flora
For some people, the way to their heart was food. For others, it was diamonds. Problematic or not, for Flora, it had always been sex.
Koa had been her first—wild, messy, etched into her brain forever—and ever since that day, it had always been touch that brought them back together again. Arguments smoothed over by kisses or moments that locked them in a tension they were helpless to escape. Distance undone by heat. Jack had followed the same pattern, all unspoken things folded into fingers curling around hips or mouths pressed too hard and too fast before love even entered the equation. Even Astaroth, all smouldering dominance and soft apologies, had first reached her through the language of skin, making her think of fairytales when he'd meant to be anything but her prince charming. For all her barbed humour and gold-plated confidence, physicality was the only currency that ever seemed to hold weight when things got hard. When she got soft.
And Kaisel—gods, Kaisel. He hadn’t even meant to start anything. That press of his body in her kitchen hadn’t come with an ask, but it had been enough. Her mind had started wondering. Started wanting. Not with the sweet flush of a schoolgirl crush, nothing so innocent or fluttery. But not quite a rebound either, no matter how easy it was to tell herself that. Still. It didn’t matter. Not with Koa tangled around her ankles like seaweed, pulling her under when she least expected it.
Her eyes drift back to Kaisel as he deftly oils her cuticles, his concentration steady and his touch unexpectedly gentle. She’s impressed, genuinely, and maybe just a little delighted. So naturally, Flora slides one bare leg across his thighs, settling her ankle just behind his knee like she’s always belonged there. "You're hired," she announces breezily, flashing him a grin before snorting at his earlier question.
"It was this whole event they ran in Torchline a while back," she explains, wiggling her fingers helpfully as he works. "Everyone got paired up and had to go through these appreciation prompts—like, compliment your partner’s looks, name your favourite physical feature, say what fairytale character they’d be, something you’re grateful for, all that fake-deep shit." She rolls her eyes. "Only because we were mad, like I said, everything was passive-aggressive as fuck." Her smirk fades into a groan as she leans her head back. "And why were we mad, you ask?" Her tone is pure sarcasm, but her gaze flickers toward Kaisel, unguarded beneath the humour. "Because they both disappeared at the same time. Koa and Soh. And for weeks no one knew where they were. Everyone—and by everyone I mean me and Jude, mostly—thought he’d knocked her up and they’d run off together."
She laughs, but it's just brittle and tired. "Obviously that wasn't what happened, but you know how Koa is with explanations, and by the time he and I got onto the same page, we’d already said enough shitty things to each other to make it a thing. So." She gestures vaguely, like that’s all there is to it. Except of course, it wasn’t, because with them things never seemed to end, even when they did.
Koa had been her first—wild, messy, etched into her brain forever—and ever since that day, it had always been touch that brought them back together again. Arguments smoothed over by kisses or moments that locked them in a tension they were helpless to escape. Distance undone by heat. Jack had followed the same pattern, all unspoken things folded into fingers curling around hips or mouths pressed too hard and too fast before love even entered the equation. Even Astaroth, all smouldering dominance and soft apologies, had first reached her through the language of skin, making her think of fairytales when he'd meant to be anything but her prince charming. For all her barbed humour and gold-plated confidence, physicality was the only currency that ever seemed to hold weight when things got hard. When she got soft.
And Kaisel—gods, Kaisel. He hadn’t even meant to start anything. That press of his body in her kitchen hadn’t come with an ask, but it had been enough. Her mind had started wondering. Started wanting. Not with the sweet flush of a schoolgirl crush, nothing so innocent or fluttery. But not quite a rebound either, no matter how easy it was to tell herself that. Still. It didn’t matter. Not with Koa tangled around her ankles like seaweed, pulling her under when she least expected it.
Her eyes drift back to Kaisel as he deftly oils her cuticles, his concentration steady and his touch unexpectedly gentle. She’s impressed, genuinely, and maybe just a little delighted. So naturally, Flora slides one bare leg across his thighs, settling her ankle just behind his knee like she’s always belonged there. "You're hired," she announces breezily, flashing him a grin before snorting at his earlier question.
"It was this whole event they ran in Torchline a while back," she explains, wiggling her fingers helpfully as he works. "Everyone got paired up and had to go through these appreciation prompts—like, compliment your partner’s looks, name your favourite physical feature, say what fairytale character they’d be, something you’re grateful for, all that fake-deep shit." She rolls her eyes. "Only because we were mad, like I said, everything was passive-aggressive as fuck." Her smirk fades into a groan as she leans her head back. "And why were we mad, you ask?" Her tone is pure sarcasm, but her gaze flickers toward Kaisel, unguarded beneath the humour. "Because they both disappeared at the same time. Koa and Soh. And for weeks no one knew where they were. Everyone—and by everyone I mean me and Jude, mostly—thought he’d knocked her up and they’d run off together."
She laughs, but it's just brittle and tired. "Obviously that wasn't what happened, but you know how Koa is with explanations, and by the time he and I got onto the same page, we’d already said enough shitty things to each other to make it a thing. So." She gestures vaguely, like that’s all there is to it. Except of course, it wasn’t, because with them things never seemed to end, even when they did.
I want to be when you fall on me like night
I wanna kill the lights
I wanna kill the lights
