[SE] walk right in the sight of a gun

JACK

It sneaks up on Jack as well - evident by the way their conversation has become easy without his noticing it, by the way her mind shines, cool and clear and welcoming like aloe on a sunburn. Content to bob along in the jetties and shallows of her thoughts as they discuss the Marins, Bassian, the way the sea definitely takes offence if the right respect isn't shown, the captain is only aware that he's drifted out too far when it all suddenly grows silent.

Like the ringing shock that follows a particularly sharp slap to the face, it isn't that shutters drag down around Flora, but rather that everything that made her thoughts dappled and golden simply withers. Nothing but weeds where once a garden had grown; nothing but stagnant drought water where a river had once flowed, bright and crisp.

Aware, only distantly, that the Doubletake is preparing to make herself scarce, Jack swallows his bite of bacon and tosses the rest onto the plate, forgotten. "I'm sorry," he says, setting down his coffee as well and letting out a deep, long sigh, the type that follows a revelation made far too late. "That I couldn't make peace with what happened."

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

Code stolen from Queen Sky