Honestly, the most remarkable thing about Bruce's implied competence is the most remarkable thing about everyone in this city-- Seoraj has just never been accustomed, before Baedal, to the notion that foreigners are really all that...well, competent. He's had his horizons expanded, but when all your travels reflect the fact that no one wants to fight their own wars...
Some prejudices go unquestioned for longer than others, that's all.
"It's a training form, then." He sounds satisfied; that's what he thought, and while he's not deeply invested in being right about things, it's a good assurance of his own ability to keep up with the world that his reasoning isn't twelve steps behind everybody else's. "A bit more decorative than I'm used to." If this is deprecating in any direction, it's his own- he's not criticizing them for their elegance. He admires it, even if it's not something he consciously thinks of cultivating.
(But you don't live as long in his line of work if you don't have a certain amount of finesse.)
no subject
Some prejudices go unquestioned for longer than others, that's all.
"It's a training form, then." He sounds satisfied; that's what he thought, and while he's not deeply invested in being right about things, it's a good assurance of his own ability to keep up with the world that his reasoning isn't twelve steps behind everybody else's. "A bit more decorative than I'm used to." If this is deprecating in any direction, it's his own- he's not criticizing them for their elegance. He admires it, even if it's not something he consciously thinks of cultivating.
(But you don't live as long in his line of work if you don't have a certain amount of finesse.)