That added up. "Interesting. What brought you to the East? Were you enslaved there?"
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
"Yes, ma'am," Aleth answered. The lie was coming easier each time he recited it. "A merchant purchased me to be his butler."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Ah." Another check. "I'm sorry; that must have been hard for you."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
"Yes, ma'am," Aleth answered. "But I'm grateful to be here. A turn of fortunes to be sure."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Sara nodded in agreement. "I'm sorry for all the questions--I'm a bit restless." She tapped her book. "Haven't been able to focus on this, either."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
"Not at all." Aleth smiled politely. He could hardly blame her. Either of them. He'd be just as paranoid if the positions were reversed. More, even. It was foolish to have let Aleth in at all. What should they care whether a slave died or not? He certainly wouldn't have opened his home to one of the wretches. "I'm sorry to hear you're restless. Is there any way I could help?"
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Sara paused. "Well, one can always do with a reading partner."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
"Ah, I'm afraid my reading skills are rather lacking," Aleth answered, regretting, once again, the lie. But he couldn't very well change his story now. That was the way to end up dead. "I'm sorry."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Ah, that's unfortunate." Sara frowned; he had a good memory. That was an important lie to remember, but even so she had hoped that one would slip. "I confess that several years ago I wasn't particularly literate, either. Perhaps we may talk further or play a game instead. I need something to take my mind off of all this."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
"Of course," Aleth answered brightly, offering another smile. She seemed smart. Which meant it was likely going to be hard to get any useful information out of her. But he may as well try. Besides, it's not like he could very well refuse. "Whatever pleases her ladyship, I'm happy to do."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Would you care for cards or a board game?" Sara rose, heading over to a small cabinet set against a chair.
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
Aleth had a slight pang of irritation as he thought back to having to graciously lose to Tarr's stupid game. He was probably going to have to lose this one, too. "Perhaps cards?"
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Certainly." Sara rifled through a drawer, locating a pack of cards and pulling out. "Do you know how to play Rap-At-None?"
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
"I don't," Aleth admitted. Maybe he should have devoted more time as an adult to learning games. It wasn't something he'd had the opportunity for as a child -- frivolous games. And he hadn't made time for it as an adult. "But I'd love to learn, if you're in the mood to teach."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Certainly." Sara began to deal the cards. "So we each get six cards--don't look at them, just organize them in a row of two by three. Then flip any two. The goal is to get as few points as possible, which you do by zeroing out your columns. For example--" She organized her rows and turned two cards over: a 2 and a 7 were displayed on the right hand side. She then sorted through the deck until she found a seven and replaced the 2. "--This is now zeroed out. You can replace cards by drawing from the deck or the discard pile, and there's a special card in the deck called the Oracle that acts as a minus one. Once one of us have zero points or less in front of us, that person raps on the table and the other gets one more turn before we count up points."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
