Tomhas's mouth twitched, then he burst out laughing. "Oh, gods, that's good!" he chuckled. "Wow. You got that right. Hit the nail on the head, as it were!"
"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
Ky grinned, thoroughly pleased with herself that he’d appreciated her humor.
“Right? The boys in my town were always so bad about it,” she laughed, shaking her head. “One of my friends would insist that I was pronouncing words wrong when I was teaching him how to read. Talia and I used to be so bad when we were little — like, ‘you didn’t invent fish, Liandor!’ when they were doing anything like that. It sort of became a joke amongst us kids.”
"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]
"That's absolutely wonderful." Tomhas shook his head slightly. "Getting up to mischief as a kid seems like so much fun."
"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
“It really was,” Ky said with a grin, entirely missing the way he’d phrased it and therefore offered a story instead of sympathy. “I used to be so bad. I’d come up with ideas and convince my friends to do it instead of me so I wouldn’t get in trouble. But then everyone realized I was the one coming up with the ideas so I’d still get chastised. And then I wouldn’t even have to have anything at all to get blamed. Like, even if I didn’t have anything to do with a prank the adults wouldn’t believe that it hadn’t been my idea.” She grinned, suddenly looking much more like a mischievous kid more than a half grown girl trying far too hard to be a grown up like she normally did. “I could be quite creative.”
"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]
(Hehe, it's easy to miss trauma statements when there's trauma everywhere)
"Oh really? What sorts of pranks did you pull and should I be worried?" He returned the grin.
"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’m not like that anymore!” she said hastily — then realized he was joking and offered a sheepish grin. “But once we convinced my friends little brother that we did a magic trick and couldn’t see him anymore. Had all the other kids in on it.”
"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]
Tomhas chuckled. "A useful magic trick! Poor kid." He wished that was a real thing, actually. It would make so many things in life easier.
"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
“Yeah, his mama wasn’t happy with us,” Ky laughed. “But we gave him a cookie after so he was okay… a stolen cookie, but still.”
"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]
"Cookies make everything better, in my experience. Maybe I should have grabbed some from the kitchen." His appetite was slowly recovering even as he spoke.
"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
“Cookies before breakfast,” Ky tsked with a grin. At this rate, she wasn’t sure if she was going to make it to breakfast. The pain was starting to dissipate, taking with it her motivation to stay awake.
"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]
"This is my house; we can do what we like! Want me to grab some?"
"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
"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]
Tomah got to his feet. "Back in a jiff! Sit tight and try not to fall asleep." He headed out once more, a bit more spring in his step this time.
"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
Ky watched him go, sinking further back into the sofa. She felt more alive now than she had the first time he left. And her arm wasn't hurting anymore, which was nice. But her eyelids were starting to get heavy and her eyes felt grainy and each blink was a bit slower than the last.
"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]
Tomhas was gone about ten minutes before he returned with a neatly put-together plate of different cookie types. "Sebastian was kind enough to arrange this for me," he said as he stepped in, setting the plate on the table between them.
"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 was weeping as much for him as her; we do sometimes pity creatures that have none of the feeling either for themselves or others. — Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights
