[se] we can't go on together

Hotaru

Somewhere my lifeline still hums and sings
In the mess of all I have thrown away

She cannot sense any coherent words, but given he only dims instead of conceals his emotions from her, it’s enough to know he just doesn’t get it. Though her actions during the war were cowardly and shameful regardless of his misguided attempts to take the blame, Hotaru’s detestment for the woman goes far deeper. Her strange envious, shrew-eyed suspicion of the Valkyrie upon their first meeting, her refusal to take time to know the important people in Noah’s life beyond Deimos - and oh, if Talyson ever thought it of Evie, it pales in comparison to the gold-digging suspicions Ru has of the One-Shot - not to mention the shameful way Cordelia never even tried to redeem her name after the war. He will feel only a raging spark of brightness as these thoughts coalesce, larger and sharper than he might have suspected, before Ru’s bond (unlike Noah’s) goes completely dark, shutting him out entirely. She looks up at her kite in the sky, heart in her throat amidst all the bile, burning away.

For every person who supports her decision there are two more in opposition. Though she is chasing her happiness, she is losing so much in the process, as if any of them are free of blame or judgement from their actions leading up to the war.

Ru wishes Flora could summon her, but unlike Noah’s children who cannot channel, becoming a demigod is not exactly any more attainable for the Valkyrie. “So do I,” she murmurs, though her thoughts are on that instead of on the particular case of his children. At least he has his compass still - and Flora, too. Ru can’t help but take some comfort in that.

Beginning to reel in her kite, feeling closed off and ill-at-ease with her own thoughts and feelings, Hotaru offers Noah a reserved smile. “I will ask them, if they grant me an audience. Rae does not often weigh in on current affairs; perhaps now is a good time.” With so many worshippers of Vi and Safrin abound, maybe it is her duty to be a tad boring and ask such things next time she sees Frey.

Hungry now,
I am gathering new seeds to throw wide