[ For a moment, Carver just holds very still. Gaze fixed upon a distant horizon line because it's a sin to fidget when being tested and this has to be a test, just in a form he's never seen before, with strange rules. Everything is so goddamn strange and he's tired, deep in his soul, of everyone else looking at him funny for trying to make it all align to the old rules.
Stand up straight, Pope's voice hisses in his ear. I made you better than this.
The commander would have demanded something for this. A proof of devotion, of loyalty written into body and blood on the goddamn ground. He doesn't know what Harold and this Shaw want and that's the part that gets him: the not-knowing.
He could fail this test without realizing. ]
I haven't earned that, [ he replies softly. Eyes ahead, son. ] It's a sin to be greedy.
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Stand up straight, Pope's voice hisses in his ear. I made you better than this.
The commander would have demanded something for this. A proof of devotion, of loyalty written into body and blood on the goddamn ground. He doesn't know what Harold and this Shaw want and that's the part that gets him: the not-knowing.
He could fail this test without realizing. ]
I haven't earned that, [ he replies softly. Eyes ahead, son. ] It's a sin to be greedy.