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Post by megan on Mar 18, 2011 0:51:23 GMT -5
Margaret pays very little attention to the man's reaction to her little lecture. She'd expected him to dismiss it, actually - she'd said it in the hopes that he'd remember it later. Much of what she says ends up like that when she's talking to some fool who doesn't want to listen. How many times has she said these sorts of things to people who didn't seem to be paying it any attention only to spot the small evidence here and there that they actually taken it to heart later? Of course, it much easier if they simply listen to her properly to begin with, but she's never figured out how to get anyone to do that who didn't want to.
When he starts describing the woman, Margaret grows very still and simply listens to it carefully. As it happens, she has played chess before. Not for a very long time and never very well, but enough to understand the analogy a bit. Though understanding the analogy is secondary to picking out what it means. That he used chess at all is revealing: an adversarial game. That, and his earlier insistence that the woman hated him, gives her at least a vague idea of how things have been going between the two of them. But she holds back all her comments until he's finished.
In fact, she doesn't speak until the frown appears. "Is it that surprising to ya that you're human?" she asks the frown. Pausing for only a moment to let that question sink in, she continues, "And I wonder: what does the bishop do when ya stop trying to attack it? Ever tried that?" Shrugging, she shakes her head and adds, "Probably a lousy way to play chess, but I'll bet it'll work on her."
Having given that advice, she sits up straighter and says, "Now, I said I'd leave you be, so unless you've got anything else to say to me, I'll leave you to your coffee." She turns slightly in preparation of standing up, only hesitating long enough to see if he'll try to stop her.
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Deleted Member
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Registered On: Apr 28, 2024 14:44:50 GMT -5 ~
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Last Edit: Mar 18, 2011 3:19:21 GMT -5 by Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 3:00:36 GMT -5
On the outside, Edward appeared completely frozen in a confused state. His eyebrows furrowed together to create that small line, an expression never seen on him. He didn’t even appear to be seeing or observing any of the daily things going around him. His mind wasn’t there anymore. His mind was mentally fitting together all the obvious puzzle pieces that had been glaring at him from the beginning. Instead of focusing on Nina, he focused on his own actions during all the interactions that seemed to shout out, ‘You fool!’ He knew he had acted differently towards her, but he had found some reason to blame. He found anything to blame for all of his actions…of course, none of these lead to the truth.
The truth, something he valued above all else, and he couldn’t come to terms with it. Did he...?
No, the old woman couldn’t be right. Nina was just another person, he protested trying to keep the crumpling walls of denial up.
But she wasn’t. You just proved that, Nigma.
Two very conflicting ideas tried to muscle their dominance, but neither pleased the Riddler. There was something physically upsetting with either idea being true, but truth was never a matter of opinion. Truth was not subjective or bias. Truth was fact, and he had to come to terms with his own fact.
He had feelings for Nina. He liked her more then just the overall physical appearance or womanly features. He actually liked the substance of her personality…something he never considered anyone, especially a woman, ever having. While the fact was confronted and confirmed, he only felt a slight shift of weight fall off his shoulders. He now understood why his focus and plan had gone to the wayside, but he was at a lost on how to fix it. He can’t be like this. He can’t be a virgin senior boy taking his crush to the prom on Saturday night. He had more important things to focus on then a woman…even if she was a more interesting woman. He doesn’t have time for it, yet unfortunately it was not a problem he could solve with a simple brushstroke. He was stuck…stuck in that frozen position of thought that was only interrupted by the woman across from him.
Human?
No, he could not be grouped in with such a disgraceful species. He offered much more then human, yet she was right. He was acting like a pathetic human trapped in some romance novel. Why? He could block the emotions. Emotions only caused issues in life because it overlooked the logical aspects.
Her next comment pulled him away from the direction of thought just in time, saving him from reconstructing his wall of deniability. He blinked quickly coming out of the mental trance he had been in. “Stop trying to attack it,” he repeated. He didn’t quite understand why the concept seemed so straightforward but so unusual. Not attack? He hadn’t planned on attacking her, but he definitely couldn’t imagine a scene where they weren’t at each other’s throats with words…especially since she despised him.
Why was this so difficult? He was the Riddler. Puzzles like this should be solved with a blink of an eye. It definitely should not be more challenging then his riddle now.
He paused. At that moment, his consideration for the owner was little to none. His mouth opened as a larger realization hit. She would be here…during his riddle…in Wayne Enterprise like she always was. The first places the common citizen would blame for their misfortunes would be the large industries like Wayne Enterprise’s. He imagined a flock of people breaking windows and barging in. He imagined Nina in her lab focused on her work but oblivious to life. He imagined fire and too many people.
It would be his fault when she died from the mob. It would be all his fault. No, calm down. He once again wasn’t giving Nina enough credit. She would be intelligent and find away to escape either by using her power or just knowing the right places to put her at a safer advantage. She would have no problem, and while a large part of him believed that, he still felt that strange emotion again…
Guilt.
He couldn’t allow such trivial human emotions to stop a brilliant plan to challenge the people of Gotham. He wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was presenting a challenge, and if people couldn’t handle it they might die. Nina could handle it.
Edward, wrapped up in his thoughts of the future, barely recollected the woman dismissing herself. His head jerked up to face her. His face paler, looked worst off. True, he was no longer irritated by the random thoughts of Nina, but now he faced a new type of feeling he hated….worry. He did not worry. He did not care. He was not that type of man. He forced a smirk just to hold up his image. He would not let this older woman realize the distress he was in now. He would not let this woman realize he knew she was right. “I would say I enjoyed the conversation, but I don’t particularly like giving value to wasted time,” he nodded to her as he waved in the direction for her to leave.
He had more important thing to deliberate on now then a conversation with her......like the two new emotions: guilt and worry.
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Last Edit: Mar 18, 2011 11:11:35 GMT -5 by megan
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Post by megan on Mar 18, 2011 11:01:54 GMT -5
The degree to which the man reacts to his realization would be enough to amuse Margaret (which is a very difficult reaction to get out of her given how simply tired with life she is), but that's an emotion that she knows better than to express right now. The last thing the man needs right now is to have someone laugh at him. Instead it simply prompts a passing thought about the big things falling hard, or however that one goes.
Because in a way, that's exactly what's happened here; she took one of his obviously flawed notions and pointed out the cracks in it until he had to admit that it had to go and tore it down himself. The next step will be building something better in its place, but that's up to him. And, knowing this, the pale look in his expression doesn't worry her; he just needs some time to sort things out, and when he does he'll be alright again. Unless, of course, he completely botches the job of rebuilding, in which case she'll be around to notice and encourage him to try again just as long as he continues to be a customer.
The words of his dismissal matter very little to Margaret thanks to her long time habit of listening for meaning rather than listening to the exact choice of words. If he has nothing further to say to her then the best thing for him is probably to leave him to his thoughts, and she does so without another word. He'll let her know if he needs anything else from her - whether he means to or not. In the meantime, she has a cafe to run and customers who have grown a bit displeased by how her conversation has interrupted service, and they need to be appeased. Then again, a few of them have encountered this other side of the cafe owner and are more understanding.
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