[audio/video]

[absinthe_eyed]

[An audio feed begins. Dull scratching sounds, muffled but hurried words. After a moment, the words become clear...]

--where I dropped--

[...only to disappear in a buzz of white noise. It gives way to a video feed featuring the too-close face of one Justin Pendleton, although he may not be recognizable as such. The typically fastidious boy is

Comments

audio;

[chasingmorning]

Justin!

audio; [1/2]

[absinthe_eyed]

Shilo!

audio;

[absinthe_eyed]

[Oh, wait. Someone just remembered that he's in trouble.]

Wait until I'm home to scold me for getting into trouble, please?

audio;

[chasingmorning]

[For the second she's far too relieved to think about being angry. For the second.]

Get here first. Then we'll think about anything else.

audio;

[absinthe_eyed]

[Fortunately, he has a plan.]

You're home?

audio;

[chasingmorning]

I'm on my way back there right now.

[And he'll be there! At least he better. If this is some kind of a trick....she doesn't know what she'd do.]

audio --> action?

[absinthe_eyed]

I'll be there.

[And he will be. His clothes and hair might look like hell and his head might hurt and he might need the mother of all naps, but he'll be there.]

action

[chasingmorning]

[Shilo had been out and about in the City, looking to see if anyone had seen anything of Justin. She had even ventured to the Hall of the Missing. And she doesn't exactly look put together. She's dressed, yes. But Shilo hasn't slept well. Sleeping alone in an apartment abruptly had been more lonely than she could have ever anticipated. He could have been gone forever.

The moment she sees him she's right in front of him, looking him over. Of course she wants to hold onto him, there could be so much more to this scenario.

And that frustration of not being told he was leaving for the graveyard to dig, then being alone! He promised to be back. What happened in the graveyard? All of these things start to stifle the warm welcome she wants to give.]

action!

[absinthe_eyed]

[Justin is perceptive, but it doesn't take a particularly perceptive individual to see that Shilo isn't entirely well. His joy at being alive momentarily gives way to guilt. He puts her through so much--something she doesn't deserve. He resolves to behave in the future and pushes that nagging guilt aside.

In spite of Shilo's less-than-enthusiastic expression, Justin immediately pulls her into a hug and proceeds to give her a kiss that puts the one he gave Lisa in the greenhouse to shame. It's a bold kiss, and more passionate than he usually allows, but he's alive and he wants to share that thrill. He wants her to feel what he feels--minus the headache, maybe. He wants her to feel his heart beating. He wants her to know without resorting to words, because there are some things that words can't say.]

action!

[chasingmorning]

[The risk of loss is the price to pay for anything. A hard lesson to accept and even harder to deal with. In her rapidly progressing life the convincing loss of Justin was not something she wants to try again. Not for awhile at least. There is so much more to enjoy while people are here.

And with his arms around her, holding her close and tightly right now is so much better than hours ago. Shilo is literally swept up into the wave of affection. Her fingers curl into his shirt to hold on tight in case if she's knocked off of her feet. He's never kissed her like this before. It's strong and there's a heat that wasn't there before.]

action!

[absinthe_eyed]

[The heat may be attributed to either a passion that was previously absent or newly acquired body heat. Justin pulls her closer--as if they could get closer without violating various laws of physics and displacing matter--and there's only one possible explanation for the beating heart under Shilo's hands.

He breaks the kiss to breathe--remarkable, needing to breathe!--and smiles at her, far happier than any boy dressed in mangled clothes, covered in blood and dirt, and three times dead should be. Justin searches Shilo's eyes, afraid to say anything. Did she notice? Can she tell?]

action!

[chasingmorning]

[Passion can't force organs back into working order. Not that she's aware of at least. Pressed very close and finds a counter point to her own breath and the blood rushing in her ears. Shilo blinks slowly and puts both hands directly over his chest.

And her mouth moves to say the words you're alive but decide that kissing him back is a better response and a way to at least delay a flood of tears that want to flow.]

action!

[absinthe_eyed]

[He puts his hands over hers. She knows. She understands. He welcomes her kiss even though he never did quite figure out how to breathe and kiss multiple times simultaneously and his brain is doing its best to beat its way out of his skull. It's beautiful--everything is beautiful, from the dizzying shortness of breath to the dull throbbing pain to the overwhelming sensory experience that is kissing Shilo.

Justin does find it necessary to breathe, being somewhat out of practice. He had breathed out of habit when dead, of course, but being forced to breathe--exquisite. With a small smile, he ventures a guess:]

You're not angry?

action!

[chasingmorning]

[That's okay, Justin. They'll learn together.

Shilo leans forward to rest her head against him, listening closely to his beating heart. And his words rumble in his ribcage too.]

I was. I still kind of am. That's okay though. I'll listen then see how mad I'll be.

[He should shower. Maybe he's hungry too. Fussing over how comfortable he is quickly occupies all of the other fractions of her brain that were taken over by looking for him and waiting to see what became of him.]

action!

[absinthe_eyed]

[Justin lets go of her hands to hug her again.]

There's a lot to listen to.

action!

[chasingmorning]

[When she nods her hair follows the motion.]

But you're okay, right?

[It would be horrible if it was any less wonderful than it seems. His life was restored! And he had been dead before the City, so what must have happened was somehow good. Somehow.]