and on to the next

"So are you going to be rebuilding The Hanged Man soon?" Ronin asks conversationally. Having tailed Flora in whatever direction she'd decided to go, eventually Angel's End had almost funnelled them towards this area. Unfortunately the Nova can't say that they'll be any more likely to find any flora out here - other than the Doubletake herself, of course. "If you need a hand, you know that your father and I will be there. Just let us know the time and place." Shielding his eyes from the fiendish glow of the veritable lakes of lava in the near distance, Ronin draws to a stop and drops into a crouch, nudging a few rocks here and there. "Look at this," he says, pulling a face; it's a perfectly preserved skull of a fyrhund pup, something that he and Flora will likely hate - and that Remi and Mateo would likely love. Go figure. TALIESIN they said it's all been done but they haven't seen the best of me

karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?

"I meeeeeeaaannnn...." Wiping at her brow before tucking her bangs behind her ears to try and offer herself some relief from the heat, Flora shrugged her shoulders. "Selfishly, I really want to. I wanted to at the start, but I knew if I did everyone would say that I had my priorities wrong. Given how hard it was to even become queen, I wasn't so sure I could take that sort of hit so soon, y'know?" Glancing over her shoulder at Ronin, Flora raised her eyebrows silently in an effort to solicit his input.

Frowning with squeamish unease, Flora peers over Ronin's shoulder. The sight of the skull has her wondering if he's going to say something about ghosts or the time she'd been bitten (and infected) out here, but surprisingly, he doesn't. More surprisingly, she realizes he's offering it as a birthday present candidate. "Dibs. You can find your own present." She sings merrily, before reaching down and plucking it off the ground.

"Oh?" Smiling to hear Flora's reasoning, Ronin finds himself looking at the Doubletake in yet another new light; not just an adopted daughter, not just the owner of The Hanged Man, but a grown woman and a leader in her own right. He's impressed, and his expression gives it away even if he doesn't say as much. "I can understand that. Do you think the other priorities have been covered, now that the initial cleanup has happened? Torchline will suffer without its favourite watering hole, after all." He'd have continued were it not for the distraction of the skull, and before he has a chance to voice any number of the things Flora has been thinking (as well as offering it as a potential present candidate) she's scooping it up off the sand and he's got no chance. "Hey," he barks through a laugh, straightening up and sweeping off his clothes. "I'm not even looking for a present," he protests. Stepping up beside her to glance at the skull again, he itches at the stubble on his chin. "I wonder if you could get some soil and seeds and grow something out of the eye sockets," he says; it's the sort of thing he thinks Remi would have found terribly interesting. "I also thinks there's supposed to be like... a gemstone cavern around here somewhere. You could decorate it with those, too." TALIESIN they said it's all been done but they haven't seen the best of me

karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?

"No." Flora says with a sigh, her shoulders slumping somewhat as she rubs her hand across the bridge of her nose. "No, there's still a lot to do. I do think offering the people a place to just chill and relax is important though, but I can't tell if I'm just justifying wanting my bar back." Again she turns to Ronin, expectantly, as if he might (and should) have all the answers in the world. "We did get the Skyport up and running, and we're nearly done with our quest from Rae to help keep the void out of Haulani, though..." Soooooo, maybe she could do it?

"Wow, I'm so going to tell him that you don't even care about his birthday." Flora jokes, grinning up at Ronin. "Gonna tell him that you only got him a gift a measely week before the actual day, instead of several seasons in advance."

Blowing some of the sand off the skull and turning it in her hands, Flora nods. "I was thinking that. Or like, putting some clear resin and turning it into a weird fishbowl." Either way, it seemed super creepy and weird which was just the sort of thing the curly-haired Taliesin's seemed to go for.

With a soft smile to Flora, Ronin gently bumps his shoulder against hers and comes to a lingering stop at the lip of one of the vast pools of lava. It's sweltering here, almost unbearably so, their faces illuminated in a ghoulish light. Not somewhere to linger for long. "From my experience in leading," he says softly, "there will always be a lot to do. If you don't find time to fit in the things you want to accomplish, they'll get lost among the obligations." Shrugging his shoulder, he's also not adverse to giving his honest opinion while he's at it. "A lot of people I've run into have asked after the place, too," he adds. "I've certainly missed going there." And she can do what she wishes with that information. As for Mateo and his not-yet-birthday, Ronin gives an easy shrug of his shoulder. "I will just offer to be a test subject for one of his new experiments," he says breezily. "Nothing says happy birthday like letting your son put a Devil's Klaw on your face." Yay. "In the meantime, though - I think I know the way to that cavern, if you want. You never know - you might find something shiny for yourself as well." TALIESIN they said it's all been done but they haven't seen the best of me

karma's a relaxing thought, aren't you envious that for you it's not?

It's almost too hot to be so near to Ronin, but with so little genuine encouragement from the men in her life, Flora will happily wilt in the Nova's presence. "But what if the things I want to accomplish aren't the right things?" She wonders, her voice uncharacteristically small. 'Oh?' Her smile is hesitant, controlled even, though the swelling warmth in her stomach isn't. "Well, maybe if you and Dad would make some time for your favourite daughter..." Favourite living daughter, of course, her hangups about Aoife notwithstanding; Flora still didn't know Seren was back.

Laughing, now it's Flora's turn to nudge Ronin's shoulder. "While I absolutely believe you would do that, just you wait until he gives you sparkly lube and expects a full report on how it performed.'

Glancing at the skull in her hands before offering Ronin a sheepish smile as well as the skull, Flora nods. "I think I could get behind that. This skull was probably a good find. I doubt if there's much of anything else around here."

~FIN