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Post by Teja on Feb 12, 2015 13:48:43 GMT -5
"I suppose that's good to know."
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Feb 13, 2015 15:11:23 GMT -5
"You suppose ," he laughed. "Oh, well."
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Post by Teja on Feb 13, 2015 15:21:12 GMT -5
"I like you very much, but I cannot absolutely trust you after only knowing you for so short a time. Would you find me entirely worthy of respect if I did?"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Feb 13, 2015 18:08:36 GMT -5
He shrugged, a little defeated.
"I imagine no. It would certainly make you vastly less interesting. "
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Post by Teja on Feb 13, 2015 18:23:58 GMT -5
She felt a thrill of gratification that she knew was not a keen survival instinct at the idea that he found her interesting - and a dour cynicism dampening it right after, that said he was likely lying to see how she responded.
"I haven't been trying to be interesting," she said with laughter. "But if I have been, I'm pleased."
There. Sincerity, you couldn't go wrong with that, could you? At least if you were rejected, it wasn't because you had done anything wrong.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Feb 13, 2015 21:49:36 GMT -5
"You must understand," he said, "I have spent a great deal of my life surrounded by people who wish to present themselves as exceedingly interesting, and few things go so quickly stale as that."
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Post by Teja on Feb 13, 2015 23:14:38 GMT -5
His son included, she had no doubt.
"I've never seen my own modest lack of talents and charms as a benefit before this," she said honesty. And it was honest - it wasn't talent or charm or beauty that had pulled Loki to her, but a sharp and unpleasant twist of fate, a pattern of ink on the back of her neck, and the fact that he had been interesting, by definition - and could not help but love any woman who had shown him affection. Then likewise her only mark of appeal to Adrian Veidt was her relationship with Loki.
That's probably all Krolock sees in me, too, she realized with a start.
It didn't console her much to consider that circumstance were all that made Krolock and Loki interesting, either. Both of them were exceedingly average in most ways, apart from being, respectively, a vampire and a god-prince from space, with long lives and histories. Loki had all sorts of quirks that set him apart from everybody else even by his own standards, but none of them was a personality thing. Personality-wise he was largely an ambitious little shit who liked to lie on the couch, watch genre television and complain. And drink coffee and have sex; he was fond of those things. But that described most people in their age group, didn't it?
She thought very suddenly of Loki's desire to move, to avoid responsibility and find somewhere else to live with her. She knew she'd feel isolated and trapped with him wherever they went, but was it not possible for them to find work and carve out a life? He'd said it could be another city. Well, there were other cities, weren't there? Places she might not mind being? He just wanted an opportunity to salvage their relationship and duck his father. Was the former even possible - did she even want it?
She realized she had been silent in thought, gazing over the room without seeing anyone.
"Sorry," she said.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Feb 18, 2015 14:37:29 GMT -5
Krolock laughed weakly as a string quartet somewhere in the next room struck up.
"...would you like to dance?"
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Post by Teja on Feb 18, 2015 23:05:08 GMT -5
She took a shy step forward. "Yes."
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Feb 19, 2015 17:48:46 GMT -5
"It's been some time since I've troubled myself about this," Krolock said, arranging the pair of them together into a formal posture.
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Post by Teja on Feb 19, 2015 17:52:06 GMT -5
"I'm not very good - I mean we don't really do this anymore, as a society -"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Feb 19, 2015 17:54:05 GMT -5
"Not a great loss, is it?"
He was good at it, though rather stiff about it.
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Post by Teja on Feb 19, 2015 18:01:20 GMT -5
"But it's fun," she rejoined, with a delicate sense of enthusiasm. "Lots of people wish we still did it - well, lots of girls anyway."
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Feb 19, 2015 19:23:08 GMT -5
"Well, I of all people would know."
He laughed, but let it fade out once it occurred to him how unpleasant it sounded.
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Post by Teja on Feb 19, 2015 19:56:50 GMT -5
She fell silent, focusing on her dancing, and thus all its faults.
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