if you try and chase the sun you're never gonna catch it
Vesper’s jaw feathers, the muscle ticking in a way that speaks to reluctant agreement rather than peace. Jack’s right—death by a thousand cuts or one clean break, it all hurts the same in the moment—but only one gives a chance at healing. And while Vesper knows Jack had the harder burn of living in Flora’s kingdom with her name on every damn tongue, he’s still fairly sure he’d hear Colt’s echo in King’s End just the same.
The mention of Ludo strips his composure back for a moment. He raises a brow, the corner of his mouth lifting in a wry, strained smirk. "I ain’t sure Safrin would let either of us light a candle for Ludo without showin’ up herself," he mutters, dry enough to crack. Then the smile fades to something quieter, more honest. "And I don’t know if I could go through with it, anyhow." It isn’t romantic, not some noble notion of it having been better to have love and lost than to never have loved at all. It’s the simple, sharp truth: erase the ache, and what stops him from making the same goddamn mistake again? What stops him from stepping right into the same fire because the memory of the burn’s been carved out of him?
Jack lists the other regions and Vesper nods along, only half listening as he sorts through the edges of his own thoughts. "Halo’s too fuckin’ cold," he murmurs. "And the Climb ain’t got half the luxuries I’m used to." There’s a flicker of something like humour there, faint but real. "The Greatwood, though..."
He trails off, considering, then his teeth press into the inside of his cheek, a habit inherited straight down the bloodline, and he turns his face toward Jack. Not fully, just enough for the question to land where it belongs instead of drifting out into the dark. "You think..." His voice dips low, softer than he ever lets it get around anyone else, his sisters included. "You think bein’ with someone is the sort of thing men like us just don’t get to have?" It’s the honest, careful question of a telepath who has spent his entire (short) life holding back the weight of other people’s minds, and who finally ran face-first into the truth of what it does to him when he lets someone too close.
The mention of Ludo strips his composure back for a moment. He raises a brow, the corner of his mouth lifting in a wry, strained smirk. "I ain’t sure Safrin would let either of us light a candle for Ludo without showin’ up herself," he mutters, dry enough to crack. Then the smile fades to something quieter, more honest. "And I don’t know if I could go through with it, anyhow." It isn’t romantic, not some noble notion of it having been better to have love and lost than to never have loved at all. It’s the simple, sharp truth: erase the ache, and what stops him from making the same goddamn mistake again? What stops him from stepping right into the same fire because the memory of the burn’s been carved out of him?
Jack lists the other regions and Vesper nods along, only half listening as he sorts through the edges of his own thoughts. "Halo’s too fuckin’ cold," he murmurs. "And the Climb ain’t got half the luxuries I’m used to." There’s a flicker of something like humour there, faint but real. "The Greatwood, though..."
He trails off, considering, then his teeth press into the inside of his cheek, a habit inherited straight down the bloodline, and he turns his face toward Jack. Not fully, just enough for the question to land where it belongs instead of drifting out into the dark. "You think..." His voice dips low, softer than he ever lets it get around anyone else, his sisters included. "You think bein’ with someone is the sort of thing men like us just don’t get to have?" It’s the honest, careful question of a telepath who has spent his entire (short) life holding back the weight of other people’s minds, and who finally ran face-first into the truth of what it does to him when he lets someone too close.
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.
