Aurus shared Hank's chuckle at the display--it was fun, though perhaps the fascination of it was lost on him somewhat.
"I think," he answered, giving Hank a knowing sort of look, "that if this is a display done for children and at a school, it must have some purpose other than simply to amaze and entertain. You're trying to teach them some idea with it, and I have to assume that idea is not that they ought to make eruptions of red foamy bubbles and gunpowder sparks at every free opportunity."
He considered the differences between this world and his own for a moment, thinking on how he might answer his own implicit question. "I've spent very little time around asura. I don't trust them. No Secondborn with any sense does. But I do know that they are fond of putting on displays to inspire the inventive spirit of their youth--their 'progeny,' as they say.
"Is that your intention here as well? Or is there something else you hope for your students to understand?"
It was a simple question at its surface, but there was quite a lot behind it. Aurus had spoken relatively little with Hank about his people or their history thus far, for one thing, and while Charles would now know what a Secondborn was, Hank would not. Neither of the men, however, yet knew the specifics of what the asura had done to Aurus's brothers and sisters in their youth.
Aurus might not be able to read that Hank was worried for Charles, but he didn't need to in order to realize that there was much that he and Hank should probably discuss with each other, and to take a subtle opening where he saw one.
no subject
"I think," he answered, giving Hank a knowing sort of look, "that if this is a display done for children and at a school, it must have some purpose other than simply to amaze and entertain. You're trying to teach them some idea with it, and I have to assume that idea is not that they ought to make eruptions of red foamy bubbles and gunpowder sparks at every free opportunity."
He considered the differences between this world and his own for a moment, thinking on how he might answer his own implicit question. "I've spent very little time around asura. I don't trust them. No Secondborn with any sense does. But I do know that they are fond of putting on displays to inspire the inventive spirit of their youth--their 'progeny,' as they say.
"Is that your intention here as well? Or is there something else you hope for your students to understand?"
It was a simple question at its surface, but there was quite a lot behind it. Aurus had spoken relatively little with Hank about his people or their history thus far, for one thing, and while Charles would now know what a Secondborn was, Hank would not. Neither of the men, however, yet knew the specifics of what the asura had done to Aurus's brothers and sisters in their youth.
Aurus might not be able to read that Hank was worried for Charles, but he didn't need to in order to realize that there was much that he and Hank should probably discuss with each other, and to take a subtle opening where he saw one.