[Training] feelin' fantastic, i'm fuckin' fantastic

JACK

Jack awakens early - a common occurrence since his untimely demise and return to the land of the living, though it's hardly in his nature to do so. Then again, prior to his life being swiftly and brutally ended by Pierce, he'd never known what it was to dream, let alone what it was to have bad dreams. But that's something he's neither willing nor ready to discuss, especially not in the cold light of day, so he contents himself in his seat at his desk, turned to watch the familiar shoreline out through the window of his cabin.

His pale grey shirt is open for now, as if he'd gotten distracted by the view in the middle of getting dressed, showing the fresh and vivid pink scars on his torso. They aren't in any sort of line or order; a messy and uneven triangle showing where Pierce had literally, uh, pierced him with Wilde's Rapier. But they'll fade, and with luck so will the memories. In the meantime, they're home, and the day is there for the taking.

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

Having been tugged awake by nightmares soaked in blood that left her feeling cold and entirely empty more nights than not, as Flora's mind begins to float toward the surface of consciousness her hands instinctively reach out across the sheets. Whether or not being in love with her had changed Jack's opinion about cuddling, he had put up with Flora being tangled around him all night long as it proved the only way she could fall asleep. (And of course if she laid away thinking about everything that had happened to them in the Greatwood, so would he).

As her fingers stretch across the bedding finding only cold sheets and the captain's absence, alarm bells begin to ring in her subconscious, hastening her ascent towards wakefulness with a sickly sort of speed. With a gasp, Flora shakes the weight of sleep off of her as she starts, pushing herself up in the bed and glancing around wide-eyed; her thoughts were a disjointed woodland of malicious laughter and cold steel that the haze of sleep distorted and magnified. Exhaling sharply as her gaze lands on Jack, the queen blinks a few times as if to force permanence on the captain's cabin as she sits up, rubbing sleep from one eye.

"Hey," she murmurs softly before letting her hand fall heavily into her lap.

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky

JACK

I'm here, Jack might have said pre-emptively, if he thought it would make a difference to Flora's still mostly asleep mind. He's tried in the past without luck though, and so instead he merely turns from the window towards the bed as he senses her sit up, tapping his foot absently against the bottom drawer of his desk where he's been using the leverage to rock his chair in place.

"Hey," he rumbles, the morning sunlight streaming in behind him, his dark hair mussed by sleep and his blue eyes still a touch tired, a little bit elsewhere. "Welcome to another day in paradise." Wryly said, it suggests that they shouldn't have anything to complain or feel unsettled about, which is of course hilarious.

Grimacing as he rolls to his feet, he pads back to his bed to slouch down and back, a gesture that conveniently lands his head in Flora's lap. "I don't s'pose you feel like bein' captain for the day?"

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

Exhaling a shivery breath, Jack's voice goes a long way in warding Flora's mind against the reoccurrence of Pierce's face now that she's more awake than not, though it'll be a good few minutes before she's able to fully shake herself free from her nightmares. "If this was paradise, there'd be coffee." The Doubletake counters slyly, before immediately shifting to make room for Jack (or rather, to remove room so that he'd have to touch her if he wanted to lay down on his bed).

Pushing her hair over one shoulder so that it wouldn't all spill into Jack's face as she smiles down at him, Flora's fingers immediately plunge into his sleep-mussed hair, tracing slowly circles against his scalp. With a smirk, the Doubletake considers as her ministration move toward the captain's temples and her pressure increases ever so slightly. "If I'm the captain, does that mean you're going to be queen for the day?"

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky

JACK

"Mm, there would, wouldn't there. Haven't quite gotten room service up and runnin' yet, sorry love." Scoffing and closing his eyes automatically as Flora's fingers stray into his hair, while the captain can be cat-like in his acceptance of her affections (sometimes he leans into it, sometimes he bites), today, at least, he's very much approving of the attention.

"Oh, no no. That sounds like a lot of work. Bassian can be queen, you can be captain, and I'll just stay here," he decides. The hulking quartermaster would look good in a tiara, he thinks, and it gives him scope to try and quietly listen in on his ship and its crew without having to answer questions or give orders or pretend he's on the ball when he isn't.

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

"That's going to be the first thing I do as Captain." Flora murmurs sleepily. "Only there won't be any knocking or ringing of bells. Just two way parchment into the kitchen, and a little double-sided shelf that they can put things on." In her mind she was basically imagining a dumbwaiter; that way if they were to order coffee and then get up to other sorts of morning delights while waiting, they wouldn't be interrupted when it arrived.

Speaking of cats, though..."Sounds like the real person you want to swap jobs with for a day is your cat." Presumably Seven was out sunning on the deck somewhere, not that Flora was at all interested in going to verify this assumption.

Letting her touches grow soft, Flora begins to comb her fingers through Jack's hair, not minding at all its shaggy length. "A whole day in here while we're all out there, though?" The queen tuts under her breath. "I think either you'd get too bored or too nosey to last more than a few hours."

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky

JACK

"Oh?" Jack snorts. "This a privilege you're gonna afford to the whole crew, or just yourself?" Once upon a time he might have been talking about either the dumb waiter or the morning delights, but Flora will undoubtedly be able to know which he's referring to now. As for Seven, the captain scoffs and rubs at his tired eyes. "I get to sleep all day, get underfoot an' occasionally predict a storm? Where's the downside?" he wonders.

Turning his head absently to let her fingers wander further into his hair, Jack lets his hand drop and his eyes close. "Maybe under normal circumstances," he agrees, "but not today." Today feels like the comedown after an adrenaline rush that had carried him throughout the whole journey back from the Greatwood, and now the Ark is bobbing gently in a familiar harbour, Jack feels as though he can let some of that exhaustion creep in.

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

"A good captain keeps their crew happy, don't they?" Flora hums in reply, her response appropriately vague even as her thoughts take on a decidedly mischievous slant as she gazes down at him. "You are rather catlike, you know." Affectionate when he wanted to be, territorial, overly particular, and grumpy as all hell when disturbed. But, as many cat owners would be able to testify to, there were few things that felt better than being chosen by such a surely creature; case in point, the quiet delight that had rippled through Flora's mind as Jack had flopped into her lap.

"You haven't been sleeping." Keeping her tone the same, Flora let her concern stretch out through her thoughts like leaves slowly twisting toward the sun. If Jack didn't want to talk about it she wouldn't press him, but gods knew how often he'd been forced to wake up in the middle of the night to deal with the terror that gripped her. The fact that he had the decency to silently peel himself out of bed worried her more than if he'd decided to kick her awake every time sleep eluded him.

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky

JACK

"And a great captain knows what will keep their crew happy in the long run," Jack quips automatically, whether that be instant gratification or making a sacrifice for the greater good. As for his being catlike and the quicksilver mischief in Flora's thoughts, the captain doesn't help himself with the decidedly feline side-eye he flashes up towards her, especially when her mind cuts some very convenient parallels. "Well then I hope you're a cat person," he drawls, promptly shutting his eyes once more.

The fact that the Doubletake's voice never drops into concern, that her words are soft facts rather than accusations, helps more than she'll ever know, and although Jack's brows pinch together, he does little more than let out a sigh. "It gets too quiet in the middle of the night," he admits. "Reminds me of bein' inside that barrier." And when the silence roars loudly enough to tear him from sleep, he can do little more than lay, frozen in horror, and wait to try and sense a stray thought within his range.

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

Flora might have argued that sex and food would keep the crew happy in the long run, but instead, she just smiles as she combs Jack's hair away from his eyes. "Well, if you'd offered me the job for more than a day, maybe I'd do something different." She murmurs gently as her fingers alternate between scratching at his scalp with her nails and massaging with the pads of her fingers.

Snorting under her breath at his next comment, though Flora does little more than meet Jack's gaze with a raise of her brows, her thoughts ignite with flares of rosegold and lavender. It was the sort of quip she'd come to adore from Jack—the sort that required reading between the lines to find the hidden affection therein—and gods if that didn't just prove her point all the more.

Unsurprisingly the Doubletake doesn't respond with platitudes of we'll get through this (because would they?) or offer ineffective suggestions like we'll get you a white noise machine. It doesn't even occur to her to whisper I love you the way her parents others would in a similar situation. Instead, she merely hums her understanding; while Flora's abilities hadn't been silenced the way Jack's had, when the world had grown small and silent and distant as she began to die was likely close enough for her empathy not to be woefully misplaced. "I've never felt scared the way I did then." Flora admits softly as her fingers move across Jack's temples and toward his jaw, massaging away the tension she'd seen built up from the captain having feathered the muscles there so often.

"And it's like...it won't leave me alone." Pierce rather than death, had settled himself into her bones, leaving her feeling cold at all hours of the day even when she stood in the sun, leaving her feeling empty and useless and afraid.

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky

JACK

"Do a good enough job with a day, an' maybe I'll offer it to you for longer," Jack fires back - not that either of them have made any headway with their choices for the morning. (Though it could be argued that Jack has, what with him laying around and doing nothing). Furrowing his brow as the conversation tilts inevitably towards the dappled shadows of the Greatwood, Jack blinks his eyes back open and slowly shifts to sit back up.

"He's not gonna get near you like that again," he says, the sliver of steel in his voice present even with the reality of Pierce's power suggesting something entirely different. Able to feel the shuddering walls of fear all but emanate from Flora, suddenly doing nothing isn't on the captain's agenda at all. And neither are his own nightmares, or his own sleeplessness. "C'mon," he says, rolling to his feet. "Sittin' idle ain't gonna solve anythin'."

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

Letting her hands fall into her lap as Jack shifts, Flora rolls her still-healing shoulder to try and release some of the tension threatening to build up there. "You really think Dahlia is just going to let this go?" It's an honest question: on the one hand, Pierce had killed them both, so perhaps that would absolutely act as the example Dahlia had intended. On the other, springing back up from the dead like a pair of weeds probably wasn't something the Reaper had accounted for. Where normally Flora rose eagerly to the challenge of being hated as she had done in earning her queenship despite Torchline turning against her, much as she hated herself for it, just now the thought of being targeted had her stomach churning.

Raising a brow, Flora wordlessly gets to her feet and pads over to the trunk in the corner. Tossing off the shirt she'd slept in (and sparing a wry smile over one shoulder in Jack's direction), the queen slips into a loose-fitting sweater and pair of leggings. "You gonna give me captain lessons?" She wonders, straightening his shirt slightly but not bothering to button it for him. "Or are we just going to go find some sun to sit in?" Captain, or cat?

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky

JACK

"No," Jack says frankly, because if it were him in Dahlia's shoes, he absolutely wouldn't let it go until one or both of them was exactly as dead as they were meant to be. "But d'you think your parents are either?" There's no glance of appreciation or wry smile for Flora as she pulls off her shirt, merely a gaze that can cut glass and a jaw feathering tension back into muscles she's just worked loose.

"Neither," he says, of what they're going to do, Jack turning to accept her fuss after pulling on his boots. "We're gonna see whether there's been any word from Starfall or the Family since you an' I popped back to life, and then we're gonna do some training." Sore muscles and continued healing be damned - they don't have fucking time to sit about and feel sorry for themselves, evidently.

"Then maybe I'll go and pay a visit to your family, find out what their plans are from here." And, naturally, how he might become a thorn in The Family's side as a part of those plans.

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

"No, but..." Pressing her teeth together, Flora combs her fingers through her own hair as she gives her head a slow shake. "..I've grown up always having them as the ace up my sleeve, and now.." Rubbing at her bare arms as if to subconsciously prove her point, Flora chews at the inside of her cheek as she slips from the bed. "Now they aren't." It felt less to her like she was a spoiled child no longer able to call on her parents to sort out her problems and more like someone who built their life around a particular sort of strategy only to find out the rules of the game she'd been playing had just been changed.

"Wh—" How Jack had gone from wanting to lay around all day to suddenly taking on the entire world had the queen blinking up at him. "I don't even know where they are right now. Ronin said something about business he had in Halo." That had been days ago, though what are timelines, and given that Flora hadn't really left the Ark or Jack's side since they'd come back, she really didn't have a clue.

As for training? "I don't even know what I'm good for in a fight anymore." Tying up her hair, Flora raises her eyebrows at Jack. The comment wasn't meant to solicit any sort of reassurance from the captain; genuinely the queen felt like she was building two different champs she'd split her skillset to the point she wasn't effective at attacking or being stealthy/distracting any more.

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky