[SE] i wanna be the last thing anybody ever sees

doves and ravens fly the same

"Well I'll be damned. Gettin' a compliment from you might just be a reason to keep on livin'." Vesper mutters with a roll of his eyes, the sort that almost had him looking boyish rather than icy and aloof. Almost.

Shrugging as if to say if you say so about Flora, not unlike earlier iterations of Jack, Vesper couldn't quite see the benefit of love and definitely couldn't understand the appeal of only ever fuckin' one person for the remainder of his life. But if that's all Niki had to share about the Doubletake, so be it.

The cogs and wheels in the necromancer's mind gild if only briefly as he considers the flourishes he'd added to the pins, and gods if Vesper didn't think his sister's were getting the short end of the stick by not bein' able to see into Niki's mind the way he could. Every mark, every delicate twist of metal, every bit of heat and resistance that it had taken to craft the intricate designs were splayed out in the boy's mind, fitting together seamlessly before blasting themselves apart into their individual steps once more.

"Oh gods, soon as they figure that out they'll be demandin' an entirely new set." Vesper says with an exasperated sigh, but a keen ear will be able to pick out the affection in it. "You could, sure. But what about alterations?" He wonders with a raise of his brows. "Besides, it's Deepfrost. Even the tropics get chilly this time of year. Well, not like this, but.." Glancing toward the door where someone has just entered, bringing a gust of cold air with them, the demigod curls his lip.

VESPER

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

NIKI

"I am quite generous with compliments to people who deserve them," Niki objects, his smile hidden over the rim of the teacup he lifts to his lips. "But if it gives you the courage to keep living, who am I to deny that it is special." Knowing nothing of Vesper's abilities to rifle through his mind, the necromancer settles somewhat now that his work has been accepted and that he's made it inside and out of the cold. He might still be tired - and the deeper than usual shadows beneath his eyes prove as much - but the perpetual motion in his mind runs a little more smoothly as the tea and ambient heat warm his bones.

Smiling to hear the affection, however subtle it might be, in the other man's voice, Niki sets down his cup and gestures to the hair pins. "I could easily make an identical set. They could have a pair each," he suggests. Easier still, now, since he's already done it once and his sketches have been filed away for future use. As for alterations and the persistence regarding Torchline, he follows Vesper's gaze over to the snow that blusters in through the door and gives a tight nod of acknowledgement.

"I am not trying to be difficult on purpose, but... suffice to say that I do not travel well," he says, declining a second time and gesturing to himself as if in evidence. "It may be difficult to traverse the Greatwood, but at least I know where my destination is suited to my needs. I cannot say the same for a region days away by skyship. And that is without even taking the journey into account."

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

doves and ravens fly the same

"Now that I find hard to believe." Statements of fact, Vesper thought Niki was probably quite generous with, and if those statements happened to be positive, what of it? Compliments, though? Things said to praise or admire? He figured the necromancer was probably used to restricting that kind of vocabulary to items or ideas, rather than people.

"Oh I see, get me hooked on one set and then casually suggest another. Not bad." Even if the idea had been Vesper's originally and he saw nothing in Niki's mind to suggest this part of some grand scheme, it was amusing to suggest it regardless. Grinning crookedly, Vesper is forced to refill his cup of tea, before placing the pads of his fingertips against the porcelain to warm them. Issues with height and circulation were never an issue in Torchline, but here? Fuck if his fingers and toes weren't constantly cold.

"Seems to me like there's probably lots of things you don't do well." The demigod points out conversationally. "At least in Torchline there ain't a single void critter or magical forest tryin' to slow you down." No fucking snow, either. "But if it's that much of an inconvenience..." Waving a hand dismissively, Vesper takes a small sip of his tea, lip curling at how weak it was now. "I guess if you'd rather risk the lives of two young girls in a place their Dad was just murdered in 'cause you're worried about the sand, I could try and get 'em up here..." Of course both Caly and Nova would jump at the chance to venture to the Greatwood; still, as only a fledgling demigod in a region neither ruled nor controlled by his mother or father, Vesper didn't like the idea of trying to keep both girls safe somewhere completely new.

Hopefully he could just guilt Niki into coming safe. Easier to manage a cripple than two explosive women.

VESPER

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

NIKI

Scoffing - both because of Vesper's (correct) assumption about him and also at the idea that he's capable of anything like upselling (he's a creator, not a businessman) - Niki can only shrug and gesture to the box again, as if asking whether the quality of his work is lacking such that he wouldn't want to take the one set, let alone two. As the other man refills his tea, Niki - preferring coffee - is content with only the one, setting down his empty cup and rubbing his hands together to keep them warm.

"You would be correct in that assumption," he agrees, seeing no malice in Vesper merely stating the truth. "There are many things I am good at, but anything involving physicality tends to put me at a disadvantage." Whether he can be guilted is another thing entirely, though, the necromancer offering Vesper a very wolfish sort of grin as he tries it out. "Does that usually work?" he asks, shifting in his seat and tugging his sweater sleeves back down.

"Your sisters cannot be beautiful and dangerous but simultaneously unable to walk through the woods for an afternoon," he points out. "Though I do understand siblings being protective over one another. More to the point, though, we have known each other for a single day, and I have never known your sisters. I owe you nothing, least of all a trip across the world."

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

doves and ravens fly the same

Feeling the cogs of Niki's mind once again begin to spin freely, Vesper wonders when he missed the oil-slick amount of grease that he feels now lubricating the joints of the necromancer's mind. The man cared little about wealth and seemingly cared less about being comfortable. He was already a cripple so Vesper doubted if he could threaten him, and without knowing much more about him, there was little in the demigod's arsenal other than plain old intimidation; somehow, though, he doubted if his shadows would even raise Niki's pulse.

"The whole bleedin' heart thing?" Vesper frowns, considering. "Often enough that it was worth a try." He decides with a shrug. "You sure about that? Last time I checked Flora was both of those things and she died out here nice and quick." Just because a spider or snake could be deadly, that didn't mean they could survive a godsdamn stampede, and that's what the Family's strength basically was in comparison to the abilities of Vesper and his sisters.

In time Vesper would come to decide that minds like Niki's, those prone to shimmering and impenetrable coats of logic and reason, made him irritable. Already he was coming to that realization as his mental fingers poked and prodded the cogs of the necromancer's mind, finding them all to be fastidiously focused on their tasks such that there wasn't much wiggle room. "Maybe it ain't worth flyin' across the world for a stranger, but y'really think you're gettin' the most out of life by walkin' the same, what? handful of acres and not doin' much else?" Already Vesper had grasped that Niki had plans, had things his mind was keen to seize and work on, but holed up in the Greatwood with nothin' but the Fae for company? In, arguably, one of the least advanced regions in all of Caido?

"And by life I don't mean feelin' the sun shine on your face or explorin' the tundra. I mean gettin' to do the shit that gets your blood pumpin' and has you forgettin' all about your leg."

VESPER

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

NIKI

Inclining his head - worth a try is commendable, he supposes, even if it hasn't tugged at any of Niki's heartstrings - he does raise his eyebrows as the snowy-haired boy opposite brings up the Doubletake again. "You have... how to they say it... a crush on your father's girlfriend?" he guesses; after all, he had not brought up Flora's nature as being beautiful and deadly; that's all on Vesper. "What I do know is that there are many more than three people living in the Greatwood, and they all seem to be living and dying at an ordinary rate. I would not base my entire life on an exception."

But then Vesper starts to dig deeper, into perhaps more personal territory, and if there is any irritation in Niki at all, it shows only in the depths of his mind, the gears and cogs growing sleek and sharp as if coated with blood rather than grease. "Why is what I do with my time so important to you?" he wonders. "If you want the things I can create, compromises can be reached without my leaving the Greatwood. What makes your region the only one suitable for me and my leg?" He raiss his eyebrows.

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

doves and ravens fly the same

Had he not been a telepath Vesper might have had to try and assess Niki's pale features to try and deduce if he was kidding or not. Luckily his abilities rendered that step unnecessary, so he merely tilted his head, gaze sharpening as a subtle smirk ghosted his lips before melting into a flat stare "You've met her. You gonna tell me she ain't beautiful?" He wonders, genuinely interested to see if the boy's worldview was so small that acknowledging someone as being beautiful must mean he had a crush. Not that Vesper would be averse to finding he and the Doubletake between the sheets, but no momentary flash of pleasure would be worth the hell it'd likely cause after. 

"What you do with your time ain't important to me, but what I do with mine is." Vesper's tone dropped low, a casual edge to his words as he drummed his ring-laden fingers on the table, the metal producing a soft clink. "That's why my region is the only suitable one. Cause it's got me'n my sisters in it."

Lifting his chin slightly, the demigod glanced over the necromancer's shoulder before his blue eyes slid back toward the boy's face. "But if you'd rather stay in the murder woods doin' the same old shit, who am I to try and convince you otherwise."

VESPER

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

NIKI

"For the fifteen minutes I interacted with her, she seemed lovely enough, certainly," Niki says, even if his words and the cadence of his thoughts match only at face value. That Flora had been conventionally beautiful, even recovering from literal death, was without question, but it writes itself as a fact in the necromancer's mind the same way that weather patterns or phases of the moon might, lacking any expected heat or emotion.

Good for you, another person might have said, of Vesper's own time and region being important to him; Niki, of course, only gives a gentle shrug, as if they've disagreed on something without much consequence. And although the demigod's eyes flick over his shoulder, he doesn't glance around, instead cocking his head at him. "Who are you to convince me otherwise?" he agrees with a mild smile. "I am glad we can come to an accord at last. I hope your sisters enjoy the hair pins."

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

doves and ravens fly the same

"Well, there you go." Vesper says with a slow shrug of his shoulders. With nothing much to compare Niki's thoughts to, the demigod merely takes it in stride that the necromancer viewed sex and attraction the same way he viewed the rest of the world. He wasn't yet to know that the boy had characterized Flora's appearance so mechanically for a very different reason. "But for the record, no, I definitely don't have a crush on her."

As Niki goes on, his logic as dry and reasonable as ever, Vesper merely rolls his eyes and heaves out a weary sigh. "Bet you wouldn't even care if they didn't." He says, sitting up and glancing once more toward the exit, silently debating whether or not this nothing argument with the cripple was better than braving the cold. No doubt if Vesper were to complain that the girls hadn't liked his creations, Niki would shrug and say they'd been made exactly to specifications; if there wasn't any flaw in the design, who was he to try and satisfy the aesthetic needs of people he'd never met?

Thoughtlessly Vesper let his shadows stretch out across the table, reaching for the box before dragging it to his side of the table.

VESPER

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

NIKI

"Well I am glad that is now on the record," Niki says, and though there is only a hint of a smile on his lips, his mind ticks over with amusement. Vesper's weary sigh and his last ditch attempt (or so it feels) to needle at the necromancer earns a gentle laugh, Niki clasping his hands atop the table. "They will, though," he says, raising his eyebrows. "Your reaction to them already gave that much away." Vesper is right, though; he wouldn't care from an aesthetic point of view, not for something created only for the purpose of being able to feed and clothe himself throughout Deepfrost.

Speaking of which, as the other man glances over his shoulder again - and uses what he can only determine is some kind of magic to snipe the box across the table - Niki clears his throat. "Much as I am enjoying your staring contest with the door behind us, I am more than happy to leave you to your day once our business is settled." He nods towards the box and spreads his now empty hands.

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

doves and ravens fly the same

If Niki could peer into Vesper's mind, he'd see the man's words plastered in alternating capital and lowercase letters over a SpongeBob meme. Much as the necromancer seemed to get a kick out of being a sassy fuck, the demigod was finding it hard to get his foot in the boy's mind, what with the gears and cogs constantly turning and whirring around him.

Grinning sarcastically, Vesper rolls his shoulders and tilts his chin upward in a catlike stretch as he stands in one easy motion, his long fingers clasping the box. "But our business is settled." The demigod replies lightly. "Y'didn't really expect me to pay you, did you?" Pursing his lips softly together, Vesper looks down at Niki before taking a slight step forward to block him from slithering out of the booth. "Not much about this place I find appealin', and if you aren't gonna take me up on a working trip to Torchline, reckon' I can just burn this bridge rather than payin' the toll."

VESPER

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

NIKI

As much as Niki has been a fan of what he'd considered to be matching energy with the white-haired young man across the table, as Vesper rises to his feet with all of the grace and height that the necromancer will never manage in his lifetime, he's already putting things together. Surprise crackles through his mind, very briefly, followed by a flush of frustration, which then melts into disappointment and acceptance. They've had all the necessary conversations to precede this moment - Niki with his unintimidating presence and lack of physical ability, Niki with his bad leg and clever hands, Niki with no prospects daring to bite the hand that dared to throw him a crumb.

"I see," he says. He'd thought Vesper crass, arrogant and selfish, it's true - but he'd never considered him to be quite so blatant a bully. Niki can do precisely nothing about it and they both know it - more to the point, they both know by now that he's too proud even to push the matter. "I suppose you ought to be on your way then, hadn't you?" Coersion and guilt-tripping haven't twisted his arm into coming to Torchline, and blackmail and intimidation don't have a chance either; especially not now.

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

doves and ravens fly the same

"That's it?" What should have been a look of smug victory turns sour as Vesper scowls down at the cripple, his voice incredulous and his brows pinched together. No doubt he looks every part the asshole that Niki thinks him to be to anyone watching (though Vesper can confirm that no one in the little cafe really cares much about the gimp or the too-tall foreigner), not that the demigod cares in the least. "For god's sake, no wonder you're too chicken to leave the Greatwood when you can't even be bothered to try and find your way outta bein' ripped off. You're a cripple in a public place. Odds are someone would give a shit if you yelled out you were bein' robbed." And if no one did? Gods, all the more reason Vesper couldn't understand why the boy wouldn't take him up on his offer.

Bristling with annoyance whereas Niki seemed merely to internalize his, the demigod reached into a pocket to withdraw several coins stamped with Torchline's insignia. Tossing them onto the table, the payment was for more than double what the going rate on the two hairpins would have been at the market, much less what Niki might charge privately. "For a second set. You can send it to the Marin house in Torchline."

VESPER

Styling stolen from Sky (obviously)

NIKI

For the first time since their meeting, anger heats the gears that tick and twist in Niki's mind, turning his thoughts faster and with far less rationality than in their prior conversations. "I am not a social experiment for you to play with," he snips, his accent thicker as they curl around the words, and he almost flinches at the coins that hit the table, as if having expected a hand striking out instead. "Now go and find somebody else to bother - and find somebody else to make your second set. I am no longer taking commissions."

Ignoring the coins - yes, all of them, because if Vesper doesn't believe him stubborn enough to go unpaid as a matter of pride, then at least it's another thing about him he can tuck away moving forward - Niki shrugs the satchel bag back over his shoulder and reaches for his cane. The demigod is still blocking his way from slithering out of the booth, but if he chooses not to move as the necromancer rises, Niki isn't above jamming the end of his cane into the toe of his shoe as he goes.

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!