[ squinting in “adrian has sent me 400 links about dnd” ]
that sucks
[ he recalls how armand limped past him in the moonlight, pain alighting his unsettling eyes. then, he thinks about every broken bone he’s ever had, including the last. re-set by the same hand that would feel the agony anew, sans morphine drip. ]
I’ve been a healer for years. It’s never felt like this.
[ the compulsion to break just so she can set a bone right. the way she wakes in the night to something moving under her skin, trying to make a home in her where there isn’t one. ]
They toy with us here. But I’m sure you’ve gathered that by now, tender boy.
[ the recruiter, asking him half out of his mind if he wanted to be better. val, with her hand on his, telling him how good he could be if he listened to her, if he trusted her — ]
[ overall, he gets the distinct impression both stephen and shadowheart think higher of themselves — and tony — than other people. it’s in the way they talk to him (and about the tenders in general). like he’s the unstable variable, when this whole place is the powder keg. made more dangerous by the secrets they’re keeping. the way they’ve started to think like the locals. the swiftness with which they try to claw back control or dole out threats.
— or maybe they’re just weird assholes. ]
i’m not here to fuck with him or your whole thing i’m just trying to get by
[ It’s a simpler creature than that, for Shadowheart: she doesn’t trust people. Didn’t trust Stephen and Tony before their bonds, and now—
It scares her how much she needs them. Saber, too, only gaining any clarity around that need when she’s away from him, but that comes with its own pain.
Everything hurts, and it hurts that Tony’s been opaque about the parameters of whatever this is with her and Stephen, while Bob’s allowed something like clarity. A boy who’s been told he can say no to them before she’d ever asked for anything. ]
Right. What do you imagine our “whole thing” to be?
[ so he’s pointedly not thinking hard enough to imagine anything. like, are you still married if you die and resurrect, or — ]
i already got a master but she’s an executioner, so they have her busy all day this way, if i’m doing stupid errands for him, other people can’t make me do worse and i’m not stuck kneeling and going out of my mind waiting for orders
[ which is, he thinks, heroic in a small way, like yelena taking the time to be kind to him in the vault. he won’t forget it. plenty of people haven’t tried to help the tenders. ]
the last thing i want to do is cause problems for him
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
depends on how you treat your errand boys and girls
[ like pieces of furniture, or. ]
1/2
no subject
no subject
don’t know anybody sorry
i just showed up
[ aha.
the mention of pain snags his attention, however. ]
what’s your job again?
no subject
cw refs to injuries / breaks
that sucks
[ he recalls how armand limped past him in the moonlight, pain alighting his unsettling eyes. then, he thinks about every broken bone he’s ever had, including the last. re-set by the same hand that would feel the agony anew, sans morphine drip. ]
they got any extra strength tylenol here?
cw light body horror
I suspect that’s what we’re meant to be.
I’ve been a healer for years. It’s never felt like this.
[ the compulsion to break just so she can set a bone right. the way she wakes in the night to something moving under her skin, trying to make a home in her where there isn’t one. ]
They toy with us here. But I’m sure you’ve gathered that by now, tender boy.
no subject
[ the recruiter, asking him half out of his mind if he wanted to be better. val, with her hand on his, telling him how good he could be if he listened to her, if he trusted her — ]
the collar just lets them be obvious about it
no subject
I’m glad Tony is kind to you, then.
Compulsion or no, I hope you’ll continue to treat him with the same kindness.
I’ll know if you don’t.
no subject
— or maybe they’re just weird assholes. ]
i’m not here to fuck with him
or your whole thing
i’m just trying to get by
[ i literally have my own problems ]
no subject
It scares her how much she needs them. Saber, too, only gaining any clarity around that need when she’s away from him, but that comes with its own pain.
Everything hurts, and it hurts that Tony’s been opaque about the parameters of whatever this is with her and Stephen, while Bob’s allowed something like clarity. A boy who’s been told he can say no to them before she’d ever asked for anything. ]
Right. What do you imagine our “whole thing” to be?
no subject
none of my business
[ so he’s pointedly not thinking hard enough to imagine anything. like, are you still married if you die and resurrect, or — ]
i already got a master
but she’s an executioner, so they have her busy all day
this way, if i’m doing stupid errands for him, other people can’t make me do worse
and i’m not stuck kneeling and going out of my mind waiting for orders
[ which is, he thinks, heroic in a small way, like yelena taking the time to be kind to him in the vault. he won’t forget it. plenty of people haven’t tried to help the tenders. ]
the last thing i want to do is cause problems for him