Hotaru
This pride has left you blinded
or willfully confused
or willfully confused
For someone so difficult to win the loyalty of, perhaps it's ironic that Hotaru is the one capable of all-or-nothing faith. Faith in the face of adversity and betrayal. Though Frey is her herald, for a moment in Mort's presence she had seen everything she'd ever wanted, ever needed. It had been a moving moment, even without her son's involvement, and though it has left her with many things to consider, the silence of peace has been just as close and faithful a companion. "More than true. I almost wonder what differences there would be if I could meet Vi. Many think of death as cruel, and Mort was the opposite. Rae's realm makes the most sense to me for the cycle of life, so I can't help but wonder." If perhaps Vi was the cruel one? After all, his champions had all been fiercely against the Ascended, the ones to buy into their lack of humanity. Hotaru is already hated by Safrin, what was one more chain of command upward?
It shouldn't be something so normal, to joke about such a dire topic, but for the two of them, it is par for the course. Her own huff of a laugh follows, a wry smile tugging at one corner of her mouth. "He said near exactly that." For good reason. Hotaru had not shared much of her lost children with Flora and Enzo, but enough vague hints for her sharp son to have taken note of her deepening tendencies to lose sight of the light in the wake of personal grief. Much as she still longs for it, Enzo's words alone are what bridle that urge, and she owes him for it. She knows she does.
True humor comes in the wake of darker inclinations, and Hotaru laughs more freely at Deimos' growled assurances. She stands there, amused and unaffected, as his most familiar and primordial element comes to the fore to race down the line of webbing to set ablaze the pernicious creature's guiding line that sought to entrap the wrong set of adventurers. "I wonder if it has enough directional sense to find its prey if the line is cut," she wonders aloud, unable to help it given how long she has been with the Guild herself. Part of her wishes to stay and witness its terrible failure upon happening across the Sword and the Valkyrie.
It shouldn't be something so normal, to joke about such a dire topic, but for the two of them, it is par for the course. Her own huff of a laugh follows, a wry smile tugging at one corner of her mouth. "He said near exactly that." For good reason. Hotaru had not shared much of her lost children with Flora and Enzo, but enough vague hints for her sharp son to have taken note of her deepening tendencies to lose sight of the light in the wake of personal grief. Much as she still longs for it, Enzo's words alone are what bridle that urge, and she owes him for it. She knows she does.
True humor comes in the wake of darker inclinations, and Hotaru laughs more freely at Deimos' growled assurances. She stands there, amused and unaffected, as his most familiar and primordial element comes to the fore to race down the line of webbing to set ablaze the pernicious creature's guiding line that sought to entrap the wrong set of adventurers. "I wonder if it has enough directional sense to find its prey if the line is cut," she wonders aloud, unable to help it given how long she has been with the Guild herself. Part of her wishes to stay and witness its terrible failure upon happening across the Sword and the Valkyrie.
You thought that when you cried for justice, the target wasn't you
