+- Court of the Fallen (https://cotf-rpg.com)
+-- Forum: Out of Character (https://cotf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=26)
+--- Forum: Important (https://cotf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=27)
+---- Forum: Archives (https://cotf-rpg.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=38)
+---- Thread: this is drowning (/showthread.php?tid=10108)
RE: this is drowning - Flora - 09-09-2024
The compliment doesn't warm Flora the way it might normally have done, freely given and genuine as it seemed to be. Instead thanks to the intentional positioning of her thoughts, Flora's mind feels cluttered, and every time she bumps her knees or shins against the furniture she'd piled up over a certain trapdoor, she finds herself that much more unmoored. [say]"Dunno, can you?"[/say] Raising her own eyebrows, no doubt Jack will feel the queen's skepticism more easily than he'll see it, especially given the way her eyes fixate a little too hard on the task at hand.
[say]"My nonna used to brew a tea that helped with headaches. Maybe I'll ask Mateo, I'm sure you could mix it with whiskey easily enough."[/say] She murmurs offhandedly before moving to stand in front of him. Tilting Jack's chin up, Flora combs her fingers softly back through his hair the way she'd seen him do so many times, studying the way it fell just below his ears. [say]"Yep. You're good to go."[/say] Placing the scissors back in the drawer, the queen steps back.
[say]"I will be too, if someone has a pair of shoes I can borrow?"[/say] It had been one thing to stomp across hot sand when she'd been fueled by adrenaline and concern, but on the other side of it now, the thought of re-blistering her feet was something she very much wanted to avoid.
RE: this is drowning - Jack - 09-09-2024
Raising his eyebrows up at Flora and seeming on the verge of asking her what's going on, Jack is promptly sidetracked by the implication that perhaps he can't improve his skills by himself. [say]"I dunno, ask the lightning I tossed across the beach,"[/say] he drawls; rest assured, if he'd always had that sort of power, he'd not have been hiding it away for precisely that moment. Narrowing his eyes at her and tracking her movements around and in front of him, he wonders what exactly might go into the witch tea she suggests, before her hand is reaching for his chin.
His head tilts up obediently enough - yet another thing that likely only Flora is able to acomplish - blue eyes clear again after the chance to rest and heal, and whilst he doesn't know it yet, he looks a lot better than he would have if he'd gone ahead with his plan to knife off his hair that morning. [say]"See? Didn't need to go to a barber after all."[/say] He raises his brows, the start of a smile curling at the corners of his lips.
[say]"Check on deck - there should be some sandals you can use and toss afterwards,"[/say] he says, rising to his feet once she steps back and summoning a breeze to sweep up the hair now littering his cabin floor. [say]"I'll come up with you."[/say]
RE: this is drowning - Flora - 09-09-2024
[say]"Oh yeah..."[/say] A smile unconsciously tugs at her lips as a warm breeze trickles through Flora's thoughts. Before things had gone to hell on the beach, she'd been rather impressed by the flare of lightning from the captain's fingertips. [say]"I forgot about that."[/say] Smiling softly at the back of Jack's head, the queen huffs under her breath. [say]"Remind me not to get into the water with you when you're in a bad mood."[/say] She chuckles softly.
Flora and her scissors move Jack's head easily enough, and while she certainly preferred him with his hair longer, she did think he looked rather handsome. Maybe that had more to do with the fact that he didn't look like he belonged on Mort's doorstep and had likely gotten more continuous sleep over the past two days than in the past year, but never mind. [say]"Oh I see. First he puts up a huge fuss about me cutting his hair, and now he acts like it's going to become a regular thing."[/say] Rolling her eyes affectionately at him, Flora nods as she gathers up her clothes.
She doubted if anyone on board the Ark would really think much of her wearing the captain's clothes given how often she flitted about these days, and she could always just use her ring to avoid anyone else's gaze on her during the walk home. [say]" 'k, thanks."[/say] It'd make it that much easier for her to find said sandals, after all.
RE: this is drowning - Jack - 09-09-2024
[say]"I'd be offended at that, but in fairness I also forgot about it after bein' around that panther for more'n thirty seconds,"[/say] Jack says with a wrinkle of his nose, grabbing at the towel he'd used to dry off the day(?) before so he can dust off the back of his neck and his bare shoulders. It won't do much, but given that he's planning to head up with Flora just so he can go for a swim, he can deal with the discomfort for a little while.
[say]"Oh, is it not gonna become a regular thing?"[/say] he wonders, heading barefoot to the door of the cabin and quietly twisting the key to unlock it. [say]"I thought you'd relish the opportunity to decide how I look, since you're the one who does the most lookin'."[/say] Pulling open the door after sensing that there's no one around who might cause problems or ask too many annoying questions, Jack steps out into the corridor and waits for the Doubletake to join him.
[say]"Should I expect you to attack my wardrobe next?"[/say] he wonders, plucking at the collar of his the shirt she's wearing.
RE: this is drowning - Flora - 09-09-2024
[say]"That I very much doubt."[/say] Flora says, laughing under her breath. No doubt the queen was the only one who looked at the captain a certain sort of way, but if he thought he wasn't the object of many a lingering stare, he should probably get his telepathy checked out.
Jack's words have a smile curling on Flora's lips, before a dark shadow passes over her thoughts. She knows what he's doing, this inching toward something; these offered breadcrumbs, this decorating the S.S. Situationship to look like something that, down at its core, it wasn't. With enough pagentry, he probably assumed that they'd never need to really talk about anything. Anytime things got too close to an actual conversation he could simply kiss the concern from her lips, or tug her against him and whisper I don't want to talk about it, and that'd be that.
On another day, Flora probably would have just accepted it with a laugh and some witty remark, but there were some things sleep and healing water couldn't fix, and while she knew the captain would likely frown at the melancholy slant of her thoughts, sometimes it be like that Jack. It be like that when you've twanged the heartstrings of a 21-year-old long enough to have created something musical, only to toss the instrument aside when it suits you.
Following behind, Flora blinks as she steps out into the sunlight. The heat is instant and heavy upon her skin, and though Jack's shirt is still immodestly unbuttoned from his fingers the night before, gods it already feels far too warm. Sweeping her knotted curls off her neck and hastily tying them atop her head, Flora heads ahead of Jack up toward the deck.
RE: this is drowning - Jack - 09-09-2024
[say]"For however many people look at me, you ought to keep count yourself,"[/say] Jack mutters, smirking after her as she steps by him towards the deck. And it's true that the fog of her melancholy does close in on him, trailing in Flora's wake much like the bridal train she might never get to wear, and the captain bites at the inside of his cheek. With a gruff curse under his breath, he follows after her and emerges into the bright sunshine, to the great relief of the crew standing around.
Speaking of looking, of course the Doubletake gets her fair share of being eyeballed now, regardless of whose shirt she's currently wearing, and Jack crosses the deck after her and snags a pair of sandals that might be a touch loose on her feet, but will at least save her from the blisters. [say]"Hey,"[/say] he says, reaching out to catch her wrist before she can slip on the shoes and disappear. [say]"After this shit with the shrine, we'll talk. A'right? Just let me tie this last knot."[/say]
RE: this is drowning - Flora - 09-09-2024
[say]"What makes you think I don't?"[/say] Flora purrs, the words as much of an exaggeration as not. The queen didn't go for early morning runs purely for her own benefit, and while she made her assets work for her on a regular basis, there was no need to ignore the fruits of her labour.
Waggling her fingers at the members of the crew who looked her way, especially those who tried to act like they weren't—Flora guesses that Jack will have a much more accurate tally of who watched her stride by with less than savory thoughts on their minds than she will—she hums a note of appreciation before slipping the sandals onto her feet. They are big, but a few blisters caused by the straps rubbing against her skin beats burns any day.
About to twist the ring on her finger when Jack catches her wrist, confusion and surprise flare in the queen's mind as she squints up at him, having lost her sunglasses in the fray long ago. His phrasing has something inside of her flinching and tensing for reasons that probably should have been obvious to a telepath. [say]"It's whatever you want, Jack."[/say] She says casually if a touch distantly, shrugging out of his grasp. Rather, she aims to sound distant about it, if only to try and safeguard herself from the inevitable way he'd look at her, sigh, and say Flora... as gently as he could, beginning what was likely to be a frustrating process on his part of walking her gently back down to her place.
[say]"Then again, not sure you'll be in a state to talk after, anyway."[/say] She adds, her mind like some chilled windswept forest despite the heat blaring down all around them.
[say]"I'll see you."[/say] With a small smile, Flora twisted the ring on her finger, all but holding her breath until she was 40ft feet away (she hoped), before gasping it out and letting slow thunder purr through her mind.
~FIN