Loviere appreciated the talkative girl's presence. It was nice to meet someone who seemed to actually take an interest in him. He felt slightly embarrassed with himself -- the girl seemed younger than him, but she clearly knew more about life and survival. He found his ears rising with interest as she spoke, drinking in her words. As disgusting as battle was to Loviere, he understood its usefulness. No one had ever offered to help him learn to defend himself before. And as long as it was defensive work, there was nothing that would violate his philosophy of nonviolence.
"Thanks for the advice. And... I would love to learn something new, if you don't mind. I... I don't have anything with me right now to give you in return, but I can get something..." Loviere was definitely not used to charity. In his experience, people did not offer things without wanting something in return. And when they did not receive anything, they were often angry. He preferred to settle the trade quickly, so as to prevent any confusion.
He looked at the knife in his hand, rotating it in his palm. It was a bit dull, having been used to whittle with so many times before. He doubted it could ever inflict serious injury upon anyone, but that was a good thing, in his opinion. "You really don't have to, miss, if you've got better things to do." His mouth curled upward in a grin as he spoke. As much as he would have liked her to stay, he understood that she might not wish to when she realized that he had nothing to offer her in return.
<style type="text/css">
.loviere-01 b {font-weight:bold; color:#6faba9; letter-spacing:1px; text-shadow: 0.1em 0.1em 0.2em #2e5857; }
.loviere-01 p {text-indent:0px; padding:5px 16px; margin:0px;}
.loviere-01 {margin:0 auto; width:420px; background-color:#699190; background-image:url(http://i55.tinypic.com/33xghe0.png); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:1px solid #0b052c; padding: 240px 0px 7px 0px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size:12px; color:#a2c4c3; text-shadow: 0.1em 0.1em 0.2em #; letter-spacing:.6px; word-spacing:.9x; line-height:13.3px; text-align:justify;}
.loviere-01 p b:before { content: open-quote; }
.loviere-01 p b:after {content: close-quote; }
</style>
[/html]