flora
Flora barely registers the movement around her, the clink of glass or the careful placement of things meant to help, because all she can see is Jack’s back turned to her, all she can hear is the flat certainty in his voice as he tells her he does not care, that she has taken enough from him already. The memory makes her flinch, breath catching sharp and painful in her chest, and when Kaisel starts to speak, it takes a second too long for the words to land at all.
She blinks up at him, focus snapping into place just enough to shake her head, fast and immediate, a hand shooting out to clutch at the edge of his pocket. "No," she breathes, urgent despite the way her voice trembles. "I can't tell this to anyone else." Her lips part and then close again; the words refuse to line up, jammed behind the pressure of everything she has never said out loud, and all that makes it past the knot in her throat is a broken, croaked, "Jack—" before the sound collapses into a sob she barely manages to hold back, shoulders heaving with the effort of restraint. Saying his name feels dangerous, feels like lighting a fuse, but now that it is out there she cannot stop, cannot let Kaisel imagine the wrong thing, cannot let this rot quietly between them any longer.
This was a promise she made to herself, to Jack, to the version of him she loved fiercely, a way of protecting what had been real even after it shattered. But the secrecy has been eating her alive, and after one minute in his presence has left her in ruins all over again, she knows she cannot keep carrying it without breaking something far worse between she and Kai.
Her fingers tighten on Kaisel’s pocket as her face twists with the force of what she is about to do, eyes squeezing shut as tears spill thickly over her lashes. She drags in a breath that hitches painfully, then opens her eyes to look up at him. Her voice barely makes it past the space between them, the words small and fragile once they exist at all. "Jack’s a telepath."
There is more to it than that, so much more, layers of context and nuance she has carried quietly for months, and she knows it will all have to come out now, sooner rather than later, because the truth has finally cracked open. But this is the centre of it, the keystone she has been holding alone, the explanation for almost everything from how she fell in love with the Captain to why she is shaking apart now after barely a minute in his presence.
The weight of it lands all at once, heavy and sickening and Flora’s face drains of what little colour it had left, her grip slipping from Kaisel’s pocket as a wave of nausea rolls through her hard and fast, adrenaline curdling into something sour and unbearable. She barely manages to get to her feet before she’s turning away, hand slapping against the counter for balance as she stumbles toward the kitchenette. She makes it to the sink just in time, body folding over it as she throws up, the heave sharp and humiliating, brought on by the crash of everything at once and the sudden, sinking certainty that she has broken the very last thing that possibly lingered between she and Jack.
She blinks up at him, focus snapping into place just enough to shake her head, fast and immediate, a hand shooting out to clutch at the edge of his pocket. "No," she breathes, urgent despite the way her voice trembles. "I can't tell this to anyone else." Her lips part and then close again; the words refuse to line up, jammed behind the pressure of everything she has never said out loud, and all that makes it past the knot in her throat is a broken, croaked, "Jack—" before the sound collapses into a sob she barely manages to hold back, shoulders heaving with the effort of restraint. Saying his name feels dangerous, feels like lighting a fuse, but now that it is out there she cannot stop, cannot let Kaisel imagine the wrong thing, cannot let this rot quietly between them any longer.
This was a promise she made to herself, to Jack, to the version of him she loved fiercely, a way of protecting what had been real even after it shattered. But the secrecy has been eating her alive, and after one minute in his presence has left her in ruins all over again, she knows she cannot keep carrying it without breaking something far worse between she and Kai.
Her fingers tighten on Kaisel’s pocket as her face twists with the force of what she is about to do, eyes squeezing shut as tears spill thickly over her lashes. She drags in a breath that hitches painfully, then opens her eyes to look up at him. Her voice barely makes it past the space between them, the words small and fragile once they exist at all. "Jack’s a telepath."
There is more to it than that, so much more, layers of context and nuance she has carried quietly for months, and she knows it will all have to come out now, sooner rather than later, because the truth has finally cracked open. But this is the centre of it, the keystone she has been holding alone, the explanation for almost everything from how she fell in love with the Captain to why she is shaking apart now after barely a minute in his presence.
The weight of it lands all at once, heavy and sickening and Flora’s face drains of what little colour it had left, her grip slipping from Kaisel’s pocket as a wave of nausea rolls through her hard and fast, adrenaline curdling into something sour and unbearable. She barely manages to get to her feet before she’s turning away, hand slapping against the counter for balance as she stumbles toward the kitchenette. She makes it to the sink just in time, body folding over it as she throws up, the heave sharp and humiliating, brought on by the crash of everything at once and the sudden, sinking certainty that she has broken the very last thing that possibly lingered between she and Jack.
Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness
'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea
'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea
