flora
Flora nods at first, the grin already curling over her mouth before the thought properly finishes taking shape, because the magic might be useful for catching lies and carving straight through all the pretty little evasions people like to layer over the truth, but that hadn’t been the first thing she’d wanted to do with it at all. "The first thing I used it for was to show Kaisel what it looked like from my point of view the first time I kissed him," she admits, and for all the heat already flushed over her skin from Safrin’s Mirror, there’s no mistaking the extra colour that rises beneath her cheeks as she glances toward Melita with a small shrug that tries very hard to be casual and only succeeds at being almost embarrassingly fond. "He’d been nearly asleep when it happened, so it was nice, y’know? To show him what it was like from my side." The softness of it lingers despite her best efforts, caught in the damp gold at her throat and the way her smile turns less sharp around the edges, and because Melita doesn’t exactly seem like the type who needs a big gushy performance made of affection, Flora keeps the offer easy, almost offhand, even as she means every word. "So if you ever wanted something like that for you and Iskra, I’d happily help, and then just like... close my eyes, or something."
As for the rest, Flora’s eyes widen immediately, and she nods with fierce, emphatic agreement, sending another shimmer of ripples out through the starlit water. "Yeah, exactly." Because that is the part people always seem so determined to skip over, the part where the so-called obvious heroes and legends and near-immortal walking disasters are not the only ones who get to matter, not the only ones with hands and teeth and the capacity to make something happen instead of sitting prettily in the background waiting to be saved. The idea of being pulled into every fight just because someone else has decided the stakes are high enough to justify borrowing her life makes her exhale wearily, her shoulders sinking deeper beneath the surface as she gives Melita a look that is half apology, half confession, and entirely serious beneath the steam-glossed glitter of her expression. "No, I know what you mean."
For a second she worries the thought sounds terrible before she has even said it, but then again, Flora has never found much use in pretending not to think the things that sit plainly behind her teeth. "Is it terrible that I kinda hope I don’t get channelled for things like that?" she asks, brows lifting as if she already knows the answer might be complicated. "If someone is in the middle of a fight and wants receipts, I’m all about it. Like, yes, absolutely, summon me in for dramatic evidence, emotional devastation, and maybe a very well-timed side-eye." Her mouth twists, humour flashing over the anxiety without quite hiding it. "But being channelled randomly to put my life on the line against some monster? Especially if it’s some stupid fight that absolutely didn’t need to happen?" Flora shakes her head, gold earrings catching the light as her nose wrinkles. "For that, I'm happy to let the Ronin's and Hadama's deal with it." Wrinkling her nose, she tilts her head. "Or, probably not Hadama even. He seems to have just ghosted since he went back to the Underwater City."
As for the rest, Flora’s eyes widen immediately, and she nods with fierce, emphatic agreement, sending another shimmer of ripples out through the starlit water. "Yeah, exactly." Because that is the part people always seem so determined to skip over, the part where the so-called obvious heroes and legends and near-immortal walking disasters are not the only ones who get to matter, not the only ones with hands and teeth and the capacity to make something happen instead of sitting prettily in the background waiting to be saved. The idea of being pulled into every fight just because someone else has decided the stakes are high enough to justify borrowing her life makes her exhale wearily, her shoulders sinking deeper beneath the surface as she gives Melita a look that is half apology, half confession, and entirely serious beneath the steam-glossed glitter of her expression. "No, I know what you mean."
For a second she worries the thought sounds terrible before she has even said it, but then again, Flora has never found much use in pretending not to think the things that sit plainly behind her teeth. "Is it terrible that I kinda hope I don’t get channelled for things like that?" she asks, brows lifting as if she already knows the answer might be complicated. "If someone is in the middle of a fight and wants receipts, I’m all about it. Like, yes, absolutely, summon me in for dramatic evidence, emotional devastation, and maybe a very well-timed side-eye." Her mouth twists, humour flashing over the anxiety without quite hiding it. "But being channelled randomly to put my life on the line against some monster? Especially if it’s some stupid fight that absolutely didn’t need to happen?" Flora shakes her head, gold earrings catching the light as her nose wrinkles. "For that, I'm happy to let the Ronin's and Hadama's deal with it." Wrinkling her nose, she tilts her head. "Or, probably not Hadama even. He seems to have just ghosted since he went back to the Underwater City."
The rumors are terrible and cruel
But honey, most of them are true
But honey, most of them are true
