a thousand different answers swarm his head — the things that feel right to say, and the things that feel honest. rhys thinks of all the cruelties of the world he knows, a weighs them against the power of clara's chilly hand, nodding off into her touch with an idle nuzzle. because she's good. because she deserves a life undeterred by pain and suffering. because if anyone deserves peace, it's clara oswald.
which is all true, but rhysand is far more greedy than that. he squeezes a hand on her knee, watery purple eyes flickering between each of hers. )
Because you look at me like you aren't afraid of what you see. Because you don't say my name like it's an insult.
( dog and whore and monster and demon — it's the definition of who he is, it's what the world has decided he's synonyms with. not clara. she feeds him chocolates and doesn't know he'd spent the last fifty years of his life fucking the enemy — she doesn't know the horror he's seen, the trauma he's inflicted. she makes him feel like he's worthy of more than just an unmarked grave in the snow. )
And because you've always been kinder to me than I've deserved. I value kindness — it's in short supply where I'm from, yet it rolls off you in waves. It's like you're a diamond mine, made up of precious gems. Do you know how special you are, Queen Clara? Do you know what it means to me, that you let me be near you?
( why does he protect her? because she's his friend. because he has so few of them, he's capable of giving each and every one of them his everything. )
cw: brief sexual abuse mention
a thousand different answers swarm his head — the things that feel right to say, and the things that feel honest. rhys thinks of all the cruelties of the world he knows, a weighs them against the power of clara's chilly hand, nodding off into her touch with an idle nuzzle. because she's good. because she deserves a life undeterred by pain and suffering. because if anyone deserves peace, it's clara oswald.
which is all true, but rhysand is far more greedy than that. he squeezes a hand on her knee, watery purple eyes flickering between each of hers. )
Because you look at me like you aren't afraid of what you see. Because you don't say my name like it's an insult.
( dog and whore and monster and demon — it's the definition of who he is, it's what the world has decided he's synonyms with. not clara. she feeds him chocolates and doesn't know he'd spent the last fifty years of his life fucking the enemy — she doesn't know the horror he's seen, the trauma he's inflicted. she makes him feel like he's worthy of more than just an unmarked grave in the snow. )
And because you've always been kinder to me than I've deserved. I value kindness — it's in short supply where I'm from, yet it rolls off you in waves. It's like you're a diamond mine, made up of precious gems. Do you know how special you are, Queen Clara? Do you know what it means to me, that you let me be near you?
( why does he protect her? because she's his friend. because he has so few of them, he's capable of giving each and every one of them his everything. )