[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

cw: suicidal ideation

[bywolves]

[ Royce makes another sound, something softer. It's the general cadence of it's okay. He figures Alfie will understand. ]

Want death. [ His breath hitches again - still crying, quietly. He really does. He doesn't think he'll get it. ] Forgetting. Fed from bag.

[devoutish]

It'll end. It's likely to end very, very soon; it's been days, now.

[bywolves]

[ He's trying to pull himself together, it's just... hard. ]

How many?

[devoutish]

Today is the fourth.

[bywolves]

[ Four days. It's all blurred together. Royce just lays there, catching his breath, and then, sluggishly: ] You sleep.

[ He's terrified of forgetting. But Alfie needs to sleep. ]

[devoutish]

I slept already. I'm gonna be walking in a couple of hours.

[bywolves]

Time?

[devoutish]

Nearly five.

[bywolves]

Morning? [ He can't tell. ]

[devoutish]

Mm. Morning.

When the doors unlock, I'll continue on through the area with all the flats. It's difficult walking, but I'm nearly there.

[bywolves]

Careful. [ He knows Alfie will be. Still. ] Safe.

[ He's so glad this isn't happening to Alfie. ]

[devoutish]

[Yeah, speaking of that...]

Course I will.

I wish this weren't happening to you.

[bywolves]

[ There's a part of him that thinks maybe he deserves it. He doesn't voice that. ]

Only four days. [ He knows - he's pretty sure he had something worse. He can't remember what happened to him. ]

[devoutish]

Four days is bad enough, Royce.

[bywolves]

[ Royce. He's Royce. He taps it absently to himself, thinking the letters. Absorbing them. He very slowly tries to arrange his robe closer. He can't, very well. ]

Think been thru wrse.

[devoutish]

You have.

[Alfie hesitates, quickly thinking over whether or not he wants to get into this right now. He doesn't want Royce to dwell on bad memories, but knowing that he's survived torture before...]

You've been through Manzant Prison. The salt mines.

[bywolves]

[ Right. Right - Manzant. Royce shudders, breath catching. Fuck. He remembers Manzant. It's hard not to. His breathing just doesn't recover - it's uneven and shivery. ]

Had hands. Then. [ He's not sure he's going with that but. ]

[devoutish]

Your hands will be back soon.

[bywolves]

No. [ Don't lie to him, he thinks. ] Die first.

[devoutish]

You don't know they won't. History says it's likely they will.

[bywolves]

[ He's already shaking his head. ]

Broke arm. [ Remember? The monster broke his arm and it didn't just reset. It's amazing that he can remember everything about Norfinbury and yet, not... home. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie counters:]

The night at the hotel.

[bywolves]

Died then.

[devoutish]

But did we really? We didn't revive in the morgue. We didn't have death prices.

All I mean to say is, don't give up hope just yet.

[bywolves]

[ It's easy, Royce thinks, for this guy to say. A beat. For Solomons to say. Alfie. Alfie.

Royce doesn't answer. He can't give up hope he didn't have to begin with. ]