How soon is now?

HOTARU

she is a flower, but she isn't soft
when her petals fall, they hit like bullets

Her grin may be hidden into his back as the firm drag of her nails gentle at his hips, but he doesn’t need to see it when the pleased mischief of her satisfaction is a colorful there-and-gone ribbon through her naturally open side of the bond. Here in this home they’ve built together there’s no need for walls or restrictions, thoughts and feelings always naturally muted but always accessible.

Perking up at the suggestion leaves her open to distraction that he takes full advantage of, a noise of curiosity turning to a yelp of surprise as he pulls her from the ground and onto the counter in one graceful swoop. Locking her heels around the small of his back, Ru grins at him - only level with his face now even with the help of the counter. “Hmm, tempting. The name is rather telling without the trade of information to excuse it,” she points out, right hand wrapping behind to lazily stroke up and down the slight notches of his vertebrae. “All this collaboration in Caido is a killer for that market.” Her nose wrinkles, dismayed by the nicety of it all at times. If she wasn’t friends with some of the leaders, she’d be more inclined to challenge it. Damn her soft heart in her old age. “I wonder if my magic is strong enough to compel people into being unable to share a location…a safe place with medical oversight and quality-assured drugs would be as profitable as the House. We could even employ adventurers for plant gathering.” Catching herself in the throes of planning an entire garden before the first seed is ever planted, the Valkyrie grins and turns her head up to kiss lightly along Sunjata’s jawline. “I’m getting ahead of myself now.” Maybe she really is going a bit stir crazy. Or maybe it’s just the coffee she can smell so potently, which - as a lifetime tea drinker - is not unlike a drug to Ru personally with all its promises of energy and sharpness.

// and i hear your ship is comin' in, your tears a sea for me to swim in
and i hear a storm is comin' in, my dear, is it all we've ever been? //

Clinging to the ribbon of satisfaction that glimmers fleetingly from her side of the bond, Sunjata offers his own warm comfort from his side, tinged with a touch of mischief as he twists in her arms and backs her up, a deep chuckle leaving him at the surprised yelp that escapes her. Perfectly trapped between her legs with the way she locks them at the small of his back, he braces his arms on either side of her and leans in with a crooked, lopsided smile.

“I’m sure you could use it to your advantage.” He suggests, in terms of collaboration. Sure, everyone working together was nice, but it only lasted however long before someone grew greedy, took over the profits, chose to be the monopoly amongst them. Perhaps there was a way Hotaru might work with that in her downtime.

His head tilts up as she offers all the beautiful thoughts running through her head, before replacing them with her lips against his jawline and his arms slip around her, pulling her close against his chest. “Mm, we could…” He suggests thoughtfully. “What’s wrong with getting ahead of yourself? You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t think about all the details first.” Comes his playful taunt, one that flickers through the attuned bond before he’s angling his head down to capture her lips in a chaste kiss with a smile tacked onto it as he withdraws. "Don't make me worry about you." He bounces his brows playfully, before starting to untangle himself from her to retrieve the pastry and the coffee.

anchor up to me, love. anchor up to me, love. anchor up to me, love

SUNJATA

HOTARU

she is a flower, but she isn't soft
when her petals fall, they hit like bullets

Advantage is hardly on her mind when she has him between her legs like this, and though lust is no small factor it's largely due to being madly in love with him. "With your permission," she allows. Conceding to another is less of a rarity for the Valkyrie these days, though since departing from Halo it has flourished anew. Sunjata is the only person she answers to now. No council, no fellow leaders, and no title of her own. The demigods may have as many opinions as stars in the sky, but they only have one mouth with which to voice them, so Hotaru marks them much lower on the list. "No stirring trouble without your say-so." If either of them is to invite shadows these days, they must be ready for it to fall over the both of them.

Her laugh is muffled into the tender space between his jaw and throat, languishing in the particular sort of happiness that comes from being known. "That's true. Who cares about the wide reaching effects of a drug market when there are gods to ask about unplottable land and unspeakable coordinates?" It's a far more enticing puzzle, and the intrigue of it is just sufficient to amuse her in his absence, so she allows him to pull away without too much resistance. Hands propping up behind her, Ru's heels bounce lightly off the cabinets in a faint rhythm. And, out of nowhere, she smiles at his back and says, "I'm happy, Sunny." And it feels like watching daybreak for the first time, new and wonderful and terrifying, and she knows he'll feel the gravity of that threaded through with the weight of her joy.

// and i hear your ship is comin' in, your tears a sea for me to swim in
and i hear a storm is comin' in, my dear, is it all we've ever been? //

“My permission?” He asks softly, flashing her a lopsided and crooked smile before he snorts and shakes his head. Of course he sees it for what it is – sees the way she gives him the concession to make those decisions, sees how it had changed from the past. It was a powerful tool for him, something she never gave out easily, and something that he knows all too well how it could be taken advantage of.

He also knows how much he loves her, how the thought of using her wouldn’t even cross his mind.

So instead of giving her shit for it, there’s bubbling amusement in the bond as he snatches a kiss from her lips and nods. “’Course you have my permission.” Giving her the verbal answer was better than the mixed signal of the shake of his head and the nod right after, and with it the gentle touch of her lips against his skin and him snatching and stealing and basking in her beauty.

Chuckling a laugh at her answer regarding the gods and lands that could only be found by whomever wished them to be, there’s a crooked smile that blooms on his face as he nods. “The Refuge was hidden, if you recall.” While the war went on, at least. Now that it’s over and done with, there’s very little to keep sequestered away, even if the effects still worked.

He turns to retrieve the coffee and the warmed pastry – pouring into each cup and sweetening his with one spoonful of sugar before he focuses on making hers absolutely perfect, when the clinking of a spoon and the surprise that flickers and warms like embers in the Attuned bond meets her from her admission.

The embers burst into a soft flame that caress her side of it, especially as he turns toward her with the perfected cup of coffee and invades her space, handing it to her before he leans in to press a nearly devouring kiss – nothing sparking sexual intimacy, but simply one to share just how happy she makes him, too. A marker, perhaps, to remember today despite the simplicity of it in the times where things got tough. I’m happy too, Ru. He murmurs through the bond, amongst the flame, before he pulls back and given his strength he’s still mostly unaccustomed to, his tattooed arm winds around her and tucks her in against his side, lifting her and snatching his coffee and the pastry with his free hand to take them outside on their back porch as the dawn continues to crest.

anchor up to me, love. anchor up to me, love. anchor up to me, love

SUNJATA

HOTARU

she is a flower, but she isn't soft
when her petals fall, they hit like bullets

She knows he’d never wield her sharpness as other lovers have in the past. What he wants from her is something she’s never been asked to give before - something hands can’t hold and eyes can’t see. When she can offer riches, power, and leverage, to be asked only for her love is something she will never tire of being surprised by. In this way he earns every atom of it. And because she loves him, she would never invite even the smallest potential for trouble to their doorstep without asking him first. 

Humming happily even after he’s pulled away from kissing her and she can speak, Ru watches him go with lovesick eyes. “Very true. I’d love if anyone speaking its location would glue their mouth shut, or erase the location from their memory then.” It’s a dark delight to dream up such clauses and safeguards. “Too many do-gooders to trust anyone outright.” And though she can rebuild her network of watchful eyes, a magical failsafe is far more effective. 

Even that cannot hold her attention for long as she watches him react to her admission, the heat of his soul baring itself like a lake of fire. Her knees part to make space for him as he crosses over to her, the perfectly made coffee that he hands to her immediately forgotten in favor of meeting the intensity of his kiss with every spark and ember burning in her chest. There’s no lust or desire here, only the overpowering might of her devotion to him. As he pulls her up in one arm she goes laughing, the crystal clear ease of her own happiness a euphoric strangeness. “You’re going to make me spill it!” she crows, balancing her coffee in one hand as he carries her out to the deck they’d designed and built together, golden heat from an absent sun washing over her shoulders - but she only has eyes for him. 

- Fin