He briefly pouts like a small child as Arabella pushes him back. Come onnnn, why stop the kissing? Still, at Arabella's teasing, Strange simply shrugs.
"Truth be told, I'd rather the rumors be these instead of the normal rumors that cling to me both here and back home."
Because he knows of those rumors spread back home, even if Arabella might not. Strange was mad. Strange killed his wife. Strange summoned the tower himself, deliberately to attack Norrell. And he knows what people must whisper about him in the carnival, or what they might think about him. The man's dangerous, he's summoned how many fae now? He can't keep out of trouble. Just how much of the Portland Strange is the real Strange?
Strange isn't the sort of man to put any stock in what others think about him. But it would be nice if one of those rumors could just be replaced by something like 'he's a sap' or 'he loves his wife way too much.' (It doesn't occur to Strange that people already think he's a sap who won't shut up about his wife.)
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"Truth be told, I'd rather the rumors be these instead of the normal rumors that cling to me both here and back home."
Because he knows of those rumors spread back home, even if Arabella might not. Strange was mad. Strange killed his wife. Strange summoned the tower himself, deliberately to attack Norrell. And he knows what people must whisper about him in the carnival, or what they might think about him. The man's dangerous, he's summoned how many fae now? He can't keep out of trouble. Just how much of the Portland Strange is the real Strange?
Strange isn't the sort of man to put any stock in what others think about him. But it would be nice if one of those rumors could just be replaced by something like 'he's a sap' or 'he loves his wife way too much.' (It doesn't occur to Strange that people already think he's a sap who won't shut up about his wife.)