flora
Flora props herself up slightly on one elbow as Kaisel leans against her doorframe, the soft golden light from within catching on the edges of his hair, on the gentle curve of his smile. She doesn’t know how many more firsts she'll get in a life that often feels like it’s been cut into pieces and stitched back together by other people’s wars, but no one’s ever stood in her bedroom doorway before, not on the Sugar Tide at least. And it makes something flutter low in her belly, featherlight and sun-warm, that this particular first has been claimed by Kai.
Her nose scrunches in an affectionate wince as she follows the point of his finger, imagining crude posters hung up beside her sea-glass wind chimes and framed wildflower pressed between waxy paper. "Mmmm yeah for sure...you can hang one for every arm wrestle you win," she decides loftily, chin tilting with queenly pride. "I’m stronger than I look, y’know. All this jewellery? Weight training." She flashes a few gold-laden fingers before casually flipping her hair off her shoulder like the finishing move in a shampoo commercial.
Her gaze flicks to his legs as he stands there, all resigned indignation and almost-tanned limbs. "You’ve only got yourself to blame for not keeping emergency shorts here," she tuts, mock-disapproving like the fact that he hasn't already thought to stash sleepover gear at her place was a monumental oversight on his part.
As Kai flings himself dramatically onto the mattress, Flora yelps and rolls aside, dodging like she expected water to splash. Her laughter spills out unfiltered, loose and delighted, as she catches the pillow and hugs it tight to her chest for a moment before launching it back with the kind of aim she’d usually reserve for her daggers. "Is this not the comfiest bed you've ever been in?" she wonders, sprawled and glowing and far too pleased with herself. One brow lifts slowly, warningly, and she holds up her hand with fingers curled into claws. "If you say no, I will tickle you." Her voice lowers conspiratorially as she crawls across the blankets just enough to loom over him, hair slipping over one shoulder like spun sunlight. "You’ve been warned."
Her nose scrunches in an affectionate wince as she follows the point of his finger, imagining crude posters hung up beside her sea-glass wind chimes and framed wildflower pressed between waxy paper. "Mmmm yeah for sure...you can hang one for every arm wrestle you win," she decides loftily, chin tilting with queenly pride. "I’m stronger than I look, y’know. All this jewellery? Weight training." She flashes a few gold-laden fingers before casually flipping her hair off her shoulder like the finishing move in a shampoo commercial.
Her gaze flicks to his legs as he stands there, all resigned indignation and almost-tanned limbs. "You’ve only got yourself to blame for not keeping emergency shorts here," she tuts, mock-disapproving like the fact that he hasn't already thought to stash sleepover gear at her place was a monumental oversight on his part.
As Kai flings himself dramatically onto the mattress, Flora yelps and rolls aside, dodging like she expected water to splash. Her laughter spills out unfiltered, loose and delighted, as she catches the pillow and hugs it tight to her chest for a moment before launching it back with the kind of aim she’d usually reserve for her daggers. "Is this not the comfiest bed you've ever been in?" she wonders, sprawled and glowing and far too pleased with herself. One brow lifts slowly, warningly, and she holds up her hand with fingers curled into claws. "If you say no, I will tickle you." Her voice lowers conspiratorially as she crawls across the blankets just enough to loom over him, hair slipping over one shoulder like spun sunlight. "You’ve been warned."
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
And now I'm covered in you
