Participants:
| Scene Title | These Arms Of Mine |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | The Ruizes make themselves a small home away from home. Far away. |
| Date | November 7, 2018 |
The Library of Babel
The library is a peaceful place, Lynette has found. Stef has been generous enough to find them an apartment with rooms and beds. It’s the first time in a long time that Evie has slept on her own. The girl is fine. Lynette is the mess.
Of course, that’s not just because of Evie. She hasn’t been sleeping well or long since they left her world. In the last world, it meant a lot of long, boring nights full of too much thinking. Staring at walls. She feels herself crumble a little more with each night that passes. But here there’s endless rooms filled with every book ever written— or it feels that way. She’s curled up in a chair, a book open in her lap. Speakers play quiet music in the background. If she were less… frazzled, if the noise was less present, she might nod off. But not tonight.
Endless rooms filled with books and cats, and one such cat seems to have found it's way into their room. The little gray tabby pokes a head out from under a piece of furniture, stopping to stretch and yawn in the way cats do, before moving on toward the door to scratch at it. To be let out. It doesn't scratch long before the door opens and a familiar voice can be heard, "How did you get in there?"
Ruiz would not say he was a cat person, but he doesn't dislike cats either. The cat just makes a soft chattery meow before bounding off down to the other room. There's probably no food in there either, but he's sure that it will get out. Eventually.
"Evie's asleep," he says, as he makes his way further into the room, leaving the door cracked behind him in case the girl proves to be a big faker and comes to bother them before too long. Or that cat decides it actually wanted to be in there with them after all. The Librarians had given them dome stuffed animals for the girl to sleep with. He moves closer to where she sits with the book. "Did you find something worth reading?" The way they had reprinted everything surprised him, but he suspected there had been more to it than a printing press hidden away upstairs.
Lynette doesn't seem to mind the cats. If there's one close enough, she pets them until they decide to leave. Sometimes she leaves food for them to eat when she can't quite finish her meals. But for now, she and the cat seem to be ignoring one another.
When Ruiz speaks, she looks up from the book and looks over at him. As always, she smiles when she looks him over, sometimes like she's trying to make sure she has him committed to memory. "It's a collection of short stories. Borges is in here." And she couldn't resist. Not here. But she closes it all the same, setting it aside in favor of rubbing her hands over her face. To wake herself up. To focus on the now. "I like it better in Spanish, but…" She'll take what she can get.
"Most things are better in their original language, I suppose," Ruiz responds with a small smile, moving to pull a chair over so that he does. "But translations make them more accessible, too," he also admits. He hadn't thought of it until that moment, but how many languages were completely lost when this happened? Would this translation be the only Borges left in the world, unless other places did the same thing?
With a shake of his head to dispurse the mental thoughts, he settles into his chair next to her, close enough he could reach our, or her. "yo, que me figuraba el Paraíso, bajo la especie de una biblioteca." A fitting phrase considering the location. Only it could never actually be Paradise for them.
"I wonder if they realize that if it wasn't for Manuel, we probably never would have left home." Because they had had a home. He thinks he would have opened the gate for them, but he wouldn't have gone through.
"Elisabeth knows. I doubt Magnes has given it much thought," Lynette says, matter of factly. She hasn't had a lot of good things to say about Magnes since their run toward the Deveaux building. Mostly, she just doesn't talk about him. Her fingers weave between his and she lets out a gentle sigh. It's easy for her to let go of her annoyance in favor of him.
"We'll find him. If we can make it home again, then we will. If we can't, wherever we end up will be home. Once we're all together again." That's why she brought her jewelry collection along for the trip. It takes up a significant portion of her pack, but wherever they land, they'll have money to live on. "Maybe we can find a little place in Argentina. Or maybe… our house still exists there."
Yeah, Liz would notice. Ruiz's not sure Magnes thought that deep about it, but he knew the man was also a father, even if he sometimes acted oddly about it. He would have kept going with or without his daughter being taken, he knew that. He's not quite as annoyed at Magnes as she is, though he does spark every time Edward Ray is even mentioned. For person reasons.
As Lynette talks about home, a house, a place in Argentina— their house he gets distracted from darker thoughts, and even smiles a little.
That house had been theirs. "If it is, we should be able to find it. If not— anywhere with you and them is home to me." Anywhere. No matter the world, no matter the time.
Those words bring a smile to Lynette's face, too, and she leans over, bringing a hand to his cheek and her lips to his. "That's home to me, too." As she leans back, the music changes to another song, a softer melody that Lynette actually tunes into.
These arms of mine
They are lonely
Lonely and feeling blue
She lets out a gentle sigh, looking at him for a moment longer before she sweeps up from her chair. Her hand doesn't leave his, though, and she offers her other out toward him, too.
"Dance with me?"
It's one indulgence she's never been able to give up, not even when it was clear Mateo didn't know how in the beginning.
There had not been a lot of occasions for dancing in the Hub, and even less beforehand. Now, Ruiz had to wonder if that Lynette had secretly wanted to dance with him but had never had the chance to. She too had liked music, often of the same kind. But no, those kinds of dances had still not happened.
But he had done his best to learn, since in that little house of theirs so far away now. And possibly so far ahead at the same time.
These arms of mine,
They are yearning
Yearning from wanting you
As he moves closer to take her hand, he does his best to supress that buzz under the surface. Still there's a pop of static as their hands meet, but it dissipates, like the static that came from dragging feet over carpet. "I'm getting better at it, you know," he comments, as he steps into it. At least he's pretty sure he's not gotten worse.
Lynette chuckles at the static— something she has gotten used to now that she's mostly adjusted to not having her power anymore. And something she's indulgent of, because it means a piece of her is always with him. She can't help but like the idea of that. Her hand slides up his arm until she can rest it against the back of his neck.
And if you
Would let them hold you
Oh, how grateful I will be
"You definitely have, my darling," she says, settling against him as they step to the slow sway of the music. Her smile has a hint of a tease to it, but also a warmth that she only has when it's just him and her. "But if you feel the need to brush up, you know I'll take any excuse to spend time in your arms."
Much like the song says.
"Oh, I know," Ruiz responds with a half grin as he keeps up with her movements, but doesn't quite take the lead as much as he probably should. Sometimes it's too obvious that he's not comfortable with having the lead foot, and sometimes it's obvious that he's hesitant about a movement and trying his best not to accidentally step on one of her feet.
These arms of mine,
They are burning
Burning from wanting you
"I don't think you'd have married me if you hadn't," he adds, softly, before continuing, with a teasing tone. "Twice no less." Possibly four times, but those other marriages they had heard about had been other hims and other hers. Still them. But— no, she had married him twice. Two hims, but he considered her husband before a piece of him, just as he considered his wife before a piece of her.
Just like they now both had a piece of each other. She carried pieces of him he never even knew about.
His first words turn her smile crooked, amused but wry. "Oh you know, do you? I guess I haven't been playing it as cool as I thought." Just as he doesn't seem to be comfortable with the lead, Lynette doesn't mind sharing it. She's not big on the technicalities, so long as it's him and her.
These arms of mine
They are wanting
Wanting to hold you
"I suppose that did give it away," she says with a chuckle. "When we get to this new world, we might have to get married again. I'm not sure they'll recognize a marriage from another timeline." The look she gives him is all innocence, like it isn't her idea. She can't help it if they need to go through it all again. "Of course, that also means another honeymoon," she adds with a wider smile, "my favorite part." That part is less innocent. Her hand lifts from his shoulder, just enough to brush along his jaw. She's not surprised that all these other versions of him and her had found each other. And she knows they all made the most of every moment they had together. Just like this version of them does.
The mention of the honeymoon made Ruiz laugh, as he executed a bold move in an attempt to spin and dip her. It's clumsy and might even hurt a little, but he's trying. And as he leans over her he says his response to that tease, "I'd marry you a thousand times. And not just for the honeymoon."
And if you would let them hold you
Oh how grateful I will be
With that he tries to get them upright again, even if he trips a little. He was getting better. Just not good enough to do something like that with any grace. "I don't think I could have made it this far without you." He knows he couldn't.
She had saved him. And he had gotten their son stolen cause he had tried to help them continue. Given her constant heartache and pain and an ability he would not have wished on anyone.
But he didn't regret those moments for anything, even then. Not as long as he had her, Evie and the hope of seeing their son again.