You take the bottle back without protest, raising it briefly to your lips before setting it into the sand between you. Things have taken a turn back from darkness - or maybe they never were really dark. Maybe it was just the glint of reality to temper expectations to exactly where they were supposed to be, leaving a deeper understanding of what is going on. A frank and open book of trauma, a precursor to other things. A declaration of Hey, maybe things are generally fucked up, so tonight why not be fucked up together?
"You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." Your eyes linger on the bow of her smile, your own mirrored mostly in the crinkles around your eyes, the expressive tilt of your brow. "Don' see why it couldn' be a mutually beneficial situation." You've never been accused of being greedy.
Nor of being shy.
To which end you stand again, brushing the sand off your ass before extending a hand to Vai. "Fancy a stroll, Miss Vervain?" you offer, playfulness glittering in your eyes and belying the attempt at serious courtly swagger. Or something. "I happen t'know some'a Torchline's best kept secrets. Hidden corners, as it were, where things are a bit less crowded."
Zephyr
you can be the ripest, juciest peach in the world
and there's still going to be someone who hates peaches
and there's still going to be someone who hates peaches
