Hotaru
I'm made of dead man's money, you can see it in my smile
In this they understand one another too well. They’d peered into the blackened, scorched, and ashen depths of the other’s soul too deeply to pretend there wasn’t a shared selfishness and greed between them. But it changes nothing. Even avarice cannot fix a world intent on stealing from their empty hands, taking flesh when it finds nothing more.
It may seem strange that Hotaru is pious even in these moments, but her faith had never wavered, not even when her beloved Goddess had commanded the death of her parents. “They are not so cruel as that. Ludo, perhaps, but not Frey. You’re their chosen; they wouldn’t cause you undue pain.” Her tears drip silent now they’ve been released, though her tone resonates oddly. Faithful unto the end, if not envious of his dilemma. She would do anything to replace the image of Enzo’s slack and bloodied face from her mind, the last vision of him she’d ever see. Even seeing a dead man’s face on a God would be worth it to her, but her heart has suffered the losses of far more lovers than Sunjata. Perhaps she is merely warped now.
“You can stay here. Take my old house, if you need. Settle temporarily in another city. Children -” her voice snaps clean in two, and she must swallow to clear the debris, “children are adaptable. A little time in a new house will not hurt them.” As for Hotaru, well…she still isn’t sure how this evening is going to end for her. Advice is all she has left to give.
It may seem strange that Hotaru is pious even in these moments, but her faith had never wavered, not even when her beloved Goddess had commanded the death of her parents. “They are not so cruel as that. Ludo, perhaps, but not Frey. You’re their chosen; they wouldn’t cause you undue pain.” Her tears drip silent now they’ve been released, though her tone resonates oddly. Faithful unto the end, if not envious of his dilemma. She would do anything to replace the image of Enzo’s slack and bloodied face from her mind, the last vision of him she’d ever see. Even seeing a dead man’s face on a God would be worth it to her, but her heart has suffered the losses of far more lovers than Sunjata. Perhaps she is merely warped now.
“You can stay here. Take my old house, if you need. Settle temporarily in another city. Children -” her voice snaps clean in two, and she must swallow to clear the debris, “children are adaptable. A little time in a new house will not hurt them.” As for Hotaru, well…she still isn’t sure how this evening is going to end for her. Advice is all she has left to give.
Watch the fire rise, burning through my paper skin
