“Tiago decided he enjoyed armchair warfare. It was so comfortable, and there were pastries.”

“That’s why I quit,” said Tiago. He popped another pastry into his mouth.”

“She thought of him sprawled in the armchair in the downstairs study, calmly demolishing pastry after pastry while Aubrey looked at him in shock. Or what about that god-awful dinner? A variety of people looked daggers at him and tried several times to deliver a direct verbal cut, while he plowed through alarming amounts of beautifully prepared food with evident enjoyment for the cuisine and a monumental indifference for anybody else’s opinion.”

“These jokers were not that complicated. Death-by-stupidity was the cause as far as Tiago was concerned.”

“I see,” said Aubrey, but Tiago was sure he didn’t yet.”

“See, I told you it would all work out,” Niniane said to Tiago. “You are, as always, perfectly right,” Tiago told her.”

“My give-a-shit button's broken. You're my boy, and I say no.Rune to Tiago”