IC contact for wethelost

[devoutish]

Solomons & Melborn
1108 Sweet Cream Street

[Feel free to use this space for letter/package deliveries as well as visits/knocks on the front door!]

Comments

[devoutish]

[Alfie pauses in the doorway.]

You had a dream.

[It's both a statement and a question - he doesn't think Royce needs to be told, but he doesn't really need it confirmed for himself, either. He just wants the truth of it to hang in the air.]

[bywolves]

Mm. [ Deep breath. Slow breath. ] Nightmare.

[ He trusts Alfie enough to just skip being evasive. ] Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you up.

[devoutish]

Doesn't matter.

[Now he follows Royce in, trying the hand-on-shoulder thing again.]

Tell me about it?

[bywolves]

[ He's tense, but he allows it, now. His breathing is unsteady. ]

Gwen. [ Royce pointedly hides his face from Alfie once he's closer. ] It's always her, it doesn't change. Just worse, now.

[devoutish]

[Alfie sighs.]

I'm sorry, mate.

[bywolves]

It's fine. Go back to sleep. [ His hand digs into the wall, flexing and curling, relaxing, flexing, relaxing. ]

[devoutish]

I don't wanna leave you like this.

[bywolves]

[ Royce's shoulders hunch up around his ears. ]

I'm -- [ He pauses. His voice breaks just a little. ] I'll be fine. It. It was just vivid.

[devoutish]

Yeah.

[He gives his shoulder a squeeze.]

Come sit down, eh?

[bywolves]

[ Fine. Royce gestures vaguely towards the couch. You go first, Alfie. ]

[devoutish]

[He does, but he tries to tug Royce along with him.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce still refuses to look at him - it's probably because he's only just barely holding back tears, which he hates. He hates that this affects him so badly. But he goes where Alfie tugs him. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie sits next to him, close enough to lean.]

What was it I told you once? I don't judge you for having a voice that shakes sometimes?

[bywolves]

I know. [ I do not care if your voice shakes. He keeps looking away. ] I want to be past this. But I'm just now - feeling the weight of everything, and I can't --

[ Pause. Slow, steadying breath. ]

[devoutish]

I know, I know.

[He leans harder.]

Hasn't been long, has it.

[bywolves]

No. [ Royce sags a bit against Alfie. ] Only a few weeks. I keep - dreaming about killing her.

[devoutish]

[It's been longer than that - about two months, Alfie's pretty sure - but he doesn't correct him. When someone you love dies, eight weeks is just as too soon as three is.]

How often?

[bywolves]

Often. [ Royce mutters. ] Less, with the apathy. But that's coming back less and less. The poisoning.

[devoutish]

Mm. If it's a bad one and I don't wake up on my own, you wake me up, all right?

[bywolves]

You need sleep.

[devoutish]

I'll get enough sleep.

[bywolves]

[ He rests his head against Alfie's shoulder, turning his face to hide it. ]

I can handle it, Solomons.

[devoutish]

Yeah, sure. Didn't think you couldn't.

[He pillows his cheek against Royce's hair.]

All the same, though, eh?

[bywolves]

[ He's been trying really, really hard, this entire time, to stay dry-eyed. This used to be easier - he'd just let the numbness curl up in him and stay there. But now, it's - different. Now, everything at once wells up in him and he just lets out a shivery, sad noise.

When he closes his eyes he just replays it in his head. Remembers how it feels to run the knife along her neck. It wasn't her, but it was. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie lifts his arm and settles it around his shoulders, pulling him closer if he'll let him.]