[Liem lets go of a long, slow breath as the last of the heat lingering in his throat takes up residence just below his ribs. The flask rests idly in his grasp, leaning against one knee, and when his face tips back towards Matt, his pale cheeks are kissed by the faintest suggestion of bruise-like grey-violet. But although the lines of his shoulders aren’t quite so tightly wound as when he first sat down, he doesn’t seem any more at ease. Instead, as the layers of cautious poise begin to loosen and slip askew, his bearing becomes increasingly forlorn.]

Haven’t you noticed that the Regent doesn’t seem to care for their people?

[Frustration has him toying restlessly with the flask in his hands. Sentiments like these are among the things that have drawn them here to enact their campaign of executions on Venera’s citizens, but how can he support such final judgements when the people who express those opinions are right?]

This world is the only one they have. The Regent might not yet be ready to cause its end, but… how can they show so little concern for the existences of those in their own domain?

I don’t know how I can believe any of their promises about a new Creation when they have so little regard for this one.