[As they both know, of course, Jade isn't normally much for physical contact himself--automatic reaction prevailing over normal preferences, so to speak. ...But hands on shoulders really do lend to a sense of grounding, don't they? Confirmation. Tear, too, is real and warm and here....
Not some figment of his imagination, or some kind of gauche illusion of the captain's, or some person he's mistaking for someone else. She speaks and responds, in a way distinctly hers, asking entirely fitting questions and firmly cementing her identity beyond a doubt; a familiarity from home he hadn't even realized he so sorely missed. (Has been trying, for some time, to keep buried and set aside...) But, promptly and overwhelmingly overpowering the gladness...is an icy plunge of something, sharp and painful, that immediately floods the chest. Knowing exactly what her presence here means for her.
For exactly one second, with all his heart, Jade wants nothing more than to head directly to the bridge and destroy the captain with his own two hands. Right here and right now, consequences be damned.
But he can't, of course. Nobody can, not here. No, in the end, all that can be done is...]
1/2 new soldier confusion 🤝 old soldier distress solidarity...!
Not some figment of his imagination, or some kind of gauche illusion of the captain's, or some person he's mistaking for someone else. She speaks and responds, in a way distinctly hers, asking entirely fitting questions and firmly cementing her identity beyond a doubt; a familiarity from home he hadn't even realized he so sorely missed. (Has been trying, for some time, to keep buried and set aside...) But, promptly and overwhelmingly overpowering the gladness...is an icy plunge of something, sharp and painful, that immediately floods the chest. Knowing exactly what her presence here means for her.
For exactly one second, with all his heart, Jade wants nothing more than to head directly to the bridge and destroy the captain with his own two hands. Right here and right now, consequences be damned.
But he can't, of course. Nobody can, not here. No, in the end, all that can be done is...]