[ The interest isn't faked at all; genuinely interested, but only a little, is exactly how he feels about Hartley. Wells, on the other hand, can read Piper's barely restrained eyeroll and the continued passive-aggressive phrasing, though he neither acknowledges nor responds to them.
Though Hartley and Henry are related, he hadn't expected them to share a similarly unsubtle social hostility, and that is interesting. He wouldn't leap to any conclusions on the strength of that, of course, it just makes some of the questions he already had stand out more than others. ]
Was it? It didn't seem to work that well for him the first time.
[ And this too is all easy sincerity as he sips his drink. ]
no subject
Though Hartley and Henry are related, he hadn't expected them to share a similarly unsubtle social hostility, and that is interesting. He wouldn't leap to any conclusions on the strength of that, of course, it just makes some of the questions he already had stand out more than others. ]
Was it? It didn't seem to work that well for him the first time.
[ And this too is all easy sincerity as he sips his drink. ]