Re: [Not-a-picnic: Nel, Lear, Daddy]
He listened to Nel protest that she would never take the advantage when provided it, and he did not believe it for a moment. She took the world on her own terms, from a position of power, and never compromised anything. But she had never been asked to compromise. "I have yet to see you pushed to an extremity," he said. "I wonder, if your enemy's back were turned, what might happen then?"
Leslie felt a slithering of power, almost against his own skin, as Lear broke away from his sister and into human shape. It wasn't one he recognized, but Lear was eternally recognizable, when he had legs and when he didn't. Leslie was shorter, and had to look up a little bit to meet Lear's pretty blue eye. His eyes were observant, deceptively gentle, betraying nothing at all.
He absorbed Lear's frustration, centralized it and dispersed it like a body blow. "I don't understand your skepticism," he said, which was a lie. "Just because I didn't get caught breaking the rules, or run off, that doesn't mean that I didn't break them, or that I didn't leave. It just means I didn't get caught." That was true, and he blinked once, slowly. "I wouldn't sell to him at any price."