Apparently Patrick didn’t want to verbally agree with me because all I got out of him was a very slight shrug. How does he manage to control himself like this? At this point I wasn’t going to back down, I was going to get him to react at some point today. “It’s a clever tactic, when it works and you get an honest reaction.”
“I’ll be the first to admit that there are some who manage to wrap themselves in an alternate persona so well that the technique is of little use.” Well that was nicely worded. He never admitted or even denied that he was doing just that. To hear him speak you would think from his tone that he was merely chatting about the weather.
Though his acknowledgement did show me a glimpse of something that I could latch onto and assault. It wasn’t a big target to be sure but it was still a target to attack, weaknesses are weaknesses no matter how hard to manipulate. So with a nod of agreement I offered my own honest opinion of his obviously favored technique. “Every trick has its own weakness, that’s for sure. But that is the very reason I refuse to use that kind of strategy.”
Patrick attempted to roll the slight twitch of his eye into another movement altogether. And he managed to do it wonderfully. In fact I would have missed the twitch altogether if I hadn’t been carefully watching for it. But I had seen it and that was all that mattered. This master was human after all. He had a weakness, slight as it was, but it was there. Thank goodness for pride. Unfortunately from what I could tell he had a reason to be proud, but he took it just a hair too far. He was so proud of how well he could read people that he couldn’t suffer any to question his skills.
Still wrapping himself in the emotions of a stone, Patrick looked me right in the eye and asked, “So if you’re not a fan of what I do, what do you do to gain your edge?”
“I’m a simplistic man. I’ve always just enjoyed basic study and observation.” I replied smoothly.
But I must have struck a nerve because he replied all too quickly. “But in a situation like this, that kind of strategy becomes increasingly difficult with the lack of time.”
“The lack of time does play against me, I’ll agree. As I said every option has its flaws, but I can pick things up that most people would miss a thousand times over.” Then my tongue kept on wagging despite the fact I had intended it to remain silent. “Besides I’ve noticed that it works very well even with those who, as you have said, are wrapped in a false persona.”
As Patrick listened to my words he took a couple long drinks from his bottle and I could tell he was thinking about what I had said. I knew that I had probably lost my edge with him. He might not know what I had seen but he knew that I had seen something I thought I could exploit. But just as he was forming his next words Bella jumped into the conversation and anything that had been gathered up in his mind was washed away under the tidal wave of her anger, maybe we shouldn’t have gone down our little rabbit hole.
“Excuse me gentlemen.” Bella glared at each of us in turn making sure she had our complete attention before she went on. “The two of you seem to have forgotten that you’re not the only ones sitting at this table. Can’t you two simply agree to disagree? So what if you two have different ways to read people. You also are different body types. It happens. You each have a favorite technique because it works for you. That’s one of the reasons we play the game, you know. To see who has the better game. But right now, it is not about our game, this is supposed to be a short little pampering session. So would the two of you stop and play nice?”
Patrick, as stone faced as ever, somehow managed to laugh, not a great belly laugh or anything but it was still a laugh. With a smile stretching across my face I lifted my glass and offered a toast, “To each of us, may we have smooth sailings to the final table and may we discover who can play the game the best.”
“Here, here Marcus, well said.” Patrick chimed in with what seemed to be genuine cheer, though I could see the lie in his eyes. “Each of us can only perform with the gifts with which we were born. And unfortunately not all gifts are equal.”
I knew he was still trying to provoke me. No not provoke me, he was just trying to get an honest reaction out of me. Calm or provoked he would learn something about me. So I decided to use this for my advantage. “Patrick you truly are gifted with a great array of tools. And you are truly gifted in the ones you choose to employ.”
“Some of my skills are indeed hard to learn.” Patrick said with trace amounts of caution coloring his words.
It was as if he knew I was up to something but he had no idea what it was. Again I was thankful for the prideful. And he was squarely in my trap, now I just needed it to actually work. “No it’s actually not hard to learn. In fact it is very easy to learn, most children master it fairly early on in life. The difficulty comes in the mastery of its implementation. And that’s the half of the skill that I lack.”
Again, if I hadn’t been looking I would have missed it, but I didn’t. It was the slightest of motions, I may have gone a little too far with the children comment but I needed to be sure I got the reaction. And now I was sure, normally he had an endless supply of patience, but when it came to something he had pride in, he held a very short fuse. It didn’t matter that he was so disciplined that he was able to club the temper back down almost instantly, he had a vulnerability. And more importantly it was one I could exploit over and over again.