No, it's enough. [ He's gone and made this kind of awkward, he realizes, but there's no walking it back now. ] ...I mean here. In the Fortress. Everything's fine?
[ What is this, honestly? Why is the sight of some kid's skinny waist making him...? Worried, he admits privately. He's worried. And that takes him right back to the uncomfortable waters tread in their argument before: that maybe there's a dimension of personal investment in this, a shade of concern he might not have for other inmates. There are no favors in Meropide, he had told Lyney. There are no favorites, either. He's firm on that.
...He's asked others the same thing. How they're faring. This is no different, he tells himself. What's different is that the two of them have clashed in ways that Wriothesley typically doesn't with his prisoners. And that's why Lyney might hold back if something were to happen. It's his job to patch that over--to let the boy know he can be an ally as much as an adversary. That things can be fixed here, so long as Wriothesley is given the opportunity to do so. ]
no subject
[ What is this, honestly? Why is the sight of some kid's skinny waist making him...? Worried, he admits privately. He's worried. And that takes him right back to the uncomfortable waters tread in their argument before: that maybe there's a dimension of personal investment in this, a shade of concern he might not have for other inmates. There are no favors in Meropide, he had told Lyney. There are no favorites, either. He's firm on that.
...He's asked others the same thing. How they're faring. This is no different, he tells himself. What's different is that the two of them have clashed in ways that Wriothesley typically doesn't with his prisoners. And that's why Lyney might hold back if something were to happen. It's his job to patch that over--to let the boy know he can be an ally as much as an adversary. That things can be fixed here, so long as Wriothesley is given the opportunity to do so. ]