{ scene } we all enjoy the madness cause we know we're gonna fade away
Box seats for Don Carlo at the Royal Opera House do not require all that much effort for James - by which the narration naturally means the procuring of these tickets somewhat at the last minute was promptly delegated to someone else and it's just better not to investigate that matter deeply. Arrivals for the six o'clock performance - besides ( Read more... )
Pelagia is somewhat amused by the older man's attentions - never offended, and aware that it's mostly to entertain himself that he bothers. She loves flattery, anyway. Opera, incidentally, is a hugely popular attraction for the Mer, whose silvery voices are even lovelier under the water, and the inhuman-in-disguise woman accompanying James is rather pleased to be here.
"You do have the ability to always find the best places to sit," she observes. She's dressed to kill, which is probably as much James' doing as her own, but she seems wholly comfortable.
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"Would I ever settle for anything less?" Please don't take that to a scary psychological place, either of you. James smiles at her, quick and sharp. (For his own part, he rarely passes up the opportunity to wear a tuxedo, or the opportunity to ruin one. His or someone else's.)
They have a short while before the performance begins, while the audience settles itself, and he scans the crowd mostly out of habit.
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"I certainly hope not. One of your redeeming traits is that you do know how to treat a woman--when it suits you." It's said so fondly, despite...the actual words. She watches him watching the crowd.
"Do you see anything interesting?"
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"Mmmn, our Navy friend doesn't agree with you." Not that Pullings pushed the subject, but James is familiar enough with the delicate dance of how much you can get away with saying to a superior enough to have a good guess at what went unsaid and why. He draws his gaze away from the opera-goers at her question, smiling lazily.
"Now I do."
(He can be charming, when he sets his mind to it. That said, he probably has seen something.)
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She raises her eyebrows, smiling back at him but not remotely dissuaded.
"Oh? And why does Mr. Pullings think that?"
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"Because he's an antique with the values to match." ...it could be an unpleasant remark made unkindly, but it isn't; it's an observation, and an accurate one as far as it goes.
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"Mmm. No, but the men in his time were worse, weren't they? More impudent. They ruled women." The concept of which still disconcerts her conceptually; how does such a thing function?
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"Society was different, different expectations and attitudes," he says diplomatically, to avoid getting too far into discussions about sweeping generalizations and the treatment of women throughout history. "Some of which persist."
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"Mmmm," she says, in such a way that suggests she is considering personally dismantling some of those attitudes later. You know, just accosting total strangers.
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"They're beginning," as if this will derail that train of thought. (It's entirely possible he wouldn't even try to interfere, just watch and see what happened. What, it would be interesting. A social experiment. -no, James.)
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"So I see," she says, genuinely pleased. The opera itself will absorb her completely; Pelagia, like almost any passionate person, is a music lover. Her affinity for dance may have suggested as much. Still, it does wonders to derail that topic.
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As expected, it doesn't really capture James in the same way; call him uncultured if you like (and be wrong), but he's more interested in how Pela reacts to the their choice of entertainment this evening than his own response. He enjoys the opera - or he wouldn't have suggested it - but not so much he can't let it fade to background noise to his thoughts when he's of a mind.
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She doesn't look away until the intermission, and when she does, it's- slowly withdrawing herself from the story, turning to look at James like she forgot she was even in the box for the first time.
"I like it," she says, simply.
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"I thought you would." ...obviously, after suggesting the opera and bringing her here in the first place. Maybe it's obvious from the angle he's sitting at and the fact he was already looking when she turned, but he has been watching her for most of at least the past ten minutes.
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"Weren't you paying attention?" She's not aggravated, precisely, because at this point in the relationship she does assume he has his own reasons and has probably seen this before, but it is somewhat mystifying. Also, although they've got privacy and it isn't really necessary, she leans in toward him for the ease of continued conversation. Just because.
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"Of course I was." Pela didn't specify to what, after all, although one could very easily infer if one weren't being deliberately obtuse about it. One could also, for example, have a private conversation in a box here without turning in toward each other; they don't do that either. "We have an excellent view from here."
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