[log] Noisy Black, Part One [closed]

[snowblindmods]

Characters: anyone who signed up for the Noisy Black event
Location: an office building
Date: Morning and Day 260
Summary: You wake up in a room.
Warnings: nothing of note for this part, please note any specific things that happen in the comment sections of your posts

Sinners Top Level
Converted Top Level

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[thewarningafter]

"I haven't been home much since...my career change," admits Stephen, troubled by the thought. He'd scared Christine nearly out of her mind -- no, best not think about Christine; those thoughts lead to the nightmare version of her he's seen in this godforsaken town. "Probably not going back to most of my old circles anytime soon."

[sleight_of_fate]

"I get that. I kinda feel like here, I'm about as far from home as I was before. Maybe that's why I'm taking it so well?" He plucks at the hem of his hospital gown, gives a wry smile before he glances up again.

"I'm mostly trying to be optimistic. New things. Might mean I come off as dumb as a sack of doorknobs, but thinking about the past doesn't change anything, you know?" He huffs a sigh, rubbing his fingers together. He wishes he had a smoke, but he's probably never going to find his particular choice of habit here. Oh well. "Just gotta keep moving, because otherwise you're just gonna...stop, and not go anywhere, and that's not going to do you any good, either."

[thewarningafter]

"Normally I'd agree, but I can see a bit of a challenge when it comes to keeping moving at the moment."

This talk has helped keep Stephen calm, but there's only so calm a person can be while locked in a tiny cell awaiting...something.

[sleight_of_fate]

Rhys sighs quietly, gazing around at the bars.

"Yeah. It's not even like prison, where there's an ecology of its own. Here, you just...wait." He realizes that sounds ominous, so he adds, "Keep our strength up, and, as fucked up as it is, it has been good to see people face to face. Makes me feel a little less out-there, less like I'm hanging in the middle of nothing, at least."

[thewarningafter]

"I forget," shrugs Stephen. "I've met up with people now and then but mostly...mostly it's just been me the last couple of months. I hate to say you get used to it, because you don't really, but...."

[sleight_of_fate]

"Yeah. They say you can get used to anything, and you kind of do, in a way, but...never completely. There's always a part of you that holds out." Waiting to wake up one day and find everything gone back to normal. To find everything sane again.

He smiles weakly, rubbing at his tattooed wrist with his other hand. "You either cope with it, or you don't, though. That's kind of a simple choice at the end of the day."

[thewarningafter]

Stephen lets out a hollow laugh. "Haven't always been so good at that," he admits. He rubs his sore hands as he pushes himself upright and starts pacing his cell again. "Tell you what, though, I'd take the solitude over this."

He's back to inspecting his cage for god knows what iteration, distracted by the effort.

[sleight_of_fate]

Rhys feels that hollow laugh down to his bones, and he can only echo it, with nothing else to add to it. Because Stephen is right, and while the forced companionship is strangely comforting, absolutely nothing else about the situation is.

"Yeah. Can't argue with you, there."

He falls silent, too, plucking at the slowly shredding hem of his gown and waiting for something to break the awkward stretch of silence that follows.