[God Quest] straight on til morning

JACK

hellraiser
risk taker

It hasn't been all that long since his previous visit to this shrine, but the Captain who arrives at the top of the barrow is a different man to the one who was here last. It would be incorrect to say he's no longer sailing the rough seas that had plagued him when he'd last petitioned Safrin here - betrayal and hurt are not so simple - but he seems to have his hands back on the wheel now.

Midnight is fast approaching, the stars ablaze overhead and a too-hot breeze carrying with it the distant scent of smoke and fire, but Jack ignores it in lieu of the offerings he sets out. Igniting the shrine candles and protecting them from any wayward gales, he spends a little time clearing away dead leaves and flowers before, as always, placing his own tributes.

Tonight brings with it a bottle of sweet honey-wine and a set of pearl earrings that have been painstakingly carved into intricate stars; a pale imitation of Safrin's beauty overhead, but a work of art for mortals nevertheless. As always - and despite the celestial goddess's remarks - Jack takes a knee before the shrine, his shirt billowing and half open, sleeves rolled high enough to bare the tattoo along the inside of his wrist.

"Safrin," he says. "I've done as you asked."

---

Jack is turning in the quest given here: strut when you're bluffin', double or nothin' to upgrade his Compass Rose Tattoo and increase its range:

Compass Rose Tattoo | A celestial tattoo on Jack's inner wrist that will teleport him to his cabin on the Ark. Range: within the same board.
Type: Grey | Style: Other | Level: Basic | Cost: Action

Requirements:

1. Help someone get somewhere faster than normal
the next best thing will do - Helped Charlie get off faster than normal thanks to his Telepathy

2. Witness longer range teleportion (either coming or going) whose range extends outside of just one board
let me stop you right there - Witnessed Remi teleporting away in the Grotto after they ran into one another.

3. Sail the Ark through an entirely new board, somewhere he's never been before.
storm's coming - Sailed the Ark through the skies over the Feverlands board to see the entire swamp from above.

4. Leave the Ark an entire board away, considering what it's like to be that far from her
divin' in quicksand's faster than sinkin' - Left the Ark in the Feverlands and travelled to the Oerwoud. Hated being away from her the whole time.

full speed ahead
'til i'm dead

safrin

Safrin's hands are suddenly on The Captain's cheeks, cool and warm all at once, fingers firm as she tilts his face upward without asking permission. Moon-pale skin gleams with a dusting of gold, constellations drifting lazily beneath the surface as though her body were merely a suggestion laid over a living sky. Her thoughts meet his telepathy in a controlled cascade; galaxies folding in on themselves, stars igniting and dying in elegant silence, the immense awareness of a goddess who has known every version of night. She dials it back deliberately, compressing infinity into something his magic can survive, though even tempered it presses against him like standing too close to the heart of a sun.

"Well done, Jack," she purrs, approval rich and unmistakable. The words resonate through more than sound; they settle into him, weighty and intoxicating, threaded with satisfaction. Her thumbs brush lightly beneath his eyes, a fleeting acknowledgment of effort, of endurance, before her attention shifts and her gaze drops to his wrist.

Safrin releases his face only to catch his tattooed arm, fingers circling his wrist as she draws his hand upward—and with it, him—until he’s no longer kneeling so low beneath her scrutiny. She studies the celestial compass inked into his skin with open approval before her fingers sweep across the tattoo, and where she touches, the ink responds. Gold bleeds into the edges of the compass rose, not painted atop it but woven through. The lines glow, subtle but unmistakable, their reach stretching outward, farther, finer, more attuned than before.

---

Jack has completed his quest and his compass tattoo has been upgraded:

Compass Rose Tattoo | A celestial tattoo on Jack's inner wrist that will teleport him to his cabin on the Ark. Range: within the same or adjacent boards.

JACK

hellraiser
risk taker

Safrin's presence, as always, floods through Jack's magic to set every nerve alight in a collision of pleasure and pain that's always on the verge of too much, but leaves him wanting it again and again anyway. Her hands cradling his cheeks are a balm, his head tilting up to meet the light of infinite galaxies, constellations given form both delicate and dangerous. "Thank you," he hears himself say, but it's a distant murmur to the imperceptible roar of the cosmos that arranges itself around them.

He rises to his feet as if entirely under Safrin's command, which isn't altogether a lie - only a goddess can bring Jack Barclay to his knees so frequently and so willingly, after all. And despite the things he's done to achieve this quest (looking at you, Charlie), now that he's back in her orbit, Safrin is as much the ending and beginning as was when Jack had first encountered her.

Watching the tattoo on the inside of his wrist warp and change, he feels the thrum of power that comes along with it with clear satisfaction. "A pleasure doing business, as always."

The Captain will linger in that residual starlight long after Safrin's presence fades, wiping the blood from his nose caused by the gentle collision of her mind against his own, and only when he's good and ready does he brush his fingers across his tattoo, its magic whisking him back home.

~FIN

full speed ahead
'til i'm dead