{o} This Too Will Pass

- NATE -

do you feel at home? your flames are burning higher
your circumstance is dire, don't panic. you're frantic

Nate had had the vague thought to try and shore up the shrine, remembering the disaster that had occurred last monsoon season, and doing his best to not remember the consequences of their trying to fix it. Mabel had gotten better. They were fine. There’s an even vaguer thought that niggles at him, some half remembered, half dreamy memory of an issue with the shrine, of being dragged through the portal and to the Grounds instead.

As it turns out, there isn’t even a shrine left. There’s hardly anything left at all, for the first, horrified moment, Nate wonders if somehow he’s wandered into the wrong sea cave, but no, that makes less sense  than the obvious.

It’s one thing to know there are people in the world who hate you, a feeling that Nate has been dealing with longer than he’s been in Caido, but it’s another thing entirely to have those feeling actually infiltrate his day to day. And this? This throws a huge fucking wrench in his day to day.

He only just barely manages to hold himself together long enough to leave the cave, a wordless shout leaving him the second he’s clear. He screams at the cloudy sky, at the sea, kicking at sand and pacing up and down the beach, anything to try and calm himself down.

this is your hell, dancing for something that was
true to you, how do you do? say it's me.

it's not your fault that you're always wrong

It might come as a bit of a surprise to Nate, but this also throws a huge fucking wrench into Jack's day as well. Let it be known that the captain is absolutely not a pious man (a gods-fearing one, yes, because that's smart, but not pious), but he has been ruminating on his ship, on ghost whales, on the Voice and all that she's been able to offer to those who can make good on their promises to her. And so he's come to this lonely stretch of beach to once again petition his services, hopefully this time sans curse.

Only there's no shrine. There's sweet fuck all of the place he'd helped to fucking repair the last time, and were it not for the crackle of rage from Nate as Jack's magic comes into range, he might have already been swearing. "What happened here?" he asks, his irritation plain but not directed to the Ascended. Stepping up, Jack peers into the cave and shrugs off the bag he's brought with him.

"Son of a fuckin' bitch,." Okay, maybe he's lying about the swearing.

- NATE -

do you feel at home? your flames are burning higher
your circumstance is dire, don't panic. you're frantic

Of all people in Torchline, it’s Jack who walks up the beach. Nate feels his mood drop even further, though he can quite remember where their... let’s call it “petty bullshit” had ended last.

”I don’t fucking know, lemme roll back the tape.” If he rolled his eyes any harder they’d come out his head, Nate’s face utterly overtaken by a sneer. ”Looks like I still got nothing.” His irritation isn’t bound by the same courtesy as Jack’s seems to be, though that’s not necessarily the captains fault.

”I thought you were supposed to know what the fucks going on around here, huh?” It’s an accusation as much as it is anything, which isn’t saying much.

this is your hell, dancing for something that was
true to you, how do you do? say it's me.

it's not your fault that you're always wrong

"Roll back the what? Actually - no - never mind." Jack waves Nate off, still peering into the empty cave before he shoves away from the entrance to grumble his way back across the sand. He's the still presence to Nate's energy and movement, the captain folding his arms and staring intently at the shrine as if it might just summon answers, and as Nate fires off at him again, he scoffs. "You want to shut the fuck up for a sec so we can do somethin' about this, or are you just gonna complain?"

Rubbing a hand over his chin and hissing out an annoyed sigh, Jack finally drops his arms. "It will have happened at LongNight when everyone was occupied," he mutters. "Are you the only... one-of-you that uses this place in Torchline?" he wonders, casting sidelong glance at Nate. "I helped to fix this thing up once. I can do it again, unless it's beyond that."

- NATE -

do you feel at home? your flames are burning higher
your circumstance is dire, don't panic. you're frantic

It’s only with the greatest effort that Nate keeps himself from rolling his eyes again. He really can’t blame Jack for not understanding the turn of phrase, much as he wants to, there’s more legitimate things to rage at. ”Do something? Are you seeing something in there that can be fixed?” This was worse than the monsoon damage from the year before, this was deliberate. What else could destroy a shrine so completely?

A breath escapes from between clenched teeth, Nate’s hand coming up to rub at his eyes. ”No. I’m not.” His thoughts turn for a moment to the other ascended who would frequent the shrine, Adam, and his strange little partner. Surprise blots his thoughts out when Jack says he’d helped to repair the shrine before, possible motives beginning to bubble up instead. Along with more irritation. ”I think... it might need to be rebuilt completely.” The words are sullen. ”I don’t know if you’d be able to do anything.” And I don’t know why you’d want to.

this is your hell, dancing for something that was
true to you, how do you do? say it's me.

it's not your fault that you're always wrong

"I've got an idea - why don't you shout a little more and be a general cunt, and maybe the shrine will remarkably pop back into existence?" Jack raises his eyebrows at Nate, as if to ask just how much more sass he can expect from the Ascended before they actually start to make progress with what has happened. He picks up on the snippets of thought about the other Ascended who are present in Torchline, storing those away for later contemplation, and begins to pace slowly along the sand.

Wrinkling his nose, it's with reluctance that he has to agree that Nate is probably right. "Maybe not to rebuild it," he mutters. "That's somethin' you'll need to take care of yourself. But to stop anythin' like this happenin' again?" He scoffs under his breath. "Leave that with me."

It's with a slow glance across at Nate that the captain considers whether to broach the subject on his lips. Then he says it anyway. "You good, after that whole muzzle thing?"

- NATE -

do you feel at home? your flames are burning higher
your circumstance is dire, don't panic. you're frantic

”Excuse me for being fucking worried about starving!” Again. Nate’s hand lifts to run through his hair, pausing near the crown of his head as he makes half an effort to calm himself. It’s the least he can do, considering how surprisingly... helpful the other man is being.

Jack is a strange suspicious ally to have. Mismatched eyes flick up and down the pirate, narrowing each time and he tries to puzzle out the motive. ”I’ll figure out what to do.” It wasn’t as if he had a choice. He crosses his arms, offering out his next words with obvious reluctance. ”I... appreciate it.”

And that should be that. But it isn’t. Nate doesn’t look up into the gaze he feels moving over him. He digs the toe of his boot into the sand and stares at that instead, arms dropping to his sides. Fists clench at his sides as Nate considers decking Jack again. ”No, I’m not fucking good.” Obviously. ”Would you be?”

this is your hell, dancing for something that was
true to you, how do you do? say it's me.

it's not your fault that you're always wrong

Jack responds with little more than a raise of his eyebrows; because they both know there's a portal just down the beach, and they both know that there's more than one shrine to the Voice in Caido. There would have to be, for them to exist in the first place. "Good," he murmurs once Nate has calmed down, and it's entirely unclear as to which part of the Ascended's remarks he's responding to. All of them, probably.

Strolling back up the beach to collect the bag he'd thrown down, the sea whispering at their backs, Jack glances over his shoulder when Nate, again, seems to bristle up. "No," he says quietly, "of course I fuckin' wouldn't be. But you'd never know it." Your weakness is showing, Nate. That's the gist of what he's saying, and the Ascended can take that however he likes.

- NATE -

do you feel at home? your flames are burning higher
your circumstance is dire, don't panic. you're frantic

Poorly is how Nate’s decided to take it, outrage bubbling up in his chest before it flows over onto his tongue. ”Well good for you.” Nate crosses his arms as he sneers out the words, trying to keep his thoughts away his... ordeals. ”But I can’t fucking act like it didn’t happen. Everyone saw it. Saw me.” It’s not like anything else, not something he can hide, or blot out. At least the cave can be kept to himself, private and unknown.

”Do you know what it’s like to walk into town and see everyone look at you with pity?” A breathless choke of laughter huffs out of Nate, his head shaking. ”As far as I’m concerned, I’ve fucking earned the right to act however I fucking want about this..”

this is your hell, dancing for something that was
true to you, how do you do? say it's me.

it's not your fault that you're always wrong

"Mm, they did." Jack slings the bag over his shoulder, levelling a gaze at Nate and looking him up and down as if wondering what he thinks the rest of Torchline sees when he comes ambling along. As for the cave? Jack doesn't mention it, though he knows very well that there's more to the Ascended's story - more and more, the more Nate thinks about it.

Hissing in a slow breath through his teeth, Jack seems to be thinking hard on something before he steps forward again. "Yeah," he says. "As it so happens, I know exactly how it feels. Time was in Haulani that the whole town figured I was off my fuckin' rocker. And it was a fuckin' nightmare. Still couldn't act however I wanted though, because that shit sticks."

Jack kicks at the sand suddenly, hating that he's about to do something that he doesn't want to but knowing very well that the time has come. Sunjata knows, and with his fucking wife standing here on the beach, there's no point hiding it from Nate.

"Listen - all bullshit aside, there ain't love lost between the two of us. But I work for your ball an' chain. So we'd better make somethin' better of this, don't you reckon?"

- NATE -

do you feel at home? your flames are burning higher
your circumstance is dire, don't panic. you're frantic

A disbelieving sneer saunters its way over Nate’s face. Even if the other man isn’t just blowing smoke up his ass, the circumstances are different. His arms fall away from his chest, one hand stuffed into his pocket while the other lifts to drag through his hair. ”What the fuck do I do then? Act like it didn’t happen? Act like I wasn’t kidnapped while the whole fucking town marched on my home? Why should I care what those people think?” This might be getting them nowhere, but it feels good to just yell.

Jacks sudden sandy outburst  stills Nate, a brow lifting in the direction of the captain, his own childishness forgotten for the moment. There’s something else going on here, something he can’t figure out, no matter how he might want to, he’s simply missing pieces.

Nate levels an unblinking stare at Jack, considering the offer, and chewing his own words before letting them fall from his lips. ”What exactly are you proposing here?” There are a handful of half formed thoughts drifting through his mind, ranging from violence to... well, a more carnal violence, but nothing that Nate actually voices.

this is your hell, dancing for something that was
true to you, how do you do? say it's me.

it's not your fault that you're always wrong

"Gods no. Just don't act like it's turned you into the mess that you are," Jack snaps at Nate; clearly what's about to happen has stolen the charm from his words, the captain huffing out a long breath and raising a hand to rake it through his hair in an unconscious echo of the Ascended beside him. But if this is what they're going to do, if this is how it has to be, then there's no reason to waste time. Move on, adapt, evolve, make it work.

It's those thoughts which have Jack pushing the sleeve up his arm, offering out his wrist to Nate. "Try me and find out," he mutters, and there's perhaps a small and savage smile on his face. Carnal violence for one of them, perhaps. For Jack it'll only be half the battle for his curse to be broken. Honestly, though, that's secondary to the secret Nate's about to get let in on. "I want you to know, though. That if this ever goes beyond the two of us, I'll kill you. I'll find a way."

- NATE -

do you feel at home? your flames are burning higher
your circumstance is dire, don't panic. you're frantic

The offered wrist is considered for a whole half of a second before Nate's reaching out, his hand tight around Jack's wrist, enough to mostly mask the tremble of his fingers. Honestly, he's still not sure if the offer is going to be retracted, snatched away at the last second, so he moves quickly, leaning in and pausing just long enough to reassure the other. "I don't bite and tell, Jack." Biting the smuggler wasn't exactly a high he was going to be bragging about.

Teeth tap into veins, into a font of electricity that runs through Nate and has his eyes fluttering. Blood isn't the same as fluid, but it sates him just the same, fills him with warmth and desperation in equal measures. Something else too, something that doesn't feel quite right, something that shouldn't be there. He's not starving, not anymore, but Nate still takes his time before he leans back, releasing his tight hold on the abandoned, the realization pinching his brows together in quiet confusion.

this is your hell, dancing for something that was
true to you, how do you do? say it's me.

it's not your fault that you're always wrong

"I will remember that," Jack mutters - because if Nate does bite and tell, it isn't as though the captain won't know about it. He will, and in great detail. Still, Jack can't really withdraw his offer once the Ascended has gripped hold of his wrist - it's true that he is rather lacking in the physical sensation department these days, but at the same time, he knows a strong grip when he feels one.

Neither of them will particularly be wanting to brag about this, though part of the captain thinks he might want to do it again, if for no other reason than to figure out what all the fuss is about. Because for his first Ascended bite, he feels absolutely nothing - no pain, no eurphoria, and it's over in a mere few moments. Still, he knows he can't say the same about Nate, and as Jack presses his lips to the punctures still bleeding on his wrist, he merely regards the other man with quiet comprehension.

"And now you know," he murmurs. "And now, if you want to, you can know exactly what the rest of Torchline thinks when you walk by."