IC contact for lastvoyages

[cactusy]

[If I don't have an active post up, feel free to use this post to have your character call, videochat, text, or knock on Shaw's door.]

Comments

[transfundere]

...maintaining surveillance on him constantly while he was at work, then. To a creature as aware of his surroundings as Lestat is, the two can feel very much the same.

[cactusy]

Wasn't constantly, either.

[transfundere]

If there is a perception that one is not safe from surveillance for long enough, your presence hardly matters. I feel certain that you understand that point.

[cactusy]

Reid, I really think it's a good thing for people here to assume that eyes are on them and they should avoid hurting people because of it. Okay? It's not a vendetta, I don't hate the guy, but if he felt like he needed to stay in line because people could be watching him, then I feel like I did my job.

[transfundere]

[ A deep sigh. ]

I do not think that you hate him. Nor do I think you are acting out of a vendetta. I think you do not understand him, nor myself, in truth.

But that is not the effect it has on him. Being watched does not make him feel he needs to 'stay in line'. It makes him feel as if he has been assigned as a monster, that no one will ever see him otherwise, and should the right stimulus be presented, that he has an audience to make watch his monstrousness at play.

He is a long-lived creature, Miss Shaw, and however long he might simply play his piano is a matter of whims. It is simply a matter of his fancy and what others might do, in fact, whether he thinks you're watching, before he trips into something horrendous simply to 'give you something to watch'.

And that is the last thing I want.

[cactusy]

[She blows out a heavy, resigned breath.]

Same.

[transfundere]

...have you considered taking lessons from him?

[cactusy]

You're asking me if I want to take music lessons?

[transfundere]

Yes, I am.

It would encourage him to go back to the gazebo, as he's currently hosting his lessons from my cabin, give him another contact point, and it wouldn't have the perhaps artificial feel of an arranged conversation.

Besides: you'd learn a new instrument.

[cactusy]

I have definitely not considered that. And to be clear, not because it's him, but because it's a piano.

[can you HEAR the pouting in her voice, Reid]

[transfundere]

[ He can. It's why he's being very careful not to laugh right now. Especially when he thinks about the face Lestat is going to make that will probably look very similar. ]

He also teaches the violin, I understand.

[cactusy]

Not any better, Reid. He doesn't have any interests that aren't lame? Does he like cards games?

[transfundere]

I don't believe he teaches card games. He might teach acting to you, if you asked. He's played out a few scenes from his former troupe that were quite lovely.

I can ask about the cards, however.

[cactusy]

Acting's worse than violin. Why does he have to teach me anything? Why can't he just play this card game with us?

[Please note that while regular card games aren't off the table, she absolutely has Cards Against Humanity in mind.]

[transfundere]

...would you like the long answer or the short one?

[cactusy]

Short.

[She pauses, and then sighs irritably.]

No, okay, fine; whatever. Long.

[transfundere]

Cards require a certain camaraderie which at current, the two of you lack, and thus will either devolve into awkwardness or, potentially, competitiveness. While that could have a positive affect, and of course I don't object to it as that would be ridiculous... a lesson would allow him to share something he loves with you, and change the context of your focus on him to one where you are watching him, something he also loves, but in doing something positive and constructive and even, yes, beneficial to you. It is a chance for him to give to others that is not 'taken' from him, and he will be comfortable as the expert in the situation and thus less prone to cattiness and ill-temper.

The short answer: lessons contain the largest number of positive factors that may lead towards a successful interaction. Baring, of course... your own discomfort. No plan goes to action unchanged, after all.

[cactusy]

I was thinking more of a group card game. But whatever.

What interests does he have that aren't, uh, arts-oriented.

[transfundere]

It might be easier to go by what interests you have. Anything competitive is... perhaps premature at the moment.

[cactusy]

What about swordfighting. He know anything about that?

[transfundere]

...only if you'd care to be stabbed.

[cactusy]

That's assuming I'd let him--

[Okay, no, not the point here.]

You think he would? I'm talking in a controlled environment only, to be clear. Fencing in the gym or something.

[transfundere]

Yes. And he would stab you, especially if you seemed to be winning. As I mentioned: he is very competitive. And at the moment, he has no positive connotations with you that would prevent it.

He might take some efforts to disguise matters, act as if it were an accident or merely a miscalculation, muscle memory as it were... but I do not think it wise until something positive exists between you.

[cactusy]

Okay, for the record, this is why I think he needs people keeping an eye on him.

And pretty much all of what I like is weapons. Uh-- dancing; he could teach me an old-timey dance. Kinda lame, but less lame than violins. He could teach me French.

[transfundere]

One must walk before they can run.

French or dance would both be excellent, I think.