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Slender gloved fingers wrapped around the brim of the wine glass, raising it to his mouth as he nursed it incrementally with his lips. “Thank you.” He said between sips, indulging in the liquor for seconds before returning the glass back onto the table. His crimson eyes followed the human’s, matching his stare impassively. At least Dimitri’s manners were not completely nonexistent.
“Sadly, my stomach is untrained against such potency.” Faust admitted, and he imparted an indifferent shrug to indicate that he was not embarrassed by the confession. “You and I are very different.” He equivocally added, purposely withholding any elucidation as his fingers drummed rhythmically along the tabletop. His gaze traced the human’s steadily forming frown, and subsequently he naturally suspected that their small talk was coming to an end.
“To survival then.” Faust agreed, retrieving his glass and tapping it against Dimitri’s before imbibing another mouthful of wine. Smacking his lips together emphatically, he purposely refrained from commenting on Dimitri’s professed ownership of half the city, a claim that, while bold, could nevertheless be proven otherwise. Balancing his elbows on the edge of the table and folding his hands in front of him, the dark elf awarded the rugged human his undivided attention, patiently waiting for him to begin and eager to discover what he had to say.
Your equal…
A shadow of a grin appeared along the edges of the Vysstichi Lord’s lips, finally curling upwards in full bloom as he leaned back in his seat, self-evidently amused. “Make no mistake, son of Wladisyaw and last of your line, it is true that I respect all that you’ve accomplished, but you and I will never be equals…not in this life…” Pausing dramatically, the dark elf briefly glanced over the human’s shoulder to the brutes situated at the bar. He then looked back to Dimitri. “…or the next. So beware your words, or rather, your bluntness, as you call it. It may one day fall on ears that do not appreciate it.” Shrugging and opting to drop the matter, the dark elf did not expound further. Faust did not tolerate disrespect, neither from his companions nor his opponents as Dimitri would soon learn if he pressed the dark elf any further.
“Tell me, Dimitri, do you believe that your influence in either the Second or Third House will remain?” It was a neutral question intended to stimulate the human’s thinking, and also one that the dark elf posed with the tilt of his head. The Prince of Har’oloth inwardly admitted that he was impressed by the human’s exploits considering the fact that he was, admirably, only human. But a light-born’s authority could exist for only so long, for what were a man’s decades to an elf’s centuries of life? “No, son of Wladisyaw, you could not even begin to touch me let alone deal a fatal blow.” Faust chuckled lightly, flashing an entertained grin as he concealed his lips behind an upraised hand which touched his chin pensively.
“But like you I see little value for unnecessary hostility, especially when you and I possess the capabilities of simultaneously furthering one another’s ambitions without crossing the other’s lines, or am I wrong to believe so? If not, son of Wladisyaw, then tell me what it is that you have in mind.”
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