HOTARU
The story unfolds in fits and starts, and she is proud of him for soldiering on through the hard parts. Parts that men would often conceal or shirk away from, ones that he shares freely. She holds tight to him, keeps him connected to her the entire time, and feels her heart break further with every breath and admittance. Rage curls in her belly, hot and tangled, and it is a difficult endeavor to keep it from broadcasting on her face. Even still she can't help the desire to storm out into the night and find Phoebe in her clinic, perhaps say - or do - something that someone with better morals than her would regret. Her age does not even register in the woman's mind, because anyone is capable of taking advantage of people, and as a victim herself she wishes the girl knew how to fight so that Hotaru would have the pleasure of a decent fight. This world is far too soft in comparison to Helovia. If they were there, Hotaru would have challenged the young woman immediately, taken her anger out in pounds of flesh and left a scar of her own upon the canvas of her skin to wear forever. A scarlet letter to advertise the cruelty she'd done to Sunjata. When his voice tapers away, heartbroken and wavering, she lets him move the table and moves forward on her knees to wrap her arms around him gently. Not wanting to encroach directly on his personal space so soon after his confession. Holds him for a moment to still the rabbiting of her heart, the heat of rage that warms her face and makes her hands shake. "She is a foolish, terrible little girl, and if I see her again she will be lucky to escape unscathed from my hands," she vows, voice rumbling low and vengeful, the wolf in her reappearing in ways that would have made her hellhound proud. Pulling back, she gently cups each side of his neck, brushes her thumb against his jaw as she stares intently into his silvermist eyes. "You, and only you, are the one who determines if someone makes you weak or whole. She is not the captain of your emotions, and her greed and arrogance are appalling." It's hard not to spit the words, and she is only partially successful, even though she tries so damn hard not to succumb to her rage on his behalf. "You made mistakes, yes. You should not have kissed her, perhaps let more time linger between you before visiting her again. But she is even more to blame. You were both not in your right minds with the Blight, and the fact that she gave you anything like a tonic - even if only for anxiety, if you trust her word - that could have further lowered your inhibitions is sickeningly manipulative."
Taking a shaky breath she rubs a hand gently over her eyes, reeling in her emotions. "She should have stopped you. Revenge through rape is unacceptable, and that is frankly what it was. Even without the tonic, you were not in your right mind, and even coming out of the Blight her own judgment was questionable. Neither of you could consent." It makes her skin crawl, far too close to her own experience, the one she had just freshly shared with Sunjata. This is a kinship she had never wanted with him, if only to spare him from even a fraction of the experience. "You did the right thing telling Lusea. And I...Sunjata there are no words for how angry I am on your behalf, how sorry I am that this happened to you. She needs to move on, find someone who will give her the children, the love, that she wants. And I pray that she can refrain from being such a colossally horrendous, untrustworthy bitch if she finds them." Okay, perhaps a little violent in her word choice, but Hotaru is simply not a nice person. She has been an empress, a queen, a warrior and killer. She trembles slightly as he pulls her close, tilting her head to rest her forehead against the crook of his shoulder. "If there is anything I can do to help...to keep you away from her, if that's what you need, just tell me."
I am a breathtaking mosaic
of all the battles I've won
of all the battles I've won
