[ There's a slight relaxation, just a little easing of tension. Good. Just a warning. Not that it's really that much better, what with that it's already eaten, but at least there's no brutal grotesquerie waiting to happen. At least not in this memory, he supposes. Who knows what'll happen in the next one?
And yet there they are, swearing to keep fighting the good fight. Byerly is frightened by the thought of the next memory, and he has the advantage of knowing that Richie comes through it all right. These children in the past, trembling and cold and impossibly, chillingly endangered - they have no way of knowing they'll survive. And yet they're still fighting.
It's a funny thing. Byerly has been thinking of Richie as soft. Hell, he's certainly been treating him as soft. And for what reason? Because he's from Earth, instead of hardscrabble Barrayar? Because he's loudmouthed and absurd? Because he works in entertainment, rather than serving whatever his planet's version of ImpSec is? But this horror is so far beyond anything Byerly ever went through that he can't even fathom it. Facing it would have taken more courage than By has ever had in his life. Fuck's sake, By's never even shown up when he's been challenged to a duel. The fact that Richie went through this, and kept going through it, and stood firm all the while - It makes Byerly feel ashamed.
He turns away from the group, runs a hand through his hair. Asks Richie - ]
Why was it afraid of you? How did you all survive it?
no subject
[ There's a slight relaxation, just a little easing of tension. Good. Just a warning. Not that it's really that much better, what with that it's already eaten, but at least there's no brutal grotesquerie waiting to happen. At least not in this memory, he supposes. Who knows what'll happen in the next one?
And yet there they are, swearing to keep fighting the good fight. Byerly is frightened by the thought of the next memory, and he has the advantage of knowing that Richie comes through it all right. These children in the past, trembling and cold and impossibly, chillingly endangered - they have no way of knowing they'll survive. And yet they're still fighting.
It's a funny thing. Byerly has been thinking of Richie as soft. Hell, he's certainly been treating him as soft. And for what reason? Because he's from Earth, instead of hardscrabble Barrayar? Because he's loudmouthed and absurd? Because he works in entertainment, rather than serving whatever his planet's version of ImpSec is? But this horror is so far beyond anything Byerly ever went through that he can't even fathom it. Facing it would have taken more courage than By has ever had in his life. Fuck's sake, By's never even shown up when he's been challenged to a duel. The fact that Richie went through this, and kept going through it, and stood firm all the while - It makes Byerly feel ashamed.
He turns away from the group, runs a hand through his hair. Asks Richie - ]
Why was it afraid of you? How did you all survive it?