by Glenn » Wed Aug 22, 2018 2:36 am
"Sorry," it was a rare thing for Burnie to apologize, or at least to only use one word to do it, but he had left the raven waiting without much in the way of proper explanation. In truth, he wasn't apologetic about the first letter. There were priorities that superseded mandated but amiable friendship. The second letter had been in excess, but Gloria Wynsee would be the one to suffer upon reading it, not the bird. "Better I got that out of my system than you had to hear it." He could have put the question of nature to his guest but the response would probably be reasonable enough, but expletive-laced and not at all useful in a philosophical sense.
Anyway, 'eyoo had questions of his own.
"Gestures," Glenn repeated, setting down the tool of his trade (if said trade was, in fact, wank) and taking the raven in, as if for the first time. He seemed much as he had upon awakening the first time this morning, lucid, focused, somewhat more energetic than anyone who knew him well might be used to, more of a spark to his eye but perhaps less of a sparkle, slightly more overwrought in his motions, though that could be lingering fatigue. Energetic or not, it had been a long two days. "If you meant that to be rhetorical, you shouldn't have lingered on it so long," such things were on his mind, after all. "Anyway, three reasons. The first is that sometimes we don't want the other person to know what we're thinking, or we don't want to admit it to ourselves, or maybe we're not sure. This gets some of the idea across without saying something that can't be unsaid. That lamp will never be fixed but a lamp is more easily replaced than a heart." That felt right (to be unfair, it usually did) so he continued.
"The second is that it's symbolic. It leaves a mark. Maybe I won't remember every word she said to me later, but I will remember she stepped the lamp. That image will be burned into my mind forever, and with it the emotion she was expressing." His tone shifted towards the dismissive, as if he was now more than ready to move on from this topic. "The third is a bit like the first. It made her feel better to lash out and the gesture meant that she didn't have to lash out at me."
What followed from there was an actual question, phrased as a question, permission sought. He could hardly refuse after brandishing a three-part answer for something far less formally presented. He'd even go farther. "You can inquire about whatever you want. I appreciate and respect your position but I do not take you for granted because of it;" for something said so formally, he somehow managed to endow it with warmth as well, a trick that he couldn't have managed but a few weeks before. It faded by the time he reached the actual response. "Short answer, yes, over the years. One of them poisoned me to manipulate my dreams. More recently, I've written at least two dragons in the last year. Don't get me started on Gloria. I almost got involved with the matron of a fighting pit but that became a non-issue. When I wrote the niece of the king, she stormed in here, sword at her side, guards at the door, and who knows what could have happened then?" He'd glance back to the inkwell with a little frown. What could still happen there? That was distracting. At the least it meant that he wasn't looking at 'eyoo as he finished his answer. "So short answer, yes. Long answer is one of magnitude. Not quite like this, not for a long time. She's exceptional in that regard."