[If is any one unassailable thing, one truth of the world that is held resolute, it is thus: like knows like. The man is not subtle about watching him in ways that go beyond interest in a dancing partner, and though James is hardly made uneasy about it, it does sharpen the intensity of his own scrutiny. He understands the vigilance but not its source, and what it means to look to all the places a man hides a knife.
He is not altogether unsurprised when the young man takes it upon himself to approach. James has assured, seemingly at random, that this engagement should take place with his back to the nearest wall. There are no old pirates by luck alone.
He is two men at the best of times. Flint watches like a wolf from behind wary eyes. James shakes his head with a smile.]
No.
[He says it mildly, not without a friendly sort of charm. Even so, it's a cold word. Isolating. The dichotomy does not seem to trouble him.]
no subject
He is not altogether unsurprised when the young man takes it upon himself to approach. James has assured, seemingly at random, that this engagement should take place with his back to the nearest wall. There are no old pirates by luck alone.
He is two men at the best of times. Flint watches like a wolf from behind wary eyes. James shakes his head with a smile.]
No.
[He says it mildly, not without a friendly sort of charm. Even so, it's a cold word. Isolating. The dichotomy does not seem to trouble him.]
Are you?