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Post by Armand on Jan 23, 2009 13:33:51 GMT -5
"I wasn't. I was really wondering. I rarely act on impulse."
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Jan 23, 2009 13:35:48 GMT -5
"I don't know that it's an impulse, though. I often can't remember how I ended up inside in the first place. I sometimes don't know I was there until I am being asked to leave. I know I am reading something, but how I came to be... and when you're reading something, you don't ask yourself when you started. It breaks the continuity." He paused. "Did that make sense?"
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Post by Armand on Jan 23, 2009 13:47:43 GMT -5
"Ah...no."
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Jan 23, 2009 14:00:20 GMT -5
Nicolas tried to explain very quickly. "I will be reading, and the subject is all-encompassing, and I will be full of the reading, and then someone will pull me out of it. I will be asked to please put the book down and leave. I sometimes do so, and I sometimes react violently because I am very surprised, and sometimes I will be too dazed to do anything but nod, and then I leave, and, looking back, I see I was in a bookstore. I do not remember going in. I do not remember anything except the books... " He trailed off. "Does it make sense now?"
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Post by Armand on Jan 25, 2009 23:13:38 GMT -5
Armand said nothing for a moment, considering, the only sound the light exhale that he had deliberately made to stave off the same panic that had infused Nicolas's voice earlier when Armand went without speaking. He didn't know to think of this new piece of information of Nicolas as something befitting his old manner or whether it was a sign of his age, this distractedness and the way he lost track of time. It was enough to stir the idle wonder whether Nicolas was approaching a relapse or whether he had never changed at all; the idea of the first was mildly interesting, the second unsettlingly comforting. But the small snippets of a single conversation and a few online posts weren't conclusive evidence, and the flash of this idle curiousity through Armand's mind was not consise enough to even be a steady concious thought.
"You said that when you're reading something, you don't wish to break the continuity of the moment. Would your reaction upon the realization be worse than if interrupted?"
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Jan 26, 2009 11:24:12 GMT -5
Nicolas' mouth puckered a bit in thought, tilted his head, and pushed his fingers through his hair, trying to consider.
"I don't think so. It really doesn't happen to you, then."
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Post by Armand on Jan 26, 2009 11:46:48 GMT -5
"No." Armand considered, then amended with, "Not often."
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Jan 26, 2009 11:58:23 GMT -5
Nicolas nodded dimly, then got up and gazed out the window in the direction of what he knew happened to be an ocean, thinking of Armand getting sand on a pair of 21st century shoes.
"Do you like the beach much?" he asked softly.
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Post by Armand on Jan 26, 2009 12:13:49 GMT -5
"Yes, very much. You and I will walk on it when you come."
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Jan 26, 2009 12:23:24 GMT -5
Nicolas' voice sounded very abruptly agitated in a pleased sort of way. "You know just what to say, don't you?" There was an excited pause as he made some effort to contain himself that wouldn't involve breaking the window, which he backed away from. His voice was softer and more thoughtful, and rather oddly respectful, when he went on. "Did you always, or is that something to acquired with time?"
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Post by Armand on Jan 26, 2009 12:29:46 GMT -5
Armand's voice was amused. "I don't know what you mean, Nicolas. I was just being truthful."
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Jan 26, 2009 12:31:35 GMT -5
"So why does your honesty suit me so well? It never has before. God, you make me so happy sometimes. You can hardly say it's not deliberate."
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Post by Armand on Jan 26, 2009 12:36:37 GMT -5
A smile on the other end of the phone, for Armand was truly pleased by that. Of course it was deliberate. Whether he was being cruel or sweet, it was always deliberate, but it seemed gauche to say that when Nicolas was happy unless it was Armand's intention to make him unhappy again, and at the moment, it was not. "I'm glad," he said, the smile in his voice as well. "I hope that I continue to maintain such high standards."
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Post by Nicolas de Lenfent on Jan 26, 2009 12:42:00 GMT -5
"I don't doubt you will. You've always been good at orchestrating my responses. I think you are more aware of how I feel than I am half of the time - which isn't hard, and isn't a good testament to your abilities, but is true." He paused to collect his thoughts. "I don't suppose it's hard to figure out what to say to provoke a certain reaction from me, but you are the only one who's ever done it. Do you do it to everyone? Does it work on Lestat?"
He wanted to ask, specifically, about all of the others, in a list - Daniel, Louis - but managed to realize that he wanted to, and refrained, although it was a burning curiosity.
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Post by Armand on Jan 26, 2009 17:10:48 GMT -5
"Nicolas, that's not true," Armand said, sounding calm and sure and perfectly innocent. "You're not so predictable. Are you saying that it's my abilities that make you happy and not me?"
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