[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

[bywolves]

I'm - it's happening faster for me. [ Royce is pretty sure. ] It's in my head already.

[devoutish]

I'm not gonna kill you. No.

[bywolves]

[ Royce lets out a frustrated sound, clawing at the wall. ] Then I'll do it myself.

[ He will not allow himself to become an anomaly forever. That's how he feels like it's going to end. Slow transformation, slowly losing everything he can remember and then skittering through houses in search of humans he can murder day in and out. It's not going to happen. ]

cw: suicide talk

[devoutish]

What are you gonna do, then?

[His fingers start to curl instinctively into fists, but he has to stop when it actually hurts.]

Slit your throat with those claws?

cw: suicide talk

[bywolves]

If I have to. [ His voice drips with that static, white noise fuzz. ] I won't be what they are.

[devoutish]

[Alfie's quiet for a few tense moments.]

Fine. Yeah. If it gets to that point, I'll do it.

[bywolves]

[ And with that, Royce slowly eases up. He rests his head against the wall. ]

Thank you. [ He murmurs. The sigh he lets out is relieved. ]

[devoutish]

But I'm gonna do all that I can to keep you from getting to that point, Royce. Do you understand? I'm not gonna let up on you.

[bywolves]

I know. [ He looks up at Alfie, his yellow eyes glowing faintly. ] I don't want you to have to make that decision.

[devoutish]

Can't be helped.

[He settles back against the wall, taking an extra blanket for himself.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce is quiet for a while, staring at the wall above Alfie's head. ]

Do you feel it? The fog. [ Royce asks, almost absently. ] I couldn't remember my own name, earlier. Just for a moment.

[devoutish]

Not yet. Not much.

[A little, but nowhere near the extent that Royce is feeling it.]

I suppose it's coming.

[bywolves]

It'll be like last time. [ Royce says, almost like Alfie didn't say anything. ] I lost. The anomaly won. I was there but wasn't there.

[devoutish]

Who's gonna kill me, then, if I've killed you?

cw: suicide talk

[bywolves]

[ He frowns, and it's a horrifying sight, with his too long mouth and sharp, sharp teeth. He keeps having to claw at the wall, at the floor, like a kneading cat. It keeps him centered. ]

I can do it for you first. [ Royce says finally, voice unsteady. ] And then me. I think I could rip out my own throat if I tried.

[devoutish]

I'm going more slowly. How would that work?

[bywolves]

I don't know. [ But he'd do it. A beat. ] Fiona. Ask her.

"I'm going to bed" i said "it's 3am" i said I should know myself better by now tbh

[devoutish]

She's an anomaly, Royce.

LMAO iddy please

[bywolves]

Oh. [ Right. He forgot. ] You can't ask Gwen, either.

Watson. I can ask him.

[devoutish]

No, no. We can't do that.

Never mind, eh? Doesn't matter.

[bywolves]

[ Never mind, Alfie says, but it's all Royce can think about for the next hour. He doesn't talk much, lost in his own head. And the next time Alfie tries to talk to him, he doesn't reply. ]

[devoutish]

[So Alfie leans over and lives him a little shove with the palm of his hand, doing his best to keep the claws out of the way.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce makes a noise, something disgruntled and annoyed, and actually crawls away. Not on his hands and knees, but in a way that doesn't make physical sense for a human to be able to do. He drops down and his joints bend unnaturally, his legs actually cracking and snapping as they reverse direction, bending like a wolf's legs. He skitters way, way too fast across the room. ]

[devoutish]

[Well, that's freaky as fuck. It doesn't stop Alfie from clenching his teeth and following, though.]

Royce, look at me now. Fucking look at me.

[bywolves]

[ He ignores Alfie, curling up on the opposite side of the room. He's cold, but it doesn't bother him anymore. Once he's settled, though - once he's laid out on the floor like a wolf with its head on its paws, he looks up at Alfie. No recognition. He stares, and then growls, low. ]