Vi clamped her hand over her mouth to try to suppress another outburst of laughing, breathing in raggedly between her fingers until the bout subsided. "I'd wager so. He'd probably say that you wouldn't know what pretty was if it smacked you in the face. And you're a man, so he wouldn't want your opinion anyway." She bit into her lip, trying to get herself back under control, although random starts of laughter still threatened as she breathed.
"Well, I've seen both dwarves and men smacked by pretty, I'm pretty confident in my ability to see it." He smiled, finally stilling from the spasms of laughter. "Of course he doesn't want my opinion, he only would ask so I wasn't standing around and wasting air."
Viara giggled softly. "You know dwarves, alright. Bob is easy, though. Just tell him you like his food. He's just a big softie, really." She smiled warmly towards Thren. It was much better to be laughing than be an emotional train wreck. "I never thought he'd be convinced to come on board, really, but I'm glad he's there."
"Most are, of course there are some dwarves who would drop you where you stand." Thren was glad that they'd found this common ground. This was something that they could both joyfully throw themselves into, and left neither exposed. "They have a sense of kinship that's difficult to understand, but they let you try to catch a glimpse of it. They certainly live their lives fully, explosively even. To be near that or a part of that, it's very rare... I'll joke about their bravado until the day I die, but I respect them. They know themselves more fully than any elf or human ever could."
Viara inclined her head thoughtfully, although she was still inwardly bursting with amusement. "I admit, Bob is the only dwarf I've ever known beyond buying and selling from the merchants on the surface. He's had enough life for two, though, if even half of the stories he tells are true. It seems like you've known a lot more dwarves." It was a statement, and Viara made sure that her tone was conversational, not pushy, and she commented on herself directly afterwards. "I've known much more of elves. Most of the time they're not as... amusing, but I respect the ones I've met."
"Po was casteless, obviously as a surfacer, but he always felt this complete- intrinsic loyalty to any dwarf we crossed paths with. Even if hadn't known them before his exile, he reached out to them first. He helped them any way he could, coin, platitude, or a clap to the ear. He remembered every name and every face, and when I'd been young, every dwarf looked the same. I didn't understand it at all." Thren looked at her. Her face was flushed pink from laughing, and he shook his head. He'd never known any human who cycled and processed emotions as quickly as she did. She was more like a dwarf than she realized.
Viara grinned. "I used to feel the same way about elves. In Rivain, a lot of them are blonde, and they all seemed to have thin faces and not very many facial expressions. Now, though - it's very different, and I'd never mistake one for another." She traipsed around a bush suddenly, almost walking dead into it from not paying attention to her movements. "I suppose it's natural to want to reach out to people like yourself when you're in a space that doesn't feel... like yours. Even if you don't like the other person much. Familiarity, comfort. They can be powerful."
"Yes well, dwarves are united by an ugly, outdated caste system. It's cruel and birth shouldn't dictate where your path ends." He sighed. "Elves don't fare any better. It's just an ugly system." He hadn't meant to get started on the political soapbox. "Anyway, all I meant was they have more than just a familiarity. It's deeper than that."