Chéri let him talk and in the end he laughed “It seems to me you are doing well enough, at being complex: I understood probably half of what you said. But I don’t mind: in fact, men who frown and whisper odd, difficult things are the most interesting one, if you ask me.” Chéri laughed again, the way upper class ladies laughed when they wanted to sound irresistible. It was pretty impressive, how many types of mannerism had rubbed off onto Calliope. “But if you want to talk about something simple, I can do that. Or would you like me to shut up?” He concluded, raising his eyebrows, in a ironical threat.

Chéri sat simply and looked at Darius painting. His posture was naturally good and he seem to not move at all, now that he had entered the “posing zone”, but also he hadn’t lost his light, since Darius hadn’t required him to turn back to his artificially lonely mood.