funny how true colours shine in darkness and secrecy

Koa

Don't you just wanna wake up dark as a lake
Smelling like a bonfire, lost in a haze?

Any return to the Greatwood is too soon in Koa's mind; despite his season-long tenure beneath their boughs, he's never truly managed to feel comfortable among the impish trees. Today they seem to taunt him, reaching out to ruffle his hair and snag his clothing, the dynamic pathways opening up with suspicious obligation. It does nothing to soothe the uneasy feeling in his gut, the butterflies of dread that always seem to riot whenever she is around.

Flora is ravishing, as always, but Koa doesn't notice that (or so he tells himself). She's also small, pressed into the tree trunk as though she believes that if she tries hard enough she'll disappear into the embrace of the forest, become one with the tree that holds the name of herself and Enzo upon its back. It sets his instincts into overdrive; he wants to kneel down beside her, to take her hand and peer into her eyes and bully a smile back onto her face. Instead, Koa stops a few strides away from her, nerves brushed under a calm exterior, years of training serving as a semi-adequate alternative to actual chill.

"Flora."

There's a note in Koa's voice that is practiced and calm, but foreign, also - especially when it's directed at her. With Flora the young man has never been professional, for better or for worse, but today the Doubletake will be treated to the full force of Dragoon Koa: pressed shirt, hands behind his back, a pleasant distance in the mild mask affixed to his handsome face. Even Pipsqueak, her long tail draped over his shoulder, is uncharacteristically subdued, the turmoil in her companion's heart weighing in her fiery little chest.

"What did you want to talk about?" And why is it the fact that your ex-boyfriend tried to turn my cousin into crispy shrimp?

If you're drunk on life, babe, I think it's great
But while in this world I think I'll take my whiskey neat