[open] I want to hear your voice

[altusimperius]

WHO: Benedict and you??
WHAT: back above ground and figuring it out babey
WHEN: after the prison break mission
WHERE: the Gallows
NOTES: hmu if you want a starter

I. The Gallows Courtyard

The ship has returned, they've rowed back to the Gallows, some discussions have been had, and it all goes by in a blur. Benedict finds himself standing alone in the courtyard, free for the first time in almost eight months, skinny and hollow-eyed and utterly overwhelmed by the activity around him.
He looks lost, unsure of where to go, what to do, or how to even begin.

II. The Mess Hall

If he hadn't already eaten food without magebane in it on their mission, he might have collapsed in tears the first time he did it back in the Gallows. But as it stands, even as simple as the meal is that he's consuming, Benedict is desperately happy to be doing so.
In fact, sitting alone in the crowded hall, face turned toward the sunlight-filled window, it's possibly the happiest he's ever looked to the outside eye.

III. Wildcard


for Marcoulf

The first night in, Benedict makes his timid way to the Gallows dormitory, a sack slung over his shoulder bearing a change of basic, casual clothing of a peasant that he was lent for his first stint out of the dungeon. He sets it on one of the unoccupied beds, then sits on it himself with the deep, emotional sigh of a person suddenly experiencing unimaginable comfort paired with the knowledge that it won't be immediately taken from him.

for Henry

It's early morning when Benedict arrives in the garden, disheveled from lack of sleep and wary, but carefully optimistic that what he'll find won't be worse than what he's left. The spring morning air is brisk, and he shivers from it despite the heavy cloak he wears over his simple borrowed clothing. Looking at him now, one would never guess that he's from the Magisterium.

for Colin

Word has no doubt traveled to those concerned on the mainland that Benedict is free-ish, albeit confined to the Gallows. He's pushing a wheelbarrow of gardening equipment from one location to another, hands in rough leather gloves and hair tied back in a little ponytail, when he spots Colin.
He pauses for a moment, his gaze vacant yet pointed.

Comments

[altusimperius]

He glances in the direction he was headed, where Henry awaits him, but he can probably spare a moment or two-- he'll just stay a little later, if need be.
Trailing after Athessa, he wears an expression of trepidation. Most of the news he receives these days isn't exactly good.

Henry's fine with it

[sulahnan]

"I've got good news, and bad news," She says as they walk. She isn't leading them to a secluded place where they can talk, she's just in a hurry.

"The bad news is: Colin and a few others have been abducted."

Re: Henry's fine with it

[altusimperius]

He follows along fine, only to stop dead when that news reaches his ears.

From behind Tessa, he breathes, "...what?"

[sulahnan]

"But the good news is: I'm gonna get him back," She continues, wheeling back around to pull on his arm so she can keep this walk and talk rolling.

[altusimperius]

"Wait," he says faintly, and picks up his pace to follow Athessa, "you're-- you're leaving too?"

[sulahnan]

"Yeah, that's what I just said," She drops his arm and dodges around someone booking it in the other direction. "To be honest I wasn't going to tell you anything, but then I thought: if it were me, I'd wanna know. But then I thought, you're not me, and I have no fucking clue what you would or wouldn't want to know about ahead of time. So I'm gonna leave how you feel up to you and just give it to you straight on."

This is about as far as they can go without Bene possibly becoming privy to something he's not allowed to know yet, so Athessa stops and faces him. She plants her hands on her hips, then shrugs. It is what it is.

"Now you know. You're as clued in as I can offer and you won't have to deal with feeling shitty about learning the situation after-the-fact. If that's how you would feel. Either way, I'm bringing him back."

[altusimperius]

The news slams into him like wave after wave, and panic rises in Bene's gut as Athessa keeps explaining. No, no, it can't be like this, not after everything, and she's being so cavalier about it, and he's once again struck by that intense feeling that he's going mad, the world spinning around him.

"He," he begins, but loses his train of thought. "You..."
His face is white with horror, his eyes both searching and vacant as he tries to collect himself enough to say something, anything useful.

[sulahnan]

"Ben," she says, for the first time in forever calling him by something other than Artemaeus or walnut. "We're kind of on a time limit here."

Get on with it, in other words.

[altusimperius]

He nods, but still looks like he's about to completely lose his composure. There's nothing left to say on the matter, and he remains a few steps away, letting her go if she wants.
He hates it, but he's also aware that getting sloppy all over her won't help anything.

[sulahnan]

It feels...weird? And wrong, to leave him like that, but like she said: time is of the essence.

"It's gonna be okay."

She believes that, and hopes that it somehow gets across. The pat she gives his arm is kind of awkward, but she's off as soon as that's over so they don't have to dwell on how awkward it is.

[altusimperius]

He watches her go uninterrupted, and stands there for far too long afterward, trying not to collapse either physically or mentally. It's harder than it looks.