[ CLOSED ]

[khajidont]

WHO: Jaime Reyes & Ruka
WHERE: Misc. White Tower Party
WHEN: Before Synod
WHAT: There's a happenstance meeting between Ruka and Jaime. It doesn't go particularly well.
WARNINGS: None anticipated!



[ Jaime had good reason for leaving Krakoa early. He didn't want to tell anyone about his sudden conflict of conscience with what's going on in the world - though he fears some may guess - but going back to the dreaded White Tower to meet with a couple of old friends before the Synod is an excuse that passes muster for most people, so that's precisely what he goes with. Of course, for that to hold water, he actually has to do the damn thing. Which is how he finds himself at one of White Towers plentiful parties, there to put a location tag on his social media account, put up a couple of cute pictures (#oldfriends #backtogetheranditfeelssogood) before he can do what he really wants to do.

That, and there's no place like a good party to get a hold on what people are really thinking, try to get some information out of them underneath the guise of the petty gossip that places like this thrive on. He's gotten good at this over the years anyway. He has a couple drinks, hits the dance floor with a few people (he still isn't great at dancing, but all they really ask from the boys is to wiggle around a bit), flirts with some of the girls, gets a few selfies. The usual. He doesn't find out much he didn't already know, but it's not wholly a waste either. Nothing in his demeanor gives away what he's really feeling, or the anxiety he feels at finally beginning to make a few moves, but he feels the jitters nonetheless. It's easy to hide when everyone else is sloshed too. It takes a dumb joke, a wink and a smile, a hoarsely shouted, "no, no, I gotta get a picture, come on guys!", and nobody's any the wiser.

Besides, these people don't really like him. Nobody here does. It's all for fun, for show. He doesn't expect anyone to be paying any attention to him.

After all, he didn't expect to be suddenly confronted with a lover from a past life. But that realization will come later. For now, they still have yet to meet. ]

Comments

[dragony]

[ It was already on her schedule, so she had to go. Ruka isn't totally clear on the reason for it happening, if there is a reason at all, but she'd spent the better part of four hours before arriving flipping through tagged photos like flashcards, hoping to retain at least some of the names she would need to shout over music.

Frankly, it's a little horrifying how easily she's slipped into the skin of this other life. Not because it's a natural way to act, or that it's easy to learn and infer so much from so little, but — the longer she spends around the people who know that other Ruka, the more she realizes how little they look. Few suspicions, no expectations — a simple elongated vowel or a correctly-timed smile is all anyone needs to see. The longer this goes on, the less likely it seems like she'll be caught — and so the longer she'll have to endure pretending.

She's several drinks down and feeling none the better, on the verge of cutting out early when she hears— god. No, of course not. She knows it can't possibly be who that sounds like, but it's still enough to turn her head, to squint into the crowd of the beautiful, wealthy young. There's no way what she heard was reality, but her heart beats a more anxious tempo in her chest. She should just get going— ]

... Jaime?

[ —but the name slips out anyway, barely audible beneath the noise. God, this is stupid. The loneliness is driving her crazy. If he were here, he wouldn't have made her wait this long. She knows that.

She's still too sober for this. With a huff, Ruka heads back towards the bar. Maybe if she's lucky, she can erase the whole shitty week. ]