Summer 1 - Welcome dinner

[kollomods]

[ It's the very first dinner on Norrhamn and the kitchen staff (???) has really gone all out. The counter is covered by a variety of the finest cuisine Sweden has to offer — sandwich cakes of every variety, from the classic salmon and shrimp to ham and horse radish or more modern, vegan varieties with avocado and cherry tomatoes. There's a smaller table set out with strawberry and cream cake, and the traditional spread of seven different types of shortbread cookies. Of course there's coffee and tea by the bucketload, along with other drinks such as elderberry or lingonberry squash. The community center has been decorated for the occasion with bunting and strings of lights leading out into the garden. It's still early summer so the nights are mild and surprisingly bright — the sun has yet to fully set by the time the celebrations kick off. Better get used to the light, it's not getting darker anytime soon. ]

Comments

[facings]

[ he wants to apologize, too: for giving up, for leaving the house, for not doing something, anything — even after the years of realizing how little control he had over anything in their lives, he can't help but feel that Noel leaving was just as much his fault as it was the Gods'.

that maybe, maybe if he'd done something, said something... maybe they wouldn't have taken him.

and yet he shakes his head at the apology, to say no, you don't have to, it wasn't your fault, because for everything he's blamed Noel for before, wanting to leave him was never one of those things. ]

Yeah, it does. But I didn't really care even if it had been. Had to be better than... [ than everything they'd left behind.

drawing back slightly, he grips Noel's hand, his own cold and pale against Noel's. ]

Promise me, [ he says and looks straight at Noel. ] If this place turns out to be what it says it is, if no one's going to force us anywhere... if you decide to go back home from here, don't go without me. I mean it, Noel.

[oracledriven]

[For the first time since he got here, Noel feels almost, almost like he can relax a little bit. Like things make a little bit of sense. Maybe Kieren is the one to thank for that, the feel of his hand, the sound of his voice.

In some small, weird, inexplicable way, it's almost like they never left. Like things haven't changed at all. And as horrifying as it sounds, that thought is a little bit of a comfort, for Noel, in some sense. Because everything is different. Things have changed. But after everything he's done, being able to remember where they've been and knowing that it was real...it's comforting.

He won't say that aloud, though. He can't. He simply nods at what Kieren is saying. It's better than that.

Anything would be better than that.

The coldness of Kieren's hand makes him feel very suddenly conscious of reality, of the fact that they're here, and not there. In a totally different place. A place where, theoretically, they have total autonomy. Gods, how long has it been since he could say that?]

I promise. [No hesitation. He almost jumps in before Kieren is even done. And he's never felt as sure about a promise as he does now.] Never again.

[As for him? After everything they've gone through, he knows he doesn't need to ask the same. He knows that of the two of them, he's the one who has betrayed that trust -- and he'll need to earn it again. But he still has to say something.]

Promise me you won't get into any trouble without me.

[A faint grin. For the first time since he got here, he feels like he remembers how to be himself, even just a little bit.]

[facings]

[ if he were to voice that thought, there's a good chance Kieren would agree, strange as it is — there's a relief in knowing that they have each other here, that they both share the same memories. that as bad as it all was... at least they went through it together.

that they have something shared that no one can take away from them.

he smiles, a true, bright smile at that, because he can hear the truth in Noel's voice, because this time... no one's going to force him to leave. no one can force him to leave without him.

at Noel's words, he breathes a laugh, shaking his head like he can't believe that's what Noel is going with. ]

When have I ever?

[ the humor in his tone speaks well for just how much he doesn't mean that... though to be fair, it's likely shared between them, too, the tendency to get into trouble. ]