Her stomach trailed on the ground behind them, heart pounding in her ears.
"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
“Come in?” Tadaaki said weakly. He’d been kicking himself ever since Ash left. He was a fucking idiot.
Ky paled as she heard his voice, a chill running through her as her gaze locked on Ash. You’re not in any trouble. Well, that clearly wasn’t true. She tried to work out which way this was going to go. If she wasn’t in trouble, did that mean Tadaaki was and part of his punishment was watching her get hurt? Maybe. Why else would they bring her 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]
Gaius entered. "Have a seat, Ky," he said, taking a seat himself in the same chair he had sat in before. "Close the door behind 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
Ky assessed the room quickly, heart racing in her ears.
Only Tadaaki was in here.
He seemed fine.
… for now.
She felt ill.
But she obediently closed the door and strode to one of the chairs. She supposed it was nice he was sitting this time, too. It felt ever so slightly less threatening even though this was still very, very scary.
Tadaaki was standing at the foot of his bed. “I’m so sorry.”
Ky glanced at him, then at Ash, then obediently sat down. Okay. So he had messed up. Fine. She’d fix it. She just had to… be smart. Explore what he’d done to see how to fix it for him. They’d be fine.
"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]
"It has come to my attention, not entirely unsurprisingly, that you have all been lying to me," Gaius began. "Not only that, it would appear you and Aleth, Ky, are spies for Lord Tarr. I understand Aleth coerced you into 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
Ky had set her face to be sure her expression would be neutral no matter what he said… but… well. That was enough to make her eyes go wide as they snapped to Tadaaki.
Ky swallowed hard and looked back at Ash warily. ‘You and Aleth’ — that was good. He excluded Tadaaki from it. Perhaps one of them would stay out of the torture chamber. Good. Tadaaki was the best person to get a pass.
No point in denying it at this point. “…yes sir.”
"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 glanced at Tadaaki, wondering what he’d said, then back to Ash. “…if we’re being generous, I… suppose you could say that.”
"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
“…yes sir.” Ky dipped her head. Well. They had been. Now they were just dead men walking.
"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
“… we were to pose as escaped slaves. Earn enough trust to be unsupervised and pick up as much as we could. I don’t know how he was planning on getting it out, sir. I was to report to him and he was going to handle the rest…sir.”
"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]
Gaius nodded slightly. "Well, he doesn't know that your cover is blown yet and I'd like to keep it that way for now. Once he heals up I'll have him moved to the dungeon. You two will remain up here but don't think I trust 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
“…yessir.” Ky glanced over at Tadaaki, then back at Ash.
She didn’t understand what that meant. They were to be locked in their rooms until Aleth was healed enough for them to all be moved to the dungeon? Why wait? Make it an equitable amount of time in the dungeon together? That seemed an odd way to approach capital punishment. She hesitated. She felt like she shouldn’t ask for clarification — it’d probably irritate him having to explain himself — but, well. What was he going to do? Kill her? Old news at this point.
“… I’m sorry, I’m not quite sure I understand, sir,” she said at last, voice quiet.
"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]
