Snowblind IC Inbox

[termineur]

"Uh, hi there. I'm probably out stomping through snow right now, so...leave a message?"

[Text, audio and video formats available. Feel free to contact him for any reason.]

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[bywolves]

[ He tells Sylar the number of the building (92) he ended up in, as according to House's map. ]

No. I'm alone. [ That holds much more significant weight than it used to. He didn't used to mind. ]

[termineur]

Okay, so you need to stick with anyone you run into. I mean, unless it's the Joker. Don't stick with him. But that's a pretty high traffic area, you should run into someone before too long.

[ He wants to double back, pick Royce up, but they'd made Steph wait too long already. He's not going to try to argue the point with Al. ]

You still coming out this way, or you waiting a few days for Alfie to come back?

[darkincrement]

Ten floors filled up.
Hundreds. Thousands of them.
Would take days to know for sure.
The top three are the most interesting with unknown for the date.

[bywolves]

I don't want to travel with anybody. [ Stranger danger, Sylar. ]

I'm going to wait. Just - linger, I think. [ A beat. ] Maybe help House with something. [ why he's admitting this to Sylar, he doesn't know. ]

[termineur]

Hey, I know you don't like traveling with people, but right now? You're probably the biggest danger to yourself. So suck it up and travel with somebody. I'm not losing the second friend I've ever made to MN Poisoning.

[ Just telling it like it is. And those warning bells go off for sure, hearing that last little bit. ]

House, the guy you hate with a passion? What are you doing for him?

[ He sounds rather skeptical. ]

[bywolves]

[ Sylar. That's so nice. And true. Royce is very much a danger to himself, at the moment. ]

He wants to test something in the morgue. I offered to be useful. [ And he can do that, even if it means dying. It'll give it meaning. ]

[termineur]

Royce.

[ He is mad, because he doesn't know what the feeling is that's choking up his throat. ]

Tell him no. Tell him you changed your mind, because that's not how it goes.

I did a morgue experiment with Sherlock awhile ago. You want to know how 'useful' we were? You want to know what waits for you there? You're going to see your daughter as an anomaly. It's going to come out of the wall, all twisted and in pain, and it'll eat you. And you're going to learn nothing, and maybe you'll come back.

House is literally insane right now. Don't- don't you dare listen to him.

[bywolves]

[ Oh.

There's a long pause, where Royce just breathes harshly on the other side of the line. There's a lot in him that's trying to rise up, but he can't feel anything. It's all numbed out. He should feel horrified that he might see his daughter as anomaly, but he doesn't. He shouldn't want to push this so he feels anything at all, but he sort of does. Don't listen to House. You wouldn't, normally, Royce tells himself. Normally, you'd tell House to go fuck himself.

But he volunteered. And he wants - he thinks he doesn't want to be here anymore, he really doesn't. Maybe he won't come back. Alfie's gone right now. Maybe he won't either. ]

He would tell me to do this whether he was insane or not. Makes no difference.

[termineur]

Yikes. That skyscraper's a bit morbid. So about a third of it is from after the nuclear attack, good to know.

Sort of wish I was there. I bet there's a puzzle or something to solve there.

[termineur]

[ This is the same feeling he had when Mohinder threatened to expose him. Thankfully, there's no sudden desire to strangle Royce into agreeing with him, that would be entirely counterproductive, but he still doesn't know what to do. ]

That's not the point!

If you die and Alfie comes back, what's the point of that? You're not going to be useful with this. It's not going to be what you want. You'll just come back with a death loss. And if you don't come back, how are you going to see your daughter again?

This is MN Poisoning. It will go away. Stop being such an idiot.

[bywolves]

[ The thing is, Sylar makes a good point. Royce knows. He knows he shouldn't, and really - stop being an idiot is what sticks the most. It's the poisoning, and he shouldn't indulge it. He takes a deep breath. ]

Nothing matters. [ He mumbles. ] It's hard to tell what does. I just need to hear a reminder.

[ He turns his face into his pillow for a long moment. ]

Alright.

[termineur]

All right, you won't do it?

[ He lets out a heavy sigh, some of his bluster gone. But he's still somewhat suspicious. ]

I'll remind you as many times as you need. Probably way more than that. Just don't go looking for death. This is temporary, all of it.

[bywolves]

I won't. [ For right now, the idea doesn't seem as appealing. ] Wasn't really looking for death. Just trying to figure out something to do with myself.

[termineur]

Well, I'm telling you right now. Find someone and stay with them. Get someone you don't mind to come find you. In that order. And if you need more to do after that, shuttle food and supplies east.

You've got to hang on until the depression wears off, just like the mania did. Don't let it control you, right?

[bywolves]

[ Everything in him is resisting finding someone to travel with. He can wait for Karkat and Davesprite, but they're far. ]

I don't want to travel with anybody close by. [ Period. There's a long pause. Alfie had all the supplies. But - maybe he can do food. He's going in that direction. Don't let the depression control you. Royce's breath catches slightly. ]

The night all of us spent in the same house, not too long ago. With Alphonse. Do you know what I said to Solomons?

[termineur]

[ He's about to argue the point of staying with someone- he's not going to feel okay about not meeting up with Royce until someone else is there. But Royce asks him the question before he has a chance to make a big deal out of it. ]

No. What did you say?

[bywolves]

I said I was going to leave him to get eaten by an anomaly if he didn't try to make sure he was taking care of his back. [ It sticks. It sticks really hard in his head. It was a joke, but still. ]

[termineur]

[ Oh man, Royce...Sylar looks a little like a deer in headlights and eventually sighs and chews on his lip. ]

It was a joke. You're allowed to joke, you know. Alfie wouldn't have thought anything of it, other than you trying to lighten things up. Right? So it doesn't mean anything.

[bywolves]

[ It was a joke. He knows. ]

He knew it was a joke. [ Royce agrees, softly. ] It wasn't a prediction of what was going to happen. I know that. It still... it's still in my head.

[termineur]

Yeah, I bet. And that's the MN poisoning.

And I'm terrible at not dwelling, but if we can get something else shoved in there--

Tell me another story about Hadrian, would you? He sounded like an interesting guy.

[ He won't push if Royce doesn't want to, but it's a little more active than hearing Sylar blather on forever about nothing. ]

[bywolves]

[ Royce sighs out slow. ]

Yeah. Okay. [ Royce thinks, for a moment. ] I still see him. He's a king, now. On the other side of the river, but - I still see him.

He was a knight, once. Or he pretended to be one. He was trying to rescue someone. He got caught, and they forced him into being a knight so that he could kill someone they wanted dead during a joust.

[ That's the super abbreviated version, but he figures he'll get asked questions. ]

[termineur]

[ There was a lot to unpack from all of that. Sylar's eyebrows raise. ]

He's a king? Sounds like a big promotion from being 'patsy we forced into being a knight'. Do most of his stories start with him trying to rescue someone? 'cause if so, he reminds me of someone from home.

[bywolves]

He married into being a king. [ Sniff. ] And most of them do, yes. He was trying to rescue who he thought was the Heir of Novron. It's a long story.

I feel like everybody has a self-sacrificing moron in their lives. [ That's - fond, really. Royce loves Hadrian like a brother. ]

[termineur]

[ Sylar chuckles at that, and he sounds fond, too. Odd for what he says next. ]

No kidding. Mine's named Peter Petrelli, and he's always been there to try and save people from me. We've tried to kill each other probably- [ Pause while he thinks over every instance. ] -three times? Four times? I think we're finally starting to understand each other. We worked together most recently.

[...well. For a given value of 'worked together'. ]

He would jump in front of a bus if he thought it'd help someone. His whole family is blood-thirsty, aristocratic lawyers, and he's a nurse. He never, ever looks at what he's getting into, but- he's got whatever it is I'm lacking, that's for sure.

[bywolves]

That isn't always a good thing. [ Royce says idly. ] Not looking what you're getting into. Trying to save everybody. Whatever it is that he's got that you're lacking can be a detriment.