[ Jaime holds his breath as they step through. It's a stupid inclination, more a reflex than anything else. It won't help anything. But he's still strangely trepidatious around all things magic. He trusts Ruka, of course, trusts that she'll keep him safe no matter what. Still, though -- magic is such an unknown quantity, so unpredictable, so undefined by the rules Jaime knows that he never quite knows what to make of it.
And then a moment later, he forgets entirely that he'd been nervous at all, returning Ruka's squeezed hand with one of his own. He lets out a gasp, surprised and delighted all at once. ]
Oh! [ His smile beams out of him, eyes bright. ] Khaji has one too! Of course he does, I just --
[ People have spent so long denying Khaji's personhood. Jaime knows he has a heart, had ventured deep into it with Dick those many years ago. But to see it standing here ordinarily beside Jaime's, even if it's far larger and far more foreboding, is something special. He places his hand flat on it then looks behind him, grinning at Khaji. ]
Khaji, look!
[ Khaji wasn't there when they retrieved his heart. He didn't know. He lumbers forward in great big hesitant steps, then places his gargantuan clawed hand just over Jaime's, claws skittering down the patterns embedded in his door. ]
Yes. I do.
[ There is something content in it. Jaime looks at Khaji, fond, then looks at Ruka, as though sharing something secret and important with her. He lets Khaji have his moment in silence as he slips away, looking at his own door. It's an ordinary wooden door. There's nothing noteworthy about it. ]
And this is the door to my house, [ he says, smile a little crooked. ] The one I grew up in. We couldn't get the same one back. It was too old.
...heh. Look at us. Getting more excited about a couple of doors than the whole spirit world.
[ Khaji's still looking at his. It seems somehow right that Ruka, the one who had never needed introductions, who had always included Khaji as though it was as natural as breathing, who knows what it's like to have a quiet companion of her very own, is the one to show him this. ]
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And then a moment later, he forgets entirely that he'd been nervous at all, returning Ruka's squeezed hand with one of his own. He lets out a gasp, surprised and delighted all at once. ]
Oh! [ His smile beams out of him, eyes bright. ] Khaji has one too! Of course he does, I just --
[ People have spent so long denying Khaji's personhood. Jaime knows he has a heart, had ventured deep into it with Dick those many years ago. But to see it standing here ordinarily beside Jaime's, even if it's far larger and far more foreboding, is something special. He places his hand flat on it then looks behind him, grinning at Khaji. ]
Khaji, look!
[ Khaji wasn't there when they retrieved his heart. He didn't know. He lumbers forward in great big hesitant steps, then places his gargantuan clawed hand just over Jaime's, claws skittering down the patterns embedded in his door. ]
Yes. I do.
[ There is something content in it. Jaime looks at Khaji, fond, then looks at Ruka, as though sharing something secret and important with her. He lets Khaji have his moment in silence as he slips away, looking at his own door. It's an ordinary wooden door. There's nothing noteworthy about it. ]
And this is the door to my house, [ he says, smile a little crooked. ] The one I grew up in. We couldn't get the same one back. It was too old.
...heh. Look at us. Getting more excited about a couple of doors than the whole spirit world.
[ Khaji's still looking at his. It seems somehow right that Ruka, the one who had never needed introductions, who had always included Khaji as though it was as natural as breathing, who knows what it's like to have a quiet companion of her very own, is the one to show him this. ]