liars and lovers combine tonight, we're gonna make a scene
"Your grandmother's good side is not something I plan on straying from," Neron assures her with a smirk as they set off down the beach towards the promised wine bar, "but - and I mean no disrespect to her - it isn't her I think I really need to impress if I want to come back here any time soon." He raises his eyebrows pointedly towards Flora; he's here for her, after all, and if she deems him bad company a bad date? then he can kiss goodbye to the living world again forever.
He tilts his head to hear about her twin, something in her words twisting an old, nearly forgotten wound in his chest. "I didn't know you had one," he says quietly, "or that you lost them. We have even more in common than I thought." Smiling almost listlessly out towards the ocean for a moment, he soon reels it back in with a deep breath and a long sigh. "I have no idea where my twin is," he confesses. "All I know is that he isn't dead. So..." He shrugs.
She certainly does stand corrected - not that Neron's muscles have ever been anything to write home about, given his reliance on magic and wit over any sort of physical combat, not to mention the advantage of being Ascended and not needing to bulk up to commit feats of strength. Still, as she catches up to him and they fall into step together again, Neron makes sure to keep his steps even and sure.
All that being said, he's distracted not only by the wine bar emerging in the distance, but by the burst of salt on the air mingling with Flora's perfume, by the feel of her leaning into him as they walk, by the warmth of the last rays of light on his cheeks and in his hair. By the time they get close enough to stand in the merry glow of its lantern light, Neron's smile is uncharacteristically open, as if he's momentarily been somewhere else entirely.
"You are building this place up to be exceptional, I hope you know," he tells her, releasing her only so he might open the door and hold it open for her to step inside. "I warn you now, though, for a former barman, I am liable to be drunk on one glass, so be gentle with me."
He tilts his head to hear about her twin, something in her words twisting an old, nearly forgotten wound in his chest. "I didn't know you had one," he says quietly, "or that you lost them. We have even more in common than I thought." Smiling almost listlessly out towards the ocean for a moment, he soon reels it back in with a deep breath and a long sigh. "I have no idea where my twin is," he confesses. "All I know is that he isn't dead. So..." He shrugs.
She certainly does stand corrected - not that Neron's muscles have ever been anything to write home about, given his reliance on magic and wit over any sort of physical combat, not to mention the advantage of being Ascended and not needing to bulk up to commit feats of strength. Still, as she catches up to him and they fall into step together again, Neron makes sure to keep his steps even and sure.
All that being said, he's distracted not only by the wine bar emerging in the distance, but by the burst of salt on the air mingling with Flora's perfume, by the feel of her leaning into him as they walk, by the warmth of the last rays of light on his cheeks and in his hair. By the time they get close enough to stand in the merry glow of its lantern light, Neron's smile is uncharacteristically open, as if he's momentarily been somewhere else entirely.
"You are building this place up to be exceptional, I hope you know," he tells her, releasing her only so he might open the door and hold it open for her to step inside. "I warn you now, though, for a former barman, I am liable to be drunk on one glass, so be gentle with me."
Neron
