After some uncertain time...

[gruesome]

It wasn't the same room. Some was half sure of that. Nothing in it looked familiar or unfamiliar, but the view was wrong in some way. Lower. Better, he thought. Farther away from the sky. His sharp-toothed mentor told him, in a barrage of other details, that whatever he'd gotten up to in District Eight before, he was in Two now, and he had better get into shape. He stared out his window until she left, letting his breath fog up the tinted glass and hide details of the sharp-edged city outside. Nothing out there looked familiar, at all. How long had he been... elsewhere?

When he was sure she wasn't about to come back, he slipped out of his room himself, leaving everything he'd been given on arrival on his bed, to explore empty-handed and see just how far the fragments could take him. He followed voices and scents, looking for familiar faces. He was careful to make some noise, not wanting to sneak up on anybody. They were all here to kill each other. No sense in provoking that early.

[Some is slinking around, confused with some partial memory loss from his extended time away. He's starting on District Two's floor, since that's his new home, but he'll also be in the elevator, peering into any other floor, and investigating just generally the entire building. He's looking for anyone who rings a bell, but the thread is wide open for any and all. (Since it's been a while, he looks like this, and stands almost eight feet tall.)]

Comments

[polyturtle]

Oh, Some. The why was important to Don. The why always had been. However, the mention of what sprang something in his mind.

"...Lottie. Please tell me you remember Lottie."

[gruesome]

The name... Some's face went carefully blank as he tried to fit the name against more fragments. There was almost... but no, that face fit another name, and 'Lottie' was left spinning off alone. Six of his eight eyes shut, and he frowned apologetically, with a little nervous gesture.


"... I am sorry."

[polyturtle]

I am sorry.

Try as he could, Don couldn't stop his emotion from showing as Some responded. His face crumbled as the words sunk in.

"...Oh...oh." His voice cracked. "I see."

[gruesome]

He couldn't help it, couldn't keep himself from reaching out to touch. In comfort, or seeking it, he couldn't know.

"I'm sorry," he said again, swallowing hard. "Who- who is it?"

[polyturtle]

He didn't stop it. He was too stunned to.

"...A friend. A good friend, to both of us."

[gruesome]

Oh.

A chill took hold in Some's stomach, and his shoulders dropped. He didn't doubt Don, not for an instant.

"I... I am sure... sure the memories will come back. I only- woke, if that's what it is- today. I will have to remember them, won't I?"

[polyturtle]

"Yeah...yeah."

He could only hope. And fear that it wouldn't come to pass.

[gruesome]

Some stepped closer, turning so that he could lean against Don, side to side, the way he would with another grue. Though he couldn't remember having ever done so before.

[polyturtle]

Don didn't protest, or move or shove Some away, though he felt rather wretched and was tempted to. He just looked down at the ground, before closing his eyes.

[gruesome]

"Are they gone too?" he asked softly. They had to be, didn't they, or there would be no grief. "Maybe they'll come back, like me."

[polyturtle]

"Yes," Don said quietly. "They are."

He doesn't add anything to Some's hope. No nod, no word. He knew better than to hope in this place.

[gruesome]

"What- what about..." He clenched his eyes shut, canting his head as he tried to almost physically shake the memory back into place. "Rah... the woman, with the longest hair." He fingered his necklace, the strand with the twist of golden hair. "She... was gone. I think. Before I was too."

[polyturtle]

"...Rapunzel." Don quietly nodded. "Yeah...yeah, she's gone also."

[gruesome]

That hurt too, somewhere deep and long-wounded. Some drew away again, wrapping his arms tight around himself as if he could hold that in.

"Longer than me." It wasn't a question. "I would have followed her, if I could."

[polyturtle]

"...I know, Some. I know."

He'd have done the same, for Lottie, if he could. He knew that. It was left unsaid, though.