[He slowly disentangled one arm from holding Richard so that he could turn off the water of the shower, leaving them holding each other in the quiet steam for a moment longer. He tipped his chin to peer at the younger man, his one eyebrow drawing down and towards his nose in a frown at the uncertainty in Richard's expression.
The hand that had shut off the shower moved in to cup the younger man's cheek, stroking his thumb under Richard's eye as he tried to discern the shift. Had the mother tied him up as a boy? Gagged him so he couldn't call for help? He was reminded of the Doctor's words out of context here, 'sometimes death is a mercy'. She might not have killed her son, but he had seen the torment one could inflict on another time and time again, especially children. Tied to a chair in a corner wasn't an uncommon 'time-out'.
He mentally prompted himself to lean down and kiss the top of Richard's head before he pulled them both off of the wall. With his arm still around Richard, he pulled them to the edge of the shower where he could grab a towel and drape it over the younger man's head and shoulders, stepping away enough to hand off the edges to Richard.]
I had saved her from certain death, but the effects left her mind paranoid. She overhead a conversation that lead her to believe that I would betray her when the opposite was true. [If she had simply done her usual minor physical assault to get answers, he could have explained. Instead, her paranoia had driven her to use more force than usual to rendered him unconscious.] As I'm sure you know, politics can be... dramatic. She felt she had to make a choice between who she used to be and who she was with myself and someone she was sisters with. [Is, was, no difference to him.] Her and myself were tied to chairs to prevent escape; I was gagged and there was another who... was a source of conflict between Jinx and her sister.
[His hands lifted and rub the towel over Richard's hair like this was a perfectly normal conversation. Truth be told, he kept his hands busy to distract himself from remembering the details.] I don't know if she intended to let me speak at all at first. She did eventually remove the gag, but the situation became out of control when one escaped bindings and leveled a weapon at Jinx. She defended herself. The sister...
[He trailed off, his jaw working before he shook his head to pull himself out of the memory. Jinx had always responded to him, the steady calm that he brought to her episodes. He knew all the signs of her falling into the voices, the hallucinations, the confused terror that came with them when they were beyond reasoning. Instinctively, he reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, then realized his tell and dropped his hand away.]
Family can be the ties that bind or the ones that break everything apart... Come, let's get you out of the shower.
cw: child abuse
The hand that had shut off the shower moved in to cup the younger man's cheek, stroking his thumb under Richard's eye as he tried to discern the shift. Had the mother tied him up as a boy? Gagged him so he couldn't call for help? He was reminded of the Doctor's words out of context here, 'sometimes death is a mercy'. She might not have killed her son, but he had seen the torment one could inflict on another time and time again, especially children. Tied to a chair in a corner wasn't an uncommon 'time-out'.
He mentally prompted himself to lean down and kiss the top of Richard's head before he pulled them both off of the wall. With his arm still around Richard, he pulled them to the edge of the shower where he could grab a towel and drape it over the younger man's head and shoulders, stepping away enough to hand off the edges to Richard.]
I had saved her from certain death, but the effects left her mind paranoid. She overhead a conversation that lead her to believe that I would betray her when the opposite was true. [If she had simply done her usual minor physical assault to get answers, he could have explained. Instead, her paranoia had driven her to use more force than usual to rendered him unconscious.] As I'm sure you know, politics can be... dramatic. She felt she had to make a choice between who she used to be and who she was with myself and someone she was sisters with. [Is, was, no difference to him.] Her and myself were tied to chairs to prevent escape; I was gagged and there was another who... was a source of conflict between Jinx and her sister.
[His hands lifted and rub the towel over Richard's hair like this was a perfectly normal conversation. Truth be told, he kept his hands busy to distract himself from remembering the details.] I don't know if she intended to let me speak at all at first. She did eventually remove the gag, but the situation became out of control when one escaped bindings and leveled a weapon at Jinx. She defended herself. The sister...
[He trailed off, his jaw working before he shook his head to pull himself out of the memory. Jinx had always responded to him, the steady calm that he brought to her episodes. He knew all the signs of her falling into the voices, the hallucinations, the confused terror that came with them when they were beyond reasoning. Instinctively, he reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, then realized his tell and dropped his hand away.]
Family can be the ties that bind or the ones that break everything apart... Come, let's get you out of the shower.