(no subject)

[tragic_mask]

Arriving at the Visitor's Center, Melpomene takes a look around.

"Well, this is it. In all its touristic glory. "

Comments

[mechanicalswans]

"If it is, it's still going in the album," he says, and aims the camera as best he can.

Click.

[tragic_mask]

"Take another, just for good luck," she says. "Don't want this pose to go to waste."

[mechanicalswans]

Click.

"You say that like we're never going to be this close again the entire trip," he chuckles, and gives her a kiss on the cheek.

[tragic_mask]

"No, I meant the tourist's smile," she says, dropping the cheese after his second picture. "Makes my cheeks ache."

[mechanicalswans]

"Oh, but you should smile more," he says. "Maybe not the tourist's smile, but at least the sort of... when you're listening to someone who is so convinced they're the smartest person in the room, but they've got horrible grammar and misused a word that anyone past high school should know how to use, and they're still trying to convince you of their brilliance. That kind of smile."

[tragic_mask]

"Oh, but I'm excellent at that sort of smile," she says, rewarding him with it now. It's quite scary, in a subtle way.

[mechanicalswans]

Click.

"I love that smile," he murmurs. "It may well be my favorite--but you've got so many wonderful ones."

[tragic_mask]

"Well, it's one of my most practiced," she says, ducking (unsuccessfully) from the camera.

[mechanicalswans]

"You practice it?" he asks. "Maybe I should start. Mine always look vaguely stoned. I hate the way I look when I smile in pictures."

[tragic_mask]

"It's a matter of muscle memory," she says. "I only practice when it's necessary... which seems to be quite often."

[mechanicalswans]

"But I like it," he says. "As long as it's not the 'You're an idiot but I have to be polite to you' smile, not directed at me."

[tragic_mask]

"Oh, never," she says. "I wouldn't put up with you for very long, if you deserved that smile."

[mechanicalswans]

"May you never have reason to," he murmurs, tucking the camera into a pocket as the workers raise the gangplank and prepare to launch the boat.

[tragic_mask]

"Put up with you?" she says, looking out at the water.

[mechanicalswans]

He nods. "Think of it as something to endure, something less than pleasant. Like family get-togethers. That sort of putting up with."

[tragic_mask]

"Oh, yes, I'd never do that. Trust me."

[mechanicalswans]

"I'd expect you to kick me out long before it got to that point," he says. "Be bluntly honest. I like a woman who's not afraid to tell me how she feels about what I'm doing."

[tragic_mask]

"Oh, so you're not into the passive-aggressive, meaningful-glance type?"

[mechanicalswans]

"No, and never have been. If a woman doesn't have the courage to disagree with me--I don't necessarily mean huge shouting matches in public; that's just immature--if she won't disagree with me and speak her mind, she's not likely to hold my interest. I like a challenge. I like individuality."

[tragic_mask]

"Luckily for you, I'm quite the individual."

[mechanicalswans]

"Mmmmm."

He gives her the sort of fond little smile he doesn't give anyone else.

"I am lucky, at that."

[tragic_mask]

The boat pulls out of its dock, and begins to make its way towards the falls.

"Glad you agree," she says, with one of her more... normal smiles.

[mechanicalswans]

He keeps the camera at the ready, surveying the scenery.

"It would be nice to live by a waterfall, I think," he says. "I wonder if you start to tune out the sound, after a while."

[tragic_mask]

"Probably... like ticking clocks, or background chatter. I think you could go nuts if you couldn't tune it all out..."

[mechanicalswans]

He chuckles, giving her a quick glance.

"I hope you get used to ticking clocks very quickly," he murmurs, "or you'll hate my apartment."