[Chairs are overrated. Paul is one of those people with a talent for locating alternatives to using them when he's at ease, which is something people outside of his immediate household very rarely see. Viktor, by proxy, is getting a rare glimpse of it now, Paul's spine a gently curve as he leans over his crossed ankles with hands on his knees.]

One of the first things he mentioned was that you're an intellectual. [And Palamedes doesn't lie.] Do you find the trick with them is getting them not to explode? That's the part I find most challenging, and then getting them to detonate the way you want them to...that's all a roundabout way of saying I'm impressed.

[He waves a hand that happens, by fortunate timing, to coincide with another cherry bomb going off in a riot of light and sound. Paul stops to admire it, and the muffled laughter that follows in its echo.]

I appreciate you doing that for him. [A statement on the bold side, but why keep his approval to himself?] Watch him invent a new kind of necromancy-based firework by the end of the week, though.