Someone who very much hadn't been having any fun lately, despite a recent visit from the persistent American cowboy and his brother, was Myron Stray.
He'd been taken straight to the healers after what happened at the Sanctuary, and given the option to have his eardrums repaired. Myron refused. For one thing, he may not have been the nicest person around - and he'd be the first to admit that - but he had no desire to be anyone's puppet ever again. He was never going to be controlled into killing a whole group of people ever again.
But for another and more selfish reason, he was fairly sure the Sanctuary would lock him up if he chose to make himself vulnerable to commands again.
Life as a permanently deaf person. It was interesting, to say the least. His life didn't change all that much, because Myron never had very many friends, and those he did have disappeared after what he'd nearly done to the Sanctuary. Not that he blamed them. Most of those so-called 'friends' were just people offering their sympathies, anyway. It was difficult to be sympathetic to someone who had just tried to commit mass murder.
He was also less careful about who came to visit him these days, simply because no one did. There wasn't any point anymore. You couldn't obey commands if you couldn't even hear them. And Myron was constantly reminded of that fact, because even through the silence he could still feel the pain of bursting his own eardrums. A singular pain, like nothing he'd ever felt before, or wanted to feel again. He had nightmares about that pain. Getting a good night's sleep was becoming increasingly difficult, especially since he no longer had a single thing left to wake up to.
Myron had never felt lonely before. But now he was starting to wonder whether or not he'd always been lonely, and was only just now feeling it because it had grown so deep over the last few days.
Whatever the reason, and whatever he was feeling, Myron had simply sat down in front of the TV for hours on end, subtitles on and reveling in the never-ending silence. That... changed, after the brothers visited. Myron still had no idea why they thought visiting him was a good idea, but they did anyway, and it seemed to be because they genuinely wanted to know if he was alright. Myron didn't trust that. He was on edge and alert the entire time they were in the house, and still couldn't quite believe that neither of them had tried to kill him.
More than that, after they answered some of his more pressing questions and left again, something changed. Myron tried sitting in front of the TV, and grew restless after only a few minutes. Eventually he went for a walk, and that cleared his head enough for him to return home and dive straight into cleaning up the living room.
He wasn't sure why. It just felt like something to do. The mess was starting to annoy him. The really interesting thing was, once the room had been scrubbed clean, it felt like an entire weight had somehow been lifted off Myron's back.
That was the main reason he noticed Pleasant, that cowboy, and a teenager who could only be Valkyrie Cain coming up the walk, and didn't immediately start dreading the encounter. He still had a lot of questions, apart from anything else. He pulled open the door before anyone could knock, nodded politely towards Pleasant, and asked Gabe the first question that came to mind. "What happened to your hat?"
The words were a little louder than they had to be, a fact which Myron was completely unaware of.
no subject
He'd been taken straight to the healers after what happened at the Sanctuary, and given the option to have his eardrums repaired. Myron refused. For one thing, he may not have been the nicest person around - and he'd be the first to admit that - but he had no desire to be anyone's puppet ever again. He was never going to be controlled into killing a whole group of people ever again.
But for another and more selfish reason, he was fairly sure the Sanctuary would lock him up if he chose to make himself vulnerable to commands again.
Life as a permanently deaf person. It was interesting, to say the least. His life didn't change all that much, because Myron never had very many friends, and those he did have disappeared after what he'd nearly done to the Sanctuary. Not that he blamed them. Most of those so-called 'friends' were just people offering their sympathies, anyway. It was difficult to be sympathetic to someone who had just tried to commit mass murder.
He was also less careful about who came to visit him these days, simply because no one did. There wasn't any point anymore. You couldn't obey commands if you couldn't even hear them. And Myron was constantly reminded of that fact, because even through the silence he could still feel the pain of bursting his own eardrums. A singular pain, like nothing he'd ever felt before, or wanted to feel again. He had nightmares about that pain. Getting a good night's sleep was becoming increasingly difficult, especially since he no longer had a single thing left to wake up to.
Myron had never felt lonely before. But now he was starting to wonder whether or not he'd always been lonely, and was only just now feeling it because it had grown so deep over the last few days.
Whatever the reason, and whatever he was feeling, Myron had simply sat down in front of the TV for hours on end, subtitles on and reveling in the never-ending silence. That... changed, after the brothers visited. Myron still had no idea why they thought visiting him was a good idea, but they did anyway, and it seemed to be because they genuinely wanted to know if he was alright. Myron didn't trust that. He was on edge and alert the entire time they were in the house, and still couldn't quite believe that neither of them had tried to kill him.
More than that, after they answered some of his more pressing questions and left again, something changed. Myron tried sitting in front of the TV, and grew restless after only a few minutes. Eventually he went for a walk, and that cleared his head enough for him to return home and dive straight into cleaning up the living room.
He wasn't sure why. It just felt like something to do. The mess was starting to annoy him. The really interesting thing was, once the room had been scrubbed clean, it felt like an entire weight had somehow been lifted off Myron's back.
That was the main reason he noticed Pleasant, that cowboy, and a teenager who could only be Valkyrie Cain coming up the walk, and didn't immediately start dreading the encounter. He still had a lot of questions, apart from anything else. He pulled open the door before anyone could knock, nodded politely towards Pleasant, and asked Gabe the first question that came to mind. "What happened to your hat?"
The words were a little louder than they had to be, a fact which Myron was completely unaware of.