flora
Flora’s laugh slips out on a warm, indulgent breath. The idea of showing up in a chastity belt is so absurd she nearly snorts her wine, shoulders shaking as she tries—and fails—to keep a straight face. "Oh, I’m definitely not showing up in a chastity belt," she says, eyes glittering. Then again, pleasing people has always been one of her kinks, and if making Kai happy counted as pleasing him...then she was absolutely inclined to agree with Danta.
Tucking her legs beneath a fresh fold of blankets and sipping at her wine again, she lets it melt comfortably into her bones while her mind circles Charlie like a wary cat around fire. She never quite knows what to think of Charlie, thinking only that she was bright, scorching, and dangerous in the way lantern flames are dangerous when you’re made of silk. Flora blinks, nodding along, trying not to overthink the idea of Kai spending so much time with her.
Then the conversation shifts, and the breath she releases is softer but heavier around the edges. "Yeah....since we’re both Accepted, it’s just one of those things," she murmurs, gaze drifting down into her wine like she’s trying to read the future in the reflections. "But lately I’ve been thinking maybe I’m holding myself back by staying one." The admission feels like pulling a petal off a flower; small, delicate, revealing more than it seems.
Her lips twitch, uncertain, before she continues. "Sometimes it feels like I’m staying an Accepted just so I can always call in the cavalry when I need help." Her fingers trace the stem of her glass, slow and restless. "But why couldn’t I just get stronger on my own? So I don’t need them?" She wrinkles her nose, finally lifting her gaze to him, aqua eyes half-exasperated, half-hopeful. "Or is that stupid? Am I throwing away a good thing?"
Flora sighs and nods, brows lifting as she swirls her glass. "It’s always rainy this time of year in Torchline," she says with a dramatic little roll of her eyes, "but it’s definitely worse than usual. The Grounds seem like they’re getting hit just as hard."
Tucking her legs beneath a fresh fold of blankets and sipping at her wine again, she lets it melt comfortably into her bones while her mind circles Charlie like a wary cat around fire. She never quite knows what to think of Charlie, thinking only that she was bright, scorching, and dangerous in the way lantern flames are dangerous when you’re made of silk. Flora blinks, nodding along, trying not to overthink the idea of Kai spending so much time with her.
Then the conversation shifts, and the breath she releases is softer but heavier around the edges. "Yeah....since we’re both Accepted, it’s just one of those things," she murmurs, gaze drifting down into her wine like she’s trying to read the future in the reflections. "But lately I’ve been thinking maybe I’m holding myself back by staying one." The admission feels like pulling a petal off a flower; small, delicate, revealing more than it seems.
Her lips twitch, uncertain, before she continues. "Sometimes it feels like I’m staying an Accepted just so I can always call in the cavalry when I need help." Her fingers trace the stem of her glass, slow and restless. "But why couldn’t I just get stronger on my own? So I don’t need them?" She wrinkles her nose, finally lifting her gaze to him, aqua eyes half-exasperated, half-hopeful. "Or is that stupid? Am I throwing away a good thing?"
Flora sighs and nods, brows lifting as she swirls her glass. "It’s always rainy this time of year in Torchline," she says with a dramatic little roll of her eyes, "but it’s definitely worse than usual. The Grounds seem like they’re getting hit just as hard."
and if you'd never come for me, I might've drowned in the melancholy
I swore my loyalty to me, myself, and I, Right before you lit my sky up
I swore my loyalty to me, myself, and I, Right before you lit my sky up
