and if you maybe find a better way to love me then
“Amalia,” he parrots back brightly, “It’s a pleasure to- wait... Amalia?” Jonah’s brows furrow thoughtfully while he tries to place the familiarity, his eyes widening as it finally claws its way from the murky depths of memory. “The Shield of..?” Lowering his gaze quickly, he feels the tips of his ears start to burn. “Amalia. It really is a pleasure.” Perhaps it’s more of an emergency landing than a recovery, but he feels like he’s closed that nicely.
Disappointment has the nerve to start an outcry across his eyebrows, a revolt that Jonah is quick to tamp down and over correct, his smile turning somewhat pained. “You don’t have to.” If she has to go, she has to go but there is clearly something that wants her to stay in his face, the unsubtle way his grin angles towards her. “I don’t mind, I wouldn’t have offered if I did.”
“Oh, well... I haven’t been into the city for a while. It’s a lot more...” A hand flies around in a chaotic and utterly useless gesture, ending in Jonah’s warm eyes landing properly on Amalia again. “It’s more than I remember.” He holds her gaze for a moment, his smile brightening, then turns to look out over the city below them. “I think Haulani must be the most chaotic place in Caido.” A sigh sneaks out alongside the words, soft and awed and desperately fond.
That quiet place sneaks up on him again, halfway between anxiety and comfortability. Jonah refuses to let it win. “So... what kind of person drives a woman halfway up a volcano running away from him?”
Disappointment has the nerve to start an outcry across his eyebrows, a revolt that Jonah is quick to tamp down and over correct, his smile turning somewhat pained. “You don’t have to.” If she has to go, she has to go but there is clearly something that wants her to stay in his face, the unsubtle way his grin angles towards her. “I don’t mind, I wouldn’t have offered if I did.”
“Oh, well... I haven’t been into the city for a while. It’s a lot more...” A hand flies around in a chaotic and utterly useless gesture, ending in Jonah’s warm eyes landing properly on Amalia again. “It’s more than I remember.” He holds her gaze for a moment, his smile brightening, then turns to look out over the city below them. “I think Haulani must be the most chaotic place in Caido.” A sigh sneaks out alongside the words, soft and awed and desperately fond.
That quiet place sneaks up on him again, halfway between anxiety and comfortability. Jonah refuses to let it win. “So... what kind of person drives a woman halfway up a volcano running away from him?”
JONAH
