I think you're shiftin' all my tectonic plates

slow down, you're doing fine

Flora giggles softly at the wrinkle of his nose, the expression so endearing she wants to tuck it into her pocket for safekeeping. She lifts one shoulder in a light shrug, damp curls brushing her cheek. "Honestly? I don’t think you’re Asta’s type anyway," she says, before schooling her expression into something far more sceptical as Kaisel tries to sweeten the deal, her mouth twisting into a shape that conveys utter disbelief. "I don’t want your breakfast," she informs him flatly. "I ordered exactly what I wanted." The way his eyes dart around the booth in frantic search of something shiny to tempt her with nearly breaks her; she has to bite the inside of her cheek hard to keep her laughter from spilling out. Her brows lift high in exaggerated surprise when he offers up a daily veto, and she glances down at the paper ring with a long, dramatic sigh.

"I don’t know, babe...seems like your proposal isn’t really all that thought out," she says with mock solemnity, nothing at all like the answer she’ll give when the real moment comes.

She starts to answer his comparison between himself and Danta, humming "Mmmm, in some ways," when the waitress materialises behind him like a thundercloud. Flora barely hides her smirk as Kai jolts upright and scrambles into the booth, and she scoots aside to give him room, only for that movement to shuffle her directly into his original seat. Which means his pancakes and bacon are now in front of her, and her syrup-soaked strawberries are sitting innocently before him.

The realization hits her with the speed of a lightning strike, and she's pretty sure she can already feel the triumph radiating off him like heat from a forge. Oh no. Her hand shoots toward him instantly, fingers groping for the paper ring he’s still holding. "On second thought," she blurts, reaching with all the desperation of a woman defending her waffles, "I’d love to be your breakfast wife."

Flora

you can't be everything you wanna be before your time

The icing on your cake, the cherry on the top

He freezes the moment she reaches for him, the paper ring given over without any fight, in part because he doesn't know what's happening yet. He'd been too busy ensuring he makes it out of the server's war path to pay much mind to what's on the table. "Oh really?" he drags the words out with a high tilt, 'brows rising to match as he regards her sudden eagerness with something completely self-assured. "Knew you'd come around. I'm irresis—"

It's about then that he sees the organization of the plates, gaze sparking on the shining strawberries and the prize they are. "This was always about the strawberries after all," he scoffs, feigning a wound that only breakfast betrayal could accomplish. Taking a forkful of the sugary fruits as payment owed he slides her proper plate towards her. "It's a good thing you have waffle immunity now." Not that he would have forfeit his pancakes for these, with or without strawberries, but the threat looms just the same.

Kaisel

The perfect mix of Saturday night and the rest of your life

slow down, you're doing fine

Flora flashes Kaisel a grin so triumphant it ought to come with a victory fanfare, because by the time he realises what she’s done the paper ring is already snug on her finger, glittering in glorious, flimsy splendour. She lifts her hand just enough for the overhead lanternlight to catch on it, her voice dropping into a soft, smug murmur. "It always was."

She huffs dramatically when he spears one of her strawberries as payment—fair, she supposes, given her new breakfast-wife obligations—before turning her full attention to constructing the perfect waffle bite. She scoops a generous dollop of melted butter, pressing it into every square pocket with reverence, then baptises the whole thing in syrup until it glistens like some decadent altar offering.

Only once the waffles have achieved peak indulgence does she glance over at him again. "I saw Sohalia in King’s End the other day," she says as casually as someone can while devouring a syrup-soaked masterpiece. "She can shift into a pegasus now." Flora’s eyes flare wide for dramatic effect—because honestly, who wouldn’t dramatise that—before she leans in a little, curiosity brightening her gaze. "Do you ever think about Attuning at all?"

Flora

you can't be everything you wanna be before your time

The icing on your cake, the cherry on the top

With the sweet prize claimed at last, he can restfully settle into his own order of pancakes and bacon like there hadn't just been an entire episode over the whole thing. "Oh yeah?" he mumbles over a bite of spongey, syrup-drenched goodness, otherwise known as a pancake. Swallowing before continuing, he grabs another sip of his juice before glancing back at her. "A pegasus is pretty cool, she take you for a ride?" He glances in expectation of more story time, wondering vaguely if he could convince Charlie to fly alongside her without torching her and the two of them could really arrive somewhere in style.

He considers her question after another bite of pancake, which requires chasing around the melted butter and syrup to get the perfect encapsulation on a forkful. "Never really considered it, no. Charlie keeps saying I should become an Ancient because then I could be a dragon," which, the pause he seems to offer again suggests that one possibility is tempting, but he continues. "I think attuning would be better though, if I did. I mean I'm always down to get stronger, and being able to fly would be top tier, but I feel like I need to work on other things first." Like, not summoning demi-gods into oceans for his first ever demi-god channel. "Why, have you?"

Kaisel

The perfect mix of Saturday night and the rest of your life

slow down, you're doing fine

Flora nods, her curls bouncing lightly as she lifts another syrup-soaked square of waffle toward her mouth. "Yeah. I’ve never really ridden horses before, but flying was way easier than bouncing along on a saddle," she says, wrinkling her nose at the memory of those few disastrous attempts. "Although I did pull Soh’s hair to stay on. Err, mane." Her shoulders lift, the gesture airy and unrepentant.

Flora cuts the perfect bite of waffle—whipped cream, strawberry, syrup, all in one glorious stack—and raises an eyebrow at Kai. "Oh yeah?" she echoes, mirroring his earlier tone before her nose wrinkles. "Danta’s tried to get me to become an Ancient too. But I don’t think I could deal with the bloodlust, though." She lifts her fork in a vague circle. "Maybe once you are an Ancient it isn’t a problem anymore."

When he says he needs to work on other things first, she glances over her shoulder at him, eyes warm and curious as she takes a bite. "Like what?"

His question about whether she’s considered Attuning earns a thoughtful hum as she chews. She shrugs, then nods. "Kinda?" Her fork drifts idly through syrup as she adds, "For so long I thought being able to call down my family whenever I needed something was the best thing in the world. And maybe it was for the version of me that needed it." Her lips twitch side to side, a quiet tug-of-war between pride and uncertainty. "But now I wonder if I’m limiting myself by wanting to keep them in my pocket like that, y'know?"

Her gaze shifts back to him, earnest and open. "Maybe if I could just get a bit stronger on my own, I wouldn’t need to stay an Accepted purely to have them as a fallback."

Flora

you can't be everything you wanna be before your time

The icing on your cake, the cherry on the top

Kaisel is no expert on either horses or flying, despite his successful dragon riding feats thus far, but flying seems way harder than riding. Certainly riskier if you fall off. "You have very strange definitions of easy," he teases with a little smile and a wag of his fork. "I think any equestrian would disagree with you. Also pretty sure you're not supposed to bounce in the saddle." Good to know he could cross beach horseback ride off the list of potential proposal ideas though.

"It all feels a touch culty," he points out half-heartedly, of them both being recruited now. "I dunno, I already feel bloodlust whenever there's gummy worms around, it's more the turning to stone thing that I don't think I could deal with. And putting on pants with a tail seems like a pain in the ass." Literally, even.

Humming around another bite of pancakes, a crunch of bacon added in at the end, he leans back into the booth and considers exactly what. "Well, I guess I just feel like I should get stronger first, as I already am, before adding anything new into the mix. Learning how to fight and how to fly sounds like a lot of work, I'd rather do it one at a time." This coming from someone who doesn't shy away from work generally, although lazing around with her is very enticing more and more. "Plus, how else would I get Ronin over for the goodnight kisses he owes me?" His grin is positively cruel with smug satisfaction before he leans in for another attempt at one of her strawberries.

Her reasons all make sense and he considers them with nothing more than a nod of understanding. "Have you been thinking about it more even since...Pierce and Dahlia?"

Kaisel

The perfect mix of Saturday night and the rest of your life

slow down, you're doing fine

Flora rolls her eyes with enough theatrical force to make it clear she finds his doubt absolutely outrageous. "When you're riding," she counters, gesturing with her fork as though presenting irrefutable evidence, "you have to deal with steering and balance and bouncing all over the place." She shrugs, curls brushing her cheek as she digs back into her waffles. "Flying with Soh was mostly smooth straight lines. I just sat there and let her do her thing."

Snickering at the mention of cult vibes and Kai’s gummy-worm bloodlust, she shakes her head, grinning. "Apparently, when they get turned to stone you can just heat them up again with fire." Her brows lift with genuine awe. "Being able to be surrounded by that much fire and not get burned? That seems super cool."

As if on cue, she leans fully into his side, relinquishing her fork so she can slide her hand up his arm and give his bicep an exaggeratedly impressed squeeze. " I think you’re already super strong," she says, letting the praise curl warmly between them before the line about Ronin earns an uncontained snort from her. "All you'd have to do is say pretty please and I bet he'd show up," she teases, then lets her expression slouch into something faintly distressed. "But please don’t."

When he goes in for another strawberry, she blocks him with her fork—swift, defensive, wholly territorial—until he says the names that hollow the air a little. The bright shield of teasing drops in an instant, and she slouches back, letting him take whatever fruity spoils he wants. "Yeah. Sorta." Her voice softens, fingers fidgeting lightly with the corner of her plate. She exhales, the breath thin around edges she tries to smooth. "I mean....obviously I don’t want to be stupid about things and ignore everything my family can do." Her gaze lifts to him, aqua eyes searching his face for any hint of judgment or dismissal. "I just want to be able to rely on myself more."

Then she nudges his shoulder gently, a small smile returning like something coaxed back into bloom. "And you."

Flora

you can't be everything you wanna be before your time

The icing on your cake, the cherry on the top

This isn't exactly the hill he means to die on, but her explanation leaves him little choice. "What," he interjects shortly after she ends her flourish of shoulders. "With flying you have take off, and landing, and those are hard. Even when you get to the straight lines, the wind is pushing on you and gravity is always ready to claim any mistake." Still, he's glad to hear she prefers it. "But, seems you're a natural then for hang gliding in Stormbreak." Most people are a little intimidated and unprepared for the forces whipping around them, but with a pegasus under her belt and all her time with skyships she should be more than fine for whenever they make it up for that particular adventure.

Never having looked at a fire and thought, I wanna jump in that, he only shrugs at the other features of being an Ancient. As for how strong he is, he lets out a low and disbelieving laugh, glancing down at the drape of her with no lack of fondness. "Can I get this in writing so the next time you try to ragebait me I have hard evidence?" He's strong enough to not be ashamed, but he's positive if it came down to wrestling for those strawberries he'd be tapping out before she broke a sweat. He can't keep back the small, affectionate shake of his head though when she suggests just asking Ronin for a goodnight kiss like it's any run of the mill request. "Pretty sure that only works if you're the one saying pretty please." Although he's never tried batting his eyelashes when he requests it, so maybe that's the difference?

Not meaning to sour the mood so thoroughly, he does not claim her berries while her shields are down, that'd be unsportsmanlike. Instead, he sets his fork down, swallowing whatever bite he still had from his own plate and wraps his arm around hers, melding touch and warmth into one noodle of comfort. "I don't think you'd be stupid to do either one," he says with a tilt of his head back into the booth. "I think there's good things and bad things either way. I just wanted to know if that is what made you think about it, because...I'm not sure if you would have been strong enough either way. Not unless maybe you were a demi-god too." She'd been able to call her family and still died, but he doesn't think that the other answer would have saved her any better. The Family had been a terrible foe, not really possible for any one person to deal with.

Turning into her shoulder with his own, he sighs comfortably against her. "Maybe I'll do it if you do it then, so we can be stronger together."

Kaisel

The perfect mix of Saturday night and the rest of your life

slow down, you're doing fine

Flora pulls a face so exaggerated it borders on theatrical tragedy, because yes, obviously he’s right about the dangers of flying, but she has no intention whatsoever of letting him win so easily. She jabs her fork in the air as if punctuating her own alternative logic. "Maybe it’s because my bestie is just a better flier than Charlie," she counters brightly, choosing shameless bias over accuracy without a second thought. Then—blink, blink—she stares at him as he mentions hang gliding. "Hang gliding?" she repeats, incredulous, before bursting into laughter. "How is that the same thing at all?"

Her snicker melts into soft, bubbling giggles as she leans in and plants a loud, delighted kiss on his cheek. "Nope!" she purrs against his skin, refusing to give him written evidence of anything. Sitting up again, she keeps her grin wide, warm, effortlessly fond. "I don’t know...Ronin really likes to please and is terrible at saying no to things, so..." She stretches the words out meaningfully, then breaks into a laugh and shakes her head. "But regardless, you’re the last face I want to see before bed. Not Ronin’s, if it’s all the same to you."

As his arm settles around her, she shifts without thinking, fitting herself to him in that seamless little way her body always seems to find. It isn’t the conversation she thought they’d be having over breakfast (no more short posts ig), but she follows it anyway, toes curling cold inside her boots as the memories rise. Her voice lowers, losing some of its sparkle as she exhales. "That day in the Greatwood...Pierce had this...dome. I couldn’t have channelled even if I wanted to." Heat burns faintly across her cheeks at the memory—guilt, fear, the feeling of helplessness clinging like a second skin—and she shivers instinctively, rubbing her palms together to fight the cold that creeps into her fingers.

"And when Dahlia found me..." Her swallow is tight, her gaze momentarily fixed on her waffles instead of the man she loves, seeing on her plate the hazy way the world had grown gray around her as Dahlia's claws had sunk into her. "I compassed away and that time I did channel my dads." She pauses, breath thinning. "And I still almost died, even with all three of them there."

Another small shrug, defeated in a way she doesn’t like to let him see, but she doesn’t hide from it either, not with him. "So I guess...yeah. I’ve been thinking about it."

She’s just opening her mouth to ask him whether he really would Attune with her, when their waitress materialises beside the table once again. One hand braced on her hip, her expression as flat and unimpressed as ever, she surveys the syrup-drenched battlefield before them. "Everything to your liking?" she asks in a tone so dull it feels like a judgement all on its own.

Flora

you can't be everything you wanna be before your time

The icing on your cake, the cherry on the top

He doesn't know the truth to that, because he's never ridden on Soh or a pegasus, but he immediately gasps for the sake of Charlie's honor. "Maybe you're just terrible at riding horses," he attempts to counter, weakly, and knows it. "Because they're both in the air and stuff," he explains with a tilt of his wrist, briefly miming fluttering overhead before giving it up.

Unsurprised by her refusal or the bold exclamation of it, he can only roll his eyes dramatically at it and obnoxious kiss. "Figures," he mutters, spearing another bite of pancake through a chuckle at the idea of upsetting her night with a brief appearance of Ronin to tuck them in. "Alright, I guess I won't summon your father right before we fall asleep," he concedes, amusement carrying each word aloft.

He can only do his best to hold her through the shadow that falls. With every shiver, to her body or voice, he finds a way to nestle her in tighter. Even now, seeing her tremble in a way that's rare, least of all in a memory she survived, he only gets a taste of the horrors she went through. He'd certainly never think her lesser for not coming out unscathed. "You faced more than your fair share of hell with all that," he murmurs, his other hand folding atop hers, fingers curling tight like he could hold her safely here forever. "I don't know that there's any way to feel completely safe," he admits, knowing even the immortal have a loophole. Maybe becoming a god, but no one's managed that, and besides you'd have to answer prayers all the time. "It's always a good idea to keep striving to improve though, whatever form that takes."

With his sights so locked on her the sudden voice of the waitress sends a skitter up his spine. He glances over at her, a member of the Addams family he's sure. "Oh yea, so great!" He beams up at her, their devoured plates proof enough. "We'll take the check." They still need to get Asta's tea and he'd rather not have to keep having her lurk over them.

Kaisel

The perfect mix of Saturday night and the rest of your life

slow down, you're doing fine

Flora tsks at Kaisel with the sort of playful condescension normally reserved for queens addressing particularly dense courtiers, her grin tugging wide enough to show teeth. "Don’t be jealous that you’re not as natural at flying as I am," she says, lifting her chin with mock loftiness, as though she’s some sky-born prodigy instead of someone who clung to Sohalia’s mane like a child on a runaway merry-go-round.

His promise that Ronin won’t suddenly materialise for a tuck-in earns a soft hum of gratitude, her voice warm enough to melt butter. "And if you need any extra kisses goodnight," she adds lightly, turning her puckered lips toward him with shameless invitation, "just ask."

The shadows of old fear soften as she presses herself in closer; not merely leaning, but settling with that yearning for a kind of closeness that feels almost anatomical, like she could fold herself into his ribs and stay there, warm and safe where the world can’t reach. Her voice gentles into something quieter. "I don’t ever want to be a demigod or anything," she murmurs, fingers curling lightly against his. "But if my only power as an Accepted is just...calling other people to fix things for me..." She trails off with a small shrug, the barest slump of her shoulders betraying how raw the thought is. "It’s hard not to feel like half my power is just borrowing someone else’s."

Their waitress passes by at that exact moment, offering an eye-roll sharp enough to cut fruit before turning on her heel. Flora gives a helpless little smile at the woman's retreating back, then turns slowly to Kaisel, her expression shifting, tightening, crumpling slightly with the kind of discomfort that says I know this is insane but I have to ask anyway. "Hey..." she starts, wrinkling her nose like she’s smelling spoiled milk. "So speaking of Ronin kissing you..." She winces, bracing as though expecting divine lightning. "You, uh, haven’t...slept with anyone in my family, have you?" The question hangs between them like a fragile chandelier—ridiculous, awful, necessary—and her aqua eyes fix on him with desperate hope for the correct answer.

Flora

you can't be everything you wanna be before your time

The icing on your cake, the cherry on the top

"I don't think that's what I said at all," he begins to disagree, but he's not certain she heard him at all over all her smug. "How about this. We swap and see how we do. I'll ride a pegasus, and you ride a dragon, eh?" A mane definitely seems easier to grab hold of. Not as cool, naturally, but easier.

With a grin too wide to hold back he leans in to steal one such extra kiss, a low hum of gratitude rising the moment he takes it. "You spoil me," he says with a low croon. "Mm, much better than Ronin," he agrees, as if that was ever up for debate.

There's something undeniable in the touch of her. It brings a comfort that he's never known except when folded beside her, and he's always deeply grateful that it seems to do just the same for her. Maybe that's how it always feels, when you're in love, but he's never felt like a single person could be a safe harbor before, not until her. Feeling understood, accepted, wanted, it melts away fears better than any nightlight ever could. "Yeah...I've felt that way before too," he admits with a low sigh. "It's part of why I like being a soldier, aside from family business and all. It feels like I can really test me."

He could not have prepared himself even if he tried for what she asks next, least of all with that lead in. "What!?" Is all he can manage at first, forcing himself to pull away to fully look at her, eyes wide. "Uh, no?" It's an answer, but also a question, because bitch what the fuck?

Kaisel

The perfect mix of Saturday night and the rest of your life

slow down, you're doing fine

Flora lifts her chin with such imperious triumph that it almost feels like she should have a crown on, her brows rising in a regal arc as she declares, "DEAL." The word lands bright as gold leaf. "But first," she continues, tapping his chest with a fingertip that pretends to scold when really it just wants an excuse to touch him again, "you’ll have to convince Sohalia to let you ride her, which—good luck. And second..." Her grin sharpens, wicked and delighted in the way only he ever gets to see. "I’ll just ask Ronin or Sunjata if I can ride them. And I promise," she adds with an infuriatingly smug flutter of lashes, "they won’t bounce me around."

Flora can feel a quiet shift inside of herself; the steady unwinding of an old knot she’d kept looped tight since she was a girl with too many ghosts and not enough certainty. Hearing Kai say he likes being a soldier because it lets him test himself makes something deep in her chest warm and tighten at once, as though her heart has wrapped gentle fingers around the thought to tuck it away and keep it safe. "Trying to get better, with you, sounds..." she murmurs, her voice dipping into something quieter, something vulnerable enough that she has to swallow gently before finishing. She never finds the non-cheesy word she's looking for—nothing fits that doesn’t feel too small for what the idea actually means to her—so instead she just looks up at him, eyes shining with the weightless sweetness of possibility. The sentence lands unfinished, held in the space between them the same way their fingers lace: open, certain, full.

But then of course she ruins it by asking the most mortifying question she’s ever let cross her lips.

Kai’s startled recoil is so immediate that Flora lets out a strangled, nervous little huff of laughter before she can stop it. "I just needed to be sure!" she blurts, heat blooming painfully across her cheeks. To hide her embarrassment, she lets herself collapse sideways, forehead thunking gently against his shoulder with all the subtlety of a dropped book. "Gods," she groans into his shirt, voice muffled and miserable and absolutely dramatic. "This is so embarrassing, you have no idea."

She peeks up at him, mortified, her aqua eyes wide and shimmering. "It’s just...so many people I know have, and..." Her eyes widen emphatically, because in fact there's just one person she's thinking of, but she isn't inclined to say his name right now. "I guess this seemed as good a time as any to be sure?"

Flora

you can't be everything you wanna be before your time

The icing on your cake, the cherry on the top

The swift way she answers makes him pause to reconsider what he just said. She'd never pounce so surely if it was a fair deal. He glances down at her finger with only the mildest offense, and only because he's still trying to weed through how he could have framed this better for himself. "Surely someone else can turn into a pegasus," he reasons, not overly keen on the idea of riding Soh in any shape or form. "And there's definitely different dragons out there for you to get on." Although they're all probably still her friends and not inclined to shake her up too much either, not that he really thinks Charlie had been, so maybe that's an even swap after all.

She doesn't finish her statement, but she doesn't need to either. Remember, he said eventually they'd be finishing each other's...well technically she changed it to leftovers, but still, the brain wavelength is there, in its infant stage still, but kicking nonetheless. "Yeah," he agrees, dipping in to press his head against hers in that moment, wavelengths touching like a little spark of understanding between them.

That is, until she asks something so outrageous it's clear her channel got bumped and sent her frequency way askew. "Why!?" he can't help but fire back, because he has definitely never needed to be sure of that before. The way she keels over on him though, burning a shade of scarlet and huffing out every word like an unfit train, has him biting his tongue a bit longer for the next response. Still entirely expectant though, his gaze rounds down on the one that sneaks a look up at him, one 'brow arching in a quiet, well? Yeah, embarrassed or not, she'd have to explain this one a little better.

"I mean, maybe you need to set boundaries with Mateo then??" he assumes it's her brother that's the culprit here in all the assorted issues that this has made for her. "Like, give him a forbidden list. Or do you think that'd just encourage him more?"

Kaisel

The perfect mix of Saturday night and the rest of your life