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Post by Mr. Darcy on Oct 15, 2008 10:22:13 GMT -5
Darcy, determined to be agreeable, managed to accept this with equanimity.
"Indeed?" he asked, his voice mildly curious. "What do you see, Miss Shirley?"
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Post by Anne on Oct 15, 2008 16:27:23 GMT -5
"...a light," *she said vaguely, hesitating a moment before trying to clarify her thought, spinning the fancy with that distant, dreaming look in her eye she sometimes wore when on a particularly dazzling flight of fancy.* "A warmth, perhaps...there's an openness about you, now. Like a house lit from within on a cold night...with the shutters thrown wide in a kind of welcome. It may not be everyone's home, but it waits for somebody."
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Post by Mr. Darcy on Oct 15, 2008 16:54:26 GMT -5
Darcy's eyebrows rose imperceptibly, though they lent a rather open cast to his face, and his heart tugged awkwardly in his chest. He could not tear his eyes from her face--it was she who had the glow, he thought, but he had always seen that.
"That's... I do not believe I have ever been described so poetically," he said at last.
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Post by Anne on Oct 15, 2008 16:59:18 GMT -5
"...well, you do not make for an easy muse," *replied Anne, as they began to wander away from the fringes of the party. She was drifting towards her favourite walk--the one that took her over the bridge of the Lake of Shining Waters.*
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Post by Mr. Darcy on Oct 15, 2008 17:23:48 GMT -5
Darcy followed her easily, not entirely aware they were moving away as it was his instinct as well.
"I must confess to my surprise being considered an apt muse at all," he said. "Though I suspect I have provided you with some fodder for invention, in my way. I prefer this illustration to the former."
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Post by Anne on Oct 15, 2008 17:25:32 GMT -5
"When else did I ever attempt to sketch you?"
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Post by Mr. Darcy on Oct 15, 2008 17:40:03 GMT -5
"You once told me," he said, not without humor, "that I had no imagination whatsoever. You were likely right, and I had too little at the time to see it. Or perhaps did not know you well enough not to take offense."
Then there was the matter of the prideful villain of her novel--but he thought it best not to bring that up.
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Post by Anne on Oct 16, 2008 7:35:44 GMT -5
*Anne chuckled lightly.*
"You are right--I had forgotten, and now I am sorry for having said those things. I was quite blind...kindred spirits are everywhere."
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Post by Mr. Darcy on Oct 16, 2008 10:52:09 GMT -5
"I think we've both been sorry enough, for those things we said in haste," he said, his tone warm enough that it embarrassed him slightly, and he fell silent again.
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Post by Anne on Oct 16, 2008 11:06:39 GMT -5
"I have a lot of practice when it comes to apologizing for things said in haste and repented at leisure," *said Anne ruefully.* "My temper goes along with my red hair and I'm afraid my tongue tends to lash fire before I've properly thought about the consequences."
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Post by Mr. Darcy on Oct 16, 2008 19:23:50 GMT -5
Darcy smiled, the expression touching his eyes even if the expression was somewhat rueful.
"One does not need red hair to regret the consequences of one's temper," he said. "And it suits you."
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Post by Anne on Oct 16, 2008 19:25:53 GMT -5
"My temper?" *Anne laughed.* "That's probably the nicest compliment anyone's ever paid me, Mr. Darcy. Or at least the most forgiving."
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Post by Mr. Darcy on Oct 16, 2008 19:38:36 GMT -5
Darcy laughed.
"I'm sorry, I meant your hair," he said. "Though in retrospect, your temper certainly made you... memorable."
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Post by Anne on Oct 16, 2008 19:41:56 GMT -5
"You like red hair?" *chuckled Anne with some disbelief.* "--and my temper is certainly unforgettable...and not for the best of reasons."
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Post by Mr. Darcy on Oct 16, 2008 20:01:04 GMT -5
In truth, Darcy liked her hair, but he could hardly say that.
"It's not so much the general aesthetic, but its union with temperament that I find suitable," he said carefully. "One would not wish all hair to be red, I think. Or brown or blonde, for that matter."
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