02-25-2016, 05:10 PM
"...Especially considering people seem to keep handing you blindfolds to put back on."
Ned offers on the tail-end of Margot's phrasing. Unlike the younger woman, he's not bothering with his wine glass anymore. No sips, no fidgeting, no touching. It sits there, inanimate and half-full while he regards Nick (and occasionally Penelope).
"Traditions are one thing. Different ideas, philosophies, even ways of doing things. Each of them will tell you there's a way to work the world that works for them and if that line is believable, it should stand that everyone just agrees that it works in different ways. Except no one can really agree. Chantry, Tradition, Technocracy or even Philosophy. So what exactly is there to unite us?"
And he turns to look at Penelope now. Firmly and without wavering. No real...politeness though he doesn't seem rude. It's more that this is turning from a dinner, into something like a cross-examination. Kids today.
"Cause I've heard all about how different we are. I've heard that you lost...the last war?" He squints, head tilting to one side, eyes flicking from Pen to Nick and back again. "And now I'm hearing rumours about a new one starting up. What exactly unites you against it? Or rather...what's stopping you from losing the next one?"
Ned offers on the tail-end of Margot's phrasing. Unlike the younger woman, he's not bothering with his wine glass anymore. No sips, no fidgeting, no touching. It sits there, inanimate and half-full while he regards Nick (and occasionally Penelope).
"Traditions are one thing. Different ideas, philosophies, even ways of doing things. Each of them will tell you there's a way to work the world that works for them and if that line is believable, it should stand that everyone just agrees that it works in different ways. Except no one can really agree. Chantry, Tradition, Technocracy or even Philosophy. So what exactly is there to unite us?"
And he turns to look at Penelope now. Firmly and without wavering. No real...politeness though he doesn't seem rude. It's more that this is turning from a dinner, into something like a cross-examination. Kids today.
"Cause I've heard all about how different we are. I've heard that you lost...the last war?" He squints, head tilting to one side, eyes flicking from Pen to Nick and back again. "And now I'm hearing rumours about a new one starting up. What exactly unites you against it? Or rather...what's stopping you from losing the next one?"