[The silence wasn't unexpected, not when he was coming to know how much Richard was an internalized person. This must have been what was like for many who had attempted to get him to open up and speak on matters beyond business and the lifelong goals he had taken on. He didn't like to speak on personal matters. Yet, he didn't press when there was no answer; instead, he stepped in and pressed his lips against Richard's temple, holding the gesture a few seconds.
And then he simply moved on with the conversation. It was somewhat of a strange situation to find himself listening to what it was to have a wife; it sounded like an abstract Piltover. How bored would a woman be maintaining serving staff and providing education to children? For him where family was more of a choice than blood, this was a foreign concept.] So, you have a marriage, but she doesn't have power? Where I'm from that would earn the other being gutted in the streets. It's so... strange to hear that power dynamic exists. Are all women so restricted?
[Perhaps this was yet another reason for Richard to hide his differences. He had come to understand that a body type like that had earned the younger man the label of demon, and from a deeply religious society, that was problematic. It was no wonder he found Richard so attractive; that kind of adversity and secrecy built character (even if it was the wrong kind).] Agreed. Respect and fear are perhaps balances to power; people have to think you can elevate them with out or destroy them along the way if they do not perform as you expect of yourself and them.
[His hands slid down the front of Richard's body before he grasped one of the younger man's hands.] I have contingencies for those destructive tendencies. I have what the people need to succeed, to feel powerful when all their lives they have been made to feel weak and unwanted, to make other people afraid. [He tugged Richard's hand and took them around an aisle with large growing fruit trees until they came upon the wide and expansive strawberry patch.]
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branchandroot
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Date: 2024-08-06 01:13 am (UTC)And then he simply moved on with the conversation. It was somewhat of a strange situation to find himself listening to what it was to have a wife; it sounded like an abstract Piltover. How bored would a woman be maintaining serving staff and providing education to children? For him where family was more of a choice than blood, this was a foreign concept.] So, you have a marriage, but she doesn't have power? Where I'm from that would earn the other being gutted in the streets. It's so... strange to hear that power dynamic exists. Are all women so restricted?
[Perhaps this was yet another reason for Richard to hide his differences. He had come to understand that a body type like that had earned the younger man the label of demon, and from a deeply religious society, that was problematic. It was no wonder he found Richard so attractive; that kind of adversity and secrecy built character (even if it was the wrong kind).] Agreed. Respect and fear are perhaps balances to power; people have to think you can elevate them with out or destroy them along the way if they do not perform as you expect of yourself and them.
[His hands slid down the front of Richard's body before he grasped one of the younger man's hands.] I have contingencies for those destructive tendencies. I have what the people need to succeed, to feel powerful when all their lives they have been made to feel weak and unwanted, to make other people afraid. [He tugged Richard's hand and took them around an aisle with large growing fruit trees until they came upon the wide and expansive strawberry patch.]