open

[keenly]

WHO: Colin + YOU
WHAT: Returning from the jungle
WHEN: Current
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES:

I. The Return

All Colin really wants at the moment is to flop down into his bed. Not because he's particularly tired, at the moment, but because he wants to be reassured that it still feels as good as he remembers. He drifts among the crowd at the docks, reunions happening all around as people greet their friends, but manages to stick closely to Athessa and limit his greetings to people he's close to. Not tired, but overwhelmed. There's an aching hollowness to him, and the pressing crowd only increases his discomfort.

II. Home

It is not Colin's presence anywhere in the Gallows that might be noted now, but his absence from it. His typical silence on the crystals and the journals now applies to his own life. For several days after returning, for as long as he can get away with claiming to be ill, he is closed up in his apartment in Hightown. If you want to speak with him, make him stop hiding, or get him to cook anything for you, you'll have to meet him here.

III. Wildcard

Comments

[sulahnan]

Athessa stops scanning the crowd for someone who should stick out like a sore thumb and nods, starting to lead the way. "Let's head to one of the gardens for now, I guess. Should be pretty quiet there."

And that should be where Benedict is, anyway. She knows how gutted Bene looked when she told him about Colin being abducted, so it's likely they'll both want to see one another.

[keenly]

Colin seizes her hand, trying not to look up at the imposing towers or around at austere stone courtyards, or hallways that herded captives. Those things are tricky to deal with on the best of days, let alone one where he's finally safe enough for the emotions of the last few weeks to catch up with him.

The garden, though, is full of beautiful and familiar things, things used to heal. The air is sweet. Colin sits on a bench and takes deep breaths. Later he'll need to check on Sunbeam, but for now, he needs to collect himself and keep an eye out for Benedict.

[sulahnan]

"Want me to go find him?" She asks, confident that Colin will know who she's talking about. She's remarkably steady, not showing any signs of the stress or trauma that others are undoubtedly burdened with right now. It's more important for her to handle the things other people can't right now, than to air out the confusion and disappointment she doesn't think she should be feeling.

"The tools and stuff are still over there, so he can't be far off, right?"

[altusimperius]

Not having a crystal means that Benedict had no real way of knowing people had returned, and was too fixated on pruning the hedges that he hadn't noticed the outflux of celebrants going to the square to see the wayward travelers home.

It is a bit quiet around here, and it's only now that he's found some confusion in it, which is instantly resolved when he rounds the corner with his wheelbarrow and stops dead at what he sees.

[keenly]

Colin's voice rises in urgency for a single word as he reaches out to cling to her. "Stay."

He doesn't think Benedict will want to see him like this. Or perhaps he doesn't want Benedict to see him like this. Whether it's one of these things, both, or neither, he doesn't want to be alone. It's better, being away from the crowd, but he doesn't want to risk it getting worse in solitude.

Someone comes about; Colin tenses, unable to bring himself to look. If it's Benedict, he'll probably want to turn around and go back out the way he came. If it's not, he doesn't want to speak with them--unless it's Lexie, he supposes. Within a few seconds, though, his curiosity gets the better of him, and he looks at the newcomer, peering almost through his own hair. Unsure what Bene will do, he holds very still, glancing up at Athessa and back to Bene to signal who has arrived.

[sulahnan]

She sees him, heedless of Colin's signal. And out of all the things she could say, or should, she inclines her chin at Benedict.

"Told you I'd bring him back."

[altusimperius]

Colin looks like he might spook at the slightest provocation. Bene has been there before, and they both know it-- all the more reason to move slowly and softly. He approaches as casually as if they'd just spoken yesterday, hands in the pocket of his apron, a damp-eyed smile to Athessa as he draws nearer.

[keenly]

Bene approaches the way one might an uneasy horse. Actually, Colin can think of another time when people approached him this way, and it was after Uldred's massacre. He's still not sure why, having such broken memories of that time. What it tells him, though, is that Bene sees his fragile emotional state and isn't frightened away or put off by it. To the contrary, he's glad to see him. The line of Colin's shoulders softens and he releases a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He glances up at Athessa again, a gratitude in his eyes, before standing up to close the distance with Bene, tentatively reaching out with his arms.

[sulahnan]

She wants to be happy for them, or to be home, or proud that she did what she set out to do and that this reunion is proof of her competence in that matter. She did something right, and it mattered. She's part of something that matters. But what she wants and what is aren't quite lining up, knocked off a straight trajectory by a little roadblock of envy.

It's stupid to feel like this, she thinks. She helped save her friends, she got hugs when she unshackled Colin and Sonia. All in all, Athessa's time in the jungle wasn't wholly unpleasant, even if the circumstances that put her there were harrowing. Shame at feeling like this joins jealousy, further diverting any path towards pride and pleasure.

Shoving her hands in her pockets, Athessa takes a slight step back to give Benedict and Colin some modicum of space or privacy and glances around. Anywhere else to put her gaze. The handcart. The plants. The bench. The ground at her feet. She chews on her lip and mentally retraces the steps that would take her to her room, to the baths, to Deimos' room.

Gods, being a third wheel is awkward.

[altusimperius]

Easily folding Colin in his arms, Benedict is almost tall enough to rest his chin on his head when he ducks it. The embrace is warm and close, tension palpably leaving his body with the knowledge that this person-- or these people, rather-- have returned, and that he won't have to go it alone.

As if on cue, his eyes open, and he gently steps away from Colin to offer an arm to Athessa. There's a hug for her too, if she wants it.

[keenly]

Something unwinds in Colin at the hug. It's not that he didn't get hugs in the jungle, but this hug is a welcome-home hug. This hug means it's finally over, and Bene is here and so is Athessa and soon he'll see Lexie. By the time it ends, he feels years younger. He's even smiling as Bene reaches out to welcome Athessa home as well.

[sulahnan]

Athessa clearly wasn't expecting to have a hug offered to her, and for a moment she doesn't look at all sure about how to react.

Ultimately, she steps forward and accepts the hug. It happens in stages: step closer, lean bodily, return hug lightly, tighten hold, and breathe. This definitely is a different kind of hug than the ones in the jungle. Comforting, not fueled by desperation and fear. Or at least, there's more relief and comfort than the other two.

If it were just Colin, she might cry. But she's keeping it together because she and Bene aren't quite at that level yet.

[altusimperius]

Bene's on the verge of it himself, so completely relieved that all the stress he didn't even realize he was holding inside has dissipated all at once.
But just before the hug can become awkward, he steps back with a little smile.

"I'm glad you made it home," he says quietly.

[keenly]

"Two of you ought to come over to--no." Benedict can't leave the island. "I should come over here and cook dinner for the three of us. Not tonight, just...sometime."

Meanwhile he's sending little fleeting glances to each of them. She promised Bene she'd bring him home? There's something kind of amazing about that. He shouldn't be surprised Bene cared that much, but he is because he's always surprised. More than that, warmth blooms in him as he wonders if there's anything Athessa can't do when she's made up her mind. Probably not.

[sulahnan]

"Sometime sounds good," Athessa nods, and clears her throat to make sure there isn't a sob stuck in there or something. She takes a step back and gives Colin a friendly nudge on the arm. They're both home and safe and can relax a little, but Athessa still has someone she wants to check on. She juts a thumb roughly in the direction of not here.

"Weeell if you guys are good here I'm gonna um. Go see if I can find Sten. Maybe get in a welcome-home lay or somethin' before we have to get back to work, ya know."

[altusimperius]

"Sometime." Bene agrees to this with a little smile, waving off Athessa at her departure.
There's a pause, and then:

"Are you all right?"

[keenly]

Colin considers the question--not to determine his answer, but to determine whether he should answer--and shakes his head.

"I'm glad to be back," he says tentatively, like it means things are looking up. Which, being back is definitely an improvement over not being back, but it doesn't mean he's all right. "What about you? Have you been...?"