He couldn't hear her approach on feather-light feet that practically seemed to float over the ground when she walked, but he heard the latch click and had just enough time to straighten up before the Valkyrie was in his arms and he buried his face in her hair. As his best friend wrapped herself around him a bubble of warmth expanded in his chest, pushing down the buzzing sense of foreboding over the current state of the world and his place in it, and he huffed a laugh. "Hey! Who aren't you callin' 'beautiful', huh?"
Boreal, of course, had known exactly who Hotaru was referring to, and rumbled happily at the acknowledgment of the better half of their companionship.
But, gods, he missed this when he was sleeping cold on the Peregrine or in his hammock at the new courier station when Ru was gone. "An' how the hail have y'been? Boreal's been missin' you." Easier that then admitting the same for himself, though it was only the rice-paper-thinnest of attempts to disguise it, and everyone knew it.
He kept an arm wrapped snugly around his friend as he managed to get them out of the way of the dragon who shouldered in to sniff around for traces of Flora's companion, and the door closed behind them before he took a step back to look Hotaru up and down, needing to see for himself that she looked well and happy.
Boreal, of course, had known exactly who Hotaru was referring to, and rumbled happily at the acknowledgment of the better half of their companionship.
But, gods, he missed this when he was sleeping cold on the Peregrine or in his hammock at the new courier station when Ru was gone. "An' how the hail have y'been? Boreal's been missin' you." Easier that then admitting the same for himself, though it was only the rice-paper-thinnest of attempts to disguise it, and everyone knew it.
He kept an arm wrapped snugly around his friend as he managed to get them out of the way of the dragon who shouldered in to sniff around for traces of Flora's companion, and the door closed behind them before he took a step back to look Hotaru up and down, needing to see for himself that she looked well and happy.
