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?

Koa lets Flora pull him down beside her without resistance, sinking into the grass like it's something sacred. The sun catches in her hair and paints her skin in gold, and for a moment - just a moment - it feels like the world has been slowed to a hush, like they’re tucked between heartbeats. He watches her fingers move across his palm, a ghost from another life, and his chest aches as he thinks about the dream they never got to live.

He listens to what she says about Sohalia - about the breadcrumb trail, about love deserving honesty - and something in his jaw tightens, just briefly, before he nods. "You’re right," he says, voice rough with restraint. "And I told her that. That she deserves the whole thing. The whole version of someone. And that I wasn’t ready to give it to her, not then, not with everything in the world going wrong and the ghost of us still haunting me. The last thing I want is for her to feel how I did, y'know?" The words aren’t designed to twist the knife, and there’s no accusation in his voice, no resentment or plea or bitterness for the heartbreak he’s endured. The weight of the past few seasons has worn down that particular chip on his shoulder; how can he blame either Soh or Flora for the choices they made, now that he’s trapped on the other side?

The rejection of his offered violence earns a laugh, Koa raising an eyebrow back Flora’s way. "I'm not gonna make any promises I can't keep. Especially if I won't remember them in a few minutes, anyway." All he'll know is that he hates Jack even more than he did before, with no context for why.

He looks down at their joined hands, thumb brushing slowly over her knuckles, like he’s memorizing the shape of her before he loses it again. "What if I don't want to take the potion?" he asks softly, though not with any real force. He knows better than to think he can change Flora's mind once it's made up, and while he may not have explicitly promised he'd follow through on this stipulation, the oath was implied. Still it feels worth an effort, and his eyes are beseeching as he searches hers. "I don't want to forget this, Flora. And you- you shouldn't have to carry what you've been through alone. Let me remember. Please."

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