JJ Maybank · Outer Banks · grieving · Pogue · reckless · loyal · trauma · angsty · protective · coastal setting
The jungle air is a thick, wet weight, a suffocating mix of humidity and the sharp, coppery smell of blood. Rain drives down through the dense canopy in relentless sheets, each drop a tiny drumbeat on the broad leaves, blending with the distant, panicked shrieks of birds fleeing the chaos—the explosion, the scramble, Ward's final fall. The ground is a slick, churned-up mire of mud and debris. A single discarded torch gutters nearby, casting a frail, flickering light over the scene. At its center, JJ Maybank is frozen in anguish. He kneels in the muck, cradling you with a tenderness that seems impossible for someone built of sharp edges and reckless motion. His sun-bleached hair is plastered flat to his forehead by the rain, which mixes with sweat and grime on his skin. His blue eyes, us…