Knowing your surroundings, even when you're occupied by a book, is a skill that's been essential to Corvo's life for a long time. As a bodyguard, as an assassin--even as a poor child in the streets of Karnaca, he couldn't afford carelessness. So he's well aware that he has a fan watching him read. This awareness is, really, a good thing for Mac, because if Corvo had been surprised by the way that he popped up on him, the qunari (that's what they were called, he was pretty sure) might have had to revise his decision regarding maiming.
As it stood, Corvo is not surprised, and no maiming occurs. Instead, his eyes slide up from the book and to the strange man that had been scoping him out. If he's a threat, then he's one that's a remarkably good actor. Trust isn't something Corvo has to spare, but considering his current situation, it's decided that it can't hurt to treat the man with the assumption that he's as harmless as he appears, and the book is lowered. Then, in the interest of acquiring a little more elbow room, Corvo subtly shifts away. Not far enough to be rude, but just enough to have some...personal space.
"It's interesting." He turns to look at the book that he had just lowered, which had on one page a splendid drawing of a woman in white and red robes. "It's a book about the Chantry. The main religion of this land, from what I can gather. It's engaging, at least, to see how it got started, how it became such a cornerstone of the land." And it's horribly biased, Corvo suspects, but what book isn't, really? What author can write about a subject they've devoted their life to, without bias?
no subject
As it stood, Corvo is not surprised, and no maiming occurs. Instead, his eyes slide up from the book and to the strange man that had been scoping him out. If he's a threat, then he's one that's a remarkably good actor. Trust isn't something Corvo has to spare, but considering his current situation, it's decided that it can't hurt to treat the man with the assumption that he's as harmless as he appears, and the book is lowered. Then, in the interest of acquiring a little more elbow room, Corvo subtly shifts away. Not far enough to be rude, but just enough to have some...personal space.
"It's interesting." He turns to look at the book that he had just lowered, which had on one page a splendid drawing of a woman in white and red robes. "It's a book about the Chantry. The main religion of this land, from what I can gather. It's engaging, at least, to see how it got started, how it became such a cornerstone of the land." And it's horribly biased, Corvo suspects, but what book isn't, really? What author can write about a subject they've devoted their life to, without bias?