The apathy in his face grates, but not in the way she expected. It doesn't matter to her as much anymore how he reacts to her. She just wants him to react at all. Because despite all of this, damn her to hell, she still cares. Wants him to rebuild from the earth he has salted and razed to nothing. Still believes he deserves more than he'll ever ask for himself. Her companion is no longer there, a bond left half-tethered with snapped threads cast into the wind, but she can hear Alice's voice nonetheless. Soft heart not bad. Den mother can still protect. Her hellhound had always known the right thing to say. Here and now she wishes Alice was still alive, so she could lean on that simplistic wisdom and know the right thing to say. Something more powerful and meaningful than the words that haven't gotten through to Sunjata after all these tries.
"I'd wager to say she deserves to be broken for all she's done," she concedes cruelly, finally moving forward to sit in one of the chairs at the bar off to his side. Not ready to face him directly, to be close enough to...well, anything. It's like staring down a whirlpool, knowing you can only get so close before it sucks you down, but morbidly wanting to see the epicenter all the same.
Most of the names mean nothing to her. Maea she knows, but she has never met Remi or Ronin. His Doctor is similarly unnamed. She longs for that jealousy that she still can't feel, because then at least she'd feel something. Not this numbness, this acceptance. And she knows in her heart she'd foolishly give him another chance if only he would try. But isn't that exactly what Phoebe had asked for? Hotaru can't stand any comparison between the two of them. Can't bear to be the one that hurts him this time. "You seem lighter," she says softly, acquiescing. Traces her fingers along the bar and, with a bit of her magic a small cloth spins into existence. She uses it to clear the dust of moved debris away, if only to give herself something to do with her hands. "In the end you proved Phoebe wrong. Do you regret it, what it took to get there?" Morbid curiosity really. Would he do it again for the reward of having broken her? Would he choose to forsake Hotaru again for a chance at revenge?
Can he even tell what she's really asking? Or has she built up this idea of him in her head, someone who knows her beyond her facade but is just as easily fooled?
"I'd wager to say she deserves to be broken for all she's done," she concedes cruelly, finally moving forward to sit in one of the chairs at the bar off to his side. Not ready to face him directly, to be close enough to...well, anything. It's like staring down a whirlpool, knowing you can only get so close before it sucks you down, but morbidly wanting to see the epicenter all the same.
Most of the names mean nothing to her. Maea she knows, but she has never met Remi or Ronin. His Doctor is similarly unnamed. She longs for that jealousy that she still can't feel, because then at least she'd feel something. Not this numbness, this acceptance. And she knows in her heart she'd foolishly give him another chance if only he would try. But isn't that exactly what Phoebe had asked for? Hotaru can't stand any comparison between the two of them. Can't bear to be the one that hurts him this time. "You seem lighter," she says softly, acquiescing. Traces her fingers along the bar and, with a bit of her magic a small cloth spins into existence. She uses it to clear the dust of moved debris away, if only to give herself something to do with her hands. "In the end you proved Phoebe wrong. Do you regret it, what it took to get there?" Morbid curiosity really. Would he do it again for the reward of having broken her? Would he choose to forsake Hotaru again for a chance at revenge?
Can he even tell what she's really asking? Or has she built up this idea of him in her head, someone who knows her beyond her facade but is just as easily fooled?
Feel the fear and swallow back the tears
Let weakness disappear, there's nobody but me here
Let weakness disappear, there's nobody but me here
