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

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

"So old." Flora agrees, and while the smile on her lips is small and tentative, the sunshine that begins to burn through the clouds in her mind is significantly brighter. Accepting the bottle with a hum of thanks, the Doubletake takes a large sip, gasping against the back of her hand as the burn forces her lips apart.

As he might have expected, his words have flower petals unfurling in Flora's mind revealing buds which had closed up as if for the winter the second he'd lifted her up onto the counter. Setting down the bottle of rum well within Jack's grasp, Flora reaches out for the bottom of his sweater, tangling her fingers into the soft material as if to fix him in place without her touch feeling like a tether. "I love hearing you laugh." The queen admits almost shyly as she gazes up at him, her lower lashes shiny with teardrops.

"What about...what you said before?" On the coast, after the lighthouse. "That I made you feel weak?" Presumably he hadn't meant the knees-buckling kind or he'd not have said it with such disdain in his voice.

JACK

Taking back the rum as if needing the liquid courage that spiders through his veins with every sip, Jack steps closer as her fingers wrap around the hem of his sweater, aiming to stand back between her knees. "I know," he says with a crooked smile, because of course he knows. It might have been easy to continue feeding Flora those admissions, because he's far from finished, but as she continues, he gives her question the thought it deserves.

"The way I feel about you makes me vulnerable in a way I've never been before," he mutters; the disdain has always been for himself rather than Flora in that respect. "However capable you are, however many connections you've got... if someone did get hold of you, to get to me... they could ask me for almost anythin', if it meant you were alright."

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

It would have been naive for Flora to just shake her head and say that those particular set of circumstances would never come about; for as young as she was, the Doubletake knew better than most how long shots had a habit of becoming fact when you least expected them. It would be easy, too, for her to just shrug off his concerns given the particular brand of immortality that protected her virtue of Ronin's magic. A good amount of pain could be inflicted on her in the time it would take Jack or her parents to find her if someone suitably clever came along, and no doubt that was the sort of eventuality that the captain had in mind.

"I'm sorry." It's all she can think to say; understanding more about Jack's history and how hard he'd had to fight and work to get to where he was, Flora supposed she could understand a bit better why her love felt like a cross for him to bear. Letting her other leg drop so that she could lean forward, her legs tangling around his waist to drag him closer, Flora presses her cheek against Jack's chest. Pressing her eyes closed, savouring the smell of the ocean that clung to him as much as the scent of tobacco and wood, she released her hold on the bottom of his sweater in order to wrap both arms around him.

"Do you hate when I tell you I love you?" Flora whispers, the words almost lost in the fabric of his sweater given the subconscious way she's already turning to try and hide herself from the answer.

JACK

"Don't be sorry - just be careful," Jack mutters, one of his arms winding around her waist as she all but pins him against her, his other hand teasing through those perfectly arranged curls as if to ensure they remain flawless even as she wraps herself around him. Her next question is surprising enough to drag a huff of laughter from Jack's throat, the captain's eyebrows raising as he glances down at her. "No," he says, simple as that.

"It's just not somethin' I've heard all that often, especially not from someone I care about." Not unlike an abused animal unused to affection, he's as suspicious of her love as much as he seeks it out. "And I know what people usually say in return, so it feels awkward, sometimes, lettin' the silence draw out."

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

"Oh, okay." Rolling her eyes against him, careful was as much a part of Flora's nature as being fashionable was of Jack's. Not impossible, but certainly not common practice. "For you I guess I can try, though." She adds softly, her arms tightening around him as amusement fractures in thin bands through her thoughts.

No; it doesn't occur to Flora to wonder if Jack's answer would have been different if she'd kept her rings on, because even if it was a lie, it was one he'd chosen. "I never say it expecting you to say it back, or to try and...you know, make you, or whatever." Sitting up, the slightly red-rimmed tint around her eyes compliments of her tears making the blue of her gaze all the more vibrant in comparison, Flora reaches for the bottle of rum. "I will say, for a telepath it's shockingly difficult to convince you that I do love you." Shooting Jack an amused look before hiding her smirk behind the bottle, the Doubletake helps herself to a more measured drink before holding it out for him.

"Will..." Though the warmth of the rum has loosened her shoulders away from her ears, it hasn't loosened her tongue quite enough for her to get the words out. Swallowing, Flora merely peers up at Jack; will you ever be able to love me? Not just would he want to, but was it even possible? Her mind flinched and shivered to even think the words, like a mirror made liquid seconds after it had been shattered.

JACK

Well, luckily for Flora - and in large part thanks to her - Jack has become increasingly fashionable as the seasons pass, and with enough practice it will likely become second nature. Perhaps the Doubletake might take a leaf out of his book when it comes to being more careful? The captain doubts it, but as she rightly says (well, thinks), it's not impossible. "I'd appreciate that," he drawls.

Accepting the rum back from her the moment she offers it, Jack's pull from the bottle is not as measured, and though he can already feel the effects of the liquor in the lightness of his limbs and the way it's becoming easier by degrees to answer Flora's questions, he doesn't plan on stopping until the bottle is empty. "I know," he mumbles through a sigh, one that warps into a dry laugh at her follow up remark. "Everyone's got their issues, love."

Daddy issues, daddy issues, chaos junkie, mommy issues--

Blinking back down at Flora as her words fade into thoughts, Jack is seized by the sudden urge to slip her rings back onto her fingers. He doesn't, of course, but his answer feels like something she should know is true. "I fuckin' hope so, Flora," he mutters. "I hate bein' like this. More now than ever."

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

"I'll always find a way back to you." It's an easier thing to promise than just being careful, not that she won't try. "And anything you give up in the process...I'll get it back." If his crew are lost, she'll slip into Mort's halls herself to get them back (who, if not the Doubletake with a twin locked away in Mort's realm, was more up to the task?). If the Ark is stolen, she'll call in every demigod on Caido to reclaim her. And if she was lost for good? Flora would bargain with Vi himself to procure another ship for the captain. "Another idea is for you to just...I dunno, stick around me to make sure I'm not doing anything careless." Teasingly said, there's no part of Flora that wouldn't welcome seeing the days that often came between the two begin to dwindle.

Huffing an adoring laugh of her own, Flora's fingers anxiously tug at the back of Jack's sweater as he stares down at her. For however well she's gotten to know him over the past few months, like a good sailor with the sea, she doesn't presume to know with complete certainty what the various shades of blue she sees in his eyes mean.

The gasp of relief that shoves its way passed her lips has Flora blinking in surprise, before reeling from the warmth that suddenly blankets her. If there was an hourglass ticking their time away, Jack's answer had knocked it on its side where the grains could only sift and spill, but not fall. Leaning up as she'd done before, this time Flora's kiss isn't meant to chase away things she thought they'd both want to avoid, but instead to reinforce all the things that they had managed to say. Gods I love you comes quickly on the heels of, that's more than good enough, Jack, as Flora's tongue dots the i's with hearts and crosses her t's with flourishes.

JACK

"If you are careless enough to get us both into that sort of situation, it's the least I'll expect," Jack informs her haughtily, though the smile that threatens at the corners of his lips gives him away. He has no doubt that Flora means it, of course, and though he wants to tell her that there is no replacement for The Ark, for now it's enough that she'd try. "Careless like tryin' to build a piece of furniture without any tools?" he wonders. "Or careless like runnin' across the beach to fight a void sea panther? Because I've been around for both of those, and it didn't stop you."

Welcoming the return of some of their easier banter, Jack has reached out to set the bottle of rum down for now when the Doubletake's gasp reaches his ears. His telepathy, a little slower on the uptake thanks to the liquor, has just enough time to register the flush of heat and unfettered delight before Flora's lips are claiming his own; it's a good thing he's already braced against her, because otherwise he'd be liable to fall.

Kissing her back with the sort of passion usually reserved for desperate goodbyes or reunions, or I thought you were deads, Jack slips his hands beneath her thighs so he might lift her off the counter to properly anchor her around him. "Here's to not tripping on the way up the stairs." He smirks.

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

"What, like when I dragged you with me to try and destroy that shrine?" Years ago now, it had quite literally almost been the death of her, and had Jack not been around, probably would have. In those days when he'd been her daydream and she'd been nothing more than Remi's jailbait daughter, he'd still managed to show up almost every time she'd needed him to to keep her safe. "Mmm, guess that's on you for not stopping me." Flora counters brightly.

The tension built up over the past few moments finally releases, and with it the colours of Flora's mind begin to once again sparkle and shine. Not all of her champagne bubbles had been popped by Jack's barbs or thorns, and even those which had simply pooled in shimmering puddles of gold. Moaning unnecessary encouragement if only to feel the hum of her lips against his, the Doubletake clutches Jack closer, her legs tightening around his waist as he lifts her from the counter. "You break it, you buy it." Grinning, Flora's palms lift Jack's chin back toward her waiting mouth in order to steal another kiss.

"I really have been thinking all day about how to use the couch though, so don't you dare get ahead of yourself." She warns, perhaps unfairly, given the way she'd all but anchored herself against him while her tongue and lips only hinted at the things she wanted him to do to her.

JACK

"Mm, just like that," Jack says, his brow furrowing suddenly as he peers up at her as if realising for the first time just how often he's been dragged into the Doubletake's shenanigans. "Maybe I'll make more of an effort to stop you from now on," he decides; he's probably in a better position to do so than he ever has been before, and gods know the captain is never keen on unnecessary heroics. Perhaps he can pin Flora down the next time the urge to do something dangerous seizes her.

What's that supposed to mean? he might have asked had his lips not been claimed once more in a kiss; to Jack's credit, he only stumbles twice as he heads upstairs with her in his arms, and he doesn't drop her either time - so, you know, winning. "I wasn't plannin' to," he assures her, despite how she's tangled herself around him.

Indeed, he still does plan to build her couch - and to use it - before the night is through, but surprising perhaps no one more than himself, as Jack barges his way into Flora's bedroom and makes a beeline for her bed, there are no further heated kisses or wandering hands. Collapsing into the sheets, the captain does little more than pin Flora beneath him, nosing against the side of her neck and shifting just enough to take the bundles of sage from her pockets and discard them.

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's right Jack; going on about 5 years now you've been swirling around the Doubletake's orbit, sharing first kisses on wandering islands and watching Flora get herself into more and more trouble to try and prove how unrattled (and worthy of your attention) she was. "Best of luck." The queen trills in a sing-song voice, her thoughts immediately growing mischievous as she tries to think of ways for them to test Jack's conviction.

"-and when do things ever go to plan-" Flora wants to know as Jack nudges her door open, her lips having moved away from his in order to wander toward the sharp cliff of his jaw and further down. Laughing into the crook of the captain's neck as he pins her, the queen wriggles animatedly to try and obfuscate whatever it was he was doing--and if it made her tank top shift up a touch to reveal more of her stomach, so be it. "Hey!" Hearing and feeling what Jack had done rather than seeing it, Flora huffs into the captain's dark hair as she tries to hook a leg around his waist as if she was the one pinning him in place. "That isn't helping your case about not being a ghost." She points out, her words as drenched with laughter as her thoughts were.

JACK

Never, Jack wants to say - things never seem to go to plan, but that isn't always a bad thing. Still, for all of Flora's wriggling about, he really doesn't intend to get ahead of himself before he manages to construct her couch with its very particular specifications. "Who ever said ghosts didn't like sage?" he wants to know, smirking into the crook of her neck and nevertheless refusing to relent until her pockets are free of bulky bundles of herbs.

Relaxing at last, Jack shifts enough to curl himself more or less against the Doubletake, his thoughts rum-drenched and exhausted. "Humour me for a few minutes?" he requests, his voice muffled against her, his eyes already slipping shut. One day when Flora is also so old, she'll appreciate a nap, he assumes. For now, all he asks is that she let him enjoy his own with the scent of jasmine and citrus and the warmth of her body close by.

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

Opening her mouth to answer, Flora finds nothing at all coming to mind such that when she closes her mouth, her lips curl into a catlike smirk. "You know? That's a good point." Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, one of her hands combs through his hair backwards, displacing the careful way both he and the sea breezes had kept it thus far, before teasing it back again.

"Mm?" Her brows lift as the captain, much to her surprise, doesn't menacingly slither his way between her thighs or do any of the wicked sorts of things she's come to expect from him anytime they're even remotely horizontal together. "Of course." Filled with a buoyant and bright sense of awe, as Flora adjusts herself to better fill in the spaces between them, she bites at her lower lip before finding she was helpless to stop the words that tumbled from them. "Just to be clear, is this you snuggling, entirely of your own free will?" It's the sort of question she's sure will earn a roll of his eyes and something muttered under his breath, and no doubt if he could he'd swat away the butterflies which have taken flight from her belly before taking up residence in her mind.

JACK

"I do make 'em, sometimes." Good points, he means, and when such an admission comes from Flora, Jack will take the win where he can get it. His head tilts forward almost instinctively as her fingers ruffle through the back of his hair, brows furrowing as if he can't decide whether or not he enjoys the sensation. Evidently it doesn't bother him enough to comment on it.

And although she might expect a roll of his eyes at her question, instead the captain works a hand between them so he might press his finger to her lips. "If you bring attention to it, it'll be ruined," he tells her gruffly; it's only because Jack isn't thinking too hard about any of this that he's able to relax so completely into her arms. (The precursor of their little heart to heart probably helped, too).

"Unless you've got a problem with 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!