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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[devoutish]

[Alfie settles closer.]

Did it feel different to you?

[bywolves]

The dying was familiar. [ His voice goes a little flat. He can talk about this sort of thing if he distances himself. ] The rewinding - I didn't feel it the same way, but that. That was.

[ A pause, and then he shakes his head. ]

[devoutish]

Yeah.

You don't have to talk about it. Just eat your bread.

[bywolves]

[ He eats his bread. And when he finishes it, he reaches for Alfie's hand and holds onto it tightly. ]

[devoutish]

If you hadn't come back--

[Nope, never mind, he can't finish that sentence. He squeezes Royce's hand, hard.]

[bywolves]

Zephyr would've tried. [ Royce mumbles. ] He -- they.

I'm supposed to bring something back for them. Out of the Void.

[devoutish]

Are you gonna go back in?

[bywolves]

Yeah. [ Royce closes his eyes. ] Not today. But I want to go back in.

[devoutish]

Will you stay out of the mines?

[bywolves]

That's where I get the most color. [ Royce says, but it's a little weak. ] ... I'll be careful. More careful. I didn't listen the first time.

[devoutish]

You were careful. I was watching you. You had bad luck.

[bywolves]

[ He shakes his head. ]

I am bad luck. [ Like always. ] I mean with Xanthous. This was what he must've been talking about.

[devoutish]

[Alfie grunts, displeased.]

You're not bad luck.

[bywolves]

[ He shrugs vaguely. He won't argue, but. It's still a thought that constantly lurks at the back of his mind. ]

[devoutish]

Ah-- Royce, Royce, Royce.

[He balances the rest of the buttered bread on Royce's stomach, then rolls over and presses against his side.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce takes the buttered bread, picking at it absently and popping pieces of it in his mouth. Bear lets out a low, rumbling sort of hruff sound, nosing at Royce's back, and Royce startles so badly he nearly drops the bread, breath catching. ]

[devoutish]

I do worry about you.

[Alfie threads his fingers through Royce's hair. He still hasn't touched the bread himself.]

Less because you do dangerous things.

[bywolves]

[ Willing himself to stop being so jumpy, Royce brushes his hands off after just - giving Bear the bread. He doesn't want to reach to the table to put it down and Bear is more than happy to be a garbage disposal. He sinks back down into the bed, just in time for Alfie to run his hands through his hair. Royce shivers. ]

Why do you worry, then?

[devoutish]

[Royce, that bread is not for dogs. Alfie makes a slightly scandalized sound in the back of his throat before answering:]

I always worry about you thinking badly of yourself when you don't deserve it, mate.

[bywolves]

[ Well, maybe you should've eaten it, Alfie!! ]

I don't think badly of myself. [ Royce says, with a sigh. He shifts away from the fingers, sitting up and pulling his knees to his chest. ]

[devoutish]

You do sometimes, yeah.

[But he pulls his hand back, just watching Royce.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce looks over his shoulder at Alfie with a flat expression. ]

Don't you ever get tired of arguing with me about this?

[devoutish]

Yeah.

[Can you be angry with this face, Royce.]

But I'm not gonna stop, all the same.

[bywolves]

[ No, he can't, which makes him grouchy. He turns his head back to face the front and curls up into his knees. ]

I get tired of arguing with me about this.

[devoutish]

Yeah.

[He knows. He stays where he is, staring at Royce's back.]