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

[bywolves]

[ There's a pause, and Royce links his arm with Alfie, not making much more of a fuss than that. ]

Not starving here, either. Better than not starving. [ Mostly. Royce is still gunshy as far as food goes, here and there, but he's getting better. ]

[devoutish]

Mm.

[He paces himself to walk in step with Royce.]

You wouldn't like soldier food any more than you like soldier songs.

[bywolves]

I lived off salted, dried pork for months on the road. I'm sure I could handle soldier food. But you're right, I probably wouldn't enjoy it.

[devoutish]

Yeah, we had dried pork, as well. I traded mine away and ate double the dried bread.

[bywolves]

You - oh, right. [ Alfie doesn't eat pork, that's right. Royce frowns. ] They didn't have anything else?

[devoutish]

Cans of beans.

It wasn't so different from Norfinbury's food. No potato chips for us, though.

[bywolves]

Not exactly great food for not ending up like - this. [ He gestures to his own torso, which, while he's getting a little more filled out, he's still sort of malnourished. He's still recovering. A beat, and then. ] You know - this place might not be the best for showing you how to trap rabbits.

[devoutish]

Do the rabbits hop into the traps by themselves?

[bywolves]

No, just. [ He rubs at his neck and sighs, before heading a little further into the brush to demonstrate. He crouches down into the bushes, vanishing for a second, before standing up and showing Alfie the mint green rabbit that he's just straight up holding in one hand. ]

They don't exactly run away.

[devoutish]

[Alfie makes a face.]

Something unnerving about that. Makes you want to pet it, not kill it.

[bywolves]

Yeah. Which I think is the intent. Zephyr's not really great at violence, apparently. Which should be reassuring.

[devoutish]

He wants us all to stop eating meat?

[bywolves]

Don't know. Maybe. Haven't asked. Just think it hasn't occurred to it to give the creatures it's putting down here a survival instinct.

[ Which is why it's not reassuring. ] You can still lead them to traps, but it's easier just to pick them up and kill them. Or shoot them.

[devoutish]

Poor little tyke.

[Spotting another one about thirty feet away, Alfie levels his pistol and takes aim.]

Step back a bit, will you?

[bywolves]

[ Royce puts the rabbit down back into the bushes. It won't go far, and even if he can't find it again, there's been... a lot of woodland creatures, lately. After all the cupcake shenanigans.

He steps back from Alfie, curiously watching the gun. ]

[devoutish]

Are you far back enough? I don't know how much space you'll need--

[bywolves]

Why do I need to be far back?

[devoutish]

The noise? I dunno. It's loud.

[bywolves]

It'll be fine. [ Probably. He takes another step back and stuffs the cloth in his ears. ] Need to be able to see what you're doing if I'm going to learn how to shoot it.

[devoutish]

[And so Alfie takes aim again, waits a moment, and then pulls the trigger.]

[bywolves]

[ It's a learning lesson for both of them, really. It's loud. Louder than Royce is expecting. He's seen and heard explosions, but nothing like the short, angry sound of a gun going off.

With his overly sensitive ears, it hurts, even through the cloth. Royce flinches sharply and takes a step back, hitting a tree a little hunched over as his hands come up to cover his ears. ]

[devoutish]

[The rabbit is hit and dead in one clean shot, the force of the impact making it spin and then drop. Alfie looks to Royce first, though, and when he sees the state he's in he tucks the gun away and heads over immediately.]

Hey.

[bywolves]

[ Royce rubs at his ears, face pained, ears ringing. He can't - hear anything, not even the hey, and he looks vaguely panicked at the notion. ]

[devoutish]

Royce.

[He doesn't try to pull Royce's hands away from his ears, but he takes ahold of his wrists, looking pretty concerned himself.]

[bywolves]

I can't -- [ It's muffled, and he can't quite hear himself, but he's not completely deaf. Thank everything. Royce drags in an unsteady breath, head throbbing and heart thudding away in his chest. Terrifying. Guns are - guns are bad. ]