[ME] [SE] i stay whiskey neat

I've been trying out the high road, and I hate it

The Ark’s mouth twists wryly as Jack promises thermals and warmth, her blue gaze sliding back to him with the kind of look that might’ve passed for mild if it weren’t for the hunger tucked behind it, all teeth beneath silk and saltwater beneath glass. "Perhaps we’ll wait until the majority are in bed," she murmurs, nodding towards the deck with her whiskey glass before letting her eyes drift across the unsteady rhythm of boots on her boards. "They’re already walking as if the world’s swaying beneath them. I’d rather not have half of them tumbling over my rail just because I’m cold." She might’ve been made flesh enough to stand with fur around her shoulders and whiskey burning pleasantly down her throat, but the rest of her still lies beneath them, dark and wooden and alive, and cold or not, she won’t trade even one of her crew to the water for the sake of chasing heat through the sky too soon.

Jack’s explanation has her attention sharpening in another direction altogether, genuine surprise passing over her features as she looks at Sunjata anew, curiosity slipping beneath her smile like a current under calmer water. That he knows what Jack can do changes the shape of him, not enough to make him dangerous by itself, but enough to make him worth looking at properly, and The Ark’s gaze lingers with a new, appraising brightness before she leans into Jack’s side with a pride too smug to bother hiding. "Most men wouldn’t even think to ask," she says, one shoulder rising beneath the thick black fur, her crooked smile aimed between them.

As Sunjata speaks of King’s End and the cold, The Ark raises a brow over the rim of her glass, the motion elegant and nearly lazy, though there’s nothing soft in the thought that follows. Torchline sits in her like a warmer tide even now, all salt-bright air and heat-drenched docks and waters that know how to hold a ship without trying to freeze her into stillness, and the mention of it draws a slow smirk across her mouth before she takes another sip of whiskey that burns all the way down. "I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise to you," she says, lowering the glass only once the heat has settled behind her ribs, "that I think a vacancy could easily be made in Torchline if you wanted it." Which was just to say that newly minted demigod or not, the Ark did not hold a high opinion of Torchline's current ruler, least of all when measured against a man like Sunjata.

I've got a lot of sins, but you're my favourite

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

why icarus thought he'd find his place a little higher

Her smile only grows more sunny to hear his compliments, and it has her more than willing to slip her hand into his. She’s warm, thanks to the alcohol and the warmth of the flames around them. “Ain’t you a sweet talker.” She purrs, vibrant and bright under his attention. Ah, but then he’s introducing himself and the name rings somewhere deep in the stretches of her mind, her smile blooming a touch more mischievous.

“Pleasure’s mine. I’m Calypso Marin.” She tugs his hand a little closer to her to close some of the distance – always bold and daring. “Friends call me Caly.” This close, though, he could probably see the way her amber gaze sizes him up, amusement briefly there in her face. “You’re the writer, right? I loveeeeee your books.”

Calypso

it's curious, the flame of the fire

And they lived comfortably ever after, boob in hand

Charm does not dissolve simply because it is noticed and called out for being what it is. Though his gaze takes on a glittering quality as she slides right past the offer of it to neatly prove she sees him, before retreating to let him pull it about Calypso like some coat she didn't ask for despite the subtle shiver in the cold air. If anything, the response leaves him properly chuffed, and his polite grin swings wider with the promise of the challenge there.

The tug she offers is one he answers with a deft stride to close their gap, pressing in close enough to get a proper look at the amber drink of her eyes. "Calypso," he murmurs low and slow, getting a feel for the shape of it on his tongue. "My new favorite word," he grins, shameless. The recognition of him lands like a curling hand beneath a cat's chin, something not even toms are impervious to, and why would they be, it's divine to be stroked. "The one and only," he assures, head tipping faintly as if in a subtle bow. "Do you have a favorite?"

Quentin

why icarus thought he'd find his place a little higher

He closes their gap and she practically preens under Quentin’s attention, brows lifting as she blinks up at him with a soft and innocent look, her smile warm and inviting as he murmurs her name low and slow and Caly laughs gently to hear the comment. “Oh? Out of all of ‘em?” She lifts her golden brow with the amused question.

But then, of course, she’s recognized who he was, and Caly leans a little closer almost like each breath might have them share the same heat between them in spite of the braziers doing their best to keep the Ark warm as a whole. “’Course I have a favorite.” She says like it shouldn’t be surprising – even if her answer might be.

So she looks up at him with a coy look, taking a slow sip from her drink and sweeping her tongue over her lips to snag the remnants. “Fourth Dick.” She proudly proclaims, beaming her smile up at him.

Calypso

it's curious, the flame of the fire

JACK

"You're kinder'n I would be," Jack murmurs back to The Ark with a smirk. Still, it's her toes that are cold in the water, and if she wants to wait for the rest of the world to sleep before they set off for warmer air, that's her prerogative. As for her mere existence outside of sail and board being possible, the Captain shoots a wolfish smile towards Sunjata and raises his glass in a lazy toast. "Yeah, well I like to make a livin' off the impossible," he reminds him.

Whilst ship and archon get acquainted, Jack's gaze passes briefly over the deck and the party continuing to rumble through it, from Nova's increasingly energetic attempts to get Bassian dancing - and she's succeeding, even if it's not good dancing - to Calypso and the stranger talking about four dicks or whatever (each to his own, but what the fuck).

Blinking back into the conversation just as The Ark mentions a possibility of a vacancy in Torchline, the Captains scoffs out a laugh that belies a kernel of potential seriousness within it. "I know the blood is muddied when it comes to the Hot Mess," he says (that's Hot Take for everyone else, he supposes), "but if you ever did want to make a go of it, help could be arranged." It isn't mutiny if you don't currently live there, right?

you wanted perfect, you got your perfect
but now I'm too perfect for someone like you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

SUNJATA

the flood

'cause my life is like a bedroom door
don't lead me in when you feel low

Happy to be scruitinized however the Ark might want to with the tidbit of information that Jack lets drop – Sunjata’s certainly known long enough now and kept it a secret tucked away in the confines of his soul. They worked well like that together, especially back in the days of Torchline when he’d ruled up above and Jack had ruled underneath.

But at the Ark’s answer and Jack’s addition, Sunjata huffs a laugh and a nod, a small little toast as the vial from Frey begins to work through him, his smile lopsided and easy as he looks between the two of them. “You really do.” He agrees to Jack’s comment, pausing to take a sip of the liquor and quite content to feel the haziness it brings after going so long without, Sunjata listens as the Ark offers her own potential ideas for a possible regional shift of Torchline, the Heartless withdraws with a curious smile.

“As interesting as that would be, I’ve got my hands full with King’s End.” He says, sighing a little dramatically before he’s shrugging a shoulder. “That and Torchline’s a little too… Safrin-y, no offense.” He’d started it that way, but that had been before his betrayal, and to rip everything she’d touched out of Torchline you might as well just figure out a way to make a whole new island region with that task. "Are you guys looking to go back?" He asks, purely curious.

'cause i might make a move

I've been trying out the high road, and I hate it

The Ark snorts softly under her breath, the sound low enough to almost disappear beneath the shanty and Bassian’s increasingly doomed footwork, though the look she slants up at Jack carries clear as a knife beneath clean water. "I’m not," she says, arching a brow at him. Kindness has never been the right name for the thing that keeps her aware of every uneven step and drunken sway across her deck, any more than kindness is the right name for a hull that holds, or a keel that stays true, or a rope drawn tight before the sail can tear itself loose. Jack's crew moves over her and within her, and whatever else she might be now with whiskey on her tongue and black fur around her shoulders, that much of her hasn’t changed.

At the mention of the HoT MeSs, her eyes roll without apology, blue slipping briefly towards the dark lip of her emptied glass. Whatever tact might’ve been expected of her in polite company has never found good footing aboard The Ark, and Flora’s name, even poorly disguised with her new monicker, doesn’t inspire her to pretend otherwise. "I’m sure you could always find someone to rule Torchline under your name instead of Safrin’s," she says to Sunjata, her grin turning wolfish and pleased beneath the lazy shine of the dreamdust.

Only then does she glance to Jack, the shape of him catching her attention as easily as a harbour light catches the eye of a ship coming in through dark water. Her gaze falls over his features with something possessive and amused threaded tightly together, before she turns back to Sunjata with one shoulder shifting beneath the heavy black fur. "We were just back, actually."

I've got a lot of sins, but you're my favourite

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

Nova

And boy do they fall.

Nova isn't strong enough to stop them both from hitting the deck, and their dancing limbs become a tangled mess on the wood. She swears Bassian's elbow finds a rib, and she knows her own knee ends up somewhere soft, but in spite of the bruises that will probably be there tomorrow - and the utter failure at dancing - Nova appears anything but upset. 

Giggles chime through the chilly air as she peels herself away from the man, pressing a hand to his chest as she straightens herself. When she does, she gives it a reassuring pat, another bubbly giggle falling through the smile on her lips. "We'll work on it." A promise and a threat.

Standing straight(?), Nova's wavering eyes squint to search the ship. "I'm going to find another drink," she declares, wobbling forward on slightly unstable feet. She manages to make it a few steps before bumping into someone, giggling again at the contact.

Let your light shine,
no matter how dark the world around you.

JACK

"Responsible, then," Jack shoots back, and the truth of that is clear enough in her thoughts to soften his expression just a fraction. His fingers squeeze ever so slightly against her hip as he makes another pass over the festivities before returning his attention to their conversation with Sunjata, and he scoffs at the Heartless's lingering suspicion of the lady of the stars. "None taken," he assures him, "an' she's right, y'know. I ain't gonna be bitin' the celestial hand that feeds me, but there ain't nothin' stoppin' you."

Hands full with King's End or not.

But then there's the question of whether or not they'll be returning to Torchline full-time, and Jack senses The Ark's gaze on him long before it actually lands there. He's slow in his answer, knowing it might change the shape of the waters they sail in the seasons to come. "We were just back," he agrees. "Me an' those islands have a lot of unfinished business. I can see us puttin' down anchor back there before long."

you wanted perfect, you got your perfect
but now I'm too perfect for someone like you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!