#idk why i went this route i just wanted bentley there and also.. maybe Antonin hasn't met him yet

[pre1ude]

" Are you lost, Daniel? " ((I had to)) // @vilestblood

The feel of warm rich velvet is familiar at his nape. Daniel clamps a swift hand over the point of contact as he turns to face that voice's source. Eyeline instinctively angled up. Knowing him before he's seen him.

"Mr. Cainhurst!" To his credit, he isn't forced to feign surprise at Antonin's approach. Unnaturally, there's been naught but a single crunch of grass beneath his boot to signify the man's sudden presence.

"Oh, I- didn't see you..." He takes a single, surreptitious glance behind Antonin, at sprawling unbroken fields. The forest treeline is some ways from them. So is the nearby manor house where he remembers having his audition. He should've seen him... "...approaching." And he should've heard him too, but that detail he spares, more deeply unsettled than he dares admit.

The recovery is swift, polite smile practiced to perfection. The touch of stiffness to it is his own unwitting improvisation. There's nothing in Antonin's features to denote displeasure, at least. But when is there ever. Danny's shoulders sag a touch, frame deflating. The smile smooths.

"No, no, I'm hardly lost. We woke up early and so it's been a rather long walk. Through town and then..." He gestures sidealong to where they are, just outside of the last urban neighbourhoods, concrete turning cobblestone. Not a soul for miles, besides the three of them. "I thought Bentley over there would like the fields." And there he is, off in the distance, a yellow ball of fur trotting his way back towards them leisurely. Even from afar the excited jiggle to his backside is evident.

Daniel turns back to face his unexpected companion then. Fussing over one coat button, suddenly more worried over how frumpy he might look this early in the morning than anything else. Oh and there's one more thing.

His hands wring around the folded dog leash.

"I'm so sorry, are we tresspassing on your grounds?"