The Mallies are coming! The Mallies are coming!
Who: takesthemblonde and hatesherjob
What: The Malnosso arrive!
When: Today (this morning, pre-festival)
Where: The central plaza
Rating: Bil hopes it stays PG!
( So one man has and another has not / How can you love what it is you have got. )
What: The Malnosso arrive!
When: Today (this morning, pre-festival)
Where: The central plaza
Rating: Bil hopes it stays PG!
( So one man has and another has not / How can you love what it is you have got. )
When he does notice, he attempts to give a respectful nod, though it comes off as so horribly anxious that it might make even Molly feel a little more socially competent.]
... Ah. G-Greetings. [Robert's gaze flickers back down to the cables he's checking with a nervous air. He likes what Sir Catherine does for the village, yes, but the presence is definitely an imposing one, especially with the droids, and especially when Robert isn't particularly fond of the festival and is really only here to make sure everything actually functions.]
I trust that you feel everything is in order?
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eyebrow raise. ]
I-I-I-I wouldn't know. D-D-Does it s-s-seem in order t-to you?
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Robert makes a grand show of studying the floor, uncomfortably shifting around. He may not stutter quite so much but he is still horribly awkward with new people.]
... I-I'd certainly... hope so.
I mean... the villagers did put quite a bit of effort into everything, and... [He attempts to calm himself slightly. This is not a situation he fares well in, and he wonders if this person fares poorly in social situations as well.]
... Well, I suppose it depends a lot on how one'd judge "in order"... I'm, er, m-mostly here to see that the electrical equipment works. And whatnot.
[Does this person know all the rumours, too...?]
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Th-Th-Then you'd be the j-j-j-j-judge of the equipment b-being in order, w-w-wouldn't you? S-So it's your f-f-f-feelings that m-matter.
[ Rumors, what rumors. Molly will pretend to know of no rumors. ]
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[Yep, he's just... rambling away. Either rambling or stuttering from this one. Or both. He has a slight flush on his face too, from discomfort and embarrassment at not having anything intelligent to really say.
Most people would probably be put off by Molly's relative lack of emotions. Robert? He's pretty much the same way himself, so it doesn't bother him. Hell, it's a toss-up as to whether he even notices.]
Ah. But... I-I'd hope I was qualified to judge the magitechnology. I've, er, been around them for... quite awhile. [Notice he is very carefully not mentioning why.]
... Though... i-if you'll excuse me saying so... I believe this is the first time we've met.
Y-You seem nice. [Robert knits his fingers together, a stabilizing gesture that's a holdover from his non-AU self.]
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.... that is, until he calls her nice. Then it abruptly vanishes, replaced by a vague sort of blankness.
She isn't here to be nice.
Molly curtsies, the gesture as bland as bland can be. ]
Th-Th-Thank you. That is k-k-k-kind of you to s-s-say.
I'm sure S-S-Sir Catherine will l-l-love what you have done.
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It hurts, just a little. Because how many times has he done that before? How many times has he pushed people away, entirely by accident?
He looks down at his feet, suddenly ashamed of himself.]
I... hope so.
But, well, if you ask me... it'd be more prudent to dedicate the festival to the Malnosso in general... [Rather than some "Great One" who probably doesn't exist. But Robert doesn't say that part.] Still... I... I've no business dictating what should or sh-shouldn't be done...
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Her gaze is neutral upon him, with no shift in her expression at his sudden shame, or the way he does not look up. ]
I-I-I have no particular f-f-f-f-feeling one way o-o-or another. P-P-People may w-w-w-.... [ ha. ] --worship how they p-p-please.
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His lips purse gently at the word "worship".] I... I've never considered it worshipping, at least not for me.
[He's afraid of what would happen if he said he didn't believe. Especially to the Malnosso themselves. But if push comes to shove, his ethics come first.
That being said, he has no intention of offending anybody more than he's already seemed to.]
But... I suppose others might. Few people think the w-way I think about much of anything, really.
That tends to... h-happen when you're different...
[Maybe this person is different too, outside of the norm, looking in at the crowd in the same bewildered, fearful manner Robert often does, knowing he doesn't belong but not knowing why...]
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But her eyes return to him at that last statement. ] N-N-N-No one likes a person who is d-d-d-d-different. [ She ought to know. But like hell will she express that fact. ]
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So do I, actually. [This isn't just a half-lie to cover his atheism. Assuming the Great One existed, it'd be a fascinating question...
He notices her gaze flickering back to him, and tries to uncomfortably meet it.
A spark of understanding somewhere in the back of his consciousness makes him venture, almost cautiously:]
... A-Are you... d-different, too, then?
[She was at the least somebody who held a position of power. And yet she seemed so very afraid...]
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[ Her voice is a bizarre combination of cold and wistful. ]
I-I-I-I'm just the same as e-e-e-e-e-e-everybody else.
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[What is "everybody else" in this case? The people who send those looks at Robert, the suspicion and the malignance and the fear-mixed-with-anger fermenting to hatred under the surface - none of which Robert can identify, but all of which he can see and feel like a spectre on his shoulders...]
If you were like e-everybody else, you wouldn't talk to me at all.
[Maybe she doesn't want to talk to him, anyway.]
... B-But... it's... i-it's alright. We are who we are. [He wonders who she is. Who Sir Catherine is. Who they really are, not just how they appear to him - because he knows appearances aren't everything. In fact, they are rarely anything.]
Even if... d-differences aren't welcome here... if you aren't different, then there... won't be any problems for you, here.
Presumably.
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Is he ... is he really this determined to reach out to her? To try? To make a connection? Right now she is someone in a position of power, but not hated... but that will soon change. He would regret forging an alliance with the hated, heartless enemy. She needed, absolutely had to, spare him that pain.
And yet... ]
... w-w-w-what is your n-n-name?
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Even an alliance with the enemy could one day prove a useful asset. Not that he'd know she was an enemy at all.]
...
I-I am Doctor Robert Alexander H-Hastings.
[A nervous response, but it's the same way he introduces himself to everybody. It has less of a rehearsed feel to it here in this AU, but it's still something he's said a thousand times...]
M-May... may I enquire as to your name as well...?
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