blood ties

JACK

"Course you didn't," Jack says, deferring to the other man readily. "Thick head like yours? Doubt you feel much of anythin' these days. Careful though - keep smilin' like that and you'll give yourself even more wrinkles." Winking at Remi and departing to enjoy his little meet-and-greet with Flora and Mateo instead, the captain's arm slips casually around the Doubletake's waist, and he offers a warm enough nod to the brother she clearly doesn't hate.

His gaze does linger on Mateo for a few moments, though, and whilst the botanist might take it as something to preen over, Flora will know better than most - better than anyone present, certainly - that the captain is taking his measure of him, fleeting and silent as it might be. "Il piacere è mio," he responds in the end; like Flora, the words don't roll quite so musically off his tongue, but it's enough to suggest that perhaps the Doubletake has been teaching him a thing or two about the oh-so-exclusive travelling tongue.

Jack can take or leave the food, however much of it there might be, but the offer of a drink absolutely gets his attention. "Dark rum, if you've got it."

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