[Punishment set something thrumming insistent and angry in Yuan, this concept.]
The customary punishment would be death.
[A flat nail of a declaration. Something pounds behind Yuan's eyes. How-- dare he. Yuan is going to have to write to families, to spouses and children, and lie; he is going to have to carry the weight of knowing this could have been avoided if he had the hard heart he's meant to. If, if, if.]
[How dare Kratos give this mess to Yuan and bare his throat as though it is nobility. Even in this he is acting as though Yuan is his master, ceding control and fate and life and trusting that it will be taken care of.]
[And Yuan knows, already, somewhere in the thorny mess of possessive vines he calls a heart, that he will not be able to cut this thread short. Bile burns at the back of his throat. Yuan turns around; he cannot look right now.]
[He wants to leave. He wants to-- He can't; he has duties.]
Get out.
[He leans over, hands braced flat on either side of the little collection of clan-tokens. It is very difficult to make himself add:]
I expect you to be alive and unmaimed when I see you again. Remember that your life belongs to me. Now get. Out.
no subject
[Punishment set something thrumming insistent and angry in Yuan, this concept.]
The customary punishment would be death.
[A flat nail of a declaration. Something pounds behind Yuan's eyes. How-- dare he. Yuan is going to have to write to families, to spouses and children, and lie; he is going to have to carry the weight of knowing this could have been avoided if he had the hard heart he's meant to. If, if, if.]
[How dare Kratos give this mess to Yuan and bare his throat as though it is nobility. Even in this he is acting as though Yuan is his master, ceding control and fate and life and trusting that it will be taken care of.]
[And Yuan knows, already, somewhere in the thorny mess of possessive vines he calls a heart, that he will not be able to cut this thread short. Bile burns at the back of his throat. Yuan turns around; he cannot look right now.]
[He wants to leave. He wants to-- He can't; he has duties.]
Get out.
[He leans over, hands braced flat on either side of the little collection of clan-tokens. It is very difficult to make himself add:]
I expect you to be alive and unmaimed when I see you again. Remember that your life belongs to me. Now get. Out.