flora
"Yeah?" Flora wonders a touch challengingly before her tongue is teasing his and her arms are around his neck. No, there certainly wasn't a trail of luck in Jack Barclay's wake, which only made what he'd accomplished all the more impressive. Made him all the more impressive.
"I mean it." She implores, her body nudging against his for emphasis. Flora didn't want it the way she'd wanted the Hanged Man, not the way she'd wanted her guild, nor the way she'd wanted to make a name for herself. Instead, she wanted it the way she wanted to bring her brother back from the dead, the way she'd wanted to wear Torchline's crown, the way she wanted Jack.
Though the queen's family would always be an asset, she wanted her reputation to stand on its own, her strength and cunning to be enough in most cases with her parents being an ace up her sleeve rather than a chip she regularly was forced to cash in.
Pulling back only enough to distinctly make out the blue of Jack's gaze rather than seeing it as a smear above her, the queen takes a breath, her mind suddenly filled with the palpable kinetic energy the captain would no doubt have felt before she'd said I love you for the first time. "And I want it with you." He'd asked her multiple times if she was sure that she wanted a life at his side; a life of shadows and bloody hands, a life of being with someone who was trash. Now, finally, though it had been staring at her all along, Flora had her answer.
No, she didn't want that life. Didn't want a life with a price on Jack's head, because she'd make him untouchable. She didn't want to wake up to him sneaking into bed covered in blood, because she'd have been out with him. He wasn't trash, never had been, and whatever bad he'd done, who if not a queen, could absolve him of any wrongdoing? So no, she didn't want that life at all, because if her dad had shown her one thing, it was that the rules stopped applying once you were strong enough.
"I mean it." She implores, her body nudging against his for emphasis. Flora didn't want it the way she'd wanted the Hanged Man, not the way she'd wanted her guild, nor the way she'd wanted to make a name for herself. Instead, she wanted it the way she wanted to bring her brother back from the dead, the way she'd wanted to wear Torchline's crown, the way she wanted Jack.
Though the queen's family would always be an asset, she wanted her reputation to stand on its own, her strength and cunning to be enough in most cases with her parents being an ace up her sleeve rather than a chip she regularly was forced to cash in.
Pulling back only enough to distinctly make out the blue of Jack's gaze rather than seeing it as a smear above her, the queen takes a breath, her mind suddenly filled with the palpable kinetic energy the captain would no doubt have felt before she'd said I love you for the first time. "And I want it with you." He'd asked her multiple times if she was sure that she wanted a life at his side; a life of shadows and bloody hands, a life of being with someone who was trash. Now, finally, though it had been staring at her all along, Flora had her answer.
No, she didn't want that life. Didn't want a life with a price on Jack's head, because she'd make him untouchable. She didn't want to wake up to him sneaking into bed covered in blood, because she'd have been out with him. He wasn't trash, never had been, and whatever bad he'd done, who if not a queen, could absolve him of any wrongdoing? So no, she didn't want that life at all, because if her dad had shown her one thing, it was that the rules stopped applying once you were strong enough.
Just walk away, don't make me say
The only words I owe you: I told you so, I told you so
The only words I owe you: I told you so, I told you so
