[ Jesper listens to him talk about the darkness and about the aftermath of the Pit, and he's not the first person to express this kind of struggle. Kaz and Inej hate talking about it, but they have, and he thinks if he hears anything more specific at this point, he'd just go kill all of the imprisoned acolytes. He wants to every day, sometimes he lets himself daydream about their deaths, quick or slow, and knows he can't actually do it. Not now, at least. But he's tempted, and he's tempted again, listening to Kell.

They deserve to die, especially for the fact that months later Kell's still afraid of the dark. For a moment Jesper's eyes are very dark, not their usual light silver, as he contemplates the amount of blood he'd like to spill, but he focuses instead on what he can actually do. Which is be there for Kell. ]

You're not broken, you're a survivor of something terrible, and you survived because you're strong. You were traumatized, love, but you can heal, you just need to give yourself more time. It doesn't go away all at once.

[ Jesper knows it's frustrating. He hopes that going back to the island, if they're allowed to, will provide people with some closure. It's the only thing he can think of outside of time, and no one wants to be that patient here. He's still cringing from the heralds last year. ]

I think you should talk about it more. You can always talk to me, but I think he'd want to be there for you too, given the chance. Relationships need to go both ways.

[ Technically they displayed that just in the past few minutes. Jesper sharing some of his past, Kell sharing his feelings, this is a back and forth that is of the healthy variety. It's not that Jesper thinks Rhy is avoiding topics, he just doesn't necessarily have the full picture, and he's a good man, he should. ]

Well sure, he's a prince there, yeah? Gotta be better than being a captive in an alien world. Doesn't mean he wants you to keep your feelings locked up from him because you feel differently.