( it wasn't a delay tactic or even river trying to avoid the point but something that was actually related. if he had enough patience to try and see it anyway )
Why are combat skills and information important to you? Why do you respect them?
( he might, this time, notice a wave of calm flowing through her words, the irritation dropping. she starting to find a little bit of patience because, rather than be snippy he does seem to be trying, even if he is apparently pretty dense )
( pay attention daud because this is a good lesson to have )
You pry, you seek information and you don't seem to care what effect it has on people. ( it had taken him a long while to realise that his needling was pissing her off ) I'm asking you something that matters to you -- to understand. Knowing information about people is useless without a context for it.
[ he doesn't much care for the feeling of being lectured to. (though it isn't only that. there's something more earnest to her speech than any lecture would imply.) does this woman think he doesn't understand the value of context? moreover, does she not understand that there are times information must be taken without context, held suspended for future investigation? ]
Discerning context is only another way of gathering information.
[ his head is aching. and he is, he's tired. tired of this talking around nothing. something's off and won't slip into place, and he can't figure out how to connect the pieces of please this void-forsaken woman. ]
I understand I went too far. That I didn't deal with you as a peer. That's what I'm trying to say.
( she got her apology, she should stop there -- it was what she wanted but she also knows that she's going to end up dealing with this man again. she'd rather have that pleasant conversation she knows is in there (she may have been drunk but she remembers some) rather than how everything had been going )
That's something for you to think on.
( but she knows when this is done, giving him a nod as she turns to go back inside. he'd learn better if this wasn't forced )
[ he watches after the woman, making no attempt to stop her. half-glad this pressured encounter's over, half-annoyed - unsettled? - to find that they'd achieved no concrete agreement, he drums his fingers against his thigh, telling himself he'd done what he could. telling himself that her words mean nothing.
as if that were possible.
'you'll do it again unless you learn something.' she can't know the depth of resonance those words carry. can't know the way they enter into his marrow, hollow out his bones until he feels only the threat of recurrence, of what he's been, of what he'll be again.
it's true that he'd dealt poorly with her earlier, slipped back into old habits of address. it's true he could do the same again. 'unless you learn' but what. he's tried, and this... that it should happen in spite of his efforts to hide himself. how many times might it happen again, with no warning.
he doesn't care for this. he doesn't like the way he feels. and rubbing a hand across his jaw, he stares off into nothing, trying to quiet the questions now crowding his skull. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
( it wasn't a delay tactic or even river trying to avoid the point but something that was actually related. if he had enough patience to try and see it anyway )
no subject
[ oh. right. what he’d said.
he stares at her for a long moment, trying to decide whether she’s serious. he thinks she might just be. ]
Your skills in combat.
Your capacity for evaluating the worth of information.
[ is that sufficient? or? ]
no subject
( keep bearing with her, daud. she promises it'll be worth it )
no subject
or would, only it doesn't precisely make sense to him. what he almost says is 'i don't have time for this.' what she gets instead— ]
I don't know what you mean.
no subject
( he might, this time, notice a wave of calm flowing through her words, the irritation dropping. she starting to find a little bit of patience because, rather than be snippy he does seem to be trying, even if he is apparently pretty dense )
no subject
Why does it matter.
[ and, shortly thereafter, sounding tired— ]
You want more information.
no subject
( pay attention daud because this is a good lesson to have )
You pry, you seek information and you don't seem to care what effect it has on people. ( it had taken him a long while to realise that his needling was pissing her off ) I'm asking you something that matters to you -- to understand. Knowing information about people is useless without a context for it.
no subject
Discerning context is only another way of gathering information.
[ his head is aching. and he is, he's tired. tired of this talking around nothing. something's off and won't slip into place, and he can't figure out how to connect the pieces of please this void-forsaken woman. ]
I understand I went too far. That I didn't deal with you as a peer. That's what I'm trying to say.
no subject
( she got her apology, she should stop there -- it was what she wanted but she also knows that she's going to end up dealing with this man again. she'd rather have that pleasant conversation she knows is in there (she may have been drunk but she remembers some) rather than how everything had been going )
That's something for you to think on.
( but she knows when this is done, giving him a nod as she turns to go back inside. he'd learn better if this wasn't forced )
no subject
as if that were possible.
'you'll do it again unless you learn something.' she can't know the depth of resonance those words carry. can't know the way they enter into his marrow, hollow out his bones until he feels only the threat of recurrence, of what he's been, of what he'll be again.
it's true that he'd dealt poorly with her earlier, slipped back into old habits of address. it's true he could do the same again. 'unless you learn' but what. he's tried, and this... that it should happen in spite of his efforts to hide himself. how many times might it happen again, with no warning.
he doesn't care for this. he doesn't like the way he feels. and rubbing a hand across his jaw, he stares off into nothing, trying to quiet the questions now crowding his skull. ]