[ Jaime's always so quick with that soft sympathy; ready at any moment to offer compassion and understanding, even when he might not understand the full picture. It's a rare thing; from anyone else, the comparative speed of assurance might seem flippant, thoughtless or uncaring, but Jaime always means it. And, more than that... or, at least, more important than that for Ruka is how easily he can accept the things she tells him. Not always how much responsibility she has about any given thing, maybe, but he never tries to dismantle the world around her to transform it into something less strange, less unusual than the things he already knows. How often had she tried to explain who she was to other people, only to be shut down at the start? How many times has she thought of speaking and only pushed the words back down, unable to muster the courage to face another wall of disbelief?
He doesn't have her whole story, but he has more pieces than she's ever given anyone else. If they take the time to venture to her own heart after this, he might more than she's ever known how to say. Ruka isn't even sure what she expects to find there, and may be a little afraid to see it herself, but... she's not afraid of how Jaime will react to it.
She's never trusted anyone like this. And, as she takes hand, she's reminded that nobody has ever trusted her like this. ]
Ready.
[ Passing through the archway is not some sharp jolt from one place to another, although by all rights it should be. There's no sun and no sky above them, no grass below their feet or landscape around them — but a ceiling, a floor, and walls running parallel beside them. It should be sharp, but it feels only like the zoning out and returning to alertness during a familiar, everyday drive; like coming to the end of a stretch of empty highway that hasn't changed in years.
It's a mundane little hallway, stone and natural light from somewhere unseen, nothing of interest along its walls. It is only a place of transition.
But as the hallway ends, the destinations reveal themselves: a pair of doors, one on each side of the hallway, facing the other. Beyond them, the walls bend from their parallel track and converge, an empty little triangle of narrowed floor until two walls become one, shared. As for the doors themselves, they look nothing like the hallway they're in — and nothing like one another.
Ruka looks up at Jaime's face, squeezing his hand. ]
I think you can probably tell which one is which.
[ On one side of the hallway, the door into the heart of Khaji Da. On the other, the door into the heart of Jaime Reyes. ]
no subject
He doesn't have her whole story, but he has more pieces than she's ever given anyone else. If they take the time to venture to her own heart after this, he might more than she's ever known how to say. Ruka isn't even sure what she expects to find there, and may be a little afraid to see it herself, but... she's not afraid of how Jaime will react to it.
She's never trusted anyone like this. And, as she takes hand, she's reminded that nobody has ever trusted her like this. ]
Ready.
[ Passing through the archway is not some sharp jolt from one place to another, although by all rights it should be. There's no sun and no sky above them, no grass below their feet or landscape around them — but a ceiling, a floor, and walls running parallel beside them. It should be sharp, but it feels only like the zoning out and returning to alertness during a familiar, everyday drive; like coming to the end of a stretch of empty highway that hasn't changed in years.
It's a mundane little hallway, stone and natural light from somewhere unseen, nothing of interest along its walls. It is only a place of transition.
But as the hallway ends, the destinations reveal themselves: a pair of doors, one on each side of the hallway, facing the other. Beyond them, the walls bend from their parallel track and converge, an empty little triangle of narrowed floor until two walls become one, shared. As for the doors themselves, they look nothing like the hallway they're in — and nothing like one another.
Ruka looks up at Jaime's face, squeezing his hand. ]
I think you can probably tell which one is which.
[ On one side of the hallway, the door into the heart of Khaji Da. On the other, the door into the heart of Jaime Reyes. ]