so the sun, it can shine on me, and the clouds they can roll away (open to all)

[davin]

Davin missed a lot of things while he was being held in that warehouse, but coffee was up high on the list. By the second day, he was feeling the lack of caffeine and the added headache wasn't doing him any favors. The first few days back, he didn't want to leave his apartment. James or Mira would bring him coffee from Quill, or he'd fire up his little coffeemaker in his kitchen. He was allowed a few days of being lazy, he thought. Or fear disguised as laziness, if he's honest with himself.

But he needs to get back into in the swing of things. He hasn't really seen anyone aside from James, Mira, and Raleigh, and he doesn't really have any idea of what happened while he and Spencer were gone. He just knows that he needs to get back to his real life. He needs to put the kidnapping and the torture and all that behind him, and needs to keep moving forward.

He can start by going to get his own coffee. He takes a shower and puts himself together as much as he can, wrinkling his nose at his reflection in the mirror. His face is still bruised, and he has stitches above one cheekbone and a small line of them at his temple, where he was initially knocked out with the wrench. His right hand is in a cast and he walks stiffly, thanks to his cracked ribs, but he goes outside anyway.

It's a nice day and the sun is shining, and that's something that Davin will never take advantage of again. He went days without seeing the sun, or feeling any sort of warmth, and now he smiles when he feels it on his skin, and feels the soft breeze ruffling his hair. It's a short walk to Quill, but he takes his time. He feels stiff from all his healing injuries and inactivity, and he just wants to enjoy the sun for a little longer.

People are staring at him, whispering to each other as they pass, and Davin knows that word got around town. There are people who will see he and Spencer as victims, and he supposes they are, but they're so much more than that. They're survivors, and they're strong, no matter what. So Davin keeps his chin up, and he keeps walking.

Comments

[brigid_moran]

Brigid was on her way out of Quill with her most recent fix of espresso in the form of a triple shot latte. She was going to be firing the kiln later and with all the glazing she'd done since returning to Siren Cove, it stood to be a long night indeed.

She did a doubletake when she saw Davin walking in and had to keep herself in check from dropping the travel mug and throwing her arms around him.

"Davin," she said instead of yelling it and walked over towards him.

[nomadic_cam]

"Boss!" Cam said even though he knew Davin couldn't hear him over the motorcycle's engine.

Grumbling and calling himself an idiot, he parked the bike and stowed his helmet before following him in to Quill.

He cleared his throat when he was right behind him and spoke again. "Boss. Welcome back."

[coopdetat]

Coop's been staring at the menu for close to five minutes now, like he's never even been to Quill before, and he can feel it every time the baristas look over at him again because he knows he looks like a total moron. He has a usual, it's possible that it's already even been made for him but for some reason, he feels like something different today. So he's studying the menu with intensity, scratching at his heavy stubble until he hears the door open behind him and after a casual glance over a shoulder, Coop does a double take because it's fucking Davin.

He widens his eyes, hand dropping to his side, just taking in the sight of his friend. He'd exchanged a few texts with him, brief ones because Coop hadn't known what he could possibly say, but he's admittedly glad to see him standing here and now. Davin has bruises and stitches, he's got a cast, but he's alive and hell, that counts the most.

"Hey," he calls softly, closing the short distance between them with a tight smile. "You're lookin' good, man. Few bruises aren't gonna stop you from needing that caffeine, huh?" It's a weak joke, both of them know it, and he's not trying to make light of what had happened to Davin and Spencer, not at all. Coop had seen glimpses of what they'd been through in Spencer's dream, but the guys had been gone for four days. He's not sure he'd even want to know all that had gone down in that time. "Let me pick your drink up for you, we can sit. If you're okay with that, I mean."

[overdrawing]

Gabe spends a lot of his time out these days, though it's usually tucked away in the library or in the park. It hasn't exactly been exciting; Gabe has too little money and few friends, so most of what he does is look at books he'd never been allowed to read as a child and can't bring himself to look at now.

It's better than staying in Mira's guest room all day, uncertain of what to do with people who are so kind and yet so completely counter his beliefs. The extent of their generosity feels so undeserved and Gabe tries everything he can do to be as unobtrusive as possible by leaving during the day.

He hasn't really let himself visit Quill but today he feels nervous and antsy and he shuffles in.

When he sees Davin, Gabe doesn't know if he should look up or away and freezes there instead.

[do_what_thou_wilt]

Auryn's smoking at the corner near Quill when the hum of the energy of pedestrian traffic changes, and it doesn't take him long to figure out why.

Auryn hasn't seen Davin, really, since the spell broke; since Davin broke the spell. Of course they had a week or so of running into each other at work, but they'd both been distant and in their own heads. Auryn could tell from the seething energies around him that Davin's powers had been awoken, a bit, though he's not sure if he knows that or if it's just emotion that runs high.

He'd spent most of that time throwing himself into work, doing whatever he was asked without being told twice. It was better to busy himself than have to contemplate what he'd helped birth -- which parts he was proud of and which he was ashamed of, and how to cope with that now that it was past and done with. And if he didn't know the words to explain himself, at least he could help get things done.

But after Davin and Spencer had been taken -- from right there, right in the garage where he'd been granted a job -- it's hit him a little harder and he thinks it's time he says something. He's not sure what that'll be.

He nods to Davin as he approaches, his glance respectful of what he's been through and a little inspecting, as always. "Glad to see you out and about," he says, with a small, tentative smile, and stubs out his cigarette on the ground.

[asharpertongue]

"Davin!" Lara called, jogging across the street to him as he approached Quill. She'd been on her way over to see him after she heard he was ready for visitors from Joel. She'd left a couple of messages but she wasn't sure that he'd gotten them.

She smiled gently at him as she got to him, restraining herself from looking him over and checking to see that he was okay and instead looking him straight in the eye. "I heard you were out and about."

[katdelaney]

Kat is quickly learning that there are weird side effects of the whole, Luke skipping town thing. Kat's never been very good at having people, the way that she knows Davin really, really is. She'd had Luke, kind of, and by extension she knew his friends. She's always found it easy to relax and chat to strangers, but people don't seem to knit with her; she'll be a bit of fun to hang around with at a party but she doesn't have people. And since Luke left, she's had them even less.

It had come as a shock to learn that Davin was missing, and it had been an even bigger shock to hear it second hand from her father. It seemed like the kind of thing she should know before the police search; she should have been calling the police for their help. But Kat hasn't seen Davin in weeks, wouldn't know where to start to recognise he was missing, and she's reminded how much Luke leaving has distanced her from everyone else. Kat's determined to fix that, and she's starting with Davin.

She'd heard he was home, safe if a little beaten up, but she didn't know how welcome she was at his house, so she waited to spot him around town. If Kat knows anything, it's that Davin can't resist coffee, so she makes it a routine to head to the Quill every morning in the hope that she'll run into him. Eventually, her trip comes to fruition, and she spots him just outside, his face tilted towards the sun.

"Davin!" she calls before she can hold herself in check long enough to gauge whether he wants company. It takes a couple of jogged steps to reach him, and when she sees the bruises and stitches she feels a surge of guilt. How could she have been so absent while this was happening? "I've been looking for you," she starts. "Well, not looking so much as stalking the Quill figuring you'd turn up sooner or later." Is that weird? Kat's useless at self-filtering. "How are you?"

[nealdouglas]

"You know you are going to give me a heart attack one of these days and not in the fun way." Neal drawled, looking over Davin with a slow appraisal. Checking his injuries out, Neal reached out to touch the stitches at his temple before raising an eyebrow. "So, this is the part where I'd threaten to go and beat someone up for you but I'm not that manly. I do know a lot of criminals though."