"No."
"Why?"
"He's busy."
"C'mon, he can take a break."
"Not while I'm here, he won't."
"Don't be such a - "
"Bitch? That the word you want, Logan? Bitch?"
In truth, I was gonna say 'slave driver'. But she didn't believe me when I told her.
I can understand Libby's anger towards Traveller. Who would actually be surprised? Traveller saved her during that fateful trip into the clouds, sure, but he also kidnapped her. Held her captive. Tried to worm his way into her heart while isolating her on a cliff. Killed a dragon, more or less in her name. And, though he helped save Dragomir and my dad from that Doc dude, Traveller has put Dragomir in a freaking coma. I feel like I should owe him for that.
But I'm not angry at him. I can't be, for some reason. Traveller is just too quietly repentent for me to get pissed. So I want Libby to treat him with a smidgen of civility.
Instead...
Well, instead, she's actually...
Well...
It's weird. Really weird.
Let me explain. k? k.
Back when I was still Bratty McBraterson, prince of Castle OMGLOL, I spied on people. I spied on people a lot. Didn't have a whole lot else to do, to be frank - when I wasn't attending official functions or ducking the lessons of The Fucking Baron, I had time to fill. Long, boring hours. So I spied! I make no apologies for it.
Dragomir was one of my favourite targets in that final year of life in the castle. He seemed as dull and bitchy as the rest at first, but I quickly learned that he led a fairly interesting life. Especially for a guard. There was always shit goin' on 'round him, and I wanted to get in on the action when it happened. So I watched, and I waited, and I read his diary, and, uh, yeah. Invasion of privacy. I'm not apologizing for that either.
Most of the time when I spied on Dragomir he was shirking his duties. I soon discovered that he was an expert at avoiding actual work, even if his actual work wasn't much different from, say, sitting around doing nothing. He didn't work-or-not-work forever, though, and at night he'd slink back to his dingy, doorless apartment to spend time with his wife. Good 'ol bitchy Libby. I'd watch them be all domestic, which was just as interesting as watching Dragomir alone, 'cause Libby is quite a character in and of herself.
In a word, I'd characterize their marriage as 'abusive'. But also happy. Libby is a first-rate douche to her husband, no doubt, but she also loves the shit out of that man. And Dragomir, well, he doesn't complain about being knocked around nearly as much as he should... so... I sense an S&M vibe. Kinda disturbing, that, and I'm glad I never spied them getting too kinky.
Anyway.
Whenever she was around Dragomir, Libby would get this look in her eyes. She still gets it, matter of fact. I see it all the time. It's difficult to quantify - kind of like a mixture of exasperation, disgust, pity, and... amusement. The rest of the emotions are mostly a mask to hide her adoration, and the combo really stands out if you've spent a lot of time with Libby. There's love in them eyes, to be certain, and it drains away whenever Libby's around anyone else. She settles down into all-business mode again.
Except...
Except her eyes don't change when Traveller's around. They retain that odd sense of amusement. 'cept I don't think Libby knows it. I don't think it's love, but... there's some deep connection between Libby and Traveller, and... well, she certainly doesn't realize it, but...
But... I think, to an extent, Traveller does. And I really want to talk to him about it.
I've convinced Libby to give Traveller a break tomorrow. He'll have one hour to chat with me. Then it's back to working on Dragomir. I'm not sure that Traveller will agree to talk, as much of his work is self-imposed, but I'll give it a try anyway.
Sincerely,
Logan the Thief
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