"Okay," Gyre answers immediately. He's happy to hear it, of course, and watching Luka reach around is reassuring, if only in the sense that he knows the princess is nearby and safe. But he is frozen completely in place. He doesn't want to move. He doesn't dare look anywhere that doesn't involve the one other living person with him here in hell.
The only thing that saves him is pure visual habit. As Luka feels around, he follows the movement of his hand. He's a person who's spent his entire life in dark forests, interpreting incredibly dense visual information. It means he's looking for differences without even trying.
It's not so much that he notices the pattern of flattened shapes beneath their 3D counterparts, but that he notices the gap in angles amongst those 3D shapes. His eye catches on that space once, twice. The third time, he finally reaches for it, slowly sliding his hands across the surface. He has to stretch hard near the end, but then his fingers dip into the keyhole and he gasps softly.
"There's a hole here, where my hand is," he says, his voice still obviously shaking.
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The only thing that saves him is pure visual habit. As Luka feels around, he follows the movement of his hand. He's a person who's spent his entire life in dark forests, interpreting incredibly dense visual information. It means he's looking for differences without even trying.
It's not so much that he notices the pattern of flattened shapes beneath their 3D counterparts, but that he notices the gap in angles amongst those 3D shapes. His eye catches on that space once, twice. The third time, he finally reaches for it, slowly sliding his hands across the surface. He has to stretch hard near the end, but then his fingers dip into the keyhole and he gasps softly.
"There's a hole here, where my hand is," he says, his voice still obviously shaking.