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Post by Valmont on Mar 23, 2009 9:33:48 GMT -5
"That's the beauty of it, you see," Valmont purred. "It can be found everywhere. Some places, some structures, are more conducive than others, of course. But it's more of a state of mind."
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Post by Notre Dame on Mar 31, 2009 16:24:37 GMT -5
"Mm." Notre Dame pushed some hair out of her face, propping her chin on her hand again afterwards. "You are happy?"
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Post by Valmont on Mar 31, 2009 16:44:37 GMT -5
"Of course," Valmont answered without hesitation. It wasn't that he was used to the question, but another answer would never have occurred to him; it was his business, insofar as he had one, to be happy. Therefore, he was. "Are you?"
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Post by Notre Dame on Mar 31, 2009 20:58:39 GMT -5
"I am a city, monsieur." He earned himself a tinkling laugh. "What else do you do besides your religious pursuit of pleasure?"
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Post by Valmont on Apr 1, 2009 11:49:51 GMT -5
"Do you say that because cities are by default one way or another, or because cities can feel no happiness?" he pressed. He smiled a not-very-polite smile in response to her question; not polite because it suggested things not talked about in polite society, not because it was directed at her or anyone in particular.
"I find it fills my time adequately. Depending on how one defines pleasure, of course."
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Post by Notre Dame on Apr 6, 2009 10:48:08 GMT -5
Notre Dame smiled at him, playing with her hands. "Because cities are not human, monsieur. Would you define happiness for me in context of brick and stone? Or unhappiness? Oh, and pleasure?" That last one was because of what he'd just said- surely no human could mate all the time.
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Post by Valmont on Apr 6, 2009 11:26:23 GMT -5
"But you are not brick and stone. And neither is a city; you are proof of that." Valmont eyes wandered over the interior of the cathedral, as if to prove again the difference between its cold vastness and the creature before him. "Must your emotions be thus rounded by them?"
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Post by Notre Dame on Apr 6, 2009 11:38:17 GMT -5
"Yes. It is the way I am made." She drew her legs up under her, no longer leaning on the back of the pew to peer at him. "Who says I am not brick and stone? Your eyes? Monsieur Sébastien de Valmont, you should know not to trust them."
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Post by Valmont on Apr 6, 2009 12:04:14 GMT -5
Valmont smiled slyly.
"What should I trust, then, mademoiselle?" he asked. "We humans are graced with limited powers of perception."
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Post by Notre Dame on Apr 6, 2009 12:12:10 GMT -5
Notre Dame considered this. "I am telling you the truth now, so you can trust my word." It was probably not what Valmont had hoped she was going to say.
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Post by Valmont on Apr 6, 2009 12:17:25 GMT -5
He'd "trusted" her already that she was the personification of Paris itself, so in Valmont's limited way he could trust that, too. It was easy to "trust" in things that made no difference, that provided amusement, that spurred conversation. What use had he for the truth, after all?
"Well then," he said, "all that being the case, what do you feel?"
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Post by Notre Dame on Apr 6, 2009 12:29:42 GMT -5
She shrugged, resting her chin in her hand again, elbow propped against the top of the pew. This wasn't the most interesting subject for her, because Notre Dame felt... nothing. Oh, she was sure she had been happy before, and sad, but she wouldn't know how to classify these feelings if they came to her. For the most part, she did not feel. She just existed, because Paris existed, and there was nothing human about it. It was a pointless question for Valmont to ask. "You didn't answer my question, earlier. How do you define pleasure that is fills up so much of your time?"
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Post by Valmont on Apr 6, 2009 13:02:59 GMT -5
He supposed that was fair enough, countering one unanswered question by not answering his.
"Pleasure comes in many forms," he said. "Sexual pleasure is, of course, my forte as you've no doubt perceived. But there are others kinds; food, conversation, parties, walks such as the one in the course of which we met. They are all lesser forms, as far as I am concerned, but I can easily fill my time in leisure. Unless one is very, very difficult to please, I cannot see how one can fail."
Of course he meant "one who has no need of work," but that went without saying, naturally.
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Post by Notre Dame on Apr 6, 2009 14:56:41 GMT -5
"And that is all you do?"
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Post by Valmont on Apr 6, 2009 14:58:40 GMT -5
"What else is there?" Valmont asked, genuinely confused. It seemed quite self-explanatory to him. "I answer letters, from time to time, and..." He searched his brain, and recalled something he didn't think about very much. "On occasion I read. But all of that merely contributes to my pleasure. I'm a very simple creature," he said finally, sounding anything but.
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