i can't help it if i want to kiss you in the rain, so
Flora doesn’t interrupt—not at first. She just sits there, arms folded tightly beneath her chest as the wind tugs at the edge of her dress, jaw tense and knotted. Her gaze stays on Ronin, though, watching the way his sharp blue eyes drop to the deck like they’re ashamed to meet hers. It’s only when he finishes that she answers, her voice low and steady, even if it carries a razor edge.
"If I go to Haulani, that puts every single one of my friends at risk." Her brows lift, daring him to argue, even as her expression flickers somewhere between incredulous and wounded. "That isn’t very Vi-Demi-God-White-Knight of you, Ronin." Her mouth tightens, her arms squeezing closer around herself like she’s holding the rest of her words in. "And for the record, have you seen how many friends I have?" she adds, voice pitching up just enough to be rhetorical, if not a little sarcastic. "The turnout at my party was wild. Are you really telling me that you think Sunny and Hotaru, Danta and Asta, Sohalia and Koa and Kaisel, Ever and Isla, Tal and Maea and Liam, you really think they're all just going to upend their lives?" Exhaling hard enough to have her nostrils flaring, Flora shakes her head. "Based on the numbers alone it's way easier for you and Remi to keep track of me than try and convince dozens of others."
The mention of Seren has her flinching, but only slightly. Her lips press together hard, a mark of restraint that feels visible. A cheap shot, part of her whispers, but she doesn’t say it. Instead, she huffs and tosses her curls over one shoulder with exaggerated stubbornness, glaring now at a spot just past his head. "I’m telling you I’m not going. So if you and Remi want to get back in the fight, do it. But if you decide to sit on your hands, it's officially on you, not on me."
"If I go to Haulani, that puts every single one of my friends at risk." Her brows lift, daring him to argue, even as her expression flickers somewhere between incredulous and wounded. "That isn’t very Vi-Demi-God-White-Knight of you, Ronin." Her mouth tightens, her arms squeezing closer around herself like she’s holding the rest of her words in. "And for the record, have you seen how many friends I have?" she adds, voice pitching up just enough to be rhetorical, if not a little sarcastic. "The turnout at my party was wild. Are you really telling me that you think Sunny and Hotaru, Danta and Asta, Sohalia and Koa and Kaisel, Ever and Isla, Tal and Maea and Liam, you really think they're all just going to upend their lives?" Exhaling hard enough to have her nostrils flaring, Flora shakes her head. "Based on the numbers alone it's way easier for you and Remi to keep track of me than try and convince dozens of others."
The mention of Seren has her flinching, but only slightly. Her lips press together hard, a mark of restraint that feels visible. A cheap shot, part of her whispers, but she doesn’t say it. Instead, she huffs and tosses her curls over one shoulder with exaggerated stubbornness, glaring now at a spot just past his head. "I’m telling you I’m not going. So if you and Remi want to get back in the fight, do it. But if you decide to sit on your hands, it's officially on you, not on me."
