-44- Gimme Back My Bullets

[luckyvalentine]

[after the clinic, being holed up in her room for just about a week is all she can take. Finally feeling like she can walk around without falling apart-- physically or otherwise --she wastes no time in setting out.

...but not before she takes care of a little something, first. Sitting down, she takes a breath, and begins. No preface, no introduction

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[nurse_boy]

[if it were anyone else calling him a coward--excepting perhaps Amy, and the Doctor (his Doctor, not the crickety one)--he'd be extremely offended. But this is Faye, and for reasons he can't explain he feels rather protective and defensive of her. Yeah, he wouldn't have known her from Eve before all this either, but ... still]

Faye ...

[he sounds slightly surprised]

I ... I was just about to try and contact you.

Filtertastic

[luckyvalentine]

[hearing his voice is even weirder than she'd expected. The first thought that springs to her mind, turning her stomach in the process, is 'Brother.']

[there is no affection in her voice, however. It's nothing but cold. Probably a little too much like her demonic voice for anyone's comfort]

I bet.

Where are you?

Foreverrrrr~

[nurse_boy]

[likewise, Rory's is experiencing the sensation of a churning stomach--he no longer has a stomach to churn, after all--when he immediately thinks 'Sister' of her. He'd been the closest to Faye, if the kinship (or whatever) that passed between the Apostles could even possibly be defined as 'close'.

He didn't know what he was expecting when she answered him (it's weird indeed) but it definitely wasn't ... that. Yep, too close to what he remembers for his comfort. Therefore he replies back rather cautiously]

I'm ... around.

What--what about you?

[luckyvalentine]

I'm stuck at the Castle, taking all the flak while you guys hide.

[definitely snapping at him... but at least there is a distinctly un-demonic strand of stress and apprehension running through her voice somewhere. Noticeable really only to someone who is used to her being devoid of humanity]

[nurse_boy]

[he hears it all right, and it concerns him. Why, he doesn’t know. Perhaps there’s some vestigial kinship left over-or maybe he’s just desperate for someone who understands]

I tried reaching you before.

[his voice is quiet and somewhat shamefaced]

I only found out later that you were-hurt. Not able to talk.

[a pause]

How are you now?

[luckyvalentine]

Able to talk.

[the frustration and anger at him is actually less due to the situation she was in, and more due to the fact that she was in it alone. Vestigial kinship was a good word for it. There were people out there who understood, something she was desperate for, but they were hiding. Leaving her spinning in the wind]

...When are you coming back?

[nurse_boy]

[when he’d originally contacted her, Rory had actually had it in his mind to ask her to come with him if she’d wished, but she’d never answered-through no fault of her own-and then he’d run into the Doctor and he’d just been scared witless, and had just run without thinking. He’s felt alone and cut off too, and in a strange way it’s a huge relief to be able to talk to her, even if it feels like they’re meeting for the first time again]

Good. That’s-good.

[and he contemplates this question for a moment before sighing]

I … don’t know. Maybe when I feel like I won’t be shot on sight if I do [hollow laugh] … there were some, uh-complications-when everything ended, and I-I don’t need to be around others. I think. Not really.

[and, because he heard her break out of the clinic and then this, so he knows she’s free after a fashion too:]

You could, I don’t know … come out here. If you wanted.

[luckyvalentine]

I haven't been shot yet. [an edge in her voice] You need to come back.

[and then there was that offer. That very very tempting offer. She's quiet for a minute, several very hard-to-swallow things warring in her head]

Even if I could... [which, she probably could make it if she tried, at this point. She can walk, she has her ship. But, that was apparently beside the point] ...What happens when Souji wakes up?

[Siblings still, somehow. Part of her couldn't take the thought of Souji waking up alone, and part of her selfishly didn't want to be the only one within firing range anymore... but both still led to the same conclusion]

You need to come back.

[nurse_boy]

[she’s right, he knows she is, but he’s scared and doesn’t want to admit it]

We could get him then, when he wakes up, bring him out here. [but he’s sounding like he’s having to convince himself even as he says it-he’s not exactly living the high life out here and it’s no place for someone recovering from injuries. He sighs in frustration and falls silent for a good minute or two]

I know I need to come back, to-to face up to what I did. And so you’re not … alone. [that was hard to say, that was] But Faye, I can’t come back, I can’t-I’m-I’m not human anymore, I’m a danger to everyone, and I don’t want to hurt anyone else, not anymore …

… And also. Amy’s here with me.

[which he is obviously not happy about]

[luckyvalentine]

I don't care what's wrong with you. I don't care if you're a goddamn dog with rabies!

You need to come back here, damnit!

[nurse_boy]

[whoa there, Faye. Have a flummoxed Rory]

What--I mean--why--I--

[translation: why so insistent?]

[luckyvalentine]

[sorry, her fuse is a little on the short side at the moment]

...Because I'm not doing this alone anymore, okay?

I can't handle this--... any of this.

[nurse_boy]

[Oh lord. You've just unknowingly appealed to his innate natural caregiver. He was a nurse back home, you see, and a damn good one if he says so himself. There's stunned silence on his end for a long time before he replies quietly]

Let me ... let me talk to Amy.

I'll be back as--as soon as I can.

[you have no idea how brave he's being and what he's giving up for you, Faye, even if he doesn't exactly have a rational explanation for why, even if it means turning himself in and having Amy taken away from him. All he knows is, this time the whispered 'Sister' in his head is calling him back to her--someone who understands, who (hopefully) won't judge him, who knows exactly what he's going through. And he needs that just as much as he needs Amy and the Doctor's forgiveness]

[luckyvalentine]

...Alright.

[it was too hard to talk to him any further. Being in touch with a remnant of something that had very few signs left anywhere else. Familiar. So, the reason that he's being called back home is the same reason that she shuts the journal a moment later]

[nurse_boy]

[Rory will just stare at the silent page before him for a few minutes afterward, a myriad of emotions and thoughts running through his head, before his sighs and drags his hand over his face, gently shutting his journal. Time to go find Amy and break the news to her ...]