[SE] we were jet-set, bonnie and clyde

your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand

When Jack had previously snuck up through Flora's window to help her put together her new couch, the pair had been stymied by a rather obvious lack of tools that, in hindsight, should have been obvious. Had she not still been in a fight with her Dads she might have channeled them and given the Knight and Bastion the task of putting it together while she and Jack did literally anything else. It'd probably have been worth the channelling cost just to see their faces when they realized what the purpose of the couch was, but Flora's bitterness ran deeper than her mischievous nature did, and so she'd bribed the captain with dinner (made by one of the local restaurants, Flora had never really learned to cook), and drinks if he'd come by for a take 2.

And yes, she did have the proper tools this time.

Still rather love-drunk after her mother's surprise engagement party, from the instant Flora is within the radius of Jack's magic the effects of her having being front row for a rather fairy-tale romance will be obvious. Every facet of Flora's mind glitters as if having been doused in diamond dust. It attached itself to every passing thought no matter how small, transforming every fleeting idea into something that glistened and glimmered. Whether or not the captain decided to proceed given the way he was liable to walk away coated in affection the way one might be coated in glitter after having encountered only a little of it, was entirely up to him.

If Jack did hold up his end of their date rather than opting to send a member of his crew instead, he'd find Flora's front door open to let the evening air in, with the queen softly singing the words to some love song under her breath and lighting candles. Wearing a tight fitting black tank top and a pair of loose grey sweatpants whose pockets were stuffed with sage, Flora nodded encouragingly to Spice who frosted a pair of glasses on her counter.

JACK

Having wondered whether Flora intended for them to put her furniture together with little more than hopes and dreams, at least the captain can say he had made the most of take 1 in that he'd fucked the Doubletake on her existing couch before departing. Easily bribed, too, especially by Torchline's queen, he does indeed assure her that he will return when required.

Whilst Flora has been off arranging surprise proposals and secret engagement parties, Jack, of course, has been busy doing what he does best. Business is always booming in the islands' underbelly, and with The Ark able to get around much more easily these days, he's managed to take a few shorter trips with her, such that he's not been too far from Torchline's shores.

Indeed, if Flora has been looking out her window, she will have noticed that the galleon's familiar ruddy sails appeared back in the harbour about an hour ago, heralding the captain's imminent arrival. He slows his steps upon coming into range of the queen's thoughts, pressing through a tangible wall of girlish joy and instantly feeling himself bristle with suspicion.

Even with telepathy, it's difficult to anticipate what to expect when he makes his presence known; as such, he appears leaning in her doorway silently, dressed in a loose grey sweater with a midnight coat thrown about his shoulders, his dark hair swept back from his face by the sea breeze. "Expectin' ghosts?" he rumbles in greeting, smirking at the sage in her pockets. "Pretty sure I'm real, I think."

you wanted perfect, you got your perfect
but now I'm too perfect for someone like you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand

Having neither seen nor heard Jack as he strolled up to her front door—the sound of her own voice doing a good job of drowning out most mundane sounds—the captain's question has Flora nearly jumping out of her skin. The rose-gold mist currently coating her thoughts is disrupted by a bolt of blue as she whirls in place, an accusatory finger already pointed in Jack's direction. "You know, for a man who doesn't like cats, you sure sneak up like one." She huffs before a smile immediately tugs at her lips. In far too good a mood to be able to feign being annoyed for more than a second, the queen presses her tongue against her cheek as if to keep her smile in check.

"Oh I dunno. It'd be just my luck to find out that you've been a ghost all along. It'd explain why my parents don't think you're good for me if you aren't even real to begin with." Flora teases, before reaching for a bottle of dark rum all the way from the Grounds and holding it up for the captain's approval.

JACK

"I didn't sneak. You just didn't pay attention," Jack drawls, straightening up from his place in the doorway to step properly into Flora's abode. Shrugging out of his coat and dropping it onto a hook nearby, he moves to her side and reaches out to inspect the bottle of dark rum she holds up for his approval. "It'd be an inconvenience if I turned out to be dead," he admits, examining the label for a second before nodding and handing the bottle back to Flora.

"Besides, we both know it's the fact that I am real that seems to be the stickin' point for your parents. Half of 'em, anyway." You know, since Remi and Ronin aren't the be all and end all of Flora's family, especially with the whole proposal think so recently taking place. "You're in a suspiciously good mood."

you wanted perfect, you got your perfect
but now I'm too perfect for someone like you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand

"That sounds like something a ghost would say." Flora counters playfully, though despite how quiet Jack could be when he wanted, he wasn't wrong that she hadn't been paying attention. She hadn't been paying attention to much in the few days it had been since Sunjata had proposed, in fact, not with the way her thoughts continually seemed to melt into cotton-candy shimmers that refused to entertain thoughts other than those worthy of a disney storyline.

"Mmmmm, but it is rather suspicious that the half who are grumpy about it have either died or deal with death on a regular basis." For once mention of Remi and Ronin doesn't put a dampen on the queen's thoughts; if anything the thick layer of iridescent radiance grows even stronger. "Mm?" Uncorking the rum with a satisfying PWOP, Flora pours them each a healthy portion into the glasses that Spice had just frosted. "Why shouldn't I be? Torchline has a new quest to work toward, nothing has attacked us recently, my mom got engaged, and I got to see my twin." Glancing at Jack through her lashes (in a cute way, not a kubrick way), Flora shrugs; and you're here, going unsaid but not unthought.

Holding out a glass for Jack to take before pulling it away before his fingers could wrap around it, the queen's smile turns playful. "How about a proper hello?"

JACK

"'Tis the season, I s'pose," Jack says with a shrug - Leafchange and Ludo and all. Still, if she still suspects him of being a ghost come Deepfrost, he'll delight in reminding her that phantoms have quite a difficult time touching anything in the real world. (And he has it on good authority that Flora quit enjoys being touched by him).

Having little else to offer but a wrinkle of his nose when it comes to the Taliesin demigods, Jack busies himself trying to stifle the urge to rub at his eyes, as if whatever has injected itself into Flora's thoughts and feelings has put a film over his telepathy that he can't help but want to wipe off. "Torchline is paradise everyday, but I've still seen you in a terrible mood in it," he points out, though the engagement and seeing her twin answers the question well enough.

As for his lacklustre greeting, Jack is still reaching for the glass of rum with one hand even as the other coils around Flora's waist to pull her up against him, their lips mere inches from one another. "Hello," he says, a wolfish smile forming around the word.

you wanted perfect, you got your perfect
but now I'm too perfect for someone like you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand

Jack can point out whatever he likes just so long as he's aware Flora will have an argument all ready and waiting for him. For instance, Enzo was basically a ghost, and he was able to touch and be touched. Maybe Jack was like that. Maybe Jack had died and as a trick Ludo hadn't told him; be on the look out for red, Jack.

"I mean, if you're that bothered by my good mood I'm sure I can think of something to be upset at you for." Shooting Jack a sideways glance, her lips pulling up into a smirk, the queen softly rolls her eyes. Seeing Enzo would be enough to have Flora on cloud 9 for weeks, but having just watched her mother get engaged? Hearing all the things Sunjata had to say about his and her mother's romance, seeing that it was possible to overcome obstacles that many said were impossible? If Jack hadn't known what Remi had meant when he'd warned him of Flora's romantic inclinations, the Valkyrie's upcoming wedding would help to clarify a few things.

Flora's laugh is squeezed into a much smaller sound of delight as she's tugged abruptly against Jack, though her smile only widens for the squeak that leaves her lips. "Hey," she hums in return, her gaze lifting to meet his. The blue of the captain's eyes had always been rather hard to look at for too long, not only because of how intense and calculating his gaze was, but because of how easy it was for her mind to conjure up a sea-blue ocean of forevers for her to drown in. "Nice to see you." She murmurs just as sweetly as Jack might have guessed based on the sugar-spun landscape of her thoughts.

JACK

"If I'd died and Ludo hadn't told me, I've got a feelin' Safrin might have somethin' to say about it," Jack points out with a wry raise of his eyebrows; especially what with the whole having three of his children part of their deal. "Though I s'pose you could burn that sage in your pockets if you want to see if it'll drive me away?" He assumes that was her intention anyway; Flora is a lot of things, but she's not quite quirky enough to stuff her clothes with herbs without a good reason.

And not to worry - the good captain is definitely beginning to understand the Doubletake's romantic inclinations, and he'd had a pretty good idea of it anyway. This is like her usual lofty dreamings on snapdragon, granted, and he has to take a breath before he says something inappropriately bitter or cynical. "Better to see you," he says instead, leaning in to close the distance between them with a kiss at the same time as he rescues the glass of rum from her hands, such that when he draws back he can take a well earned drink.

"Go on," he drawls, as if giving open permission for all of the thoughts swirling around in her head to take flight with words. "Tell me all about this proposal."

you wanted perfect, you got your perfect
but now I'm too perfect for someone like you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand

"Mmm, maybe that's why she's so keen to get her hooks into you." Flora suggests with a raise of her eyebrows despite knowing that this was an argument she was rapidly losing. As for the sage? Nibbling at the inside of her cheek and debating for a moment what Jack's reaction might be if she did light it and let the smoke waft around him, the queen gives her head a little shake. "Nah, not worth the risk." She purrs sappily. The worst part? She meant it. If there was even a chance that the sage might somehow dispel Jack from her kitchen, her house, or her life, it simply wasn't worth taking.

All but melting against him, as Jack pulls away from Flora no doubt it'll feel as if there are honeyed threads connecting his lips back to hers, such is the current texture of her thoughts. Despite knowing the captain's flattery to be a lie (it was fairly obvious that Flora was always happier to see him, than the other way around), as he always had, Jack made it so easy for her to believe him such his words sent a velveteen shiver through Flora's thoughts.

Squealing excitedly under her breath, the queen beams as she pulls back enough to grab her own glass of whiskey. "Ugh, it was so romantic. Sunjata told me about it weeks ago as you know, and in that time we got the Hanged Man all ready with drinks and decorations made just for her. And the rings! One was what he and Nate were going to use from way before, but then he made her a new one, as well, and--" Smiling almost too hard to continue, Flora's thoughts have begun to glow and burn with the second-hand high of seeing her mother so happy.

JACK

Scoffing under his breath - not worth the risk indeed - Jack is at risk of a sugar high being around Flora like this, and he can't decide whether he has a headache brewing or if he's just literally dizzied by the way her emotions fizz and sparkle with fairytale romance. With his glass in hand and his arm still cozied up around her waist, he settles back to lean against the counter and hear all about Sunjata the Charming.

And Hotaru the Charmed, of course.

Were it not for the mention of Nate in all of this, of course, things might have remained lovey dovey - and maybe Jack would have been carried away into cotton candy pinks and champagne bubbles, but the memory is so sudden he can't help but laugh. "I wonder what he would have made of all of this," he remarks, sipping at his drink. "Gods, I'd forgotten all about what was happenin' in Torchline when he was on the scene, after your mother burned down Sunjata's guild."

you wanted perfect, you got your perfect
but now I'm too perfect for someone like you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand

Having expected the captain to scoff during her retelling if only because of what she assumed his views on romance were (yeah yeah, Jack might like how all of this made Flora feel, but there was no doubt in her mind that he'd not seek it out on his own), she was surprised that his reaction was laughter. Raising her brows in an effort to deduce if he was mocking her approval of it all or not, she helps herself to a swallow of rum before answering.

"I mean...they already had the rings and were going to propose to her together, so...I assume he'd be all for it if he was still around?" Flora obviously thought there was something wonderfully dramatic and romantic about the fact that her mother had burned down the guild just to make her point to the Flood and Ranger, only to be able to laugh about it years later. "I...think she might have been pregnant with me back then, actually. I know Sunjata threw her in jail and Remi rescued her, and I don't think he'd have done that otherwise."

JACK

"I'm not mockin' you, love," Jack tells her easily enough, relaxing further back against the counter and clasping her a touch closer in a gesture comfortable enough to prove how far they've come with one another if nothing more. "I was just around for that - it was a mess. Can't say one way or another what he'd have thought about it now, but he wasn't happy when I leant him my magic, put it that way."

Shrugging, he puts the Nate of it all on a shelf in the back of his mind and slides his gaze back down towards Flora. "So does the big day have a date?" he wonders with an amused raise of his eyebrows. "And am I to assume I ought to go back to Stormbreak to get somethin' to wear for it?"

you wanted perfect, you got your perfect
but now I'm too perfect for someone like you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand

Searching the hard lines of Jack's face and knowing that she'd not find evidence of a lie there even if he had been, Flora softens almost immediately, sinking against him. "I guess maybe I don't think that messy is so bad." Though she's thinking first and foremost of things with Jack, she can't really think of a single relationship that she knew of where things had just gone well from the beginning. Maybe Deimos and Evie, but that seemed the exception rather than the rule.

"Nah, not yet. My mom is a planner so I'm sure she'll want to obsess over every little detail until it all comes out perfect." Whether or not Flora would one day be the same, not even the Doubletake knew. She'd like to think that while she'd make a big deal out of some aspects of getting married, that she wouldn't let herself get too carried away, but then...it was Flora. Placing thoughts of her own wedding under the flimsy mental shielding that her newest ring afforded her, the Doubletake happily latched onto thoughts of what Jack might wear instead.

"Or the tailor here. First, we'll have to see what season she decides to have it in, so you're safe for a while." Glad that Jack wasn't trying to riggle his way out of being her date (yet), Flora knew that eventually she'd have to peel herself away from him before the what ifs in her mind began to properly take root and she couldn't redirect her thoughts away from them, but for the moment she was utterly content to simply steal adoring glances up at him when she thought he wasn't looking. (Which, as a telepath, was basically never).

JACK

"Bodes well for us, then," Jack says with a smirk, and if he catches her hand - the one with the truth ring on it - to lift it to his lips to kiss, perhaps that will dispel whatever doubts he can sense creeping into her thoughts. "Between you and me, I reckon we've got 'em all beat on messy. We're practically a forbidden relationship, you know." Between Safrin's children, disastrous family dinners and clandestine plans for his demise (not that Jack is aware of that right now), they are never short on drama.

"Oh, so this will involve standin' on that gods-awful step again," he drawls as she mentions the tailor, the captain now well acquainted with the standing around aspect of having clothes fitted after Stormbreak. Tipping his head back to empty his glass, he sets it down to free his hand, promptly drawing Flora up against him properly. "Go on," he invites. "Take a good look before I get distracted buildin' your furniture."

you wanted perfect, you got your perfect
but now I'm too perfect for someone like you

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!