[log] we wear red so they don't see us bleed [closed]

[bywolves]

Characters: Royce Melborn, Alfie Solomons
Location: Building 141
Date: Day 242, morning
Summary: Both boys are monsters, figuratively and literally.
Warnings: Body horror, possible gore, warnings for other things in subject headers

141: A post office, long-abandoned. There are a few empty white plastic bins where mail was once piled up, and the lobby area is still remarkably clean and polished. The back area isn't locked, so if you like you can go through the back and see the office with its locked safe and the back door that leads to the downtown area. Trees, impossibly tall men, and lots of Ⓧs have been drawn on the walls, along with ball-like things that are made up of tentacles and beaks and death and one circle in green crayon that's been scribbled over in charcoal.

Comments

[devoutish]

Have we got anything soft?

[bywolves]

[ Royce pulls his bag closer, carefully. ]

Bit of the bread is left.

[devoutish]

Not warm anymore.

[But he holds a hand out anyway.]

[bywolves]

No, but it's something. [ He hands over the bread, though he does take some for himself. ] Could be eating jerky.

[devoutish]

I think I could muscle through it with these teeth.

[bywolves]

Could probably muscle through anything with those teeth. Make sure that anything isn't me. [ It's a morbid joke, but hey. ]

[devoutish]

Well, we'll see how things go, eh? Don't do anything to fucking piss me off.

[He gives a wan smile. It's totally to hide the fact that he's scared, but he covers it up fairly well - it'll only be obvious if Royce looks too hard at his eyes.]

[bywolves]

No promises. [ Royce says dryly. He knows Alfie is scared just by measure of being around him all the time, but he doesn't say anything. Royce is scared too. ]

Going to try to sleep for a while before it's impossible.

[devoutish]

Think I'll stay up a bit. I'd rather see these changes as they come.

[He nods to the pile of blankets and pillows next to him.]

You sleep. I'll keep watch.

[bywolves]

Mm. [ As usual, it's Royce's quiet thank you. He carefully moves himself to the pile of blankets and lays down on them, closing his eyes. And he'll sleep. For a while.

A few hours pass, but towards the end of them, he starts to get restless. If Alfie's been watching, nothing extreme has been happening to Royce. On the outside, anyway. On the inside, things are shifting slowly but surely, and it's the cause of the way Royce starts to curl up, breathing a bit harsher in his sleep. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie watches this for about half an hour before he decides that he probably should wake him up. Rest is good, and he's happy that Royce is sleeping, but letting the man stew in nightmares seems cruel.]

Royce. Hey.

[He shifts to rest a knee against Royce'e back. He'd use his hand, but over the course of the past hour, his fingernails have started to grow into long, sharp claws.]

[bywolves]

[ He wakes up groggily, with a groan he can't stop. He aches fiercely, like growing pains but ten times worse. Like his joints are giving out, like his bones are dissolving slowly. He turns his head to press his face into the pillow to muffle himself, to try and adjust to the sensation enough so that he can sit up. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie lets his knee rest where it is, but doesn't press into him at all - he remembers what had happened last time.]

Getting worse?

[bywolves]

Of course. [ Royce mutters, taking a steadying breath. He pulls himself up slowly, gritting his teeth as he does. That hurts extra horribly - his teeth have gotten longer in his sleep, like razors. He manages to get himself up to lean heavily against the wall, almost panting as he finally looks up at Alfie. ]

You? [ He hasn't noticed the claws through the haze of pain. ]

[devoutish]

Careful of my hands.

[His voice is a little hoarse.]

They're, ah-- a bit sharper than normal.

[bywolves]

[ Oh. Well then. Royce frowns, staring at Alfie's hands. A long pause, as he registers and files it away, and then, quietly: ] I'm sorry.

[devoutish]

It's not forever. Eh? Not for either of us.

[And he hasn't been affected by the mental changes yet - the ones that he assumes are coming.

Knowing that and waiting is almost the worst part.]

[bywolves]

[ He curls in on himself, doing his best to keep himself quiet as the worst of it ebbs in and ebbs out. ]

Shouldn't be happening to begin with. [ He pauses to run his tongue along his teeth. Almost wryly, he bares them at Alfie (they're sharper, and... look almost rusted) and says: ] We match.

[devoutish]

[Alfie lets out a hoarse little laugh.]

Spending too much time together.

[bywolves]

[ Royce snorts, wrapping his arms around his waist. Give him a second. ]

Still don't know why it's this. [ A beat. ] That - that we're becoming. Why a cloak? Eve has a sense of humor, or.

[ He's having a bit of a hard time stringing sentences together, but he's trying anyway. ]

[devoutish]

You're always in that cloak. Has it become a part of you, or have you transformed into an extra one?

[Carefully, aware of his too-long, razor-sharp fingernails, he picks through the blankets, looking for Royce's cloak.]

[bywolves]

It was - it was sticking to me. Earlier. [ A pause, and then, gritted: ] It's still on me. I'm still wearing it. I'm afraid to see what's under it.

[devoutish]

Leave it on, then. It's all right.

[bywolves]

[ He pulls at it a bit regardless, though, and hisses when he tries to pull it from his skin. It's like yanking at hair, at something... attached. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie winces, and reaches for him automatically, but doesn't actually touch him.]

Royce.