[network] Noisy Black, Part Three [open] [horror/surgery effects/note specifics please]

[snowblindmods]

[Talk to the sinners. Plan a way in. Plan a way out.]

Comments

[bywolves]

[ Okay. Royce closes his eyes again. He mumbles something that sounds like his own name, though he can't quite get the whole thing out. And then, after a second, laboriously: ] Alfie.

[devoutish]

Yeah. That's me. Alfie and Royce.

[bywolves]

[ Alfie and Royce in Norfinbury. Right. He clings a little to that, trying to clear the fog from his head a little desperately. ] Hard. Remember.

[devoutish]

You're in Norfinbury, but you're from Elan. There's no prophet there, or need to convert. Are you hearing me?

[bywolves]

[ Royce's breathing picks up on the other end. He's a little panicky, because he doesn't want to forget. He needs to fight. ]

Elan. [ He taps, deliberate. Home. ] Hearing you.

[devoutish]

Yeah. That's it.

[He'd even spelled it right, too! Good job, Royce.]

Do you remember your daughter's name?

[bywolves]

[ Yes. Yes, he remembers - he remembers her name almost more than he remembers his own. Quickly as he can manage: ] Mercy.

[ He remembers Mercy. ]

[devoutish]

Good. You remember that, no matter what happens.

[Alfie's confident that he will.]

And when you-- when you get out of there, in one way or another, you'll come to me.

[bywolves]

[ Mercy. Mercy, Mercy. He drills that in his head, over and over. He can't forget her. She's the whole reason he needs to get out of this place. Royce digs the ruined stumps of his fingers into his tablet, gasping with the pain. Focus. ]

OK. [ Focus. ]

[devoutish]

Yeah. Keep that in your head, too.

[He hums a couple more bars of "September".]

[bywolves]

[ Royce hums too - tries to keep up and sort of just falters, at the end. He's so tired, and the fog is tempting. ]

[devoutish]

I'm gonna stay here with you, mm? Like I have been.

[He'll talk until his throat is hoarse.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce nods, and then remembers Alfie can't see him. ]

Mmm. [ Royce hums, softer, petting at the tablet absently. ] Thank you.

[devoutish]

Yeah. Tap if you start forgetting things.

[He'll continually remind him even if he doesn't, but.]

[bywolves]

[ He doesn't tap for a while. He doesn't say anything, or make much noise - he falls asleep, eventually, somehow. Not for long. He can't, not when it hurts like it does, and not when there's nightmares, not when he relives the surgery in his sleep. ]