these same parties?"

"Typically, yes."

"And they'd have a similar lack of layers or no?"

"I've never tried to closely investigate," he demurs, because there is surely no way to decorously say 'they have bras', let alone explain what a bra is.

The asker giggles at his reply.

The group, which grows when people notice Haru's prescence, have quite a few quesitons about the social scene of Narnia. They'd like to know about the food, the entertainment, whether they dance, whether they have larger events - this one is quite small and intimate, he really must come to the proper courting season balls - and what Narnian events are his personal favorites.

He can talk about "Narnian" food - he might be able to recreate a few recipes if the ingredients available are similar enough, he's dabbled in the kitchen on occasion for enrichment though of course most of the time the chef, a Mister Kraft, handled it. Narnians are big on, uh, theater, sometimes long-running serial productions of theater where you need to attend dozens of times for the complete story. Narnians dance, but he's never been big on the dance scene himself and cannot demonstrate well. Big events include sporting events - he's not himself a fan but they attract sometimes upwards of a thousand people - but he's more of a reader.

He's got a crowd growing around him by the time dinner is served - they're shocked and fascinated by the concept of him cooking and several young woman attempt to convince him to oversee their cooks in preparation of Narnian dishes, each wanting to be responsible for the introduction of Narnian cuisine to London. There's also quite a bit of interest in what stories are told in the serial productions.

...he really should have consulted Lucette about how to render Cricket's name as an unremarkable human name. But, uh, sure, his best friend who he declines to name at this time loves the theater and tells him all about it, though again Duke Swan himself is more of a reader. He will summarize Game of Thrones, it seems easier to translate than most things.

"Oh dear, is your King typically decided upon by such a violent process?"

"No, not at all, this is fiction."

"Oh good."

"It doesn't sound so unlike our own history - perhaps more extreme but such internal wars were fairly common until the end of the Dark Ages, when we switched to electing our King rather than having them drawn from one famiily line." Not that the elections have all been bloodless, but it would impolite to point out the exceptions, of which there are in fact only a few.

"I think the series was inspired by a historical war but I have never looked into it that I would remember it now to tell you all."

"How unfortunate." Though it reminds Lucette that she still hasn't sat Haru down and learned everything she can about his future's past, which she would really like to do.

Dinner is reasonably elaborate but the dishes aren't actually more complex than restaurants Haru is used to. Conversations continue as people eat, albeit in smaller groups of whoever is seated next to each other.

Are the seats assigned, it'll be mildly surprising if they aren't.

They aren't obviously assigned but there seems to be some sort of unspoken protocol dictating where people are sitting and after Lucette glances at the young woman sitting down across from her Haru is invited by the woman to sit to their left.

Then he will sit there!

The young woman introduces herself as Sophia and starts asking him about the weather in Narnia before interrupting herself to say that she's Sophia Brynd and now that out of the way she would like to know about the weather in Narnia.

"Haru Swan. It's largely temperate thanks to being on the shore, but the winters can be really something."

"Oh do you get thundersnow? I tried to take a trip out to Eaton to see some but I wasn't empowered yet and so we had to turn back though my cousin told me later that there wasn't any anyways."

"We get snow, and we get thunder, but there is not a combination of the two that has its own name."

"Oh, that's disappointing, it's my sixth favorite sort of weather."

"You have a ranked list? What are one through five?"

"Summer rain, Comat lake thunderstorms, St Elmo's fire, water spouts, and lightning within clouds. St. Elmo's fire used to be number two but Lucette thinks it's not real because there are lots of weird lightning stories and some of them are clearly not real."

"And none of them of that nature are clearly truthful."

"St. Elmo's Fire, if we mean the same thing by the name, is real, but very rare."

"Lights on the tops of ships? Are you sure - have you seen it yourself?"

"I haven't seen it but I've read about it from sources I trust."

"You see, Lucette!"

"I wouldn't ordinarily see from just that but I suppose Haru has likely read sources neither of us can find."

"So now it can be at second once again."

"Glad to help."

Sophia has more questions, such as what Mr. Swan's preferred form of rain is and whether he's seen any water spouts and also what season is best suited to him - for her it's the time when spring turns to summer but it's okay if he has a less correct opinion.

"I like a light misting rain if I've got to be out in it and a driving thunderstorm if I don't. Never seen a water spout. My favorite season is autumn."

A new type of thunderstorm!!

"I've never heard of driving thunderstorms before, what are they?"

"- it's not a specific technical term, I just mean a thunderstorm where the rain's coming down particularly hard."

"Oh that's a little disappointing but only as much as anything having to do with thunderstorms can be disappointing which isn't that much."

"If you say so."

"Have you flown into one? I think if I were a man I would fly into a thunderstorm."

Narnia probably can't have airplanes. "I have generally appreciated them from the ground."

"Well, that's better than not appreciating them at all."

"I'm not sure whether flying into one would be entirely safe, even for those of among us who are empowered."

"It'd tend to be risking a lightning strike, yes."

"Ordinary people survive those!"

"Not reliably and not comfortably!"

"I doubt it'd hurt more than getting my legs chopped up once a week."

This gets her a startled look from several adjacent party goers.

"Mm, possibly you should slow down on the wine and eat some of your meal, Sophia. The pudding is particularly nice today."

Oh good apparently he doesn't have to think of a response to that.

"Yes, I wonder what the recipe was," chimes in one of their neighbors helpfully.

And then they can have a perfectly normal conversation that avoids explicit acknowledgment of any of them being tortured by demons, much less any specifics.

The pudding is lovely, yes. Do they have chocolate here in England.

"I'm pretty sure that's popular in Spain but I've never had any?"

"You're missing out, chocolate is wonderful. Very popular in Narnia."

"What's it like?" asks the helpful neighbor.

"It gets compared to coffee sometimes, do you have that?"

"I don't think so, no."

"Then I'm not sure how to describe it, sorry."

"I've had it - it was awfully... foreign," says a newcomer, arriving just as dinner is wrapping up.

"Oh Lord Metcalfe, I didn't know you'd be attending today."

"I happened to be nearby and thought I'd see what event Miss Marburry had put together for the evening." Going by his expression, his expectations weren't very high.

"Coffee is an acquired taste."

"Well, I've acquired it and it wasn't to my taste."

"Lord Metcalfe, I don't believe you've met Haru Swan, Duke of Beruna in Narnia who has just arrived in London. Mr. Swan may I introduce to you Lord Richard Metcalfe, son of Duke Metcalfe, whose delightful access to portals I believe I have had cause to mention to you previously."

"Delightful is it? I thought you felt that all powers should be put at the beck and call of the commoners or some such."

"I must have misspoken previously, I'm sure the acquisition of foreign luxuries such as chocolate for submission to your discerning taste is the worthiest possible use for such an ability."

The really infuriating thing is that this will read as an apology to Lord Metcalfe.

"Well, that's good to have corrected then."

"Oh, is your family invested in international trade? I agree that's a worthy use. I'd love to set you up with contacts in Narnia who'd be delighted to export to England, if only I could reach any of them."

"We dabble in it occasionally, though providing for importation to anyone who asks is not our custom."

Their parties are known for having foreign luxuries which are presumably incredibly affordable somewhere but they only import enough for the parties and some token extra people can beg them for. Not pay! Beg! The Duke Metcalfe likes to tell a definitely false story about how he was offered a chest of gold artifacts for one coconut and refused!

Haru is trying not to rely on them having any higher motives at all. "Well, even if you don't like coffee you might really like chocolate."

"You think so?"

"Oh, yes. Coffee's an acquired taste, people just take it to wake up whether they like it or not back in Narnia. Chocolate's a treat, I don't know that I've ever met a Narnian who doesn't like it."

"Do all Narnians like it?"

"The way I've heard Lord Swan talk about it I'd assume few of them have ever had the chance to try it."

"Well, there are different grades, I think most Narnians have had the opportunity to enjoy at least the cheap kinds."

"So, a commoner food then?"

"Is salt a commoner food? There are more and less sophisticated ways to use the ingredient."

"Oh, you're a clever one aren't you."

"On occasion."

"Well, how about you put your cleverness to use and join me and my friends in some late night hunting."

Not exactly the social in with the portal family he was hoping for, though probably he's not spoiled for choice. "Is that an occupation well served by cleverness?"

"Well, we'll have to find out."

Haru going hunting with Metcalfe sounds like a possibly terrible idea but it would definitely be rude to refuse so...

"I can let my carriage know to pick you up from Lord Metcalfe's estate later, Duke Swan."

"Thank you kindly, Lady Oakhill. I confess I'm not much of a hunter, I may be dreadfully ill-acquainted with the strategy of it."

"Do you know how to shoot a bow?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Well then I suppose you'll just have to do with spotting for the rest of us."

"I do have reasonably sharp eyes. What is there to hunt around here at this hour, deer?"

"My family has acquired a variety of creatures for such sport, though I have my personal preferences." 

"Oh?"

"I'll leave it a surprise."

It's going to be, like, a horse with a carrot glued to its head so they can haze him about it or something, fine. "If you like."

Or something.

Richard makes his way around the rest of the party for another few minutes before declaring himself ready for some more excitement and heading for the exit.

Is this Haru's cue to go with him?