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Post by Teja on May 3, 2019 22:29:21 GMT -5
"Why, is that not enough?"
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 3, 2019 22:33:29 GMT -5
"It's only right that you be able to say your piece," Veidt said mildly.
He looked across the room in time to see a young man approaching Megan, holding out one hand to her with a deep bow. Megan shook her head, laughing, but he extended his hand further and she relented, pink with embarrassment but smiling as he helped her up from the table.
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Post by Teja on May 3, 2019 22:38:58 GMT -5
Teja had to gather her courage, but it appeared she needed less of it than she thought she did.
"Seeing as I'll never be in the same social sphere as you again, I suppose you mean," she said, with a lifted eyebrow. "You started out a vigilante in a domino mask, just self-aware enough to see there were problems in the world and that you had the same obligation as anyone to fix them, but not enough to see that you were just exacerbating them. By the time you became aware of that, you got into this instead. But how much good does charity do, when you are one of the richest men in the country?"
She kept her voice soft because if she didn't it had a tendency to get shrill and petulant, but it resulted in her words sounding more measured and menacing. "Do you tell yourself you have to have this wealth, the cars, the clothes, the name on the buildings, so that other rich people will take you seriously? The lesser of two evils or something like that? All those intellectual gymnastics just to justify having a genuinely disgusting amount of capital. It doesn't even matter what your answer is - your wealth proves my point well enough either way."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 3, 2019 22:41:10 GMT -5
Veidt sighed.
"Ah, so it's that. All right. Listen, I don't expect to convince you of anything tonight-"
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Post by Teja on May 3, 2019 22:41:57 GMT -5
"You won't," she said in a clipped voice, insulted he would even respond.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 3, 2019 22:46:58 GMT -5
"-but if I have my way," he continued, only a little sharply, "within another ten years I hope to see virtually everyone in this room rendered obsolete."
There was a coldness to his voice and the way his eyes scanned the room now, as though she weren't there at all.
"Myself included. You may take that news to whichever outlet you like. Half the right's already guessed it themselves."
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Post by Teja on May 3, 2019 22:49:08 GMT -5
"News?" she repeated, eyes bright with anger and tone disdainful. "You really think in those terms automatically, don't you, if you deign to talk to someone? I don't plan to 'take' that anywhere. I don't even care that you've said it. You don't mean anything to me."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 3, 2019 22:52:22 GMT -5
Adrian's eyes widened.
"Very well," he said. "I do appreciate your honesty-"
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Post by Teja on May 3, 2019 22:53:24 GMT -5
"I've no doubt," she said, narrowing her eyes a little.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 4, 2019 13:00:00 GMT -5
"-but if you are willing to hear it, I would be happy to show you the reductions I began placing on my own salary, and that of my board, last year," he said casually, looking over the crowd, "and the corresponding rise in wages for everyone else under my employ."
There was a shriek of laughter from across the dance floor. Adrian looked over in time to see Megan briefly swooped up above the ground and lowered again, looking deliriously happy except for the way she abruptly clamped her hands down over her chest to keep it from spilling out.
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Post by Teja on May 4, 2019 13:03:12 GMT -5
"Are you actually driven to do what's right, or are you just desperate to look like you do?" she demanded, so fixated on this that she barely glanced at Megan, only seeing her having a good time, but neglecting to notice her dancing partner. "This is an awful lot more like the latter thing. You don't even know me."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 4, 2019 13:17:37 GMT -5
"Exactly. I don't know you, so I'm certainly not going to begin with a detailed breakdown of everything I have done already in full acknowledgment of everything you bring up here-"
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Post by Teja on May 4, 2019 13:19:19 GMT -5
"And yet you are so insecure," she said, just as he expertly twirled her and brought her back. " - that somehow or other this still gets under your skin."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on May 4, 2019 13:32:26 GMT -5
"Of course," said Adrian. "I think most people would like to be good-"
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Post by Teja on May 4, 2019 13:34:11 GMT -5
"Or to be seen to look good. Tell me, Veidt, when have you been good and not immediately had a press conference on it? Your whole career has been a performance."
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