when you become a dream you can never hold a hand

i can't help it if i want to kiss you in the rain, so

Flora watches him settle beside her, her grin lingering just long enough to soften before slipping into something quieter—something steadier. The wind teases a few curls across her cheek, but she doesn’t brush them away right away, eyes fixed on the horizon for a breath longer than necessary. Then she turns to him, all brightness fading into a startling earnestness.

"I think you should get back into the fight," she says simply, no preamble, no theatrics. Just the truth, laid bare between them on a bed of sky and sea air. "Against the Family. You and Remi both." She lifts a hand almost immediately, as if to stop the protest already forming in his throat. "I know what you’re going to say, but I’ve been in Dahlia’s sights since before she ever got her claws into you."

There’s no anger in her voice—just certainty, tempered by the weight of all the things she’s had to grow into and how little she wants to be thought of as an excuse for why her dad's weren't helping out more. Her fingers toy idly with the fringe of a pillow, a flicker of motion for hands that don’t quite know how to be still. "Mateo’s moving to Haulani," she adds softly. "So he'll be safe."

She glances at him now, gaze steady and unwavering, the wind catching the gold hoops in her ears and setting them gently swaying. "Besides, so long as you have enough slots to bring me back should Dahlia get dramatic, you shouldn’t be limiting yourself because of me, and honestly it doesn't seem as though the others are taking this as seriously as they should."

RONIN

the white knight

you and I burned out our steam

Ronin can sense the way the mood shifts, settling over their shoulders like something heavier than air. The Knight has had enough conversations like this to know not to interrupt until Flora is finished, but the way a muscle feathers in his jaw and his eyes sharpen as they stare out at the clouds is enough, perhaps, to guess at his initial thoughts on the matter.

"I think you should go and join Mateo in Haulani," he says simply. "If I have enough slots to bring you back, I should have enough to help anyone who suffers those repercussions. Failing that, they should join you in the city. And before you object, you just mentioned the others not taking it as seriously as they should - but then in the same breath you call Dahlia murdering the only daughter I have left getting dramatic." He raises his eyebrows at her.

"I lost Seren two seasons ago, Flora. I think you need to take this seriously too." Feeling untouchable and having a multitude of connections are not a cure-all for death; if that was the case, Seren should never have been killed either. Still, in the silence that lingers after his words, Ronin's gaze drops to the polished deck.

"Remi and I have been talking with Deimos, about this next stage of Starfall," he says slowly. "About perhaps joining the next group that goes. But... gods, Flora. It would be easier if we knew you were safe, you know that."

chasing someone else's dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

i can't help it if i want to kiss you in the rain, so

Flora doesn’t interrupt—not at first. She just sits there, arms folded tightly beneath her chest as the wind tugs at the edge of her dress, jaw tense and knotted. Her gaze stays on Ronin, though, watching the way his sharp blue eyes drop to the deck like they’re ashamed to meet hers. It’s only when he finishes that she answers, her voice low and steady, even if it carries a razor edge.

"If I go to Haulani, that puts every single one of my friends at risk." Her brows lift, daring him to argue, even as her expression flickers somewhere between incredulous and wounded. "That isn’t very Vi-Demi-God-White-Knight of you, Ronin." Her mouth tightens, her arms squeezing closer around herself like she’s holding the rest of her words in. "And for the record, have you seen how many friends I have?" she adds, voice pitching up just enough to be rhetorical, if not a little sarcastic. "The turnout at my party was wild. Are you really telling me that you think Sunny and Hotaru, Danta and Asta, Sohalia and Koa and Kaisel, Ever and Isla, Tal and Maea and Liam, you really think they're all just going to upend their lives?" Exhaling hard enough to have her nostrils flaring, Flora shakes her head. "Based on the numbers alone it's way easier for you and Remi to keep track of me than try and convince dozens of others."

The mention of Seren has her flinching, but only slightly. Her lips press together hard, a mark of restraint that feels visible. A cheap shot, part of her whispers, but she doesn’t say it. Instead, she huffs and tosses her curls over one shoulder with exaggerated stubbornness, glaring now at a spot just past his head. "I’m telling you I’m not going. So if you and Remi want to get back in the fight, do it. But if you decide to sit on your hands, it's officially on you, not on me."

RONIN

the white knight

you and I burned out our steam

"Neither is choosing to fight over choosing to keep someone I love safe. Not when I know what will happen if I do," Ronin points out. "Haulani is a big place. You can have an indefinite party with all of your friends in there, if that's what you wanted. What use is making a safe place from The Family if no one uses it?" He holds his tongue about Sunjata and Hotaru at least - as demigods in their own right, it doesn't really matter what Flora does or doesn't do. They've been in the firing line since day one.

Shaking his head softly, as if already knowing the likelihood of Flora changing her mind or yielding even slightly is as good as snow falling in the Oerwoud Ronin's shoulders sag and he rises to his feet. "One day," he says quietly, "you might have a kid of your own. And if you do, I hope you never have to feel like this." His wings spread once again, as if he's planning to depart - because what's left to say after I'm telling you I'm not going. 

"You channel us the second anyone from The Family shows up." It isn't a request. "You don't hesitate."

chasing someone else's dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

i can't help it if i want to kiss you in the rain, so

"That’s your choice to make!" Flora snaps, her voice quick and cutting as salt on a split lip. "That’s the whole point. It’s up to you what you do now—but don’t put it on me like you’re some kind of martyr and I’m the problem. I’m telling you I’m already in the firing line. I have been since before all of this. Whether you fight or not doesn’t change that."

Her arms uncross as he rises, and something flares sharp and bright in her chest, catching behind her ribs like a storm breaking loose. The second his wings spread, the second she sees the telltale posture of yet another man preparing to leave her behind like that somehow makes a fucking point—

"How dare you," she blurts, rising too, quick and fluid and furious, curls catching the light as she steps forward. "How dare you guilt trip me about kids and safety and loving someone just so you can walk away when the conversation doesn’t go how you want it to."

Her jaw clenches as she glares at his wings, expression tight with frustration, hurt, and the searing, exhausted rage of someone who is so tired of being the one everyone thinks they need to protect by leaving. "You don’t get to drop something like that and fly off like it’s profound. You and Remi are just as bad as each other, I swear to god."

RONIN

the white knight

you and I burned out our steam

"You wouldn't be in the firing line if you'd go behind that fucking shield!" Ronin snaps back, spinning on heel and pulling his wings in tight, eyes blazing. "How dare I? You swan around out here like we're always going to be around, Flora. You've got an answer for everything, a thousand bits of magic on your fingers and in your pockets, the gods at your beck and call, and a demigod on every branch of your family tree, and we could all still die, every single one of us."

If she wants him to be serious then he's more than willing to lay it all on the line, leader to soldier, and make sure every single odd is tallied and accounted for. "If Remi gets killed, or Sunjata, or if I go down, what then? Who saves everyone? Who brings you back? I am allowed to be scared for you, and I'm allowed to worry about losing you after I've lost almost everything else." He blinks back the silver that lines his eyes, taking a long and steadying breath and letting it out again, doing his best to keep the flare of his temper from uncoiling any further than it already has.

"I'm not trying to upset you, or to fight with you," he says more softly. "But you can't just say it's up to you what you do now and dismiss yourself of any responsibility. I'm glad you're making sure all your friends are safe, but you're hurting Remi and I every second you stay in danger."

chasing someone else's dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

i can't help it if i want to kiss you in the rain, so

"Dozens of others would be in the firing line if I went behind that shield!" Flora yells back, her voice high and cutting across the wind like a drawn blade. "If you care so fucking much about keeping people safe, then what the hell have you and Remi been doing all this time, huh? Why haven’t you gone around trying to get everyone into Haulani? You could have been doing that this whole time instead of whatever it is the pair of you get up to."

She throws up her hands, laughter catching in her throat—raw, unamused, half-crazed from exhaustion. "You’re immortal, Ronin! All of you are! And the ones who aren’t? They’re still gonna die someday, and so am I. So maybe I’d rather die doing something that matters than watching everyone else suffer and die just because I was too much of a coward to do something about it."

She steps forward now, not to invade his space but to make herself clear, chin lifted with fury and fire behind her sea-glass eyes. "And if you’re so damn worried about who’s gonna bring me or anyone else back," she snaps, voice cracking, "then maybe you shouldn’t be throwing yourself into danger either. Sounds like the ones with resurrection privileges are the ones who should be benched!"

His plea for understanding, for softness, is met with nothing but the storm she’s become. "Yes you're allowed to be scared," Flora bites, arms outstretched like she’s baring herself for the worst of it. "You’re allowed to worry, but it doesn’t give you the right to stand here and act like I’m the one hurting you for not doing what you want. That’s not love, that’s manipulation, and it’s bullshit."

Her curls lash around her shoulders like storm-tossed surf, every inch of her radiating fury and betrayal. "And yeah," she finishes, scathingly quiet now, eyes locked on him with barely contained emotion, "I can say it’s my choice. The only reason you’re pissed is because it forces you to actually choose. And if you can’t just blame me for sitting on the sidelines, then the pair of you have to actually take accountability for what you decide to do next."

At his final remark, the one that’s meant to pierce, meant to wound—YoU'Re HUrtInG REmi AnD Me—Flora just exhales sharply through her nose and shakes her head, jaw set. "There it is again. Gods, Ronin. You don’t even hear how manipulative that is, do you?"

RONIN

the white knight

you and I burned out our steam

Ronin flinches back at her words, eyebrows raising as if he's seeing Flora in a light he's suddenly unsure he finds flattering, his brows drawing together. "It's your friends that are on the line," he reminds her gently. "Do they know that? Have you told them, all of them? They might have already come to Haulani if so. But if it's your choice to stay outside, isn't it theirs as well? Going out and rounding them up would be the same as forcing you behind that barrier when you don't want it." 

His immortality isn't something he's ever taken lightly, but knowing what it means if he does fall - seasons, likely, of being out of it, and not knowing what he might wake up to - isn't palatable either. "Right," he mutters, nodding and stepping back automatically as she advances forward. Coward. Manipulator. Privileged.

"It isn't manipulation to tell you the truth," he protests, though there's little heat to it, as if Flora's temper has battered his own down beneath the Arclight to snuff out. "If I thought it would have changed your mind I'd have said it a long time ago," he says, his voice rising only enough to be heard over the gale. "I told you because if you expect us to make that choice, you need to know that choosing to fight means our heads might not be in the game because of it." But her words fall like hail, stinging and relentless against bare flesh, and he lowers his gaze.

"Point taken," he says, of keeping himself on the bench. "I suppose that's my decision made, then. If nothing else, it means that if any backlash comes from Remi going to Starfall, I'll be around to ride it out here." Taking a deep breath and letting it out again, he wipes his hands against his pants. "And in the meantime, please. Be angry, hate us if that's how you feel, but gods, if anything happens, call us."

chasing someone else's dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

i can't help it if i want to kiss you in the rain, so

"You’re so quick to throw your hands up and act like it’s all out of your control, but you know what? You could have done a lot more if you actually cared to. Sure they're my friends, but you’re the White Knight. If you really wanted me behind the barrier, you could have gone and pleaded your case to them and then shown up on my door saying tadaaaa, all taken care of." Flora exhales hard through her nose, eyes narrowing. Yes they were her friends, but it was Ronin who had the problem with where she'd chosen to reside. At least then he could have said he tried, rather than having done exactly nothing and saying he was all out of ideas.

Her curls bounce as she throws her hands up again in exasperation, the tension in her shoulders making every movement sharp, restless. "I already know they won’t all come behind the barrier. That’s exactly why I made my choice. I’m not gonna abandon people just because it's easier on you."

As he insists again that it isn’t manipulation, that it’s just the truth, she barks out a bitter laugh, short and humourless. "It is manipulation when you only say it because you want me to do what you want. And now it’s all what if Remi dies, what if I die, what if we can’t think straight anymore." Flora’s eyes flash as she glares at him, voice sharpening. "That’s not telling me the truth. That’s pressuring me, plain and simple. You don’t get to dress it up in grief and fear and pretend it’s noble."

RONIN

the white knight

you and I burned out our steam

Ronin is quiet under the storm of her words, under the lash of should haves and not enoughs, the way they tangle and knot and create gaps and close others over and over again. "If you already know they won't, I'd never have been able to show up on your doorstep with it all tied neatly in a bow," he says. "I didn't know until right now how many people were even in danger because of this." And yes, that is on him. A lot of this is on him and his inaction, his focus on Starfall instead of the world that continued to spin around it and all of its complexities.

Something he can't change when it comes to the past, but that he can at least try to make up for moving forward. 

"I already told you..." He begins, before stopping himself with a sharp intake of breath, as if knowing better suddenly than to keep being led by the nose down that particular argument. "We disagree. I'm sorry if that's how this made you feel, though. I appreciate that you feel as though we should go and fight. I'll talk it over with Remi, and we'll make a choice together. Either way, we'll be as available as we can if something goes wrong."

chasing someone else's dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

i can't help it if i want to kiss you in the rain, so

Flora shakes her head, curls brouncing with the force of it, eyes sharp with something brittle underneath. "That’s the problem. You didn't know and you never even tried." Her voice trembles with heat now, not just anger but the kind that comes from the slow erosion of disappointment over time. "You were fine putting me on a pedestal and then blaming everything on me instead of taking the time to actually know what you were asking." Gods but it made her feel small and overlooked, which in no small part explained her outburst about it all.

Her hands drop to her sides, fingers curling into the soft deck pillows as if trying to anchor herself. She watches him for a moment longer, not sure whether he’s conceding or just...stepping aside. Letting her win. And gods, wouldn’t it be something if Jack were hiding below deck right now, so she could ask him what this really was. Whether this was surrender or strategy or some twisted third thing he'd use against her later.

In the end, Flora just nods, stiff and small, and flops back down onto the cushions with more force than grace. Her cheeks are flushed, her lips pressed tight like she’s trying to bite back everything else she could say; about how this wasn’t the conversation she meant to have with him, how she’d written to Deimos asking him to help her with her latest scheme, but..maybe now wasn’t the time. Maybe it never would be.

"K, well. Thanks for help with the champagne, and the...you know." Flora vaguely gestures overboard to indicate the flying bit.

RONIN

the white knight

you and I burned out our steam

Ronin keeps whatever he might want to say locked tightly behind his tongue, worried that any further objections or retorts might well stir up the storm of Flora's anger once again. Instead, his wings flexing, he swallows hard and offers her a stiff nod in return. "Yeah, any time," he says of her thanks, though he's not even sure how true that is any more. Rubbing at the back of his neck and trusting that their conversation, if it could be called that, is truly over, he steps up onto the railing of The Sugar Tide. 

"Be safe, Flora. And if you haven't done it already... please tell your friends that they're in danger, if you go into Haulani. They deserve to know and to choose to come here, just in case." The world was dangerous enough without a mishap or a decision made under impossible circumstances causing more problems. "I'm sure we'll see each other soon."

Keeping his wings tucked tight, Ronin steps back from the deck and plummets away through the clouds in a freefall, leaving it arguably far too close to the surface of the Arclight before swooping into a low dive.

~FIN

chasing someone else's dream

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!