Val is unbothered by the disorganization, the clutter and the cramped quarters. He cares nothing of boots or coats or personal items. The books do catch his eye--he adores books, would boast a vast personal library if all of his assets were to be gathered into a single room, instead of spread across a workroom and a Hightown mansion and a much-neglected apartment in Val Royeaux and a storeroom and forgotten in bags and satchel in all of those places and then also somewhat forgotten upon the shelves of others to whom he has deigned to lend a volume or two. Books are meant to be read, to be enjoyed, to be written in and marked and have the pages dog-eared or occasionally folded entirely in half.
He stoops to examine a stack of books, making a great show of ignoring Wysteria and the not-at-all-present-and-perhaps-not-existent-Mayjer Ralston--
(Ralston? Who is this person? What is his purpose and his function and how does Wysteria fit into this life, and he into hers, and why--when she chatters on and on and on about friends and acquaintances whose names Val would say he forgets instantly--well, perhaps that is why he has he not heard this name before.)
--and even Bastien, fiddling with the paper. From the top of the stack, he selects a book and opens it. Then he decides to sit upon the floor properly so that he might read more comfortably. It is admirable, how silent he is still being.]
no subject
Val is unbothered by the disorganization, the clutter and the cramped quarters. He cares nothing of boots or coats or personal items. The books do catch his eye--he adores books, would boast a vast personal library if all of his assets were to be gathered into a single room, instead of spread across a workroom and a Hightown mansion and a much-neglected apartment in Val Royeaux and a storeroom and forgotten in bags and satchel in all of those places and then also somewhat forgotten upon the shelves of others to whom he has deigned to lend a volume or two. Books are meant to be read, to be enjoyed, to be written in and marked and have the pages dog-eared or occasionally folded entirely in half.
He stoops to examine a stack of books, making a great show of ignoring Wysteria and the not-at-all-present-and-perhaps-not-existent-Mayjer Ralston--
(Ralston? Who is this person? What is his purpose and his function and how does Wysteria fit into this life, and he into hers, and why--when she chatters on and on and on about friends and acquaintances whose names Val would say he forgets instantly--well, perhaps that is why he has he not heard this name before.)
--and even Bastien, fiddling with the paper. From the top of the stack, he selects a book and opens it. Then he decides to sit upon the floor properly so that he might read more comfortably. It is admirable, how silent he is still being.]