flora
It’s not the words, not really—not the questions or the comfort or the fthat slips out like a cracked exhale—but the weight of him. The way he wraps his arms around her and stays. No hesitation, no clock ticking down behind his eyes, no half-excuses or glances toward the door. He came. Just like that. Just because she needed him, and gods, she can feel the difference of it. Like air returning to collapsed lungs, like a tether drawing her out from the smoke and ruin of her own thoughts. Kaisel is warmth, real warmth, solid and steady and there. The kind that melts knots from her shoulders without needing to untie them first. Her breath catches once in her throat, but not from grief this time, but from the sudden, unbearable relief of not being alone in it.
She bites the inside of her cheek, a small reflexive flicker of uncertainty still buzzing behind her teeth, and her lips twitch sideways with the barest hint of a frown. She doesn’t want to say it. Doesn’t want to come right out and accuse Calypso. Besides, Flora had thought they were…not friends, exactly, but not enemies, certainly. Friendly, if not close. But meeting Kaisel’s gaze, she doesn’t say anything at first. Just shrugs, limp and defeated in his arms, brows tugging inward with a quiet crease. It isn't doubt exactly—not of him, anyway—but the pieces don’t make sense no matter how she fits them.
Sitting up a little straighter, fingers still knotted in the fabric of his shirt, Flora tilts her head, aqua eyes searching his face. "Is there…anything you’re not telling me?" Her voice is soft, not accusatory, more a quiet ache of confusion. She lifts a hand to brush her thumb lightly over his ribs as if to keep the question gentle. "It’s just..if it was Caly, I don’t get it. Like, I get why she'd be mad, but throwing bottles at you and grabbing you when you went to talk to her? And now torching the bar and the guild to try and hurt me? " Blinking, Flora gives her head an uncertain little shake.
"I thought she was the one who decided to friendzone you, and if it was just the one date you went on...?" Her brows knit further, unsure why what had sounded like a bit of kindling that had never quite been able to burn from Kaisel's description of it, had become a raging inferno on Caly's side.
She bites the inside of her cheek, a small reflexive flicker of uncertainty still buzzing behind her teeth, and her lips twitch sideways with the barest hint of a frown. She doesn’t want to say it. Doesn’t want to come right out and accuse Calypso. Besides, Flora had thought they were…not friends, exactly, but not enemies, certainly. Friendly, if not close. But meeting Kaisel’s gaze, she doesn’t say anything at first. Just shrugs, limp and defeated in his arms, brows tugging inward with a quiet crease. It isn't doubt exactly—not of him, anyway—but the pieces don’t make sense no matter how she fits them.
Sitting up a little straighter, fingers still knotted in the fabric of his shirt, Flora tilts her head, aqua eyes searching his face. "Is there…anything you’re not telling me?" Her voice is soft, not accusatory, more a quiet ache of confusion. She lifts a hand to brush her thumb lightly over his ribs as if to keep the question gentle. "It’s just..if it was Caly, I don’t get it. Like, I get why she'd be mad, but throwing bottles at you and grabbing you when you went to talk to her? And now torching the bar and the guild to try and hurt me? " Blinking, Flora gives her head an uncertain little shake.
"I thought she was the one who decided to friendzone you, and if it was just the one date you went on...?" Her brows knit further, unsure why what had sounded like a bit of kindling that had never quite been able to burn from Kaisel's description of it, had become a raging inferno on Caly's side.
How can a person know everything at 18 but nothing at 22?
Will you still want me when I'm nothing new?
Will you still want me when I'm nothing new?
