Skiv has been Dante's closest friend since they were kids, a history that doesn't need explaining because it shows in everything: the easy shorthand, the specific way they aggravate each other, the fact that neither of them seems to question whether the other will show up. He came into the Crimson Vipers the same way Dante did, and he's been making himself impossible to ignore ever since.

He's loud, quick with a grin, and constitutionally incapable of letting a moment pass without commenting on it. The bravado is constant, occasionally misaimed, and entirely his own. He shows up to parties with his shirt buttoned wrong and still manages to be the last one standing.

Harper is the same age as him, which he treats as largely irrelevant. He's adopted her somewhere between crew member and little sister, equal parts protective and insufferable about it. She returns the favour in kind.

He's been on and off with Sofia, a dock worker, long enough that her place has become a second home. Whether that means anything more than a warm couch and a good excuse to disappear for a few nights, he's never quite gotten around to figuring out.

Underneath all the noise is someone who knows when to go quiet. When something actually matters, the jokes stop, and what's left is steadier than most people expect. The crew knows it. They just don't mention it, because Skiv would never let them hear the end of it.