[ The muttered comment gets another fond hmph from him that he leaves there since it's not something he's buying and it likely doesn't need to be said aloud for that to resonate regardless - not when Hilda knows him well enough from hours upon hours of time spent together in various capacities. He can wait for what she'll add past that while studying the markings and trying (without much luck) to place them in which book he'd seen them in before.
But what's said when it finally is feels like being walled out of something, enough to toe the line between implying it and doing so outright, and it catches him off-guard. Claude's motions still as he looks at the necklace for a long moment, and then up at Hilda for yet another stretch of time without saying anything. There's the urge to ask in all teasing what it is she's hiding. Maybe he should. Maybe it'd be easy enough. Or maybe, just maybe, he should pay closer attention to what feels like a small shift and see whether it's part of his imagination. There's multiple ways to feel it out, and it could just as easily be nothing at all. Perhaps it's a side effect of an even more inconsistent sleep schedule.
In the end, he peers at the necklace for a couple seconds longer before setting it down with great care upon the coffee table once more to make sure nothing about it gets jostled out of place. ]
Alright then, keep your plans secret. I see how it is.
[ Said lightly enough in a familiar teasing tone as he sits back against the couch again with a smile to offset the mock scolding way it's said to further the joke silently meant to prod along that minor resistance, though that plant doesn't last long before Claude tilts his head after another moment when another thought crosses his mind. ]
Have you been to the night markets here lately? Some new stalls have popped up over the last few days and ones I didn't recognize from... ah, before. Anyway, some of them have new materials that I've heard are from Libertas thanks to the portal though I'm not sure if that's the case. There's some new paints and metals in different forms which made me think of the artists there and such along with some hand-painted beads and stones.
[ Because he had, on one of those many late nights and early mornings, studied the stocked tables and chatted with a stallkeeper here and there to find out more about them. Not entirely so out of curiosity alone given since her birthday Claude's been quietly looking for more supplies Hilda might like, and if she's now moving into working on more projects: what better time to offer those up? ]
no subject
But what's said when it finally is feels like being walled out of something, enough to toe the line between implying it and doing so outright, and it catches him off-guard. Claude's motions still as he looks at the necklace for a long moment, and then up at Hilda for yet another stretch of time without saying anything. There's the urge to ask in all teasing what it is she's hiding. Maybe he should. Maybe it'd be easy enough. Or maybe, just maybe, he should pay closer attention to what feels like a small shift and see whether it's part of his imagination. There's multiple ways to feel it out, and it could just as easily be nothing at all. Perhaps it's a side effect of an even more inconsistent sleep schedule.
In the end, he peers at the necklace for a couple seconds longer before setting it down with great care upon the coffee table once more to make sure nothing about it gets jostled out of place. ]
Alright then, keep your plans secret. I see how it is.
[ Said lightly enough in a familiar teasing tone as he sits back against the couch again with a smile to offset the mock scolding way it's said to further the joke silently meant to prod along that minor resistance, though that plant doesn't last long before Claude tilts his head after another moment when another thought crosses his mind. ]
Have you been to the night markets here lately? Some new stalls have popped up over the last few days and ones I didn't recognize from... ah, before. Anyway, some of them have new materials that I've heard are from Libertas thanks to the portal though I'm not sure if that's the case. There's some new paints and metals in different forms which made me think of the artists there and such along with some hand-painted beads and stones.
[ Because he had, on one of those many late nights and early mornings, studied the stocked tables and chatted with a stallkeeper here and there to find out more about them. Not entirely so out of curiosity alone given since her birthday Claude's been quietly looking for more supplies Hilda might like, and if she's now moving into working on more projects: what better time to offer those up? ]