[ Wash just watches him for a moment, maybe faintly amused by that disappointment in his expression, but mostly he's just kind of irritated, annoyed. Not because of Byerly not getting it, exactly, but because now he's in a position of explaining it, and he just. It's another touch too much to give away when Byerly's gotten so much already.

He relents, after a few moments. Mostly because they're trading, right, and he already has something to press on, later. ]

It doesn't matter if you can get out of any rope I tie you down in. It doesn't matter if while I'm choking you, you're trained enough to be lucid and conscious enough to do something like knee me in the stomach, or if you know how to disarm me even when I'm the one with a knife. The point is that you shouldn't have to rely on those things. You shouldn't have to rely on anything -- but me.

The point is for that surrender to be not just voluntary, but absolute.

[ For the control to be absolute, and honestly, more importantly? For the trust to be absolute. That matters to him. That's why he does this, even more than the thrill of inflicting pain or squeezing the air from someone's throat -- even though of course it's not like they play small parts. The trust just matters, most of all. ]

I'm sure you're very good at untying yourself, though.