if i tell you this is drowning

JACK

"Then we'll do this first, and we'll see," Jack echoes, inclining his head to her and stepping back to stand in the doorway of the room where he can be close enough to watch her (and be watched in return) without necessarily becoming collateral damage. He leans a shoulder against the doorframe, absently toying with the mageglass ring on his finger, his brow furrowed as he considers Flora and the barren landscape of her thoughts.

It's true enough that he's rendered useless whilst she doesn't know what she needs, even subconsciously; over-reliant as he is on his magic, the idea of taking an initiative he doesn't know for certain is the right course of action is foreign to the captain. Certainly something for him to work on, he realises, even standing here to watch as she shatters some delicate set of glasses on a shelf in the corner of the room.

The sound is a chaotic sort of music, and almost without thinking, a shield of air rises around Flora, barely perceptible unless a shard of glass or splinter of wood should richochet at her, where it is promptly redirected by a blast of wind.

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

Code stolen from Queen Sky