Matt feels like it might be best to come at this from a different angle first, however.
"I'm just curious," he says. Each word falls a little staccato.
"What's the justification? Your stance on vengeance I think I get." Though he disagrees, it is clear to him that Prospero operates with a specific set of justifications there. "And I get that having slaves is still a thing for a lot of cultures. But I want to know-- I mean, you're ... really well read, and you clearly don't have hugely political ambitions or you'd have spent a lot more time micromanaging the dukedom. Why the collar?"
Matt thinks back to spells he's cast, spirits he's summoned and sent on.
"I haven't tried to break down somebody's leftover magic ... or curse," he says. Vampires and werewolves and ghosts, all that stuff is in some ways refreshingly quotidian-- if you don't get too far into the communities, that is, where there are other issues.
"But, if it were me ... I'd extract a promise from them not to do me any harm, or my daughter if I had one, and replenish my energy in some other way."
Matt, despite his own irritation, looks vaguely sheepish for a moment in the quirk of his lips. "And-- pretend that didn't sound corny. It's a real question."
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And not to Ariel's, which is the point, he wants to add, but doesn't because he allllready feels like he's overstepping.
He's not about to stop stepping, but at least he won't put too many words in Ariel's mouth.
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Matt feels like it might be best to come at this from a different angle first, however.
"I'm just curious," he says. Each word falls a little staccato.
"What's the justification? Your stance on vengeance I think I get." Though he disagrees, it is clear to him that Prospero operates with a specific set of justifications there. "And I get that having slaves is still a thing for a lot of cultures. But I want to know-- I mean, you're ... really well read, and you clearly don't have hugely political ambitions or you'd have spent a lot more time micromanaging the dukedom. Why the collar?"
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It's been over a year, and it was only a month and change, and at that phrasing Matt still needs a second to breathe.
So what about those hurts that leave scars?
"You know, I've heard that argument before," he says, quietly but quite politely.
"And I find it a little bankrupt."
A pause. He doesn't look away.
"But bargains, right. Refresh my memory, what's the situation? I guess I could go off Ariel, but I wouldn't be getting both viewpoints that way."
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"That wasn't. I don't think."
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"I haven't tried to break down somebody's leftover magic ... or curse," he says. Vampires and werewolves and ghosts, all that stuff is in some ways refreshingly quotidian-- if you don't get too far into the communities, that is, where there are other issues.
"But, if it were me ... I'd extract a promise from them not to do me any harm, or my daughter if I had one, and replenish my energy in some other way."
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The emphasis on you is slight but discernible.
"Because when I make a contract, it holds."
(History shows that it's when he doesn't bother to try that he runs into trouble.)
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Matt, despite his own irritation, looks vaguely sheepish for a moment in the quirk of his lips. "And-- pretend that didn't sound corny. It's a real question."
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