you get lighter the more it gets dark

NIKI

Starwhale watching is an old pastime for those who live in the Greatwood, but to no one's surprise, Niki has only ever been a handful of times. The last time he was even up in the Observatory was to try and catch a meteor shower back in Leafchange. Almost a year before, now, but with the sky so dazzlingly clear tonight and no appetite to shut himself away back home, the necromancer braves the climb up to the observation deck. 

It's never empty up where the small telescopes are stationed, out in the open air, but with the heat of the evening still oppressive to many visitors to the forest, it's quieter than it might be otherwise. Setting himself up at an empty table beside a free telescope, he weighs down his notebook with a softly lit candle in a jar, leaving a few pieces of chalk and charcoal just in case he's able to catch a glimpse of one of the elusive creatures clear enough to sketch.

Then, leaning casually against his cane and stooping just a bit to put his eye to the scope, he twists and adjusts the lens with an ease that feels practiced, despite his comparatively few visits up here. Slowly but surely, Safrin's heavens come into view, and Niki allows himself a small smile.

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

VESPER

The hush of the Observatory wraps around him like silk, still humming with the aftertaste of candle smoke and starshine. Vesper slides down the last stretch of winding stair, fingertips grazing bark as he rounds the final platform—and there, angled against one of the telescopes like he owns the view, is a man he hadn’t expected to see.

Brows ticking up, Vesper slows. No shadows twitch at his boots this time. No need for venom when curiosity does the work for him. "Well I’ll be damned," he drawls, voice soft but unmistakable as he steps out into the open deck. "Didn’t figure you for the stair-climbin’ type."

There’s no real bite in it. Just the amused lift of one brow as he casts a glance at Niki’s cane, then the jar-lit notebook weighed down beside it. "What’s the matter—your lab short-circuited, or are you lookin' through that to try and see if y'can't find more ways to make a livin'?" He leans a hip against the railing, posture easy but attention razor-honed, watching like someone who never stopped measuring.

wake me when it's over
like a bad dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

NIKI

Niki's mind - a seamless glaze of turning mechanisms and quiet understanding - seems to heat and simmer at even the first syllables that spill from Vesper's lips. It doesn't seize so much as it kicks into the next gear, sharpening and honing itself for what the boy evidently sees as a forthcoming fight. "Did you stand around the corner practicing that before you came out?" he wonders, his voice dry and quiet as ever as he straightens (as much as Niki straightens up anyway) away from the telescope. 

"I was watching for starwhales," he says, gesturing helpfully towards the dazzling spray of stars overhead as if Vesper might not have spotted that it's nighttime on a stargazing deck. He doesn't grace the demigod's remark about his lab with a response - because yes he has one, and no it hasn't short-circuited, but as far as Niki knows that's his business and his alone. 

"Why are you here? Felt like being the tallest person around, so you came to bother the Fae again?"

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

VESPER

Vesper doesn’t flinch—doesn’t even blink. If anything, the corner of his mouth curves a little higher, smug as ever in the face of a spark he didn’t quite mean to ignite but now finds endlessly entertaining. "Why Niki," he murmurs, all easy drawl and glinting teeth, "adorable that you think you take up that much room in my day. If I was practicin’ lines, I’d save the good ones for someone worth rehearsin’ for."

With a lazy flick of his fingers, he brushes a curled leaf off the railing beside him before leaning his elbows back against it. "Nah," he adds, "just finished chattin’ with my ma. Y’know, demigod shit and whatnot." He doesn’t say Safrin, because he doesn’t have to. The weight of it is carried in his tone, in the arrogance that fits him like shadow fits a flame.

Then his eyes—those pale, flickering things—cut toward the telescope.

"How fun for you," he remarks, faintly wistful despite himself. "I've seen ‘em up close. Big as gods, slow as love, glidin’ through the black." He exhales slow through his nose. "You should really try it sometime," he adds, as if a tour amongst the stars is the sort of thing Niki could jsut get in line for, and not the privilege that came from being born in the heavens.

wake me when it's over
like a bad dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

NIKI

"Says the man who could have walked right by me without a word, but came to interrupt my evening instead," Niki says with a saccharine smile, leaning casually against his cane and enjoying the brief but welcome breeze that ruffles through the trees and musses against his dark hair. "You have given yourself away I am afraid, Vesper. I am glad to know that I made an impression, though." 

Granted, given their last meeting he's quite surprised the other man hadn't crossed the observation deck just to tip Niki right over the railing and to his doom. Nevertheless, as Vesper oh-so-casually leans agains the rail and oh-so-casually drops demigodhood into the conversation, the boy of course stiffens, much as he doesn't want to. 

"How unfortunate for your mother to have to see you," he murmurs, the words cutting but the tone entirely without malice, and as he begins to wax lyrical about starwhales - because of course, of course Vesper has been up close and personal with them, Niki eases himself into his seat at the table, as if giving up on his endeavour at least until he's alone again. 

"Slow as love?" he repeats, hanging on the sentimentality despite himself, a smirk curling at his lips. "I am surprised you know anything of it. Swaggering through regions and telling everybody how special you are seems like a full time job."

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

VESPER

Vesper chuckles low in his throat, the sound like velvet catching on something sharp. "Passin’ by without sayin’ hello?" he echoes, pushing off the railing just enough to face Niki more fully. "Now that’d be rude." Pausing, he smirks, knowing without the use of telepathy what the necromancer would think of Vesper's being rude. "Y'can go ahead and make the joke, even though it's low-hanging fruit. I imagine that's the only sort you can reach."

The grin that follows is all bite and glitter, deliberately slow as it spreads across his lips. He lifts his brows, deliberately letting his gaze drag—lazy and unhurried—from the tilt of Niki’s shoulders to the fall of his cane and back up again. "’Course you made an impression," he purrs. 

When the retort about his mother lands, he scoffs—not wounded, just amused. "Mm. I’m sure you know all about people findin’ it unfortunate to meet with you." His eyes flick like starlight over the other man before pausing, and something subtle pulls tight around the edges of his mouth. "Mothers...not so much." It’s said lightly, but there’s precision in the pause, a scalpel slipped in among the velvet.

Then, as if the air hadn’t thickened at all, he spins the mood back to its usual sharp-edged charm. "But love?" he echoes with mock-surprise, as though the concept should be beyond someone like him. "I make time for the important things."

Then, with a shrug and a smirk like summer mischief, he adds, "Travel’s nice too. All that movin’, not bein' cooped up in one little place." His glance flicks toward the cane, brief and deliberate, before snapping back with a devil’s grin.

wake me when it's over
like a bad dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

NIKI

"I am surprised you care about such things. You seemed to have no problem being rude the last time we ran into one another." Niki cocks his head to the side, as if wondering what Vesper looks like beneath the silver jewellery and jackal smiles and demigodly swagger. He bets it's just bleached bone like everyone else, all spindly femurs and too sharp cheekbones on an empty-eyed skull. 

For all of his intellectual dissection, however, the obvious way the other man's gaze rakes over his body does bring the faintest flush to his cheeks, one that might be mistaken for the heat of the evening in the right light. "I have never thought to ask them," he says of whether people find it unfortunate to run into him. "And unlike you, I did not spring from some divine womb. My mother is as human as anyone else, and twice as dead."

Feeling his lip want to curl, Niki promptly sets his cane leaning against the table where he's seated himself, turning to his notebook as if not considering Vesper worth the effort of even looking at. "That is quite the statement for someone who keeps showing up at this one little place, no matter how unwelcome he might be."

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

VESPER

Vesper chuckles, low and slow, like it’s caught on a curl of smoke. "I’m very teachable," he drawls, not bothering to hide the way his eyes flick again across Niki’s flushed face. He doesn’t smile at the heat there—not directly—but there’s a certain curl to the corner of his mouth, a quiet satisfaction at how it lingers beneath the necromancer’s controlled exterior.

He makes no mention of the imagined bone beneath skin, though he plucks that notion from Niki’s thoughts like a ripe fruit. Instead, he smooths a hand along the railing, casually tracing the grain of the wood as he murmurs, "Seems inconsiderate not to ask, really. ‘Course, maybe you just didn’t want the answer." His grin sharpens as he glances sidelong. "Can’t say I blame you."

The comment about dead mothers earns a shrug from the demigod, a ripple of nonchalance too practiced not to be intentional. As far as Vesper was concerned, it still didn't give Niki a leg (ha) to stand on when it came to commenting on maternal disappointment. 

Then, as Niki turns to his notebook and dismisses him with every ounce of posture and poise, Vesper only scoffs, rich with mockery. "Stars above," he drawls, voice lilting like a southern breeze full of burrs. "What large opinions you must have of yourself." He sweeps a hand lazily through the air, gesturing around at the quiet platform nestled in the branches. "You’ll have to point out the sign next time," he adds, eyes gleaming. "The one that says this whole place belongs to you. 'Cause unless I missed it, one man’s mood swing ain’t enough to make me unwelcome." He flashes a smile like a silver dagger.

wake me when it's over
like a bad dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

NIKI

Fighting the urge not to roll his eyes as Vesper continues to buzz around him like a school bully with too few grades and too much free time, Niki reaches for the charcoal on the page of his notebook and begins to roughly sketch. "Vesper," he says slowly, once the other man has finished inflating himself with insults to hurl in his direction, "answer me honestly. Does someone who clearly has so many friends in high places really have nothing better to do than to bother me?"

Finishing the sketch outline of what looks like the familiar boughs of a few trees beyond the railing, he turns to look at the demigod over his shoulder. "You are not enjoyable to be around, and I do not want your company. You have nothing but vitriol to offer, and I do not find your conversation stimulating. I am not one for confrontation, but if I am honest, I find you to be a small and hateful person, and so if you really have nothing of value to add to my evening, I would appreciate it if you found somebody else to harass." He raises his eyebrows expectantly.

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

VESPER

Vesper grins the moment he hears his name leave Niki’s mouth, like the syllables themselves are some unexpected treat. "Mm," he hums, the sound languid and half-pleased, like a cat stretching in the sun. Then, lifting his brows, he feigns surprise with just enough subtlety to leave room for insult. "I’m bothering you?" he echoes innocently, as if this hadn’t occurred to him, as if the very idea was novel.

But then the speech begins.

And continues.

And continues.

And Vesper’s expression doesn’t change much—just settles into something like studied interest, the kind reserved for a lecture you didn’t sign up for but find mildly entertaining out of sheer curiosity. He doesn’t flinch at the insults. Doesn’t interrupt. If anything, he looks faintly disappointed when it ends. "Damn," he murmurs, shadows lapping idly around his boots like bored dogs. "Had higher hopes for that crescendo. Thought you were buildin’ toward somethin’ a little more...memorable."

He shrugs a shoulder, all the venom deflected by the armour of his own disinterest. "Shame. I actually liked our little chats." With a lazy turn on his heel, he starts toward the winding stairs, hands slipping into his pockets as if none of it meant much of anything. But just before he disappears down the first step, he calls lightly over one shoulder: "By the way—my sisters loved the hair pins." And then he’s gone, shadows in his wake, slipping down into the tree like the night itself had lost interest.

~FIN

wake me when it's over
like a bad dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!