I'm not giving up, kicking off the rust
Reluctant as he always is to let her part from any bit of him, especially when holding her feels like the only good thing he can offer, he does relent after some insistence from her to add a smidge of space once more. Following on the heels of the reason why, his gaze tips towards her again, quietly searching along the muted gleam of her seaglass eyes for proof of where her mind's gone and to what depths it's sunken. The color that blazes up her to rosy her cheeks is a confusing display, and absently one of his hands slips from around her to cup the reddness, thumb trying to smooth it away as she talks.
By now he should be used to the absolutely off the wall stories she drops like nuclear weaponry. She's always so casual and succinct with tragedy, fitting it into conversation with the same ease your neighbor does the weather every morning in passing. "...Ummmm," he says with a carefulness that suggests he's trying to gauge how he's supposed to react properly to this news. "That's super fucked up," is all he manages after some blinking, not sure if this means we're mad at Hotaru...? Trying to read between the lines, which is especially hard since reading on the lines right now feels challenging with beer liquor goggles, he tries to pull out the point from that little happy trip down memory lane (and will deal with the issues later that not even her mom has been a reliable parent figure). "...So, if you can't channel her, maybe something has blocked her from being channeled, the same way you were once blocked from channeling?" He doesn't know what, but it makes sense if it can work one way, something can be created to do the opposite.
Starfall and the Family had certainly proven there's a lot they still don't know about the world and the universe as a whole, and that what's normal for them is just the end of their limited knowledge, not the actual limits. After all, plenty though the world once began and ended at the Hollowed Grounds.
She moves again, wordless but not leaving, and his grip loosens and retreats to let her maneuver. When she leans back, settling, his arms slip back around her shoulders and chest, hugging her from behind. His chin rests on her left shoulder, sliding low enough against the sink, legs splaying around her as he offers what certainty he can in body and presence alone. That her voice reaches out for Remi doesn't surprise him, and patiently he waits for the champagne cork pop of Remi's arrival alongside her.
It's not long, though it is, even still, mildly startling when the Bastion is suddenly there, and so close given the marginal space afforded her. Silent, it's only the flick of his eyes to briefly meet Remi's that is the greeting he'll offer, this time too valuable. It's over just as soon as it starts, but Kaisel breathes out the taut wind in his chest to hear the certainty that Hotaru is not dead. "Now we know, for sure." And it's the only thing it seems they might get to be certain of.
By now he should be used to the absolutely off the wall stories she drops like nuclear weaponry. She's always so casual and succinct with tragedy, fitting it into conversation with the same ease your neighbor does the weather every morning in passing. "...Ummmm," he says with a carefulness that suggests he's trying to gauge how he's supposed to react properly to this news. "That's super fucked up," is all he manages after some blinking, not sure if this means we're mad at Hotaru...? Trying to read between the lines, which is especially hard since reading on the lines right now feels challenging with beer liquor goggles, he tries to pull out the point from that little happy trip down memory lane (and will deal with the issues later that not even her mom has been a reliable parent figure). "...So, if you can't channel her, maybe something has blocked her from being channeled, the same way you were once blocked from channeling?" He doesn't know what, but it makes sense if it can work one way, something can be created to do the opposite.
Starfall and the Family had certainly proven there's a lot they still don't know about the world and the universe as a whole, and that what's normal for them is just the end of their limited knowledge, not the actual limits. After all, plenty though the world once began and ended at the Hollowed Grounds.
She moves again, wordless but not leaving, and his grip loosens and retreats to let her maneuver. When she leans back, settling, his arms slip back around her shoulders and chest, hugging her from behind. His chin rests on her left shoulder, sliding low enough against the sink, legs splaying around her as he offers what certainty he can in body and presence alone. That her voice reaches out for Remi doesn't surprise him, and patiently he waits for the champagne cork pop of Remi's arrival alongside her.
It's not long, though it is, even still, mildly startling when the Bastion is suddenly there, and so close given the marginal space afforded her. Silent, it's only the flick of his eyes to briefly meet Remi's that is the greeting he'll offer, this time too valuable. It's over just as soon as it starts, but Kaisel breathes out the taut wind in his chest to hear the certainty that Hotaru is not dead. "Now we know, for sure." And it's the only thing it seems they might get to be certain of.
Kaisel
I keep acting tough but maybe I'm not good enough
Wearing a watery blue, faded and stretched-out sparkling hair tie on his left wrist
