[Training] no lie in the fire

and the only solution was to stand and fight

The Sword cast a long shadow as he walked and trailed behind his son’s rambling strides, snorting as the youth nearly fell, then carried on without a care. Overly protective to a fault, as he had no intention of simply letting Erebos run wild throughout Torchline on his own, he maintained a decent distance, certain he’d be able to unfurl anything that threatened any of the boys, while still permitting a fair amount of boyish mischief to be held without close, hovering proximity.

But even then he noticed the alteration in the air – not unlike Halo, it seemed the winter season had been slow to slip away from even the warmer climates. His eyes narrowed, speculative, as he raised his jawline, catching the sea breeze on his face, then tilting his head ever so slightly, contemplating the other proportions. Perhaps a grasp of Deepfrost that had yet to be shaken off, or something else altogether.

Though, he supposed, he could ask, as he saw the Queen of Torchline nearby. “Flora,” he nodded, trying to recall the last time they’d spoken, in between many announcements and stars amidst the sky, unaware of the other alterations from Safrin herself. “Congratulations on your engagement,” he granted with a small, easygoing smile, but figuring her wedding would be the exact opposite of what he and Evie had concocted.

DEIMOS

i could be the reason you can't sleep at night

Flora looks up from the clipboard in her hands at the sound of her name, and her expression changes quickly enough that the faint crease between her brows disappears at once. Deimos has always seemed, in her mind, to belong to Halo’s particular palette of white and blue: dark and immovable against snow, as though the cold has simply built itself a man and sent him out to supervise everyone else. Seeing him here instead, with the Arclight stretched bright behind him and the sun catching on water rather than ice, gives her a moment of delighted disorientation. She tucks the clipboard beneath one arm and lifts her hand in greeting. "Heya!" When she spots Erebos nearby, the grin already on her mouth broadens without any effort at all.

The congratulations catch her entirely off guard, despite the fact that she ought to be getting used to them by now. Her mouth parts around a smile that immediately gets away from her, too pleased and too obvious to be managed, and Flora shifts her grip on the clipboard because suddenly her hands need somewhere to go. "Thanks so much," she says, the warmth in her voice impossible to disguise even if she’d wanted to.

"Kai and I came over for the Deepfrost festival, actually," she adds, looking back to Deimos. "We had a really great time. Halo was beautiful, and Skijoring was wild."