you play the victim with your finger on the trigger

JACK

Jack doesn't say it - that's one door still firmly locked between them and likely even to himself - but he also has what happened with Flora, both good and bad, to thank for the way he acts now around Vesper and the other Marins. It makes the vulnerability he offers feel more like a paper-cut than a missing limb, and the appreciation that slips through in return is an unexpected balm against it; a reward as unlooked for as it is a stepping stone to similar behaviour in future.

His laughter follows a beat after Vesper's, as if they're both acknowledging the bizarre scenario Jack has just painted for them, and the Captain spreads his hands as if to say the offer is always there. "Guess it's just a matter of you decidin' if an' when to say 'em, then," he says, because if one thing has become clear from the strange turn in the conversation, it's that things can't keep limping on as they are for the young demigod.

"If you ever need an in, like I already said, there'll be plenty of back an' forth between here and Hak Etme." Jack holds Vesper's gaze as it flicks up to meet his own, sky touching ocean, and says precisely nothing, which is all the indication in the world that the point sits between them, understood and accepted. "And in the meantime," the Captain continues, "there's more besides to get on with."

you are a quiet god
and your hunger is cavernous

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!