"I see," says Libby. "What counts as a reason to restrain yourself?"

"If asking the question lets on something I don't want known. Occasionally, I even let a question go unasked to avoid being rude to someone."

"I see," Libby repeats thoughtfully.

"Triangle for your thoughts."

"It's metaphorical currency in the original form of the saying. I'd cough up a triangle if you insisted but I'm actually just expressing curiosity," chuckles Bella.

"I was thinking that it's interesting that you include politeness and secrecy but not personal danger on the list of things that will stop you from being nosy."

"Both secrecy and politeness can be danger-related," Bella points out. "When would something involve danger and neither of the other two?"

"When, for example, learning the answer to the question will put you at a significant risk."

"In its own right? Like in science fiction, you look at the wrong sequence of letters or the wrong drawing or the wrong tentacled abomination and you're driven mad? I'm skeptical that human brains are really wired that way. Or if others found out that I knew the information they'd opt to hurt me? Then my concern ought to be making sure no one thinks I know, and that could be unrelated to whether I actually do."

"I think you'll find that acting as though you don't know something is more difficult than it looks. But maybe I have an unusual perspective on that."

"Why would you have an unusual perspective?"

"Because I figure that kind of thing out a lot more easily than most people."

"What do you think I know that you think I think you don't know I know?" Bella asks.

"Nothing, yet."

"So maybe there isn't anything, or maybe I'm good at pretending, or maybe you're lying but you don't want to alert me to the holes in my cunning disguise." Bella appears to find this line of inquiry charmingly entertaining.

"Or maybe I'm deliberately not considering the question in as much depth as I could, to give you less to go on."

Bella laughs. "That would be interesting. Are you?"

"What do you think?"

"You don't think I'm very good at reading people, and I certainly haven't done anything to convince you otherwise, so you probably don't imagine I could tell if you were contemplating such things - but you're very risk averse - and less curious than I am. You could be doing that, especially if none of your hypotheses seem urgent to you," Bella muses.

"Very well thought out," says Libby, rather more amused than the situation seems to warrant.

"As you noted, I'm thorough," Bella says. "How did you come to be so confident in your ability to read people in the first place, I'd like to know."

"By noticing how good at it I am?" she suggests.

"Yes, I'm wondering what specifically you noticed. Who did you practice on? How did you verify your early guesses?"

"Why do you want to know?"