mama bore a girl with a gun for a mouth, teeth dripping lead and lips bleeding red
The center of the maze is the only place Hotaru has not explored in Kings End - as a whole of course. The countryside is vast and full of secrets, and though she’d only stayed here a short time with Phoebe, it calls her back time and again. Deimos has rooted himself back to Torchline for the sake of the guild, but it is almost habit now to take her respites from motherhood in these lands over any other.
The weight of all that this season has already presented her with weighs on her shoulders. Even flying cannot seem to dissolve the chains she feels that keep her shackled to human woes below. By time she finds the center of the maze, it’s clear she can’t outrun her own thoughts, and she touches down on two legs beside the flaming bowl. Its warmth is oppressive when combined with the summer warmth omnipresent regardless of where the sun is in the sky, so the Valkyrie doesn’t entertain the idea of approaching further. Unsure if the legends and wives tales would even apply when she has tied part of herself to Frey.
Sighing, Ru begins to reach for that thread inside her that lets her change, when the arrival of another makes her pause. Some sort of inherent curiosity she’ll never shake even on days like today when company sounds more burdensome than enticing. She regrets not doing it sooner as soon as Nate’s unmistakable figure appears on the other side of the fire, shrouded by the flickering of flames but as familiar to her as her own reflection. Hotaru freezes, torn. She wouldn’t consider her bridges repaired with Sunjata - he’d still throw her to the wolves even with the strange vacillating closeness they’ve acquired - but she hasn’t even seen Nate since…her imprisonment maybe?
She wants to - but her desires don’t matter. She doesn’t want to keep hurting him. Him more than anyone. So she takes a step back, hoping he hasn’t noticed her and she can shift and take to the skies without ruining his day of peace. And in the cliche to all cliches, one of the hedge branches snaps under her foot, and she curses internally. “Sorry,” she says just loud enough to be heard. “I’ll just -” comes next, because shifting seems rude, and instead she turns and tries to pinpoint one of the openings to the center of the labyrinth - except the only one is on Nate’s side of the fire, and she grits her teeth, indecisive.
The weight of all that this season has already presented her with weighs on her shoulders. Even flying cannot seem to dissolve the chains she feels that keep her shackled to human woes below. By time she finds the center of the maze, it’s clear she can’t outrun her own thoughts, and she touches down on two legs beside the flaming bowl. Its warmth is oppressive when combined with the summer warmth omnipresent regardless of where the sun is in the sky, so the Valkyrie doesn’t entertain the idea of approaching further. Unsure if the legends and wives tales would even apply when she has tied part of herself to Frey.
Sighing, Ru begins to reach for that thread inside her that lets her change, when the arrival of another makes her pause. Some sort of inherent curiosity she’ll never shake even on days like today when company sounds more burdensome than enticing. She regrets not doing it sooner as soon as Nate’s unmistakable figure appears on the other side of the fire, shrouded by the flickering of flames but as familiar to her as her own reflection. Hotaru freezes, torn. She wouldn’t consider her bridges repaired with Sunjata - he’d still throw her to the wolves even with the strange vacillating closeness they’ve acquired - but she hasn’t even seen Nate since…her imprisonment maybe?
She wants to - but her desires don’t matter. She doesn’t want to keep hurting him. Him more than anyone. So she takes a step back, hoping he hasn’t noticed her and she can shift and take to the skies without ruining his day of peace. And in the cliche to all cliches, one of the hedge branches snaps under her foot, and she curses internally. “Sorry,” she says just loud enough to be heard. “I’ll just -” comes next, because shifting seems rude, and instead she turns and tries to pinpoint one of the openings to the center of the labyrinth - except the only one is on Nate’s side of the fire, and she grits her teeth, indecisive.
