[ Matt's expression dims as Sebastian goes on. It drains of most emotion, in fact, except a wan sort of horror. He's not surprised anymore by the cruelties of the world--sometimes at night, when he's lying in bed with loneliness spread around him like an occluding curtain, it's all he can think about. But it still hurts to hear.
(Sometimes he wants to ask the Regent, Did you used to take suffering personally? Did you feel everything wrong like a knife to the heart?)
He's too wrapped up in these thoughts to try to read Sebastian's face. But even if he made the effort, it's one thing to have an academic awareness that you're speaking to someone whose entire affect is a construct. Another to understand how to delve beneath its surface. ]
I see, [ Matt says after a long moment. ]
What was his question? I mean, apart from what you said about wanting revenge.
no subject
(Sometimes he wants to ask the Regent, Did you used to take suffering personally? Did you feel everything wrong like a knife to the heart?)
He's too wrapped up in these thoughts to try to read Sebastian's face. But even if he made the effort, it's one thing to have an academic awareness that you're speaking to someone whose entire affect is a construct. Another to understand how to delve beneath its surface. ]
I see, [ Matt says after a long moment. ]
What was his question? I mean, apart from what you said about wanting revenge.