Hotaru
Wanted him to spend time with Evie? Not in the least, Hotaru certainly has no personal stakes here, but it was the only logical suggestion she could provide. How else would he come to dissolve his bias against her? Nevertheless, it's obvious his reaction to the suggestion, if Boreal's disappearance implies anything. Sighing softly - and not exactly hiding it, frankly - the Valkyrie turns a quiet expression back to Talyson's clear struggling. While her heart would rather end it here and comfort him, it's clear he has been suffering over Deimos' frostiness for over a year now. What was the better, bitter pill? To hurt a friend immensely if it meant less pain on the horizon, or to stay your hand knowing they would simmer for so much longer in their agony?
His stuttering, trailing thoughts are difficult to parse, but they make her golden brows furrow in true confusion. "Do you think Noah - a Natural Halovian - would forsake all of Halo for Cordelia or his brother, merely because he knew them longer?" There is a genuine bafflement to her voice, because it's not the conclusion she expected him to come to at all. A leap of illogical sentiment she didn't even know was possible, a willful desire to see the worst in Deimos, in any emotional attachment beyond Halo. "If you felt Deimos would do that for anyone - for me as his sister who knew him before he even came to Caido, or even a child he may have in the future - why did you vote for him?" It's frank, but not unkind in its delivery; merely stunned. If Tal felt Deimos would forsake all of Halo for the love of one woman, why endorse him as Warden? "If this is how quickly you question his character, after years of seeing him give everything for Halo - of him proving himself to not only you, but everyone here - maybe it’s no surprise you hurt him enough to distance him."
It's certainly enough to hurt her, though she is far better at hiding it than Talyson, and it's partly why she doesn't follow up such a hurtful phrase with something kinder. Because - was she not exactly the same? Someone devoted entirely to Halo, but with a past that would always ensure loyalty and love for individuals beyond the land's borders? At least Evie was similarly devoted to Halo, unlike some of Hotaru's lovers; Wessex, Sunjata, Nate. But she had faced down Wessex and Nate both during the invasion, had ousted Morgan knowing it would enrage both of them. Would Talyson doubt her immediately, as he does now, if someone merely pointed out that she knew them longer than she knew Halo was even a country?
It's a thought that makes a cold sense of betrayal settle uneasy in her bones, and she keeps her face blank to not show the sick feeling that coalesces in her gut. All the same she moves the bundle in her arms to hold it against her chest unconsciously. If Talyson's loyalties and respect were so ephemeral, perhaps now would be the moment she lost him too. But she will bear that loss with her eyes on his; if he wants to throw her away because he doesn't like what she has to say - what she says to try and help him - then he will have to be man enough to look her in the eyes when he does it. She has not been granted the respect of that too many times in recent history. If he walks away, Hotaru wants the justice of seeing his back. She will not be robbed of her closure once more.
His stuttering, trailing thoughts are difficult to parse, but they make her golden brows furrow in true confusion. "Do you think Noah - a Natural Halovian - would forsake all of Halo for Cordelia or his brother, merely because he knew them longer?" There is a genuine bafflement to her voice, because it's not the conclusion she expected him to come to at all. A leap of illogical sentiment she didn't even know was possible, a willful desire to see the worst in Deimos, in any emotional attachment beyond Halo. "If you felt Deimos would do that for anyone - for me as his sister who knew him before he even came to Caido, or even a child he may have in the future - why did you vote for him?" It's frank, but not unkind in its delivery; merely stunned. If Tal felt Deimos would forsake all of Halo for the love of one woman, why endorse him as Warden? "If this is how quickly you question his character, after years of seeing him give everything for Halo - of him proving himself to not only you, but everyone here - maybe it’s no surprise you hurt him enough to distance him."
It's certainly enough to hurt her, though she is far better at hiding it than Talyson, and it's partly why she doesn't follow up such a hurtful phrase with something kinder. Because - was she not exactly the same? Someone devoted entirely to Halo, but with a past that would always ensure loyalty and love for individuals beyond the land's borders? At least Evie was similarly devoted to Halo, unlike some of Hotaru's lovers; Wessex, Sunjata, Nate. But she had faced down Wessex and Nate both during the invasion, had ousted Morgan knowing it would enrage both of them. Would Talyson doubt her immediately, as he does now, if someone merely pointed out that she knew them longer than she knew Halo was even a country?
It's a thought that makes a cold sense of betrayal settle uneasy in her bones, and she keeps her face blank to not show the sick feeling that coalesces in her gut. All the same she moves the bundle in her arms to hold it against her chest unconsciously. If Talyson's loyalties and respect were so ephemeral, perhaps now would be the moment she lost him too. But she will bear that loss with her eyes on his; if he wants to throw her away because he doesn't like what she has to say - what she says to try and help him - then he will have to be man enough to look her in the eyes when he does it. She has not been granted the respect of that too many times in recent history. If he walks away, Hotaru wants the justice of seeing his back. She will not be robbed of her closure once more.
I've set a course for losing you
I've no remorse for what I do
I've no remorse for what I do
