with each love i cut loose i was never the same
Flora wrinkles her nose immediately, sympathy flashing across her face. Pregnancy, apparently, has the audacity to be magical and miraculous and blessed by Safrin, while also making her best friend miserable enough that grapes and water count as strategy, which feels deeply unfair in a way Flora is not prepared to forgive on principle. "Ugh, babe," she murmurs, wincing as she reaches for her wine and then pauses with the glass halfway to her mouth, suddenly aware of the contrast between her chosen drink and Soh’s fruit water in a way that makes her expression turn apologetic for half a second before she lowers it again. "I guess healing water doesn’t help since it’s not, like...an injury or anything, huh?" Her lips twist into a soft, sympathetic smile, and though she doesn’t crowd Soh, her attention stays fixed on her with a bright, protective intensity that has always made Flora’s affection feel a little like sunlight through glass, warm and beautiful but ready to burn if anyone gets too careless with the people she loves.
"You know," Flora says, turning a touch apologetic as her fingers toy with one of her rings, "I always kinda thought we’d get pregnant at the same time, but..." She laughs, and her mouth pulls into a wry little shape as she glances down at the pale sweep of her sundress before looking back to Soh. "Kai and I only just talked about having kids, and we kinda left it as something we’d think about more way in the future, so..." Her smile brightens again, the giddy warmth returning as she leans back into the moment rather than lingering over the tiny ache of what won’t be shared in quite the way she’d once imagined. "Sorry, you’re on your own with this one."
Flora reaches for Soh’s hand again because there’s no universe in which she can sit this close to news this enormous and not keep touching her best friend like the joy might otherwise float up to the ceiling. "But if there’s anything I can do, please just say the word," she adds, the playful shape of her expression easing into something more earnest without losing its brightness.
"You know," Flora says, turning a touch apologetic as her fingers toy with one of her rings, "I always kinda thought we’d get pregnant at the same time, but..." She laughs, and her mouth pulls into a wry little shape as she glances down at the pale sweep of her sundress before looking back to Soh. "Kai and I only just talked about having kids, and we kinda left it as something we’d think about more way in the future, so..." Her smile brightens again, the giddy warmth returning as she leans back into the moment rather than lingering over the tiny ache of what won’t be shared in quite the way she’d once imagined. "Sorry, you’re on your own with this one."
Flora reaches for Soh’s hand again because there’s no universe in which she can sit this close to news this enormous and not keep touching her best friend like the joy might otherwise float up to the ceiling. "But if there’s anything I can do, please just say the word," she adds, the playful shape of her expression easing into something more earnest without losing its brightness.
