snowblindrpg | [log] Noisy Black Part Two

[log] Noisy Black Part Two - Mingle [closed]

Characters: anyone signed up for the noisy black event
Location: an office building
Date: Night 260, Morning 261, and Day 261
Summary: You give, or are given, medical treatment.
Warnings: body horror, psychological trauma, serious body deformities, please warn for specifics in threads and make sure to note the night/morning/day your thread is taking place

Sinners
Converted

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[Somehow, he should have seen that one coming.]

Why do human parents care so much about shit like that? I don't get it.

[A lusus wouldn't care, he's pretty sure, but humans always seemed to get caught up in bizarre family feuds about practically everything. It doesn't make sense, but he soon shakes his head, dismissing both those thoughts and the goddamn whispers trying to cut into story time with Royce.]

Nevermind. What happened next?

I'm -- [ A pause. He was going to say I'm human, and I don't even know, but that's something he's struggled with a lot recently. He's not. And it seems more important here than it ever did in Elan, for whatever reason. There's a lot that's happened. ] I don't get it either.

[ That's safe enough. ] Hadrian and I made our way to the estate. Ballentyne estate. If I remember right, Archibald Ballentyne wanted Alenda to marry him. She hated him. Ballentyne found the letters between Gaunt and Alenda and planned to blackmail her and her father into forcing Alenda to marry him.

Place was locked up and guarded. So Hadrian and I climbed the tower, instead.

[Holy shit, this had actually happened? Karkat is rapt, his forehead now pressing against the bars like there's any chance he might be able to push past them and catch sight of Royce's expression. He knows it won't work and he's not pressing that hard at all, really, but they're refreshingly cool and he doesn't want to move away.]

What a complete douchebag.

[It's not intended as an interruption or a request for more background on this Ballentyne guy; he just feels like it needs to be said. Royce had better keep going.]

[ Royce is glad, at least, that this is a good distraction. He reaches through his bars to rest a hand on the bars of Karkat's cage. ]

Hadrian shot an arrow up to the top of the tower. Had a rope tied to it, and a hook mechanism. We climbed the tower, and waited for Ballentyne to leave his office. Made a hole in the ceiling so we could get through. And when he did leave, we only had a few seconds to unlock the safe and get back out.

[Arrows invariably remind Karkat of Equius, and he isn't even sure now if that's a happy thought or a sad one. The hand at least is less ambiguous, and he's just about to reach his own out through the bars when then slightest bend of his wrist has him retracting it again, hissing.]

Fuck. Fuck, I—

[He swears under his breath a few more times, both hands held tight against his chest. There's no way he could have forgotten the agony of his burns, but he'd gotten close enough that having his injuries brought to the forefront of his mind like that is shaking loose whatever grasp the story had on his imagination. Fuck.]

Can't. S-sorry, just—keep going? The letters, did you—[He stops, swallows.]—did you get them?

[ Royce stops, just for a moment, worried. He can't really do much, not from where he's at, but he doesn't move his hand away. He leaves it there, just in case Karkat wants to attempt it. ]

Yes. We got them. I unlocked the safe and we climbed back out through the ceiling. [ His voice goes a little soothing. ] Deep breath. Slow.

We were going to be caught by the guards, though. We took Alenda's father's carriage out of the courtyard, pretending we were him and his bodyguard. They didn't suspect it until we were far away.

[The pain is nowhere near fully subsiding, but Karkat is a troll and trolls are nothing if not fucking crazy. It still takes him a while, his hear ducts strained all throughout from the effort of focusing on Royce's words and nothing else, but eventually, he much more carefully lifts a hand to briefly touch Royce's before pulling it right back. He'd hold it if that didn't have the potential to go so catastrophically wrong, but it does so he doesn't.]

I'm okay.

[He really isn't, but he's trying to breath slowly anyway.]

What about—about Alenda and Gaunt? Did they wind up together?

[ There's a pause. ] You don't need to take my hand if it hurts. I just want you to see I'm here and that I'm not just a voice.

[ And then: ] Alenda was thankful. [ He's bending truths, here. Pretty heavily, but he's a good liar, if anything. ] Gaunt went on to defend a city from the Imperialists trying to take it over. He and Alenda were in the same city, I know that, at least. She vanished that night - I'd assume she went with him.

[He snorts quietly and rests his head against the bars again.]

Other voice wouldn't tell me romance stories to keep me distracted. I know it's you.

[He does appreciate the hand though, especially since he could actually feel it this time. It's better than nothing.]

[He sighs quietly, then moves on.]

What about Ballentyne? Anything happen to him?

[ ... Other voice. He'll ask about that in a second. ]

He's dead. Stabbed through the chest.

[... Huh.]

Did Alenda do it?

[He really hopes Alenda did it.]

[ Without any sort of hesitation: ] Gaunt did, actually.

Oh.

[This is also acceptable.]

Good.

[ It's also not true, but Royce gives him no indication of this. He's going to let Karkat have his happy ending. ]

Mm. [ A beat. ] Other voice?

[It takes him a moment, but eventually, there's a quiet groan and a dull, metallic sound as he knocks his forehead against the bars.]

I know it sounds stupid.

It's not stupid. [ Royce says, firmly. ] What other voice?

[No, he's pretty sure it's still stupid, but it's hard to argue with Royce when he sounds like that. How many times has he used that tone with Karkat now? But that aside...]

[He sighs.]

After what that guy did, I've been hearing things. Which doesn't make sense, right? They didn't do anything to my head, but I've got some asshole talking nonstop about how great and special the Prophet is and how we should get down and convert already. Or die.

[ A beat. ]

No, makes sense. [ He rubs at his face. ] I don't know if you were here for the night where everybody felt like they needed to kill each other for the Prophet, but I assume it's similar.

They're trying to break us. Getting into your head is the best way to do that. Don't listen. I know you won't, but keep not listening.

[... Kill each other for the Prophet. Fuck.]

No, I wasn't here, but I remember reading about it.

[Somewhere. The exact details escape him, but he shudders anyway. He's had enough of people killing each other.]

I won't. I'll try.

Good. [ He reaches to hold onto the bars of Karkat's cage tightly. ] I can tell you stories until they come for me, if you want.

[Until they come for me. Karkat's fairly certain Royce couldn't have phrased that any more bleakly if he tried, but he doesn't want to think about that right now. He doesn't want to think about a lot of things.]

[He shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath.]

Can you? And they don't have to be about romance. Any story will do.

[And he'll listen, even if he doesn't say much, until it's Royce's turn to be taken away.]

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[log] Noisy Black Part Two - Mingle [closed]

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