As the fireplace blazed, the atmosphere in the house grew livelier and livelier. The children stuffed cake into their mouths while chattering over the cartoon characters they were dressed as. Sometimes they were talking completely past one another, but they did not care. Even talking to themselves, they could go on for quite a while.
Pride gave Aisha a look, wanting her to steer the conversation toward the natural environment around them. But just then, someone knocked on the door again.
Pride raised an eyebrow. He did not think anyone else would be coming for candy at this hour. When he opened the door, an exceptionally burly figure stood outside: Jason Todd.
"Good God, you look like a proper Englishman," Pride said, looking him over.
Back when Jason was still in Gotham, he had been especially fond of biker-style clothes—leather jackets or hoodies—which did not suit his artsy youth essence at all. After going to Britain to study abroad, he had actually started wearing sweaters and trench coats.
He wore a light brown sweater with dark gray jeans, topped by a long, fitted black trench coat. He had a Scottish plaid scarf around his neck and was even wearing glasses.
"God, don't make fun of me, Professor. Selene has already been laughing at me for half an hour." Jason shook his head helplessly and walked inside.
"You haven't lost too much weight. That's good." Pride shut the door. "What made you come over at this time?"
"I was supposed to land yesterday, actually, but flights out of London were massively delayed yesterday, so I had to rebook. I only just arrived." Jason sighed, shaking his head helplessly.
"I thought you came back specifically to see whether I'd prepared candy." Pride grabbed a handful of sweets from a basket nearby and