Hotaru
Part of why it was so easy to say is because she knows he understands, and in that sense he is the safest person to tell. There are no empty platitudes or assurances that she would have been missed. Only an empathy that resonates between them in the silence of their stumbling, swaying journey that leaves arcing footprints in the sand behind them.
Blinking dumbly, she stares at the bit of metal poking out of his hand. "Oh. Of course," she utters to herself, the idea of Sunjata staying in something as pedestrian as an inn having not crossed her mind. He would always be Governor to her, and entitled to far more lavish quarters, even if it was no longer her own home. But they were both strangers here now, in this land they once called their own.
Sobriety is closer by mere inches by time they arrive at the Inn, but Hotaru will take what her body will give her. For now. By tomorrow she'll be begging for it to be giving her a lot less. As they tumble in an uncoordinated tangle through the door (mostly on account of Ru leaning half her weight on the Flood for support) the Valkyrie realizes that...well, he has his own room to return to. She stands frozen in the first few feet of the room, watching the door closed, paralyzed by the idea of his departure. Without her input, her hands rise to grab onto his shirt, and she stares at her own fingers where they twine into the fabric as if startled they'd moved on their own. "Don't go," tumbles out of her throat, half-choked with urgency. Unable to lift her gaze from her own hands. "Just for tonight. Please." Saying it to his chest is easier than looking into his eyes as she pleads with him.
Blinking dumbly, she stares at the bit of metal poking out of his hand. "Oh. Of course," she utters to herself, the idea of Sunjata staying in something as pedestrian as an inn having not crossed her mind. He would always be Governor to her, and entitled to far more lavish quarters, even if it was no longer her own home. But they were both strangers here now, in this land they once called their own.
Sobriety is closer by mere inches by time they arrive at the Inn, but Hotaru will take what her body will give her. For now. By tomorrow she'll be begging for it to be giving her a lot less. As they tumble in an uncoordinated tangle through the door (mostly on account of Ru leaning half her weight on the Flood for support) the Valkyrie realizes that...well, he has his own room to return to. She stands frozen in the first few feet of the room, watching the door closed, paralyzed by the idea of his departure. Without her input, her hands rise to grab onto his shirt, and she stares at her own fingers where they twine into the fabric as if startled they'd moved on their own. "Don't go," tumbles out of her throat, half-choked with urgency. Unable to lift her gaze from her own hands. "Just for tonight. Please." Saying it to his chest is easier than looking into his eyes as she pleads with him.
But I am just a broken machine
And I do things that I don't really mean
And I do things that I don't really mean
