flora
Acting is acting—and Flora has always known how to sell a story. Whether it was giggling on command or fluttering her lashes like a punchline, she’d perfected the art of pretense long before her crown ever caught the sun. Even with a telepath in her life for the better part of two years, she'd held her own. Lived in performances she didn’t always know how to end. So slipping into something soft and staggering now, all wide eyes and drunken smiles, was almost too easy.
She flicked a glance up at Zavien through her lashes as he righted himself, the heat of her grin brightening when he offered a not bad. "I’ll take that," she said, her voice teasing with just enough pride beneath the sugar to let it stick. "Elbows, huh? Honestly, the only time I’ve ever used those is to push through a crowd at the markets."
Her hands dusted off the air in front of her like clearing a stage. "Okay—let’s try something." A few measured steps took her back into place, shoes scuffing lightly across the dirt before she turned on them in a practiced wobble. She let herself pitch forward, a picture of loose limbs and liquid laughter.
"Oopsie—gods, I’m so clumsy today," she singsonged as she reached for him again, her centre of gravity tilted just enough to seem off-kilter. But just before her hands caught his arms, her heel came crashing down onto his toes. Not enough to break anything, though at Pierce's party she intended to wear something with quite a high heel that might draw some blood.
And while he was reacting to that, her elbow swung up in a tight, fluid arc aimed squarely for his gut.
She flicked a glance up at Zavien through her lashes as he righted himself, the heat of her grin brightening when he offered a not bad. "I’ll take that," she said, her voice teasing with just enough pride beneath the sugar to let it stick. "Elbows, huh? Honestly, the only time I’ve ever used those is to push through a crowd at the markets."
Her hands dusted off the air in front of her like clearing a stage. "Okay—let’s try something." A few measured steps took her back into place, shoes scuffing lightly across the dirt before she turned on them in a practiced wobble. She let herself pitch forward, a picture of loose limbs and liquid laughter.
"Oopsie—gods, I’m so clumsy today," she singsonged as she reached for him again, her centre of gravity tilted just enough to seem off-kilter. But just before her hands caught his arms, her heel came crashing down onto his toes. Not enough to break anything, though at Pierce's party she intended to wear something with quite a high heel that might draw some blood.
And while he was reacting to that, her elbow swung up in a tight, fluid arc aimed squarely for his gut.
I can't stop you putting roots in my dreamland
