Learning to Walk Again (openish thread)

[brother_alone]

Winter held Joshua's hands while he recovered. It drove away every distraction that would stop him from doing what it took to survive. It saved his life. When he was strong enough to climb out of the ravine he'd been thrown into it lead him to his first tracks in the snow. It gave him the cover he needed to secure his first kill.

Winter could not stay forever.

With it gone and Joshua once more in control of himself, things aren't as easy as they were. He often waits until the hunger gets to be maddening before he lets himself hunt. It's easier that way, keeps him from thinking about what he's doing. About clawed hands rending hide and sinew apart as sure as his fangs drew blood. If he thinks he hesitates. Ends up getting hurt and losing his meal. He's still getting used to all of this. He doesn't like it, but he's surviving.

It's the time spent in between hunts that's the worst. Time when his mind is brutally clear. He scrubs himself as clean as he can get in those moments. Laments over everything that's brought him here. The tiny shack in the woods he once used to call home has become so again. Still nothing more than four walls and a dirt floor but it's his. A place where he can retreat to when stronger hunters are nearby. A tiny territory all his own for him to claim.

It's lonely. It's hard. But it's home.

((Open to Josh's friends if they'd like to catch up with him.))

Comments

[brother_alone]

Well, she's standing here now isn't she? All in one piece even. Nothing missing, nothing extra. He clearly isn't talking about emotional duress. It's enough to see her well and whole.

But the question she asks is not an easy one to answer. Joshua falls quiet for several seconds while he thinks. Lets his gaze track around his tiny marked out territory. His life now and his life Before feel like they're so very far apart.

"I don't know." And with Joshua it's easy to assume he's lying because the truth is more painful, but this time? There's so much that happened in so little time. He remembers the giant Baroness nearly breaking his neck with her grip. He remembers being thrown off the cliff. But after that? "I was...dying."

[sweetcandygirl]

"Dying...." Harley frowns softly. She hates the thought of him dying out here. With no one around. But how did he not die? She does not know the answer to that.

"Everything that day was so chaotic. But I knew you were missing. I have been looking for you." Harley tells him.

[brother_alone]

"I...don't remember most of Winter."

For a long time after he was put back together, after Reynard gave him that terrible gift, there was only the hunger. Very little rational thought made it through. It wasn't until winter came to an end that Joshua began to settle back into his head. Break to the surface of his own mind once more and assess the damage that had been done.

"Once I could think straight I came here. Been holing up here ever ssssince."

[sweetcandygirl]

"It is a sweet little set-up." Harley smiles softly.

"Did you need anything? Is there anything I can do to help you get more settled?"

[brother_alone]

"When I first ended up in the Nexus thinking I'd finally gone mental for good, I found this place. Stayed here for a real long time."

The irony of a guy so used to affluent living holing up in a storage shed with no plumbing or electricity for so long always felt particularly poignant to Joshua. He got used to it. And now? Well. It's a hell of a lot better than a dank cave. At least this has the illusion of civilization.

"I probably...gotta get some other clothes eventually." He's been wearing the same thing for weeks now and no amount of washing in the stream will keep his things clean for long the way he's living these days. Hannah hadn't worn--no. He doesn't want to go that far. "Can't go running around buckass naked."

[sweetcandygirl]

"I can getcha more clothes." Harley offers softly. "Cause we definitely don't want that..."

"Do you want anyone else to know you are here?"

"Or should I take care to make sure I ain't ever followed?"

[brother_alone]

"It's probably best actually if you warn folks about me. Like, I'm doing everything I can not to hurt others.But they should know this is my turf. This is...where I'll be, more often than not."

If he's hunting, anyone who wanders in would be in danger. Even if he stopped himself from the worst if the AV field didn't kick in someone might get seriously hurt.

[sweetcandygirl]

"I can do that. People are avoiding the Wilds anyway, so it shouldn't be hard to include this area to the 'avoid' list." Harley nods.