Today, Only wanders without much thought of where he is or where he goes - much like the day he met Florentine - he doesn't care much for where he ends up either so long as trouble stays far away from him.  He doesn't know that he is being followed, that Flora is not far behind him stalking silently like a Savannah lion, that she recognizes him.  The last thing he expects is to be Known by anybody here and although it would be nice to find his lost herdmates here, he does not think it is possible.  Wandering the plains is unlike anything he experienced in the Rift and so he goes and goes and goes, zigging and zagging, absent-minded about whatever is in his wake as he eats his way through the grasses until little Florentine cannot stand it.

'Only.'

He spins on his feet quickly and settles two wild, chrysolite green eyes on a face that feels all too familiar.  The paranoia of being picked out of a line-up at a police station isn't nearly as scary as the girl that has chosen to encounter him at long last.  How long has she been following him?  At first he doesn't recognize her but that is because the darker parts of his mind are working overtime in trying to figure out a way to get rid of her.

She's smaller than him - an easy target.
She has wings though - there is a chance she could fly away from him.
She's cute - there might be a meathead not too far behind to witness his efforts to run her off.

The purple petals drift off of her hair and float across the distance between them.  It only takes one of the flowers sticking to his nose to access a memory that comes lose like a can of worms.  Immediately he looks beyond her in the grass and makes a cautious sweep of looking for other predators.  When the coast seems clear, Only is able to relax enough to let her name flow from his lips with more ease.  Suddenly, all the thoughts to get rid of her go away.

"Florentine, sans tiger.  Can I say I am more relieved than anything without sounding like a jerk?"  He says with a relieved sigh, he cannot help how good it feels to know above all, young Flora survived everything that happened.  When the Winter Court blew up - he was certain most of those that lived within winterlands went with it.  Wherever her mother, father, and tiger-striped nanny have gone, he'll save it for a less exciting day.  Reunions are no place for sadness - at least not right now.

"I've learned more words since we last spoke -"  he smiles.  Only lets her tease him about their first encounter.  It had been so overwhelming the first time that he couldn't say much more than 'Oh'.  Something about her presence calms him and, for the first time in a long time, he is not worried about anything other than how she has been all this time.  The image of Florentine is oddly comforting, the sweet smell of lilacs and clover blossoms in her hair, the curl of her coy smile is almost disarming.

"Florentine how have you been?  Have you seen the others from our old home?"  The black wades through the tall grass to close the distance between them and he reaches out to offer a gentle, friendly touch of the nose against hers.  "How long have you been here?  You are big."

Big.

"Not big like big-big. Well, older."

Old.

"Not old per sei, I just mean.  Well, you know."   Does she?  Only cannot backpedal or flounder fast enough in front of a pretty girl.

"Oh-"  He finally exhales, looking away out of frustration with himsel, hardly realizing that he's reaching full circle with what Florentine remembers of him.

.only
thief for hire
low-functioning telekinesis

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
 For many are called but few are chosen.

@Florentine

Seeing Florentine again - like this - makes him feel strange about the twilight girl - strange about how beautiful she is to him and how she makes his stomach tingle as if it were a flurry of flowers and butterflies.  She is almost as old as he is now (part of him is relieved to know he feels this way about an adult and not a child, awkward) but even he considers himself barely an adult.  There are so many things Only hasn't done - hasn't even considered.  Florentine has found love and a family and a duty to that family while Only can barely figure out what he is going to do after Florentine leaves to go home.   This only means that they are still both quite young and inexperienced at a lot of adult things, different things of course, but perhaps that is where they can help each other out as Time goes on.  

He feels protective over her as she floats towards him like petals on the wind and he is as tense as - yes - a snake poised to bite and kill, he is ready to fight whatever may leap out of the tall grass and destroy this moment for him.  Beautiful Flora, so perfect and rare (he will wonder later why he thinks of her as 'rare') that surely this isn't happening.  It is only when the buttercream girl places a soft kiss against his cheek that he relaxes entirely - his tension melting and the rigidness more elastic - she laughs and he sighs, content.  "Oh Florentine..."  

I'll be your tiger, goodness knows a sweet girl like that needs one.  You know what they say, there is always someone worse than the worst person you know - so if Only is here, he wonders what else may be out there that is far more terrible than him - than Stephan.

Only reaches around her, embraces her, and it is the first gesture of kindness he has offered since...

Well, he cannot remember.  Your skin is so soft. She says and quite honestly, he hasn't noticed it since now.  "Our old home made sure to take everything from me before I was pushed out.  Not a thing was left by the time I ended up here, not even my own skin I guess.  But you -"  you have not changed one bit, he wants to say but doesn't.  Instead, he allows himself to smile rather than be tormented about it.  She has a way of disarming the worst of his worries and she doesn't even know it.  The Rift is far behind them - farther now that he has found another one of his friends.  

Are Florentine and I friends?  He wonders then, the thought of such a thing warms him.  They've only met once but indeed, Time has a way of being very funny.  He is still reeling on the idea that they are nearly the same age now - and relieved that they were, of course.  An adult man wandering with a girl-child just didn't seem...well, kosher.  Speaking of which, she is on to tell him about sex and pregnancy and that is where he turns an ear towards her to make sure he is hearing her right.  Her gaze is laughing and her laughter is wild and free - the whole of her is just some melodious harmony full of rainbows and kittens that it has never occurred to him that Florentine (a young woman) would eventually be encountering these things.

Now he stops in the grass from their casual walk and he offers that same serious, wild look he always gives.  The same bewildered and sobered expression he gave her when he first met.  She stretches her wings and checks just to make sure and it's enough to make his heart palpitate thinking this little girl has known the touch of a man in anyway.  She's not a baby anymore though, and he must try to remember that.  Quietly he walks with her again as she apologizes for it and that is when he decides he must shake himself of the overprotective feelings he has for her.

"I'm not sure why I am saying this but I am glad as well.  Then again I am still trying to wrap myself around the idea of you being an adult."  He admits but he cannot hold it back any longer,

Oh he says again and she laughs again.  The man's ears turn into one another as he moves forward with her.  It amuses him every time the summer yellow butterflies and honeybees buzz around her hair to visit each delicate flower that has woven through her hair.  He finds inner peace and smiles again, quiet and calm like the breeze that cozies up around their shoulders.  Dusk is not far behind them but he is not concerned for her - she is in good hands. 

"So Flora, where all have you been here in Novus?  What all have you seen - anyone we know ? - do you belong to these so called courts?"   He asked as casually as he could, his nose reaching over to nip a flower out of his hair before gobbling it up very obviously for her to see.  The flower was very perfumed in his mouth and he couldn't help but snort at the heavy nectar-filled smell it filled his nose with.  "Well, I hope you that's alright for the bees long term - someone could get sleepy eating those."  He says as he bumps her shoulder and swats his tail back at her trying to measure out moment.  

"You couldn't have come at a better time, I'm in desperate need of a friend I could trust.  An honest one at that."  He hums then, his ears still tucked in close together as he thinks about how lucky he is to have been found by Florentine at a time like this in his life.

.only
thief for hire
low-functioning telekinesis

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called but few are chosen.

@Florentine

She plays his paranoia like an instrument and oh!  How effective her words are against him.  Flora lights the disquiet inside of him on fire - her smile is like gasoline and her laughter is the lit match which she throws down at his feet.  He feels like he is engulfed in flames as she moves around him, teasing him about the flowers.  He shouldn't have eaten it but he did - his knees are knocking - was it really poison? 

And he is floundering and helpless.
And he is burning and burning with paranoia now.
And he wonders if he'll die -- if so, when?  Soon?

"Flora."  But she is too busy laughing and being happy.  Her joy cannot be contained as she darts off into the grass after giving her contagious laughter to the world which only grows more warm and bright.  The colors are rich around them but he's too busy to stare at birds, trees, and the like - he cannot help but grin even though he's worried all over again.  

"Flora!"  He laughs again, frustrated but unable to get mad about it - it was his mistake.  Damn her!  Damn her for keeping everything so light hearted - infectuously so.  Even Only kicks his heels up and lopes after her with a comfortable gate - he catches up and nips her hair before taking another flower and tearing off.

He forgets for a moment that the Rift spit him out just two days ago - he forgets that Stephan is listening (always listening) - he forgets a lot more about the things that torment him daily as he trots off and flashes his flaxen tail at her through the grass.   

"If you can catch me - I'll give you a different flower for your hair.  You have to keep me awake now - so you must play with me."  He challenges as he turns to look over his shoulder and gives her a handsome toss of his head to engage a game of high-speed chase.  This is a game he is good at because he has been outrunning the authorities since the days of his youth.  All of his questions for her will come later but first - run!

The stallion's body is a machine - it operates very differently than the mind that is housed within it - and when he lets go of everything he is thinking about it has the ability to do incredible things.   He is very quick as he shoots ahead of her like a bolt of black lightning - his own laughter spreading through the plains like wildfire.  

.only
thief for hire
low-functioning telekinesis

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called but few are chosen.

@Florentine

She is fast but he is faster but where he is land locked she is not and, because of that, she wins.  Only has a feeling that she will always win and that the trick to appealing to a girl like Florentine is to always surprise her - to enchant her - and he wonders then (since she knows of babies and how to acquire them) who has enchanted her to make her sing, laugh, and play like this.  He would like to think it is himself but he knows - he knows the way a bird knows the way home after twilight - that it is not him.  

Somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind Stephan comes alive - puts his foot down on the coat tails of Only's jovial mood - and tells his pathetic self that he doesn't have a chance, Whoever it is makes her happy.  All you will do is make her cry.  Stephan says.  Only tries his best to ignore it - he pushes back with a louder round of laughter.  He balks and spins beneath Flora with a wide grin and he leaps for her, teeth nipping at her delicate feet which bat at his ears and tease him just out of reach. 

Whoever it is will have another thing coming, Stephan continues on.  Only has no strength against him, he wasn't the first and he'll never be the first for it was Stephan who was bred, born, and raised in a corporeal form.  His words serve as a warning to Only, one he disregards as he allows himself to be distracted by the honeyed girl trying to land. Trying is definitely key.  

In a matter of a second she disappears into the tall grass and he can only tell where she is by the amount of flower petals and dust her crash landing kicks up.  He feels her teeth pinch his tender belly as he runs past her but he comes to a skidding halt just so he can look back at her and gloat.  "Graceful."  He says with a smirk as he lifts his head. 

Questions, like rats around a sweltering dumpster, start gathering at his feet.  First there is one, then two, then three.  Some more come but he holds his tongue as Florentine continues to distract him.  "Come on Trouble, I owe you flowers -"  She speaks of poison-death and bouquets and all he can think of is funerals.  Not his funeral.  Not Florentine's.  But somebody's...and when Stephan finds them (because he will) he will have to gather a lot more flowers than the ones he intends to find for Florentine.  

"We'll walk, if you can manage that."  He teases her to rouse her, it makes her sassy and he rather likes that - whenever Florentine sasses Only he tends to forget about the worst of his problems.  A shoulder bump helps as his eyes slide down the whole front of her.  "Hey,"  he asks more seriously " - those knees of yours okay?  We'll find the water after we find the roses - they aren't far from each other."  Only walks and walks and walks and so does Flora.  They never run out of things to talk about and they never stop to worry about the serious things in life.  Eventually he'll ask her the questions he tries to hold back on but not today.  

Well, he hopes not today.  This is a reunion.  A finding of friends.  A beginning of something good for once.  
How long Only?  Stephan bounces a ball off the insides of Only's skull - somehow he can hear it echoing off the bone in his brain and he can feel the dull thud every time the bastard pitches it.  How long until it is all over?  I give you ten days.

Only isn't ready for reality - he smiles and laughs with Florentine as he leads them towards a massive mound of blackberry bushes.  "Close your eyes.  Wait here.  When I say go - go." Only leaves only to come back, he herds the girl forward into a clearing where roses of every bloom grow wild in a full circle around them.  "Open your eyes."  He'd reveal them as classically as he could, having picked the first wild rose for her only to have it ready when she opened them.   

.only
thief for hire
low-functioning telekinesis

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called but few are chosen.

@Florentine

The roses make the air sweet - as sweet as Florentine's always-smiling face.  She is the sun which touches the shaded glen but all Only can think of when he sees her like this is whether or not those flowers in her hair will kill him.  That, and how clever she has come to be.  Her smile, as beautiful as a glorious golden sunset bathing the mountains in simpering sunlight, is mischievous.  Mischievous where all the shadows fall into the craggy grabs of her dimples while her smile gleams bright blocky white teeth - the same teeth he remembers seeing flashed at him when she was small.  Now here he is, wondering when the sickness of those lilacs he ate not long ago would strike.

Will you put it in my hair?

"At your service."  He jests, lifting his head proudly before reaching over to tuck the first rose behind her ear.  The man wants the flower to stay so bad he doesn't realize he wills her hair to twist tightly around the thorns with his mind, he doesn't notice the braid he weaves into her hair with just a bend of his consciousness.  The power of Novus is far greater than many of them may ever know.  No God or Goddess of Novus would ever look upon him with favor either - weaving posies into Flora's hair is the kindest gesture he'd ever be capable of.  

Daisies, clovers, roses of every color, he patiently finds the prettiest ones to weave into the flaxen locks - she shimmers with many colors now, more than when they first found each other in the meadow.  Bees and butterflies buzz around her as they curiously inspect the bouquet he has bestowed upon her - what she doesn't know is that he is like them as well as he too buzzes around her on light feet. 

But he is no bee, he is no butterfly either, he is a wasp - one that Florentine smiles and laughs with.  That Florentine has come to trust. 

"The sun is beginning to set."  He alerts then, they have been gone to their own world for so long that the time has been spinning away from them.  Only takes his eyes off of her only once to regard the harsh lines of the Arma mountains far-far off in the distance.  The Dawn Court won't miss its weary wanderer, this much he can bet, his luck in this gamble is better than brooding over a bad hand at poker.  

"Can I come with you, wherever it is that you go when the night comes?"

OOC:  This is crap, so sorry. I'll be better at this next round. 
@Florentine

.only

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called but few are chosen.