[ If I'm a threat to you either way, then I admit, I'm gratified.
It's clearly meant as a jab, meant to get underneath his skin. It does, as most things about Gaelio do -- but something about the expression of gratification makes the jab unfurl once it's made a home inside of him, prickling at his skin, and deciding to attribute that to irritation with the expressed thought.
Not having all of his defenses neatly in line, in person or through telepathy, should be embarrassing. It does embarrass, a tiny amount, with Gaelio pointing it out. He can't afford to extend more effort into containing that reaction.
It flares up in a terse retort, a jumble of not-quite-irritation straining towards sarcasm, wanting to maintain, deliberate and inauthentic indifference layered like a thin film. ]
»As long as you are gratified, I can admit that it was.«
1/2
It's clearly meant as a jab, meant to get underneath his skin. It does, as most things about Gaelio do -- but something about the expression of gratification makes the jab unfurl once it's made a home inside of him, prickling at his skin, and deciding to attribute that to irritation with the expressed thought.
Not having all of his defenses neatly in line, in person or through telepathy, should be embarrassing. It does embarrass, a tiny amount, with Gaelio pointing it out. He can't afford to extend more effort into containing that reaction.
It flares up in a terse retort, a jumble of not-quite-irritation straining towards sarcasm, wanting to maintain, deliberate and inauthentic indifference layered like a thin film. ]
»As long as you are gratified, I can admit that it was.«