slow down, you're doing fine
Flora rolls her eyes with enough theatrical force to make it clear she finds his doubt absolutely outrageous. "When you're riding," she counters, gesturing with her fork as though presenting irrefutable evidence, "you have to deal with steering and balance and bouncing all over the place." She shrugs, curls brushing her cheek as she digs back into her waffles. "Flying with Soh was mostly smooth straight lines. I just sat there and let her do her thing."
Snickering at the mention of cult vibes and Kai’s gummy-worm bloodlust, she shakes her head, grinning. "Apparently, when they get turned to stone you can just heat them up again with fire." Her brows lift with genuine awe. "Being able to be surrounded by that much fire and not get burned? That seems super cool."
As if on cue, she leans fully into his side, relinquishing her fork so she can slide her hand up his arm and give his bicep an exaggeratedly impressed squeeze. " I think you’re already super strong," she says, letting the praise curl warmly between them before the line about Ronin earns an uncontained snort from her. "All you'd have to do is say pretty please and I bet he'd show up," she teases, then lets her expression slouch into something faintly distressed. "But please don’t."
When he goes in for another strawberry, she blocks him with her fork—swift, defensive, wholly territorial—until he says the names that hollow the air a little. The bright shield of teasing drops in an instant, and she slouches back, letting him take whatever fruity spoils he wants. "Yeah. Sorta." Her voice softens, fingers fidgeting lightly with the corner of her plate. She exhales, the breath thin around edges she tries to smooth. "I mean....obviously I don’t want to be stupid about things and ignore everything my family can do." Her gaze lifts to him, aqua eyes searching his face for any hint of judgment or dismissal. "I just want to be able to rely on myself more."
Then she nudges his shoulder gently, a small smile returning like something coaxed back into bloom. "And you."
Snickering at the mention of cult vibes and Kai’s gummy-worm bloodlust, she shakes her head, grinning. "Apparently, when they get turned to stone you can just heat them up again with fire." Her brows lift with genuine awe. "Being able to be surrounded by that much fire and not get burned? That seems super cool."
As if on cue, she leans fully into his side, relinquishing her fork so she can slide her hand up his arm and give his bicep an exaggeratedly impressed squeeze. " I think you’re already super strong," she says, letting the praise curl warmly between them before the line about Ronin earns an uncontained snort from her. "All you'd have to do is say pretty please and I bet he'd show up," she teases, then lets her expression slouch into something faintly distressed. "But please don’t."
When he goes in for another strawberry, she blocks him with her fork—swift, defensive, wholly territorial—until he says the names that hollow the air a little. The bright shield of teasing drops in an instant, and she slouches back, letting him take whatever fruity spoils he wants. "Yeah. Sorta." Her voice softens, fingers fidgeting lightly with the corner of her plate. She exhales, the breath thin around edges she tries to smooth. "I mean....obviously I don’t want to be stupid about things and ignore everything my family can do." Her gaze lifts to him, aqua eyes searching his face for any hint of judgment or dismissal. "I just want to be able to rely on myself more."
Then she nudges his shoulder gently, a small smile returning like something coaxed back into bloom. "And you."
Flora
you can't be everything you wanna be before your time
