A/N: I like Flora, I just wish she were more active. I might write a continuation of this. I'm really tickled by the thought of her cross dressing and gender analysis and such that would occur.
She didn't know when, she just knew she had- realized that is. She understood now, this feeling of uselessness, of being in the background, only in the foreground when she was in danger or being rescued from said danger. She was a burden.
At first she may have tried to cook because she wanted to feel useful, five food poisonings later she tossed the idea, retreating backstage, letting the two men take the stage, the spotlight trailing after.
But she wasn't content with that, it bothered her to be there and not acting. She didn't know what to do, how to act- no. She couldn't, she realized, she was rooted to this role. A woman.
One night she was compelled to break the taboo and snuck into Luke's room, taking his garments from the closet and dressing herself in them before the mirror. It felt strange to wear shorts, too comfortable and less exposed.
She tucked her hair under a checked cap that was squeezed in the far back of Luke's drawer and patted the clothes, smoothing it over her body as if she could become the clothes.
Flora went through that routine every night, dressing up as her opposite and staring, acquainting herself with this possibility. She only wished that she could go out like this publicly. As a man, she felt she could actually do something.
In the back of her mind, she knew that someday she would.