honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time
Flora takes a breath, letting Dahlia’s words settle like fog around her. Then she exhales slowly, smoothing one hand down the curve of her skirt, the gesture idle and unhurried. "You’re right to be cautious," she says, her voice calm, respectful. "And I wouldn’t ask you to make this decision without weighing the benefits and risks." Flora certainly had.
She lifts her gaze, steady and clear. "Hadama and I have led Torchline together for years, but we don’t always agree. We don’t move as one." Her fingers curl lightly around the edge of the desk. "And he wouldn’t stop me unless you gave him a reason to. If you asked something reckless, or obvious—Torchline striking at another region, say—that would be different. But if you play this like I know you can, it stays between us. My loyalty wouldn’t need to clash with his."
There’s a pause, quiet but not empty, as Flora lets that thought settle between them.
"As for the others—my parents, my family." She smiles faintly, lips curving without teeth. "Yes you've graced them all with your gift but have you really asked anything of them? King's End kept to themselves the way they always do, and if anything it was your threat to mine and Mateo's life that has gotten Ronin to take a backseat rather than being your friend." Flora points out, reaching for her wine. "If your priorities have shifted, then perhaps the way you use your friends will shift too. Going for the biggest and most powerful did not yield the results you wanted, but maybe going for the most integrated will." Flora, after all, was not just a queen, but a queen with connections. A queen who knew far more of the goings on of Caido than Sunjata, Hotaru, or Ronin ever did. "And I'm more than happy to visit to keep you aprised of how things are going."
The queen's fingers brush the vial again, but this time it’s with care, reverence even. "I asked for your blood because if I’m giving you my thoughts—my mind—I want it to mean something. I want there to be weight behind it. Permanence." Her voice lowers just a touch, intimate without being ingratiating. "Spice will take it somewhere safe. That’s all. A keepsake, not a weapon. Just a piece of you... to balance what I’m giving in return."
She lifts her gaze, steady and clear. "Hadama and I have led Torchline together for years, but we don’t always agree. We don’t move as one." Her fingers curl lightly around the edge of the desk. "And he wouldn’t stop me unless you gave him a reason to. If you asked something reckless, or obvious—Torchline striking at another region, say—that would be different. But if you play this like I know you can, it stays between us. My loyalty wouldn’t need to clash with his."
There’s a pause, quiet but not empty, as Flora lets that thought settle between them.
"As for the others—my parents, my family." She smiles faintly, lips curving without teeth. "Yes you've graced them all with your gift but have you really asked anything of them? King's End kept to themselves the way they always do, and if anything it was your threat to mine and Mateo's life that has gotten Ronin to take a backseat rather than being your friend." Flora points out, reaching for her wine. "If your priorities have shifted, then perhaps the way you use your friends will shift too. Going for the biggest and most powerful did not yield the results you wanted, but maybe going for the most integrated will." Flora, after all, was not just a queen, but a queen with connections. A queen who knew far more of the goings on of Caido than Sunjata, Hotaru, or Ronin ever did. "And I'm more than happy to visit to keep you aprised of how things are going."
The queen's fingers brush the vial again, but this time it’s with care, reverence even. "I asked for your blood because if I’m giving you my thoughts—my mind—I want it to mean something. I want there to be weight behind it. Permanence." Her voice lowers just a touch, intimate without being ingratiating. "Spice will take it somewhere safe. That’s all. A keepsake, not a weapon. Just a piece of you... to balance what I’m giving in return."
