marked me like a bloodstain
Flora shakes her head slowly, curls brushing her cheek with the motion. "No," she admits with a dry little laugh. "Jack doesn’t really seem like the type. He barely even says I love you. He wrote it on a piece of paper instead so I wouldn't forget." Her thumb rubs absently along the rim of her mug. "I didn’t want a wedding or anything. I just... wanted to offer him that kind of forever. Even if it only went one way." And maybe that’s what stings the most, now that she’s said it out loud. The revivify feather. The mageglass. The unspoken promise tucked into every reckless gamble she made for his sake. Always showing him, in the only ways she knew how. Her eyes drift back toward the fire, lashes low.
She falls quiet for a beat—letting the truth settle, letting it hurt—before nudging her head lightly against Sunjata’s shoulder at the sound of his voice again. What he says about Ru and Nate earns a faint, wistful smile, even if her chest squeezes at the thought of how complicated it must have been. "I didn’t know that about you three," she murmurs. "That you made that kind of promise. And...yeah, I can see how mom would have had that reaction to it." Flora knows what it’s like to build rules around your heart just to survive.
With a heavy sigh, Flora offers Sunjata a lopsided smile. "Thanks for telling me all of that. I'm sure it's not the most cheerful thing to go through." He and Hotaru might have found their way back to one another, but Nate was still gone; the life they'd all planned was salvaged as best they could, but gods it still had to hurt. "And mom is okay now? If I go see her, I won't be kidnapped again?"
She falls quiet for a beat—letting the truth settle, letting it hurt—before nudging her head lightly against Sunjata’s shoulder at the sound of his voice again. What he says about Ru and Nate earns a faint, wistful smile, even if her chest squeezes at the thought of how complicated it must have been. "I didn’t know that about you three," she murmurs. "That you made that kind of promise. And...yeah, I can see how mom would have had that reaction to it." Flora knows what it’s like to build rules around your heart just to survive.
With a heavy sigh, Flora offers Sunjata a lopsided smile. "Thanks for telling me all of that. I'm sure it's not the most cheerful thing to go through." He and Hotaru might have found their way back to one another, but Nate was still gone; the life they'd all planned was salvaged as best they could, but gods it still had to hurt. "And mom is okay now? If I go see her, I won't be kidnapped again?"
