[Training] feelin' fantastic, i'm fuckin' fantastic

JACK

"Then maybe it's time you get 'em back," Jack suggests quietly, glancing over his shoulder at her as he laces his boots, using the chair behind his desk to assist since things like leaning over are still a bitch at times. "I'm all for callin' 'em bastards and holdin' a grudge, but sometimes you gotta take a winning hand over a clever one." Sighing and rubbing at the back of his neck before straightening up, he scoffs at the flicker of Flora's thoughts.

"How am I s'posed to sit around all day when you wake up terrified every time you sleep?" he asks, as if that's justification all on its own. "I'll drop by the houseboat when we're done and find out." And as for Flora and her skillset, Jack opens the cabin door for her and nods for her to duck out first. "Well I just found out that all the shit I am good for in a fight means fuck all against Pierce. So I guess we're both gonna go figure it out."

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

"Easier said than done." Flora counters a touch briskly, though the thorns that grow around her thoughts have everything to do with how easily she'd been knocked down by Pierce rather than having interpreted Jack's comment as being overly flippant. "I did tell Remi that I'd forgive them both if they brought you back to life." She adds, slipping into her shoes. While Flora quite enjoyed holding a grudge, especially one as righteous as that she'd held over Ronin and Remi, it wasn't worth wasting Jack's revivify feather over in the long run.

Interpreting Jack's words as being his brand of caring rather than cutting, still the Doubletake swallows slowly in acknowledgement. It wasn't her fault that nightmares tore her from sleep most nights, and that in so doing she was helpless to do anything but reach for Jack, but equally she hated how much she forced it to affect the captain.

"So what, you wanna arm wrestle?" Raising her eyebrows as she slips past Jack and onto the corridor which would lead them to the upper deck, the queen grins. "Normally I think I could take you, but right now you'd have a definite advantage." You know, on account of her shoulder being well and truly fucked up.

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky

JACK

"Hey," Jack says a touch sharply, pausing in the doorway so he might snag his arm around her waist as she moves to walk through it, drawing her flush against his side. "I didn't mean it like that. Your nightmares bother me because of how they make you feel, not because of how they affect me." Though his blue eyes are tired, they still simmer with cold fire and a determination that promises blood and retribution for The Family and every ounce of pain they've caused Flora.

"And I was thinkin' more that I ought to hone the skills I've got beyond magic. I've gotten too reliant on it - Pierce only proved that." Releasing her to lead her up to the deck where, yes, they'll find Seven sunning herself and snoozing, Jack rolls his shoulders and takes a deep breath. Lightning and ice and gales were all well and good if he could use them, and apparently that won't always be the case. "Let me check in on everythin', and we'll head out," he says.

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

Spinning on her heel as Jack reaches out, the way he draws her against him might have looked choreographed had anyone been around to witness it. Softening, Flora places a hand softly against the captain's chest, allowing both magic and affection to spill from her fingertips. "I know." Splaying her fingers against his skin, the queen mentally groans at her inability to properly wrap her arms tightly around him. "You're the only thing that makes it all feel like it'll be okay." Flora whispers as if it were some horrible admission she was forcing herself to say; her aqua eyes fall away from where the depths of Jack's blue gaze threaten to swallow her whole, if only because she knows how easy it would be to let them. "I just..wish I could get over it."

Drumming her fingers against him with a sombre smile before peeling away and stepping out into the corridor, Flora makes her way toward the upper deck. "I'll be here." Kneeling down to fuss at Seven—the cat cracking open one eye and appraising the queen as if deciding whether or not haughtily moving was worth giving up her current spot in the sun—Flora can only smirk at the feline, having seen precisely that look on Jack's face a hundred times when the pair had been getting to know one another.

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky

JACK

Getting over it will take time, Jack might have said, but he isn't going to tell Flora something she already knows, so it's with a brief nod to her that he sets off across the deck, his open shirt billowing out in the morning breeze, his eyes overbright with fatigue. Seven, at least, makes for more than adequate company, and once she gets over her initial haughtiness (and the playful roll that exposes her belly and invites chaos to any hand that tries to touch it) she appreciates the fuss, arguably, much more readily than Jack.

By the time the captain returns the feline is trying to tangle around her legs, mrrrrping up at the two fo them in greeting before promptly fleeing towards the main mast, tail high and hooked. "So you are a cat person," Jack says, a slanted smile on his face as he gestures for them to depart off the ship. "All's in order. Let's go - I figure we can drop by the Notice Board and the Court and go from there." To dig for information and then, presumably, to beat each other up.

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

Shooting the captain a crooked smile, Flora arches a brow as Seven runs off. "They're an acquired taste," she hums before straightening and brushing her fingertips across Jack's bare chest, above his bandages. "But yeah, I guess you could say I'm a cat person now." Meeting his gaze, Flora no longer had to wonder or worry over whether or not her expressions properly communicated all the things she wanted them to; at least not with Jack. So it was that even as her eyes sparkled with mischief and her lips twisted into a crooked grin, it was her thoughts that confirmed which confirmed that yes, she was a very particular kind of cat person, now.

"I put up a notice about Pierce the other day. I doubt anything will actually come of it." Pulling a hair elastic off her wrist, Flora twists her curls high on top of her head as she sashays off of the gangplank. "I have a meeting with Hadama tomorrow too...you think he'll argue if I say we're declaring war?" As serious as she was joking, the queen glances over her shoulder at Jack before pausing at the bottom of the platform for him.

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky

JACK

"Aren't we all?" Jack purrs; an acquired taste, he means, the captain snatching up her fingers as they dance across his chest, pressing his lips to them before letting them drop once more so they might disembark. Pausing to allow Flora to go first (he hates to see her go but he loves to watch her leave, and so on), Jack follows with her crooked smile cemented in his mind and her swaying hips front and centre.

"Hm? Well, you can't make people react to the knowledge, but at least you can give it to 'em," he mutters, rolling his shoulder in a shrug and stepping off the platform onto the boardwalk and slipping an arm around Flora's waist. "An' I can almost guarantee he'll argue. The Family's only taken umbridge with you right now remember, love. Make it a Torchline problem an' I doubt you'll win many friends."

Meandering away from the harbour and into the sand cobblestones of Haulani proper, the captain's tired eyes nonetheless grow sharp with a familiar (to Flora, at least) focus as he combs the crowds for thoughts about The Family, about Pierce, about the void and Starfall.

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

"Some of us more than others," Flora hums in response before sipping in a shivery breath at the immensely satisfying clash of rough scruff around Jack's mouth combined with the softness of his lips against her fingertips. Though the captain wasn't the sort to lift her off her feet and spin her around as a means of showing affection, the little things he did do had all but the same effect on the Doubletake given the way he used to grumble at nothing more than her tucking an arm around his waist.

"You think?" Naively, or maybe she was just tired, Flora had thought that Hadama would support a decision to call Starfall on its bullshit. "So....maybe once this Stargate thing is done we work to block out members of the Family from entering Torchline?" Making friends, or losing them, rather, wasn't something Flora was particularly concerned with; but inviting harm to her shores? Selfish and rash as the queen could be, even she didn't want to do that. Still, playing defence wasn't really her style.

Keeping her hand above the line of Jack's bandages, Flora leaves the mental scrutiny to Jack as they meander through the crowd. "So, what do you feel up for? Footsie under the table? A thumb war? Maybe an arm wrestle?" In all seriousness, given their injuries the Doubletake thought it best if they made their way toward where her Dads were fixing up Sunjata's old boxing ring. Blockers and gloves seemed about their speed given the state of their bodies.

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky

JACK

Very content to be the most acquired of tastes, Jack's scrutiny of the general crowd reduces by degrees as they walk until he leaves it as a light touch, allowing him to focus on the conversation at hand. "Everyone's thinkin' about The Family and Starfall to some extent, some more actively than others," he mutters; sharing such things with Flora is fair game as queen even without taking their relationship into consideration. "Nothin' interestin', though." People were just worried, which one could easily expect, especially with the recent news of Flora's (brief) death.

Nodding his agreement at her idea, Jack glances sidelong at the Doubletake. "It's what I'd do. If nothin' else you can feel safe on your own shores." They all could.

Rolling his shoulders and trying to force them to relax as he realises the direction they're heading, Jack scoffs and glances down at his free hand. "I reckon I could take you in a thumb war," he says, before giving it the thought it deserves. "You ever boxed?" he wants to know. "I was considerin' some good old fashioned target practice if you're not up to gettin' up close and personal."

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

"Well, hopefully that keeps their eyes and ears open." She mutters under her breath, before returning the captain's stare over her shoulder. "I hate it, Jack." Flora's thoughts grow barbed and wirey, and while she does her best to keep her lips from curling into a snarl, her mind becomes a hostile and vengeful place. "That they've managed to get everyone so scared, me included. That we're always on the back foot, that..." Having noticed the way her grip around Jack's side had grown increasingly more claw-shaped, the Doubletake forces out a long breath through her nose. "...I know you're right, and I'll talk to Hadama about it." But I hate it here.

"Oh yeah? That's big talk for a man who couldn't even do up his own buttons this morning." Flora points out; couldn't, or couldn't be bothered? Same thing, for the sake of her argument. "A few times. One of the dragoons gave me a lesson not too long ago." The colour of the queen's thoughts grows a shade teasing as she imagines her and Zavien's training session, with Flora deliberately improving a scene wherein the dragoon had been very particular with the position of her hips and torso just to annoy Jack.

"I do have my daggers." Shrugging, it was probably better for both of them to aim at targets. Not only did the thought of Jack hitting her not strike Flora as being particularly good for their relationship, no matter their goals, but truly neither of them was in a position to do more than jab or block in ways that would likely do more harm than good.

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky

JACK

Jack winces as the shape of Flora's hand against him threatens to dig into bruises that, while they hadn't been responsible for his actual death, are still bone deep and healing. Still, he schools away the expression as he glances down at the Doubletake, pausing conveniently just a half street away from the old boxing ring so he can tilt up her chin to meet his eyes. "You're queen of a region, and what you say here goes," he whispers to her. "Don't let bein' caught out in the Greatwood make you forget that."

Kissing her, however briefly it might be, Jack's hand around her waist has already strayed southwards even before she starts thinking shady thoughts about a Dragoon he's confident he can take in a fight, even if not any time soon. "You keep this up and I'll find some good lookin' Dragoons of my own to train with," he sasses, sure that jealousy can run both ways in their partnership.

For now, though - target practice. "And I have mine, conveniently enough," he says, setting off once again. His daggers might not be magical and poisonous, and he should probably invest in a real weapon for cases where his magic is neutered, as Flora once put it, but it won't be today.

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

Wanting to hold her chin high on her own but finding she didn't have the energy, instead Flora searches Jack's gaze, finding as much reassurance in his words as in the unwavering sea-blue of his eyes. Happily silenced by the press of his mouth against hers, though the queen doesn't deepen the kiss (not with how it would likely see her derailing their training session given how long it had been since she'd been able to have sex with the captain (a week being an eternity for someone like Flora)), she does linger long enough for her thoughts to blush with rosegold.

"I'd bring popcorn." Flora whispers against his lips, her smile wicked as she pulls back, her thoughts growing lurid and sharp as she imagines a predictable enough montage of sweaty bodies and blocked punches, followed by the tried and true storyline of oh no, I seem to have an erection from all those jostling around, which eventually became a faceless foursome in some dark locker room.

"What, that knife you keep in your boot?" Of the two of them Flora is certainly judgier when it comes to daggers, and while it'll be more than good enough for what they're aiming to do today, the Doubletake can't help but poke fun. "Maybe for your birthday I should exchange the mageglass ring I was going to give you for a better knife."

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky

JACK

"Mm, I bet," Jack purrs, giving her a nudge on her good side for her trouble, given the flush that overtakes her thoughts and the lurid slant of them as they duck into the derelict building. It isn't good for much besides being an empty space, but it's better than being out in the open and having people stand by to watch as they fail and limp around to collect their thrown knives.

"You apologise to that knife in my boot right now," Jack snips at her, bracing a hand against the wall so he can lift his leg and withdraw said blade. "It's saved my hide more times'n I can count." Alright, not against demigods or void nightmares or members of The Family, but come on, the captain hasn't always been on the hit list for the big maniacal beasties of the world.

"Go on," he invites, "show me what I'm up against."

you're the last of a dying breed; write our names in the wet concrete
I wonder if your therapist knows everything about me

Code stolen from Queen Sky

Flora

"I'll kiss it better if you can outthrow me." Flora quips back, watching with a crooked smile as Jack braced himself on the wall in order to reach his knife. Something about the way he didn't have to hide the vulnerability that came part and parcel with healing from murder made her heart skip a beat, silly as that was.

"You got it." Bold talk for someone whose dominant arm had been the one which was injured. Reaching for her dagger, Flora rolled her right shoulder a few times, feeling the familiar stiffness that immediately had her joints feeling like glass was being ground between them. Exhaling as steadily as she could (aka not at all), the queen tensed the muscles of her stomach in order to steady her aim, before forcing her arm to twist back and release. The motion was jerky with the blade going wide. It stuck in the wooden frame of one of the walls well enough, but it was at the expense of a shooting jet of pain snarling up Flora's arm and into her shoulder that had her gasping and clutching her free hand over her shoulder.

I don't like that falling feels like flying
'til the bone crush

Code stolen from Queen Sky