[Ah, and that makes Palamedes laugh in turn, although he doesn't wonder at all what anyone else will think of that, because - well, he wasn't going to ordinarily, but now? When a handsome man with a charming accent and adorable little beauty marks makes him laugh, the first thing he's enjoyed about this city besides its cool port technology? The rest of the party might as well have vanished into thin air.]
And here I am, dressed like this.
[Not ostentatiously like the rest of these people, obviously, but that's the part that sticks; where did the silver-coated ambassador wander off to, he can already picture them wondering— horrible. Can he not exchange pleasantries and then go sit in a corner to read.
Well. It's a whole thirty seconds in, but this conversation, he's enjoying? He looks at Viktor, really looks at him for a second, even squinting, and some corner of his brain flares with recognition. He snaps his fingers, aha—]
I know you— you're the founder. [co-, whatever. the tall one isn't here, he doesn't have to remember that right now. anyway, obviously he has done his research.] You're on the back of the pamphlets they hand out at the port.
[Which sounds absurd on every level when he says it, but it doesn't matter, does it. His sleeping brain whirs right past that into information he actually knows, which comes out as:]
I read your paper on the way here. The one about water filtration. I liked it, but you use the phrase 'as we can see' about thirty times throughout, did you know?
no subject
And here I am, dressed like this.
[Not ostentatiously like the rest of these people, obviously, but that's the part that sticks; where did the silver-coated ambassador wander off to, he can already picture them wondering— horrible. Can he not exchange pleasantries and then go sit in a corner to read.
Well. It's a whole thirty seconds in, but this conversation, he's enjoying? He looks at Viktor, really looks at him for a second, even squinting, and some corner of his brain flares with recognition. He snaps his fingers, aha—]
I know you— you're the founder. [co-, whatever. the tall one isn't here, he doesn't have to remember that right now. anyway, obviously he has done his research.] You're on the back of the pamphlets they hand out at the port.
[Which sounds absurd on every level when he says it, but it doesn't matter, does it. His sleeping brain whirs right past that into information he actually knows, which comes out as:]
I read your paper on the way here. The one about water filtration. I liked it, but you use the phrase 'as we can see' about thirty times throughout, did you know?