#had a bit of trouble because stefgud interactions are fine but tursgud & jesper is tricky

[twofoursixohjuan]

74 or 81, Tursgud, Stefan, Jesper

ooh you know my weakness for weather metaphors

81. we're in the middle of a storm and you want to stop and feel the rain?

Slaves of Socorro, just after Nightwolf goes down:

Stefan's always been...aware of Tursgud. As an enemy, as a threat, then later as a guilt, a magnetism, a fire that whispers touch me, it'll hurt. It's nothing to how he feels for Jesper, but Stefan and Tursgud have been whirling in each other's orbits for a long time, and that kind of fascination doesn't die easily.

But Tursgud does, as it turns out.

Stefan watches Nightwolf go down with a sort of detached horror. Part of him wants to dive overboard, try to swim for survivors (there will be none). Another part, a much larger part, thinks callously, Good.

But he still can't move from the rail.

The Heron lurches wildly under his feet, and there's a thud beside him as Jesper loses his footing and stumbles against the bulwark, setting the shields rattling. It takes Stefan a long moment to look up.

"Stef, the sails," says Jesper, voice fast and tight, and Stefan blinks at him for a long moment as the ship lurches again, spray from the boulder that just missed them stinging his face. The port sail is up but fluttering against the mast, and Jesper can't raise the starboard yardarm on his own.

"He's just—" he manages, but that's as far as he gets before Jesper catches his shoulder and shakes it.

"Not now, Stef," he says. "This is the storm. Get through this and feel the rain later."

A stray arrow fired from the bank whips past Jesper's shoulder, and Stefan's brain kicks back into gear. He fights past the urge to shove Jesper to the deck and stand over him and defend him because he's not losing anyone else today—

(What does it mean, that Tursgud's death makes him feel like this?)

Instead, he nods once, grateful, and dives for the starboard lines.