IC contact for snowblindrpg

[devoutish]

[CAPTCHA-avoiding continuation of this post.]

Comments

[devoutish]

I am, but I'm used to being sore. Move slowly. That'll help.

[bywolves]

Mm. [ He shifts a little more slowly, and then closes his eyes. ] Been sore before, I just wasn't expecting it now. Makes sense, I guess, after... after what happened.

[devoutish]

How much of it do you think was imaginary?

[bywolves]

I don't know. Half, maybe.

[devoutish]

Mm. I wonder if that barrier was ever really there.

[bywolves]

Doubt it. [ Royce sighs. ] They've screwed with so much of our heads, I'm sure that they can make us believe it.

[devoutish]

[He pats Royce's hand, nestling his head into the crook of his neck.]

I do not like being locked away from you, listening to you in pain.

[bywolves]

I don't like being locked way from you, either. [ Royce murmurs, glancing at Alfie. His chest feels tight from how much he feels hearing that. ]

It wasn't as bad as it could've been. I'm glad for that.

[devoutish]

When they first dragged me out...

[He trails off. He doesn't need to tell Royce what he'd been thinking - they'd both been thinking it.]

[bywolves]

[ Royce holds onto Alfie a little more tightly. ]

Do you remember - when we had all those other memories. [ Like the time the Noisy Black happened to Alfie instead of Royce. ]

[devoutish]

Mm. Yeah.

[He still has trouble remembering what was real and what wasn't, sometimes.]

[bywolves]

I was afraid that was about to happen.

[devoutish]

You were afraid that what was about to--

[Oh. Wait.]

D'you mean when you attacked me?

[bywolves]

I was afraid that either you'd come back broken, or I'd wake up and have broken you myself.

[devoutish]

[Oh, Royce. Alfie pets his hair.]

It takes a lot to break me, mate.

[bywolves]

[ He grits his teeth. ]

And I know how to do it. [ Or at least, he did in that alternate timeline. ]

[devoutish]

[... Okay, he has a point, but.]

I wouldn't've stayed broken forever.

[bywolves]

I know. I don't want to have done it in the first place.

And I didn't, so it's fine. I just worried.

[devoutish]

[Alfie sighs heavily, giving him another pat.]

Yeah.

When you brought it up just now, I had to take a moment to remember whether or not you'd actually done it, that time.

[bywolves]

[ Royce closes his eyes. ]

Mm. It took me a moment, too. [ A beat. ] There was a time that I was outside trying to get to you, too. But it was me, right? I was... I was there, because of the scars.

[ He swallows hard. ]

[devoutish]

Yeah.

[He touches Royce's fingers.]

Yeah, it was you.

[bywolves]

[ Royce hides his hands under Alfie's and doesn't answer for now. He's trying to think about anything else. ]

[devoutish]

But now it's over.

[He squeezes those fingers.]

They'll find new ways to torture us. They won't rehash the old ones.

[bywolves]

Oh, good, what a relief. [ Royce says, weakly, but it's a little bit of humor at least. ] At least it's never boring.

[devoutish]

[That gets a tiny chuckle out of Alfie.]

I'd take boring, after this. I'd take retirement.