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robotstrategy · 1 month

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Recalled • Part 6 • 46 - Roland and Nero

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Nero and Carter stand in the main room of the apartment, Carter moves around boxes as Nero sweeps up broken glass. She told Carter that the vase had broken on accident, in reality, Roland was so miserable that morning that he had swiped the thing off the table. Nero doesn’t blame him, she’d be pretty miserable too if her assaulter’s gift to her was sitting in a frequently visited spot.

“They’re such nice flowers, it’s a shame they have to be thrown away,” Carter remarked.

“They were a gift from… someone…” Nero explains, alluding to Trevor.

“Never mind then.”

Nero dumps the broken vase and the flowers into a garbage bag and ties it up. Carter looks over to Roland’s bedroom door. “Should I put these things in his room?” He refers to the boxes.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’ll mind if you come in. Fair warning though, there was a mishap yesterday and he ain’t looking too good.”

Carter nods. “Alright.”

Carter knocks on the door before slowly opening it, he jumps as Roland jolts up in bed; covering himself like a woman caught in the nude. His face is red and scabby, and there’s a thick stitch going across his chin.

“Did he do this to you?” Carter asks him, Roland shakes his head. “I just had a bad fall on concrete, I’ll be fine.”

“Right, umm,” Carter starts moving in the boxes.

“You can just put them against the closet, I’ll move them later.” Roland directs.

Carter still worries. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Roland shrugs. “Nero talked to me while I had a bath yesterday. I don’t feel unsafe,” Roland takes the covers off his chest. “I mean, look at me, I could’ve pummeled the guy if my meds weren’t on full blast. I’m just angry and upset.”

Carter looks him in the eyes. “If you ever need someone other than Nero to talk to I’m also here for you.”

Roland nods. “Thanks.”

Carter finishes moving the boxes, he comes out to Nero staring at the front door.

“Are you expecting someone?”

“Yeah, Roland’s dad.”

“Funny, Roland has never talked about his dad.”

“He only found out he wasn’t dead last week.”

“Oh.”

Nero hears someone knock at the door, she rushes over to unlock it. “Hello Mr. Del-gah-doe?” Nero awkwardly greets him.

Danilo looks stunned. “That’s right, who are you?”

“I’m Nero.”

“Oh, I thought you were a boy, and umm, not a Rewind.”

Nero gives him the benefit of the doubt. “Did Roland not tell you I was a Rewind?”

“He did not.”

Nero turns around shouting into the apartment. “Roland! You didn’t tell him I was a Rewind?”

“Sorry, I didn’t think it mattered.”

“It really doesn’t,” Danilo assures her.

“It does to most people,” Nero hisses, nonetheless she opens the door letting Danilo in. Nero points to Carter. “This is Carter, by the way, a friend of mine, we’re just moving stuff in for Roland.”

“Is he helping you?” Danilo asks about Roland.

“He had a bad fall on concrete yesterday,” Carter says.

“Oh, has his boyfriend come over to comfort him? I’d like to meet him soon.”

Both Nero and Carter freeze, Nero suspects they’re thinking the same thing. ‘How do we tell this guy what happened without going into too much detail?’

“They, they had a bad break up, when you talk to him today don’t mention his ex, please,” Nero confesses to him.

Danilo’s face saddens. “I see, sorry about that.”

“At least he’s doing better today, I heard he did really well in the chopper this morning.”

“Ah, that is good. I heard he already knew how to fly a chopper from his time in the graveyard.”

“Yeah, it was quite scary for me, I was originally going to be an aviation bœuf. You can imagine my shock when my arms and legs already knew what they were doing.”

“Wait… you…?”

“Yeah, I’ve got his old legs, parts of his arms, and little grey matter that connects it all together.”

“How much of him was gone?”

Nero hesitates. “Well there’s me, and then believe it or not, Connor Lassiter has most of his right arm, and then his frontal lobe is somewhere, not like I want to find it.”

“I see.” Danilo looks her in the face. “I noticed you only put makeup on half of your face, why?”

Nero laughs. “Firstly, I don’t think he’s deserving of looking pretty, secondly his skin develops slowly, I think he’s only gotten a pimple once.” She talks about Starkey.

“Hmm, well it’s very nice, I was just wondering if you could help with my daughter’s quinceañera. I’ve already had to put aside money for the food, the venue, and the dress.”

“Oh Lilian, I could try to help with her makeup. I wouldn’t want you paying me though, I’m not sure if I could do both sides properly.”

Danilo shakes his head. “Then you could help my mother with her hair, I wouldn’t want to force a responsibility onto you. You probably have enough stress as it is.”

“I do, and thanks.”

Danilo looks over to Roland’s room. “May I see him?”

“Yeah, of course, just knock before going in.”

Roland hears someone knock at the door, he sees his father coming in, and his father gasps at the sight of his face.

“Oh pobre tiburón! Your face is so red!”

Roland becomes teary-eyed, yesterday morning he wanted to look like this, today he doesn’t want to believe this is what he looks like at all.

“Oh please don’t cry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Danilo sits down beside him. “You’re not taking this well I’m guessing?”

Roland nods. “It hurts, it hurts so bad!” He learns over into his dad’s arms, crying into his shoulder. He then stops, placing his chin on his father’s shoulder. “How’s Lilian doing?”

Roland hears a smile in Danilo’s voice. “That’s what I wanted to tell you about, yesterday I went with her and your mother to pick out a dress for her quinceañera. It’s very pretty, it has a ball gown and ruffled top like a flamenco dress, I think I have a picture of her in it.”

Roland turns around to see the picture, the dress is periwinkle with little silver accents. “She’s very pretty.” He frowns, thinking back to himself.

“Think your face will heal in time, if not I still think we could make you look nice.”

Roland sniffs. “Thanks, papá.”

Danilo smiles. “You’re very welcome Rolando.”

Roland looks away from his dad, looking out the window.

“Should I leave you alone then?” His father asks.

“Yeah, I’m just done with today.” He confesses.

“Ah, right, I’ll leave you alone then.” As his father leaves Roland goes back to lying down, sighing as his head hits the pillow. He had seen the state of Trevor today, there was staining under his nose from where blood had gushed out, and he was walking funny. Trevor’s roommate had told someone in the group that apparently his testicles had experienced so much blunt-force trauma that they had to cut them off. “Is he getting them replaced?” “Yeah, and he’s going to have to pay for them himself, for some reason he won’t fess up what happened.” Roland looks beside him to Nero, Nero had said something about getting justice. “Good,” Nero says under her breath. Roland gasps, and Nero whips her head at him. “I-I just, wow, I didn’t think you’d…”

“Well, I wanted to teach him a lesson, it’s a shame though that he can get his balls replaced,” She speaks even colder and quieter. “I should’ve kicked him even more.”

Roland rolls over in his bed, scrolling on his phone, he wonders if Hayden would be up for talking. Nero keeps telling him that everything before his unwinding isn’t his fault, but she wasn’t there to experience it, Hayden was.

Roland dials up Hayden’s number and waits to see if he’ll answer, it takes a few rings until he hears something.

“Hey Roland, long time no hear.”

“Hi…”

“Are you okay?”

“I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Well, you have the stage or rather the radio… Hey, you took my job!” Hayden teases.

Roland laughs, and then his tone drops again. “I, I had a boyfriend, and…”

“A boyfriend! Really? What’s his name?”

Roland stalls. “It, It doesn’t matter, he, he… oh god, give me a moment, I can’t do this.” Roland puts his head on the mattress, taking a few sniffs before he tries talking again. “He didn’t respect my boundaries, and he already had a girlfriend our entire relationship.” He cries.

“Oh… jeez… I’m so sorry…”

“It’s just, that night I had a dream with Risa in it, and it made me think how horrible I am. Nero says I have to disassociate myself and that it’s not my fault, but she wasn’t there. I, I just can’t see myself as anything but a monster.”

“Well… Nero is right, you’re Modified, therefore your past actions have become irrelevant. It does seem stupid in a way doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Roland mumbles. “By the way, I listened to your radio that night.”

Hayden sounds embarrassed. “O-oh, what night was that?”

“Saturday night.”

“Oh o-okay, umm I was talking about that new charity right?”

“No, I think it was about your hobbies, I heard that you liked surfing random blogs,” He pauses. “Your voice is really relaxing when you whisper, it put me right to sleep.” He laughs.

Hayden’s voice calms, “Oh, you're a late-night listener?”

“No, I just turned it on to procrastinate sleep.”

Hayden giggles. “I guess that didn’t work then.”

“Yeah, but I’m happy I didn’t pull an all-nighter.”

There’s a little pause of silence in Roland’s room until Hayden talks again. “You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but when you said your boyfriend didn’t respect your boundaries and how Risa was in your dreams, did he?…”

Roland cuts him off. “We got the same treatment, except Risa and I weren’t dating, and I didn’t put my hand down Risa’s pants.”

“Oh.” Hayden emits something between a gasp and a shiver.

“It’s alright, it was the first day in the cycle of my meds, so I didn’t feel anything.”

“But that’s still so scary.”

“Yeah, but I’m not scared of him, I’m just angry and upset that our relationship ever even happened. I guess the fact that I had finally figured myself out and a boy actually wanted me just got the best of me.”

“Roland, don't blame yourself for being assaulted!”

“I’m not, I just wish I could’ve seen it coming sooner,” Roland then smirks. “But he got what was coming for him, Nero kicked him hard so many times in the nuts that they had to be amputated.”

“HOLY SHIT! Well, I guess no sex for him, unless he's getting them replaced, is he getting them replaced?”

“I think he is.”

“Dang it!”

Roland laughs. “Yeah Nero says she should’ve kicked him harder,” Roland gets off his bed. “I’ve got some things to put away, I’ll be putting you on speaker.”

“Alright, speaking about that, how’s dorm life been treating you?”

“Oh terrible, I got roomed with an Incel, you know what that guy said to me on the night of my assault?”

“What did he say?”

“Well, first he asked me if I tried to stick my dick in crazy, and then he told me that’s why he likes body pillows, because they don’t talk nonsense, and they don’t say no!”

“EW! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THAT GUY?!”

Roland puts clothes away. “I know! Like that’s the last thing I want to hear right now.”

“I hope you gave him a piece of your mind!”

“I tried to, but I didn’t exactly have it in me to do so after the incident.”

“Fair.”

Roland stores more stuff under his bed. “So anything going on with you lately?”

“Well other than the radio, there’s banquets, parties, political debates,” Hayden sighs. “Just a bunch of rich people shit.”

“Well, some of that stuff sounds like it could be fun every once in a while. We’re having a quinceañera for my sister at the end of spring.”

“Oh, nice! You know, for some reason, I thought your sister was older than fifteen, and, Hey wait! You’re Spanish?” Hayden shouts.

Roland wheezes. “Hey, I didn’t know until like a month ago! And yeah, my sister is turning 18 at the end of spring, we’re having a very late quinceañera, my dad says it’s more like a dieciochoañera.”

“I’m going to assume that’s eighteen-year-something…?”

“Yeah,” Roland puts away the last of his stuff. “Would you like to come?” He suggests.

“Oh, no that’s okay, I’ll probably be alienated anyway.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll probably be alienated as well, and it would be nice to see you in person.”

“Hmm, well it’s alright with you I’ll come.”

“Thank you, Hayden!”

#unwind #unwind dystology #unwind fanfic #unwind series #sequel fic #roland taggart #unwind oc #hayden upchurch

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