seventeen ♢ video

[versusnurture]

I have a question.

Maybe it's a weird question. [Not that all of her questions aren't weird. But.]

If you have a quality you want to accentuate, that you want people to notice. With hair or jewelry or things like that. How do you do it? Because.

[She pulls her hair back away from the right side of her neck to reveal a pale scar, horizontal, reaching almost halfway around. It's not a totally unknown sight since she stopped wearing her scarves, but it's not something she's been showing off, either, not exactly.]

I'm sick of hiding it.

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[versusnurture]

I pretty much know how to do ponytails, Hannibal. And braids.

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[youwill]

I would be happy to show you something more graceful.

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[versusnurture]

Really?

[She's tempted. It's a terrible idea, but she's tempted.]

I didn't know you knew how to do all that.

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[youwill]

I like to think of myself as a renaissance man.

[He smiles softly.] Though I admit, it has been some time since I practiced.

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[versusnurture]

You can practice on me.

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[youwill]

A generous offer. I promise I will not make you look like a beast.

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[versusnurture]

Then you'll disguise me.

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[youwill]

You disguise yourself every day. I will just give you a new one.

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[versusnurture]

Very insightful. I'll learn to be a different kind of animal.

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[youwill]

An elegant one, this time. You would look lovely in green.

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[versusnurture]

Which implies my normal disguise isn't elegant.

[Rude, intriguing in its implications, but not all that surprising.]

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[youwill]

Do you believe it is?

[The truth cannot be rude. She has a beauty all her own he appreciates - but she is wind chafed more often than she is elegant.]

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[versusnurture]

I believe it's functional. Not elegant.

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[youwill]

It's lovely.

[He inclines his head in agreement.]

But not elegant.

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[versusnurture]

What would you change?

[If she was malleable. If she was anyone but herself, who is no longer wholly malleable to him. (Not wholly resistant, either. But little steps.)]

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[youwill]

[Little steps. He considers her silently for a moment, with a cocked head.

He debates telling her nothing, but neither of them have any use for such a lie.]

What do you want to change?

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[versusnurture]

Everything. I want to strip myself down to bone and build myself up again.