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

[imaginate]

[He shrugs. All right.]

[jirk]

[Jim reaches out, catches his shoulder and gives it a bit of a squeeze. Reassuring.]

[imaginate]

It's not just prison. I haven't been around people - even Corps - for a long time.

[jirk]

Hard to adjust. I know.

[You don't have to explain.]

[imaginate]

[He exhales. You can't come back the same, not from that.]

Christ, and everyone expects me to just... get back in the swing of it.

[He can, and he's been keeping up the appearance of it, but underneath he's always been on the edge.]

[jirk]

[What is this? He doesn't ask, but he's curious. So he just stays where he is, leaning against the countertop, arms folded. He keeps his body language open - but it's a little too studied, he's trying too hard to keep it that way, because this is still a language he doesn't speak with any fluency, and his instinct is always to shut himself down when people start talking about serious emotional issues.

He tilts his head. 'Go on?']

[imaginate]

[Kyle looks at him and shakes his head. I'm not ready. Saying it out loud will.. put it out there and Jenny -- could still show up in a place which had the dead.]

[jirk]

[Jim doesn't like locked doors. His instinct is to knock them down however he can, subvert them or go around or-- something. But they've been overstepping each other's boundaries since day one, and it's one of the things that puts them at each other's throats. So he nods. Accepting.]

Sure.

[imaginate]

[Why did he take everything to be a challenge? It wasn't just stubbornness, it was pride and-- Kyle didn't do pride. It meant nothing when the people you were supposed to take care of were going to die.]

[He exhales quietly. At least he isn't being asked openly. That would probably lead to another fight.]

[He gets up, and kisses Jim's cheek.]

I should go check up on Sora.

[jirk]

[Except that was something else he did wrong, and Jim makes a frustrated noise.]

Okay, first can you tell me what that was about?

[imaginate]

[He sighs, and gestures to his back. He has a lot of scars, he knows, but that's one Jim's seen.]

Do you honestly want to know what did that to me?

[jirk]

[Without hesitation,]

Yeah.

[He twists his mouth off to one side and looks down and away, then back up.]

But notice how I haven't asked. Look, I'm trying. Just because I want to know doesn't mean I have the right to. I get that. I'm fine giving you space.

[imaginate]

[It's not the challenge, he realises. It's that Jim isn't used to not being the exception... and Kyle never tells anyone about his experiences. Most don't deserve to know he even has that.]

[If this was anyone else, he would have sarcastically remarked on how that made them a decent human being, respecting his space, but this is Jim, and for him, Kyle is patient.]

Closed door.

[As in 'not locked', and 'can be opened, eventually'.]

[jirk]

All right.

[He lobs his apple core at the nearby garbage. Three point shot, thank you very much.]

Tell Sora I said hey.