kayakking | (no subject)

[He pulls away from the cold, shrinking a bit.] Don't.

[A breath. And then starts pulling the spare clothes on -a cheap shirt and a hoodie.]

Just tell me what you meant.

I ... I just want to help you. I want to do undo even a little of this.

[ His voice fades to a whisper as he lets his hand fall. ]

[Jonah doesn't answer for a long moment. Stuck staring down at his hands, remembering like a dream for a few minutes he didn't have fingers. They were gone, melted down to the bone and-

He presses his hands to his face, heels of his palms to his eyes and breathes.

A dream. That's all.]

We still have work to do. We should go see how Tim's doing and finish cleaning up.

... Right. All right.

[ Algric recedes, then, waiting for Jonah to finish. ]

[Right. Just.

Jonah rubs at his face then starts back upstairs. He'll get some time alone later to process. Clean up for now.

He makes it back upstairs, waiting at the door to see if Tim is finished...]

There's the last curling escaping heat, and a lingering smell on the air.

But Tim is standing outside of the former office of Elias Bouchard, arms cross and expression... abstracted.

"Hey..."

... That sure is a hoodie, isn't it?

[Boy it sure is. Jonah doesn't even care at the moment.]

How is it?

Are we talking practically or emotionally or all of the above?

For the sake of brevity, let's go with practically.

[They can deal with the emotional when they go home.

He can deal with his own emotions when he's alone later.

For the moment, he leans trying to peer through the doorway.]

I still have to scrub the CCTV as well before we go.

It's completely done.

[ Bones and everything. ]

... [He starts to reach for Tim's arm, some kind of reassurance... but stops. Never quite making contact. Instead, he nods.]

All right... You both go home. I'll catch up.

Don't be daft, Jon. We're not leaving you here.

[ Algric's voice appears out of nowhere, followed shortly by the rest of him. ]

[ He sees that aborted gesture and.. holds out his hand instead. ]

Come on... lets go home.

[Jonah has to fight himself not to look towards Algric... But instead at the hand offered.]

...We need his keys. To... T-to lock up until we can finish the rest.

I'll get them.

[ Algric moves past Tim to Elias's office, sifting through drawers. ]

Thanks. That would be great.

[ He calls after Algric, hand still offered out. Oh, there's still discussions to be had, but he knows himself better than to have them while his head is still hot. ]

[Something just irritates him further at that, Algric going in to do that.

It should be his-

He knows they're both angry. He knows they both want to tear into him. He doesn't want to take the hand, but... he does. Very loosely, ready to pull away at the first hint that Tim's done.]

Fine. Home, then.

[ Algric is just desperate to be useful in any way that he can, okay. Anything to assuage the guilt that his anger is quickly converting into.

He reemerges a moment later, keys in hand. ]

H-here.

[ He can just. Feel the tension in the air. And you know what? A great deal of that is deserved. But he may crack their foggy and mothy heads together if he has to...

He waits for Algric to hand the keys to Jonah... ]

Good. Lets lock up, and call this a... it sure is a day.

Right....

[A dddddeep breath. He'll take the keys and get about locking it. It feels final like this. but into his pocket the keys go.]

A-after you.

All right, all right…

[ Algric reluctantly heads out first ]

[ The door clicks with a resounding, perhaps even ominous sound. The Institute is quiet, almost breathless, as if in its absolute stillness waiting to see what they will do now.

And even now, it whispers that there is a throne to take. An exquisite view from the top... ]

Lets go. We'll get this sorted at home.

[ He tugs along Jonah's hand, and reaches out for Algric's alarming insubstantial one on the way. ]

[Jonah walks with them in silence. Just rolling around everything that happened in the last hour in his mind - going into some kind of trance and walking to the Institute, waking up with Elias over him. Killing him...

Whatever happened in his mind and heart are vague, dreamlike memories. he doesn't remember the details, but he gets some of the feelings...

Once they're home, he feels a bit at a loss. Like he's ready for the bottom to fall out, so he starts shrinking a bit, carefully pulling his hand from Tim's and. Standing a bit awkwardly before heading to the kitchen.]

[ Algric … lingers next to Tim, head bowed a bit. If nothing else, dealing with Jon has … defused some of his earlier anger. He doesn’t seem like he’s in much of a mood to fight Tim. ]

Do you want to yell? I - I’ll deserve it, and I’ll take it at this point.

Look. Lets just make sure everyone's in one piece before we get into the yelling part.