Hotaru
nothing's fair in love and war
Self-deprecating tendencies aside, his gratitude is a sign amidst the others as he relaxes back down that she has not ruined the day for him entirely. His appreciation is far from necessary - she is proud of him, impossible to measure and quantify. At times she envies him, wishing to be as strong and sure of herself as he is. But they are an amalgamation of tendencies and traits, filling each other in where the other lacks. Perhaps they are not dated for love in the sense of Aphrodite and Ares, though they are reincarnated figures of such tales, but their love is meaningful all the same. Puzzle pieces that had been fated to connect long before their edges learned to meld together. If they have nothing else in this world, they have each other; to bolster, to back, to comprehend when all others fail to. That is all she could ask for. “You are always free to share your burdens with me, even if not in their entirety. We disperse them across those we can trust, until the weight is more bearable. Whether that is myself, Safrin, Kiada...together, I hope it will be enough.” So that someday he will be whole enough to feel ready to love again, whoever that may be. Just another thing she believes him to deserve. A grain of what she hopes would bring happiness as a result. At least her own recent loss hasn’t seemed to embitter her - or at least, not entirely, not for others - to the notion of love and romance.
As such she does not chide or counteract his playful statement, instead staring sightlessly down at her own hands where they work his skin, finally tackling the knotted muscles of his shoulders. “If only taste was something I could change,” she agrees with a half-hearted laugh and a derogatory snort. “Perhaps there just aren’t any promising individuals here for me.” Those she has met have been swept away into other entanglements long before vague interest can bud into something else. And those who did hold any long term interest had only ended up hurting her in the end. She narrows her eyes speculatively at the back of Deimos’ head when he reveals he’d spoken to Nate and Sunjata recently. “Gods, I suspect neither did anything impressive.” For all she still loves them, Hotaru doesn’t doubt they’d both put their feet in their mouths the moment Deimos came around. As her hands move across to the man’s right shoulder, she sighs softly. “I...saw Nate as well. Finally. I just didn’t want to tell you and ruin the vacation I made you take in the first place.” Hotaru manages to make her voice playfully pointed, to remind him that they are still in the midst of said vacation and as such it’s not the time to talk about her problems.
“I have some extra stretches I’ll recommend then. They’re more focused on flexibility, so they’ll be something you’re not used to, but it will help prevent you from needing to see me here more frequently than I’ll already hound you into doing.” He wouldn’t escape her ministrations so easily, but she’d certainly give him homework to do, additions to his trainings that she would know if he didn’t perform. The downfall for him being her continued presence in the Barracks, both for her own benefit and to visit him and Aisha more regularly.
