Those we Love (Ryan, Flynn, Swan and Rose)

[troylus]

She took a few steps to the bedroom door before looking back, “I said wash, hurry up!”
Her words took him a moment to comprehend, and he dragged himself to his feet and shuffled awkwardly over to the basin. He suddenly wanted very much to be clean. The water was freezing and helped wake him up as he scrubbed roughly everywhere he could reach, not caring that it hurt.
Rose came back in while he was finishing off, holding a plate with a few crackers and a glass of water. She set them down on the bedside table. “Those are rewards if you’re good.” She sat on the edge of the bed and took one of the crackers. “You all clean and ready for round two in a couple of hours?”
He didn’t think he would ever feel clean again. When he dunked the sponge in the water, blood swirled out of it, staining the liquid in the bowl. He watched it running off his fingertips and dripping back into the rest of the water. What had Rose said? Something about more in a few hours? He felt nauseous. He wanted to protest, but he didn’t think he had the strength for another beating. He just shook his head weakly. Hadn’t they already taken everything they wanted from him?
“Well, hurry up and scrub yourself clean,” she said, misunderstanding the meaning of his shaking his head, “and when you’re dressed, I’ll let you have some water to drink.”
His throat felt dry and scratchy, but he didn’t think he’d be able to keep anything in his stomach.
She held the glass out to him, and he jumped and flinched back fearfully until he realised she was just handing him water, “Drink real slow or you’ll puke.” It was as if she were reading his mind, but really it was based on years of hard physical activity and knowing the effect on the body when dehydrated.
After a moment he took the drink, wrinkling his nose at the water, but sipping obediently. It helped the scratchy ache in his throat. He wondered why she was bothering to give him anything when just the night before-. The memory made his head swim and he turned away unhappily, not wanting to look at her. Unbidden the thought came to him; What must she have been through, to make her like that. It must have been awful. He felt a twist of unwanted sympathy.
She nibbled on her cracker, making sure she ate slowly to maximise her chances of feeling satiated with less. “I need you to clean this whole apartment so it looks great. Strip the bed, wash the sheets - if I can find some clean spares to use while they dry, scrub the floors. Everything. You know how?”
He glanced around and nodded slowly. He’d helped his mother keep their house clean for years, and then taught his sisters how to do it when their mother got sick. Cleaning might take his mind off things. He licked his lips and asked in a voice hoarse from screaming, “Water?”
“Once I see you’re working hard and have earned more.” She suspected that more was a bad idea anyway, better to let what he’d already had get absorbed and avoid vomiting it up.
He shook his head, “To clean”
“We ain’t got that much,” she explained honestly, “and we’re locked in so I can’t get some snow and melt it for us.” She pointed at the bedroom door, “You can use some but. Go have a look.”
(ooc word count: 588)

[meerclar]

He wandered out into the living room, with Rose trailing close behind him, and looked around. There wasn’t any obvious water around. His gaze settled on the window and he froze, wondering if he could make it before Rose jumped on him. Probably not.
He felt strangely despondent, a hopelessness more deep than he’d felt even when his mother died. She had been sick for so long, and even though her loss had hurt, he’d been busy caring for his sisters. This was unlike anything he had ever felt before. As a naturally optimistic and upbeat person, he wanted to believe the best of other people. The weeks with Flynn had been difficult for him. The beatings were bad, but there had been so much incidental violence as well. Having Swan and Rose brutalise him and actually enjoy the fact that they were hurting him...he felt like he was going to throw up and pushed the image away of Rose’s excited face while Swan brutalised him. Mechanically he began to clean the room, trying not to think about anything else. He avoided looking at Rose, trying to keep as much distance between them as he could.

Swan was feeling very chipper as he strolled along the street. He’d collected some debts, beaten up one shopkeeper who had refused to pay. As he headed to the market he mused on what had happened last night. As much as he had avoided her question, Rose had been in his thoughts a lot since he had first been with her. At the time he had put it down to just wanting to finish ensnaring her in his web, but now he wasn’t so sure. He hadn’t ever been with anyone else who had enjoyed the pain and misery of another person as much as he did. Almost as an equal. The thought made him shake his head. Not an equal, but certainly more than his usual conquest. And the boy; Flynn’s son. The memory made him smirk to himself. He might be happy enough to be Flynn’s second in command, but that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy getting one up on his boss. Flynn had said he could do whatever, but he probably hadn’t imagined Swan would be half as brutal as he had been.

Swan enjoyed the violence, very much so in fact. It also was a fascinating project to him. He needed to change Ryan’s behaviour drastically in a very short period of time if he was to impress on Flynn how effective it was giving the boy to him to straighten his behaviour out.
Rose seemed to have very little idea of how to secure someone’s unquestionable, unthinking loyalty and he had to admit to himself that they had a very narrow timeframe to work within. Flynn would expect his son to be returned within the week. Swan was nothing if not ambitious though.
Ryan made him feel like he imagined an artist might feel while looking at a blank canvas. There was just so much potential.

For the first time he wondered what would happen if Flynn found out how far they had gone in beating his son, and hurting him in so many strange and cruel ways. Flynn was often very traditional and might not like some of Swan’s less standard punishments. Flynn also seemed quite attached to the boy and might regret his decision if Ryan was returned too broken. Regret which he might then take out on Swan and Rose. Swan wasn’t overly worried for himself. He knew he could probably take Flynn in a fight, and if it came to it, he could disappear, change his name and start over. But Rose...for the first time in his life he found himself worried about what might happen to someone else. He didn’t want to lose Rose. He was enjoying himself too much and, he admitted privately, he would miss having her around, miss her gleeful, almost innocent sadism. Her obvious adoration for him was also a perk. Well, he decided, he would just have to make sure the boy knew to keep his mouth shut well and truly, and that Rose knew a bit more about how to control him.