[SE] the poetry of the earth

I wanna taste love and pain, I wanna feel pride and shame

I watch as he lights a cigarette in the middle of his own storm, like the wind is bending around him on purpose. It probably is. And I’m sure he knows it looks cool. Still—I’m impressed. Control like that says a lot.

I let out a quiet, amused breath through my nose.

Worked, didn’t it.

When the storm fades and the sun cuts through again, the garden shines a little—wet grass catching the light, water clinging to petals like the maze wasn’t full of hungry moss and pissy vipers. I still smile at the sight, even if it’s a little more hostile than I remembered.

“You’re not kidding about out-of-control magic,” I murmur, eyes drifting to the jagged stone he pulled from the ground. I glance back at him. “But… doesn’t seem that out of control to me.”

I shift my weight and glance once more toward the hedge. It's still. No vipers. No creeping vines. Just wind-tossed roses pretending they’ve done nothing wrong.

“Wasn’t exactly the outing I planned,” I admit, looking back at him. “But so far, running into you hasn’t been quite the disaster you keep acting like it is.” I offer a small grin, then nod once. “Think I’m gonna call it too, though. I came looking for some nostalgia, not vipers.”

Theea

I don't wanna take my time, I don't wanna waste one line

JACK

"Mine ain't as a rule, no," Jack says, the words almost muttered under his breath. Then again they're in a relatively calm environment, vipers aside, and Theea hasn't seen him especially rattled or pissed off or in any of his other feelings. At that point, even the greatest control can lose its grip, and Jack is often guilty of having to wipe frost off his hands or brush static from his clothes.

Raising his eyebrows at the not disaster of their meeting, her remark is enough to surprise a scoff of laughter out of him, and Jack turns, cigarette between his lips, to start strolling away back down the pathway that has led up towards the Queen's Gambit. "Well," he says, "if you're headed in my direction, maybe the disaster'll show up yet. Either way, at least the vipers have fucked off."

And whether or not Theea accompanies him back to the Boondocks, at least the rest of the afternoon should be void-free.

~FIN

when I look at something, I see it for what it could be
when I look at something, I see how it ends

Code stolen from Queen Sky