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+---- Thread: [SE] come on in, here's your key (/showthread.php?tid=12290)
come on in, here's your key - Jack - 12-27-2025
The Ark sails over the Wildwood, heavy under the company of rainclouds, and as the first bad downpour hits, Jack makes the executive decision to pause their journey into the Sidhe Village under the pretense of being fucking blinded by fog and rainfall. No sailor, no matter how seasoned or talented or telepathic, stands a chance against rogue treetops they can't see coming.
Taking full advantage of the way the ground will offer some cover from the inclement weather, some of the crew - her captain included - opt to head down from the ship for a bit. For Jack it's a mix of curiosity and itchy feet; if Vesper is serious about lifting and shifting his entire life over here permanently, and has invited the Captain along for the ride, he feels as though it's only right to look at the Greatwood through fresh eyes.
No longer the birthplace of a lover but a prospective business venture, as he departs from Murphy and the others to walk a nearby trail - a muddy as fuck, miserable, wet nearby trail - he's doing his damndest not to instantly dismiss the place as a lost cause. King's End, after all, had been transformed into a swamp over the past season, so it stands to reason that the Greatwood isn't always this shitty.
Probably.
RE: come on in, here's your key - Vesper - 12-27-2025
Vesper stands out in the rain as though he has misplaced himself on purpose. The jacket he wears is practical rather than elegant; dark, water-slick, hood pulled up against the steady insistence of the downpour. The signpost before him is crooked, half-sunk into the mud, its carved arrows barely visible beneath a slick, crawling mass the colour of old earth and worse intentions. Vesper would ordinarily ignore it—let the Greatwood keep its souvenirs—but this particular sign has become inconveniently consistent. More often than not, when he asks the Greatwood to return him to Niki’s door, it delivers him here first, as though insisting on an intermediate step, a landmark it expects him to acknowledge. Near to the necromancer's home, at least in the way the Wildwood understands proximity.
Shadows gather at his feet, restrained and obedient, sliding forward at a measured pace as he lifts a gloved hand and draws them upward along the post. They peel the mud away in slow, deliberate strokes, revealing weathered wood and an arrow that points nowhere reliably. Rain beads along the exposed surface, washing filth downward in dark rivulets, and for a moment the sign stands clean, almost respectable before the mud stirs again.
It collects at the base, thickening, remembering itself, pushing upward with stubby, grasping intent, as though offended by the suggestion that it should stay erased. Vesper exhales through his nose, tilting his head back just enough for rain to slide off the edge of his hood. [say]"Cunt,"[/say] he huffs.
RE: come on in, here's your key - Jack - 12-27-2025
[say]"No, that's a sign."[/say] Jack barely hides the smirk on his lips as he appears, accidentally on purpose, it seems, just a few feet away from where Vesper is having a fight with a mudslick post bearing what he's reasonably certain is an arrow, though he doesn't know which direction it faces or which way it's meant to face. The Captain's mind parts seamlessly - controlled and restrained, like a door purposely opened just an inch or two - to allow the familiarity of his presence to flood out and into range of the demigod's power. No sense in spooking him into a fight, after all.
[say]"Woods must've pulled me here on purpose,"[/say] he continues, stepping forward, though of course the muck avoids Jack as if finding him repellant. A combination of air, water and earth magic keep both the downpour and the mudslick ground from touching him, leaving him annoyingly pristine as he reaches Vesper's side. [say]"I was just thinkin' about you."[/say]
Extending his magic enough that the boy will find himself dry beneath the reach of it, Jack raises his eyebrows at the sign. [say]"You get lost?"[/say]
RE: come on in, here's your key - Vesper - 12-27-2025
Vesper turns just before Jack speaks, feeling that familiar, controlled parting, the deliberate allowance of presence where moments ago there had been nothing at all, and though it still catches him off-guard every time, it no longer startles in the way it once did. Surprise has dulled into recognition, and if he did not know better, he might almost call it considerate of his father.
Straightening from the signpost, shadows loosening their hold but not retreating entirely, rain threading down the line of his jacket and darkening the ground at his boots, Vesper's eyes flick toward Jack, then back to the sign, and he rolls them with a softness that betrays more familiarity than annoyance, a corner of his mouth lifting despite himself. Mention of being thought of earns Jack a look, given that it is not the sort of thing one expects from Jack Barclay, not without teeth hidden somewhere in the delivery, and yet there it sits, offered without apparent malice. Vesper gives a short exhale through his nose and inclines his head a fraction, conceding the moment without comment.
[say]"They do that,"[/say] he says instead, gesturing vaguely with two fingers toward the surrounding trees where the paths that are already quietly reconsidering themselves. The rain vanishes from around him as abruptly as it arrived, the sudden dryness registering as a relief he does not bother to hide. He sighs, tipping his head back slightly and dragging a hand through damp hair now spared further soaking, fingers lingering there for half a second longer than necessary.
[say]"No,"[/say] he answers at last, glancing back to the sign as the memory mud stirs again at its base, patient and persistent. [say]"Ain't lost, not yet anyway, but I will be,"[/say] he adds, dry as bone, [say]"if this fuckin' mud manages to cover the only signpost I recognise."[/say] The shadows creep forward again at his feet, already beginning to resume their work. [say]"Other than movin' the mud away though, I haven't really found a way of keepin' it off of shit."[/say]
RE: come on in, here's your key - Jack - 12-27-2025
[say]"About what you said about the Greatwood,"[/say] Jack clarifies at the look fired his way, his smile crooked and his hands sinking more deeply into his pockets as he stands beside the young demigod and his mud-clogged signpost. [say]"Was gonna try an' find you in Sidhe, find out how shit was goin' since you vanished out here. Been considerin' what you said an' what it would look like."[/say]
Moving again, potentially ruling these woods, displacing himself from the Arclight for good. The Captain's heartstrings are razor sharp and plucking them tends to draw blood from any fingers that try, but it isn't impossible, and the salt of that particular ocean has been in his blood his whole life.
How shit's goin' seems to extend to being flummoxed by the mud, though, and Jack smirks at the signpost stubbornly holding onto the dirt like it's an outfit it's chosen specifically. [say]"I found dryin' it out or throwin' it miles away tends to get rid of it for longer'n just wipin' it off,"[/say] he says, tilting his head. [say]"Problem is the rain's so frequent it just lets it reform again."[/say]
RE: come on in, here's your key - Vesper - 12-27-2025
Vesper’s gaze shifts at the clarification, the tension in his shoulders easing by a degree that is noticeable only because he allows it to happen. [say]"Colt channelled me,"[/say] he says, the words landing with a muted weight, before a beat of silence sharpens into something more brittle. [say]"Again."[/say] His jaw tightens, teeth catching the inside of his cheek as though to hold something back that would be a little too close to vulnerable. A snarl threatens, contained with effort rather than ease, and he exhales through his nose before shaking his head. [say]"This time she didn’t even seem to do it on purpose,"[/say] he adds, tone flattened by restraint. [say]"I can’t decide if that makes it better or worse."[/say]
The woods shift around them, paths reconsidering themselves with quiet interest, and Vesper lets the implication hang there without naming it, that distance alone hmight not be the whole solution, that some wounds might just refuse to cauterise even if you stopped touchin' em. His shoulders lift and fall in a restrained sigh, resignation threaded through with something sharper.
At Jack’s suggestion, he glances down at the signpost again, then lifts one hand where his shadows pool obediently, dense and controlled. He arches a brow, mouth curving into a smirk. [say]"Gee,"[/say] he drawls lightly, turning that look sideways toward the Captain, [say]"if only the woods could bring me someone with fire magic to burn it straight to hell."[/say] He raises his brows with a grin while the memory mud continues its slow, determined climb, stubborn as regret and twice as persistent. [say]"Oh wait.."[/say]
RE: come on in, here's your key - Jack - 12-27-2025
Jack's brow arches at Colt channelled me, and the expression curls towards something closer to disdain at again, the Captain resisting the urge, just barely, to groan and roll his eyes. [say]"You're burrowed so deep in her mind it's like a fuckin' tumour,"[/say] he mutters. [say]"She showed up at The Ark just 'fore we set out here with - get this - a herd of fuckin' goats. All of 'em had ribbons addressed to you. She said some shit about one goat for every time you fucked her or somethin'."[/say]
No, that's not entirely correct, but Jack hadn't truly been listening back then and he's even less interested in her reasoning now. [say]"I told her you'd left,"[/say] he adds. [say]"Not where, obviously. Just that it was her doin'. She fucked off pretty quick after."[/say] And based on his current train of thought, if that's not enough to discourage her from fucking with his ship, maybe it is best he moves himself north.
Watching the shadows coil and writhe around the demigod like an extension of himself, at his remark the Captain can only scoff under his breath, and with a flash of teeth he slips a hand from his pocket and raises it towards the sign. Ever the most volatile of the elements at his disposal, the fire that rises along the signpost to eat at the memory mud and flake it away does playfully lick at the sign itself a few times, but for the most part it remains contained.
[say]"Well would you look at that,"[/say] he drawls. [say]"Seems like it's your lucky day."[/say]
RE: come on in, here's your key - Vesper - 12-27-2025
Vesper’s brow lifts a fraction in instinctive agreement at the assessment, a silent acknowledgement that settles easily before the rest of what follows has time to make sense of itself, but..goats ? Actual goats? His attention, which has been loosely anchored to the sign and the stubborn persistence of the mud, slips sideways at that, eyes narrowing as though the woods itself had mispronounced something important. For a moment he simply looks at Jack and then he blinks once, slowly. [say]"What?"[/say]
The word comes out flat, genuinely unguarded, and he runs a hand back through damp hair beneath the hood before letting it fall again, breath leaving him in a short, disbelieving exhale. Ribbons. A herd? There is no clever reframing that rescues this into coherence, no hidden meaning waiting to be unraveled, and that, perhaps more than anything, is what leaves him momentarily stranded with it.
[say]"When I ended things,"[/say] he says at last, voice dry with the faint edge of resignation, [say]"I whistled while I walked away. Real casual and upbeat sounding to make it very clear about it being finished, and also to make it seem like I didn't care that it was."[/say] He'd really thought that would put an end to things in a way that'd be painful (for them both, as it happened), but certainly not in a way that would invite whatever this sort of response was.
Heat rolls suddenly through the rain-chilled air thanks to Jack and the memory mud reacts at once, shrinking back on itself, cracking and flaking as it loses cohesion. Vesper’s gaze flicks toward the sign again, and a smirk tugs at the corner of his mouth as he echoes the sentiment with quiet amusement. [say]"Well, would you look at that."[/say] His shadows remain unbothered by the heat, slipping forward with unhurried precision to flick away the dried remnants as they curl and fall, cleaning up what remains without ceremony.
RE: come on in, here's your key - Jack - 12-28-2025
[say]"Mmhm,"[/say] Jack hums. Yes, you heard that right. Actual fucking goats. Hearing that Vesper had chosen a purposefully callous way to punctuate the end of his relationship with the rancher has the Captain's mouth kicking up in a crooked smile, but he can only shrug his shoulders in response. [say]"Looks like she's a lot more petty an' vengeful than you gave her credit,"[/say] he mutters. [say]"Though it looked more like a cry for your attention than anythin'."[/say]
Colt hadn't gotten it though, unfortunately - but she'd drawn Jack's notice. [say]"Either way, it's a point in favour of this place. If I'm gonna have livestock dumped on my gangplank without warnin', maybe it is better to make plans this year to hop regions."[/say]
Watching the memory mud smoulder and flake away, the Captain withdraws his fire once Vesper takes over to clean the sign with his shadows, his hand returning to his pocket. [say]"Unless you ain't a fan of the place after this?"[/say] He nods at the downpour and resulting ooze of the forest trails.
RE: come on in, here's your key - Vesper - 12-28-2025
Vesper continues to stare for a moment longer, expression suspended somewhere between disbelief and the slow recalibration of expectations. He had anticipated a reaction from Colt—anger, theatrics, a pointed absence—but this? Goats, ribboned and symbolic, somehow retroactively tied to sex , dumped at Ark of all places. There is no version of foresight that would have accounted for that particular escalation, and the absence of logic leaves him stranded, turning it over without finding a seam. A weary sigh slips free of him, shoulders settling as something dull and heavy presses behind his ribs. He glances sideways at Jack, voice lowered, unembellished. [say]"Sorry you had to be the one to deal with it."[/say]
The rain keeps coming, steady and unapologetic, and Vesper lifts his gaze at the question, taking in the Wildwood as it looms and breathes around them. The trees crowd close without quite touching, paths bending in half-remembered directions, will-o’-wisps bobbing like patient spectators. [say]"I like it,"[/say] he says after a moment, tone thoughtful rather than bright. His eyes drift north—or what he believes might be north, given the forest’s tendency to rearrange itself—and he tilts his head slightly. [say]"The ocean borders it, up there."[/say] His brows rise faintly as he looks back to Jack, something like dry amusement threading through the rain-soaked quiet. [say]"I imagine Safrin would give us both a bit more coastline if we asked her real nice."[/say]
With the heat gone, the last of the memory mud slumps and resists weakly, and Vesper’s shadows respond at once, scooping and flinging it as far into the undergrowth as they can manage. It splatters distantly, swallowed by roots and darkness, and the sign stands clean at last, arrows pointing in directions that may or may not actually line up with what was written on the sign.
RE: come on in, here's your key - Jack - 12-28-2025
Offering little more than a shrug at the apology, though by no means does Jack underestimate its sincerity, he swiftly puts Colt and her goats to the back of his mind again; something that's much easier said than done for Vesper, he bets. [say]"Mm, I figured you would,"[/say] he says of the boy liking the place. It's dark and deep with plenty of shadows and secrets to keep someone like Vesper occupied. That and it's almost as far from King's End as it gets without being in Halo, which he figures is a major selling point.
[say]"Yeah, the Spillwave,"[/say] he agrees of the northernmost ocean. [say]"It's where green sailors go to get their toes wet. Place is so calm it's more lake than sea."[/say] Which is to say, it's no Arclight, but if Jack plans to be around for a long, long time, it's not like anything is a dealbreaker any more.
Tilting his head at the sign that's now revealed - but is no more helpful for it - Jack bites back his smile and instead glances towards Vesper. [say]"I'll spend a few seasons pokin' around up here, as well as everywhere else,"[/say] he decides. [say]"If you still like it then, an' your sisters ain't dragged you back south, I'll see about movin'."[/say]
RE: come on in, here's your key - Vesper - 12-28-2025
A grin cuts briefly across Vesper’s mouth at that, sharp-edged and unapologetic, something a little too smug. [say]"The fae can’t lie,"[/say] he offers, as though that alone is an endorsement worth carving into the bark. [say]"Which had it's benefits even without..."[/say] He trails off with a shrug; in a place where paths cheat and trees conspire, there is something oddly comforting about a rule that holds, even if it is enforced by creatures with their own interpretations of being honest (which Vesper can absolutely understand).
He nods at the mention of the Spillwave, rain darkening the shoulders of his jacket as his gaze drifts, momentarily distant. He has only seen it once, a pale, restrained stretch of water though his memories of it are blurred by the image of Colt's thighs tangled around his shoulders such that he sighs between a nod.
A breath leaves him in a slow sigh, more thoughtful than weary as he considers the practicality of the actual move. [say]"Nova didn’t seem particularly thrilled about the idea of movin' again,"[/say] he admits. There is no judgement attached to it, only the acknowledgement that roots, once tested, do not always enjoy being lifted twice. His attention slides back, eyes flicking toward Jack with a glint of something curious beneath the restraint. [say]"Did you see the café they were workin' on?"[/say] The question lingers just long enough to suggest it matters, before he adds, almost casually, [say]"If it comes to it, maybe Safrin could help move that as well. Spare them the trouble of rebuildin' from scratch, if everyone does decide to relocate."[/say]
RE: come on in, here's your key - Jack - 12-28-2025
Jack's eyebrows raise at that little crumb of information, his mind already turning it over and ripping it to shreds to see what he might make of it, and the smile on his face is entirely unintentional. [say]"I think I heard somethin' like that once, but I thought it was just a rumour,"[/say] he says. [say]"That's another point in the Greatwood's favour I s'pose."[/say] And certainly interesting when it comes to using it for their own interests.
Glancing in the direction the arrows on the sign point (only, of course, to find one way completely blocked by trees and brambles and the other pointing to a trail that's mostly puddles of mud), he scoffs to hear that Nova, of course, isn't on board with uprooting their lives all over again. [say]"I haven't,"[/say] he says of the cafe. [say]"But maybe I'll drop by, plant some seeds about this place at the same time. With a goddess for a mother there ain't much that's impossible for you three."[/say]
For now, though, the fog finally seems to be clearing as the downpour slows to a less aggressive patter, and Jack can hear the calls of a few of his crew in the near distance. [say]"Want a ride to Sidhe?"[/say] he asks.
RE: come on in, here's your key - Vesper - 12-28-2025
Vesper’s mouth quirks, the smirk easy and knowing. [say]"They can be real tricky about it,"[/say] he adds, shadows curling lazily at his heels as the rain finally eases its grip. His shoulders roll beneath the damp jacket, a loose, almost pleased motion, and the grin that follows carries a flash of quiet amusement. [say]"It’s oddly entertainin', watchin' them craft their answers. All truth, technically, just... arranged to taste."[/say]
At the mention of planting seeds, his gaze lingers on Jack a fraction longer than necessary, something unspoken passing between them and left, pointedly, where it lands. He does not comment on it directly, but instead just exhales a soft huff, nodding once. [say]"Sure,"[/say] he says of hitching a ride, tone mild but sincere, before adding, with a touch of dry relief, [say]"If nothin' else, it keeps me out of the rain."[/say]
Vesper slips his hands into his pockets, mirroring Jack with unnoticed boyish ease that feels almost accidental. He turns back toward the path that will hopefully lead them to the Ark, falling into step without ceremony at Jack's side.
~FIN