JENNA: * Shane and Jo's peaceable recovery time, interrupted once or twice by visiting neighbors, is interrupted once again by a knock at the front door that can only be described as morose. Jo glances up from where she's seated, weaving, and gives a puzzled blink, abandoning her task to start slowly for the steps down to the door.

JUSTIN: * Shane is sitting in the library reading about the time yet another knock comes at the door, and he likewise looks up with some puzzlement. As far as he knows, there isn't anyone left of their acquaintances who hasn't yet come to check on them in one form or another. He closes his book and sets it aside, getting up from his armchair to meet Jo at the foot of the stairs as he steps out the door. "Did we forget someone, or was the doctor lying when he said we didn't need anymore check-ups?"

JENNA: * Jo shrugs comfortably, starting for the door. "Maybe someone's bringing us more food," she suggests drily, pausing to glance back at Shane with a grin. She pulls the door open and almost immediately stumbles back under the fierce embrace of a man neither of them has seen in several years. "Fray --" Jo squeaks out, but Fray doesn't respond immediately, only muttering, "Thank the gods," over and over in a barely audible voice.

JUSTIN: * Shane is rather taken aback by this sudden embrace, and he isn't even the one partaking. It actually takes him a moment to recall who the man is -- until Jo says his name, and then suddenly the memory becomes all too clear. "You've got a lot of guts showing up here after what your guildmates did," he says, with little effort to disguise the contempt in his voice. He grips hard at the edge paneling of the kitchen archway next to him, anchoring himself against any urge to charge the man.

JENNA: * Jo doesn't say anything, but she does work her way free of Fray's embrace, arching an eyebrow at him questioningly. The man laughs weakly, looking up at Shane. "Oh.. gods, you're both all right." He looks about to collapse under the weight of his relief. "I didn't know --" He looks at Jo again beseechingly. "He sent me off on my own -- it wasn't until I was back they told me he was tracking you down, and I couldn't get there in time."

JUSTIN: * Shane grits his teeth, almost wishing this wasn't the truth just so his discomfort and dislike would be more properly justified. "Well, I don't think it's any mystery why he sent you off somewhere else," Shane's voice trails off as he pushes himself from the wall he's standing by and disappears into the kitchen. He isn't sure he wants to leave Fray alone with Jo, but it's better than letting his temper get out of hand.

JENNA: * Jo hesitates, knowing full well it could end badly, but she gestures for Fray to come inside, closing the door behind him. At her direction, he slumps into a seat in the living room. "They never came back," he says suddenly, looking at her. "The guild is changing command ... but they sent me to make sure." Jo nods slowly. "They're dead," she says, then follows Shane to the kitchen.

JUSTIN: * Shane glances over his shoulder at Jo, then quickly back to the sink, against which he's leaning. He does nothing for a moment, then abruptly turns on the water and grabs himself a glass to fill, handing it out to her without looking and motioning that it's for the man in the other room. Whether he wants the company or not, he's not about to let his personal feelings insult Jo by being a complete jerk to her longtime friend. She has known Fray longer than himself, after all, by a good amount of years.

JENNA: * Jo smiles wanly, setting the glass down for a moment and leaning gently against him, tucking her arms around his waist and giving him a brief squeeze. "He won't be here long," is all she says before releasing him and retrieving the water, after which she starts back out to give it to Fray.

JUSTIN: * Shane nods absently, staring out the window at the growing darkness of evening. He doesn't move until she's already headed back to the living room, at which point he gets a glass of water for himself as well, and moves with slow reluctance to stand in the archway to watch the pair.

JENNA: * Fray takes the water gratefully and downs most of it in one go, heaving a long sigh. "That's most of what I know, Jo." He looks at her carefully. "You two.. you aren't the ones who killed them, are you?" Jo shakes her head. "It was something in the ruins. I don't know what." She looks at Shane for a moment, but Fray nods, relief washing over his features again. "Then the guild probably won't bother you anymore. That.. that was mostly Teague anyway."

JUSTIN: * Shane glances over at Jo to match the one she sends him, but he only looks away and takes a sip of his water, watching the distant wall as if it's somehow more interesting than the man seated on his -- their -- couch. "I would have gladly put a bullet between each of their eyes myself, if they'd made it a fair fight," he grumbles almost to himself.

JENNA: * Fray glances at him with a wry smile. "Teague doesn't play fair.. but that's beside the point. You're both alive. That's most of what I wanted to know." He leans his head back for a moment, then leans forward to finish his water, getting to his feet. "Listen," he says, looking uncomfortable for a moment. "I'm.. you're probably not gonna see me again -- I know that's a heart-breaker --" He glances sideways at Shane and grins, then returns his attention to Jo. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right, and.." He pauses, scratching his head, and she arches an eyebrow at him, hands on her hips. "I wanted to say I'm sorry. What I did back then -- it wasn't fair or right, and --" He falls silent, however, when she gives a faint snort of laughter. "Relax, Fray," she says drily. "We're square."

JUSTIN: * Shane seems interested in knowing just what they're supposed to be square about, especially if it wasn't fair or right, and he eyes Fray with mild suspicion. But, he has to admit, it seems like the type of thing best questioned when they have their privacy again -- that way he only has one person to focus his nagging on. He turns away and takes a long drink of his water, disappearing back into the kitchen once more and counting the seconds.

JENNA: "If you say so," Fray says with a tired grin. "Anyway.. better be on my way, yeah?" He bends to give Jo another hug and sighs, starting for the door. She follows him, calling "Good luck," as he steps out the door, then turning back toward the kitchen once she's sure he's on his way.

JUSTIN: * Shane sets his now-emptied glass on the counter with a strange amount of care, staring into space for several long seconds and only letting go of it when he turns around. "What was he talking about? What did he do to you?" His voice sounds innocent enough, but it's fairly clear that underneath the even tone is a thick layer of paranoia and anger looking for a reason to come out.

JENNA: "What?" Jo looks at him blankly, startled out of thoughts of her own, then blinks when she realizes what he's talking about. "Oh. That." She shakes her head. "It was a long time ago .. it isn't a very big deal." She walks past him to set Fray's empty glass down.

JUSTIN: "Big enough he felt it necessary to bring up," Shane notes, a little of that buried paranoia bubbling through the surface of his otherwise even tone. He looks darkly in the direction of the front door, then back to her again, some of that dark glare carrying over in spite of his efforts to control it. "Did he hurt you? Did he take something from you?"

JENNA: "Shane.." Jo sounds pained, looking up at him beseechingly. "I told you, didn't I? Back when I started with the guild, he was a good friend and a mentor." She folds her arms, leaning silently against the counter for a moment. She doesn't seem particularly keen on having this conversation. "Well.. as time passed -- for me, at least -- that friendship became something more."

JUSTIN: "Being good friends doesn't sound like a recipe for pain to me," Shane says with little attempt to hide the growing agitation in his voice. He's fairly certain he has an idea where this is headed, but there's still hope that he's completely wrong. "Jo, just say it. Don't give me the long version, just... tell me what he did."

JENNA: * Jo looks up at him wearily, then frowns, looking away. "We were lovers, Shane. It only lasted for a few months. I thought I was in love with him. He knew he wasn't in love with me." She lifts her shoulders in a jerky shrug. "I broke it off when I figured it out. That's all there is to it."

JUSTIN: * Shane stares at her with a face barely managing to hold back a maelstrom of emotions, and it isn't long before he simply can't stare at her anymore. He looks away, then turns away. After several seconds, he then walks away, beginning to shake head to toe. It's such a simple admission, and one he could have guessed at long before Fray ever showed up at their door, and yet to actually hear it confirmed seems like a crushing blow.

JENNA: * Jo looks up when he leaves, expression blank, then straightens away from the counter to follow him. "Shane --" She catches him by the arm, attempting to pull him to a halt. "It's done and over with -- it has been for years." She falls silent, attempting to think of something else she can say, but nothing comes readily to mind.

JUSTIN: * Shane stops, though he shifts his weight a few times as though it's takinga lot of effort not to just keep walking. He doesn't look at her, and he doesn't answer -- mostly because he's afraid of what might come out if he opens his mouth, words or otherwise. It appears he's either waiting for her to continue or let him go, as he clearly doesn't seem interested in replying.

JENNA: * Jo stares at him, again beseeching, as if she's having a difficult time believing he's taking the news this hard. Then a sort of strange resignation steals over her. "I didn't think it mattered," she mutters, letting her hand drop from his arm. "It hasn't got anything to do with us."

JUSTIN: "It has something to do with me," Shane says almost under his beath, voice trying its best not to tremble, then continues down the hallway toward the bedroom. He pauses in the door half a second, considering whether or not this is really where he wants to go, but after a moment steps on ahead anyway.

JENNA: * Jo stops in the doorway, watching him silently for a moment. "What does it have to do with you?" she asks, voice flat. "What part of this is so hard for you to accept?" She folds her arms, almost ill with a need for him to spit out just what the problem is. "It was /years/ ago." She hesitates, then follows him into the room, reaching out to catch hold of him again. "Shane, /please/."

JUSTIN: * Shane starts to yank his arm free but stops, clenching his fist and enduring the treatment instead. "Please /what/?" He looks over his shoulder at her, eyes seeming unusually pained. He looks away again fairly quickly, once again looking as though he's waiting for her to let him go before he moves. "What's the point in explaining if you won't understand."

JENNA: * Jo can't help a slight bristle at this, refusing to release him until she's satisfied with his answers. "What won't I understand?" she demands. "I can't read your mind, Shane -- it just seems to me like you're overreacting." And she's fairly certain he is, but at the very least she'd like to know why.

JUSTIN: * Shane takes a deep breath and lets it out, though far too quickly for it to possibly be for the purpose of calming down. "I'm overreacting, then?" The muscles in his arm tighten, and with a quick snap he frees his arm from her hands so he can continue across the bedroom -- though where can he really go from there? He stands in the empty space between the side of the bed and the bathroom door and simply stares hard at the wall. "Better than underreacting. Better than not giving a damn."

JENNA: "Yes, you're overreacting," Jo says, weariness stealing over her voice again. "Unless you can give me an excellent reason why you're not." She spreads her hands in a helpless gesture. "If it's because I never said anything -- it didn't occur to me. Fray's been gone so long, it just wasn't important."

JUSTIN: * Shane finally turns around, facing her completely for the first time since leaving the kitchen, and the twitch of his facial muscles is every indication that he's trying very hard to keep a normal face. "I told you you wouldn't understand," he says hoarsely, as though he'd been yelling at the top of his lungs for an hour, "and I doubt you'd want to. It's not that /simple/."

JENNA: "Try me," Jo snaps, arms folding tightly across her chest. She's not entirely certain she wants to hear it, but damned if she's backing down now. "It's not fair to just walk away from me like that without even trying." She shifts uneasily, not sure if she wants to hold him or hit him -- she doubts either one wil help.

JUSTIN: * Shane's face is red, though not with embarrassment so much as a very deeply set revulsion to the thoughts rolling around his aching head. He stares at Jo with eyes straining to remain focused, and he finally breaks the contact by turning around again. "What do you think it must feel like?" His voice shakes slightly, and it's hard to tell if he's trying to keep from yelling or keep from whispering. He moves toward the window and leans against the sill so he has something to stare at -- even if it is just darkness. "I thought it was unique. What we've shared, what we've felt, what we've done. All of it. And then to find I was standing in a room with another man who... And to think of you and him, doing everything we've done--" He stops abruptly, apparently not much wanting to continue explaining everything that's going through his head. It's bad enough he has to think it.

JENNA: * Jo looks at him blankly for a moment, not completely certain she understands. "But.. it.." She falls silent a moment. "It /was/ unique." She lifts a hand to her forehead, now thoroughly confused. "This relationship -- it's completely different. It's nothing like what happened with Fray." She looks away, rubbing her arm as if it pains her. "Maybe that doesn't matter ..."

JUSTIN: "Different man. Different setting." Shane can't shrug, even if he would have. "Same feelings, same actions." He stands up straight again and steps away from the window, feeling cold all over. He does not, however, turn back around. "It doesn't matter when it was, it doesn't /matter/ what's changed since then."

JENNA: "I see," Jo says strangely, and it appears as though some measure of understanding has come into her expression. "I see," she says again, apparently unable to think of anything else. "So it doesn't matter." She lets her hands drop listlessly to her sides, gaze dropping as well, from him to the floor. "So change.. doesn't matter. The situation.. doesn't matter." Her gaze flicks up to him again, suddenly flinty. "All that matters, then, is the perceived injury to your manhood."

JUSTIN: * Shane turns abruptly to face her, looking incredibly strained. "That's a brave assumption to make," he says with stabbing accusation, taking a few steps closer so he can better see her eyes. "This has nothing to do with manhood! Do you think I'm hurt because someone else got to use my plaything? You're not a /toy/ to me, /damn it/." His voice cracks slightly, a hint of the chaos inside his head seeping through and making him sound a little desperate. However, when he next opens his mouth his voice is icy and level by comparison. "Not like you obviously were to him."

JENNA: * Jo stares at him for a frozen moment, expression becoming incredulous. "This -- that --" She falls silent a moment, fists clenching. "What I was to /him/ is MY problem to deal with -- not yours! What he did to me -- that's my issue to work through! My past isn't something you have to cope with!" She sucks in a deep breath, attempting unsuccessfully to calm herself. "He's not even a part of my life anymore."

JUSTIN: "And good riddance!" Shane all but shouts, losing patience with trying to explain how he feels about all this. Maybe it would just be better to leave her guessing, since she seems inclined to do so anyway. "You still don't get it, though. Of course I'm angry about what he did, but that's the tip of the iceberg. That's not even the problem!" Now that the conversation has gone completely off track, he's not even sure how to get back to explaining himself -- again, leading him to wonder if it's worth it at all.

JENNA: "God damn it, Shane," Jo grates out, head throbbing with the effort of trying to make sense of him, "as far as I can tell -- you're angry because I slept with him years before I ever met you. Years before I could have even /known/ I was going to meet you." She lifts a hand in a jerky motion, as if this should illustrate precisely why she thinks he's making no sense.

JUSTIN: * Shane puts a hand over his eyes, closing them tight -- then, all of a sudden, uncovers them again and looks down at her with an exasperated expression. "I'm not angry at you, all right?!" His tone doesn't do much to support that statement. "How am I supposed to explain this to you?" That question sounds fairly sincere, at least, though it clearly isn't directed at her. "I can't... /look/ at you the same..." His voice wavers, wanting to say more but apparently lacking the will to put his thoughts into words.

JENNA: * Another wave of understanding seems to strike her, this one almost like a blow, and she takes a step back, lifting a hand once again to her forehead. "Oh," she says, and for several moments she can't seem to get anything else to come out. "Right," she says finally. "How could I have missed that." She takes another step back, looking very much as if she's about to flee. Or hit him. It's fairly difficult to judge.

JUSTIN: * Shane can't tell whether she's being sarcastic or honest, but considering the way the discussion's been going he isn't feeling much like giving her the benefit of the doubt. "Look! I can't help any of this!" He holds his hands out in a symbol of his inability. "I can't change what you did, I can't change the way it makes me feel. How am I supposed to be intimate with you when everytime I /think/ about it now, I see you with... with /him/ -- making love to him! Everything you say, everything you /do/ -- you've done it all before! Everything /I/ do... he's already... What is our intimacy when I know that? It's... it feels meaningless."

JENNA: * Jo's knees buckle, feeling somewhat as if she's under assault. She attempts to turn and leave, but she succeeds only in leaning heavily against the doorframe, head bowing. "I heard you," she says thickly, an effort to get him to shut up, if nothing else. "You've made yourself quite clear." Only when a few wet drops strike her leg does she realize she's crying, and it makes her almost as disgusted as she is hurt. She pushes herself away from the door with a short curse and starts up the hall, more than finished with the conversation.

JUSTIN: * Shane stammers slightly, having a few false starts when he tries to speak up -- to defend himself, to stop her, whatever. "Jo -- Jo, stop it! Why are you crying?!" But of course, he knows full well why she is. All the same, he wishes she'd just be a bitch and ignore his concerns instead of being sensetive to them. Part of him wants to immediately charge after her, either as repentant or infuriated, but his feet seem rooted to the floor.

JENNA: * Jo pauses in the hallway, one hand on the wall, as if she's still in need of the support. She gives her head a slow, tired shake, not looking back at him. "Just.. stop talking, Shane." Then she starts walking again, feet carrying her almost on their own up the stairs and into the loft, where she casts about aimlessly for a moment before seeking out the far corner and slumping to the floor.

JUSTIN: * Shane stands his ground -- not that he was in any danger of leaving it -- and shakes with a combination of fury, fear, and impending emotional breakdown. After what seems like an eternity of staring down the dark, empty hallway, he finally slams the door shut in an abrupt burst of movement. Then, turning on shaky legs, he falls onto his knees by the bed, burying his face in the blankets and bunching them around his head in white-knuckled fists.

JENNA: * Jo remains huddled in the loft for quite some time -- how long she isn't sure, but she doesn't much care, either. Eventually hungry, she pauses to make sure he isn't in the kitchen before slipping down the stairs to get something to eat and returning just as quickly. This avoidance sets the stage for the next two or three weeks, with both parties acting much as if there is no other person in the house. Eventually, a sort of schedule develops for when one will get food, making sure the other isn't around -- should they meet by accident, they quickly turn away, one or the other hurriedly retreating. It doesn't take long for Jo to start planning a more thorough retreat, but it's a plan she can only put into action once her injuries permit.

JUSTIN: * Shane has no grand schemes cooking behind the scenes, and his time is literally spent sitting in the bedroom and staring. Sometimes at the walls, floor, or ceiling. Sometimes out the window, or into the bathroom. Sometimes at the collection of trinkets and ornaments that litter the shelves -- once sparse, now thick with souvenirs taken during their travels. If anything, going weeks without a word between them and little more than rare, passing glances is eating away at his resolve, and he is getting more and more depressed by the day. Yet, despite it all, the truth has not changed from the first time he spoke it -- and so the seclusion doesn't seem to have an end in sight.

JENNA: * At the very least, the recovery gives her ample time to plan, and bit by bit she starts gathering her gear together -- her bag, her knives, spare clothes, and lastly food. She relies largely on the fact that stealth is one of her strongest suits -- and Shane doesn't want to be in the same room with her, anyway -- and by the time she's feeling fit enough to travel, her gear is all in one place. She also retrieves their employer's magic detector -- it's doing nobody any good here -- and late one night, when she's fairly certain Shane's asleep, she slips out onto the balcony and shinnies to the ground, vanishing shortly into the forest.

JUSTIN: * With all the avoiding and the sneaking going on, it is no wonder that Jo's escape from the house goes completely unnoticed by Shane for the first couple of days. However, the signs do eventually begin to pile up. The food isn't disappearing, dishes aren't being used, and he hasn't heard the sound of the second bathroom at all, night or day. He's shaking when he stumbles up the staircase to the loft, and he's shaking even more when he quickly charges back down again. With the thought now burning in his mind, it also doesn't take him long to realize all the pieces of missing gear, clothing, and stored travel rations. Hoping against hope, he spends the next couple days searching the surrounding area for her, but it seems useless, and he already knows the truth. The world is a big place to hide in, and Jo is gone -- this time likely for good.