if you try and chase the sun you're never gonna catch it
Vesper’s grin has long since faded into something cooler, flatter. Still pressed to the bar, one arm casually slung around Colt, the other resting near his drink, he appears relaxed—just another face at a party, sipping whiskey and catching whispers. But the truth is deeper than that, quieter. His mind is open, sifting through the undercurrent of the room like a net dragged through dark water. And when the ripple hits—Kaisel’s guilty flicker of thought, sharp and unguarded—it snags. Flora. Flora and Kaisel. More than friends.
The words aren’t spoken, but they don’t have to be. Vesper feels the jagged edges of the memory just beneath Kaisel’s composure, the shape of a night that neither of them wanted to define but both keep circling like wolves around a campfire. The glass in his hand stills mid-lift. His gaze doesn’t snap. Doesn’t narrow. He just lets it drift—lazy, innocent, like a breeze moving through the rafters—as he glances over his shoulder toward Jack behind the bar. His brow arches high, slow, like a curtain rising on the third act of a play.
Then he turns back to Nova, all drawl and danger dressed up in sugar. "If I had to guess what lover boy over there’s thinking..." he murmurs, swirling his drink once before lifting it to his lips, "I’d say he figured he could have his cake and eat it too. Worse, I bet he thinks he's bein' real fuckin' clever about it as well."
When Kaisel's voice, rarely the sort of thing you'd ever describe as quiet, reaches Vesper's ears, he doesn't miss a beat. Straightening, he leans slightly off the bar, and calls across the space with bone-dry precision: "That so? Then why don’t you come over here and shake Jack’s hand and apologize for runnin' your mouth, then?" There’s no heat in it. No raised voice. Just that cool, silvery tone that slices sharper than steel when it’s soft. A trap cloaked in civility. A noose made of charm. He takes another sip, then adds lightly, "Y’know. If it’s all really in the past."
The words aren’t spoken, but they don’t have to be. Vesper feels the jagged edges of the memory just beneath Kaisel’s composure, the shape of a night that neither of them wanted to define but both keep circling like wolves around a campfire. The glass in his hand stills mid-lift. His gaze doesn’t snap. Doesn’t narrow. He just lets it drift—lazy, innocent, like a breeze moving through the rafters—as he glances over his shoulder toward Jack behind the bar. His brow arches high, slow, like a curtain rising on the third act of a play.
Then he turns back to Nova, all drawl and danger dressed up in sugar. "If I had to guess what lover boy over there’s thinking..." he murmurs, swirling his drink once before lifting it to his lips, "I’d say he figured he could have his cake and eat it too. Worse, I bet he thinks he's bein' real fuckin' clever about it as well."
When Kaisel's voice, rarely the sort of thing you'd ever describe as quiet, reaches Vesper's ears, he doesn't miss a beat. Straightening, he leans slightly off the bar, and calls across the space with bone-dry precision: "That so? Then why don’t you come over here and shake Jack’s hand and apologize for runnin' your mouth, then?" There’s no heat in it. No raised voice. Just that cool, silvery tone that slices sharper than steel when it’s soft. A trap cloaked in civility. A noose made of charm. He takes another sip, then adds lightly, "Y’know. If it’s all really in the past."
And now it's turning out to be the worst of my bad habits
☆ has a pale star tattoo beneath his left eye, and freckle-sized constellations move across his skin
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
☽ hair changes from bleached blonde to brown
☆ telepathic: Sunlit Shadows | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 60ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
