[log] gangsters and golems third edition [closed]

[devoutish]

Characters: Alfie Solomons, Ecks, Royce Melborn
Location: the maintenance tunnels
Date: evening of 400
Summary: creys times a thousand
Warnings: n/a; will edit if anything comes up

IT'S A FREE-FOR-ALL GO NUTS

Comments

[bywolves]

[ It's dark in the tunnels, and Royce is exhausted, despite having slept a whole lot of the last few days. He's not sure it's even physical exhaustion so much - emotional exhaustion and the depression and pain rearing up. He knows he worries Ecks, and he tries very hard to actually exist when she's awake. Interact. It'd just be so much easier to shut down entirely, like he wants to. Like he did in Manzant, shut down everything and just survive.

He forces himself to quietly talk to Ecks, to ask her how she's doing, to tell her if she needs to rest she only needs to tell him to stop and sit down. She's good to him, asking him what he needs, and he's glad that he trusted her with this.

They get word from Alfie that he'll be along soon, and Royce asks Ecks if they can just sit down for a bit, wait for him to get there. That's where they'll be, in a tunnel under the snow, their tablets just a faint bit of light around the camp they've set up. ]

[devoutish]

[Poor Ecks is going to get ignored at first, because when Alfie arrives, he goes straight to Royce. He drops his bags unceremoniously on the ground (with the harmonica gone, he trusts Ecks not to try to take anything) and drops to his knees, wrapping an arm around Royce's shoulders and pulling him against his chest.]

Are you all right?

[bywolves]

[ Royce practically melts into Alfie, but his arms don't come up to grab like they usually might. His breath hiccups, and he nods. ]

Fine. Tell me I can hug you. [ Because he wants to but he can't force his arms up. ]

[devoutish]

You can hug me.

[Alfie tightens his own grip a little more.]

You can do anything you like.

[bywolves]

[ Immediately, he reaches up to hold onto Alfie, holding him tightly. More tightly than maybe his frame suggests he can. For now, he can't manage words, just buries his face against Alfie's neck and lets himself fall apart for a while. No sobbing, no grand gestures of upset, just... the slight shake of his shoulders, and a damp spot against Alfie's shirt and coat.

It's muted. Distant. He hurts but it feels miles away, and he can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie mostly keeps quiet while Royce has his moment. He might murmur a s'all right once or twice, but generally he doesn't say anything that Royce might feel the need to respond to or answer. They can just sit like this. It's fine.]

[bywolves]

[ It's a long moment. They sit, and Royce wears himself out, and eventually just goes completely limp, staring at the ground. Another silence, until Royce whispers hoarsely: ] S'getting bad again. Sorry.

[devoutish]

Is it as bad as it was before?

[devoutish]

[Once he's got Royce, Alfie acknowledges Ecks to greet her and offer her some food, but he'll wait until Royce is asleep to try to talk to her properly. Once he has a conked-out Royce curled up against him, he motions her over.]

Ecks. Ecks, come here a moment.

[ecks]

[It has been nice having a friend to herself and it has been nice to re-learn that she can trust him and relax around him -- for real, not only in a memory of another life in which she did not murder him. She is used to existing in the background of reunions, but she still does not like it when Alfie and Royce ignore her for a time. It makes her remember that they're each other's friends first, and Royce is her friend second or third or fourth. But then, she did murder him.

She looks up from her tablet when Alfie speaks to her, setting it aside and tucking the stuffed animal she'd been holding in her lap in the crook of her bad arm (she's chosen a crow named Black Davesprite tonight) to come over beside him.]

Yes, Alfie Solomons?

[devoutish]

I am very, very grateful to you, Ecks. I owe you a great debt; do you know that?

[Carefully dislodging one arm from Royce's grip, he pulls his bag closer and feels around in it, searching.]

And I've got something for you.

[ecks]

...I did not know that. Is it because I kept Royce Melborn safe? I wanted to do that because I like him.

[Just accept the gratitude, Ecks, for fuck's sake.]

Is it ice cream?

[devoutish]

Yeah, and I'm grateful for it.

[It's not ice cream, but he hopes she likes it anyway - what he unearths is a wooden carving of a bear, small enough for her to hold in her hand. A fake animal!]

It isn't soft, but--

[ecks]

But it is a bear!

[Black Davesprite gets clenched closer under her arm so she can reach out with the other and take it, holding it up in front of her face for a good look. She's smiling. It almost looks natural on her now.]

[devoutish]

You like it?

[Though he barely even needs to ask, given the look on her face. It makes him smile a little, too.]

I've been holding onto that.

[ecks]

I will hold onto it now.

[She glances away from the bear just at the right moment to catch that little smile.]

...You do remember how to smile.

day 402

[devoutish]

[Alfie gives up on his tablet fairly early on, tossing it away from him in favor of crouching against the wall, hands over his ears. It does nothing, of course - the tinnitus is coming from inside him, as is the choppy, unintelligible voice that he can hear underneath it. The repetition is starting to drive him up the wall too, especially since he can never make out what Miller (that is Miller's voice, isn't it?) is saying. Eventually, he'll start muttering the only part that he can understand under his breath: Or don't. Or don't. Or don't.

He's not doing well.]

[bywolves]

[ Neither is Royce. He doesn't deal with sound like this very well, and there's no relief. It's just endless. He can't, it hurts, and he spends most of the day curled up on the floor in a ball, hands over his ears. His price has worn off just in time for this.

He shudders, groping at the floor for Ecks or Alfie. He doesn't know where they are, but he wants them close, and he can't... get it, he doesn't know how. ]

[devoutish]

[He finds Alfie's knee, at one point, and Alfie reaches out automatically, landing his hand on Royce's and holding it there. Hi.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce crawls closer, once he's got Alfie's hand. He holds it tightly, thoroughly disoriented, but it's that hand that manages to get him curled up against Alfie as much as he can, resting his head against Alfie's spine, biting his lips so hard it nearly bleeds. He wants to scream, but he knows it won't make a difference. ]

[devoutish]

Royce?

[He wiggles his hand in Royce's, trying to get a better grip.]

[bywolves]

I'm here. [ Royce says, trying to talk over the ringing in his ears. ]

[devoutish]

Can you hear it? Him?

[His voice, too, is unnaturally loud, though to Ecks and Royce, it'll probably still be a strain to hear.]

[bywolves]

Yeah. I hear both. [ Royce says, trying not to grit his teeth. ] It's loud, I can't - I can't hear what he's saying.

CORRECTION THIS SHOULD BE DAY 403

[devoutish]

^^^^