flora
Flora flashes him a grin so bright it borders on conspiratorial, already storing the information away with the greedy delight of someone who cannot wait to weaponize it gently later. She hums her approval at the mention of gardeners and Mateo’s regular visits, entirely unsurprised and entirely pleased all the same, and sinks down into the grass beside Ronin with an easy familiarity, stretching her legs out in front of her as though Meadowreach is just another council chamber with better scenery.
"That sounds good then," she says of the RQ, nodding once, decisive. At his reminder about calling if she needs them, she angles him a look of exaggerated weariness, lifting her bottle in a small, lazy salute. "Yes, yes. I will channel the cavalry if Torchline so much as gets a tummy ache," she assures him, though the faint curl at the corner of her mouth betrays how much the offer settles somewhere solid and warm in her chest. She takes another drink instead of lingering there, letting the cool bite of it keep her expression level.
At the bark of laughter about cannons, she wrinkles her nose slightly, drawing the word out with theatrical reluctance. "Welllllllllllllll." The humour does not vanish all at once, but it thins. She lowers her gaze to the bottle in her hands and begins picking at the edge of the label with her thumb, peeling it back in careful, uneven strips.
"Before Kai and I started dating," she begins, voice still steady but stripped of its earlier brightness, "he baited Jack into a fight and it nearly left him dead." She does not look up as she says it, focusing instead on the stubborn paper beneath her nail. "Jack didn't take our breakup well, and when I ran into him a few weeks ago and tried to apologize, he did not take that well either." The meadow is still calm around them, flowers swaying lazily, the sprout continuing its quiet, oblivious climb toward the sun.
She exhales softly through her nose, finally lifting her eyes toward Ronin with a smile that is almost convincing if one does not look too closely. "I worry he might just show up one day and decide to take it out on Torchline instead,"[/ay] she says, lightness reintroduced just a fraction too deliberately. "Soooo, cannons."
"That sounds good then," she says of the RQ, nodding once, decisive. At his reminder about calling if she needs them, she angles him a look of exaggerated weariness, lifting her bottle in a small, lazy salute. "Yes, yes. I will channel the cavalry if Torchline so much as gets a tummy ache," she assures him, though the faint curl at the corner of her mouth betrays how much the offer settles somewhere solid and warm in her chest. She takes another drink instead of lingering there, letting the cool bite of it keep her expression level.
At the bark of laughter about cannons, she wrinkles her nose slightly, drawing the word out with theatrical reluctance. "Welllllllllllllll." The humour does not vanish all at once, but it thins. She lowers her gaze to the bottle in her hands and begins picking at the edge of the label with her thumb, peeling it back in careful, uneven strips.
"Before Kai and I started dating," she begins, voice still steady but stripped of its earlier brightness, "he baited Jack into a fight and it nearly left him dead." She does not look up as she says it, focusing instead on the stubborn paper beneath her nail. "Jack didn't take our breakup well, and when I ran into him a few weeks ago and tried to apologize, he did not take that well either." The meadow is still calm around them, flowers swaying lazily, the sprout continuing its quiet, oblivious climb toward the sun.
She exhales softly through her nose, finally lifting her eyes toward Ronin with a smile that is almost convincing if one does not look too closely. "I worry he might just show up one day and decide to take it out on Torchline instead,"[/ay] she says, lightness reintroduced just a fraction too deliberately. "Soooo, cannons."
We need love, But all we want is danger
We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
We team up, Then switch sides like a record changer
