[The thorn is difficult to get out, but with enough prying with the knife, it does come loose. Jayden still isn't looking, not just having turned his head away but closed his eyes as well, though that's just as much because of the sickening feeling as it is not wanting to see it.
When Blake pauses briefly, Jayden takes a moment to try and catch his breath, which he'd been subconsciously holding during the extraction. As he does, he listens to Blake's answer, and it's... Normal. The exact kind of response he'd expect from someone from home, and although Blake's likely from somewhere else entirely, that familiarity is grounding. It's something that makes sense.]
Yeah.
[It's quiet, shaky, but a full agreement. People can be horrible, and the extent of just how horrible is dismaying but not shocking; it's that awareness that had made it possible to contextualize being trapped here, and focus on the reality of surviving. Even the addition of monsters and the apparent illusions and the general knowledge that there was magic involved hadn't been too bad, but an academic understanding more than a practical one, at least until the ritual.
But just as he always does when his thoughts stray back to that experience, he immediately diverts.]
What'd you do? With the police.
[There's such a range of areas Blake could've worked in, and Jayden is both genuinely curious and reaching for a distraction that is hopefully a safe enough topic for them both. Something familiar, something they can both relate to, something that helps remind them that their lives before this were real.]
no subject
When Blake pauses briefly, Jayden takes a moment to try and catch his breath, which he'd been subconsciously holding during the extraction. As he does, he listens to Blake's answer, and it's... Normal. The exact kind of response he'd expect from someone from home, and although Blake's likely from somewhere else entirely, that familiarity is grounding. It's something that makes sense.]
Yeah.
[It's quiet, shaky, but a full agreement. People can be horrible, and the extent of just how horrible is dismaying but not shocking; it's that awareness that had made it possible to contextualize being trapped here, and focus on the reality of surviving. Even the addition of monsters and the apparent illusions and the general knowledge that there was magic involved hadn't been too bad, but an academic understanding more than a practical one, at least until the ritual.
But just as he always does when his thoughts stray back to that experience, he immediately diverts.]
What'd you do? With the police.
[There's such a range of areas Blake could've worked in, and Jayden is both genuinely curious and reaching for a distraction that is hopefully a safe enough topic for them both. Something familiar, something they can both relate to, something that helps remind them that their lives before this were real.]