Annotated 25-6
We considered having Caneghem force a joyless grin here, which would’ve changed our whole approach to his character, but Phil was probably right to insist he remain deadpan in nearly every situation and never smile, not even when it’s mirthless.
One might wonder why he’s in the scene at all, since he’s even more out of place in a comedy club than Gravedust and is not overtly welcoming to new experiences. (We considered using another Head of House like Bedard or Miyamoto.) The short answer is “diplomacy.” Caneghem knows he needs to register as an ally to Gastonia’s military minds, so he’ll go along, however grudgingly, with their nominally friendly gestures. Annunziata, for his part, is as more or less friendly to Caneghem as he is to Emb here, and that’s no surprise. Both of them acknowledge his authority (or at least seem to). Unlike Syr’Nj, both of them seem to know their place.
There’s also a sort of two-panel subplot going on here, as the bright-eyed young autograph hound, an elf himself, gets a very quick education by observing what happens to his hero as soon as someone with real authority shows up. He will remember this night.
Honestly, even if Caneghem was a super fun guy I doubt he’d have been amused.
In Annunziata’s defense, when Caneghem was being created every single point was dumped into “Poke Face”. This man held the face of a person who has lived five hundred thousand years and is so damn sick of everyone and everything, throughout the entire saga.
Carnegham has to hate every second of diplomacy, being a man who clearly does not suffer fools gladly.
From that point, it’s probably good for him that he’s made “understated contempt” his whole brand.