pulled beneath the waves

HOTARU

After the first talk, it wasn’t a surprise that they’d decided to interrogate her one-on-one afterwards. For their sakes more than anything. Nate had been the first, and she is still drained from it. Curled up with her shoulder and hip braced against the wall at the head of the bed, knees against the joined wall as she tilts her head and belly into the corner where both are protected and hidden from view.

It’s a waiting game. One she is all too familiar with.

It’s not her first time being held prisoner, even if this is no formal judgment. Detainment. Questioning. Hotaru doesn’t care, had already told them they could only keep her so long without seeming her guilty - and if they did, she would let Morgan know immediately. It’s not giving them the benefit of the doubt necessarily, but something along those lines in order to prove herself innocent.

So she stays there curled up in the corner, fingers rubbing slightly at her belly, trying in vain not to stress too much lest it hurt the little life inside.

it's our nature, we destroy

it's the constant of our kind

no matter the color of blood, man will always fall

SUNJATA

the flood

but am i too late? or hearts to your spades,
if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?

He’s sick of it all, of everything that’s been thrust his way, of having no feasible way out of it that didn’t lead to his father’s voice in his mind, telling him that he was right all along. It grinds and grates, paired with Hotaru’s easy dismissal of how much Lusea had meant to him, the things he was willing to do to himself when she no longer breathed.

Everything feels heavy by the time he makes his way back to the jail, his voice raspy, whispered, and gone in ways he hadn’t realized or anticipated. But he arrives, calmer now, more hurt than he is angry, and he steps in to sit at the table on the other side of the door to the cell, running a hand through his hair as he collects himself. I lost my voice, so. He begins, but pours all of his focus into keeping Hotaru from feeling his emotions this time.

Stone-faced and quiet aside from the snippets of his voice, he waits for her to turn around. I’ll have to ask questions this way. Another brief pause, left hand picking up the quill, his lightning scarred right hand making sure the paper is flat before he writes. What all did you tell him about the Advocates?

so we're not written in the stars,
but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything

HOTARU

When he comes, she tenses. It’s clearly Sunjata by the pace of his feet alone, now that she has grown used to hearing Nate’s in the corridors. Just like with Nate she turns slowly, though this time she stays leaning against the corner where the walls join instead of sitting in the middle of the bed. It feels better, to have the wall at her back, like a cornered animal. Sunjata is capable of hurting her more than Nate, if only because she never had the chance to tell Nate of her darker years and the trauma she endured.

It feels like an invasion of privacy to have him in her head after all this, but at least he can’t feel how she feels. Not that he had seemed to care when he could.

Questions, which she’s somehow grateful for. At least it means her time here is being spent as she intended it to. “That it was a collection of places in various lands. ‘To spy, to obtain information, to circumvent the law in all sorts of ways.’ That is what I told him; and that it was effectively empty.” She bites her tongue hard until copper hits her tastebuds in order to hold back from saying that all of this was over a burned building with no lives lost and the potential for rebuilding still attainable. “Perhaps that’s why he did it. Destroy information instead of people.” Shrugging, she huddles closer to the wall and stares at her socked feet on the blankets.

it's our nature, we destroy

it's the constant of our kind

no matter the color of blood, man will always fall

SUNJATA

the flood

but am i too late? or hearts to your spades,
if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?

It grates – because of course it does. Everything she’ll say will have him grinding his teeth and working his jaw, his displeasure evident in the simple body language he shows. Which is fine, she’s giving quite the show herself with how she situates herself so her back is to the wall, keeping herself as protected as she could.

Effectively empty and are empty are two different things. There were people that lived there that are homeless now. He states bluntly, writing down what she says of the Advocates with his elegant handwriting. And obtaining information to circumvent the law isn’t what we do anymore. It hasn’t been for years. She should know, she had been at the meetings where it mattered – where he had spent his time going through the fact that the point was to help the Ascended.

He hadn’t changed that. Not once since he’d invited so many into the guild.

The quill taps at the paper and he chews on the inside of his cheek. A few moments of silence linger before he’s inhaling a slow breath and exhaling a heavy sigh, gaze lifting to meet Hotaru’s face even if he internally wishes to either rampage or try to erase it from memory. So what you’re telling me is that you spoke of the Advocates while drunk to Deimos and he went rogue and personally attacked me and you were unaware. There’s a raise of his brow, a tilt of his head, waiting to hear how she spins it.

If Sunjata knows one thing, it's exactly how much of a spinster Hotaru could be.

so we're not written in the stars,
but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything

HOTARU

His displeasure is evident, but Hotaru could care less. They had their chance to scream and shout, and none of her own words had even been heard. He got his piece out, and all the sour faces in the world won't sway her.

"Then I suppose your job as Governor will be rehoming them - perhaps not in a spy ring this time when you have enemies." She doesn't care if it's callous. The deed is already done, and nobody had actually died. Sunjata can wave his moral flag as much as he wants, it could have been worse. "You keep saying these things as if it's my fault, like it was a personal failing of mine. Except I didn't start the fire." Curling her legs closer, she breathes a slow exhale through her nose to try and curb her temper.

"As if you aren't circumventing the law even now as Governor. Torchline remains a city of smugglers. And you think Deimos, as a follower of Safrin, would be endeared by it being intended for the support of Ascended?" Kiada and Rexanna aside, Deimos did not hold any fondness for the Ascended - or The Voice. "Judging me for my drunken words doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day, Deimos had all the motive he needed to do this." It was simply short-sighted foolishness on the part of every person surprised that they didn't expect Deimos to be capable of such things.

"You said yourself that the only thing holding him back that day from hurting you was Kamaria. Why is this suddenly 'went rogue' now?" Her stare is disbelieving as it turns to him. Is he so intent on believing her to be the perpetrator that he will twist Deimos into some paragon of control to contrast her bitter desire for revenge? "And clearly I wasn't unaware - I followed after him as soon as I realized, as I have told you multiple times now."

it's our nature, we destroy

it's the constant of our kind

no matter the color of blood, man will always fall

SUNJATA

the flood

but am i too late? or hearts to your spades,
if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?

I shouldn’t have to rehome them if this didn’t happen in the first place. He replies quickly, but surprisingly coolly. He’ll wave his moral flag all he wants to, he wasn’t the one going around and setting buildings on fire. But speaking of the fire, she brings it up next and Sunjata’s leaning back in his seat, watching her with a quiet gaze.It is your fault, Hotaru. It’s blunt, to the point, and he quiets as she tries to curb her temper.

He tries so hard to not roll his eyes when she brings up Safrin. The only interactions he’s seen of the Sword and the goddess were solely because of Amalia, and since then? Well, Sunjata hadn’t cared what Deimos did or didn’t do. He is surprised to hear that she uses it as a defense though. Deimos doesn’t have to be endeared. He wasn’t involved in it. And if you think Safrin doesn’t know what I’ve been up to, you’re mistaken. There’s a brief pause, a clench to his jaw. I’m her spy, remember? His head tilts, avian-like in nature, but he breathes evenly through his nose to keep his calm, to try and dip into that part of his father that seemed to rarely let anything phase him, even until his last breath.

Because Deimos coming after me was conditional. It was after you had chosen to leave. He claimed to enact revenge if I did anything to you again. He reiterates from the first day they were there. And I didn’t. It’s matter of factly stated, because it’s one hundred percent true.

But here, his shoulders straighten a bit, his gaze crackling with a hint more hurt than he tries to let on with his stony exterior of a mask. When you arrived at the Advocates, you demanded you needed the room and your fingers were sparking, Hotaru. He pauses with a quiet sigh. You have already admitted to attacking Aurelia, despite the circumstances, and so I have to piece together what occurred and give my judgement and-or punishment to those who were involved..

so we're not written in the stars,
but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything

HOTARU

“You say that and yet you have no proof. I have given my statement time and again, the man who did it confessed and was punished, and you hold me here like a prisoner. Because you want to say I did it, so that you can prove to yourself that you’re the real hurt party. Like always.” It’s spoken dispassionately, though her hands are clenched, nails digging at scabs from the prior interrogation.

A snort of laughter leaves her. “So you admit to being a spy against your own husband? At least you’ve chosen your side. When she kills him, I’ll know who to blame.” Because yet again Sunjata refuses to keep the topic on the fire itself. At least Nate had the decency to ask real questions. This is just the same problem repeating with one less person in the audience.

“You think he isn’t capable of changing his mind? That finding out the Advocates existed and had a branch in his home wouldn’t be considered conditional enough? I am genuinely astounded you don’t see the motive he had. Not everything ties directly back to his threat that day.” Deimos may not be as fair weather as Hotaru, but Sunjata was certainly not the authority on what the Sword constituted as a slight. “And you know what? If you have so many questions about his motive - when he confessed to the crime - why the hell isn’t he here huh?” Shifting she turns her slitted eyes towards him. “Is it because you’re scared of him? Or because you’re using this as an excuse to be biased, to take your anger out on me for something I didn’t do? This is a farce of a trial Sunjata, even by Torchline’s standards.” And frankly his time for the dog and pony show is running out.

A bright mocking laugh escapes her at his last words, and she turns back towards the wall. “This coming from the man who can’t hold back his shifts when he feels an ounce of emotion. That’s rich. You’re grasping at straws if you think my fingers sparking when I was drunk and scared counts as irrefutable evidence.”

it's our nature, we destroy

it's the constant of our kind

no matter the color of blood, man will always fall

SUNJATA

the flood

but am i too late? or hearts to your spades,
if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?

The proof is that you told him the location. He comments. Deimos wouldn’t have known where to strike if it weren’t for her – whether she’d known it or not. And as far as Sunjata’s seen, Deimos doesn’t come off to him like some sort of loose cannon. But he draws silent again, letting her twist his words – actively rolling his eyes when she mentions that she’ll blame him for Nate’s death.

There’s a ragged inhale of breath, fingers pressed to his temple as he tries to use it as a distraction. You called me a spy when I came home that day and told you and Nate what I’d done. It’s exhausting for him, too, to go round and round with this – but the motivation, the reasons for why it had occurred in the first place still pinpoint to Hotaru.

Brows do raise at the mention of how much of the Advocates Hotaru had described, though, scratching a note of the Kraai into the paper – if for nothing else but to follow up on that, too. His gaze only lifts when she starts taunting him, the mention of Deimos and Sunjata being afraid drawing a narrowing of his gaze. First of all, I am not scared of Deimos. Second of all, he will be spoken to as well. He works his jaw as her mocking laughter hits the air, and he certainly rolls his eyes with the rest of her comments.

According to them you didn’t sound scared. But that’s neither here nor there, truthfully, and so he sets the paper down as well as the quill, arms folding atop the table as he stares at her with a flat gaze. The whole thing about this that I’m not believing, Hotaru, is the fact that you had this feeling he was going to do something and somehow showed up before Deimos set fire, only to say that the fire had already taken out the stairs after you had gotten there. Chewing at the inside of his cheek, he swallows against the burn in his throat. Even I’m not naïve enough to believe that Deimos would set fire to something, knowing you were there and could be harmed.

so we're not written in the stars,
but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything

HOTARU

“That’s not proof of arson, it was a mistake. One I admitted to willingly. I’m cooperating, but that isn’t enough.” Her voice is defeated. Tired. Emotionally she is already wrung dry from Nate’s questioning.

There’s no point in commenting about Safrin. They’d already had that particular fight way back when. What else is there to say?

Turning away further she rests her temple against the wall and closes her eyes. The idea of Deimos cooperating with them at all is laughable, but she won’t be the one to stand in their way if they feel they want to try.

“When have I ever shown my fear to you Sunjata? You think strangers would get a free pass?” Each word is dead and dry. It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. Sunjata wants a monster more than an impartial trial. He always has, always wanting someone to blame. “I didn't say that. I said the fire hadn’t started when I arrived. When I made it to the next floor, he’d already used his magic. And then Atlas was stabbed, and I was clinging to him. By the time I could talk the stairwell was no longer an option. I already told you that Atlas’ pain made things hard to recount.” Not that he would care. He still somehow thought fucking Lusea was the equivalent of a soul-bonded companion. His mind was too narrow, too focused on his own pathetic pain to consider that maybe someone else might have it worse. “Why don’t you ask your Arbiter how long it took from her arrival to Atlas’ death?” A dark scoff leaves her and her arms tighten around herself, turning her back to Sunjata. “Oh wait, but that would involve actually running a fair trial. Why not ask her why she didn’t try and stop the fire with her magic instead of killing my soulmate? Or confirm how quickly it spread, magically started and sustained as it was? Just because you don’t have magic of your own doesn’t mean you can pretend it isn’t stronger than a natural fire. If she remains free, clearly her innocence is already secured; surely your time would be better spent talking to her than me.” She sure wouldn’t hold her breath though. This is all personal, and Hotaru is simply biding her time with gritted teeth. “Unless you have more questions about the actual fire, I don’t see the point in continuing this charade.” Refusing to even turn his way at this point. Completely walled off as if physically protecting her heart.

it's our nature, we destroy

it's the constant of our kind

no matter the color of blood, man will always fall

SUNJATA

the flood

but am i too late? or hearts to your spades,
if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?

They’re just going to keep running in circles – with how much Hotaru keeps closing off and twisting his words. It’s frustrating, but his throat still feels swollen and he can’t do much else other than to try and quell his rage, try to calm his mind, try to get somewhere with someone he can’t trust anymore. Or maybe, maybe he never could. Maybe it was all a lie.

Maybe her love for them was a lie.

When you made it to the next floor, was it after you had evacuated the building? He asks her instead. She speaks of Atlas again, but then fixates on something else – Aurelia. So he waits for her rampage to end, swallowing against the knot in his throat. It’s a lot to take in, a lot to try and respond to while he focuses on keeping his emotions in check. My Arbiter will have her own questioning. He confirms, because she’s so incredibly worried about it. As for Atlas? The way she says it as if it’s continuing to be some slap in the face over his feelings toward Lusea when she’d died. So he's silent for a moment longer, regathering his thoughts and his focus.

These questions are about the fire, Hotaru. I’m sorry you can’t see that. He sighs heavily through the mental attuned bond. Atlas’ death relates to the fire just as your mistake in telling Deimos of the Advocates does. He works his jaw again, teeth grinding against one another. You mentioned he was invisible, yes? Is that magic or some sort of item? He picks up the quill again to write.

If she wants to be cooperative, then she can help them with figuring out what they're up against.

so we're not written in the stars,
but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything

HOTARU

She forces an exhale when he finally returns to other more direct avenues of questioning. This, she can handle. Accept. Her emotions are too far out of her control to risk engaging in any other conversation, and the stress isn’t good for the baby - yet another worry Hotaru has to contend with. “Yes. The first thing I did when I came in the door was evacuate the building.” Simple and honest. Giving nothing that can be misconstrued or turned into another opening for more personal affairs.

It’s a struggle not to forsake that goal immediately when Atlas is brought up again. Even his name still makes the raw edges of his loss chafe and bleed anew. Though she is weak against him as she ever is, even after all this mess and anger, and his concession melts a little of the ice off her shoulders as she slowly turns a little bit towards him again. Eyes still firmly rooted to where the bed and the wall meet, but progress is progress. If that’s even what it can be called. “Honestly I don’t know how he does it. It’s recent, whatever it is, and before the fire I’d only seen him do it once, and it was during a group training where I wasn’t paired against him.” Crossing her arms overtop her knees she rests her cheek against one bicep. “Magic, maybe? I think he used it on me when I jumped out the window. Maybe because he was trying to keep me from being blamed, though that clearly didn’t work. I was too intent on avenging Atlas, so the effort was moot.” Hiding had been out of the question once Atlas’ life was forfeit.

it's our nature, we destroy

it's the constant of our kind

no matter the color of blood, man will always fall

SUNJATA

the flood

but am i too late? or hearts to your spades,
if i don't suit you? then what do you want from me?

There’s a few more moment of scribbling down a few things after Hotaru’s spoken before he’s lifting his gaze to meet her as she turns toward him – however much of a fraction it might be. He tries to rein in his feelings, his thoughts, keeping himself closed off from her in an edge of concentration that certainly has a beading of sweat building on his brow that he wipes away after a moment.

He works at his jaw as he always does, waiting for her to answer the question over Deimos’ invisibility, wondering whether or not it’s something to consider when it comes to her safety. And so he nods again, scratching down a few more notes into his paper, before he’s leaning back and stretching one of his long legs out in front of him.

Fair enough. He says, losing any fight and argument within him (not like it matters in the future anyway, when the Flood becomes nothing more than a shell of himself given the circumstances). And so, Sunjata watches her a few moments longer, heaving a heavy sigh and moves to stand, loosening the hold he has on his emotions just a fraction as it begins to slip.

She’ll feel the tinge of paranoia, the distrust, lining the edge of the feeling that’s the most prevalent – the sharp, pointed edges of a fractured heart and a fracturing soul all the same. I have what I need, so I’ll leave you be. Is it enough? No, not at all, but he’s got nothing else to go off of, and frankly he’d rather stop while he’s ahead.

He turns to leave after gathering his things, and he lingers by the door a brief moment, closing his emotions off again – fingers tapping on the edge of the doorframe. It seems like he might say something, lips parting as if he’s forgetting not to use his voice, but he realizes it shortly after with the way the thought of talking burns and he can’t bring himself to say anything through the bond again.

So Sunjata withdraws, pulling himself away from the door and back out into the rest of the jail, leaving Hotaru alone (at least for the moment).

- FINNNNN

so we're not written in the stars,
but i'm okay with that. i'm okay with anything