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

[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...?"