"Well I guess I could help you proselytize, then."

"That would be fantastic."

Eeeeeeeee. Eyelash bat.

Acknowledging smirk.

"I'm not sure I'd really say I cultivated it, though. More like it's a thing about how I... am?"

"Right, but I'm not naturally that way, so if I want it I have to cultivate it."

"Yeah, makes sense. Have you convinced many people?"

"Some. Not as many as I've tried."

"Well I bet that together we can more than double the efficiency."

"Well aren't you lovely."

He lowers his eyes and grins. "Thank you, ma'am."

"You're quite welcome."

"What more is there that I should know about you?" he wonders.

"Hmm...I love kids, I have a vicious temper when provoked but I'm pretty good at keeping it under control, my parents are both only children and my grandparents are all dead, my favorite color is blue..."

"What does provoking you look like?"

"Um...hm, it's never occurred to me to sit down and compile a list before...threatening people I care about, expressing the opinion that some group of people doesn't deserve human rights, acting like subs don't have the right or inclination to independent agency, saying switches don't exist...this isn't a comprehensive list, mind."

"Didn't expect one, and did expect a list more or less like that," he nods.

"Oh, good."

"I wonder what you look like when something ticks you like that. Somehow the words 'force of nature' come to mind."

"You are a flatterer," she accuses.

"Slander, I say! I tell only truth!"

"Oh? Are you saying flattery isn't truth?"

"I'm saying any flattery here is strictly incidental and just happens to be a consequence of the fact that the truth is incredibly appealing."

"Good answer."

"So was I right?"