VESPER
Vesper raises his eyebrows and says nothing, which is perhaps the closest he can get to agreeing without handing the thing over where Jack can see all its teeth. The expression carries a touch of petulance, badly hidden and badly timed, though mostly it’s there to hold something older in place; because yes, Colt is a splinter in his palm, and beneath that she’s the whole ache of a hand that still wants to close around something it knows better than to reach for.
He waves Jack’s suggestion away at first, the motion loose and dismissive, as if trying again is no more substantial than dust lifted off the table. His head has already started to shake when the Captain keeps speaking, and that’s what stops him, not because the comparison is wrong but because it isn’t clean enough to be useful. Colt isn’t Flora, no, and Vesper isn’t Jack, but that doesn’t tell him whether the odds are any kinder for being arranged in a different shape. Jack must have been a different man around Flora than he is around anyone else, or perhaps only a less defended one, and Vesper can’t decide whether that makes the comparison weaker or worse.
The questions gather without finding anywhere sensible to go. Is he better than Jack at this, or worse? Is Colt more likely than Flora to understand, or only likely to be wounded in different places? Does telling someone that telepathy has sat between every touch, every argument, every shared bed and private thought make the truth easier to bear just because the person hearing it isn’t the same woman who broke Jack open? There’s no neat answer, only the ugly, restless buzz of it filling the upper layer of Vesper’s mind where his lowered shields leave enough room for Jack to feel the shape of his indecision.
At last Vesper shrugs, the motion small and a little defeated, his fingers tightening once around the chilled glass before he loosens them again. "Seems like movin’ on ended up bein’ way better for you than tryin’ again," he says with a sigh.
He waves Jack’s suggestion away at first, the motion loose and dismissive, as if trying again is no more substantial than dust lifted off the table. His head has already started to shake when the Captain keeps speaking, and that’s what stops him, not because the comparison is wrong but because it isn’t clean enough to be useful. Colt isn’t Flora, no, and Vesper isn’t Jack, but that doesn’t tell him whether the odds are any kinder for being arranged in a different shape. Jack must have been a different man around Flora than he is around anyone else, or perhaps only a less defended one, and Vesper can’t decide whether that makes the comparison weaker or worse.
The questions gather without finding anywhere sensible to go. Is he better than Jack at this, or worse? Is Colt more likely than Flora to understand, or only likely to be wounded in different places? Does telling someone that telepathy has sat between every touch, every argument, every shared bed and private thought make the truth easier to bear just because the person hearing it isn’t the same woman who broke Jack open? There’s no neat answer, only the ugly, restless buzz of it filling the upper layer of Vesper’s mind where his lowered shields leave enough room for Jack to feel the shape of his indecision.
At last Vesper shrugs, the motion small and a little defeated, his fingers tightening once around the chilled glass before he loosens them again. "Seems like movin’ on ended up bein’ way better for you than tryin’ again," he says with a sigh.
And it's all my fault that I'm still the one you want
So what are you after? Some kind of disaster?
So what are you after? Some kind of disaster?
☆ 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.
