came in like a cannonball

MELITA

For all her disregard for the world sometimes, Melita could still be observant. It was how she’d survived for so many years; barefoot and bruised and barbaric. But her impulsive decision to laugh, to be spiteful, to cast Jack aloft as a caricature hadn’t landed as well as she’d hoped – not by the way Flora went motionless, rooted into the float, finding ways to form the mask back into place. There was an apology on her lips, but without knowing what for, she could only narrow her eyes, then glance elsewhere while the Doubletake rearranged the response; afford her that clarity and time. Perhaps she’d hoped Jack hadn’t left such a deep mark that every trace, every sound, every call of his name would trigger something raw and painful, or that Kaisel’s existence had softened, eclipsed those wounds. She didn’t know enough of their disastrous sojourn – surface levels at best, once staring at it with open disdain, hoping better for Flora and condemning the Captain for his part in it – to peer any further. So the matter dropped, sunken down into the depths of the pool, and she offered naught more than one of those quiet, pressed smiles that didn’t reach her eyes. Fuck Jack and all his fuckin’ nonsense.

Cannons, violence, vehemence, was easier. As simple as breathing for the Honeybee, who would much rather blow pieces of the world to smithereens when they annoyed her. Leaning further into the fold of the ray’s outspread shape, she tucked her sunglasses onto her face, yielding the brighter grins, the corner of her lips promising destruction. “I think so. It’ll take time but I’m ready.” The discussion further unfurling and unfolding though gave her pause, and she inched closer on her float, deliberately pushing off the pool wall with her feet, skimming along the veneer of the water as Flora deliberated. “Listen, I’m all about obnoxious,” waving her hand about in the air as if this was a surprise. “But I’d worry if your dads couldn’t get to it in time.” Remi and Ronin had their own matters to attend to, she figured, as most demigods did.

Humming lightly, and rolling onto her back to stretch in the sun like a cat, she persisted. “I like the idea of the port. The warning’s there for the fuck around and find out. We have enough people to be able to reach it if someone’s deciding to persist.” Pausing, her head tilted, eyes squinting behind the glasses. “We could always upgrade it later so it can shoot further out?”

You're all gonna watch me
Disappear into the sun