Flora, Queen of Torchline

love, do you want love?
do you want lust? say you don't know

(The letter arrives with a beautifully packaged box which contains a sea glass designed bottle of gin.)

Flora –

I imagine you do not wish to hear from me, but I wanted to tell you that I truly am sorry. What occurred at the Hanged Man was unfair to you and I am sorry that I could not accurately get a hold on my emotions and thoughts before then to prevent what happened.

I never wanted to hurt you. I should have taken the time beforehand to speak to you about our intentions when we continued to plan the dates.

I do not remember the gritty details of the night, but I do remember telling you that I do not know what love is. It is true still, but you helped make it clearer, and for that (amongst many other things) I am in your debt.

Again, I am truly sorry. If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.

- Astaroth

Astaroth

maybe you just like the control

flora

Asta,

I'm not upset about what happened at the Hanged Man, I'm upset about everything that happened before. I'm...also seeing someone else, so it isn't as though I thought you and I were exclusive or even that nothing had or was happening with Danta, but...

I asked you for honesty once, and I'm going to again: did you see us ever going anywhere?

Did you want us to?


~F

Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness
'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

love, do you want love?
do you want lust? say you don't know

Flora —

I do always try to be a man of my word. And I once told you that I am not in the business of lying.

Honestly, I did see us going somewhere — but perhaps not romantically. Friendship? Absolutely.

I am not someone familiar with love stories or romance as a whole. There was no love for me growing up, no familial attachments. There was just me. I want to apologize for any confusion my actions have caused because of this.

I wanted to be your friend more than a lover. I am sorry if that is not what you want to hear, but, I truly do think you deserve better than what I could provide.

— Astaroth

Astaroth

maybe you just like the control

flora

Are you also in the business of kissing your friends? Of leaving marks on their skin? Of fucking them? Of planning second and third dates and saying what a wonderful solution it would be for me to make it so you could indulge yourself completely while fucking me, and how you were willing to try?

You tell me one person other than Danta you've done that with and I'll believe that you come by this honestly.

Just one.

Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness
'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

love, do you want love?
do you want lust? say you don't know

Flora —

I will give you two.

Cindra. Kasjan.

They were trysts before I fell into my centuries-long slumber. I do not know if you recall what I told you in the Climb, but they were two out of more that did not survive me.

I wished to be cautious with you. I did not want you to come close to meeting the same fate, which was a true concern in the Climb. It is why I did not want to continue despite your attempts, however much appreciated they were.

And while it wasn’t dates officially by name, the actions were the same.

I realize it isn’t the answer you seek, but it is the only one that I have.

— Astaroth

Astaroth

maybe you just like the control

flora

So not only do you have a history of this that you apparently haven't learned from, but you say that you'd rather be my friend than my lover, and yet still agreed to another sexual rendezvous anyway? When were you going to tell me that you weren't at all interested in me if I hadn't had to pry your feelings for someone else out of you?

My guess is not for a long time seeing as how far you and Danta apparently got without clarifying things.

What you did really hurt, so if you want to make it up to me, don't do the same thing with Danta. I can only imagine how much worse it would feel to have been closer to you for longer and only to find out that the whole thing was a charade.

---

The blue gown Asta had designed is returned, burned mostly to cinders. Should the butcher take a sniff of the box, he'll likely deduce that the combustant used was the gin previously sent.

Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness
'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!