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I think you’ll find - Jack - 06-30-2024
All things considered, Jack thinks he’s been quite good at not bothering Flora while she digests everything she’s found out. He’s only even stalked her twice, and perhaps he’s found out that she’s gone to visit a certain Wrenzaok in King’s End. And maybe he’s sent a letter asking her to meet him at the Last Step so they can figure out what all this means for the past, present and future, and put him out of his misery in the process.
Because if anyone believes Jack will not throw himself from the Last Step and end his own story rather than live with it being tainted forever, they’re wrong and he’ll prove it. But hey, for now he’s smoking at the tip top step of the strange monument, having lit a few lanterns so neither he nor Flora (if she shows) accidentally trips over. And he supposes this is where he’ll be, until the Doubletake appears through the LongNight darkness, or he’s left in solitude until the sun comes up.
RE: I think you’ll find - Flora - 06-30-2024
Flora has no idea what to think, and not just because someone might be reading her thoughts.
Though the queen was certainly inclined to daydreams wherein the people in her life did and said and the right things, never once had she expected a letter to arrive from Jack. Upon receiving it Flora could only wish she had more time with Enzo that he might bestow some of his shocking poignant advice upon her, rather than being left to tread the waters she found herself in, which had been made murkier thanks to her conversation with Sunjata.
So, with thoughts of her step-father fucking (or being fucked by?) Jack absolutely not in her thoughts, Flora made her way toward the Last Step with her chin held high and her mind filled with intentionally superficial thoughts. Just in case her mind began to wander, Spice was curled around her neck, ready to freeze her bonded's eardrum at the first sign of nonsense. Quite what a dragon would consider nonsense Flora didn't quite know, but surely it was better than braving the darkness alone.
So, with a lantern raised against the darkness and one of her mother's ursur furs wrapped around her body, Flora made her way toward the Last Step and the man there upon.
RE: I think you’ll find - Jack - 06-30-2024
Regrettably, whether or not Flora decides to think superficial thoughts or otherwise, the noise is all the same to Jack. As a result - and she might be more inclined to notice now than she ever has been - by the time the lantern light is cast upon the Last Step, the man in question is already turning to glance down at her. And he regards her silently, without a frown nor a smile, before nodding at the space beside him and holding up his cigarette as if to ask if she wants him to spark her one up ready.
[say]”Didn't know if I should expect you or not,”[/say] he admits. [say]”If you’ve got questions, now’s as good a time for me to answer ‘em.”[/say] If that’s what she’s come for. Maybe she just wants to scream or laugh in his face or try to shove him off the steps. He’d not blame her. Maybe he’d not even stop her.
RE: I think you’ll find - Flora - 06-30-2024
It's one thing to know your thoughts are being read, and it's another entirely to know what to do with that information. So it is that as Flora raises her lantern to illuminate the strange staircase, that the captain is already peering down at her, has her breath catching uncomfortably in her throat. Despite Spice's frosty nose in her ear, thoughts of LongNights past flickered behind her eyes, as well as the echos of the nights she's spent at the House of Midnight as of late, in rooms with sandy floors and with men who conveniently looked a lot like Jack.
Swallowing, her face warmly lit by her lantern, Flora merely shrugged before ascending the staircase and taking a seat at the Captain's side. [Say]"I have thoughts more than I have questions."[/say] She murmurs, reaching out for the cigarette he undountably knows she wants.
[say]"You've fucked my step dad, so that's weird."[/say] She drawls, her gaze on the thick darkness outside of the aura of her lantern light. [Say]"Even if it was before I was born."[/say] Flora hoped, naively perhaps, that Jack might have some way of making it okay, even though Sunjata hadn't been able to. Unable to look at the captain, the queen shrugged; clearly she knew, and she knew he also knew, that she'd spoken with the Flood about the depth of his relationship with the captain.
RE: I think you’ll find - Jack - 07-01-2024
Well-practiced at keeping a neutral expression, Jack does nonetheless raise his eyebrows ever so slightly as he catches the flavour of her thoughts, before turning away to allow her to join him. [say]"Everybody does,"[/say] he murmurs around his cigarette. Has thoughts, he means, though he doubts that will win him any points with the Doubletake right now. And so instead, as she sits beside him and brings up the Sunjata of it all (and it takes a second for Jack to realise that Flora is correct), he merely passes her the cigarette and strikes a match so she might light up.
[say]"Technically,"[/say] he says, flicking the ash from his own smoke, [say]"your step-dad fucked me, but I don't s'pose that makes a difference."[/say] Exhaling a plume of cold grey into the night, the captain stares out at the inky nothingness beyond the Last Step. [say]"I wouldn't have if you'd been around then,"[/say] he adds with a shrug. [say]"Sunjata's thoughts aren't really my flavour."[/say]
RE: I think you’ll find - Flora - 07-01-2024
Like when a teacher asks you to show your work when doing a math problem or when someone watches over your shoulder as you type, knowing that Jack could dial in to the inner workings of her mind if he chose to, had every single nuanced and sophisticated thought utterly disappearing. All Flora was left with was petulant feelings toward Jack for something she didn't really blame him for (she hadn't been alive, and even Flora wasn't that petty), but she hated it just the same. While part of her wanted to shrug and say that she didn't want to fuck anyone who'd been with one of her parents (or siblings), she also knew she probably wasn't resolute enough to hold up such a declaration, and so shied away from making it.
[say]"Oh, well, if he fucked you.."[/say] She says nonchalantly, before glancing slightly over her shoulder. [say]"They might be, now that he's a sex demigod."[/say] The comment was a throw-away one at best, just something to get Flora's mind actually moving again rather than being stuck in the what the fuck of it all.
[say]"Sunjata told me what you did for him, back when my dad's accused him of hurting Vai."[/say] Clearing her throat, Flora too looks out into the nothingness that lay heavily around them. [say]"Some of that was some pretty stand-up guy shit."[/say] She comments, trying to sound dry and disinterested despite the way her thoughts were desperately trying to force Jack into a but I can fix him box that she knew he wasn't made for.
RE: I think you’ll find - Jack - 07-01-2024
It's an easy thing for Jack to scoff and shake his head now that Flora knows the truth about him, and he leans back on one hand to gaze up at the empty night. [say]"Your step-dad's mind is a downer,"[/say] he says easily enough. [say]"I doubt even becomin' a sex demigod has changed that."[/say] And y'know, whatever if they're just getting drunk and fucking on occasion, but it's not the kind of radio station the captain wants to tune himself into on the regular.
Taking another drag of his cigarette, Jack raises an eyebrow to hear his previous antics be brought out into the open, and arguably good ones no less. Still, he can practically sense where it's going, and so it's with the ghost of an apology in his expression that he shrugs to Flora. [say]"It was good business,"[/say] he says gently. [say]"Jata was Governor at the time. Havin' him fall into disrepute, or lose his mind... hardly good for Torchline."[/say]
RE: I think you’ll find - Flora - 07-01-2024
[say]"No, but my mom might have."[/say] Flora counters slyly, a note of pride creeping into her voice. Still, she wasn't here to try and argue Jack into going another round with the Flood, so she let her thoughts switch abruptly from whatever it might have been like between Jack and Sunjata (and oh gods now she was picturing it), back to the man who'd let her lull him to sleep with fairy tales from another world.
Forcing a laugh, the warmth of which has a white cloud leaving Flora's lips to mingle with the tobacco already placed there by Jack, the queen gives her head a small shake. [say]"I know you're not a fixer upper, Jack."[/say] She says ruefully, before shifting to the side somewhat to look at him. [say]"You know what you go into bed with, so tell me what I did."[/say] Was he just a clever opportunist? Was living a life that was easy for the most part all that Jack's ambition amounted to?
[say]"And why tell me? With Sunjata, he owed you, but from where I'm sitting—"[/say] Even if it was 30ft up where a good push could do a lot of damage and where no one would hear her dying screams. [say]"—I'm not sure you've got me in quite the same position."[/say]
Shit, now she was picturing them fucking again.
RE: I think you’ll find - Jack - 07-01-2024
Scrunching his nose in a silent equivalent of if you say so before promptly waving a hand at her as if to stop the mental pictures she's conjuring from parading through her mind, Jack eventually stills and flicks the butt of his cigarette over the Last Step into the snow below, his brows furrowed as he tries not to think of the very man Flora is imagining. That man is feeble-minded and weak and a danger to everything the one sitting beside her has built.
Luckily, Flora's change of subject - the imagery of them fucking notwithstanding - is enough to shake his attention back front and centre, and the captain groans if only because he knows he has to answer rather than shoving her off the step. Good idea though, Flora.
[say]"At first? You were someone worth knowin'. In that way, of course I'm a clever opportunist - you've learned to be one as well."[/say] He shrugs. [say]"I get close to you, you an' your powerful friends are suddenly more accessible than they once were."[/say] Simple as that. [say]"Then you started to get ambitions about bein' queen, and I've always made it a habit to be in the pocket of Torchline's ruler. Did it with the governor before the barrier fell, did it with your good ol' dad, with Maeve, with Sunjata..."[/say]
So far, so regular.
[say]"D'you know, though, you're the only person for a long while who's wanted it long before they had it?"[/say] It's always been a here-and-now decision for those taking it on, always a necessity. Not for Flora, though. [say]"I liked that."[/say] It's far from the end of it, of course, but at least she can get her head around it before he continues.
RE: I think you’ll find - Flora - 07-01-2024
Kicking out her foot over the drop, Flora nods. Rather than letting her mind stray to the places it otherwise would have—mental overtures where Jack said how she'd changed him, about how he wanted her and all of the other sweet nothings that girls with daddy issues longed to hear—the Doubletake did her best to listen intently to his words and to let their meanings fill her mind instead.
[say]"You liked it because it gave you an in."[/say] Flora ventures, looking at Jack through her eyebrows before smirking. [say]"If I'd had it handed to me or just filled an empty space the way the others had, there'd have been no need for you."[/say] For us, her mind tries to supply, and while that was certainly true as well, something about the word felt both hollow and suffocating.
[say]"And then..?"[/say]
RE: I think you’ll find - Jack - 07-01-2024
[say]"Yes an' no,"[/say] Jack drawls, the corner of his mouth kicking up in a smirk, and if they weren't in such a strange place, he might have even waggled a finger at Flora for her trouble. [say]"I've made myself invaluable to a number of governors in a number of different ways. I'm confident I could've done the same with you."[/say] By lying, of course, or making himself her bit on the side, or playing with her heart to the point of no return.
[say]"But no. I liked it because it meant you might stick the fuck around. I've seen Torchline kicked to the curb by so many idiots with fuck-all ambition over the years. You were different. Kept bein' different, even after you got what you wanted. You changed, an' then the world changed... an' I realised I had to as well."[/say] War, void infections from beyond the stars, demigods becoming two to a penny, individuals with strength and magic beyond what Jack has seen from his ship and his Torchline shores.
And then there's Flora, skipping through it all like it's nothing. [say]"You were the first person who seemed worth tellin',"[/say] he says, as if it's a slow realisation on his part as well.
RE: I think you’ll find - Flora - 07-01-2024
The urge to jump off the Last Step if only because she knew it was meant to be roughly 30ft up, had Flora snickering at herself under her breath. Gods, how she'd gone from once trying to accidentally bump into the captain in all sorts of places, to now risking a broken ankle had her internally rolling her eyes. No doubt Jack had already picked up on his line of thinking, such that Flora realized it would hardly do her any good to keep trying to mask her expressions by staring out into the dark of night. What good did it do her to look calm and collected when the captain could see what utter bullshit it was?
Turning to face him and curling her legs beneath herself, Flora eyed the captain silently for a moment. At least, silently in the sense that her lips weren't moving. Behind her aqua stare were flashes of the way he'd touched her, of the places they'd been together, of the way he'd promised to make her queen and by all accounts, he had. Slowly that blurred to images of things that could be; treacherous thoughts of wanting Torchline all to herself, of making it more than it was, more than any of the regions were, all of which saw Jack aiding in some capacity or another.
[say]"I do know what this is and what it isn't."[/say] Flora begins slowly. [say]"For all the, like, fairytale bullshit I think about sometimes, I know that isn't real life."[/say] If she thought hard enough about it, she'd probably know she didn't even want it, either. But, you know, daddy issues.
[say]"What I don't know is how this is supposed to work, because.."[/say] Flora pauses for a second as heat flares in her cheeks. Quickly she continues on if only because if she doesn't say it, it's still all in her thoughts anyway. [say]"..I don't want to do this all alone. Not just leading, but like, life. I had Enzo growing up, so it just...it hits harder not having someone."[/say] Which was perhaps why, at only 21, Flora romanticized every relationship she had. [say]"And as much as I'd like to say that we can just continue to fuck when we want—"[/say] Because gods it was the best she'd ever had. [say]"—and work together, I..."[/say]
Well, he'd have known before today that she had feelings for him, complicated as they were, and that if he kept saying shit like you were the first person who seemed worth tellin', things were going to go from Avril Lavigne to Taylor Swift pretty fuckin' fast.
RE: I think you’ll find - Jack - 07-01-2024
[say]"Exactly,"[/say] Jack drawls in response to Flora's thoughts this time - the dark threads of ice crimson that paint the world with the Doubletake's ambitions, with Torchline in her name and its people at her feet. Letting out a long sigh that's irritated only because of how new all of this is to the captain and his inherently prickly nature, he glances sidelong at her as she turns and sits to face him. And, reluctant though it might be, Jack shifts to look at her as well, as if to put them on equal footing in this if nothing else.
Still, as she speaks the captain has to stop himself from biting at the inside of his cheek or his tongue in an effort to say nothing at all - not in response to her words or her thoughts. Because the broken parts of Flora are laid bare to his magic, and the broken parts of himself are buried deep enough that even Jack can't look at or admit to them, and he isn't about to play therapist with her here and now. Besides, as she's already said, she knows what this is and what this isn't.
She also knows his secret, and holds the strings to his empire in her manicured fist - and is well aware of that fact, too.
[say]"How this works, is you tell me what you want, an' I make it happen."[/say] In whatever capacity Flora decides - it's as frighteningly simple as that. Jack has put a leash around his neck and handed it to the Doubletake without realising it until it was too late.
RE: I think you’ll find - Flora - 07-01-2024
With only a lantern between them, the darkness felt gargantuan. The pair might as well have been on a black sea, the way the light fell to nearly nothingness below. In such stark lighting, Jack looked both the hero and the villain. It didn't escape Flora's notice just how easily he could soften his words and his jaw in one moment, before returning to the Captain Jack of legend in an instant.
..is you tell me what you want..
Simultaneously, Flora imagines his hands on her body overlayed with an image of the captain daydreaming of her alone in his bunk; of him reaching across to kiss her pasted over him declaring his feelings for her; of being fucked on the sands in a wedding dress.
Sighing softly, the queen lowers her gaze and gives her head a small shake. [say]"You can't make yourself love me."[/say] Flora murmurs. [say]"Even if it was the only thing that stood between you and everything you wanted in the world."[/say] He could do all the things she wanted; say he missed her when she was gone, buy her flowers, let her hold his hand in public and make him
But love?
[say]"And before you try and lie, think about this. If you were to let me fall in love with you and I ever found out it wasn't true?"[/say] Whether by divine intervention or a simple little item? [say]"There wouldn't be enough left of you to go to Mort's halls."[/say]