all your lovers eventually fade

There's a darkness down inside me
That I know we'll both enjoy

The light has come, spilling across the land like eager petals seeking to distribute a new breath of air, to chase away the lingering staleness and fear that LongNight always brings. It heralds their arrival, gold light dancing across gilded dapples and sunflower tresses alike as woman and unicorn move as one. There shouldn't be the feeling of coming home, not here, and so the woman pushes it away and buries it deep where the truth of its resonance cannot reach her ears. Denial is her greatest weapon and friend, handle worn and faded with use.

Atlas, new to this world and the people that cause the maelstrom of emotion in his bonded, seems to arch his neck higher than normal as they approach the house. The sun-bleached wood creaks under her light weight as she approaches the door, hand lifting to knock -

And she hesitates.

The last time she'd been here, she had been slipping silently out into the morning glow, carrying the marks of their lust and her own aching heart in tandem. Is it her place, to come here like this? Hotaru grits her teeth and her chin rises stubbornly. Why should she feel guilty for that? It had been a hookup. It was already out of bounds to have stayed the night, in their shared bed, in the first place. Steeling herself with this, she raps her knuckles against the wood, Atlas at her shoulder staring imposingly over her shoulder.

and it's screaming from within me
to have us set it free