flora
The bite in Jack’s voice is exactly what Flora had expected, and at first she meets it with a saccharine smile, her thoughts gilded in small, bright thorns that feel sharp enough to protect everything beneath them. "And yet here you are," she points out sweetly. "So if anything, not taking the help means you’re suffering through my company for nothing."
Her eyes roll ever so slightly when he drags their last meeting into this one. "Oh, by all means, if you’d prefer blackmail—" The rest of the sentence dies beneath his answer. In truth, nothing has declawed her beyond the apparently naïve belief that, given enough objective benefit, Jack might be capable of tolerating her for the sake of business. His determination to hate her for an ending he’d helped create had seemed like something she might eventually work around, right up until his words begin sketching out a future in which he waits patiently for age to hollow her out.
The thorns in her thoughts shrink inward, weaving themselves into a dense thicket around the softer affection she still carries for him. Flora had meant it when she told him she would always love him, and although she’d come prepared for his worst, somehow Jack still manages to surprise her with how badly his worst can hurt. She bites the inside of her cheek until the sting there eclipses the one threatening behind her eyes, then offers him a humourless smile. "Well, we don’t always get what we want, do we, Jack." Her voice is low, the words less a question than an old and bitter certainty, while her mind fills traitorously with all the things she’d once wanted from him and never received.
Swallowing hard, Flora lifts her chin. "Now that I’m a demigod, immortality is just around the corner for me too. So wrinkles or not, if you want a blind eye from me while you’re here, then you are going to have to deal with me at some point." Sitting back in her chair, she finds it much easier to hold his gaze now that anger has risen to meet the hurt, though the flush across her cheeks betrays more than she’d like. "Here I thought you were a smart enough businessman to take advantage of a situation when it was offered to you. I might have lost my bite, but it seems like that’s all you are now."
Her gaze cuts sharply towards the rain-darkened sea as she exhales through her nose. "I have more things I thought you’d like to know, but by all means, if this is too hard for you..." Flora lets the offer trail away between them, waiting to see whether pride or practicality wins.
Her eyes roll ever so slightly when he drags their last meeting into this one. "Oh, by all means, if you’d prefer blackmail—" The rest of the sentence dies beneath his answer. In truth, nothing has declawed her beyond the apparently naïve belief that, given enough objective benefit, Jack might be capable of tolerating her for the sake of business. His determination to hate her for an ending he’d helped create had seemed like something she might eventually work around, right up until his words begin sketching out a future in which he waits patiently for age to hollow her out.
The thorns in her thoughts shrink inward, weaving themselves into a dense thicket around the softer affection she still carries for him. Flora had meant it when she told him she would always love him, and although she’d come prepared for his worst, somehow Jack still manages to surprise her with how badly his worst can hurt. She bites the inside of her cheek until the sting there eclipses the one threatening behind her eyes, then offers him a humourless smile. "Well, we don’t always get what we want, do we, Jack." Her voice is low, the words less a question than an old and bitter certainty, while her mind fills traitorously with all the things she’d once wanted from him and never received.
Swallowing hard, Flora lifts her chin. "Now that I’m a demigod, immortality is just around the corner for me too. So wrinkles or not, if you want a blind eye from me while you’re here, then you are going to have to deal with me at some point." Sitting back in her chair, she finds it much easier to hold his gaze now that anger has risen to meet the hurt, though the flush across her cheeks betrays more than she’d like. "Here I thought you were a smart enough businessman to take advantage of a situation when it was offered to you. I might have lost my bite, but it seems like that’s all you are now."
Her gaze cuts sharply towards the rain-darkened sea as she exhales through her nose. "I have more things I thought you’d like to know, but by all means, if this is too hard for you..." Flora lets the offer trail away between them, waiting to see whether pride or practicality wins.
How can a person know everything at 18 but nothing at 22?
Will you still want me when I'm nothing new?
Will you still want me when I'm nothing new?
