[log] justin! he's punching all my blood out! [closed]

[bywolves]

Characters: Royce Melborn and Alfie Solomons
Location: House 12
Date: Day 351ish
Summary: We'll see if they both last the night, honestly.
Warnings: violence, extra stuff will be cw'd in the subject lines.

BUILDING 12: This bizarre house, while fully intact, only consists of one very large empty room and a hatch that leads to the maintenance tunnels.

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[bywolves]

[ Another pause. ]

... How long does this last?

[devoutish]

A few days, right, like I said. A week, at most.

[bywolves]

A week, and I'm gone.

[ He pulls his bag out from behind him, and starts going through it. He's scared. He's good at hiding it, and his voice is mild enough, but Alfie knows him well enough to spot the undertone. ]

A week, and I'm dead.

[devoutish]

No, no--

[This is where he'd reach out and pull Royce close to him, normally, but of course he's not going to do that now.]

A week and you remember some things you've forgotten.

[bywolves]

I haven't forgotten anything. I've been here two days.

In a week I'll be gone, and you'll have that shell of a being back. I hope that's what you want.

[devoutish]

No. You've forgotten a few years of your life, but you're still him. He's still you.

[bywolves]

[ Royce pulls out a few bags and cans of food, quiet, and starts to open one of the cans with his razor. He's not going to argue a point that Alfie can't understand. Alfie isn't facing this, so he doesn't know, Royce thinks. He doesn't know what that's going to feel like.

His identity, his sense of self - it's all he has, right now, in this point of his life. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie's quiet for a few minutes, too, but he'll be the one to speak up again next.]

You got angry, just a week ago. You yelled; you had fire in you. Those weren't the words of a shell.

[bywolves]

Even broken animals find a bit of fire in them sometimes. [ Royce says, almost dismissively. ]

You know about Merrick, so you must know where I've come from, right? [ The way he says Merrick is icy. ]

[devoutish]

Manzant. Yeah. And if that didn't break you forever, then neither will this.

[bywolves]

Hm. No, I don't think it broke me at all. Manzant. I found my way out not two weeks ago.

But I've seen what I look like here, in this place, and I don't know what happened, but it shattered whoever that is. That is not me. [ He shrugs, almost absently, munching on some of the canned fruit. It tastes awful, and he makes a face, putting the can aside. ]

[devoutish]

Sure it is. Yeah. The way you are normally - that is you, mate, and there's no escaping it. But you're not so shattered that you can't be patched up.

[bywolves]

[ Royce looks up at him, still under the hood. ]

You can discuss that optimistic outlook with the person who will be here in a week. For now, it's doing nothing.

[devoutish]

You're gonna sit and sulk, then? Is that it?

[bywolves]

No. [ That should be a familiar tone of voice - he's shutting down. ] I'm eating.

[devoutish]

As well as sulking.

[bywolves]

[ Don't rise to it. Don't rise to it. He's trying to get a reaction out of you, Royce thinks, pulling out a bag of chips. ]

Sure. [ His voice is measured, calm. ] How's that blood loss treating you?

[devoutish]

I want you to know--

[Pause.]

I want you to know, when you get your memories back, that I do not blame you for this.

[bywolves]

Oh, please, don't start. [ Royce says, thoroughly disgusted. ] Or I will end it, so I don't have to listen to you pity some sad, pathetic mir that'll take my place in a week.

[devoutish]

[Alfie laughs.]

And you think you're not a mir?

[bywolves]

[ He bristles, grip on his razor tight. ]

I have done everything possible to avoid being compared to one.

[devoutish]

You are one, and there's not a thing wrong with that.

[bywolves]

Do not - talk to me as if you know --

[ His voice drops into something furious. He stops. Breathes. ]

Don't go there. I don't want to hear anything from you about it.

[devoutish]

As if I know what? How the mir are seen on Elan? How they're treated?

[The fingers on his uninjured arm curl into a white-knuckled fist.]

Or as if I know how it is to be part of a hated and persecuted people? Is that what you were gonna say?

[bywolves]

[ There's a pause, as Royce works through that. He hates having someone know so much about him without knowing them as precisely in return. ]

That is what I was going to say. [ He hasn't looked far enough back to know. ]