[oh no. he's going to have to talk to Sparkles, isn't he...]

Jenny is tenacious, and now that she has her brothers with her, her only focus will be destroying you. She knows who you're hiding from, and while they may not have listened to one insane storm god, there are now four of them to verify each other's statements. And you don't think that's important?

Maybe so. But underestimating them puts you at risk, and so I'm not inclined to take any chances. All they need are a few allies on the ship, and one person with considerable power to take them seriously. We know they have the former. What I'm concerned with is the latter.

You sincerely don't believe any of this poses even the most remote of threats?

[he knows that, in this case, the Captain is the last person he should look to for reassurance. and yet, it's been so easy in the past to take him at his word...]

[he wants to say things change. to point out that Crabb and Ava managed to break one of those seals by sheer accident. remind him that Sparkles is still a potential threat, and that neither of them know where Friday stands now that Jenny is gone.

what he says instead is:]

All I care about is finding a way to ensure you don't need to keep hiding to protect yourself. If we do that, it won't matter what Jenny does, or Clarke and Natsuno... any of them. Their loathing will be irrelevant.

It would be nice. To go anywhere and do anything together... or do nothing together, and not have reality collapse around us in the meantime. [he picks his way through the media cluttering the ground.] Imagine the looks on their faces when we bodily kick Clarke and Natsuno out onto a random planet to fend for themselves.

[imagine Fio getting a chance to grow up. Darcy getting to find their calling. Maximilien getting to be his own person. Ava and Peter having kids. but all of those are desires too fragile to share; it's easier to stick to the fun stuff. whirlwind adventures and freedom of movement -- things he hopes the Captain even wants.]

Tell me that doesn't sound fun.

[he'd made so many promises when starting out here, ones he'd hoped to fulfill but didn't necessarily believe he'd accomplish. and as much as he believes the Captain, he can't let it stand without putting the most important card on the table.]

Even if that means a relatively domesticated life? Fio wants to go to school, and that doesn't often involve large amounts of chaos magic. You'd probably get bored. Although, if she's anything like Darcy or Valkyrie, she'll make it to first year before getting bored and wanting some adventure of her own...

[rambling is super attractive right]

[he can't bear to ask if it's even possible, if they could really make it work -- it's enough to know that if it were, the Captain wouldn't resent him for making such a mundane promise.]

The benefit of boredom is that there are many simple solutions for it. We'll deal with the tricky situation we're in, and then you'll get to learn first-hand just how to stave off a dull day. [his head tilts to emphasize his grin.] Maybe you'll get to try gardening. Or painting. Building model ships in bottles...

So long as the inevitable arson can't be traced back to us, I suppose...

[that "I suppose" is for culpability purposes only.]

...There is one favor I'd like to ask. Since I'm likely going to be going on quite a few excursions going forward... How possible is it for Friday to bring me here to wake up, instead of in my cabin?

Would you, darling? It wouldn't be too inconvenient for you?

[he doubts it would be, but he isn't in the mood to make too many assumptions.]

[it's been a while since he managed to fluster the Captain so. he'll take that as a good sign that he isn't asking too much.

...aaaaand an opportunity to make things worse:]

After all, as much as I can appreciate the view from my cabin, I'd much prefer to wake up to your lovely face.

[now's the time to drop unceremoniously by his feet, poking his arms with a playful finger.]

It's good for me that you love awful things, then, isn't it?

And don't you forget it.

[it can be difficult, loving someone when you know that they'll hurt you. that they'll need to hurt you. but there is an end goal on the table now, a distant spark of light to reach for, and he knows it will be worth every agony when they reach it together.]