flora
In the moment, Flora's too tangled in her own knots of guilt and awkwardness to fully register the gift Jack's giving her by sitting so still, so open, without a single scoff or sharp edge in his expression. Later, she’ll think on it and appreciate it more than she can say, but right now the noise inside her is too loud to even be aware.
A humourless laugh slips under her breath, small and brittle, her head shaking as if she could scatter the worst of it loose. "I wouldn’t cheat on you," she says firmly, her voice low but unwavering, "and not just because the risk of being caught is basically one hundred percent." Her eyes lift to his, and there’s no hiding the conflicted ache there.
Kaisel flashes in her mind whether she wants him to or not—the way he’d already gone and completed a quest for her, just to try to smooth things over, the way he’d spoken like he’d leap as high as she needed if it would make things right. She exhales softly, her words slower now, steadier. "I wouldn’t take that bet in a million years," Flora says, her voice a thready mixture of affection and sadness, because Jack was right. Kaisel probably would be waiting, like a bright-eyed puppy locked out of a room, convinced someone’s going to open the door eventually, and gods if the juxtaposition of that image overlayed over the struggles she and Jack had just gone over doesn't make her heart clench.
She exhales quickly, as if the words might run away if she doesn’t catch them, trying to give them shape because Jack had asked her to, but also trying to cushion the sharp edges she knows they must carry for him as well to speak not just about someone else she had feelings for, but someone that Jack so vehemetly disliked. "I don’t want to compare you," she says, her voice quieter now, searching for a balance between honesty and gentleness. "There is no comparison between a few weeks and the years we’ve spent together. That’s not even a question." But it was something, something that bordered on the verge of love had it not been for Kaisel's own stupidity and Jack's sudden remergence in her life.
Her gaze slips down again, fingers worrying at the hem of her shirt, but she forces herself to keep going. "But it doesn’t change the fact that I do feel something for him. And I’m not entirely sure what to do with that now, in the middle of everything you and I are trying to sort through."
A humourless laugh slips under her breath, small and brittle, her head shaking as if she could scatter the worst of it loose. "I wouldn’t cheat on you," she says firmly, her voice low but unwavering, "and not just because the risk of being caught is basically one hundred percent." Her eyes lift to his, and there’s no hiding the conflicted ache there.
Kaisel flashes in her mind whether she wants him to or not—the way he’d already gone and completed a quest for her, just to try to smooth things over, the way he’d spoken like he’d leap as high as she needed if it would make things right. She exhales softly, her words slower now, steadier. "I wouldn’t take that bet in a million years," Flora says, her voice a thready mixture of affection and sadness, because Jack was right. Kaisel probably would be waiting, like a bright-eyed puppy locked out of a room, convinced someone’s going to open the door eventually, and gods if the juxtaposition of that image overlayed over the struggles she and Jack had just gone over doesn't make her heart clench.
She exhales quickly, as if the words might run away if she doesn’t catch them, trying to give them shape because Jack had asked her to, but also trying to cushion the sharp edges she knows they must carry for him as well to speak not just about someone else she had feelings for, but someone that Jack so vehemetly disliked. "I don’t want to compare you," she says, her voice quieter now, searching for a balance between honesty and gentleness. "There is no comparison between a few weeks and the years we’ve spent together. That’s not even a question." But it was something, something that bordered on the verge of love had it not been for Kaisel's own stupidity and Jack's sudden remergence in her life.
Her gaze slips down again, fingers worrying at the hem of her shirt, but she forces herself to keep going. "But it doesn’t change the fact that I do feel something for him. And I’m not entirely sure what to do with that now, in the middle of everything you and I are trying to sort through."
you're under the feeling like teenagers in cars
it ain't robbing or stealing if the moment is ours
it ain't robbing or stealing if the moment is ours
