Lyra shrugged. "It's my fault for saying yes. I knew Father needed help, so when he came to me with Tarr's offer..." She shook her head, face hardening.
"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
“Oh… I didn’t realize you’d gotten a choice in the matter,” Ky murmured. That was actually somehow a bit better. Tomhas should have — Ky tried to shake the thought away. It wasn’t her place to critique him. But she still would have thought Tomhas would reject the offer himself. Lyra was fourteen. Ky realized it might sound like she was victim blaming, which she didn’t mean to be, so she continued quickly, “but there’s no way at all you could have known… that either of you could have known… how bad it would be.” She took a breath and sighed softly. “The fault is Tarr’s, not yours. He’s the one who decided to be a…” There was no polite way to end that, and she tried her hardest not to curse unless it slipped out in anger. So she just trailed off instead.
"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]
Lyra stopped braiding her hair and wrapped her arms around herself. "I want to stop talking about this," she said softly. "I want to talk about something else."
"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
“Okay,” Ky said with a nod. “That’s reasonable.” She thought for a moment. “Do you like it here?”
"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]
Lyra nodded. "It's quieter here. And I spent the first year of my life here. I guess that counts for something."
"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
“That’s true,” Ky said with a nod. She wasn’t sure she was excited for that, honestly. Silence scared her ‘cause it screamed the truth. And she didn’t want much of that these days. Much better to distract herself with Loquitur chaos.
"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]
"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 nodded again. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if that was a positive or not. On one hand, it meant she’d have privacy. On the other, were all of her conversations here going to be purely academic? Would she have much conversation at all? Maybe she needed to get used to silence again. She was good at that. Out of sight out of mind unless she was needed. “That’s nice.”
(This is 100% unrelated but I had a random thought earlier that it could be fun to re-traumatize Ky by making her translate stuff from Aleth, after Gaius and Tomhas send people to raid the house. I don’t have any idea what Aleth’s diary might have in it but thinking about Michael’s had me curious lol)
"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]
She nodded. "And the kids our age are nice. Arril is a bit stuck-up, but he's alright. They talk more than the adults do, so you might like that."
"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]
"Yes. He's clever, but I never found him particularly interesting."
"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
“Fair enough.” Ky nodded. “Who is your favorite person here?”
"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]
Lyra snorted. "What a question! How am I supposed to choose, Ky? I love all these people like my family. Some of them are my family."
"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
“Sorry.” Ky blushed. “I meant of the kids our age. If Arril isn’t your favorite…” She shook her head, embarrassed. “Sorry. It was a dumb question.”
"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]
"Oh." Lyra thought for a moment. "Maybe Oria. She's the classic blacksmith type, strong and silent. She came here a couple years ago to start her apprenticeship; she has a lot of skill."
"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
