starless

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

LongNight - a time of horrors for some places, or so he had heard, but not so bad for others. And a week long party for Torchline, as usual. Still, it was a pensive Jack who meandered along the shoreline, a bottle held loosely in his fingers, sobering up from another binge. He gazed up at the sky as he walked, acutely aware of the yawning blackness that stole the stars, and he couldn’t help but wonder what the gods did at LongNight.

Distracted by the shreds of thoughts coming from the scattered bonfires, Jack changed direction and strolled over to the closest one, intending to sit and enjoy solitude for a while (was he ever really alone, though?) before moving on again. Sinking down onto the sand, he propped the bottle beside him and leant back on his palms, gazing into the flames.

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

After a few moments, Remi would seem to suddenly appear from the shadows. Making no attempts to keep his body moving and thus keeping his magic at bay, the rampant darkness had overtaken him with ease. Stretching out a hand to grab at the bottle twisted into the sand, Remi raised it to his lips with a blank-stare.

His thoughts vacillated between Ronin, the previous horrors of LongNight, and a screaming emptiness that made his ears ring. Drinking more than his mouth could hold, amber streams trickled into his beard before the Alchemist set the bottle back down. No sooner had he, then the shadows began to consume him once again, claiming first his legs and then wrapping around his torso and shoulders.

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

It took a lot to catch Jack Barclay off guard. But still not-quite-sober, with the tranquility and darkness of the night all around, listening to drips and drabs of thoughts from the shadows... fuck, Remi managed it. The captain inhaled sharply as a shadow reached for his bottle, his hand moving to his boot where, doubtlessly, he kept a knife just in case. ”That’s a nifty new trick,” he grunted to the governor, grabbing at the bottle to drink from it as well (he needed it after that).

”You’re surlier’n usual. What’s up, your wife not puttin’ out?” he asked, relaxing a fraction as his heartbeat started to slow. Setting the bottle back down and sighing deeply, he tilted his head up to the sky. Obviously by wife he meant Ronin, not knowing that the Star was so far from home.

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

The Alchemist didn't reply. Instead he simply looked across the flickering flames, his eyes haunted and empty looking in the light, and said nothing. There was only one predator within his body now, and though Jack couldn't know it (correction: Remi thought Jack couldn't know it, but of course he could), it stirred restlessly. Thoughts of leaping across the flames—the captain's knife be damned—and lashing out at those blue eyes that dared to be a rough proximity to Ronin's and grinding them into the sand made his fingers twitch. But he stayed where he was.

"What's that? Something the Captain doesn't know about?" Remi tsked under his breath, before bringing the bottle back to his lips and indulging himself in another far-too-long swallow.

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

It was lucky that Jack was mostly sober; a little more in his cups and he might have quipped back at Remi without thinking. But the captain felt it there, the danger that stirred and prowled beneath the surface of the governor, and so he wisely kept his trap shut. Not bothering to comment on the bottle - it was as good as Remi’s now, here in the dark with no one around - Jack instead raised an eyebrow and considered his next move carefully.

”I thought you more the type for action than broodin’,” he remarked. ”At least not lately. The Hanged Man’s got a better selection of booze for you to drown your sorrows, in any case.” Jack was not the right sort of person to have an empathic conversation with, on the best of days. So, glancing back up at the sky, he changed the subject.

”Where d’you reckon they go at LongNight? Gods?”

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

"Brooding is an action." Remi countered. "As is sitting here staring at the fire." Each time he spoke the shadows lessened their hold over him, bathing him in reddish light from the flames.

As for what the Hanged Man might have had on offer? Well. This was what was within reach, and so Remi just shrugged it off. Whether Remi was tempting the captain into a fight or simply being an asshole wasn't entirely clear, and probably didn't matter in the end, anyways.

"Dunno. Wherever they are when they aren't down here fucking about with our lives, I suppose." Glancing up, eyes narrowed at the stars, Remi's lips pulled into a soundless snarl as he imagined Safrin up there somewhere, not watching over Ronin, and instead just brushing out her long hair amidst the stars.

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

Remi had a point, so Jack didn’t try to dispute it - it would more than likely get his head torn off by this point, and he quite fancied it on his shoulders. Still, as the Governor snarled up at the starless sky, and as his thoughts betrayed some of the reason behind his broodiness, the captain was let in on his mood a little more. ”Fuckin’ about?” He raised his eyebrows, slouching and propping himself back on his elbows in the sand.

”Wasn’t it just the other week you called Safrin herself down herself to get her to help build these canals through Haulani? I rather thought you liked her,” he said. Not many didn’t, if Sunjata was to be believed. But that didn’t make the lady of the stars any less fickle.

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

"Come on, Jack. Surely you're not that behind on the times. I would've thought keeping tabs on the governor was something at least one of your lackeys would be tasked with." Husband brought back from the dead by Safrin. Safrin plopping he and Ronin here. Seren's appearance. Ronin's task. It all came back to the starry-herald, so yes, fucking about seemed an apt enough description of what she normally did.

"Liked her?" The Alchemist exhaled a steady stream of angered energy and shook his head. "I wouldn't say that. I'm just clever enough to ask for help from someone who'll easily give it." Safrin's vanity combined with all those upturned faces holding candles nearly guaranteed she'd aid with his request for Torchline. With Ronin and Seren there, it would have been all the harder for her to decline.

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

Jack snorted. ”I got lackeys. Your Arbiter keeps beatin’ them up.” He raised his eyebrows across at Remi; it was true that he had intended to find out more about the Governor, but with the state of things it just hadn’t happened. Luckily, Remi’s own mind helped fill in the blanks for him, which was basically the same thing. ”But I s’pose when you put it like that, yeah. It’s fuckery to be sure.”

He couldn’t deny the genius, either, of calling for Safrin’s help and putting her in such a position of flattery, a crooked smile tugging at his lips. ”Cleverer than I first gave you credit,” he agreed, lifting his chin in a nod that was about as much respect as one could expect from Jack. ”She give you that shadow magic too?” he inquired.

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

"Does he now?" The Alchemist chuckled under his breath. "Have they deserved it?" His smirk was quietly menacing, but also slightly amused. Remi hadn't expected the job of Arbiter to be an easy one, and didn't quite know what to make of the fact that none of this information had filtered its way back up to him yet.

'Even with my bribe? I'm shocked." He wasn't though, and the steadiness of his stare (and his thoughts) suggested as much. The Alchemist was more than fine being overlooked and thought to be things he wasn't. Not that he'd ever been much for worrying about his reputation, but now such a thing was about as far from his mind as it could be.

'No, no. That was Ludo. Safrin's never given me anything but a headache." So saying, he looked up towards the black skies, wondering if she could hear him. "She fucked my husband in a dream, and then showed up with a child about a month later. And if that isn't enough, it's because of her that he's not here now." Well, truthfully it was because of Ronin's persistent do-the-right-thing streak, but surely what Safrin asked of him didn't need to be quite so dangerous.

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

”Oh, undoubtedly. Still ain’t somethin’ I can take lyin’ down though. Deals were made, things were understood, that sort of thing,” Jack said with a chuckle, finding it easier to meet the steady gaze of the man across the fire from him now that his immediate thoughts weren’t of rampant violence. ”The bribe was clever. Dupin’ a goddess? Cleverer,” he informed him, patting his waistcoat and drawing out a couple of smokes, offering one out to Remi.

Unable to stop the laugh that no, it was not one deity that had blessed him with power but a different one, Jack raised an eyebrow at the Alchemist. ”I used to be jealous that I’d never met a god,” he said. ”You’re openin’ my eyes here. Keep the rest of that bottle, you need it more’n I do.” Lighting his cigarette over the fire, Jack took a long draw from it. ”Explains why you ain’t cozied up with him at your place, then. From what I know he’s a hard bastard to kill, so you shouldn’t be waitin’ long for him to be back.”

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

Though the Alchemist said nothing, his thoughts said much. He wasn't so naive or wet behind the ears when it came to leadership to know that he didn't stand as Governor alone. He didn't even stand with his council, really. If the majority of Torchline turned against him, it wouldn't take a coup to remove him; Torchline would simply turn her back and that would be that. In so thinking, he wondered how this would all play out. If Jack would need his feathers fluffed and soothed, or if Jata would need a talking to.

Snorting a touch at that, he shook his head. "Mmm, until I'm reduced to a pile of smouldering ash." He replied, reaching out for a cigarette with a grateful nod. Fire appeared in the air, hovering before himself and Jack to light the tobacco, before disappearing. No sense singing off their eyebrows by using the campfire.

"You're not the first to say so, but take it from me, safer to avoid them. I've seen a girl nearly be raped, lost my memories, had emotions taken, been cursed. Not to mention I willingly gave up my soul to Ludo, so.." Flicking an ash into the sand, Remi shrugged as he took a long drag.

"Be that as it may, LongNight is a bitch to survive." He said coldly, his teeth making his jaw feather with tension.

full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane

”Well, you’re doing alright so far.” Jack pointed out, gesturing to the not-pile-of-ash currently sitting across the fire from him. He busied himself smoking while he rifled through Remi’s thoughts, absently finding himself pleased to note that the Governor had his priorities straight. He had given Jata a talking to (and unbeknownst to him he would have his own talking to courtesy of Nate very soon), but every little helped.

Following suit and flicking ash to the ground, Jack let out a low whistle and shook his head. ”And I thought gods were meant to be better’n people. Less spiteful anyways,” he muttered. ”An’ it might be difficult to survive, but if he does survive he’s prob’ly not gonna want you hungover to fuck when he gets back. Not that it’s any of my business.”

i've seen fire & i've seen rain.
i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end

'Why would you think that?' Remi wondered earnestly. "Stronger to be sure, but better?" His raised brow and slight scowl very much suggested he didn't think that was the case.

"It isn't, no." The Alchemist agreed in a low voice. "But what the hell else am I to do for the rest of the week, if not drink?" Gesturing at the general frivolity around them, the darkness-lowered-inhibitions, he shrugged. "From what I've heard LongNight here is a time to drink, so.." Raising the bottle again, he drained it, before tossing it into the flames. Whether it would melt or crack, spewing hot glass at them, Remi hardly cared.