It's to his credit--or just four years spent immersed in things both uncanny and disturbing as part of Lethe--that he cuts himself off there, that his steps barely falter at the answer, airily given as though it's of little consequence. To Effie, it probably is; ancient history, clearly, a thing understood as having happened before but irrelevant now. It doesn't feel quite that way to Darlington, as a student of history along with so much else.
He almost wants to ask How long ago? but knows better than to try venturing down that particular pathway. Not yet, anyway.
"I see," he says instead, making himself listen while Effie continues. When she makes note of it, he takes stock of her outfit for the first time: the jumpsuit and the incongruous heels, the patterned headscarf and the whimsical brooch. It looks weirdly avant-garde, the kind of thing he might've seen on the art or drama students back at Yale, but her embarrassment suggests it's something less than ideal. "You carry it off well, though," he says, the ease of the compliment delivering him to slightly more solid ground again. "And I don't mind long stories, if it's one you want to tell."
no subject
It's to his credit--or just four years spent immersed in things both uncanny and disturbing as part of Lethe--that he cuts himself off there, that his steps barely falter at the answer, airily given as though it's of little consequence. To Effie, it probably is; ancient history, clearly, a thing understood as having happened before but irrelevant now. It doesn't feel quite that way to Darlington, as a student of history along with so much else.
He almost wants to ask How long ago? but knows better than to try venturing down that particular pathway. Not yet, anyway.
"I see," he says instead, making himself listen while Effie continues. When she makes note of it, he takes stock of her outfit for the first time: the jumpsuit and the incongruous heels, the patterned headscarf and the whimsical brooch. It looks weirdly avant-garde, the kind of thing he might've seen on the art or drama students back at Yale, but her embarrassment suggests it's something less than ideal. "You carry it off well, though," he says, the ease of the compliment delivering him to slightly more solid ground again. "And I don't mind long stories, if it's one you want to tell."