if i tell you this is drowning

JACK

With blue eyes hard and kohl-lined - precisely because of how difficult it was to catch details between sea and sky, let alone anything bobbing along the surface of the water below - Jack sees Flora's smile in his mind more than in reality, the flimsy gesture coated in the oily feelings reserved for a meeting with her mother. (But even then, as the Doubletake has already surmised, what is she meant to do with those feelings when Hotaru hadn't been in her right mind?)

Shaking off the train of thought - Jack is not a kind or forgiving man, and being infected is not an excuse he'd accept, but it's not his family - he turns towards Flora, stepping forward and holding out an arm for her to huddle into his side as a particularly cutting blast of wind threatens to throw The Ark off course. A quick glance up at the sails and a powerful twist of his magic steadies them, and a few calls back and forth from the crew ensures they fly straight, but Jack puts his fingers to his lips in a sharp whistle that signals for them to fly lower.

It might take longer, but they'll be less likely to be blown halfway to Halo as they search.

"I'm startin' to think we should've had your old man go look for this. He's been there before at least," he mutters.

sometimes we put our hearts in the wrong places
(what the fuck is it doing between your teeth?)

Code stolen from Queen Sky