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

ii

[vorbratta]

Sonia is the sort of person who likes to make promises and plans on a whim, and then, when it suits her, even tries to keep them. The offer to teach Colin how to swim had been offhand, something quiet and normal to latch onto in the wake of what they had gone through. But she doesn't see any reason not to follow through with that offer. In fact, maybe it'll help things feel even more normal, if her and Colin's acquaintance were not so narrowly associated with kidnapping and jungle camping.

So when she arrives at his apartment in Hightown, it's on a bright and sunny day, weighed down heavily with the summer humidity.

"Colin!" Her call is like a bell chime. "Do you know what today is perfect for?"

[keenly]

He looks a bit puzzled when he opens the door. He hasn't even looked outside till now, and he blinks at the brightness. There's a significant pause.

"Um. Swimming?" he asks, as if nervous to get it wrong.

[vorbratta]

"Just so," Sonia says cheerfully, sidling inside naturally, as though he had already stepped for her. She has a pack bundled under one arm. Supplies and equipment. "One of the townsfolk told me about a river nearby that's good for swimming. It's not even very deep. I thought today would be perfect for it."

[keenly]

Wow. She remembered he exists. Somehow it surprises him when people do that, like by nature he just does not stick to peoples' memory. That hasn't been true for years, and yet he still expects it. These days somehow whenever he retreats, there's always someone willing to come after him.

A tiny smile crosses his face and he gives a little nod. "Um. What do I need to bring?"

[vorbratta]

His little smile only makes Sonia's broader. At the end of the day, she just likes to see other people smile. Part of her had been prepared for some kind of resistance -- from Colin, not reluctance so much as shyness -- so she's thrilled that he still seems interested.

"Just something to swim in -- whatever's comfortable for you." She pats her pack and grins. "I brought everything else we might need."