two birds

flora

Given how good she knew her father’s gins to be, Flora had put in three more orders for the Lullaby to fulfill. That Remi had protested saying good gin took time didn’t phase the Doubletake in the slightest: surely he had some secret supply up the mountains? He’d been up there for years, after all.

Besides, she also needed his blood, so he’d have had to make the trip anyway.

Though it was noon outside, within the Hanged Man twilight sparkled in lavish plums and pinks. Fussing around with the placement of vases and other decorations, Flora began to pen a letter to her mother, inviting her to the grand re-opening.

Flexing like a goddamn acrobat
Me and karma vibe like that

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

That Remi wanted to be a good father was never, (he hoped), up for debate. Whether or not he ever had been one, at least since the death of his first child, certainly was. Having been channelled to help Flora and Mateo during their jungle escapades was certainly a new experience for the Lullaby, and no sooner had he returned than he and Ronin had set off for Torchline. Of course the next day he’d received a raven from his daughter asking him for even more alcohol for the Hanged Man, which had sent him back to the mountains to fulfil her request. Just as she’d suspected, he did have a cache of gin he’d
been distilling beneath the waterfall. Though Remi had wanted it to age a while longer, he was just as helpless to ignore his daughter’s request as he’d been her channelling.

”Ciao, Flora.” He called, nudging open the batwing doors with his hip. In his arms he carried two crates, with a third held within the coils of his tentacles. It was an unhappy sight perhaps, but an efficient one if nothing else.

flora

Glancing up, Flora beamed in Remi’s direction. ”Hiya.” She called back. Though she’d picked up much more of the travelling tongue than she let on, it seemed much more Remi and Mateo’s hting, such that it left Flora feeling a bit like an outsider looking in whenever she spoke it. Though the Doubletake had certainly grown up over the past few seasons, her daddy-issues were a fissure that ran deep into the core of who she was.

”Thanks for bringing those.” Slipping out from behind the bar, Flora opts to take the top crate from her father rather than relieving his tentacles of the one they carried. Just because she was his daughter didn’t make her any less weirded out by the things he could do. ”Can’t run out on opening night! And your gin is the best around!” Was she laying it on thick? Absolutely she was.

”Oh, and can you do one more little thing for me? I just need some of your blood for my feathers.”

Flexing like a goddamn acrobat
Me and karma vibe like that

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

” Does that mean I should plan on doing this full time…?” Remi wonders with an eyebrow partially raised. “I used to do this for Raza, you know. Even when I was Governor.” Realizing only belatedly that this might be a sore spot for his daughter, the Lullaby clears his throat apologetically as he sets down the crate in his arms. ”Shall I put this one in the back?” He asks, shifting his tentacles slightly to indicate the crate he’s referring to.

As for her one more little thing? He’s already nodding when her request hits his ears, and though his head continues to bob his eyebrows knit together slightly. ”And…what is my blood going to do for your feathers…?” Remi doubts if this is a quest from Ludo, seeing as the herald would probably want Remi’s toenails or his tears more than his blood. Given the sorts of things of which he was capable, the Lullaby was leery about handing over his bodily fluids without context, even to his daughter.

flora

”Duh.” Flora chimed brightly, flashing her father an appreciative smile. Mention of being governor only has the girl huffing and rolling her eyes. ”They’re kings now, didn’t you know?” She says through a sneer. ”Whatever. Voting is stupid, and Hadama is stupid, and Harper is stupid.” Before she might further malign Torchline’s government, Flora is shaking her head and rushing to take the final create from Remi. “Nope! It’s uh..super messy back there!” She says hurriedly, of the back room. No doubt her father probably knew all about the tunnels and things hidden back there, but that didn’t mean he needed to know she was in the process of reviving them.

“Oh, don’t be gross.” The Doubletake says. Setting the crate down, Flora fits herself beneath one of her father’s arms and wraps her arms around him. “It’s just to make them poisonous. Nothing crazy.” Only in this family would using someone’s blood to add a bit of murder to a weapon be seen as the preferrable use. “It just makes sense, you know? If I’m already throwing the feathers, they might as well do more damage. I don’t want to be carrying a bunch of stuff around.”

Flexing like a goddamn acrobat
Me and karma vibe like that

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

Glad that he hadn’t upset her, Remi chuckles as he’s corrected and nods his head. “Right, right. I believe it was Maeve who opted to be a queen and it never changed back.” He might have been wrong about that - had someone come between Sunjata and Maeve? Gods, he couldn’t remember, but given how ltitle he cared about the politics anywhere, perhaps that wasn’t so surprising.

Narrowing his eyes ever so slightly at his daughter’s distress over him seeing a bit of clutter, Remi just hmmmms skeptically but remains where he is.

Raising an arm immediately to cuddle Flora against him, the Lullaby could feel the bright swell of her excitement surging against him. She felt like the waterfall beneath which he brewed his gin, all gravity-defying current and power. ”Alright then.” He said softly, leaning down to press a kiss against the top of her head. Unlike in the movies, Remi opened up a small cut on his bicep. Though he would heal almost instantly, there was no need for an annoying hand-wound in the meantime. ”That…is quite clever.” He murmurs, of adding damage to her daggers rather than to her arsenal.

flora

“Mmmk, well don’t sound so surprised.” Flora says, elbowing her father in the ribs (and feeling like she was hitting a marble statue).

Rolling her eyes at the lack of warning, the Doubletake drifts toward the bar to retrieve a jar. Pressing it against Remi’s skin, Flora waited until her father’s healing had more or less stopped the trickle. Looking at the jar, she shrugged and screwed the lid on. “It’s for Safrin, so I bet it’s more about the gesture than the amount." Though Flora was fairly certain Remi would have helped her anyway, she wasn’t stupid. No need to tell him ahead of time who had give her this particular quest. If he had assumed it had been Frey, so be it.

“Anyway, you’re going to come to the opening, right? You and Ronin?”  Flora asks, hiding away the jar before fluttering her long lashes pleadingly at her father.

Flexing like a goddamn acrobat
Me and karma vibe like that

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

walked out this morning and i wrote down this song.
i just can't remember who to send it to

Stiffening, Remi levels an unhappy gaze toward his daughter even as she's innocently flitting away. "Flora..." He murmurs, the warning clear in his voice. She was old enough now to know better than to play with Safrin, but by that token, she was also old enough now to learn her own lessons (and to ignore those he'd learned). Sighing heavily, the Lullaby runs his palm up the side of his face. "Please be careful, alright?" What else is there to say, given everything that Flora both was and wasn't, because of who he was to her and the rest of Caido?

"Of course we will. If there is anything else you need us to bring, just say so. I think Ronin wants to stay in Torchline a few days, so.." The Lullaby shrugs. He'd be around.

"Anything else I can do here?" Glancing around, the place looked incredibly clean and put together, which...well, he wouldn't say so outloud, but he found surprising given the state of chaos in which Flora seemed to enjoy living her life. But whatever needed doing he was happy to do it.

~FIN