[open] i could open the door and breathe in the dust

[Gale]

Gale started under neon lights, then it all got dark i only know how to go too far Gale does not pay attention to Hourglass’ suggestion that she might share the vision of something beyond the barrier. Gale had tried that already. There is nothing - no one - that he can find there, not with any amount of his magic. He cannot forget what she had said, but he did ignore it - at least for now. When he’d turned back, the joy with which she greets him is unexpected and contagious, and the smile he offers in return is immediate, flashing as bright and quick as lightning. It lasts for only a moment, for the time it takes to untangle her emotions from his own and shred apart the magic that made such Empathy possible. The grin, which had illuminated the sharp planes of his face, quickly fades into an amicable nod of agreement that yes: he does remember her. He is remembering now, their encounter in the darkness. She’d been adrift then, and he wonders if she is still doing the same now, with the sun to guide her way as she wanders. ‘We’ve found ourselves another mystery’, she continues, sanguine and shimmering in the sunlight. She reminds him of a jewel, Gale thinks. He takes a step closer, his attention caught by the rough edges of a crack. The damage has created a myriad of tiny facets, which vanish in the shadow he casts. Drawing back at that, the intense curiosity that had appeared in Gale’s expression as he contemplated the small fracture is now focused instead on Hourglass, and after a few blinks and a moment of silence, he thinks back to before, to the social cues to which he’s expected to respond. A mystery. Look through another’s sight. The way her face had fallen when he’d referenced her fragility. “At least there are no monsters with this one.” He says. And there aren’t, not like there had been in the darkness of the Eclipse. That is a good thing, he thinks, casting about for something positive to add to the conversation.  “I think you could start fires, if you caught the sun just right.” That feels like a compliment as he thinks it, and so he offers it with an accompanying smile. @Hourglass