flora
Flora’s breath comes faster now, not quite panic but something restless and searching that can’t find a place to settle, her head already shaking before the words have fully formed as though she might physically refuse the shape of what she’s hearing. "Okay, but..." she starts, the protest soft and disbelieving, trailing off as her gaze flickers over her mother’s face again, trying to reconcile reason with something that feels fundamentally wrong. Her fingers tighten where they rest on Hotaru’s arms, grounding herself in the warmth and reality of her even as her thoughts slip sideways. "That doesn’t—" she exhales sharply through her nose, the sentence collapsing under its own weight as she searches for something more precise, more defensible than the tangle in her chest. "If Kai disappeared, there isn’t a number of times he could reach that would make me stop waiting for him," she manages finally, voice quiet but edged with a certainty that feels carved from bone, her eyes steady even as they shine. "I’d kill him for it when he got back, obviously," she adds with a faint, strained huff that almost resembles humour, "but I wouldn’t just...end it."
The logic refuses to bend, no matter how she turns it, and as she studies her mother more closely, sees the subtle tightening at the corners of her eyes and the careful stillness that feels far too deliberate, something clenches low and sharp in Flora’s stomach. "No," she says again, more firmly this time, though it lacks any real bite, more disbelief than denial, "he came to a party I was throwing and just...told me you were gone," the memory slipping back into place with uncomfortable clarity as she speaks. [asy]"So I channeled Frey right away." She swallows, the motion small but visible, her brows drawing together as she tries to make sense of the discrepancy, to fit his version of events into what she knows she did. "They came and went so quickly it wasn’t like there was time for anything more, I guess, but..." Her voice trails again, confusion threading through it as she shakes her head once more, curls shifting against her shoulders as she stops herself, the unfinished thought hovering between them, too tangled and too close to accusation to fully voice.
When Hotaru’s voice breaks around the words it’s a bit fucked up, the phrase lands in Flora’s chest with a strange, hollow echo, and she lets out a small, startled laugh that catches immediately on the edge of something heavier, the sound dissolving almost as soon as it forms. The shift is instant when she sees the tears, the careful control unravelling in quiet, relentless drops that never quite touch her mother’s cheeks, and Flora moves without thinking, closing the distance again to wrap her arms tightly around her, pulling her in with a fierce, protective urgency that mirrors the way she had been held moments before. She presses her face into the Valkyrie's hair, shaking her head against her as though she can physically deny the apology forming on her mother’s lips. "No," she murmurs quickly, the word soft but insistent, her grip tightening as if to anchor her in place. "You can tell me anything, I mean it." Her voice wavers then, not from uncertainty but from the sheer weight of empathy pressing against it, and she exhales a small, broken sound that trembles against her mother’s shoulder. "I’m so sorry, mom," she adds, the words slipping out in a quiet rush, her hold firm and unwavering as she keeps her close.
The logic refuses to bend, no matter how she turns it, and as she studies her mother more closely, sees the subtle tightening at the corners of her eyes and the careful stillness that feels far too deliberate, something clenches low and sharp in Flora’s stomach. "No," she says again, more firmly this time, though it lacks any real bite, more disbelief than denial, "he came to a party I was throwing and just...told me you were gone," the memory slipping back into place with uncomfortable clarity as she speaks. [asy]"So I channeled Frey right away." She swallows, the motion small but visible, her brows drawing together as she tries to make sense of the discrepancy, to fit his version of events into what she knows she did. "They came and went so quickly it wasn’t like there was time for anything more, I guess, but..." Her voice trails again, confusion threading through it as she shakes her head once more, curls shifting against her shoulders as she stops herself, the unfinished thought hovering between them, too tangled and too close to accusation to fully voice.
When Hotaru’s voice breaks around the words it’s a bit fucked up, the phrase lands in Flora’s chest with a strange, hollow echo, and she lets out a small, startled laugh that catches immediately on the edge of something heavier, the sound dissolving almost as soon as it forms. The shift is instant when she sees the tears, the careful control unravelling in quiet, relentless drops that never quite touch her mother’s cheeks, and Flora moves without thinking, closing the distance again to wrap her arms tightly around her, pulling her in with a fierce, protective urgency that mirrors the way she had been held moments before. She presses her face into the Valkyrie's hair, shaking her head against her as though she can physically deny the apology forming on her mother’s lips. "No," she murmurs quickly, the word soft but insistent, her grip tightening as if to anchor her in place. "You can tell me anything, I mean it." Her voice wavers then, not from uncertainty but from the sheer weight of empathy pressing against it, and she exhales a small, broken sound that trembles against her mother’s shoulder. "I’m so sorry, mom," she adds, the words slipping out in a quiet rush, her hold firm and unwavering as she keeps her close.
what doesn't kill me makes
me want you more
me want you more
