Hotaru
we're not lovers, we're just strangers
with the same damn hunger
with the same damn hunger
Concerned is his way of imparting a greater emotion, one she deeply regrets ever causing him to feel. Even speaking the word 'death' feels taboo. Once upon a time she had been the one left in his wake. The memory will never leave her. Gratitude is not a strong enough word for the immortality Frey graced her with, and the fact it had saved her; brought her back to him, to everyone.
"I know," she murmurs. That's all that needs to be said. She knows - intimately - how he must have felt, the memories both her disappearance and her wording in her letter must have brought up. Discussing it further may do the same unfortunately. Still, he asks, and she will not withhold that information out of some noble, presumptuous desire to spare him from any degree of discomfort.
"It's bitterly simple. After Enzo returned, I traveled a lot between King's End and Torchline. I flew shifted often, because skyships weren't always frequent enough for my desires." Not when she would wake up in a cold sweat some nights, terrified Enzo's resurrection was merely a dream, and gripped with the need to see him against all logical thought. "Demigod stamina can do a lot, but it isn't a bottomless well - so I stopped on a cliffside of the Draig, far on the border since I was flying around and not over." Ironically for safety, for all it had been worth in the end. Hotaru has long respected the Draig's impassable legacy, all the more after Deimos had returned from its peak after the war.
At her ankle, Andraste curls like a sinuous cat between her legs, uncertain. Guilt is an emotion she is still learning in her youth, but the faint vestiges of it echo into their shared bond. "I startled her with my shift back. She was in a destroyed nest, alone. It was instinct, really; she knew she had one shot at defense with her age and abilities." Forgiveness is easier to give with the passage of time and the deepening of their bond. Its presence settles Andraste, who coils around one of Ru's ankles in an immovable circlet of scales. "She went for my neck immediately - and she succeeded. But I got her just as badly; when I went down, she did too, right on top of me." The Valkyrie's hand rises to touch her unblemished throat in an idle, thoughtless motion. Realizing her eyes had drifted off somewhere, she returns them to Deimos.
"Since I wasn't dismembered, I just had to wait for my immortality to bring me back. Frey kept me hidden and protected in a leaf-pod of sorts - and bonded us at the same time. Something I think they knew I needed even when I thought I wasn't ready." Not after Atlas. Not after the companion she'd lost in Helovia, either. Still, time had clearly tempered both wounds, or she would have never bonded to Atlas either. "I've gotten brief explanations from Sunjata and Flora about Frey confirming I was alive but nothing more when Flora channeled them. That would be why - I could never be truly dead even if I was dismembered." Not unless Flora or Enzo specifically held the knife that did the deed.
"I know," she murmurs. That's all that needs to be said. She knows - intimately - how he must have felt, the memories both her disappearance and her wording in her letter must have brought up. Discussing it further may do the same unfortunately. Still, he asks, and she will not withhold that information out of some noble, presumptuous desire to spare him from any degree of discomfort.
"It's bitterly simple. After Enzo returned, I traveled a lot between King's End and Torchline. I flew shifted often, because skyships weren't always frequent enough for my desires." Not when she would wake up in a cold sweat some nights, terrified Enzo's resurrection was merely a dream, and gripped with the need to see him against all logical thought. "Demigod stamina can do a lot, but it isn't a bottomless well - so I stopped on a cliffside of the Draig, far on the border since I was flying around and not over." Ironically for safety, for all it had been worth in the end. Hotaru has long respected the Draig's impassable legacy, all the more after Deimos had returned from its peak after the war.
At her ankle, Andraste curls like a sinuous cat between her legs, uncertain. Guilt is an emotion she is still learning in her youth, but the faint vestiges of it echo into their shared bond. "I startled her with my shift back. She was in a destroyed nest, alone. It was instinct, really; she knew she had one shot at defense with her age and abilities." Forgiveness is easier to give with the passage of time and the deepening of their bond. Its presence settles Andraste, who coils around one of Ru's ankles in an immovable circlet of scales. "She went for my neck immediately - and she succeeded. But I got her just as badly; when I went down, she did too, right on top of me." The Valkyrie's hand rises to touch her unblemished throat in an idle, thoughtless motion. Realizing her eyes had drifted off somewhere, she returns them to Deimos.
"Since I wasn't dismembered, I just had to wait for my immortality to bring me back. Frey kept me hidden and protected in a leaf-pod of sorts - and bonded us at the same time. Something I think they knew I needed even when I thought I wasn't ready." Not after Atlas. Not after the companion she'd lost in Helovia, either. Still, time had clearly tempered both wounds, or she would have never bonded to Atlas either. "I've gotten brief explanations from Sunjata and Flora about Frey confirming I was alive but nothing more when Flora channeled them. That would be why - I could never be truly dead even if I was dismembered." Not unless Flora or Enzo specifically held the knife that did the deed.
to be touched, to be loved
to feel anything at all
to feel anything at all
