Anona couldn't help but flinch as the first drops of rain landed on him, even though he'd been expecting it. The cold shocked him a little at first, but as the rain picked up and he found himself in the unfortunate position of sitting helplessly in the shower, he at least adapted quickly after a tick the rain was barely noticeable to him. Fortunately, the rain was light, so although it was solidly inside the annoyance category, he doubted (hoped) that it wouldn't do much harm to the fabric he held at his side.
As Pi started to speak, Anona did as promised, and listened.
It was plain to him after only the first sentence that perhaps he wasn't as good a listener as he'd thought. He tried to keep his face looking calm and interested, while in his mind he panicked. What was he thinking? He was no philosopher at all, had always blocked James out when he waxed poetic about metaphors and the human condition-- shyke, he'd even thought he sounded pretentious! He swallowed thickly and tried valiantly to listen to what Piraen was saying, and to glean some form of understanding from it. As the conversation turned to the rain, the rooftops, the way the drops slid and bounced but almost never fell straight down, Anona looked to the side of the buildings that they passed in the ravosala. Perhaps it was childish, but he thought maybe he could get by without looking like the fool he was if he wasn't looking Piraen in the eye. His mouth pulled down as he tried to make sense of the words, to get any kind of deeper meaning out of what was being said, but it was useless.
When he heard Pi start to backtrack slightly, Anona turned to stop him immediately. "Not at all," he assured him.
I don't understand why you thought of this, or what the point is, he wanted to say, but he couldn't. He couldn't stand the idea of admitting his own shortcomings. And shortcomings they were-- though he was nowhere near understanding the significance of Piraen's musings, he was just smart enough to know that there was something to understand, he was just missing it.
"You're making perfect sense," he finally offered, and a thought suddenly came to him. Perhaps he could interact on some level after all. "Some of the rain does fall straight down, though. Do you think there's magic in those, too? Does that magic decide that this raindrop or that will never hit anything except water, or is all water supposed to fall straight down, and the magic decides that it's going to intervene with some of them?"
As Pi started to speak, Anona did as promised, and listened.
It was plain to him after only the first sentence that perhaps he wasn't as good a listener as he'd thought. He tried to keep his face looking calm and interested, while in his mind he panicked. What was he thinking? He was no philosopher at all, had always blocked James out when he waxed poetic about metaphors and the human condition-- shyke, he'd even thought he sounded pretentious! He swallowed thickly and tried valiantly to listen to what Piraen was saying, and to glean some form of understanding from it. As the conversation turned to the rain, the rooftops, the way the drops slid and bounced but almost never fell straight down, Anona looked to the side of the buildings that they passed in the ravosala. Perhaps it was childish, but he thought maybe he could get by without looking like the fool he was if he wasn't looking Piraen in the eye. His mouth pulled down as he tried to make sense of the words, to get any kind of deeper meaning out of what was being said, but it was useless.
When he heard Pi start to backtrack slightly, Anona turned to stop him immediately. "Not at all," he assured him.
I don't understand why you thought of this, or what the point is, he wanted to say, but he couldn't. He couldn't stand the idea of admitting his own shortcomings. And shortcomings they were-- though he was nowhere near understanding the significance of Piraen's musings, he was just smart enough to know that there was something to understand, he was just missing it.
"You're making perfect sense," he finally offered, and a thought suddenly came to him. Perhaps he could interact on some level after all. "Some of the rain does fall straight down, though. Do you think there's magic in those, too? Does that magic decide that this raindrop or that will never hit anything except water, or is all water supposed to fall straight down, and the magic decides that it's going to intervene with some of them?"
oocI can't tell you how excited I was about all the parallels that could be drawn with this whole conversation and arguments about destiny with people etc. etc., and then I couldn't tell you how disappointed I was that I just can't see Anona grasping that sort of really large-scale metaphor at this point in time. ;n;
