[Closed] It's not a cry you can hear at night

[onlyasign]

Who: Sufferer, Dualscar, and Bro
Where: The Holy Bros and Dualscar hive
When: after this
What: Sufferer just found out Sola went home and needs a feeling jam/a beer
Style: I'll match

Sola is gone. Sent back home, back to his own world, where he's dead. Where he's still a replica, where he was convinced he didn't have a soul and would just be... gone. And someone is having a hard time accepting that.

Comments

for Dualscar

[onlyasign]

After he finishes talking to Johnny, Sufferer just sits for awhile, staring blankly off into space. He's gone... his little self-proclaimed son, the little elf that looked up to him and loved him and called him Dad so he didn't have to call him Sufferer. Gone back to nothingness.

Eventually, Sufferer rouses himself and wanders the hive like a ghost, looking for his moirail. He's never needed a feelings jam quite as badly as he does right now.

[devwocean]

Dualscar can be found in his respite block, with the pieces of Ahab's Crosshairs strewn about all over. He isn't aware yet of the little elf leaving, as he wasn't paying attention to the network today, just lost in the simple pleasure of cleaning and maintaining his weapon.

When Signless appears in the doorway, he looks up with a smile. "Wwhat's up?" But the smile quickly falters, when he sees the look on Signless' face, and he sets the barrel crystal down, rising to his feet with concern on his face. "Wwhat's wwrong?"

[onlyasign]

Sufferer crosses the room in about three big steps and slams himself into Dualscar, wrapping his arms around him tightly and burying his face in his chest. He can't speak quite yet, although he tries; his voice just keeps getting caught around the lump in his throat is all.

[devwocean]

Startled, Dualscar wraps his arms around and holds him tight. "Shoosh..." He strokes Signless' back, and presses a kiss to the other troll's curly hair. "Shoosh noww..."

[onlyasign]

Sufferer makes a little, choked noise in his throat, but the shooshing helps, and he's eventually able to speak.

"He's gone... Sola. He got sent back..." He's still not looking up, taking comfort in Dualscar's solid presence. People can say what they like about the big seadweller (although if they start saying mean things, they'll have a feisty little messiah on their hands), but he's always very there, very present and real and in the moment.

[devwocean]

"Oh." Dualscar isn't aware of the bad things that Sola would be going back to. And he can't say that he likes the annoying child. But he knows that Sola is important to Signless, so he tightens his grip and draws him towards the sleeping platform. "That's fuckin' awwful, swweetling," he says soothingly. "I'm sure you'll miss him. Maybe he'll be back, you nevver knoww."

[onlyasign]

Sufferer lets himself be led, only tripping once when Dualscar's cape curls around his feet. "He's... he's dead back home. And he was... he was afraid that he didn't have a soul. Because he was a replicant." Now Sufferer's crying, soft, soundless tears that feel like they'll never end.

[devwocean]

"Oh...wwell." He really had no idea it was so dire, but that explains everything. He sits down on the bed and draws Signless into his lap, nuzzling his cheek and flicking his fin against Signless' ear. He croons softly, making soothing noises.

"He ain't suffering at least," he offers softly. "And maybe he'll come back. You nevver knoww."

[onlyasign]

"No," Sufferer agrees, leaning in to the finflicks, a bit surprised at how comforting they are. "At least he's not suffering." He scrubs one fist over his eyes. "I just... I thought he'd have a chance here, you know? He could grow up..."

[devwocean]

Dualscar nods, stroking Signless' hair. He doesn't know what to say that'll make this okay - probably there's nothing - and that makes him feel helpless and a little frustrated. "Wwell...there there. At least you havve others you care about wwho're still here."

[onlyasign]

"I know." Sufferer recognizes the tone of frustration in Dualscar's voice and his tensing body language, and stops to look up at his moirail. "I know you can't really make it better, and I'm not expecting you to. I just want you to hold me while I feel sad for awhile." He cuddles down against Dualscar's chest and sighs quietly. "That will help."

[devwocean]

He always wants to fix things, especially when Sufferer is upset. But Signless' words reassure him, and his fins lift a bit. "That'll really help? Wwell, I'm glad to do that forevver if that's wwhat you need." He tightens his grip a little, giving him a squeeze, but he relaxes as well, the frustration in his body easing.

[onlyasign]

"Yes, that'll help." Pleased with how Dualscar is relaxing, Sufferer makes himself comfortable, using the big seadweller like a body pillow. "It helps whenever you're upset and I do it to you, doesn't it?"

for Bro

[onlyasign]

After talking to him on the SFC, Sufferer waits for Bro to show up. He doesn't think they'll really do that much talking, but maybe just getting obliterated together will make him feel better.

Probably not, but it won't hurt to try.

[stridercentric]

Talking honestly isn't something Bro plans to be doing much. Not about Sola, anyway. It's not so much that he thinks Sufferer can't handle the topic, it's that if they end up discussing Sola's departure too much, the conversation might whirl around to Dave's departure. Sure, they both lost family they may never see again, but that's all the more reason to not bring it up.

After stopping by the store to pick up a few six-packs, he moves straight on to the trolls' hive. He'd been debating back and forth a bit on whether he should leave Lil Cal in his sylladex or take the little guy out for some additional company, but ultimately he decides three might be a crowd. Especially when the third person is not really a person.

[onlyasign]

That's probably for the best; Sufferer might not be able to handle Cal's particular brand of comfort right now.

Sufferer is waiting on his porch when Bro shows up, the hood of his cloak pulled down low on his forehead, shadowing his face and hiding his eyes. He raises a hand in greeting though, and then twists his wrist around so that hand is making a beckoning gesture. Beer him, man.

[stridercentric]

The hood thing is a little surprising. Sufferer must really be down if he's resorting to emo hooding. Either that, or he's already hungover.

Bro recognizes the hand gesture only too well. He twists a can off one of the six-packs and tosses it to Sufferer the moment he's close enough. Because clearly anyone is capable of catching a can that's being thrown across a distance of eight feet. No problem.

[onlyasign]

This is totally emo hooding.

Sufferer manages to catch the beer can, but barely, fumbling it and nearly dropping it multiple times before it eventually settles on his lap. "Dammit!" He's not mad at Bro, just disgusted with himself: now he has to wait to open it.

[stridercentric]

Hm. In retrospect, maybe he should've made it a five feet distance. He's not giving the guy a new can, though. A failure is a failure and if it means Sufferer has to wait, he'll have to wait.

The remaining clusters of beercans under one arm, he strides over to the troll to sit down next to him, leaving a comfortable distance between the two of them. He won't be breaking the silence, either. Not until Sufferer is ready.

[onlyasign]

Sufferer glowers at the beer can for awhile, until he judges it ready to open. When he does crack it, it fizzes more than usual and streams down both his arms and onto his cloak. He doesn't care, though, bringing it to his mouth and taking a long, deep swing.

"This sucks."

[stridercentric]

"Yeah. It sucks major donkey dick." He twists a can of his own off the six-pack and opens it, eliciting a loud hissing sound. Then he sits back a bit, gaze directed straight in front of him.

"Just the way life goes, I guess. You win some, you lose some, you drink some."

[onlyasign]

"It's not right." Sufferer gestures vaguely out at the street. "Not that fairness ever played much of a part in my life, but seriously... unfair." He drinks again. "I'd rather they sent me back, if they're going to do it. I lived my life, I had my chance. Sola was just starting."

[stridercentric]

Lived his life, huh? Bro's lived his life too, but the thought of being sent home instead of someone else isn't something he'd consider. He's not noble like that, he supposes. If Vatheon's the only chance dead chumps like them will get, he's not giving it up.

"Who knows? Maybe he'll come back." That's the only consolation he can give. The only shimmer of hope in this cesspool of awful bullshit. That maybe, just maybe, people they care about will show up here again.

[onlyasign]

It's not that Sufferer relishes the thought of being dead again; it's just that Sola thought he didn't have a soul. Sufferer isn't sure about a life after death anymore, but at least he's confident about having a soul.

"Maybe." He glances over. "Dave came back. More than once."

[stridercentric]

Bro just takes a long sip from his beer, eyes still directed at a non-specific area in front of him.

"... Yeah. He did." He got to be reunited with Dave twice already, then he got to lose Dave two more times. The fact that the kid still has important shit to do back home doesn't work as much of an excuse, because time stands still while he's in Vatheon anyway. Hell, Dave could be here to hang with Bro for twenty years and then still go back home to do his important shit.