>why is Gryph (who has his faults) charging across the
>universe to ask a woman a question she isn't expecting?

Well... no time like the present!

>That's why I
>thought he was broken. The sort of need his actions imply is pretty
>astonishing.

He had intended to approach the matter somewhat differently, but the fact that he arrived to an imminent crisis that led directly to the discovery that the geth worship Unicron rather altered the case. His sudden appearance on the scene in the Dholen system, of all places, was supposed to seem whimsical - a bit of charming unpredictability - but that was in the same notional world of things-going-according-to-plan in which Tali's shuttle wasn't detected and her team didn't get wiped out by the geth. After all that happened instead of what they both were expecting, he probably would have put the question off altogether if she hadn't asked him about it - laid aside as inappropriate while the cosmic threat was still on the table.

Anyway, I certainly intended to present it so that it was obvious he was taking the whole thing very seriously - he believes, and I believe, that Tali deserves to be shown that up front - but, honestly, the wounded-animal effect was not intentional, at least not consciously so. It is something he feels very strongly about, but at the same time, he fully recognizes that she's probably got other stuff to do. He's trying very hard not to apply any pressure, or even give the appearance of applying pressure; and so, recognizing that this is Tali'Shukra he's dealing with here, after all, he just comes right out with it and lets the chips fall where they may. The simplest explanation is probably the best one - Ockham's razor.

>but hey, I probably have my drama queen hat on this week. Clearly
>been reading too much Heyer and Sayers this year.

It does bear a certain resemblance to the end of Gaudy Night, now that you bring Sayers up. "Placetne, magistra?" Though she hasn't led him nearly as merry a chase as Harriet led Lord Peter - at least not on purpose.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.