[Training] try to find if it was worth what you spent

Hotaru

She had made it as far as King's End before being forced to retire, mud still clinging to her hair and clothes that hers and Deimos' collective efforts couldn't wipe away. By time the sun is high in the sky and warm enough to warrant a few layers being lost, she is relying entirely upon her other forms to avoid feeling the dry crackle of dirt and mud on her skin.

On the banks of the Boondocks she lays her clothes out to dry after scrubbing them clean, shameless and unselfconscious in her undergarments. They aren't indecent in the least considering they are her traveling pair - form fitting yes, but more akin to shorts and a bandeau. Wringing golden hair out at her side as she sits with her feet in the tepid shallows, Hotaru stares out over the sunlit waters and basks in the simple ease that Deimos' presence had awarded her. It is a precious gift, unassuming, and she won't relinquish it readily.

Now you can quit, you can cave in
but just know you're not beyond saving

i heard you say that you've lost, you've lost, you've lost, you've lost your way

It should be an easy trip, easier still given that he’s got the little cart by his side to haul some of the fish he intends to catch back for Nate to help him prepare. It’s practically his doorstep and he’s so used to seeing next to nothing out here, that he’s silent in his approach to the water, stepping along an all too familiar path now, with nothing more than the pants he wears and the bandage wrapped around his chest and middle.

He isn’t paying attention as he heads directly for one of the docks that’s still in semi good condition – a mental note made to fix that at some point, before something catches his eye in his peripheral vision and he turns his head to look – effectively tripping the second the figure registers. He catches himself but not without loudly announcing his presence in the shuffle of feet, the bark of pain that leaves him as he twists his bruised and broken ribs. “Ah, fucking hell.” He pauses, squinting up to the figure. “Hotaru?” Was she real, or like before just a vision?

but i don't think you had much to lose, that house was never built for you

SUNJATA

Hotaru

Kings End is no ghost town, cemetery aside, but the Valkyrie isn’t exactly anticipating company either. Mind drifting as she looks out over the water, she startles at the sudden loud noise that announces the fumbling presence of someone else. Wrapping her hair idly around her wrist to wring it, Ru is intent on ignoring whatever poor fisherman she has startled - until they say her name of course.

Turning she blinks the remaining sear of sunlight from her eyes and briefly thanks the Gods that she’s sitting so she can’t make a similar fool of herself. “Jata? What are you -” doing here, she intends to say before stopping herself. She’s the interloper here, not him. It’s ironic that she would otherwise not give a care about her relative state of undress, but now she is suddenly overthinking it entirely, wondering if she should risk standing. “Are you okay?” is what comes out next naturally, eyes falling to his bandaged torso and forgetting all worries as she frowns, shifting to sit higher in preparation to stand.

Now you can quit, you can cave in
but just know you're not beyond saving

i heard you say that you've lost, you've lost, you've lost, you've lost your way

Oh she’s real. She’s definitely real, and there’s little Sunjata can do in between having already made a fool of himself, the spark of pain, and the sun that he’d just departed, to keep the flush from covering his neck and cheeks. And yet, still, he can’t look away from her. Had he ever been able to? He swallows thickly. “I live here, remember?” He finishes her question, finding no harm in it. He hadn’t exactly told her where in King’s End he lived.

Surely she’d know he’d pick somewhere near the ocean.

He recovers, though, looking away from her to make sure he hadn’t lost the bucket he’d dragged along with him and plants it in the mix of sand and dirt on the edge of where the tide had come in, to stiffly approach her. “I’m fine. A few broken ribs but what else is new, hm?” He teases her lightly – the exhaustion from becoming a demigod was gone, but in its place sits exhaustion of trying to heal. "What are you doing out here?" He shoots the question back, a dark brow rising.

but i don't think you had much to lose, that house was never built for you

SUNJATA

Hotaru

She doesn’t have the same reasons to fear he’s intangible, so she has no excuse for the way her own eyes linger, the reluctance to blink or avert her gaze. The picture he makes as he emerged into the sun puts the lakeside mirage she’d been admiring to shame, even with the stark bandages that distract her. “I remember,” she says softly, falling short of the feigned exasperation she’d been aiming for and ending up far too tender. Catching herself staring, she drops her hair from her hands and settles it against her back, trying to busy herself for a moment.

Not that it helps, because he approaches her, and so instead Hotaru rises to meet him, damp hair across her shoulders and sunkissed skin bare. His teasing falls flat as she instinctively lifts a hand to trail her fingertips against the bandages, frowning. “You need to take better care of yourself, though I doubt you magically did this to your own ribs.” Which means someone else had, and the only reason her hackles don’t rise fully is because he’s distracting her. Dropping her hand she gestures loosely to her damp clothes with a wry grin. “Got dumped in the mud in the Feverlands. Couldn’t stand the feeling long enough to get home.” Whatever home is now.

Now you can quit, you can cave in
but just know you're not beyond saving

i heard you say that you've lost, you've lost, you've lost, you've lost your way

Her tenderness is something that Sunjata admittedly holds onto, latching onto it the second that it leaves her lips – but he makes no move on it. Instead, tucking it away in a fond memory that he can hopefully think about later. You know, when they’re both not standing here half dressed with the sun sparkling the drops of water off her skin like little jewels, like how her dual toned eyes cause him to still and flush, just as they always had, just as Nate’s had too when the Voice had given him a different color eye.

For a second he forgets that he’s breathing when her hand traces the bandage, the young demigod swallowing hard as he watches her. “Oh, I didn’t.” He says, though she already knew that. “I suppose you could say I royally pissed Safrin off.” A little bit tacked on the end with a crooked smirk that he can’t help to keep from tugging on his scarred corner of his lip.

“I’m surprised you made it this far before taking a dip, Ru.” He muses, his voice dropping a fraction unintentionally, the steel of his gaze lighting up as he scans her face. But he lifts a hand, bare of the tattoos that had once marked it, and reaches up to rub a bit of mud still sticking to her behind her ear. “You missed a spot, though.”

but i don't think you had much to lose, that house was never built for you

SUNJATA

Hotaru

It’s a good thing they’re both so bad at keeping their eyes to themselves, otherwise it would be easily noticed by the other. It’s hard not to stare. Even without the bandages there is so much new to counter the familiar. The empty expanses of skin where tattoos once laid, scars she hasn’t had the chance to explore with hands and mouth as she has with every other inch of his body. It makes heat flush up her neck, dances a tremble along her fingers as she pulls away from the soft wrapping she barely registers touching. So different from the warm skin she otherwise would have felt if she had a little less restraint, a little more hope.

Looking up at him through golden lashes she gives a wry, humorless quirk of her lips to match his own. “Ronin?” she ventures. Safrin has a precious few chosen ones, and Deimos would have been crowing his joy from the mountaintops if he’d been the one tasked with putting The Flood in his place.

Her nickname on his tongue snags like a hook around her navel, tugging her forward a half step as his hand rises, almost as if they’d choreographed it. A shiver dances up her spine at the soft rumble of his voice as it dips lower, only growing more noticeable as his hand touches her skin at last. Eyelashes flutter against her will, breath hitching in her chest as her lips threaten to part. It’s heady. Intoxicating. Somehow more volatile and impactful than the last two times she’d seen him, when she thought she was already being tested.

Slowly forcing her eyes open she looks up at him, and a curling smile blossoms - something mischievous and enticing in her mismatched eyes. “That so?” she whispers, hands rising to settle at his waist, low enough to avoid his ribs. Stepping closer until their fronts are almost touching, Ru tilts into his touch, watching him from the corner of her eyes. “Wash it off for me?” The offer is almost flirtatious even without the context of what she’s doing, but all she needs is an opening.

Now you can quit, you can cave in
but just know you're not beyond saving

i heard you say that you've lost, you've lost, you've lost, you've lost your way

“Who else?” Sunjata rumbles with a quiet laugh, one that’s cut short with the bark of pain his ribs starts, the way he stills the second that she steps a bit closer the second his hand is rising and he swallows hard – some hidden seriousness crossing over him as he scans her, thumb rising to rub away a speck of mud still clinging stubbornly to her pale skin. Her hands find the space above his hips and the flush on his skin grows deeper, threading through the navy ink of his feathered tattoos that remain, despite the scars, and travel lower – highlighting the freckles on his skin.

The smile she offers him is one that has always given him pause in both curiosity and wonder. “Hm.” He begins, running his hand through her hair to get it wet before returning to that spot, placing his hand gingerly along her throat and neck, swiping his thumb along the speck of dirt all that much more until every last bit is gone. He’s not sure what’s overcome him but it certainly has him lodged and trapped in her orbit right now, and perhaps part of that is due to the wish of a future that had never come to pass.

How tantalizing it always is. How much regardless of the circumstances and what brought them to this one, that it’s enticing. “There.” He hums once he’s satisfied with the speck of dirt having vanished, but he doesn’t pull his hand away from her yet.

but i don't think you had much to lose, that house was never built for you

SUNJATA

Hotaru

Maybe if they were both wearing a little more clothing, or maybe if the sun wasn’t so warm and enticing, or maybe if he just wasn’t him she would have the ability to focus more on the story behind his injuries. But she can’t, because his hands are strong and calloused but they touch her so gently, as they always have. Always believing in her strength, in her ability to handle whatever he throws at her, but treating her like glass all the same. It makes it hard to breathe, especially as he bends to her whims, pressing forward instead of pulling back to safer ground.

There could be nothing on her skin for all she knows, but she holds still all the same. Awaiting his singular word of approval before daring to turn her chin back to face him straight on. His hand spans the space between her throat and the curve of her ear. It burns like a brand, the scant weight of it like a boulder that keeps her breaths shallow and fast. Still, she has to forge on.

“Think you missed a spot,” she whispers, a secret in the space between them. She lets it hang for just a moment -

And then she shoves him sideways with all her might, right towards the water’s edge that eagerly awaits him.

Now you can quit, you can cave in
but just know you're not beyond saving

i heard you say that you've lost, you've lost, you've lost, you've lost your way

It’s a slippery slope and Sunjata is barely capable of keeping himself in check with it – not out here, not out in the Wilds with nobody else but them to witness it. It’s different, there’s no rumors that would fly, nobody passing through Haulani seeing them drunkenly tangled up on the trudge to the Inn. Instead, all there is are the birds around them, the fish that dare to travel up the shallows where they stand, and them.

It’s breathtaking, really, the way that she stills for him – how she always had – how he only has to hunch himself over a little bit as she tilts her head back toward him. All he has to do is break those inches that separate them and he could ruin it all. And even still, in his debating, his gaze flickers between her lips to her dual-toned gaze, watching, waiting, gathering courage? before she breaks it completely.

Dark brows inch together as her words reach him – positive that he hasn’t missed a spot. But then she’s shoving him and he’s far too unbalanced here in the shallows of the water and with his ribs the way they are, how he’s been trapped by her orbit. He goes down with a grunt of pain from a sparking shooting pain of his ribcage. But he activates the magic in his blood now, grabbing onto the water at her feet where he tries to prop himself up, aiming to drench her completely in it. “I don’t think so.” He rumbles to her, trying to be playful among the pain that courses through him.

but i don't think you had much to lose, that house was never built for you

SUNJATA

Hotaru

It’s easier to hide behind the plan she has in mind, to pretend this veneer is only an illusion to reel him in. Easier to deny all the truth and ease and familiarity behind every move, every breath. If she can focus on this one goal, she won’t feel the spread of butterflies up the inside of her ribs, the burn in the back of her throat as she watches those gorgeous eyes that still appear in her dreams fall to her own lips. That’s what forces her hand - she knows she won’t be able to resist, to be the better person, if she lets the moment linger any longer.

Still, watching him go down in the water does bring a bubble of genuine laughter to her lips, only a brief sting of guilt over the pinch of his brow lancing through her amusement. The warning of his words comes too late, and she shrieks through her laughter, “Wait -!” It doesn’t matter, and she’s newly drenched, spluttering and laughing as she wipes her eyes free of the water. She feels weightless, joyous. Shining. “You!” she splutters through her laughter, accusatory as if she hadn’t started this, and she lunges at him with hands outstretched towards his shoulders to try and shove him back down and dunk him. Bracing her thighs around his hips to avoid his ribs and try to get more purchase in the soft silt beneath them.

Now you can quit, you can cave in
but just know you're not beyond saving

i heard you say that you've lost, you've lost, you've lost, you've lost your way

Oh her own warning comes too late too as he sits in the water, trying to keep from moving too much, lashing out with the new magic lingering under his skin to take the water and dunk her with it. It’s a success, however, as he watches and raises an arm to keep the water from splashing himself in the eyes and face, watching as the water runs down her form.

Suddenly she’s lashing out at him, though, trapping him effectively as she presses her hands onto his shoulders and wraps her legs around his waist, and Sunjata works to reach up with his hands to wrap around her middle, bracing against the pain he feels to try and spin them, to dunk her into the water beneath him. “Yes, me.” He purrs to her, though there’s the twinge of pain, he can’t help the flush and the amusement that settles within him.

but i don't think you had much to lose, that house was never built for you

SUNJATA

Hotaru

Even newly formed and weak to the world as he is, he’s twice her size and weight, and the water on them both makes it difficult to get a good grasp on his tanned shoulders. All she can do is ineffectually shove down at him, her own wet hair a curtain that cuts everything else from view until there’s only him. The way it’s always been.

She sees his hands try to snake up and gives a shout, trying in vain to pin one of his wrists beneath her knee before it can get any higher. Whether she would have been successful is unknown because the bright slant of his grin stuns her, giving him the chance to grab her around the middle and flip them both. It’s like trying to stop a train; futile once it’s come too close. Once he has his hands around her it’s game over. It always has been.

Still she writhes in his grip like an eel, ribs shuddering as her lungs battle for proper air between her gasping bouts of laughter. Even dunked backwards she refuses to go down, clinging with her arms around his shoulders to try and haul herself halfway out, like a cat clinging stubbornly to its owners body to avoid the bath. “Don’t you dare!” she laughs, their cheeks pressed together as she wraps her legs around his hips, trying to stay dry even when she’s already soaked. Aware he could easily bellyflop and end it all with the size difference between them but refusing to go down without a fight.

Now you can quit, you can cave in
but just know you're not beyond saving

i heard you say that you've lost, you've lost, you've lost, you've lost your way

Perhaps it’s her own version of playing with him now, but it works both ways. The way they can distract and confuse one another with the movement of each other, the way a simple smile can stun her and the way she clings to him makes his heart thunder in his ear. It hurts, truthfully, to try and support her weight even if she hardly weighs a thing while she climbs up him. His stubbled cheek is pressed to her own and all he can do is bark a warm laugh across the chilled skin from the water he’s attempting to dunk her into.

And while she’s correct in how he could just drop onto her, he doesn’t want to do that. Instead, he doesn’t even need the water below him to drench her like a wet cat. “Really?” He chimes to her claim, a crooked smirk forming on his face as he pulls up – letting her have a bit more space above the water and to cling to him, trying to support himself and her with his arms even if the pain is still barking through his middle. One hand wraps around her lower back, pressing her against him, and with a throaty hum of a playful purr his head angles in toward her, nose and lips pressed against her wet hair. “I don’t need to dunk you in here to get you wet.” And with it, he holds her still, and she might spy the glittering droplets of balls of water above him that he aims directly down onto the both of them, seeking her out the most.

but i don't think you had much to lose, that house was never built for you

SUNJATA