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

[indissection]

Sidony hears about them being back, of course, and she knows that she needs to give them all a little time. Her husband is back with them all, too, and her focus is entirely on him for the first few days - but after that she knows she has other friends she must meet. One of those is Colin; she has no intention of ignoring him.

She makes her way to his apartment, hearing rumours of his illness, and she knocks sharply with one hand, a bag of tricks with her.

"It's me, dear."

I. for Athessa and Bene

[keenly]

"Can we just get out of here?" Colin asks Athessa faintly, looking pale. The noise, people pressing close, everything is too much right now. They could catch the ferry from here, but he wants to check on Bene first, since the last he heard, he couldn't leave the Gallows.

[keenly]

It's not Colin who opens the door, but one of Lexie's servants, who quickly leads Sidony to a sitting-room where Colin is on a chaise. He doesn't look particularly ill, but he does look tense, frozen in place over the book he was reading until someone knocked at the door. He glances sheepishly at his guest.

"Hello."

[indissection]

Sidony is very calm as she practically ignores the fact that it's one of Lexie's servants - she is not necessarily on good terms with the woman, even now, not content - before she lifts her head and offers him a small smile. Putting her basket down on a table at the side, she strides to him and reaches out to touch his cheek.

"It's been so long. Are you well?"

[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]

He jumps when her hand comes toward his face, even knowing it's just her, even knowing what she's doing. His hands grip the book as if it's something he can steady himself with.

"'M fine," he mumbles. Certainly to touch, he doesn't feel sick, either.

[indissection]

That clearly isn't true, and she shakes her head, dropping down to her knees to give him a careful look. She's not sure what to do about this situation - damage to the mind is hardly her area - but she smiles gently.

"I don't think so, but we can work on that." She doesn't bother getting to her feet. "We could read together if you like."

[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?"

[keenly]

There's a gleam of surprise in his eyes as he realizes she's not about to call him out for not being sick, nor judge him for hiding away from the world. The fear on his face melts away to shame, his gaze falling as he nods assent, making room for her on the chaise.

[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.

[indissection]

All Sidony does is move, settling herself up beside him and reaching to take the book from his hands. Then, as she would do if she were not with someone clearly hurting from their venture, she lifts her leg and makes to place them over his, making herself comfortable - if he allows her to, of course.

"Now, where were you?"

[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.

One... and a half?

[coquettish_trees]

The unpredictable shifting of emotion that runs rampant in homecoming crowds is something Alexandrie has begun to avoid. It might be different, were there not faces in that returning party she loved, but there are, and since she would not greet those whom she loves with anything but an open honest heart, and she is altogether finished with allowing those who have no right to it to see it, she does not go to greet them at the docks.

But she is there on the couch when Colin comes home, and she stands when he enters and raises her arms to him in silent invitation to an embrace, her eyes shining with undisguised welcome and love.

[keenly]

He is totally not blinking rapidly against the oncoming flood of tears. Maker, he used never to cry. Now he's fighting it while placing his finger on the page where he left off. As she reads, he finds himself bending to rest his cheek against her hair--gingerly, so his whiskers don't mess it up too badly. The sound of her voice lulls his shame and fear into a fitful slumber, and he begins to breathe easily.

At the end of a chapter, he raises his head, delicately smoothing her hair back down if any of it was caught.

"Thank you," he says quietly.

[keenly]

His face breaks into a smile and he goes straight into her arms, holding her tightly. He's needed these arms; though he had numerous others, her arms matter and cannot be substituted.

"I missed you."

[coquettish_trees]

She shifts to her toes so she can gain the height that will let her rest her chin atop his shoulder, hold him such that Colin can rest his head against hers with greater ease should he wish to.

"Tu m'as manqué aussi, mon chou," Alexandrie murmurs in return, favouring the smooth rounder sounds of her native tongue as she does in those moments in which she wishes the intimacy of sounding most like herself. It hardly matters if understanding comes from the words; if it does not, it will come from the soft surety of her hold.

They will stay that way until he begins to release her; she will draw back when he does.

[keenly]

The hug lasts a long time, but eventually, enough is enough. He pulls back, face shining with a smile the like of which he has neither made nor felt since before the eluvian mission began.

"I have to greet my other friend here now. Come on."

He takes her hand and leads her to the kitchen, where he sighs. "Hello, other friend. I might not cook in you straight away, but it will be soon."

[coquettish_trees]

Indulgent bemusement breaks into the light silvery fall of laughter at finding out the identity of this 'other friend', and Alexandrie squeezes his hand affectionately.

"There is a third friend waiting for you if you should like to become reacquainted," she says, voice laden with promise, "I had Marie draw you a bath, which I believe she has timed impeccably such that it will have finished cooling from 'scalding' to 'perfect' at this very moment."

[keenly]

Colin's eyes widen, his lips part, and he draws Lexie back into his arms in thanks.

"I love you so much," he says quietly. "Though maybe it's your fault I've gotten so used to these luxuries. I missed them so much while we were in that jungle."

He releases her with a wide smile. "I will be back. But it would be ungrateful not to take advantage of Marie's hard work while the temperature is perfect."

[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.