light_mischief | [come sail away] ic inbox (season 1)

[The pool deck is...a strange spot to visit, lately. In past months Jade would often do a circuit about it on his way up to the seventh deck and its more practical amenities, part of a set daily wandering routine throughout the ship. But ever since the end of the previous month...it feels odd, to linger upon it. There's a certain aversion here.

He also knows he ought to identify and neutralize that aversion sooner or later, though, which is why he's here one evening. One could hardly imagine this entire level had once been completely destroyed--and positively covered in bloodshed, even before that--to look upon it now, the clean pool and pristine deck flooring surrounding it. ...Still a surreal feeling, all the same. Standing by the poolside for a long moment, Jade finds he can actually still identify the exact spots--down to the yard--where he'd confronted the ghost in Tear...and then Rita...

(At least the mess in the promenade made it more difficult, after the fact, to unwillingly mentally triangulate where he'd found and neutralized the ghosts in Natsuno and Clarke as well--)

Moving from standing by the pool to standing near the pool bar does little to help such thoughts, really. The prospect of drinking simultaneously...sorely tempts but barely appeals, lately. But then that just leaves him drawing an absent glance up to the awning overhanging the bar, where the ghost possessing Friday had stood that night--

--Ah. Movement on periphery. Jade turns a bit too sharply, perhaps, to have a better look at whoever might be approaching...but familiarity sets in quickly, at least. As it always does, with Skulduggery.]

Ah. Sleepless night as well, bringing you out here?

[The words are tinted with a very wry humor, of course. Jade's perfectly aware of the fact that Skulduggery's form of rest may be less conventional than most to begin with. Even that aside, though, one has to wonder if anyone around here has been having particularly peaceful sleep patterns overall, in the wake of last month...]

[Skulduggery has mostly made his peace with the Halloween party. There are plenty of problems to deal with in the aftermath, but the party itself had been bloody chaos that had ended as abruptly as it had started, and now it sits in his memory as a reminder of just how quickly things can spiral out of control.

He knows better than to expect any lingering reminders, but that doesn't keep him from occasionally looking for one. Any chipped tile or slightly wibbly paint job makes him wonder whose death it might mark, even if he objectively knows they're just part of the blueprint.

Company at this late hour isn't wholely unusual, but Jade's presence certainly is a pleasant surprise. From one kind of good company to the other tonight!]

Ah, you know how it is. Nothing like taking the air in the middle of the night to really get the blood pumping. [Hah! Because he doesn't have blood, obvi.]

[Even this small bit of humor is a contagious thing, at least; helps to ease the bit of weight Jade's been deriving from the atmosphere of grim memories here somewhat. Skulduggery's words are met with a bit of an amused smile of his own.]

You know, keep saying things like that so readily and you're going to have people wondering if you're actually hiding a secret circulatory system somewhere on your person.

[It sounds ridiculous out loud, naturally, and the mildly sardonic lilt of Jade's tone reflects as much. But really, though, you never know around here!! Endless universes and all kinds of odd magic systems represented--an invisible magic blood system on a skeleton wouldn't even be the strangest thing, at this point...

Shifting where he stands, Jade takes a few paces to close the distance between them into something more conversational. His hands remain in his coat pockets, but there's a slight shrug of his shoulders that's directed mostly at their surroundings as he continues.]

...It's really quite immaculate up here, though, isn't it? You'd never know any sort of incident occurred, not so long ago...let alone that the entire deck was once entirely collapsed. [...Inexorably, Jade's glance finds itself wandering back over and up to the pool bar roof, once more. Skulduggery's presence here is only serving as a further reminder, really...] It's not terribly helpful, actually. I've been trying to review my memory of the occasion here. I was...compromised, from a mental standpoint, before the more violent half of that party began. So, now I'm wondering exactly what parts were real, and what weren't...

Just adds to my mystique, I suppose... [He'll never give up skeleton jokes! Even if it confuses and horrifies newcomers. That's actually a benefit!

He looks to the roof as well; the last time he so much as glanced at the bar, he'd been chasing after Monday. And after that, he'd caught sight of Fio. His head turns to follow the remembered path he'd chased her down. Things between that moment and the floor giving out are relatively foggy...]

Yes, I can imagine the repairs must make that difficult... I wish I could offer to help retrace your steps, but I was also... distracted. First with Friday, and then with Fio. I lost sight of both of them just before Friday was killed. After the floor fell out, I had to deal with Darcy...

[He shakes his head.] It was a mess, to be sure.

"Mess" is practically an understatement in itself, at this point. [Jade's attention slips from the roof and back to Skulduggery, as he recounts his own memories of that time...and, it all certainly tracks. With everything considered. Jade sighs a bit.] ...Regardless, though, it's quite alright. You had your own preoccupations to be sure, and I'm not about to press you into dredging up any particularly unpleasant memories of the occasion here.

[It...just remains tricky, all told. A bit over a week of repeated hypnosis, and the realization of this after the fact, doesn't exactly make the contending planted memories any easier to properly sort. In some ways Jade feels as if it must have broken off around midnight, the moment Monday decided to make her move. But then there's...other oddities, that don't line up with that idea. Like--]

I'm trying to work off a scale of plausibility, I think. For example--well, since you're here, you could doubtless readily confirm as much about this being a falsehood. But I have quite a distinct memory of the ghost possessing Friday standing up there... [Here, Jade frees a hand from his pocket, to point up at the bar roof properly.] ...And saying some--frankly rather ridiculous things, about yourself and the captain.

[Here, a dry and rueful sort of humor at his own expense settles into Jade's tone.]

It tracks alongside the fact that you say you confronted Friday, but...no, I'm positive I either completely misheard her, or--the entire thing might have been some sort of fabrication, perhaps...

[Everyone was fairly wrapped up in their own problems during the blitz, which could have been an hour or only a few minutes by his own recollection. He doesn't think anyone was keeping much track of the time once Monday revealed herself.

Speaking of --

He'd been too busy chasing her around to think about how fucking loud she was being. It was bad enough that she'd been so unbelievably vulgar -- now he's stuck standing here, having to deal with the fact that Jade definitely heard all that.

He could, of course, play it off. Laugh, disengage, redirect. It'd be so much more simple, and it'd buy him time until he could tell Darcy. If she learns about it from somebody else, he is going to be pulled apart piece by piece all over again.

He goes so far as to open his mouth to say as much -- but then he's imagining Jade finding out in a more dramatic fashion and realizing he lied right now --

Wow, he really hasn't said anything for a full six seconds, huh. Literally could not lie for the vine.]

She... was being extremely vulgar. That's true.

[For a guy with no weight, he sure seems to need to shift awkwardly all of a sudden.]

[Yeah, that...sure is a full six seconds of Skulduggery's jaw being open and nothing actually coming out of it, huh?

Three seconds into those six seconds, naturally, Jade's glance shifts away from the bar rooftop and back to Skulduggery, humor fading somewhat as the silence begins to stretch. The last three seconds are spent blinking a bit at how he seems to have stalled out entirely; as usual, a skull shouldn't usually betray much in the way of expression, and yet...]

Yes, she...was. [...Huh. Well. Skulduggery has just essentially confirmed that Jade was not in fact mishearing or imagining Monday's words at that time, so...that, sure puts a bit of a puncture in the idea of that particular memory being some half-hypnotized figment of his imagination. Okay. But even that considered, why...is the atmosphere suddenly getting awkward? Another beat falls between them, in which Jade promptly finds himself wondering if he's missed something all of a sudden.] ...Is there something wrong, Skulduggery?

No. [Delivered with the same gravity as someone giving their condolences at a funeral. Not intentionally, he's just... deep in thought.

Skulduggery is, in fact, aware that Jade's emotional restraint borders on the compulsive. It makes him the perfect sounding board for off-kilter thoughts and rational debates alike. It does not, necessarily, make any of this easier.]

Why would anything be wrong? It isn't as though I let anything she said get under my skin. [That is very much a lie, but he tells it with a straight face.] I honestly don't understand the preference for trash talk over more intellectual banter. It's easier, sure, but nobody ever really gets anything from it. And it turns recounting a good fight into a mildly embarrassing affair. Utterly immature.

[That's the only thing they're talking about, right?]

Edited 2022-11-30 09:58 (UTC)

[Right so the Funeral Gravity of that "no" sure is not exactly reassuring, for some reason...!

As indicated, promptly, by the beat of silence that falls after Skulduggery responds. Over the course of it, Jade's peering at him for a long moment, a slight and proper frown beginning to fall in place.]

...Well, naturally, it's not exactly as if you've any skin for her to get under. [(Okay look he just can't let that entirely slip by without at least very dryly remarking upon it, BUT ANYWAY--)] Still, you seem...hm, I suppose I wouldn't be able to tell if you were embarrassed, would I? Though I can imagine having those sorts of things shouted at you from a rooftop for anyone nearby to hear might not have been the most pleasant thing.

[So why, then, is there still a mildly speculative note to Jade's words there? He's still peering, too...

That six second silence was kind of notable, you know?]

Surely nothing to be fussed over, though. Not exactly as if anything she said had any basis, hm? Invoking the captain in that, of all people. --Granted, Friday has likely been aware of your attempts to befriend him of late. But that was quite the exaggeration, by the sound of it... [Like. If you need that reassurance, Skulduggery? ...Is that what's bothering you here?? Because it sure seemed like something really bothered you, just that bit ago!]

[Heheh. Even in the depths of mortification, skeleton jokes are always on brand.

And that's what this is, by the way. Mortification, plain and simple. He thought he'd be more horrified or ashamed of his actions in the face of potential criticism. But standing here, resolutely not looking at Jade, Skulduggery can only manage to feel embarrassed that this is how it's coming about. As soon as he confirms that Monday hadn't been entirely off-base, the first thing Jade is going to wonder is just how on-base she was, and that is. So. EMBARRASSING. More than dating the so-called enemy, if we're being honest.

He has definitely gone mad. That much is obvious. His perspective is entirely out of whack. Someone really should have knocked some sense into him before this happened... But it's far, far too late to stop it now. Even if it weren't, he wouldn't want to.]

Yyyeah. [Awkwardly.] ...About that.

[Why...is he refusing to make eye contact at all now.....aggressively enough that even the aversion of eye sockets is obvious, even?? Really, an impassive skull face ought to hide plenty of things, and yet the mortified awkwardness is now rolling off Skulduggery so powerfully that it's kind of impossible not to identify at this point.

The worst part, though, is that the pieces are...kind of already falling into place? Except the picture vaguely forming doesn't actually make any sense whatsoever. Skulduggery quite obviously is embarrassed about this, yet there's clearly some additional issue rather beyond the vulgar language. ...Something about the content? ....But Jade already pointed out it was clearly exaggerated, so...what....else would there be.......

Jade's turning fully to face Skulduggery now, eyebrows arching. We're on the very cusp of outright concern here, but at this point the way Skulduggery's quite clearly metaphorically dragging his feet about this is also pretty...well, strange is putting it lightly. Even the grim matter of Vile had become an outpouring with surprisingly little prompting, and yet now...]

About--what? Did something else happen?

[Jade is more than welcome to be the one revealing his deeply personal romantic tryst, if he'd like! Skulduggery would gladly cede the floor to somebody more capable of tolerating the embarrassment of having your actual sex life tossed around for everybody to hear!

With Jade facing him, it's harder to pretend he isn't just obliviously standing around in contemplation. He tries for a second or two longer, then turns his head Jade's way.]

It was an exaggeration, but not... much of one. [A minor, almost imperceptible tilt of his head.] Things have escalated between the Captain and me. She was trying to use that to upset me then and embarrass me now.

[Because obviously, Monday planned for this final humiliation, right?]

Edited 2022-12-01 05:34 (UTC)

[Sorry, can't relate really! Never had a sex life colorful enough to be incredibly embarrassing when bandied about by a spiteful ghost for everybody to hear about!! ~~Except for those rumor mills about himself and Peony back home, maybe, but that's like a dozen realities away and also (mostly) very funnily unfounded and ANYWAY--~~

...Anyway, though.

Let's set aside the rather comical implication that even Jade running into this tangent now was somehow some farewell plot of Monday's too, literal weeks after the fact. No, in the end, only the part about things having escalated between Skulduggery and the captain is really sinking in, and--

Hold on.]

Things have... [Hold on. Jade stares very intently at Skulduggery for a long moment.] You're not joking.

[Like. Pretty clearly. There's not the slightest joking note in anything at all, that Skulduggery's just said. ...Which means...

Skulduggery has noted by now, surely, how Jade's range of outward expressions don't actually tend to fluctuate very much in normal conversation. A pleasantly cheery smile is the default, with a side of sardonic flair when the opportunity arises, though such can give way to more of a frown in the face of more grim topics--or, a pensive flat neutrality that swings closer to his actual internal state as a general rule. Every now and then there can be surprises or developments that crack the veneer a little, though...

And this. Sure is one of those occasions, as it turns out. Seeing as the stare Jade's continuing to level Skulduggery's way about now sure is building to an expression that's openly vying between surprise and plain incredulousness here. Because--well, when it's set out that plainly--of course he can readily connect what ""escalated"" has to mean in this context, but that's also...!]

...How long--has this been the case?

[This...is pretty blindsiding, actually! Which, is a feeling that Jade truly does not experience often in life--not to a degree as thorough as this, anyway. Not one of his favorite feelings on the world, to say the very least. ...He's still got a pretty clear memory of their talk after the diner excursion, though--or. So he'd, thought? Surely it wasn't so long ago, then, when the very notion of imparting friendship upon the captain had seemed like a tenuously risky enough idea...

To Jade, anyway. Though now, of course, he has to wonder--had Skulduggery, even then, already been--??]

[Oh, damn, this is so much worse than deflecting and having Jade find out sometime in the nebulous future. Because he knows exactly half of why Jade is making that face, and can guess at the other half easily enough.]

I... knew more about his intentions after the diner. [God this is. Wow, like, nearly physically painful to say to Jade, specifically, at this exact moment. There are so many other ways this could have gone, where dignity and respect would flourish and the mental image of Friday shouting "WHAT DO YOU TWO DO, SCISSOR?" would be nothing but a bad dream. Ways that wouldn't involve Skulduggery talking about them courting each other like lovesick teenagers to Jade Curtiss of all people.]

I didn't trust it until last month. And before you say anything, this doesn't change anything. The plan is still the plan. It's just. A more loving, compassionate plan than before.

[Boy he wishes throwing himself overboard were an option.]

[After the diner. --Of course. Gaining access to the bridge after reviving then, as he had...well, the intentions surely would have been detectable there, wouldn't they?

Retrospect always makes things seem more obvious, of course, but now Jade does wonder if he could have considered this possibility sooner. ...Should have, perhaps. Still, for once, it was a suspicion that had quite simply never come to mind as even a vague possibility. --Of course, now a part of him can't help but wonder just what they even did in the bridge back then, let alone--

--No, not relevant to anything. Not beyond surface level! Don't wonder about the mechanics either. Don't think about Monday postulating scissoring at, yeah, the top of her lungs.......

(Honestly, at this point Jade would almost agree that discovering being sidelined later really might have been a better angle than This. There would be...a lot less of this crude elephant now vibing in the metaphorical room, anyway, despite just how hard the both of them are trying to avoid making eye-contact with it--)]

An...elevation in "loving compassion" is some form of change, from what we discussed in that time. [Kind of, strained, don't mind him trying his level best to focus on what's important here. He's also rather visibly trying to regain some control of his expression as well, but for once it's a rare occasion where Jade is having difficulty with it. There's a reeling sort of pause, in which he's distractedly adjusting his glasses before continuing, frowning deeply.] At the time, the captain's capacity for simple civil camaraderie seemed a difficult enough prospect. And now you're--you believe it to be mutual? ...I suppose you must...

[The worst part of this is how this would be, legitimately easier to grasp as some kind of--mutual set of physical(?!?!) flings they're having of late...the quintessential detached "friends with benefits" scenario or something, you know. Except Skulduggery almost immediately brings up compassionate love outright, and that's some pretty strong phrasing...

But--how? That the captain would even be capable of such a thing...]

What changed last month, for you to trust it?

Edited 2022-12-29 06:49 (UTC)

[They're just two dudes with hidden necromancer backgrounds who would really not like to think about how a skeleton gets laid. It's absolutely sitting there, staring at them with giant elephant eyes, but Skulduggery figures as long as neither of them engages with it directly, they can come through this with minimal trauma.

It's much easier to do when he has other questions to address!]

...Last month, the Captain was. Having trouble moving forward with the information I'd given him. Darcy told him she might do something unconscionable in an attempt to motivate him. The Captain could have killed her for it. It... It wouldn't have been entirely unjustified, if he had.

[It hurts to admit, but it's true. He only wishes he hadn't told Darcy as much when it had happened.]

But he didn't. He frightened her into an apology and then... let her go. For my sake.

[come sail away] ic inbox (season 1)

action; waves hands vaguely at early-mid nov

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