dazing in the dark

JACK

"We've been more'n a glorified cargo ship since we first set sail on the Arclight," Jack drawls with all the easy arrogance of a man who knows a reputation doesn't disappear just because things have gone quiet for a while; the reaction they received when they last put down anchor in Torchline proved that much. His smile twists a little sharper at the subtle challenge in her voice, the way they circle each other now like sharks in the water without ever needing to move an inch. "No," he says, "it's a promise."

His hand threads further through the JANUARY EMBERS fiery silk of her hair, threatening to tighten at any moment, but he stills as she abandons her cigarette to twine herself closer. This is still something Jack is learning, this casual touch and intimacy, though with every day that passes it's a space he's more comfortable occupying, especially for The Ark. Only for The Ark.

"Mm, touché," he purrs, the reminder of life with a body one that he's as receptive to hearing as she is to giving it. "In your defence, patience was somethin' I had to learn, too." He's a master of it now, but those first few years were an exercise in exuberance and recklessness, in testing limits and breaking them just to find out where the ripples would go. That reputation, too, still has its roots in some people's minds, he knows.

Leaning in until the blue of her eyes is all there is, framed in a crimson halo, Jack winks. "That's the course we're on," he tells her, all easy confidence and steadfast decision-making. "Stay it with me, an' you won't be disappointed. But since you're able to give me a piece of your mind these days, I s'pose I can let loose a bit more when the wind goes too still. How's that sound?"

no more than I was or than I want to be
when you fall on me like night, I wanna kill the lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

her fight and fury's fiery, oh but she loves like sleep to the freezing

Her grin darkens at the promise in his voice, at the way his hand shifts in her WINTER FIRE hair as though he might pull her closer or raise her sails and see what wind she’ll take. She feels the moment he stills, too, feels the old care in it, but her thoughts don’t catch on the pause. She has enough certainty for them both, settled easy in the space between his knees and wrapped around him, knowing just where she belonged even if it still occasionally took him by surprise. 

"Oh, I remember," she says, laughing softly beneath her breath at the thought of him younger and sharper-edged, throwing them into danger with that same bright certainty and somehow pulling them clear by the skin of their teeth. There’s affection in it, not nostalgia softened into something fragile, but the warm familiarity of a storm she’s weathered often enough to know its shape.

As he leans close, she can smell snow still clinging to him beneath the mulled wine and tobacco. For a moment her smile gentles, blue eyes holding his with something open and unguarded. "I never have been," she says, meaning disappointed, the words quieter than the rest but no less certain. Then mischief returns, slow and brightening, her fingers slipping idly through his hair as though she’s considering the idea properly. "And maybe the next time it stills, it could at least be somewhere I can swim?" The request is light in its delivery, but there’s a deeper pull beneath it, a restlessness that has nothing to do with contracts or ledgers or which region might prove most interesting to anchor in. Water is not merely a place for her to visit; it is the first language of her body, the one place where flesh and hull and soul stop feeling like separate things. Too long away from it given the cold, save for brief and awkward crossings toward the desert where even the skyport leaves her stranded far from the tide given its placement miles from the water, and she has begun to feel hemmed in beneath her own skin.

sweet and right and merciful, all but washed in the tide of her breathing

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

JACK

Jack will never tire of those shared memories, the ones she's kept in her sails and her hull for so long they're almost faded, even to the Captain. The fact that she's got a voice to laugh at them now is enough to remind him of all the things he is and all the things they've done and accomplished together. Even more-so; all the things they have left to do, and as her thoughts warm further he finds himself relaxing, unaware of the tension that had begun to creep into his shoulders and up the back of his neck.

"I'll do you one better," he suggests, realising suddenly that he's holding the shape of water in his hands, something impossible to replicate, not by gods or fate or magic. "Given the course I've set us on, it only seems right for us to drop anchor closest to where we can walk The Grey Road the easiest." They're close enough now that he's practically speaking the words against her lips, his fingers tightening inexorably in the back of her hair as if to hold her at bay for what he says next.

"You were right," he whispers. "You were always right. We belong in Torchline, and it's unfair of me to keep pretendin' that we don't. Come sunrise, we'll start arrangin' to go home."

no more than I was or than I want to be
when you fall on me like night, I wanna kill the lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

her fight and fury's fiery, oh but she loves like sleep to the freezing

Held just shy of him by the tightening of his fingers in her hair, The Ark strains forward anyway, if only to feel the tug of it, that slow gathering pressure like water held behind a dam just before it gives. There is nothing in her vision but the storm-blue of Jack’s eyes, and his words are heard as much as felt, carried across the last thin breath of space between them where the warmth of his mouth brushes hers.

As he speaks, it's her turn to still against him. Not because she’s inclined to gloat, nor because there is any satisfaction to be wrung from hearing that she was right. Torchline is what she wants, has always wanted, its heat and salt and familiar waves calling to something fundamental in her, but she knows what this decision will cost him and it has questions rising in her thoughts like white-caps breaking against the otherwise dark surface of them: questions about Jack not wanting to aid in anything that would benefit Flora and about what they would do about the Snot Take in general. They were storms on another horizon, but unlike so many they had weathered together, this was not one she could carry the weight of for him, despite knowing the exact shape of the wounds left behind. Even so, those worries could wait a moment, as what rises over and above the chop is far warmer, breaking through her like sunlight through deep water.

The Ark leans forward and closes the small distance between them, kissing Jack not with a siren’s deadly song meant to lure and drown, but with something far sweeter, if no less dangerous: the gratitude of the sea itself, vast and salt-warm and wholly given. Her hands remain loose around his neck as she kisses him, letting the moment linger until her tongue leaves one final, soft flourish against his own before she draws back only enough to sigh against his lips. "Thank you."

sweet and right and merciful, all but washed in the tide of her breathing

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

JACK

Jack only realises belatedly that he'd been expecting a reaction similar to one Flora might have given him, all effervescent joy and surging movement and the sort of breathless high that would swamp his magic and leave him reeling. What he gets instead, though - as it always should have been - is all The Ark, and his fingers grow gentle in her hair just in time for her to close the distance between their lips.

The darker, choppier waters will remain just as the sunlight breaking through the deep of them does, the joy mixing with the trepidation, the victories and difficulties in returning to Torchline something that they'll both have to learn to carry, even if Jack is the one bearing the scars of any run-ins with the region's queen. But he's ready to wear them and move on, ready to focus on the real reason for their going home, and it's nothing to do with bettering things for the Hot Take.

"Don't thank me yet," he rumbles softly in the wake of her lips and tongue, his hands mapping her curves as if they'd forgotten them in the brief time she'd been wrapped in layers of fur. "There's still a bit to do between us and Torchline. Gotta make a stop at a sticky little place it's the Tar Pits, it's for levelling on the way to Hak Etme for our first pass. On the plus side, though, you'll be gettin' the wind in your sails plenty in Flowerbirth."

no more than I was or than I want to be
when you fall on me like night, I wanna kill the lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

her fight and fury's fiery, oh but she loves like sleep to the freezing

The Ark presses herself more fully into his hands, generous curves yielding beneath his touch like the private rise and fall of water only he has ever known how to sail. "Oh, no?" she whispers, playfulness darkening the sound as she leans just far enough away to threaten the loss of her warmth, as if she might take back the gratitude with it if that's what he thought best, draw herself entirely beyond his reach and leave him with nothing but the memory of her mouth on his. She has no intention of doing so, of course, and the crooked little smile at the corner of her lips gives her away before the game can become anything more than that.

Straightening enough to listen, she nods at the new itinerary he sets out, but it's as he mentions Flowerbirth and wind in her sails, that the waters of her mind brighten at once, anticipation flashing through them in warm, clear currents. She can feel it all too easily: canvas bellied full with a wind that doesn’t bite, rigging singing instead of groaning beneath ice, the whole of her moving cleanly through air and over water without cold worrying at every seam. A shiver travels through her in his hands, fine goosebumps lifting along the back of her neck at the thought alone, as she turns a wry, crooked smile on him. "Don’t threaten me with a good time, Captain." And gods help her, but the next few days would feel all the longer for the promise of what was to come.

sweet and right and merciful, all but washed in the tide of her breathing

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

JACK

The smile Jack flashes at her is all challenge and quietly smouldering heat, his hands lingering against her curves and chasing after them as she threatens to step away, his possessive grip a whisper from snatching her back against him by force. It's a game neither of them have to play tonight, the Captain left free to explore instead, to catch the shiver as it rises along the back of her neck. In response and almost without his permission, a warm breeze kicks up around the cabin as if to further complete the illusion in her mind, and he grins and drops his hands to her hips.

"I wouldn't want you to be bored for the next few days of darkness," he says slowly. "Should probably figure somethin' out to pass the time. Could start checkin' the rigging, make a list of potential repairs..." The smirk on his face betrays him before he can even get halfway through this imaginary list (that will become important in Flowerbirth, yes, but can wait for now), because they both know neither of them want to spend the rest of Longnight that way.

no more than I was or than I want to be
when you fall on me like night, I wanna kill the lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

her fight and fury's fiery, oh but she loves like sleep to the freezing

As the warm breeze slips around her, The Ark’s eyes close and she exhales, the sound one of pure indulgence, low and pleased like a wave breaking somewhere it has every right to be. She hums softly in approval, allowing the imagined warmth to settle over her skin and into the deeper places beneath it, until her lashes lift again and pin Jack with a smouldering blue stare of her own.

At the mention of repairs, one brow rises. She nods slowly, eyes narrowing as if she’s giving the matter all the grave consideration it deserves, before reaching for one of his hands. With the other, she catches the hem of his shirt where it hangs loose over her hip and draws it upward just enough to reveal the pale curve of her skin before it vanishes again into black leather. "Ice has managed to get between some of my boards," she says, her voice all false practicality as she guides his hand against her side. "It's made me so stiff. I’ll need a good amount of warming up before any repairs can be done." The innuendo drips from the words, warm and deliberate, and her fingers keep his there as though she expects him to assess the damage properly.

Then, because she can, her expression turns mischievous as she begins to lower the shirt again with an almost dismissive shrug. "But I’m sure the shipwrights will be more than happy to take care of that."

sweet and right and merciful, all but washed in the tide of her breathing

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

JACK

Jack's eyes follow the trajectory of his hand where she guides it against her bare skin, the Captain's touch warm and calloused and deceivingly gentle as he blazes a trail against her side. Her mind opens like a honey trap, one he knows lesser men have drowned in, and he will never stop himself dancing along that same line despite knowing better, despite knowing all that he does. "Sounds like this Deepfrost has been a pretty bad one," he rumbles, eyebrows raising as she starts to drop his shirt with an air of dismissal.

"The least I can do is offer an apology for makin' you sit pretty all the way through it," he continues, shifting to rise to his feet from the desk, bringing their bodies almost flush against one another. "Maybe I can even warm you up in the process? Wouldn't wanna give the shipwrights more work'n they already have come Flowerbirth." Or any work at all if Jack has his way. Don't get him wrong, he's not arrogant enough to let The Ark rot rather than trust an expert, but equally, he's keen that they look at her boards instead of her boards. (Wink wonk).

no more than I was or than I want to be
when you fall on me like night, I wanna kill the lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

her fight and fury's fiery, oh but she loves like sleep to the freezing

"You’ve never kept me so long in the cold before," The Ark says in a voice gone low and sultry, though there’s no accusation in it. Jack has spent the whole season taking what care he can of her, worrying ice from her deck and rigging with his magic, warming what he can reach, never letting the winter have more of her than circumstance demands. But that doesn’t mean she can’t offer him the chance to make amends for it anyway.

As he rises, she lifts her chin to keep him in her eyeline and doesn’t give an inch of ground, blue eyes bright with a grin that knows exactly how rare apologies are from him and how little she actually requires one. He’s never let real harm come to her, that much lives beneath every tease she gives him. Still, it’s entertaining to imagine the shipwrights undertaking the task instead: careful hands warming the stiffness from her boards, working away at the strain the cold has left behind until she’s softened and wet with their efforts. Her thoughts turn deliberately suggestive, rich with the idea of melted ice and wet wood.

"That is the least you could do," she agrees, teasingly severe, though greed begins to darken and deepen the tide of her mind at the considerably more he might offer.

sweet and right and merciful, all but washed in the tide of her breathing

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

JACK

"An' I never will again, if I have my way." Metaphorically and literally, given the promise he'd just made about their impending return to more tropical waters. But as her voice pitches low with the soft dramatics of the imaginary scenario she's painting in her mind, and as her chin tilts up to pin him with her ocean blues, Jack has never felt more pleased to have to take ground rather than see it given up willingly. "Don't you think about shipwrights like that," he hisses, a devil's smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

His hands drag teasing lines of fire down her sides, slipping beneath the hem of her shirt as if to test all parts of her for chill and damp, to warm every inch of her flesh and see it mapped onto boards and rigging. "How hot do you want it?" he purrs, leaning in close to brush his lips against the corner of her mouth, the kiss a barely there breath that soon skips away to the space just beneath her ear.

no more than I was or than I want to be
when you fall on me like night, I wanna kill the lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

her fight and fury's fiery, oh but she loves like sleep to the freezing

Despite the devil’s curl at the corner of Jack’s mouth, despite knowing there’s teasing and then there’s the particular sort that might invite actual violence from the Captain, The Ark only grins back at him, wicked and wholly unrepentant. "But they’re so good with their hands," she purrs, the lie of innocence nowhere in her voice as his touch slips beneath the shirt and turns every inch of skin it finds into something newly aware.

She draws in a breath as his hands move over her properly, and deep in the bowels of the galleon, the timber gives a low, pleased groan in answer, old wood answering the warmth being drawn through her with a sound that travels softly through the hull like a pleased purr. On the deck, though her sails have been brought down while anchored, the red canvas stirs in the dark with the smallest restless flutter.

The Ark lifts her chin again as his breath trails toward her ear, blue eyes heavy-lidded and bright with the promise of the heat he’s offered. "Make me forget that the cold even exists," she whispers.

sweet and right and merciful, all but washed in the tide of her breathing

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

JACK

"Are they?" Jack murmurs with the raise of a brow, one hand lingering against her side while the other plucks at buttons like they're nothing, unfastening them one after another in a slow line. "Maybe I've been too hasty with my judgement. Should I go see a shipwright come Flowerbirth?" The humour is a performance very few get to provoke in him, and for The Ark it's as easy as breathing, though he'd be lying if he said it didn't come with a healthy dose of teasing beneath the surface. They can both be possessive - in fact, in his experience thus far, she is the more dangerous of the two of them in that respect.

Her shirt flutters open and Jack inches closer until the ground she refuses to give presses their bodies against one another, his lips whispering kisses against the side of her neck with each word that leaves them. "You got it, love."

His hands sweep down and beneath her thighs in a smooth motion, Jack hoisting her up at the same time as he surges forward to his bunk. He neither knows nor cares if anything is knocked or broken in the process (don't worry, he will later), focused only on the kiss he takes from her mouth, the smoke and liquor taste of her, the way he swears he can feel the ship list with the movement.

no more than I was or than I want to be
when you fall on me like night, I wanna kill the lights

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

her fight and fury's fiery, oh but she loves like sleep to the freezing

The Ark doesn’t look down as the buttons of Jack’s shirt come undone beneath his practiced fingers, but she feels each one give, the loosened fabric falling open to reveal the black bralette beneath. Her smile turns wicked as she pretends to consider, blue eyes narrowing just slightly before she reaches for the fruit hanging far too low between them. "Why?" she purrs, arching a brow. "Do you have some difficult wood you’d need their help with?" As he presses closer, her arms rise around his neck as though she’s already caught the shape of what comes next, and when his hands sweep beneath her thighs and he carries her forward, she goes with him as naturally as a tide follows the pull of the moonbright sea.

She devours the kiss he takes, though there’s far more control in her than the hungry press of her mouth might suggest. What happens to her flesh doesn’t have to become a storm through every board and beam of her body as it once had, but it does not leave her entirely untouched either. Somewhere above them, beneath the black weight of LongNight and with no wind troubling the water, the great galleon gives a small, unmistakable list beneath Murphy at the helm, enough to be felt in the shifting balance of her deck.

The Ark’s fingers curl into Jack’s hair as her lips and teeth answer his, demanding and hungry in return, as though this is no flame she means merely to be warmed by, but one she intends to feed herself.

sweet and right and merciful, all but washed in the tide of her breathing

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3