FLORidA is one hell of a drug

this is why we can't have nice things, honey

Ronin probably knew something was up when Flora had not only asked him to hang out with her that afternoon but had also offered to make them a picnic. That she had also rented a little rowboat for them to paddle around in #exploration reqs wasn't completely suspicious, but it was a little stitious.

Deepfrost though it might be, Flora was still in a sundress (with a blanket wrapped adorably around her shoulders). With Spice and Sugar off being icy menaces and blasting balls of ice at any fish who dared to leap above the waves, it was just the Doubletake and the Knight for miles and miles around.

"Hey, so......can I ask your advice on something?" Flora was asking as she handed Ronin the largest cucumber sandwich he'd likely ever seen in his life. (She'd gotten distracted while making it that morning, so it was several rows high).

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "Mmmh?" Ronin's response is, naturally, given around his attempt at tackling Flora's cucumber sandwich. So sue him, the Knight has ferried this little rowboat out here as a leviathan until the point where they could paddle across the impressive (albeit terrifying) expanse of The Maw, enjoying the relative stillness on the water. It's hungry work. Managing a bite and quickly rethinking his attempt to eat it, he settles back in his seat while his duplicate dutifully rows them at his back. "As long as it's not to do with what I just did. I won't be taking questions about that," he says, gesturing at the sandwich and wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Otherwise, of course. I'm all ears." He smiles. Lightly tanned from the lingering heat of the past two seasons, with his dark hair drying and his companion free-wheeling overhead, the weight that's been lifted from Ronin since his change of allegiance almost seems like a physical thing.

this is why we can't have nice things, honey

"Honestly I'm surprised you didn't just unhinge your jaw and swallow it all in one go as a leviathan." Flora countered, grinning at him from behind her oversized sunglasses. Having lounged quite contentedly, it was only once she'd posed her question that she sat up, pulling the glasses down to the bridge of her nose before opting to remove them entirely.

"Yeah, they are kind of big, huh?" It was far easier to poke fun at Ronin than to get to the heart of what she'd (he'd) brought them out here for, but quickly the Doubletake's grin fell from her lips.

"So...Koa is back. You know, that dragoon that went missing from Stormbreak?" Swallowing hard as her cheeks flushed, Flora turns her attention to the sunglasses in her hands. "Since he and Sohalia disappeared at the same time, we all—" The youths, Ronin. The youths. "—thought that like, he'd gotten her pregnant and they'd just run off because, y'know, young love or whatever." Quite how much Ronin had gleaned about her feelings for the dragoon in virtue of being her father, Flora had no idea. "But uhm...so he's back and said that Soh was actually kidnapped."

Which, given Dahlia's story about how she'd just gone on vacation, maybe they all should have guessed sooner.

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "And give you nightmares for the rest of your life? I think we could both do without that," Ronin says with a smirk; he's set the sandwich down and is in the process of dismantling it into two more edible snacks, offering little more than a quiet eyyyy at Flora's joke, when she cuts to the heart of the matter. Glancing up at her properly and abandoning his culinary experiment for a moment, it's true that even from the name dropping from Flora's lips and the shade of coral on her cheeks, Ronin knows exactly who Koa is in relation to the Doubletake, as well as knowing who he is personally. "Mm, I've met him a couple of times," he admits, frowning. "Kidnapped?" he repeats, glancing automatically around towards where Stormbreak sits above the clouds. "By the Family?" It's an assumption to be sure, but even Ronin of the many concussions can still put two and two together. "Well... shit."

this is why we can't have nice things, honey

"I mean, probably yeah." She says with a one-sided shrug. "He didn't really know. He just said that it was a man who was too fast to touch who threw him into the Wilds." Which, admittedly, wasn't a lot to go on, but given the recent developments in Stormbreak, it had to be the Family, right?

"And I don't know what to do. I mean, I didn't need to be in Dad's stupid tournament to know that I couldn't take half of you, much less anyone from the Family. But Soh wa—" Clearing her throat, Flora gives her head a little shake. "—is my best friend, so I don't just want to abandon her, but..." Looking up from her sunglasses, the Doubletake searches Ronin's face for the hero she knows is just waiting to come out. "..can you help? Please?"

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "So the Family," Ronin confirms, because any man too fast to touch is either with them or against them, and he doesn't know any fellow demigods who have felt like kidnapping Dragoons. With too-expressive-eyebrows knitting together in a frown, the Knight turns his attention back to his sandwiches as he hears Flora out, and it's more so she doesn't have to have him staring at her while she puts her heart on her sleeve. Taking a slow bite of his snack and chewing thoughtfully, he finally glances across to the Doubletake with an expression that asks her whether she honestly thinks he'd answer with anything other than yes. "Of course I will," he says once he's swallowed his bite of food, offering her a soft smile. "I'll have to be careful if I'm poking around up in Stormbreak, but leave it with me, okay? I'll see what I can find out."

this is why we can't have nice things, honey

"..'kay." Given that Ronin had given Flora exactly what she'd asked for, the lack of enthusiasm in her tone and the way her shoulders were still slumped suggested that perhaps there was something slightly more she wanted Ronin's advice on.

"So uhm...I don't know how it was with you and Dad, or....I mean, you and anyone else, but..." Looking back down at her sunglasses and having to remind her fingers not to break them (it had taken a significant number of dragon skills and manticore feathers to buy), Flora tried to wade through the segments of thoughts in her mind.

"What do you do when you like someone who just...I dunno, keeps fucking up?" Her voice is small and without any of its normal bounce or sparkle. "I know on cards and all that tacky stuff in the markets they say that if someone is the one they won't make you cry, or won't let you down, or whatever but...I mean, that can't be true, so..." Biting at the inside of her cheek, she looks quickly up at Ronin through tear-shiny eyes. "...when do you just...give up?"

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving Well that's that then, and Ronin takes another bite of his sandwich before realising that it absolutely is not that's that, the Knight promptly abandoning their picnic (and there you have it, Flora, proof that he really thinks of you as a daughter) to focus on her words. "You mean other than telling me so I can cave their head in through their shoulders?" He asks with a raise of his eyebrows that seems a touch too serious to be considered humour, at least until Flora gazes up at him with tears in her eyes. "Hey, come here." Shifting (awkwardly, it's a rowboat, but whatever) to sit with her on her side of the craft, he loops an arm around her to draw her close against his side. "Do you feel like giving up?" he asks. "Because there's a lot of ways someone can fuck up, and some are much worse than others. Your father and I have definitely been through a few of them."

this is why we can't have nice things, honey

Any other place or time, Flora would likely have laughed and pretended to hand the Knight a mile-long list of those whose heads deserved a good caving in. Alas, this particular afternoon merely saw her sniffle at his joke (?) before bonelessly slorping in his arms to his side of the boat. Wrapping an arm around his and all but melting against his side, for once the Doubletake wasn't upset but the feel of Ronin's Adonis-like body, but instead felt properly protected and safe in his arms.

"Sometimes I do, yeah." She admits against his chest. "But other times no not at all." Falling silent for a moment as she chews the inside of her lip and inspects the crumbs slowly dissolving in the bottom of their boat, eventually Flora takes a deep enough breath that seems to inflate her to the point of being able to sit up again.

"The worst part? I sort of...already had in mind what happened with him and Sohalia and now even though I know it isn't true...I don't know, it still feels like it is. " In short, Flora had, and was continuing, to hurt her own feelings.

"D'you know what I mean?"

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "Well, walk me through it," Ronin invites, a solid and warm presence for Flora to bounce ideas off, if nothing else. "If you gave up, what would you do? And equally if you wanted to keep trying... how would that look? How many more chances does this guy get?" And it's only as the Doubletake keeps talking that he realises that this guy is actually Koa the Dragoon, and the frown that crosses the Knight's face is brooding to say the least. "I know exactly what you mean. Remi still gets mad at me for things I did in dreams," he murmurs. "Dreams I wasn't in," he adds, because dream magic has previously been a staple of the Taliesins, as Flora is well aware. "So other than disappearing - presumably with Sohalia, even if that's not true - what has he done to fuck up?"

this is why we can't have nice things, honey

"I don't know, walk off the top of Haulani and not look down?" She smirks against Ronin's chest, if only because of all the Taliesin's and how they constantly try and outdo each other for Most Dramatic of Them All, none of them would ever stoop to suicide. "Times like now I don't even know if I want to date anyone, let alone him, but every time I see him...even if it's just in passing..." She shrugs. "It's like I forget all the things I thought I was 100% set on."

As for her father's penchant about getting mad about dreams Ronin wasn't even in? Grinning as she looks up at him, Flora's aqua gaze shimmers with amusement moreso than tears. 'Shut up. I hope you punched him in the mouth.' Laughing softly in a way which simultaneously makes her feel better and guilty, Flora crumples against Ronin once more if only so as not to have to look at him as she answers his next question.

Later, when you're soaking in a bubble bath recounting all of this to Remi and saying you'll need therapy, just remember you asked for this, Ronin.

"Well, so..." Against the fabric of his shirt, Flora explains all the things as a dad, Ronin doubtless doesn't want to hear. She tells him how Koa was her first, and how he'd snuck out of her window that night and disappeared. Told him how she'd hated him for it, and how they'd, ahem, rekindled things after Enzo had died. Told him how she'd started to develop feelings for him, but then he'd gone after Sohalia, which, you know, was a mess because she was with Jude (and then Ronin, guess what? Koa and Jude were also maybe seeing each other!).

"So just before Soh disappeared, we got together and I said that...I mean, that she could have him. Or at least that I'd take a step back from it all. But now that she's missing, he'll obviously need to go and help because he's a dragoon if nothing else, and then she'll obviously fall in love with him?? For rescuing her? And he'll love that because who wouldn't, so what's even the point." This last bit was said basically in one breath, such that at the end, Flora just keeled over into Ronin's stomach with a huff.

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving "I mean, you could, but I know at least three people off the top of my head alone that would be there to catch you, so..." Grinning, Ronin at least lets her have the drama of it before they settle back into their regularly scheduled fatherly advice column - punching Remi in the mouth notwithstanding, of course. (And Ronin would never do such a thing, but he might over salt his food for a few days, you know, on account of him being salty). Except nothing in this scheduled broadcast might have prepared the Knight for just what he's about to learn about his daughter and her dalliances with a certain dragoon. And you know what, when it comes to fuck ups and the sliding scale of them, call him biased - because it's Flora and he is - but Ronin firmly believes that all of this could be resolved if he just... shot Koa into the sun. And perhaps a little flicker of radiant light has begun to ignite in his skin as the Doubletake unceremoniously flops into his lap, Ronin gently stroking a hand through her hair. "I mean," he says, lamely, before trying again. "Flora, you're going to hate me for saying this, and that's okay, but... can I ask how many times Koa has come chasing after you?" He raises his eyebrows. "Because you deserve to be chased after, to be put first. You shouldn't settle for anything less."

this is why we can't have nice things, honey

"Uhm..." At first Flora was pretty sure that the answer was...well, at least a few times, right? He'd ... well, certainly he must have ... but no, everytime the Doubletake searched her memory, she found that it was mere happenstance or her actions that had brought them back together. "He sent me a note congratulating me on becoming queen and saying we should get together, but...but then he disappeared." She murmurs softly as her lower lip began to quiver.

Had he never really chased after her? Had it all actually been one-sided or born purely out of convenience? As tears filled her eyes anew, Flora curled herself up even more into Ronin's lap as if she might just disappear into the celestial light burning out of him. "It just...it feels so big in my head, y'know?" In her heart, too.

Smoothing down a bit of the fabric on his knee, the Doubletake sniffles. "It just...you and Dad have each other...and mom and Sunjata are in King's End, and Jack—" Well, at least that was one can of worms she knew had no actual interest in her. "—Hadama's a demigod now, and Melita's a demigod now and...I dunno, it's just lonely running Torchline sometimes."

RONIN if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving Humming something non-committal - which is the dad version of not good enough, even if Koa had been kidnapped potentially by The Family - Ronin settles in his seat on the rowboat, even as his duplicate has slowly stopped in its rowing to let them drift across the still waters of the Maw. "He was your first. It will," he says softly. "But not forever - you'll grow bigger than it, in time. I know that doesn't help right now, though - I wish it did." His nose scrunches at the mere mention of Jack, and whilst there's no camera around, Ronin definitely still stares into it for a moment a la Jim Halpert. Clearing his throat - because Vi will certainly notice if two people land on the sun in a day - he instead focuses on the crux of what Flora says, and he offers her a sad smile. "But you are running it," he reminds her. "And doing an incredible job. With that said, though, maybe you deserve a vacation for a week or two? Go and see other regions, remember how big the world is, how many people out there that aren't some dragoon who doesn't deserve the time of day from you." Snorting, he glances back towards where he thinks Torchline is. "You could even drop by and see Mateo. I saw La Verbena at the docks a lot last season, and he wasn't on board. So if nothing else you know he'll know where to show you a good time."