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!]

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[bywolves]

[ He's actually sort of upsetting himself, thinking about all of this. ]

I don't know how to feel about them.

[devoutish]

What do you mean?

[bywolves]

The elves. I don't know how to feel. I don't know if I want to be part of their culture. Almost feels dishonest, somehow. You'd think that wouldn't be an issue for me.

What did you mean, thinking about my elves?

[devoutish]

[He stares through the skylight, blinking up at the slowly-appearing stars.]

The ones you saw, starving and packed away, crying for water. The women and the kids.

[bywolves]

[ Oh. Royce thinks about them a lot. He stares down at the bed. ]

It's more common than you'd think.

[devoutish]

Mm, and no one cares, do they.

[bywolves]

No. [ He's angry again, and it rises like bile in his throat. His voice is icy. ] They're lazy. They deserve it. World's better off if they're dead.

[devoutish]

Yeah, that's what they always say. I know.

Why don't they all go across the river?

[bywolves]

The elves don't want them either.

[devoutish]

[Alfie goes quiet, eyes on the stars.]

[bywolves]

[ He slides down to lay down on the bed, looking up at the skylight. His expression is sad - the kind of soft, weary sad that comes when you've been sad so much you're almost desensitized to it.

The stars are pretty. The menu music plays quietly in the background, backed by the sound of the waves on the beach. Mostly, he just feels heavy, and it's not a feeling he's accustomed to having, here. ]

[devoutish]

Hey.

[He manages, reaching for Royce's hand.]

I understand. I do.

[bywolves]

I know. It's why I told you. [ He holds Alfie's hand in return, still staring up. ]

[devoutish]

Yeah. And it's why I've told you things, as well.

[bywolves]

[ Royce sighs out slow. ]

The fact that you trust me with it means more than you know. [ A beat. ] I've never been afraid of much, but the thought of going home almost scares me more than anything.

[devoutish]

Because you don't want to be king, and...?

[bywolves]

I can't trust any of the elves. The only reason they haven't killed me is because they believe their god made me their leader. I don't know how to connect with any of them. I don't know if I want to.

[ He does. He's just bad at this. ] And I have to raise Mercy in the middle of all of it.

[devoutish]

Bring her here, then. Take her and raise her here.

You and yours don't owe them fucking anything.

[bywolves]

[ That's true. It's just. ]

I can't leave Hadrian to clean up that mess. He doesn't deserve that.

[devoutish]

It's a mess, mate. A mess.

[bywolves]

Yeah. [ He just goes ahead and rolls over on his face, burying it in the mattress. It's a mess, and he's all bent out of shape about it. ]

[devoutish]

[Alfie's still caught up in his own worries - his home, Royce's home, his people, Royce's people - but he tugs the other man to him, pulling him against his chest.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce grumbles a little, but he's okay with Alfie pulling him closer. He settles down against Alfie's side, hiding his face and just laying there for a while. The ocean doesn't calm him down, and the Lord of the Rings menu music is just melancholy and sinister enough that he has to get up a few minutes later to shut it off.

And then he stays where he is for a moment, resting his forehead against the bark of the tree with a slow sigh. ]

Stay here. [ Royce says, quietly. Almost inaudible, because he knows it's not a possibility. ]

[devoutish]

Come here.

[He assumes Royce means here here - stay here in the treehouse, stay here with him.]

[bywolves]

[ It's true enough that he doesn't want to push his luck. He swallows hard and makes his way back to the bed, but not before taking his cloak off. He sets it aside and then climbs back onto the mattress, taking his place back up against Alfie's side. ]