He flicks his eyes shut and steadies himself with a sharp intake of breath. It's not something he needs to dwell on, not right now and not while in such an overtly unfriendly environment.
Daniel's second attempt at a smile comes across as much more complete, though no less ruefully self-critical.
"Careful, there." There it is, the apologetic jocularity, his paper-thin, insufferably complex psychological armor. "You realize that now that you've offered there's no escape. You're just going to have to put up with a couple hours of contrived tangents about the cultural diversity of funerary rites, maybe stirring in a little omphaloskeptic discussion about what it all means if I'm feeling especially peppy."
As if he could ignore that old grief by virtue of loquaciousness alone. It's Daniel's favored tactic of tonal shift, this much is both true and glaringly obvious.
no subject
Daniel's second attempt at a smile comes across as much more complete, though no less ruefully self-critical.
"Careful, there." There it is, the apologetic jocularity, his paper-thin, insufferably complex psychological armor. "You realize that now that you've offered there's no escape. You're just going to have to put up with a couple hours of contrived tangents about the cultural diversity of funerary rites, maybe stirring in a little omphaloskeptic discussion about what it all means if I'm feeling especially peppy."
As if he could ignore that old grief by virtue of loquaciousness alone. It's Daniel's favored tactic of tonal shift, this much is both true and glaringly obvious.