lavendar haze

we show off our different scarlet letters

Looking down at the rim of her glass, Flora does her best to keep her expression warm and bright despite the addition of stars and moons. It feels very Ronin, but then, when last she and Neron had been together it had been under the stars, hadn't it? Sure it had. Better to think of that, than to think of the Huntsman.

Flora's smirk starts on one side of her face, with one cheek growing round with disbelief before her amusement forces her lips apart. "Now that is putting it very politely." She says, laughing and rolling her eyes. As Neron goes to attend to the other patrons for a moment, Flora affords herself a deep breath (her first since having coming in, in fact). His invitation as he returns makes her glad for the air in her lungs, as she shrugs. "I'm sure I could learn a lot from someone who has stared down death so many times." She hums, and while she keeps her smiling from running away with her from excitement, Flora can do little from the points of colour which have appeared high on her cheeks.

"Oh?" Her flush deepens. "And when might closing time be?" Flora wonders. "It isn't the dark I'm worried about, so much as making it all the way back home so late."

Neron

the wind breathes lonely
longing to be seen

"A bartender is never rude," Neron points out with a similar, catlike smile creeping across his face. "Unless he is telling someone to get out of his bar, of course." At that point he can be as rude as he damned well pleases. As for what she can learn from him, the Hailstorm rolls a shoulder in a shrug. "I am not one to stab and tell," he says. "You will just have to wait until we have the opportunity to get together." You know. To train.

As for closing time, Neron's steel eyes flick up towards the clock, and he bites the inside of his cheek as he considers. "About an hour," he says, "but I'm sure I can keep you entertained until then. And luckily for the two of us, portals mean it shouldn't be a problem for me to walk you home."

sometimes the soul
has days like these

we show off our different scarlet letters

'Oh I see." Flora purrs, despite seeing nothing of the sort. "What other talents does one need to be a bartender...?" Because you know, if being a lifeguard with Hadama, or the secret mastermind of the underground market in Torchline didn't work out, Flora would need a job. Well, a jobish. She didn't want too many obligations that weren't of her choosing, like, showing up to work on time.

Clucking under her tongue with disappointment, Flora lifts her shoulders up to her ears and dramatically lets them fall with a sigh. "Well, hopefully you'll be able to squeeze me in. I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I'd love your opinion on." Maybe if Tal got a move on, Flora would have her invisibility ring by then and she could really impress Neron.

"Can you now? Even without stories of stabbing and telling?" HIm offering to walk her home wasn't quite the outcome she'd had intended (obviously she'd wanted him to invite her home with him, lavish her with attention and make her breakfast in bed the next morning), but this was at least better than just being abandoned at the end of the night. Jack. "Lucky indeed." Flora agrees, and though it's just as unintentional as it was cliche, she found herself leaning forward and biting at her lower lip, imagining all the while Neron was speaking what it would be like to kiss him. (Especially now that she knew more or less what being kissed felt like).


~FIN