[ Why? Mal wants to ask. Who's it hurt? Unless you're lusting after the wrong person, maybe. But the other man eggs him on, and he scowls, shifting his grip on the knife. ]
Yes.
[ Four letters. Easy. A part of him suspects he's being patronized, the man choosing something so short not because he's afraid of the pain but to make it easy on Mal. But protesting now would just make him look like he's delaying longer. Like he is afraid.
And besides, he is secretly glad he doesn't have to carve out something as long as dereliction of duty.
He takes the other man's wrist in his left hand, holding him steady, and shifts the knife into position. There's a moment of hesitation. He's never hurt anyone on purpose like this before, not when he wasn't fighting them.
But it needs to be done. Four letters. Much less than what he'd done to Mal.
no subject
Yes.
[ Four letters. Easy. A part of him suspects he's being patronized, the man choosing something so short not because he's afraid of the pain but to make it easy on Mal. But protesting now would just make him look like he's delaying longer. Like he is afraid.
And besides, he is secretly glad he doesn't have to carve out something as long as dereliction of duty.
He takes the other man's wrist in his left hand, holding him steady, and shifts the knife into position. There's a moment of hesitation. He's never hurt anyone on purpose like this before, not when he wasn't fighting them.
But it needs to be done. Four letters. Much less than what he'd done to Mal.
He lowers the knife to skin, and starts to cut. ]