[The thing with the moment is that he never used to see adults he considered peers cry.]
[Ever.]
[Belos had never even fake cried for purposes of manipulation, none of the coven heads had cried. If Kiki had ever let him see her cry she'd probably have tried to kill him (again), and Lilith was too...Lilith to cry. (Until she quit the coven).]
[No, the adults he saw cry were the people he'd terrorized instead.]
[Witches falling on their knees and crying as their books of wild magic - sometimes handed down by beloved parents and grandparents and filled with the wisdom of generations of family - burned in front of them, at his orders, sometimes by his own staff. Family members crying when some wild witch or malcontent was dragged off at his orders to the Conformatorium, sometimes for the harmlessness of being odd, provided said oddness had been twisted into seeming like a threat to the Emperor. The Witches themselves crying as their Palismen were torn away from them - because of course they were confiscated. Couldn't let them keep them in prison.]
[(Confiscated, carried away, pressed into inky hands, until he could recognize the distinct sound of palistrom wood cracking by pitch and timbre, without even looking.)]
[That makes it even harder to see, not easier. He's got quite the backlog of empathizing to do and a heart that has a lot to make up for. And its boss is demanding mandatory overtime.]
[And she's one that he did try to find, before they ever met, tried to chase. Standing orders, for them all, hence the Wanted Posters. Ones that were only relaxed after she wound up powerless after her near-petrification. If he can't go back right now and make it up to the witches he terrorized, he can try to be kind to the one right in front of him that he would have terrorized given the chance.]
[There's a slightly shaky breath that she can hear behind her cereal box but not much other noise. And then the feeling of a clammy pale hand resting on her arm comfortingly, from the arm not in the sling. Despite his pain, despite the fact he's actually tilting a little bit as he stands there, he got up to try to comfort her.]
no subject
[Ever.]
[Belos had never even fake cried for purposes of manipulation, none of the coven heads had cried. If Kiki had ever let him see her cry she'd probably have tried to kill him (again), and Lilith was too...Lilith to cry. (Until she quit the coven).]
[No, the adults he saw cry were the people he'd terrorized instead.]
[Witches falling on their knees and crying as their books of wild magic - sometimes handed down by beloved parents and grandparents and filled with the wisdom of generations of family - burned in front of them, at his orders, sometimes by his own staff. Family members crying when some wild witch or malcontent was dragged off at his orders to the Conformatorium, sometimes for the harmlessness of being odd, provided said oddness had been twisted into seeming like a threat to the Emperor. The Witches themselves crying as their Palismen were torn away from them - because of course they were confiscated. Couldn't let them keep them in prison.]
[(Confiscated, carried away, pressed into inky hands, until he could recognize the distinct sound of palistrom wood cracking by pitch and timbre, without even looking.)]
[That makes it even harder to see, not easier. He's got quite the backlog of empathizing to do and a heart that has a lot to make up for. And its boss is demanding mandatory overtime.]
[And she's one that he did try to find, before they ever met, tried to chase. Standing orders, for them all, hence the Wanted Posters. Ones that were only relaxed after she wound up powerless after her near-petrification. If he can't go back right now and make it up to the witches he terrorized, he can try to be kind to the one right in front of him that he would have terrorized given the chance.]
[There's a slightly shaky breath that she can hear behind her cereal box but not much other noise. And then the feeling of a clammy pale hand resting on her arm comfortingly, from the arm not in the sling. Despite his pain, despite the fact he's actually tilting a little bit as he stands there, he got up to try to comfort her.]
You're right. That means we make it back.