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[congeals]

Hey, this is Bobby. Leave a message, and I'll call you back. Thanks.

[ beep! ]

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[congeals]

[ It takes several minutes for Bobby to answer, as he was sleeping peacefully before Pyro's sudden arrival. ]

...John? [ His voice turns from tired to alert once he sees his friend's state. ] What's the matter?

[ He glances at the bottle in his hand before reaching out to take it away. ] You've been drinking?

[ex_outofcontrol435]

[He gives up the bottle rather easily - in fact, there doesn't appear to be any fight in him at all. He just wanders into the room, then sits on the edge of Bobby's bed and falls onto his back. Staring up at the ceiling, he speaks in a flat voice.]

Oswin's gone.

[congeals]

[ He nearly loses his grip on the bottle but thankfully manages to compose himself in time to place it on a nearby table. After closing the door, he turns to John. ]

What?

[ex_outofcontrol435]

She's gone. Back in her own world. Dead.

[The edge that crept into his voice disappears as quickly as it came, leaving that alarming listlessness.]

No more Oswin.

[congeals]

[ At a loss for words and in denial, he shakes his head.

He activates his bracelet, searches through the list of names, and discovers the truth. ]

No. This can't be real.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

I even went to the Doctor. You think he'd just sit back if she could still be here? It's real.

[The pain finally starts to register on his face, and he immediately sits up, heading for the bottle.]

[congeals]

[ While he's still in disbelief, he regains enough of his senses to block John's way. ]

Stop, man. That's not... That's not gonna help.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Nothing's gonna help. [And that is just pure bone-weariness, no fight at all.] But at least I can forget for awhile.

[congeals]

[ With a sigh, he takes a seat next to John. ]

She wouldn't want that.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

We had some of our best times when we were pissed! Shit, the first time I really held onto her was when she got so smashed she fell into a snowbank -

[He says all of that while laughing, but the mirth doesn't reach his eyes.]

- god, she was sick from that for ages. Not hungover, really si - you remember, right? When she went running after the fucking Doctor with that fever?

[Only a drunk person can sound so amused and so close to crying at once. Help him, Bobby.]

[congeals]

[ He reaches out to hold onto his shoulder and steady him. ]

Yeah.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

The Doctor - he said she's not really dead. There's versions of her all over space and time. You think that's possible?

[He looks so vulnerable, almost like the child he stopped being so abruptly at twelve years old. Then his lips quirk a little.]

Guess if anyone could do it, she could.

[congeals]

[ A sad nod. ]

I bet she could.

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Shit, man. [He's cradling his head, obviously trying to hold back a tsunami of emotion.] Shit. I never told her - anything. We pissed around, yeah, but I bet she never really knew.

[congeals]

[ As a gesture of support, his grip on John's shoulder tightens slightly. Bobby doesn't know what to say (knows that there's nothing he can really say), so he keeps silent and listens to him speak. ]

[ex_outofcontrol435]

[He turns his head up to face Bobby, vulnerable and lost.]

But how do you tell someone you'd love them if they weren't what they are? That's -

[That's what his parents would've said to him. Just for a second, in his drunken misery, he's actually realizing what a hypocrite he's been.]

[congeals]

[ His brow furrows even more, once he sees that realization on John's face. ]

Hey...

[ex_outofcontrol435]

Does it matter here? Any of it?

[He'd completely deny this conversation the next day, if he were questioned about it, but right now he's being hit with a serious case of in vino veritas.]