i could be the reason you can't sleep at night
Flora follows Deimos’s glance down the beach, and the fond little laugh that leaves her is entirely automatic once she finds the two boys in the distance. "That's Carlo and Calan," she says, of her new twin brothers. There’s still something faintly surreal about looking at them and not seeing babies, but proper boys instead; old enough to be let loose on a beach, apparently, provided someone responsible remains somewhere within shouting distance.
Her eyes lift almost immediately after, drawn upward by the pale flicker of something moving high against the blue. Flora squints, raising a hand to shade her eyes before pointing toward the tiny white dot amongst the clouds. "Sugar's up there," she says, and smiles again. "Ronin can’t be too far away if she’s with them."
At the mention of Halo’s turnout, Flora laughs, the sound slipping out with a small shake of her head as she shifts the clipboard more securely beneath her arm. "Yeah well, total beginner’s luck," she says, though she adds, hastily enough that it’s clear the thought of tempting fate has caught up with her midway through, "not that I’m complaining." Her gaze returns to Deimos with a warmer smile. "And much as I don’t like the cold, your new hot spring was amaaazing." The last word comes out a touch more drawn than it needs to, like she can still feel the relief of it soaking into her bones. "That might honestly be enough to get me making it an annual thing."
When he asks after LongNight, she nods, her shoulders lifting in a faint shrug as if that ought to cover the whole thing. "Yeah. Pretty uneventful, really." There’s a pause just long enough for her mouth to twitch, because that isn’t entirely true and she knows it. "Someone had the bright idea to try and combine two of the big bonfires down on the beach, so that was a bit of a clusterfuck, but nothing terrible. Nobody died, nobody set anything important on fire, and I think that counts as an overwhelming success for us, all things considered."
Her eyes lift almost immediately after, drawn upward by the pale flicker of something moving high against the blue. Flora squints, raising a hand to shade her eyes before pointing toward the tiny white dot amongst the clouds. "Sugar's up there," she says, and smiles again. "Ronin can’t be too far away if she’s with them."
At the mention of Halo’s turnout, Flora laughs, the sound slipping out with a small shake of her head as she shifts the clipboard more securely beneath her arm. "Yeah well, total beginner’s luck," she says, though she adds, hastily enough that it’s clear the thought of tempting fate has caught up with her midway through, "not that I’m complaining." Her gaze returns to Deimos with a warmer smile. "And much as I don’t like the cold, your new hot spring was amaaazing." The last word comes out a touch more drawn than it needs to, like she can still feel the relief of it soaking into her bones. "That might honestly be enough to get me making it an annual thing."
When he asks after LongNight, she nods, her shoulders lifting in a faint shrug as if that ought to cover the whole thing. "Yeah. Pretty uneventful, really." There’s a pause just long enough for her mouth to twitch, because that isn’t entirely true and she knows it. "Someone had the bright idea to try and combine two of the big bonfires down on the beach, so that was a bit of a clusterfuck, but nothing terrible. Nobody died, nobody set anything important on fire, and I think that counts as an overwhelming success for us, all things considered."
