Douglas laughed.  "Yu ask a Scottish the choice between even the best wine and a whiskey, if they chose the wine, I will be doubting the truth of them being a Scottish."  He joked.  It wasn't a given thing, but most of those he knew back home would make a similar comment. 

"The wine is fine for the meal."  He assured him after making the light joke/truth.  He had learned to enjoy a good wine in his trips over his years.

Tristan stood up, about to get the whiskey, but sat down again when he realized the man was joking. He chuckled. "Well, the whiskey will still be there after dinner. He took both bottles of wine, looked at the labels, and then chose one that would go best with the starters. He uncorked it and poured a little into Douglas' glass, so he could taste it.

"I studied in Edinburgh," he said in the mean time. "Took a few trips to the highlands while I was there. It's stunning."

Douglas took the wine glass and looked straight down into the glass, then he held the glass to the light, and finally, gave it a tilt, so the wine rolled toward its edges.  Swirling the glass he watched the shapes formed along the wall of the glass, he took a moment before hovering over the glass and giving it a few quick short sniffs. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a small sip letting it filter over his mouth.

Looking over at Tristan at his comment about going to Edinburgh and up into the highland.  He gave fond smile.  "Aye, it is.  I always gae back as often as I can and just gae tae walk aroond just to sketch and paint."  He admitted.  "I enjoy seeing new places and people, but back 'ome is best."  He continued then handed out the glass for more of the wine.

He wasn't sure whether Douglas was staging a little act and he was supposed to laugh, or whether the lord was serious, and he should be impressed. Either way, the wine was approved, and Tristan filled his friends's glass and then his own. He picked up his own glass and let the liquid spin gently. "I imagine it can be rough up there in bad weather though. Pretty cold? I've only traveled there in summer. We..." he laughed at the memory "I went there with a group of fellow students and we thought it was a good idea to climb Ben Nevis. Spent most of our days studying. We weren't involved in sports. Couldn't walk the next few days."

"Aye, can freeze yur bahooky off in the winter."  He shook his head. (Backside)  "Especially, up where our place is.  Its nae far from Braemar.   I remember doing m' chores and 'elping the folks aroond and thinking I woold be losing all the danglin' parts along with my arse."  He chuckled with a glance at the doctor. 

He figured it was just them men there now that Pippa was not in the room, so he didn't watch his language, not that he watched it too much even with ladies around unless he really respected them and knew some words would bother them.  He was relaxing and just being himself for the moment.

"Ben Nevis?  Yu lads lucky yu dinna lose yur lives.  Yu 'ad gumption."  He took a deep drink of the wine, then took another bite, this time of the roast beef.    "That I will give yu."  He said impressed.  "Nae even one knaeing the area takes that climb without keeping their haid focused." 

"Some beautiful scene from up there though,  I will say that.  I 'aven't made the trek often, but a few times tae get a new point of view."  He had done it during his time after coming back from the war.  He had walked long and far, sometimes wanting to fall and die of it,  but mainly just to walk and get away from everything.

The maid might not be present, but Tristan himself felt some heat creep up to his face at the very free mention of Douglas' more personal parts. He tried a smile, but felt embarrassed and it looked rather stiff.

He struggled understanding some of the words the artist use, though the context helped. "It was worth the view, I supposed. Well, what youth has not gambled his life under the encouragement of friends and absence of his better judgement." He took a sip of his wine to steady himself.

"This is true.  Sae vera true."  He specifically thought of his time traveling in Italy and Paris years ago.  Well, to him it felt like years ago.  "To friends, youth, and large amounts of alcohol."  He lifts up his drink with a grin.   "And tae some of the memories that should nae be relived other than in the mind."  He took a drink and set down the now empty glass and took several more of the meal before him.

Tristan raised is glass and laughed. In reality, large amounts of alcohol were probably not a good idea for him around Douglas, a bad idea, even. He wasn't a heavy drinker anyway. But a desire to keep up with his new friend triumphed over common sense, and so he downed the rest of his glass and refilled both their glasses. He ate some more though, for some resistance. "What's the most dangerous thing you've ever done?" he asked, since the lord seemed to have a few stories of his own.

Douglas had to think about that for a moment.  "Well, it wasnae expected tae be, but working with the military government folks."  He admitted.  "I was oot there in the front of the mess.  Got winged once, but nae seriously."  He assured the doctor. 

"As fer as things ootside of that, I woold say ignoring my da's direction tae nae gae oot 'unting meself until 'e coold gae with me for a boar back with I was about 14.  If he 'ad nae find me in time, I woold have bled oot from where the blasted thing got my calf.  I thought I was grown, but nae even a grown man should dae that alone.  Da brought along four other experienced men after me and tae get that boar."  He took another drink.

Tristan ate some of his salmon toast while he listened to Douglas' story. "I don't envy you for having spent time at the front," he said. He had heard about the Crimean War from his parents. Terrible conditions. And then in his own lifetime, he had followed the fighting in South Africa and its cost. He was thankful to be safely home.

"Did you ever go hunting after that? That sounds like the type of experience that would put fright in a boy for a long time." He had encountered a wild boar on a walk in the wild, but it had been from a distance and the creature had run away.