my winless fight

we write out the ends on our palms, then forget to read

The climb wasn’t hard, not really, but Flora still pretended it was. With a huff that was mostly for show, she dropped the picnic basket beside the blanket she’d already spread out over a patch of sun-warmed grass. Pale blue and gold, the fabric rippled a little in the breeze, corners anchored with river stones and the promise of a lazy afternoon.

She adjusted a bouquet of wildflowers in a chipped vase—yellow bell-blooms, skybrush, a single foxglove for drama—before flopping onto the blanket in a pile of sun-dappled limbs and golden jewelry. Her curls were up today, loose and a little wind-tousled, and she wore a breezy dress that flirted with the line between casual and curated.

There was lemonade in a bottle beside her. Little sandwiches, a box of stickyfruit tarts, two kinds of cheese. She’d even packed those crackers Sohalia liked—the ones with the seeds that got stuck in your teeth. Effort. It showed in everything except her expression, which was carefully casual as she leaned back on her elbows, the sun painting gold along her collarbones.

The infection pulsed quietly beneath her skin. Not loud. Not right now. But it was there, like a second heartbeat. One she didn’t speak of unless she had to.

Peekaboo Rise required a bit of a climb, and the Luminary welcomed the exertion. It was something to take her mind off of the coming meeting, to distract her from the way her insides twisted every time she thought about her best friend being under the Family’s thumb. She wished she’d never read Jack’s letter, that she could’ve met her friend under the illusion that everything was just fine. It would have made her life easier, that was for certain.

She’d thrown her hair into a high pony, with tendrils escaping to frame her face, and she’d worn shorts and a shirt that were cute, but suited to the hike she knew would be required to get to their meeting spot. When she arrived, it was to find Flora looking just as fabulous as always, seated on a blanket with a picnic basket nearby, adjusting a bouquet of wildflowers in a chipped vase. It was a charming picture, and Soh momentarily paused. She hadn’t been expecting things to be so… normal.

Shaking herself, she hurried along, pasting a smile on her face and waving cheerfully at her friend. ”Flora!” she cried as she got a little closer. ”Hey! I’ve missed you!”

Sohalia

we write out the ends on our palms, then forget to read

Flora doesn’t rise—too leisurely for that—but her grin blooms like the wildflowers in the vase, warm and radiant and just a little too bright, like maybe it’s been polished for company. "Soh!" she calls back, arms outstretched in a grand, reclining gesture as if she might welcome her friend with a hug from ten feet away. "Look at you, all mountain goat chic." Her eyes sparkle with affection as she gestures toward the blanket. "Come sit, before I start eating all your favorites out of spite."

And when Sohalia is close enough, Flora reaches for her without hesitation, looping an arm around her shoulders in a tight, familiar squeeze. "I missed you too," she murmurs near Soh’s ear. "Feels like forever, huh?" She pulls back quickly, fingers fluttering like butterflies from the embrace to the food spread. "So, we have options. Savory, sweet, and slightly questionable. Guess which category I made myself."

It was so easy to slip into old habits, and Soh’s smile turned genuine in spite of the warring emotions beneath the surface. ”’Mountain goat?’” she asked with a dramatic gasp. ”And here I was going for something a little more fierce.” She giggled, taking a seat next to Flora and returning her affectionate squeeze.

Turning her attention towards the food, Soh raised a brow. ”As curious as I am to find out what ‘slightly questionable’ entails, I think I’ll go for sweet for now.” She glanced over the spread, selecting this and that, and brightening when she saw the lemonade.”Oooo, you really did get all my favorites,” she said. ”Is this a special occasion that I’ve forgotten about, or are you just spoiling me for fun?”

Sohalia

bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones, bones.

---

You've encountered the OG random event! This allows you to skip one levelling requirement with the character in this thread. (Unfortunately does not count for characters over level 10, how sad.)

we write out the ends on our palms, then forget to read

Flora hums, pleased, like a cat in the sun. "Oh, I spoil you on purpose, obviously. Perks of being my bestie. Comes with your very own picnic and fresh gossip." She pours the lemonade with a flourish, handing Sohalia a cup like it’s champagne, like this whole hillside is a private gala and not just a well-placed hill.

She plucks a tart from the tray and takes a dramatic bite, eyes wide. "Okay, this one might be from the questionable category. I grabbed it from that new place near the docks. You know the one with the owner who always smells like fish guts but insists his pastries are infused with ocean minerals and are good for you?" She grins, licking a bit of jam from her thumb. "Anyway, if I start glowing or develop gills, you’ll know why."

Her tone is light, her laugh easy—but the longer she sits, the more something odd simmers beneath her skin. A stillness. A clarity too sharp. Like a painting that’s been retouched just a little too much—too bright, too composed. She turns back toward Sohalia, curling one leg beneath her. "Soooooo. Have you been to see Ace anymore since I saw you last?"

Gods, but she was so normal. If this was how someone who was infected acted, how in Caido were they ever going to figure out who was a friend and who was a Friend?

”Fresh gossip?” she asked with a laugh, accepting the lemonade gracefully. ”I’m all ears.” Maybe for once she could hear about others’ lives rather than spilling her own guts to Flora - especially given that she’d been reconnecting with Koa recently, and she wasn’t really sure how to feel about that. Scratch that - she knew how she felt about it. But she didn’t really know how Koa felt about it, and she certainly couldn’t hazard a guess as to how Flora would feel.

Soh watched Flora try the tart. ”Oh my gods, you actually tried that place?” she said, eyes wide. ”But is it good, though?” She eyed the tart warily, as though it might indeed transform into a fish and start to smell in the sun.

Maybe she was unobservant, or maybe she just didn’t want to see, but she hardly noticed any change in Flora, even as they sat there together on the hill. At the mention of Ace, Soh groaned. ”No, and I can’t decide if I want to or not.” Even before Koa had recentered the picture, the Luminary had been on the fence about the drug runner. She wasn’t sure how she felt about getting mixed up with a criminal, or about playing the dangerous game of sleeping with someone without, as Flora liked to say, catching feelings for them.

Sohalia

we write out the ends on our palms, then forget to read

Flora snorts into her lemonade. "No?" she echoes, grinning. The ring on her finger wasn't necessarily warm—some of Soh's indecision was genuine—but the temperature suggested that there was more to it. Still, if the Luminary didn't want to go into detail, the queen could respect that. "Well, you know I'm here for you no matter what."

She plucks another tart from the tray and eyes Sohalia for a moment before taking a bite. "Also? Shockingly not awful. The tart, I mean. Might be laced with seaweed or lies, but I’d eat another."

As for the gossip? Flora flops back onto the blanket, one arm thrown dramatically over her eyes like a heroine in the throes of a swoon. "Jack and I had a fight in the Greatwood." Her voice is muffled slightly, but not enough to hide the tension laced behind the words. "We nearly broke up. Actually said the words. It was—" She lifts her arm enough to peek at Sohalia. "—I dunno, but I hated it. But then we, like, both promised not to. Break up, I mean."

A beat passes. Her eyes go skyward again. "And now I just… haven’t heard from him in days."

It’s casual. So casual it hurts.

She lets out a breath, hand fluttering in the air as if brushing it all aside. "He’s probably just off brooding somewhere or smuggling things or—I don’t know—doing whatever emotionally repressed smugglers do when they’re Not Talking About Their Feelings."

Soh felt herself soften towards Flora, leaning over to squeeze her friend’s arm with one hand. ”I know,” she replied. ”It’s just… I don’t really know if I want to keep sleeping with him. Like you said before, I tend to get attached, and I’m not sure if that’s something I want.” And her affection currently lay elsewhere. She really did owe it to Flora to tell her the truth, after all they’d shared with one another. Flora had always been forthcoming with her, anyway, and didn’t she deserve the same from Soh?

But talk turned to Jack instead, and Soh reached out for a tart of her own to nibble on as Flora regaled her with the tale of their fight. This, at least, was solid ground on which Soh could stand. Flora hid it well, but she could tell from her too-casual words, the layered tension underneath - she was hurting, and that was something that Soh could try to fix.

”Talking about feelings is hard,” Soh pointed out. ”Even for those of us who want to.” She thought of Koa again, of how close she’d been recently to blurting out her own unwelcome feelings. ”Maybe he just doesn’t know what to say.”

Sohalia

we write out the ends on our palms, then forget to read

Flora hums, quiet and noncommittal, the sound rumbling faintly in her throat as she watches the sky. Clouds drift like lazy boats overhead—slow, content, oblivious—before glancing at Soh. "That's probably smart." The queen agrees. You couldn't always control who you caught feelings for, and sometimes those feelings made for quite complicated situations, as Flora had learned over the past few seasons with Jack.

She lets Soh’s hand linger on her arm for a few seconds longer than necessary before shifting gently to reach for her lemonade. Her nails clink against the glass as she lifts it, taking a sip like it might wash away the ache pressing tight beneath her ribs. "It’s just—part of the fight was about not running away from each other when we were upset and now here he is doing exactly what he was mad at me for." Her gaze flicks toward Sohalia, not sharp but searching, as if hoping she’ll understand the part she isn’t saying: That it’s not just silence. It’s a shift. A pulling away she doesn't understand.

Flora’s fingers twist the edge of the picnic blanket, her mind too swathed in violet to even consider that Jack might be upset with her because of the letter her friend had recently delivered. She blows a breath through her nose, then forces a smile—bigger than it needs to be. "Gods, listen to me. Melodrama in the sunshine." She flops back again, hair fanning out across the blanket, rings glittering against her chest as she presses the lemonade to her forehead like a cool compress. "Anyway. I'm sure it'll be fine." Her voice is light, almost singsong.

Soh leaned back on her hands, her gaze flicking up to follow Flora's. Clouds floated by on the spring breeze, and Soh found herself wishing that she were up there with them, following the warm thermals and soaring through the endless blue. For now, though, the breeze on her face was enough, and she turned her face into it with a half-smile, closing her eyes to enjoy its caress.

When she looked back at Flora, though, it was with a serious expression. She may not fully understand the relationship between her friend and Jack, but that didn't mean she was unsupportive. She hummed softly, wishing that she knew what to say that wasn't: yeah, probably because you're infected, Flora. Instead, she opted for a sip of her own lemonade and was saved by answering when Flora forced a smile. Heart aching, Soh tilted her head to one side and looked again to the sky. It was easier when she didn't have to look at Flora, to pretend that everything was still okay.

"You deserve all the happiness in the world, Flora," she said honestly. "And I really think you can have it. I'm sure it will all work out in the end."

Sohalia

we write out the ends on our palms, then forget to read

Flora absorbs Sohalia’s words like a parched plant soaking up the rain—grateful, but somehow still thirsty. She keeps the lemonade pressed against her forehead a moment longer, enjoying the cold that momentarily distracts from the heat of her tangled emotions. Then, setting the drink aside, she props herself up on one elbow, turning to face Soh more directly, her expression softening into something more reflective.

"Thanks, babe," she murmurs, the gratitude in her voice layered with the complexity of her thoughts. "I hope you’re right." She chuckles, a sound more wistful than amused. "You know, maybe I should just step down from being queen. Let Hadama run Torchline the way he wants. Then I could just..go." She gestures loosely at the sky, her gaze following her hand before settling back on Sohalia. "Mateo came to stay with me for a season, maybe I'll go up to Stormbreak and stay with him."

Flora then lets out a deep breath, as if exhaling some of her burdens into the spring air in a way that only amplifies the cloud of purple pushing against her mind. "Oh, and that whole thing with the letters...it totally ended up being nothing. Thanks for sending them though."

Whether infected or not, this was still Flora, and she still had feelings - and Soh was momentarily enraged on her behalf that her partner would leave her hanging like this. Sure, Jack probably had his reasons - and they were probably good reasons - but Flora was suffering because of it, and Soh hated to see that.

"Don't do anything hasty," Soh said soothingly. "You're an amazing queen, so just, you know, don't do anything you can't take back." Gods, but this was confusing. Was this Flora talking or infected!Flora talking? How was Soh supposed to know what to say? "But if you want a vacation, I'm sure Hadama wouldn't mind if you took a little time to visit with Mateo, or whatever."

As for the letters, Soh forced a smile. "Oh, yeah, no problem. I'm glad it all worked out."

Fortunately, after that, there was little talk of the letters again, and Soh slowly relaxed into the afternoon spent with a friend. It was a nice way to pass the time, and when they parted, it was with hugs and smiles, and promises to meet up again soon.

fin

Sohalia