|
Post by Adrian Veidt on Nov 29, 2015 22:05:44 GMT -5
"You didn't suggest anything, but it's fairly obvious on its own, isn't it?"
|
|
|
Post by Teja on Nov 29, 2015 22:06:57 GMT -5
"Adrian, if I thought of you as like... I don't know, some father figure, believe me that I wouldn't want you in my life. I detest father figures."
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Veidt on Nov 29, 2015 22:11:51 GMT -5
"That solves the mystery of how you and Loki manage as a couple."
|
|
|
Post by Teja on Nov 29, 2015 22:12:42 GMT -5
She abruptly started laughing.
"That's unkind!"
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Veidt on Nov 29, 2015 22:15:32 GMT -5
"I'm not on record. I don't have to be kind."
|
|
|
Post by Teja on Nov 29, 2015 22:20:47 GMT -5
"I've heard you roast some people on the record, Mr. Veidt," she said a little coyly, but abruptly laughed again. "Was the point of the joke that Loki is immature, or that we both hate fathers?"
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Veidt on Nov 29, 2015 22:22:12 GMT -5
"The latter, though now I feel as though I missed a rather good comment there-"
|
|
|
Post by Teja on Nov 29, 2015 22:23:18 GMT -5
"Oh, you may be unkind again if you like," she said, primly folding her hands on the table and beaming.
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Veidt on Nov 30, 2015 1:00:04 GMT -5
"He's improving, though, I'd say," said Adrian. "Perhaps- and I can hardly believe I'm saying this- the attention and positive reinforcement really are satisfying some psychological need where he's concerned, and he's better able to function under the circumstances." He took another drink.
"Though that's to be laid at your feet," he added, making another deferential gesture at her. "He practically broadcast being unwell when we first met. I can't imagine what might have ensued if he hadn't fallen into your lap..."
|
|
|
Post by Teja on Nov 30, 2015 4:22:16 GMT -5
She thought about the specific positive reinforcement Loki got from her these days and listened in quiet, all patience and modesty, lest he pick up on that subtext. So possibly Loki did get something out of her....worship after all.
"Oh, you can imagine it. You already know what his plan was before I got involved and later changed it. I'm sure he'd have gone through with that - and it would have been sooner, and half baked of course because it wasn't really about social change after all...it was about ruling. It was about power."
She was startled to realize as she said this that their love life did fulfill a need for him, a faintly obvious one.
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Veidt on Nov 30, 2015 13:11:38 GMT -5
"Whatever you've done to him, it's worked," Adrian said with an elegant one-shouldered shrug. "Though I hardly imagine the power aspect was unappealing to you, either."
He gave her a significant look- significant, but surprisingly neutral, all things considered. He had a surprisingly asymmetrical face, close up. It wasn't just his expressions favoring one side over the other, it was a number of little details- his right cheekbone sat marginally lower than the left, bringing his eyelids down the tiniest fraction in turn; his once-broken nose took a slight veer to the right at the bridge, where it had healed out of place. It did nothing to detract from his appearance- if anything, it made him look deceptively youthful and faintly vulnerable, still a twentysomething upstart who posed split-lipped and grinning for the papers while holding a would-be mugger by the collar. Except for a few lines beside his mouth and eyes, the only thing that really put the lie to that impression was his hair, which was both largely silvery and somehow even more rakish-looking worn short than it had been falling over his collar.
|
|
|
Post by Teja on Nov 30, 2015 13:25:23 GMT -5
Teja looked moderately wounded, but it wasn't a conscious attempt at innocence; it showed in her subdued frown.
"The power aspect was the part I was most anxious about," said Teja. "Of course I wanted to wield it, but only to change the world - to rearrange it, instead of playing dice with politics and hoping that somehow the people who benefit the most from structural inequality and violence would elect to change it themselves. If I could have done it without anyone ever knowing my name or my face, I would have. But I couldn't. Not with someone like Loki. He wanted a queen, Adrian. But I didn't want to be a queen. I wanted power to- to give back tribal land and ensure that everyone has a home, to end 12 hour workdays and get children out of sweatshops." She made a frustrated noise as she felt her heart sink with the knowledge that she could still have done this, if only she hadn't thrown it all away for fear of ending up like - like the man sitting across from her. "If it's immoral...no, no. I saved my soul at the expense of - Maybe I shouldn't-"
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Veidt on Nov 30, 2015 13:35:48 GMT -5
"That doesn't sound so terrible," Adrian said, very carefully.
|
|
|
Post by Teja on Nov 30, 2015 13:38:21 GMT -5
"I don't know what to say," she said in a flat voice. "I saw what happened to you and I just lost the willpower."
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Veidt on Nov 30, 2015 13:44:40 GMT -5
Adrian watched her for a moment, mouth opened awkwardly while he tried to think of a proper answer. He looked around; no one was paying them any mind, but when he looked back at Teja, his face was loudly telegraphing be careful what you say.
|
|