HOTARU
Hotaru leans back to settle her gaze upon Rexanna's face as she speaks, memorizing every dip and curve, committing this new form of hers to memory so that she may never mistake or forget her again. With a start Hotaru realizes that outside of her height and glimpses of her golden hair, she doesn't even know what she looks like. She had been far too consumed with reuniting with Rexanna, but now as she gazes upon the fangs poking adorably out of her sister's mouth, she can't help but wonder how her own appearance has changed.Though it's not the only thing that has changed, she ponders as Rexanna pulls away once more to speak. The tremble of her voice settles something in Hotaru, lends her a steel to her bones that reminds her of years sheltering and guiding those beneath her hand. She listens carefully to everything she says, eyes calm and accepting, and when she finishes Hotaru smiles and gently brings a hand to bump affectionately under Rexanna's chin.
"Regardless of how your memories transferred, we all would be different after the lives we've lived," she reassures. "What matters is you are you, as familiar and loved as you have always been to me. The rest we can figure out with time." It is said with finality, for Hotaru will accept nothing else. Their new intricacies and changes would be explored eventually, but now they had time.
With her last question Hotaru realizes that yes, actually, she's increasingly growing colder. She had been thrust into the world in only a thin ivory dress, and her skin is raised with the chill. Smiling sheepishly she runs her palms over her arms, trying to warm herself up. "Definitely cold, but I'll live. Nothing can be worse than the Basin," she jokes cheekily, though she can't deny the cold is much harder to deal with when she is so bare-skinned in this form.
it's our nature, we destroy
it's the constant of our kind
no matter the color of blood, man will always fall
