taxonomites | oo1 | [holo] | down down in a loo lee oorah

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oo1 | [holo] | down down in a loo lee oorah

"-- smelled like bacon --"

When Tiberius' taller-than-Shane body disappears from in front of him, replaced by the sheen of a metallic wall, Shane's animated conversation about something apparently smelling like bacon stops right then and there. Stunned, he freezes, looking somewhat comical with both of his hands raised -- and then he turns around, suddenly on the defencive, looking everywhere he possibly can in the small room.

Not good. Not good. Not good. "Ty?" With his head ducked a little, he's almost like a threatened animal. "Ty, where are you?"

Nothing. Shane is ready to pounce the first person who shows their face.

"Okay, Kanye." Defencive, but still expressive as hell. It's hiding the fact that he's slowly getting scared by reality of this interruption. "You better put me back before you find out what a mistake this is." ... Still nothing. And that's when Shane notices the door... as well as the device on the pedestal. He approaches neither in favour of making one last attempt:

"I mean it, you want somebody taller!"

... Shane shifts his weight, then picks up the device without immediately looking at it. Instead he looks at the walls around him again, suddenly feeling very nervous, and says quietly, more like a thought than anything: "Levi?"

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"Alie -- what?" Shane tries not to sound too confused, doesn't want Levi to think he thinks he's going nuts or anything. The best he can do is comfort him and wait for him to calm down while trying to keep his own wits about him. Regardless, what Levi's feeling seems to fill the entire space, so he can't quite help it when his own eyes start stinging a bit.

"Levi, I just saw you. What are you talking about?" He rubs his back a little. "I don't understand."

It's starting to become impossible for Levi to speak, so he doesn't, just concentrates on calming himself down. For a moment, he just clings. But eventually, he knows that he needs to explain. He doesn't want to let go, not for an instant, so he goes for the next best thing; reassuring himself that Shane is there. So he lets go gradually, pulls back and reaches up to touch Shane's face. His hands trail from there to his collarbone, and then to his lips, until Levi is satisfied.

Deep breath. Shane's real.

"I'm... I'm sorry, I should explain properly," Levi exhales, but he doesn't, just brings both of his hands up and holds Shane's face in his hands, leaning forward to kiss his forehead gently.

When Levi trails off and says no more, Shane pockets the phone thing so he can reach up and take both of Levi's hands. There's something he can't place, something endearing about Levi's reaction, and while he's still confused as all hell, he can still affirm this:

"I'm really real," he says, only a mite teasing. "And I promise I'm not going anywhere." There's a pause as Shane looks at his face, messy, wet, and lined with worry.

"Hey... smile? Then will you tell me what's going on?"

The slight teasing confirms it, and Levi actually does crack a smile, though it's small and shivery. His thoughts and emotions have calmed down enough for him to explain properly, which is good-- he knows Shane has to be utterly confused, and he loves him for being patient with him.

"Yes. The story is a load of nonsense, but it's the truth," Levi says, lacing their fingers together and looking them over. "We've apparently been kidnapped by... well, aliens is the general theory, but I'm not sure I believe that."

He pauses, and lets himself be distracted for a moment, unlinking one of their hands so that he can stroke the side of Shane's face. He has to touch.

"I'm not sure how long it has been for you, but I've been here a month, and in that time, I haven't seen you at all. It was... distressing, to say the least." Levi explains. He's actually forgotten about the burns, which have mostly faded by now, so Shane might have to bring them up for an explanation for those.

... Shane decides that he should just take Levi's word for it. After all, honestly, what else could explain everything that has happened in the last twenty minutes? Aliens are somehow the least crazy answer to all this.

A month apart... Shane can't even imagine that. Not now, after six years. He's thinking about that, looking from their hands to Levi's eyes. And that's when he sees that the smudged makeup and tears aren't playing tricks on him; his face is... faintly red, raw, almost. Like he'd been burnt. Shane can't help himself. He gently reaches up, lightly touching the burns.

"Who...?" Who needs a beat-down for this one?

The hands on his face, fingers tracing the burns-- it makes him shudder, almost craving the touch. He leans into it, catlike, and closes his eyes. Right, the burns. They're mostly faded, thank god, not nearly as pronounced as they had been. He lets Shane touch, watching solemnly.

"Someone that I want you to stay far away from." Levi replies, a burst of panic running through him. If anything happened to Shane... "He is of no consequence, and has been dealt with accordingly."

Levi closes his eyes again, calming the panic, and pulls Shane close again, this time much less desperate.

Not completely satisfied, Shane lingers, then looks down just as Levi pulls him close again. So maybe he doesn't completely understand what's going on... he knows that Levi has been hurt, and that he's more upset now than he's seen him in a long time. Making sense of things can wait a while.

"Okay..." His voice is muffled by Levi's shoulder. "But now what?"

"Now, I take you home. And... well, I suppose I should give you a tour," Levi replies. Of course, this means letting go of Shane. So, he does, but he stays close. Right now, every bit of Levi is focused on keeping Shane safe, especially when he doesn't know when or where Snape could show up. He also really doesn't want to not be touching Shane when he can be, now, so he rests a hand lightly on the back of Shane's neck, stroking it every so often with his thumb.

"I was lucky enough to bring the mansion along with me. It's not far from here," Levi tells Shane, glancing around the Sanctuary.

"Well that's lucky," he says, arm going around Levi's waist so that they can get moving. He understands Levi's need to be close, so he doesn't say anything. It's not like he really minds. "So what do I get?"

Levi seems to relax even further when Shane's arm wraps around his waist, and he even smiles a little, resting his head against Shane's. It makes them walk a little slower, but Levi doesn't care.

"I'm not sure. It may be on your tablet--" Levi reaches with his free hand, taking Shane's hand and tracing the skin around the bracelet. "Which I believe you put in your pocket, but it can attach to this bracelet. There should be a dot that indicates it, if you brought something."

There's a lot of absent-minded touching going on here. He's going to be doing this for a while.

Shane couldn't care less about the touching. It's a nice kind of constant at a time like this. With his own free hand, Shane reaches into the pocket he put the tablet into... but he touches something he can't quite recall putting in there. "What's..."

It feels like a piece of card paper. Still walking, Shane pulls it out instead of the tablet, and fumbles to unfold it with one hand.

"... Oh."

The smile slips from Levi's face as Shane pulls out the picture, and he squeezes Shane against his side once. Taxon has a terrible sense of humor, Levi having experienced it first-hand, and he doesn't approve of the city pulling one of it's terrible jokes on Shane.

"... Hey." Levi mumbles, running the hand around Shane's shoulder through Shane's hair. He doesn't really know what to say, just that he's here for support.

Shane sort of frowns briefly - a sort of shrug, really - before shrugging his shoulders, folding the picture up again, and putting it back into his pocket. He hasn't seen this picture in years; he lost it after moving to Boston, and sort of made himself forget about it. A picture of Shane and his mom, only a few weeks before she died, sitting at one of the outdoor tables at a restaurant downtown in the bright sunlight. Both smiling.

Shane clears his throat, taking out the tablet like he'd meant to, just to have something to distract himself with. "... Wow. Lots of people here, huh."

Levi frowns, but goes along with the distraction. He knows how it is to not want to talk about something, and he's never pushed Shane before. Instead, he gives a little sigh, and leans forward to push the doors open, out into the fake sunlight. He casts an irritated look at the sun, ducking his head-- just because it's not real doesn't mean it doesn't bother him-- and tries his best to shade Shane as well.

"There are a few vampires here, too, other than us, though they aren't exactly the same as us. An old acquaintance of mine, Ethan Ford, is also here," Levi explains. "And there are hunters as well. They aren't after us-- there seems to be a truce of sorts, I suppose."

Uh, yeah, one problem -- sunlight. Shane hasn't exactly gotten the memo about Taxon's sunlight, so when Levi starts to push the door open, Shane first looks at him like he's crazy -- then skitters backwards, grabbing at Levi's arm to drag him back too.

"Levi, wait -- what're you doing?"

Blink blink. Oh, right, he had forgotten to tell Shane about the sunlight. Oops. He turns slightly, and tugs at Shane, gives him a somewhat exasperated look. Y'know, like it's Shane's fault he forgot to tell him the sunlight's not real.

"It's fake. The sunlight. It won't hurt us," Levi explains, waiting. "... Shane, honey, you thought I would just walk out into the sunlight without noticing?"

Thanks for the confidence, there.

"No, I mean - I just - knee-jerk." Shane's hand goes to his forehead in embarrassment before he rakes his fingers through his hair. Duh, Shane. How the hell else did Levi get here?

... Still, he has to hide his nervousness about going into the sunlight again, even if it's fake alien sunlight.

"Sorry." He rubs at his eyebrow, just a nervous tic of his.

Levi's expression softens, and he moves back to Shane, pressing his forehead to Shane's gently, cupping his face in his hands. "No, don't apologize. I should be the one doing that. I should've told you before," Levi says, smiling. "I was the same way when I first arrived."

He moves away, then, and his hand slips down to take Shane's, linking their fingers.

"Come on. I promise nothing will happen. I would never let anything happen to you."

When Levi leans close, Shane vaguely notices an off smell on Levi's jacket, like he'd been... no, Shane discards that already distant train of thought. He trusts him. He has no reason not to. So Shane follows Levi outside, tensing just before they walk out into the sun.

Nothing happens. It's uncomfortable, but... nothing happens. Shane shades his eyes, squinting a bit.

"This is nuts."

Edited 2010-01-03 04:01 (UTC)

There's a lot of guilt lurking in the back of Levi's mind about that off smell. He's trying not to think about it, because he just wants Shane home, and if he does think about it, he may start crying again. He's just barely managing to keep calm now.

"Similar to what I said when I first walked out, yes," Levi hums, uncomfortable by the sun. He would usually give Shane his jacket, but right now, he can vaguely smell Godric on it, so he doesn't. He just tugs Shane gently through the city.

His hands are shaking slightly from the adrenaline, from everything that's happened.

The snow is kind of nice, at least. Of course, it's soaking through Shane's shoes, but he doesn't really notice - nor does he care.

Noticing that Levi's hands are shaking, Shane squeezes the one he's got a hold of.

"You really okay?"

It's not that cold today, not that Levi would notice, anyway. He usually doesn't really notice changes in temperature most of the time anyway. It just doesn't matter to him.

Shane squeezes Levi's hand, and Levi jumps slightly, lost in his thoughts. He glances at Shane, though, and gives him a slow, but very warm smile.

"I'm alright. I... I just wasn't expecting to see you again. I'd resigned myself to being trapped here without you." Levi takes a deep breath. "You have no idea how glad I am to be wrong."

Halfway there.

Shane then grins, nudging Levi a little bit with his shoulder. Levi seems lost in his thoughts, still seems upset, so the least he can do is try to cheer him up.

"Can't get rid of me that easily," he says cheerfully. "It's my element of surprise thing."

That earns a chuckle out of him, at least, and Levi nudges Shane back, playfully. The feeling of being around Shane isn't taking long to soak in-- Levi feels warm just being around him. It's an incredible change in comparison to before. And it makes Levi want to pick Shane up and run the rest of the way home, just so he can hold him and not have to worry about the whole walking thing. Walking is a pest, Levi has decided.

"It's a good thing I love surprises, isn't it?" Levi replies, reaching over to ruffle Shane's hair slightly.

Pause, and Levi tries to relax his shoulders. He's tense as hell, and he really has no reason to be.

"... You missed an amazing party, you know."

"Aw, really?" Shane looks a little disappointed, wondering how much further they have to walk. He doesn't mind it as much as Levi seems to, though. It always kind of brings him back to that first night.

"Was it anything like the parties at home? ... Are there even enough vampires here for that?"

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