you're goin' off the deep end again

if you try and chase the sun you're never gonna catch it

Vesper answers the smirk with one of his own, brief and crooked, offering it back without comment as though that alone is enough acknowledgement between them.

He drifts toward the shade of a nearby tree, shoulder settling against the bark where the air is marginally kinder, arms folding loosely as the river keeps up its low, insistent song beside them. The description draws a quiet lift of his brow. "Sounds like a handful," he says mildly, the words light but not dismissive, and then he lets the rest of it land without interruption. Jack does not open himself up like this often, but Vesper does not mistake that for an invitation to pry.

His gaze slides to the water instead, watching the current slip around stones and roots alike, thoughts moving at a similar, unhurried pace. When he speaks again, it is slower, the idea still being tested even as he gives it shape. "So," he begins, then falters just long enough to recalibrate, chin dipping as he nods to himself. "The ship’s gonna be..." Another pause, a thoughtful frown tugging faintly at his mouth before he finds the closest fit. "Someone you're able to count on?" he says at last, eyes lifting back to Jack, "both on the water and off of it?" Certainly the Ark was that on the ocean and in the skies as well, why shouldn't she be able to step onto land? Still, the demigod will raise his brows because planted by his mother or not, it was still a tall order. "An' you think makin' her into a person would be.." easier? better? more fulfilling? "..worth it over just gettin' Flora back?"

And now it's turning out to be the worst of my bad habits

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

if you try and chase the sun you're never gonna catch it

Vesper answers the smirk with one of his own, brief and crooked, offering it back without comment as though that alone is enough acknowledgement between them.

He drifts toward the shade of a nearby tree, shoulder settling against the bark where the air is marginally kinder, arms folding loosely as the river keeps up its low, insistent song beside them. The description draws a quiet lift of his brow. "Sounds like a handful," he says mildly, the words light but not dismissive, and then he lets the rest of it land without interruption. Jack does not open himself up like this often, but Vesper does not mistake that for an invitation to pry.

His gaze slides to the water instead, watching the current slip around stones and roots alike, thoughts moving at a similar, unhurried pace. When he speaks again, it is slower, the idea still being tested even as he gives it shape. "So," he begins, then falters just long enough to recalibrate, chin dipping as he nods to himself. "The ship’s gonna be..." Another pause, a thoughtful frown tugging faintly at his mouth before he finds the closest fit. "Someone you're able to count on?" he says at last, eyes lifting back to Jack, "both on the water and off of it?" Certainly the Ark was that on the ocean and in the skies as well, why shouldn't she be able to step onto land? Still, the demigod will raise his brows because planted by his mother or not, it was still a tall order. "An' you think makin' her into a person would be.." easier? better? more fulfilling? "..worth it over just gettin' Flora back?"

And now it's turning out to be the worst of my bad habits

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

JACK

"Wouldn't expect anythin' less, honestly," Jack remarks, making sure the jar of memory mud he's procured isn't about to uncap itself and crawl out before he shifts to step back from the riverbank. The jar disappears into a satchel slung over his shoulder, calloused hands wiping moss and water away on his pants. So, Vesper says, and the Captain raises an eyebrow over his shoulder as if wondering what the end of that sentence is about to be, and whether he's going to like it.

What the boy says, though, is probably better than he could have put it himself. "That's the hope I reckon, yeah," he says, scoffing under his breath. "It'd be real fucked up if the soul of my ship grew legs an' the first thing she did was walk away from me, huh." Fucked up but not all that improbable, a nasty little part of him whispers.

As for if The Ark would be worth it - worth it over getting Flora back? At that, Jack's laugh is little more than an undignified snort. "There's no gettin' her back, Vesper," he says, moving to lurk under the shade of the tree beside Vesper. "Even if there was, I don't want her back. She told me what she thought with a shitty bit of paper. I ain't chasin' someone who thinks so little of me - I ain't much when it comes to relationships but I got more dignity than that."

we've gone way too fast for way too long
and we were never supposed to make it half this far

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

if you try and chase the sun you're never gonna catch it

A dry laugh slips out of Vesper before he can stop it, lighter than most things he carries, edged with something almost boyish as he glances sideways at his father. "Nah," he says, the smirk coming easy now. "First thing she’d do with legs is march right up to Bassian and tell him to stop stompin’ all over her with his big, stupid feet." The image amuses him enough that it lingers for a second, a rare warmth threading through the humour before it fades again.

When Jack says there’s no getting Flora back, Vesper only lifts his brows and shrugs, an acknowledgement rather than an argument. He remembers the firestorm well enough. The way Jack’s mind had burned when the curtain was pulled back, all fury and bitterness and pain layered so thick it had been hard to see anything else beneath the smoke of it. Hearing him now, calmer but no less certain, it sounds like the embers of anger are all that’s left after the worst of it has scorched itself out.

He nods once, slow, gaze drifting back to the river as though checking its depth while he chooses his next words. Then his eyes cut back to Jack, pale and assessing, tone turning casually dark in the way it does when he’s half-serious and fully honest. "You ever think about takin’ out some insurance on her?" he asks, as if he’s talking about cargo or tides. Another shrug rolls through his shoulders. "Y’know. Just to make sure she keeps her mouth shut about certain things now that you two’re done?"

And now it's turning out to be the worst of my bad habits

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

JACK

Vesper's amusement is as contagious as it is unexpected, his laughter breaking through the heaviness that had been trying to settle over Jack's shoulders like a dry twig snapping, and the Captain scoffs despite himself. "I can see that," he agrees. "Makes me concerned how she'll take to Murph, though. He handles her like an old romantic." Not because of jealousy - Jack just knows (as Vesper will know) that the Ark, whatever she might look like, is not his first mate's type.

The mood fades with all the swift quiet of a candle going out, and even before Vesper speaks Jack knows it's going to be about Flora, and he knows it's going to be unpleasant. And he's right, though nothing really changes in the Captain's posture or his expression. "Mm, I considered it a few times, but it's pointless," he says. "The woman's wrapped in so many layers of demigods and magic items, anythin' I tried to do would be laughed off. Besides," he adds, his tone growing quiet and thoughtful, "she wouldn't. I don't think, anyway."

He huffs a laugh under his breath. "Or put it this way, if she was gonna do it, she'd have done it when we first broke up an' I was a real bastard. I dunno what it'd achieve now." But of course, there's plenty Jack doesn't know any more by virtue of necessary distance. "On the bright side, it wouldn't ruin me in the way it would have once, I guess."

we've gone way too fast for way too long
and we were never supposed to make it half this far

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

if you try and chase the sun you're never gonna catch it

Vesper huffs a quiet laugh at that, the sound brief and knowing, and dips his head in agreement without bothering to dress the understanding up in words. Some things do not need spelling out, least of all between people who are used to reading the negative space around a sentence.

When the talk turns back toward Flora, Vesper does little more than shrug, shoulders rolling with easy acceptance. He too has kept his distance from all things Torchline, and he trusts Jack’s instincts here without feeling the need to test them. Loose lips sink ships, after all, and if there were real danger of that hull being breached, he has no doubt Jack would already be shoring it up with teeth and nails; especially now, with the Ark on the cusp of becoming something that could walk away on her own.

He drags the back of his hand across his forehead, wiping away a bead of sweat, then settles more fully into the tree’s shade, eyes drifting out over the river as if the question has been waiting there for him. When he speaks again, it is quieter, less barbed, curiosity threading through the dry cadence. "What d’you think it’d be like," he asks, not quite looking at Jack as he does, "if everyone knew?" A pause, thoughtful, the words weighing themselves as they leave him. "Obviously it'd change shit but...y'think it'd be unmanageable?"

And now it's turning out to be the worst of my bad habits

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

JACK

With his task complete and the prospect of being able to get out of the overheated jungle and back to drinking away his hangover The Ark soon, Jack relaxes back against the trunk of the tree with a barely audible sigh. Feathering his fingers back through his damp hair, he's just started to enjoy the babble of the river as it flows past them when Vesper's next thought experiment chimes out.

"...I dunno," Jack confesses, though his tone betrays that he's giving it some real thought. "For you prob'ly not, though like you said, it'd change shit. Your sisters already know about you though, so there's that. For me I'd prob'ly lose a lot of my crew, maybe all of 'em dependin' on how they took it. Business ain't so important as it was, but the connections I made in King's End will be flimsy at best. Unmanageable, though? Nah, I don't think so."

Considering the wider implications, Jack chews at the inside of his cheek. "For both of us I guess we'd end up less social than they are already." He smirks. "No one likes bein' close to someone who's in their head, not usually."

we've gone way too fast for way too long
and we were never supposed to make it half this far

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

if you try and chase the sun you're never gonna catch it

Vesper’s mouth twitches as he listens, the faint movement betraying how carefully he’s turning Jack’s words over. He lets out a quiet breath, more a release than a sound meant to be heard. "I keep waitin’ to slip up," he admits, eyes drifting back to the river as though it might offer commentary of its own. After a moment he glances sidelong at Jack, shoulders lifting in an easy, conceding shrug. "Ain’t as practiced as you, obviously. Sometimes when it’s all a bit much, I catch myself damn near respondin’ to the wrong things.' Another exhale, this one edged with self-awareness, and a small shake of his head follows.

He rakes his fingers back through his hair, dislodging sweat and thought alike, then lets his hand fall again. "Still," he says, tone evening out, "the advantages’re probably better than the drawbacks." His gaze dips briefly to the satchel slung at Jack’s side, brows lifting. "You get all you needed?"

And now it's turning out to be the worst of my bad habits

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

JACK

"You'll get there." It's not said with the warm fuzzies of fatherly advice to his son, but Jack sounds quietly confident nonetheless. "I was the same for a long time, waitin' for someone to realise I knew more'n I let on. But people are usually so buried in their own heads, they don't notice someone else is watchin'. You're already more careful'n I was when I was your age."

Smirking, Jack straightens up from the tree and stretches. "An' I still do that too, when it gets overwhelmin'. Better to say nothin' if that happens," he says. He doesn't feel the need to remark on the advantages of their shared gift, though; they both know it's a helluva thing to have in your back pocket, even with its difficulties. "I did," he says, patting the jar.

"I'll be back towards Leafchange if not before. Reckon I'm near ready to up sticks an' move here, unless you suddenly decide you hate the place." Offering a brief nod to Vesper, Jack doesn't linger after that; he raises his fingers to the compass inked onto his wrist, and is gone a moment later.

~FIN

we've gone way too fast for way too long
and we were never supposed to make it half this far

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!