i’m a huge fan of Jenna as Flora and in that spirit can i get little glimpse of the relationship between her and Tommy. Diane is the first daughter but Flora strikes me as a more quiet one and kinda reserved like Tommy.
Can there be like a moment now that Diane is out of the house (chasing her man) and Charlie is out trying to forge his own path Flora kinda feels some loneliness. Or she’s really scared due to WW2 fearmongering and asks her daddy (who works in the government) if their family is gonna be okay?
I kinda love in the show how Tommy let his guard down with ruby (rip OG) and showed her a side of him he doesn’t really show anyone not even lizzy. He was truly relaxed and jovial when he had her in his arms
Safe
Some Florence and Tommy fluff, sprinkled with angst and mild spoilers for Tie your heart to mine
Gif by @shxrpeava
1940
When Florence turns ten, war is declared on Germany and its allies.
Charlie leaves and trains as a pilot, Diane rushes to marry Tom because neither want to die without knowing what could have been after nearly he almost died in the Battle of River Plate, Gabe begins joining a boot camp after school to do his part and Flora finds herself all alone in Arrow House most of the time.
At school they are taught what to do in case the enemy attacks, how to provide basic first aid and that Germans will come like they do in her father’s nightmares.
Daddy is hardly home, mami is busy making sure everyone is prepared and eventually everyone is told to come here and hunker down because it won’t be long until the bombings start.
And yet, having the house filled to the brim has her feeling lonely.
Doesn’t help everyone whispers about what the Nazis are doing to their people.
Her mother mutters a curse to them , the Germans, especially one called Mengel, when she is told by Esme about what the doctors are doing to Romany they capture.
Florence Eleanor Shelby is scared.
Scared that Tom died in Dunkirk, scared that Charlie gets captured by the nazis and he gets tortured for being Rom, scared that the German bombers will kill them here.
So she goes to the one who can tell her the truth about it.
Not mami who lies and tells her she sees the war coming to an end and them defeating the nazis and their allies.
Flora goes to her father, the man who is second to the leader of his party and part of the Prime Minister’s inner circle.
He’s working, or hiding from everyone, in his office.
She is careful to not make much noise and yet he knows its her even without looking up from his papers until she is tugging at his sleeve for his attention.
He stops working and lifts her on his lap with a groan.
“Getting too big for this, sweetheart.” He said into her dark hair.
There is something about her dad that always makes her feel safe.
Between the smell of cigarettes, the mint he chews to hide it and the cologne mom makes for him in the stillroom, Florence feels safe.
Even when he isn’t here, she just comes into his office and wears his coat to pretend he is there with her.
It makes her feel safe, just like mami feels safe when she hides in her parlor from everyone and wears daddy’s shirts to sleep.
“Daddy, are we going to die?” she asks once she is comfortable.
“I don’t know, sweetheart.” He answered honestly. “But your mum sees Charlie coming home and Dia being happy with her Tom, you and Gabe growing up in a world after the war, so maybe if we work hard enough, we can have that future.”
“Do you really think so?” she asks knowing sometimes mami’s visions don’t come true.
“Yeah, I think so. Your mom’s never wrong.” He said before kissing the top of her head.
“Can I stay here with you?” she asks hoping he says yes.
“Don’t you want to play with your cousins, Flora?” he asks knowing why she’d run here.
“They’re too loud.” She answers and he laughs quietly.
They didn’t like too much noise, house feels too small and sometimes they just need to go outside where no one can find them.
“I’ll make you a deal, Florence, you let me finish up my work and we go to the stables once I’m done.” Her dad says and she nods in agreement.
“Can I ride Helsing with you?” she asks, dad’s favorite horse was the big black one that hates everyone except mami.
Says it reminds him of him.
“Only if you don’t tell your mother.”
41 notes
·
View notes
im such a sucker for stories where people are not used to being tender; with themselves, with someone else. with someone else especially. thats why i love shows like peaky blinders or novels like tyk. but the characters dont need to be evil, they dont even need to be villains, for it to work. they just need to be so unfamiliar with the whole experience of what it means to be human, of what it means to love with gentle hands, that they are astonished when they find out they are capable of it—that it is their right, to be tender, with each other and the self, that they are a person after all
5 notes
·
View notes