Flora
Flora shivers. It starts in her spine and ripples out across her shoulders, subtle as seafoam curling over the sand, and just as inevitable. Every word he gives her is meant to soothe, and maybe it would have, if this ache were newer, if the hurt didn’t already have roots twisted deep inside her. Instead, it makes her want to argue. That’s not how it felt. That’s not how it looked. But fighting him now—here, like this—feels like throwing stones at someone already bleeding and gods she can't tell which of them it's hurting more.
Only one thing rises past the swirl of it all. One stubborn truth with barbs on the edges that she can’t keep from spilling. "Distance was the wrong thing," she whispers, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from letting it crack further. Her voice folds in on itself, soft and sore. "It felt like leaving, and..." Remi had been the first to leave, with his retreat not just physical, but emotional. How he couldn’t bear to look at her and Enzo for what they reminded him of. So Vai had raised them. And Enzo—gods, Enzo. He’d promised to stay, but she’d cradled his body as it went still in the mud and blood of war. Jack had left her in stages, sometimes with silence, sometimes with heat, but always, always, in the end.
And now Kaisel. Not because he had to. Because he thought it would hurt less.
Her head shakes slowly, like she can’t understand how he ever thought that was the best choice. That he could hold onto her by pulling away. It makes her feel like he never really saw her at all.
"I know you don’t wan—" she starts to say, the words barely formed, but then his fingers are beneath her chin, coaxing her face back up toward his, and her voice vanishes into the space between them. The kiss lands like thunder after a storm that had already rolled on by. Delayed. Startling. The kind of thing you still flinch from even if you knew it might come.
Her breath catches in her throat, not quite a gasp, but close. Her lips part against his—not in invitation, not at first—but in astonishment. For a second, she just stands there, stunned and still, too full of adrenaline and grief to move. The last time she'd kissed him—really kissed him—had been in her bed, quiet and late, when she’d whispered that they could always stay the way they were in that moment. That kiss had been soft as a prayer, sealing a moment she’d wanted to keep safe. She’d leaned in then. This..this is something else.
Quite without her permission, her fingers are suddenly in his hair, curling upward as though she’s trying to find something solid to hold onto. Her body sways ever so slightly toward his like it’s being drawn in by a gravity she can’t control, rising onto her toes just enough that her weight shifts forward into the gap between them.
Only one thing rises past the swirl of it all. One stubborn truth with barbs on the edges that she can’t keep from spilling. "Distance was the wrong thing," she whispers, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from letting it crack further. Her voice folds in on itself, soft and sore. "It felt like leaving, and..." Remi had been the first to leave, with his retreat not just physical, but emotional. How he couldn’t bear to look at her and Enzo for what they reminded him of. So Vai had raised them. And Enzo—gods, Enzo. He’d promised to stay, but she’d cradled his body as it went still in the mud and blood of war. Jack had left her in stages, sometimes with silence, sometimes with heat, but always, always, in the end.
And now Kaisel. Not because he had to. Because he thought it would hurt less.
Her head shakes slowly, like she can’t understand how he ever thought that was the best choice. That he could hold onto her by pulling away. It makes her feel like he never really saw her at all.
"I know you don’t wan—" she starts to say, the words barely formed, but then his fingers are beneath her chin, coaxing her face back up toward his, and her voice vanishes into the space between them. The kiss lands like thunder after a storm that had already rolled on by. Delayed. Startling. The kind of thing you still flinch from even if you knew it might come.
Her breath catches in her throat, not quite a gasp, but close. Her lips part against his—not in invitation, not at first—but in astonishment. For a second, she just stands there, stunned and still, too full of adrenaline and grief to move. The last time she'd kissed him—really kissed him—had been in her bed, quiet and late, when she’d whispered that they could always stay the way they were in that moment. That kiss had been soft as a prayer, sealing a moment she’d wanted to keep safe. She’d leaned in then. This..this is something else.
Quite without her permission, her fingers are suddenly in his hair, curling upward as though she’s trying to find something solid to hold onto. Her body sways ever so slightly toward his like it’s being drawn in by a gravity she can’t control, rising onto her toes just enough that her weight shifts forward into the gap between them.
I hope you're sweating the bigger stuff,
finding some peace in an honest love
Hope you stop when you've had enough & throw the towel in
finding some peace in an honest love
Hope you stop when you've had enough & throw the towel in
Code stolen from Queen Sky
