Making up [closed]

[greennotgold]

Characters: Tringhams
Format: w/e
This log is: closed
Location: Red dorm, 1-A
Summary: Fletcher seeks out his brother after a few days of not talking

It had been a few days since Russel had lost Fletcher to Ed, and by the time Round Two started Fletcher was getting tired of being angry. Finally, he made his way to the red dorm and knocked on the door to Russel's room, hoping he'd be there, and hoping he'd be alone.

Comments

[chainedbyred]

Russel had been decidedly antisocial since he'd picked that fight and lost Fletcher. That wasn't the kind of thing he was supposed to do anymore. But Ed forgetting him had hurt a lot more than he had expected it to, and he'd lost himself. Fletcher could have gotten hurt. If he had lost track of his bow, he could have been in a coma, just like that other kid had been.

So he hadn't been at the round announcement. He didn't expect to be chosen twice in a row. He lingered in his room, staring at his biology book without actually reading it. He was too busy feeling sorry for himself.

[greennotgold]

When no one answered, Fletcher knocked again, then cracked the door open. He knew Russel had female roommates and didn't want to look in while they might be getting changed... so he just called in, "Hello? Brother, are you in here?"

[chainedbyred]

Russel paused a moment before turning from his desk to the door. "Come in," he said simply. His voice was flat, like he was pretending not to be affected by what had happened.

[greennotgold]

Fletcher didn't like that tone of voice. He recognized it; it was one Russel hadn't used for a long, long time.

He slid into the room and shut the door behind himself, and looked down at the floor. "Um... hi, Brother. Are you okay?"

[chainedbyred]

"Of course," he replied. Whatever cheerful notes there were in his voice were fake. "Did Ed take good care of you?" His chair now facing Fletcher, he leaned back and crossed his legs.

[greennotgold]

He glanced up as Russel asked that question. "Um-- I, I guess. He didn't use my weapon at all and, um, he let me use the library and stuff..." There was a note of regret in Fletcher's voice, though. He hadn't wanted Russel to fight anyone. He hadn't wanted anyone else to be in charge of him.

[chainedbyred]

He nodded. "That's good." But then he'd run out of things to say. Of course, there were a few things he should say, but he just couldn't get his pride under control enough to spit it out.

[greennotgold]

"Mm." Fletcher nodded in agreement, but he still couldn't quite meet Russel's eyes. This was too awkward.

"Um... um, Molly's a Player again this round," he commented. "We could both ask her to be ours, she's really nice..."

[chainedbyred]

Russel just nodded, but didn't respond. He glared at the floor off to one side. This was not going how it was supposed to.

[greennotgold]

Fletcher sighed. He had come here to talk... he couldn't do that very well if Russel wasn't talking.

He started to walk closer.

[chainedbyred]

He scrubbed at his hair, and sighed. "Dammit..." he muttered. He looked like he was trying to say something. But he couldn't spit it out.

[greennotgold]

"...I'm sorry, Brother." He didn't know what he was apologizing for, but as always, it felt like the right thing to do. He pulled a chair out from a desk near Russel's, sat down, and looked down at the floor.

[chainedbyred]

Well, that broke the ice. "No, I'm the one that should be apologizing." He rolled on his chair closer to Fletcher. "That was..." appropriately, he ran out of words to describe just how dickish that dick move was. "That was stupid." Understatement of the year, Russel.

[greennotgold]

Fletcher rubbed at his eyes with the back of one hand -- he's not trying to keep from crying, really, he just had something in his eyes. He looked up at the sound of Russel's chair rolling.

"I made you lose, though. You got hurt because of me."

[chainedbyred]

"There shouldn't have been a fight in the first place. When Ed didn't remember us, I just got so pissed off. I know how this place works. It made you forget my name, I shouldn't be surprised that it could do something like that," he reached over to touch Fletcher's shoulder in a way he hoped was comfoting. He sucked at these things.

[greennotgold]

Fletcher nodded, agreeing there shouldn't have been a fight, but...

"So... you're not gonna do it again, right?" Unconsciously, one hand clutched the fabric of his own shirt over his chest. It had been more disorienting than painful when his bow had been drawn, but it had hurt in a different way to see Russel attacking someone with... well, with what the manual said was a representation of Fletcher.

[chainedbyred]

"I can't say I won't have the uncontrollable urge to beat Ed's face in again," he said, but he had a playful smirk on his face. He clearly didn't mean it. "But I promise I won't pull your weapon out like that again." The smirk changed into something a bit more sincere.

[greennotgold]

Fletcher started to protest, but his scolding look grew soft when Russel continued. "Thanks, Brother. That means a lot." He smiled a little. "You can use it if you really have to. If they ever let you be a Player again."

[chainedbyred]

"It just wouldn't be fair if they didn't." He rolled a little bit away, and grabbed the arm of Fletcher's chair. He gave it a good shove, and sent it spinning.

[greennotgold]

"Ack!" Fletcher grasped onto the arm rests of his chair and went spinning. He probably could have stopped himself, but instead he just laughed.

[chainedbyred]

He kept the speed up with another push here and there. "Give up?"

[greennotgold]

"Nope! This is fun!" He tucked his legs up onto the chair to keep from banging them into anything. Hopefully no one else would come in and need this chair anytime soon.

[chainedbyred]

After a little while, Russel grabbed the chair to stop it. "Now let's see you walk," he said, grinning deviously.

[greennotgold]

"Woah!" Fletcher jerked from the sudden stop, and stumbled to his feet. Almost instantly, he went tumbling into his brother. He couldn't stand up straight.