animus_network

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[The feed cuts on to a frantic-looking Nazi who's struggling to smile.]

Look. No, okay, look, ja? [He holds his hands up to the camera in a "calm down" motion.] There are three posts about that silly collar thing. Talk in those. Let us do something else now, okay?

[He lifts up a book.]

We are going to read some stories, then we may discuss them. That is fun und unrelated, right? Here, I will begin.

[He clears his throat.]

'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...'

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Oh! I get it. [Richtofen puts the book down, giggles - actually giggles - and scratches his cheek.] That little thingy. It's not like I burned any myself, you know. I was busy with more important things.

[And yet, the nonchalant way he talks about it makes it clear that he's not at all upset that it happened. As long as he was able to get the textbooks he needed for his research, he couldn't have cared less what his countrymen were doing.]

[Somehow he doubts "more important things" meant, say, gardening and tending to the elderly. The Spine narrows his photo-receptors.]

Uh-huh. I'm sure you were. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you're not readin' to folk outta the goodness of your heart.

I was!

[Richtofen holds his hands out, palms upward, and shrugs. His voice is high-pitched and cheery, though it's an overblown kind of cheeriness that comes off as tacky.]

Now, now. What sort of an ulterior motive do you think I have? [He pats A Tale of Two Cities where it sits on the desk.] It is just a book, mein Freund.

[That syrupy cheerfulness is definitely doing nothing to endear him to The Spine.

...but he does have a point. There's nothing sinister about A Tale of Two Cities.]

I can't rightly say what your motives might be, but it's weird seein' one of your sort playin' peacemaker.

[In other words, he's got his eye on you bucko.]

[Richtofen shrugs. "One of your sort," "your neck of the woods" - he can't say he's all too happy about this guy's attitude toward him, but to lash out would undermine all of his attempts at seeming friendly.]

I did not want another flood to happen here. It would have been quite a headache. [And, as a sort of response to those earlier book-burning comments, he adds:] I am all for the freedom of expression, you'll find.

Uh-huh. [Still skeptical. Something about Richtofen is just... weird.] So am I, so I guess I oughta be lettin' you get back to your readin'.

[...And because manners are Important, The Spine takes the brim of his fedora between two fingers and tips his head politely before cutting the feed.]

Danke. [Richtofen smiles in a way that wrinkles his nose and wiggles his fingers in a wave.] Ta.

[As soon as his face is back behind the book, he sticks his tongue out and gags.]

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