VESPER
Jack ’s boots are halfway undone before Vesper realises what he’s watching. His brow lifts, slow and skeptical, the expression so dry it could timber. But when Jack actually commits—marching straight toward the bonfire with both boots in hand like he’s about to baptize them—Vesper goes still in a way that reads as concern, or at least the closest thing he ever shows in public.
The fuck are you doin’, stays unspoken, but it’s carved across the angles of his face as he watches Jack yeet the boots directly into immortal flame. The shadows at his feet cinch tight, a reflexive knot, as if bracing for whatever fresh chaos the captain is about to spiral into next. Then Calypso slips in beside him like a streak of warm breeze cutting through cold rain. Her grin is bright enough to soften the edges he hadn’t realised were sharpening, and he loops an arm around her shoulders in a gesture so casual it almost hides the steadiness behind it. "Helluva somethin’," he agrees, voice low, the drawl threaded through with a humour that doesn’t quite reach the tension creeping down his spine. The warmth of her shoulder under his hand is grounding, for the split second he still has the mental space to appreciate it.
Because Nova—the living firework—flashes into focus through the crowd, and with her, the unmistakable spark of recognition in another mind. Colt. The shift in her thoughts cuts to him like a blade’s edge through fabric. He tracks the movement without meaning to, the easy swagger of her step, the heat rolling through her focus as she turns toward...his fingers tighten on Caly’s shoulder before he can stop himself. Thalassa.
And Colt is walking right up to her like every doubt she’d been carrying all season has crystallized into certainty. Vesper’s breath thickens in his chest as Colt grabs the stick out of Thal’s hand, shoves it aside, and steps in with that fierce, surefooted confidence—not hesitating, not second-guessing, not wondering if she should—and kisses her. Fully, deliberately, heat meeting heat in a way that sends a jagged, uninvited spike of something sharp and ugly tightening beneath Vesper’s ribs. His jaw feathers hard enough that the motion almost clicks through his teeth.
It isn’t possessiveness—he knows that. He doesn’t own Colt, has never tried to. But jealousy is a quieter beast, born in the way her thoughts flare with clarity against his senses, how familiar her cadence has become, how reflexively he’s been listening for her all night. Seeing that focus redirected—claimed—hits like a shadow punched clean out of him. He forces a swallow, steadying the static rolling under his skin, smoothing his expression back into something cool enough to pass as unbothered.
"Next round’s on me," he mutters, already turning toward the liquor stall even though his drink is still half-full.
Vesp sees Colt/Thal and offers to get everyone (Jack/Aithne/Caly) a drink.
The fuck are you doin’, stays unspoken, but it’s carved across the angles of his face as he watches Jack yeet the boots directly into immortal flame. The shadows at his feet cinch tight, a reflexive knot, as if bracing for whatever fresh chaos the captain is about to spiral into next. Then Calypso slips in beside him like a streak of warm breeze cutting through cold rain. Her grin is bright enough to soften the edges he hadn’t realised were sharpening, and he loops an arm around her shoulders in a gesture so casual it almost hides the steadiness behind it. "Helluva somethin’," he agrees, voice low, the drawl threaded through with a humour that doesn’t quite reach the tension creeping down his spine. The warmth of her shoulder under his hand is grounding, for the split second he still has the mental space to appreciate it.
Because Nova—the living firework—flashes into focus through the crowd, and with her, the unmistakable spark of recognition in another mind. Colt. The shift in her thoughts cuts to him like a blade’s edge through fabric. He tracks the movement without meaning to, the easy swagger of her step, the heat rolling through her focus as she turns toward...his fingers tighten on Caly’s shoulder before he can stop himself. Thalassa.
And Colt is walking right up to her like every doubt she’d been carrying all season has crystallized into certainty. Vesper’s breath thickens in his chest as Colt grabs the stick out of Thal’s hand, shoves it aside, and steps in with that fierce, surefooted confidence—not hesitating, not second-guessing, not wondering if she should—and kisses her. Fully, deliberately, heat meeting heat in a way that sends a jagged, uninvited spike of something sharp and ugly tightening beneath Vesper’s ribs. His jaw feathers hard enough that the motion almost clicks through his teeth.
It isn’t possessiveness—he knows that. He doesn’t own Colt, has never tried to. But jealousy is a quieter beast, born in the way her thoughts flare with clarity against his senses, how familiar her cadence has become, how reflexively he’s been listening for her all night. Seeing that focus redirected—claimed—hits like a shadow punched clean out of him. He forces a swallow, steadying the static rolling under his skin, smoothing his expression back into something cool enough to pass as unbothered.
"Next round’s on me," he mutters, already turning toward the liquor stall even though his drink is still half-full.
Vesp sees Colt/Thal and offers to get everyone (Jack/Aithne/Caly) a drink.
the stars are pulling at my hair, and every part of me
and you don't understand how I bleed
and you don't understand how I bleed
☆ 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.
