[P] Only a memory...

[Florentine]

florentine
There is no snow when she finds him this time, no tiger to stalk her steps and direct her home. The dusk is not giving itself to night and the trees are still so thickly laden with leaves and fruit, not bare and sparse in mid-winter’s keep.
 
Above all, she is not the child she was that day they first met.
 
That encounter was so long ago, and she has experienced so much over the last few years, that Florentine almost does not recognize the serpentine man she met in the Winter Court of her birth.
 
It is fortunate then that she does recognize him and that her mind drifts back to that icy scene of a snowy forest, gleaming and glittering - almost purple beneath the bruising gloaming. Her heart stutters in her chest for the memories this boy recreates. Her skin is sure she feels the fall of snow. Oh how Florentine longs to shiver beneath the icy bite of a northerly wind once again.
 
Yet alas, there is only the sway of the grasses to tickle her knees her. And the heat of the sun chases away any memories of ice and snow that flourish upon her spine. The flower girl drifts to him, stalking the scaled boy as she once had. The girl is quieter now, more skilled than ever at following a subject unnoticed. She has had years to hone her art and a tiger to learn from.
 
Today however, fortunately for Only, Flora is too keen, too impatient. She has already followed him for sometime and assured herself that this is indeed the ebony and gold man of that childhood memory.
 
The twilight girl lets her caramel wings flare, their feathered tips brushing through the grasses, their soft hiss playing like music in her ears. Casually the Dusk girl follows her old acquaintance.
 
“Only.” She says at last when he seems not to notice her. The question in his name could not be shaken for there is a lingering wariness in her breast - this still may be some stranger, or her memory a mere dream she has created for this stranger alone…
 
Her head tilts, avian and wild, as she peers through her amethyst eyes at the boy before her. “Do you remember me?” She asks in a voice soft with curiosity, her smile small and playful. Her muzzle lifts to better gaze out at him from beneath a fringe now so much longer, so much thicker and more laden with flowers than ever before.
 
“My mother’s tiger is not here this time.” Flora says with a small smile, whimsical and just a whisper of sadness tingeing its melody. Her golden skin gleams in the sunlight, matching the gold upon his own torso. “It is good to see you again…” The girl pauses, thoughtful and curious before the gleam in her eyes turns mischievous.  “Do you still say ‘oh’ a lot?” Her sly smile curls the corner of her lips. “It was your word of choice the last time we met,” She sings as she laughs and lets the wind tug the petals from her mane.

@Only - yaaaaaay! <3 <3
 

[Only]

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

[Florentine]

florentine
Florentine watches as her voice and his name upon her tongue causes Only’s spine to tighten. His soft curves become harder, sharper. The serpentine boy rises through his neck, a cobra alert, ready to defend.
 
He turns to her, the movement loud in the swaying of the grasses. His serpent eyes set upon her and though they are wary, though they are bright with momentary violence and surprise, Florentine smiles at him.
 
It is a smile that only grows larger, holding a laugh trapped behind her lips when his eyes sweep the grasses. He looks for golden eyes, hungry and fierce. They were eyes that once stalked the girl of flowers, eyes that once watched her, keeping her safe. They were eyes that did not trust Only; maybe they were wise…
 
His words are the chink in the dam that holds back her laughter and it breaks, her laughter pouring out to fill the space between them. The Dusk girl walks to him as he reaches for her. Their muzzles press, familiar, warm, welcoming. It was a touch of home, a touch of childhood. It is then she lays a kiss of welcome upon his cheek, even as laughter still pours from her lips.
 
“You are not as relieved as I am, believe me. Now there is no curfew, no eyes to make sure I am behaving myself.” She pauses, her eyes gleaming, “I suppose that is the advantage of being regarded an adult. Now my adventures are my own, I only have myself to answer to if trouble finds me sleeping.”
 
Her lips still tingle with the ghost of his skin – soft, so soft. It was not sleek, it was not the sensation of warm scales… “You are soft now.” She says gently, sadly. Her eyes trail over his body, where her eyes seek scales, she finds only gleaming black hair. “What happened to your skin?”
 
Only asks after her, their friends, then more and more. Words pour from his lips and the girl watches him: his lips, his eyes, the wrinkles that form upon his face with his every flustered and keen expression. “You talk as much as me.” Florentine remarks quite comfortably.  “I am impressed, it’s quite an achievement you know.”
 
A slender, caramel shoulder bumps into his, that coy smile returning to play across her lips as she eyes her old compatriot fondly. “I have been well, very well, but better to have met a friendly face again.”
 
How long had she been here? Long enough to find love. Long enough to feel the hole in her heart where her family should be… “I have been here for what feels like an age, but also the blink of an eye… Time moves in funny ways doesn’t it?” The girl of sunset bruises asks as she turns her head to survey the scaled, Dawn boy from the corner of her eye.
 
Flora gaze does not let her gaze sway from him, not when he struggles over his words, not when he squirms beneath the press of her amethyst gaze. It is a gaze that laughs, it is a gaze that leaves a playful pinch across his skin. It is a gaze that dances wild and free, “I am big, of course.” Florentine affirms with a laugh,” Not fat, nor pregnant - so far as I am aware –“ She flares her wings to survey her sides which were, mercifully, just as she remembered them to be.  
 
The lavender girl continues, no skip in the easy roll of her conversation as she leads him on through the sea of grasses, “It would require sex for the latter and there has been none of that –“ She suddenly pauses, her lashes lowering in thought as Flora begins to realize that this was likely one of those times where she tended to reveal too much information…
 
Her eyebrows lift in contemplation and her gaze shifts back to him, “You probably did not wish to know that.” She huffs, continuing to walk beside him.
 
Oh-
 
The word hangs between them and Flora’s smile grows and grows and grows. Her tail switches, snapping playfully against his side as she peers at him from the corner of her gaze once more. “Good to know some things never change, Only.”
 
Although some things, most definitely do change.

@Only 
 

[Only]

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

[Florentine]

florentine
Our old home made sure to take everything from me before I was pushed out.
 
Florentine stops moving to better look over Only again. The boy’s next comment about her, the one that fades into nothing, is forgotten, left to keep its place, away from her and protected within his mind. She does not care to delve, nor pry, whatever this boy thinks of her - what anyone thinks of her has never been of concern to the caramel girl. Or at least not until recently… until hearts began to break despite she had no idea how they came to love in the first place…
 
Amethyst eyes trickle over his skin, again. The sun tries, oh how the sun tries, to catch the metallic sheen of his golden mane, his golden feet. Yet alas, the gleam of metallic gold is gone. So too are the black scales, destined now to remain sleek and warm in her memory alone.
 
“It could be such a cruel place.” The twilight girl says softly of their old home, her amethyst eyes are as bruised as her words… as bruised as the part of her soul that still lives on there. “But it was wonderful too…” Like a magnet her gaze lifts to meet his. She looks in beyond their gleaming exterior and into darkness that lingers beyond; Only’s darkness, that holds memories so close to her own. “You did have good memories there too, didn’t you?” She seeks of this ebonyboy, for to lose his looks, the essence of himself – it was  too large a price to pay if he took no fond memories with him.
 
Their embrace was fleeting, too fleeting, for Florentine believes the scent of home, of the Rift, still lingers upon his skin. It is a ghost she yearns for and when he steps away, her body follows, one stride, another until, with regret she falls away from him.
 
She longs to ask him where he has been too – had he just come from Rift? Her eyes trail over his face, the shadows that linger, that whisper of stories she knows nothing of.
 
“I did a lot of time travelling.” The twilight girl confirms softly. “I spent two years in another world…” Her thoughts drift, pulling her eyes off to the horizon – would there be a window there? Though which she could slip and find another world… Her eyes slowly return to Only. “It seems time moved slower here because you have not aged like I, have you?” He is younger now, not the grown up she once saw him as, his body towering above hers. Time twirled its magic hands between them and Flora’s eyes closed as if to better feel its mysterious magic.
 
“I have not been here long, only one season.” Florentine thinks on how that time has travelled so slowly but how it was also time enough to rise in power… to fall into love… Pushing away thoughts of the Night king and his wild shadows, Florentine allows the ebony boy to command her attention.
 
“I live in the Dusk Court.” Her wings flare out, her body dropping into a curtsey, laughter peeling from her lips, her eyes gleaming impishly. “The Dusk Court’s Emissary at your service.” She chimes, laying on her best diplomatic voice. “I know, it’s quite the shocker.” Her chirp is bright, ringing in the air as she surveys Only closely. In truth, the girl that dips before Only, flaring her wings like a skirt, is so far from the girl who talked of wolves and lions before Solterra’s lion king.
 
Swift, fast and unexpected, Only leans in to snatch a flower from her tangled honey hair and it is with mingling horror and fascination that the girl watches a lavender flower disappear into his mouth. “Did you-“ She bleats. “You did,” She breathes. “Well I never. That is bold.”
 
The girl sniffs, golden lashes fanning her cheeks as she blinks once, then twice. Her smile turns wicked when he snorts at the strong aroma, “I am not sure they are meant for eating…” Slowly, dramatically the girl leans in, her eyes wide her voice a whisper into his ear. “They might be poisonous Only…”
 
Her brows rise, faux fear slipping through her veins. The slender girl skitters away, lilac eyes peering back at him as his tail catches her fleeing haunches. “Better hope you don’t get sleepy, hmm? It would be up to me to find out whether you are poisoned or not. Dusk Court is a long way from here and that’s where the best healers live, I may be bigger, but I am not big enough to carry you all the way there…”
 
The flower girl tsks lightly as she steps past the boy, the scent of lavender floating about her like a cape. “It’s a bit early to test our friendship by eating one of my flowers and getting yourself poisoned.” She sings as she steps through the grasses, “Keep up Only. I suppose we have to stick together now in case you really are poisoned.” She twirls around him, her bright eyes gleaming mischievously as petals scatter to drift upon the winds.

@Only <3
 

[Only]

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

[Florentine]

florentine
She is too busy laughing.
 
She is too busy dancing through the flower meadow.
 
Her wings are skirts, drifting through tall grasses. Her wings are scythes that cut the air with song and dance.
 
They are summer, this pair. Vibrant, alive, lit with colours that dance and dance and touch every inch of this wild earth. There is no part of the meadow that does not sing with their laughter. There is no part of the meadow that does not obey the wind and shift to watch them.
 
Flora’s name drifts to her, frantic at first, insistent. But her ears do not hear it, for they are too filled with her laughter, too filled with playful intent. The girl storms on, only stopping to peer back at him when the string between them pulls tight, when she does not hear the rustle of his feet behind her…
 
Petals tumble towards the boy, as her name tumbles towards her – each are gamboled by laughter, each are drunk on the thrill as they pass. The song of it makes her smile grow broader and her limbs work quicker.
 
Florentine is fast, but Only is faster. The boy is a blur, his metallic mane gleaming, his ebony body an arrow. He tugs at her mane, another flower gone, and her lips part with surprise, a shiver of intent rippling through her body. He turns this girl to startled twilight, leaving her blinking, and laughing, but is he already too far gone to hear it?
 
Only goads her in this gloaming light, he baits her with words that dance like imps around her. Amethyst eyes flare and she is running. Long legs, so slim, so slender, are eating the ground – oh to run, to chase! Flora is free and she is fast, so much faster than she has ever been before!
 
But Only is always beyond her, he is always beyond her reach. He is not even close… Her wings unfurl, gold and broad. She rises behind him, an eagle behind its prey. But Florentine is no eagle with razor shark talons and a sharp wicked mouth. No, this girl is made of petal soft curves and silken smiles of mischief and daring. She is starlight twinkling and dusk light bruises.
 
The air welcomes this girl of flowers, and as she drifts over his head, a solitary toe drops to flick his ear. “That’ll be two flowers. One for each that you ate.” She calls above the air, her voice uncompromising, her smile delighted. Nimble as a sparrow within the air, she tilts her body, her lips lowering to reach the ear she so recently flicked. “Running like this will only make the poison work faster y’know...” She sing-songs, “I may not be able to save you now.’ Her wings shadow across his head, feathers beating the air as she drifts above him.
 
It is another twist, another snap of bright, bright wings that bring her down ahead of him and into the grass. She trips once, twice, knees grazing upon the ground, her wings slicing into the grasses, petals flying up about her before she recovers from her landing with only a scrap of the grace she descended with.  “That’s a bouquet you owe me now!” She chimes, reaching out to nip his passing torso.

@Only so. much. muse - running and playing are two of Flora's favourite things!
 

[Only]

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

[Florentine]

florentine
Graceful
 
Florentine’s wings flare as she dips into a jaunty curtsy. “Why thank you,” the girl chirps, a smirk upon her dirty, dusty lips, her flowers in disgruntled disarray.
 
Maybe, as a girl in possession of the title of Emissary, she should have been embarrassed by such an ungraceful display. As it was, this creature of honey and gold, is too confident for that. She is too at ease with all the ways in which she is ungraceful and lacking. So Flora stands, proudly covered in dirt, proudly bearing her grazed knees and ruffled feathers.
 
Amethyst eyes glimmer as Only toys with her. He turns them sharp with his wit and how flicker like twilight stars! “I am quite well.” Florentine affirms with a melodious chirp, stepping forward upon her slender legs. “This is not my first foray into the world of grazed knees, you know.”
 
 Twilight eyes peer down to inspect her forelimbs, extending one and then the other, both for his viewing and her own. “Only,” She sighs softly, whimsically, before continuing more firmly. “If I did not have grazed knees from some moment of frivolity, then I am most definitely doing something wrong.” For, quite simply, grazed knees where a sign of time well spent – did you not know?
 
The dawn boy leads her on, and obediently the dusk girl falls into step behind him. The brush of grasses across her bruised, red knees stings like poisoned needles, yet Florentine does not blanch. Rather, a sigh, contented and pleased, rumbles from her chest.
 
Only carves a way through the thick, thick grasses and golden wings drop to trail like fingertips – much as they had when she first followed him – through the seeded heads of grass.
 
The pair of gold and ebony are quieter now, spent from their run - from their game. Had Flora known of the darkness – the murderous black - that lingered inside the boy that leads her on, then maybe she would have thought twice before letting her jaw rest upon his quarters... 
 
As it is, she did not.
 
The rhythmical step of his hind limbs, the sway of his walk matches hers and all at once there is an ease between them, a quiet as he leads her to flowers, to water.
 
Only commands her twilight eyes to close and obediently they do. Her slender limbs also fall to stillness when he commands it of them. Her lips curl into a smile, a smirk of question and oh what temptation it is to peak, just once! Yet she doesn’t, and she stays, golden lashes shut and long limbs still, even when he steps away from her and the weight of her head is once again hers to bear.
 
The boy returns to guide her on and she steps to him, keenly, curiously. Caramel lips curl ever more, her head tilting, her ears straining to hear what her eyes cannot tell her. Forward he guides her into wild flora, into a meadow that hums with bees and insects and upon her limbs she feels the brush of the flowers that fragrance the air so delicately.  “Oh,” The word floats as it sighs, her voice a thing of wonder as she imagines what colours lie beyond her closed eyes.
 
Florentine can barely wait for his permission to open her eyes and when he grants it, they fly open to drink in and paint this fragrant piece of Novus anew. “I have not been here before,” She whispers, surprised, delighted.
 
Flora’s eyes slip over him, the flare of his reveal, the rose he holds with pride shining upon his lips and she laughs at him, for him, for each of them. “I suppose that makes up for my stolen flowers.” She turns her neck from him, her tangles of flowers and golden hair tumbling forwards. “Would you put it in my hair?”

@Only
 

[Only]

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.