Darling please, just give us some time, and I swear we'll be alright
The cold greets her like a familiar friend, biting color into her cheeks as snow flurries catch in her long golden hair. Even Atlas seems at home here, this place where he was found, where their souls were irrevocably bound. With all that has transpired since her consciousness returned to her it is akin to submerging fully beneath warm waters. Tranquil, welcoming, muting the rest of the world and delivering a sense of stability. Most don't feel that way about such inhospitable environs, but the Valkyrie has never been average.
With the home-that-isn't in half-charred shambles in Torchline, with Nate and Sunjata broken and wounded and her own anxieties about their relationship as a trio hounding her every step, Hotaru takes a moment to (selfishly, guiltily) embrace the feeling of home that Halo gives her.
Even covered in ice and snow in the aftermath of Deepfrost, Hotaru knows these roads and sprawling lands. Had explored them immediately upon discovering Halo herself. There's no need for adventure today however - she knows exactly where she's going.
The Barracks are as formidable as ever as she and Atlas pass through the stone archway and into the training area. Already her heterochromic eyes begin scanning the various gathered faces that wander past her as she moves deeper in. Any parties interested in convening with her dissuaded by the intensely focused slant to her eyes, the purposeful strides that carry her. She feels like a balloon whose tether has finally been caught and held, reeling back to earth with each pull, each step. Nothing matters but finding him. And when she does - broad, towering shoulders, dark locks flying loose against furs and leathers, as familiar to her as her own face - all composure is lost. Footsteps falter and hurry into a jog, heartbeat quickening as her hood falls back and she reaches- reaches- needing to find and stay in the gravity he has always been for her-
"Deimos!"
With the home-that-isn't in half-charred shambles in Torchline, with Nate and Sunjata broken and wounded and her own anxieties about their relationship as a trio hounding her every step, Hotaru takes a moment to (selfishly, guiltily) embrace the feeling of home that Halo gives her.
Even covered in ice and snow in the aftermath of Deepfrost, Hotaru knows these roads and sprawling lands. Had explored them immediately upon discovering Halo herself. There's no need for adventure today however - she knows exactly where she's going.
The Barracks are as formidable as ever as she and Atlas pass through the stone archway and into the training area. Already her heterochromic eyes begin scanning the various gathered faces that wander past her as she moves deeper in. Any parties interested in convening with her dissuaded by the intensely focused slant to her eyes, the purposeful strides that carry her. She feels like a balloon whose tether has finally been caught and held, reeling back to earth with each pull, each step. Nothing matters but finding him. And when she does - broad, towering shoulders, dark locks flying loose against furs and leathers, as familiar to her as her own face - all composure is lost. Footsteps falter and hurry into a jog, heartbeat quickening as her hood falls back and she reaches- reaches- needing to find and stay in the gravity he has always been for her-
"Deimos!"
HOTARU
