[se] the rattle roar

JACK

"Sunjata says a lot of things," Jack mutters. He'd been governor of Torchline for long enough that the islands had needed and respected him, and then fucked off. He'd been one of Safrin's favourites until playing turnabout with a goddess. And now what? Now he's going to turn a little settlement out in bumfuck nowhere into what, exactly? And for how long, until he abandons that too?

All of these very good (in Jack's opinion) points go unsaid, of course. Feeling Melita's thoughts prickle like the spines of a cactus through his mind, the captain finds himself rolling his shoulders and hissing a soft curse under his breath, before shooting his blue gaze back towards the Honeybee. "I didn't realise sharin' blood with someone meant you had an obligation to 'em."

It's better than a lot of the knee-jerk reactions on his tongue. Opposing sentiments like you're not going and fuck off, then stay locked and loaded there, behind his teeth, but remain unfired for now.

Clearing his throat, Jack pins his eyes on the Hanged Man in the distance and eventually, finally settles on, "The crew won't want to lose you."

Ha ha, see. Because he's part of the crew, technically, but also not, so... yeah.