[say]"The Wren Society,"[/say] is scarcely audible off her tongue. Gods, she knows how it looks and sounds. [say]"Nate's guild, a society of healers. From what I understand it happened at the same time, but nobody was harmed."[/say] Something she's grateful for; Maeve's people had been in there, and Hotaru still intends to investigate who had done it - hypocritical perhaps, but Ru has never been so easy to define.
[say]"I understand. Ruling isn't easy,"[/say] she allows softly, even if her own methods had been both harsher and more lax in Helovia. Her disagreement is biased and she knows it. Biting her tongue to keep from disagreeing outwardly, it's a pain that she must focus on as the fresh wound of Atlas' loss is ripped open for inspection. The tears that finally crest over her pale lashes are silent, but Hotaru places her hand over Morgan's when it touches her knee, fingers curling helplessly around the edges of the woman's hand to hang on as if it's an anchor. Her lips tremble where they press together, bloodless and pained, incapable of speech. Thankfully Morgan does so in her place, and her support is like a soothing balm over the scorched flesh of her entire being.
[say]"Thank you,"[/say] finally croaks from her throat, hoarse and wounded. [say]"Nobody was harmed; for all his actions, Deimos must have ensured that. I would help fix the building but - the only one who lost anything was me."[/say] As far as she knows. Documents, material items, none of that means anything when measured against Atlas' life. It's what ensures her regret, makes her certain that none of it had been fucking worth it. As if either of them could experience a consequence in their lives; it would always be her, even when seeking her own revenge.
Reluctantly releasing her hand, Hotaru's breath goes shallow in her lungs, suddenly questioning if Morgan's words have any ulterior meaning. [say]"You won't exile him, will you? He told me he had informed you of what he did. Being General was everything to him, is his punishment to be more than that?"[/say] There's a level of fear she can't conceal from her words. What would Halo be without him? What would she be? Hotaru is certain that if he is to be forced to leave, she would have to abandon everything to go with him.
[say]"I understand. Ruling isn't easy,"[/say] she allows softly, even if her own methods had been both harsher and more lax in Helovia. Her disagreement is biased and she knows it. Biting her tongue to keep from disagreeing outwardly, it's a pain that she must focus on as the fresh wound of Atlas' loss is ripped open for inspection. The tears that finally crest over her pale lashes are silent, but Hotaru places her hand over Morgan's when it touches her knee, fingers curling helplessly around the edges of the woman's hand to hang on as if it's an anchor. Her lips tremble where they press together, bloodless and pained, incapable of speech. Thankfully Morgan does so in her place, and her support is like a soothing balm over the scorched flesh of her entire being.
[say]"Thank you,"[/say] finally croaks from her throat, hoarse and wounded. [say]"Nobody was harmed; for all his actions, Deimos must have ensured that. I would help fix the building but - the only one who lost anything was me."[/say] As far as she knows. Documents, material items, none of that means anything when measured against Atlas' life. It's what ensures her regret, makes her certain that none of it had been fucking worth it. As if either of them could experience a consequence in their lives; it would always be her, even when seeking her own revenge.
Reluctantly releasing her hand, Hotaru's breath goes shallow in her lungs, suddenly questioning if Morgan's words have any ulterior meaning. [say]"You won't exile him, will you? He told me he had informed you of what he did. Being General was everything to him, is his punishment to be more than that?"[/say] There's a level of fear she can't conceal from her words. What would Halo be without him? What would she be? Hotaru is certain that if he is to be forced to leave, she would have to abandon everything to go with him.
