Another wrench of discomfort, another twinge of something so close to familiar and all the more deeply wrong for it. There's the nonverbal conversation Dimitri's used to seeing, but it's so much blunter than the razor-polished subtlety he knows -- like a pair of trained dancers in lead shoes; like a master poet reduced to grunts and pointing.
Meanwhile Dimitri feels even more like a lost bear than he usually does. He will back them into a logical corner if they continue blurring the truth; he'll just have to rely on Ossie to fill in the gaps, because Dimitri is not built for this. So they're going with the story that they've been on the ship for a fraction of the time they actually have? Is Ossie not going to back him up about the nature of things? It's not the easiest thing to believe, but he's always hated that little 'let's just humor him' look, and he hates it even more coming from Ossie, especially when he's telling the truth and Ossie knows very well that he's telling the truth.
He's half-tempted to point out the way the library doesn't fit the bounds of the ship, and the tendency of the shelves to rearrange themselves. That would be petty and also rude, so he won't. But he thinks about it.
"We can show you around, then," is all he says, tone and diction fully disconnected from the internal panic. "That is, if you don't mind me accompanying you?"
For the first time, he makes direct eye contact with Giles. Under the library's bright artificial lights, his pupils are narrow slits against the blue iris.
no subject
Meanwhile Dimitri feels even more like a lost bear than he usually does. He will back them into a logical corner if they continue blurring the truth; he'll just have to rely on Ossie to fill in the gaps, because Dimitri is not built for this. So they're going with the story that they've been on the ship for a fraction of the time they actually have? Is Ossie not going to back him up about the nature of things? It's not the easiest thing to believe, but he's always hated that little 'let's just humor him' look, and he hates it even more coming from Ossie, especially when he's telling the truth and Ossie knows very well that he's telling the truth.
He's half-tempted to point out the way the library doesn't fit the bounds of the ship, and the tendency of the shelves to rearrange themselves. That would be petty and also rude, so he won't. But he thinks about it.
"We can show you around, then," is all he says, tone and diction fully disconnected from the internal panic. "That is, if you don't mind me accompanying you?"
For the first time, he makes direct eye contact with Giles. Under the library's bright artificial lights, his pupils are narrow slits against the blue iris.