i could be the reason you can't sleep at night
Flora lounges beside Kaisel in her jean shorts and crop top, oversized sunglasses catching the colours of the balloons drifting overhead. Her curls bounce with every shift of her weight, high ponytail swinging as she watches Kaisel line up his latest attempt like the fate of Caido hangs on a ring toss. Spice is a white blur at her ankles, chittering encouragement with all the intensity of a battlefield coach.
The oasis is sweet and dangerous, like everything she loves, but right now her focus is very much on the boy beside her and his deep, world-ending concentration on...bottle toss. The image of him—tanned arms flexing beneath the fuzzy raccoon graphic, brows drawn tight, toes curled over the edge of his slides like he’s gripping for dear life—has her fighting a grin that threatens to break into something too full of affection. She’s halfway through wondering if she could slip invisible behind the counter and just take the Tumsea for him—no one would ever know—when suddenly Kai thrusts his hand and the ring right into her face.
She blinks, exaggerated behind her lenses, then tilts her head with a crooked grin that’s pure trouble. Leaning in far too slowly to be innocent, she blows on the ring with soft, unnecessary ceremony, keeping her gaze fixed on him like she’s blessing something far more risqué. "There," she murmurs, straightening just enough for her ponytail to sway. "All charged up." Spice chirps as if seconding the blessing, hopping in place like the world’s tiniest cheerleader.
The oasis is sweet and dangerous, like everything she loves, but right now her focus is very much on the boy beside her and his deep, world-ending concentration on...bottle toss. The image of him—tanned arms flexing beneath the fuzzy raccoon graphic, brows drawn tight, toes curled over the edge of his slides like he’s gripping for dear life—has her fighting a grin that threatens to break into something too full of affection. She’s halfway through wondering if she could slip invisible behind the counter and just take the Tumsea for him—no one would ever know—when suddenly Kai thrusts his hand and the ring right into her face.
She blinks, exaggerated behind her lenses, then tilts her head with a crooked grin that’s pure trouble. Leaning in far too slowly to be innocent, she blows on the ring with soft, unnecessary ceremony, keeping her gaze fixed on him like she’s blessing something far more risqué. "There," she murmurs, straightening just enough for her ponytail to sway. "All charged up." Spice chirps as if seconding the blessing, hopping in place like the world’s tiniest cheerleader.
