004 ◉ audio; dated to the 14th

[imaginate]

[ The audio clicks on and there's a long pause. When Kyle speaks, his tone is calm, perfectly controlled. It's his Business Voice, blank save for the barest hint of anger. ]

This is Kyle Rayner of the Green Lantern Corps. I apologise for the inconvenience, but our clinic at EA-3B is currently undergoing repairs and won't be able to take more patients at this time. We'll be temporarily operating a backup at WA-1A. [ He attaches a map, showing where it is. ]

Any and all hands with medical experience or healing abilities are always welcome.

[ Another long pause. ]

And if someone could come collect Avatar Korra, that would be appreciated.

[ There is a brief pause, as though he's debating what more to say, before the audio clicks off. ]

Comments

[jirk]

Just stay away from the chartreuse, huh?

[He fiddles a little with the fork on the table, turns it over and slides his hand back down.]

[imaginate]

Yellow goes with a few things.

[And it means something different to you.]

[jirk]

[Jim gives him a curious look, head canted slightly.]

Well, yeah. So does puce.

[imaginate]

It's a nice colour!

[jirk]

[ROLLING HIS EYES.]

What did I just say?

[imaginate]

[He falls quiet, and just nods as the food arrives. He says grace, as always, and then looks expectantly at Jim.]]

[jirk]

[... Oookay, so, cautiously,]

Amen.

[imaginate]

[A long pause.]

I'm not religious. Get called a god enough times and it leaves a bad taste. This is for my mother.

[jirk]

[That gets both eyebrows raised faintly.]

[imaginate]

[He stares, and then he just starts eating, quietly.]

[jirk]

[Jim shrugs, digs in. There's three pancakes heaped with a local strawberry-analogue and still no cream, but there's a few slices of something that looks like mango, too, and some sort of jam. He's used to the hustle and bustle of the mess, so the silence is a little... okay, unsettling, but he doesn't actually try to break it. Diplomacy. Someone else's language.

And then he's done and he pushes the plate away.]

[imaginate]

[He plays with his own food, eating very, very slowly.]

[jirk]

I feel like we're playing charades or something.

[It's an idle observation, as he plants both elbows on the table and gives Kyle a wry look.]

[imaginate]

[His expression is completely blank.]

I can't do this.

[Please understand I just want you to understand why can't you see what's right in front of you.]

[jirk]

[What the hell am I doing wrong? He's not used to this. He's not used to meeting people that constantly and consistently beat his self confidence down just by being someone he can't reach. He reaches everyone, it's what he does, it's in everything he does, he moves worlds and it bothers him so much that he can't-- change this, or fix it, or whatever the hell.

It's why he keeps trying, but it's also why he sometimes wants to walk away.

Jim wipes his mouth with a napkin, drops the napkin on his cleaned plate. There are so many things he wants to ask, he wants to go at this from all angles and work it until it's fixed, he's a problem solver at heart. I told you how I beat the Kobayashi-Maru, right?

But he doesn't. He just nods tiredly. Compromise.]

Sure. Let's get you back to your clinic.

[imaginate]

[That's it? he wants to ask, but they're both so tired. Even Kyle is, of his own mind, and of his own darkness. Of all people.. Damian understood it. Dick, and Jack were horrified by it, maybe even feared it. Spock had some inkling of its depth, Jim thought he saw it all. Rose-- Rose didn't even try. She just came and put light wherever she could, and it worked.]

[He gets up, and on impulse, squeezes Jim's hand, and kisses him on the side of the mouth. He doesn't care that this is completely public, outside the pool place was, too. It's not like it means anything other than thank you for being here, anyway.]

[jirk]

[That's new, and it makes him arch an eyebrow, but he doesn't comment on it. Instead, he just gives Kyle's hand a similar squeeze in return. Funny how the weird, random shows of intimacy bother him less after being tortured beside this guy. Kyle saw him bleeding and half delirious on top of everything else he already knows, it kinda breaks down a few barriers along the way.

So Jim drops the payment down on the table and gets up so he can gently bump Kyle's shoulder.]

Wild horses couldn't drag me away, Angel.

[After everything, he's still trying. But Kyle needs his space, and Jim... is learning. Even when it costs him.]

[imaginate]

Don't tempt me, Princess, I have constructs now.

[He's a little more at ease, but he is still quiet, thinking.]

[jirk]

[Once they're outside the restaurant, Jim... considers his options. And then he gives Kyle a bracing smile.]

I'm gonna hold you to that whole 'paint' thing later.

[imaginate]

[He smiles for the first time in this conversation.]

Looking forward to it.

[jirk]

[Jim returns the smile, and then he just gives Kyle a salute and turns to head back to the Fire Sector.]

[imaginate]

[Kyle's been spending time at Jim's place, just getting used to being around him. The earlier incident had thrown him right back out of sync again, feeling like a rookie, and he'd tried to compensate as best he could. That was what it was all about. Compromise. Meeting people halfway.]

[He tries not to think about the look in Sora's eyes as she'd tried to calm him down, knowing that she'd seen the deep, dark, real anger that came from his people being in danger, that he always felt guilty for feeling. Any slip up, and well. He could snap, and he knew he wasn't terribly stable here, without Guy.]

[But he needed the Corps - he needed his family - he missed them so much it was eating him up and so while Jim's out walking or something (god why was he so stubborn), Kyle simply clears the room, lies down, and lets his mind recreate Oa, and the Corps. He forces the constructs into colour, even if it makes his hands shake, and as they fly around, pass him, he reaches out, trying to touch them, hold them near, to keep them safe.]

[jirk]

[Jim lets himself in quietly, arms full of a variety of things he found on his walkabout of Keeliai. He's not really aiming to be quiet, but the truth is, he always is when he doesn't think he has an audience. Why bother making a show if there's no one there to watch it?

He notices the constructs straight away, except he mistakes them for real and damn near draws his phaser before he realizes their source. Kyle.

It's Kyle, and he doesn't speak Jim's language, so Jim dumps the bag he's got onto the couch, and he goes to sit beside him, wordless. Soundless, or as near as he can with the cast. It's a little like being back in that cell, trying to sleep so it wasn't one more torture they could inflict, fingers pressed against the inside of Kyle's wrists so he could feel his pulse as he drifted off. Jim's almost ashamed of the intimacy, captains weren't supposed to show weakness or fear, but he swallows down the memories and sits, quietly. After a moment, he frowns (what was it Kyle said about blizzards?) and reaches out, to put a hand against his shoulder.

The silence costs him. Damn, does it cost him. But it's an exchange of currencies he can live with now.]

[imaginate]

[Kyle's learnt the shift of the air when Jim's in the room. Soundless or not, this man always makes an entrance, and it's easy enough to pick up on it.]

[He ignores it. He's in his world, and Jim-- can be a part of it if he likes, or he can go. Kyle can guess what his answer is going to be. Jim won't leave him out of sheer spite, if it comes down to that. No matter what.]

[He breathes, brushing his fingers against the passing constructs, some of whom are smiling at him, or reaching back. He can hear their voices if he concentrates, and he doesn't fill in their words, but Jim-- talks too much and Jim maybe needs something from Kyle. Speaking is going to cost a lot. But he does, anyway.]

Hey.

[jirk]

[Quieter,]

Hey yourself.