with each love i cut loose i was never the same
Flora inhales—eggs, peppers, a hint of street-cart grease—and all the righteous noise she’d been prepared to unleash evaporates in a single blissful sniff. "Okay, fine," she concedes, plucking the foil-wrapped bribe from Remi’s hand. "Divine summons require divine fuel. I’ll allow it."
She tears a corner off the burrito, steam curling up in a fragrant ribbon, then jabs it toward her father like an accusing finger. "But don’t think breakfast gets you out of this. I was yelling for you, actually."
One bite, two chews, and she swallows—eyes narrowing in dramatic judgment. "Ludo says you owe them a game of hopscotch." She lets that hang, savouring his expression almost as much as the burrito. "Yes, hopscotch. Squares, chalk, the whole playground spectacle. Apparently ‘pretty pleases’ and family connections only get me so far, so you’re up."
Flora leans a hip against the railing, half-unwrapping the rest of her breakfast. "I’d suggest settling the debt before Ludo decides to upgrade the stakes. Next time it could be double dutch, and I know Ronin would make that weirdly competitive." Then again, it wasn't as though Remi was ignorant of Ludo's petulance.
She tears a corner off the burrito, steam curling up in a fragrant ribbon, then jabs it toward her father like an accusing finger. "But don’t think breakfast gets you out of this. I was yelling for you, actually."
One bite, two chews, and she swallows—eyes narrowing in dramatic judgment. "Ludo says you owe them a game of hopscotch." She lets that hang, savouring his expression almost as much as the burrito. "Yes, hopscotch. Squares, chalk, the whole playground spectacle. Apparently ‘pretty pleases’ and family connections only get me so far, so you’re up."
Flora leans a hip against the railing, half-unwrapping the rest of her breakfast. "I’d suggest settling the debt before Ludo decides to upgrade the stakes. Next time it could be double dutch, and I know Ronin would make that weirdly competitive." Then again, it wasn't as though Remi was ignorant of Ludo's petulance.
