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Post by Valmont on Apr 16, 2008 14:01:57 GMT -5
"But you're always reading."
*So was he, these days. He frowned. That made him uncomfortable.*
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Post by Valerie on Apr 16, 2008 14:06:10 GMT -5
"That's not to say I don't have a social life," *she said.* "The more you read, the faster you can do it, with time. It just takes practice."
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Post by Valmont on Apr 16, 2008 14:18:36 GMT -5
"You're mocking my reading ability, now?" *he tsked.* "Scraping the bottom of the barrel, aren't we?"
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Post by Valerie on Apr 16, 2008 14:21:28 GMT -5
"I could say the same for you--you're chatting up a girl who's refused you times out of mind."
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Post by Valmont on Apr 16, 2008 14:24:03 GMT -5
"Is that what I'm doing?" *Valmont feigned innocence.* "Perhaps I haven't got round to asking you yet."
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Post by Valerie on Apr 16, 2008 14:26:59 GMT -5
"You asked me the day we met," *she replied with a shrug.* "And I have seen no evidence of feelings to the contrary. Inexperienced I may be by comparison, but do not think I cannot recognize desire in a man's eyes."
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Post by Valmont on Apr 16, 2008 14:34:38 GMT -5
You're not running away, either.
"I see. So it's the very presence of desire that matters, not the fact I have not, since you made your preferences known, acted upon it."
If you'd given in then, we wouldn't be here now.
*Why wasn't that thought particularly comforting?*
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Post by Valerie on Apr 16, 2008 14:39:24 GMT -5
"It seems a futile effort, if merely mental. The more gargantuan task, in my mind, is the overcoming of those thoughts which dwell in the darkest portions of one's mind rather than merely suppressing physical acts of desperate passion. The censure of society would be enough to deter you from rape, I believe."
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Post by Valmont on Apr 16, 2008 14:50:07 GMT -5
"That, and your new companion," *he said, gesturing to the Scythe.* "But there you are again, validating the harder path merely for being more difficult. Where does it end, this suppression of thought and feeling itself? Who's to say such sublimation hasn't led to the great works of art? Could not this desire, unacted upon as it is, lead to some good?"
*He leaned on the table, smiling slightly.*
"Don't tell me you don't enjoy this, just a little."
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Post by Valerie on Apr 16, 2008 14:53:59 GMT -5
"Suppression of feeling and action upon one path merely serve to channel those energies into something more noble and useful. There are scads of evidence that unrequited passions and thwarted desires have led to some of the greatest works of art in existence."
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Post by Valmont on Apr 16, 2008 14:56:55 GMT -5
"But that's what I said," *Valmont said.* "That's not overcoming and eliminating feeling; that's redirecting. Does that mean the original feeling disappears? Can I not reveal desire in my gaze yet, with it unacted upon, turn my attention to other things?"
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Post by Valerie on Apr 16, 2008 16:11:00 GMT -5
"Then turn your attention to something else, or someone else," *she said, reaching for the Scythe and standing.* "Adieu, Monsieur le Vicomte."
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Post by Valmont on Apr 16, 2008 16:24:21 GMT -5
*Valmont brought his hand down on the table in impotent frustration.*
"I like talking to you," *he said apropos of nothing.*
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Post by Valerie on Apr 16, 2008 16:57:53 GMT -5
"Why?" *she said with a breathless kind of gasp that sounded rather like a repressed chuckle of amusement.* "I infuriate you."
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Post by Valmont on Apr 16, 2008 17:04:23 GMT -5
"True, true," *he mused.* "I'm complicated."
*He waved a hand dismissively.*
"Begone with you," *he said irritably, though it was her indifference which irritated him.* "Time to attend to my standards, as you say."
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