Vin

[residentflorist]

code

Clematis x jackmanii
Ancient Greek
klématis, "climbing plant"
Mental beauty, cunning, ingenuity

Comments

[residentflorist]

[this memory feels a little bittersweet to her, if only because she can recognize some of the feelings in this and she thinks he can understand vin a little more now. she waits for it to finish, and when it peters out there's a soft sort of expression on her face as she looks at her.]

...Vin, may I ask you something? Who is it that you want to me? Not who you are now. But want for yourself, and your future.

[allomantic]

[there's a moment of pause, before:]

...I don't know.

[residentflorist]

[*be, even.]

You probably haven't had much time to really think about it, have you? [she considers the memory again.] Why were you pretending to be someone else for this king?

[allomantic]

He's only been the king for around a year, since the last government collapsed. I was pretending to be a noblewoman for a job before that.

[residentflorist]

I see. [infiltration. she's done a bit of it, too (barely. in her mind it counts though), so she can understand that much.] But it sounds as though...he knows you as yourself now? And still wants to know you better.

[she could leave it there, but she presses just enough.]

What makes you think he needs someone else?

[allomantic]

[she's quiet for a moment before, with a little bitterness in her voice:]

...A few things have happened since that memory. Maybe I need someone different, too.

[residentflorist]

...do you really believe that? Or is that something you're telling yourself until it's actually true?

[allomantic]

He did something very cruel to me. So I believe it.

[residentflorist]

[...she doesn't know enough to refute that, so she nods.]

I think making a decision like that for yourself is a step in knowing who you want to be. But only if it's for the right reasons. When you know how things have gone, and you have those experiences, instead of breaking away because of an outlier of a situation.