and all that we intend is scrawled in sand
"It isn’t gone," Flora corrects, grinning a little as she tosses him a sidelong glance, the mischief curling at the edges of her words like ivy on brick. "We’re gone." Her fingers splay in a vague gesture to the glade around them, to the hush and the hush within the hush. "The trees shifted. We’re somewhere else entirely." She draws in a breath, turning a slow circle as if to confirm it, curls spilling free from where her messy bun has long since given up the ghost. "Being able to do this is why I was unbeatable at hide and seek, growing up."
But then Koa steps closer, and for the briefest flicker of a second—just long enough to steal the breath from her lungs—she wants to stay here. Like this. Suspended. No fighting, no too-full stares, no questions she doesn’t want to ask because she’s too afraid of the answers. Just his hand on her shoulder, the quiet between them spun from childhood memories and moss, and the easy kind of affection that used to come naturally.
But the moment isn’t suspended; the trees can only do so much, after all. So Flora exhales through her nose, lifts her chin, and answers with a quip instead of an embrace. "You were great too," she says, voice light as she meets his gaze again. "Very heroic. You could’ve let me faceplant into a tree root and made a clean getaway while it chewed me up." She bumps her arm gently into his palm before retreating again and considering the glade. "Though..I actually have no idea where we are now."
But then Koa steps closer, and for the briefest flicker of a second—just long enough to steal the breath from her lungs—she wants to stay here. Like this. Suspended. No fighting, no too-full stares, no questions she doesn’t want to ask because she’s too afraid of the answers. Just his hand on her shoulder, the quiet between them spun from childhood memories and moss, and the easy kind of affection that used to come naturally.
But the moment isn’t suspended; the trees can only do so much, after all. So Flora exhales through her nose, lifts her chin, and answers with a quip instead of an embrace. "You were great too," she says, voice light as she meets his gaze again. "Very heroic. You could’ve let me faceplant into a tree root and made a clean getaway while it chewed me up." She bumps her arm gently into his palm before retreating again and considering the glade. "Though..I actually have no idea where we are now."
