Rose by Another Name

“No, Flora, no murder.”

“Mmhmm.” The red-haired woman didn’t even bother glancing back over her shoulder as she spoke. 

“Make sure you put your detention slip on the table. Your teacher called and was very emphatic that both your parents signed off on it.” Fauna shifted to sit back on her heels as she finally glanced back over her shoulder, one brow arching as she shot Flora a wry smile. 

“You and your father wouldn’t happen to’ve been trying to hide that you’ve been getting in trouble from me, have you?”

“Ah, er.. you sure you heard them right?” Was all that her mother got as an initial reaction, wincing at the smile Fauna had.

“Maybe they were telling you all about how wonderful of a student I am and that would be something you’d never have to do-- but they told you just in case?” Flora was doing her best to not let her nervousness show, though it was clear in her usual drumming fingers against her outer thigh. Her mother definitely knew that she’d been sneaking around her and showing her lax father the slips. 

“She might have pure in a different way, but you’re pure as well! You’re pure fun!”

“I’ll see if I can find my father’s old wedding outfit, and then we can hold the ceremony at my family’s shrine! We can have it during spring when all the fruit trees are blooming~”

He’s somehow, for some reason, really into this.

“I- oh, well, alright.” 

“But dear, you did just put it into words! But look at what I found!”

He holds up a snowy-white kimono, somehow still pristine even though it must have been kept in the depths of the shrine.

“It’s my mother’s wedding outfit! Come on, try it on!”

“I- well, I suppose I did.”

Flora is more taken aback by the appearance of the kimono, daintily taking it from fear of somehow damaging it.

A sharp inhale, the gleeful look that usually adorned her face vanishing, and the long exhale that followed were-- for a moment-- all she seemed to give in response to this question. Really, it was a question she sometimes even had to ask herself. 

“Of course I love my parents. They mean the world to me.. but we all know that every day, there’s always another big bad-- hell, that doesn’t even need to be the case,” A pause, a brief moment where Flora shook her head to recollect her thoughts. “Anyone can die at any moment. It could all be over in an instant. I’m not going to lie and say that all the dangerous things I do is just for others. I enjoy the danger. It makes me feel amazing. Sure, my parents might get upset and I hate it.”

“At the same time, I don’t really regret it. I’m not going to gingerly walk on thin ice, second guessing every little step or asking them before I do things. I’m my own person. I’m not some super-strong android and I’m not a park ranger, either. I love spending time with them but.. I don’t know, being there and seeing I’m some.. strange in-between makes me sick. I’m not a regular human and I’m not an android, either. I don’t.. belong. Doing these dangerous and crazy things helps me forget that for a little-- so does spending time with the whole family but those moments just..”

“Yeah.”

Time to explain, then…

“After ya lopped my arm off and left me to die in the street- no hard feelings, by the way, I was being a dumbass- she sent someone in to pick me up. Even before that, I was dying a very slow death. Five was the only thing keepin’ me alive.”

“Towa took me apart piece by piece, then rebuilt me. It was about as fun as it sounds, but, hey- badass new body and powers. So that’s a plus.”

“Neat.”

She was outright lying, of course. She found none of this to be appealing in the slightest sense. Each sentence was sickening to her. She’d left her there in the hopes that she’d either get to safety there or died without her having to watch. 

“Aw, that’s not true. After all, I savor every second of killing anyone! You’re not that special, pretty lil Flora~”

There was amusement in his tone. After all, her betraying them led to him finally getting to cross swords with the girl and it was such a fun time! Though, of course he won, he had at least thousands of more years of experience than her. So he simply hummed, tapping his lower lip in faux thought before simply moving on, not answering what it was to him.

“C’mon~ Tell me that my favorite lil’ swordswoman is feeling A-OK after being put down because she thought she could betray us~ C’mon~”

It took all she could to not lash out at the other. She didn’t have her blade on her at the moment, of course, but that wouldn’t stop her if she wanted to. Unfortunately (for perhaps both) she didn’t feel up to tango with None at the moment. Especially with the fresh scars.

“Shove it where th’ sun don’t shine, ya idjit.”

“What’s it to you?” She hisses, glaring up at him as she did her best to mask her anger. She’d just been revived from the other’s.. treatment of her, and was currently only wearing her tube top with jeans. She was staring down at the grievous scars across her torso. It appeared less like a human body at this point and more akin to the deep ridges of one across the sands.