Hotaru
Zeus has crafted you from clay and gold
The silence from his side is not a slight, nor reason to be concerned. Hotaru offers her own readily precisely because of their past, and anything he chooses to share she knows will come when he is ready. His heart never betrays him in its rhythm, and his predisposition with her hair is far from a distraction, so she patiently waits for that moment to come.
Hotaru has considered hundreds of endings to Sunjata's visit to Frey, and yet the word immortal bowls her over all the same. It's likely a bad habit, but for a moment Hotaru holds her breath - it's the best way to wait out the deluge of emotional reactions cascading like toppling cards inside her chest. When she exhales, it's undeniably shaky, but the rest of her remains thankfully steady.
"That's..." she attempts to start, but words fail her immediately. Her own bond withers until it offers only faint glimpses, though she resists building a wall there, not wanting him to get the wrong impression out of all the feelings his admission has drawn out. She bites her lip, toying with it plainly in a way she would never let anyone else see. Though she is proud of him for meeting her eyes when telling her, Hotaru is the first to look away; down, at her hand on his heart, as she tries to grapple with the far-reaching consequences of this change. "Part of me is relieved, and grateful," she murmurs, starting slow and working her way through each emotion instead of trying to formulate a response all at once. "I know the refuge has its purpose, but it's a relief to know it's almost impossible to lose you if something goes wrong." And there is a deep sense of love and appreciation that he told her his weakness so readily, though perhaps it hasn't occurred to him to keep it a secret.
Slowly, her expression folds into something more sorrowful. "But...and I know it's selfish," she mutters, slightly ashamed, "but knowing that I will outlive you is painful. Knowing you will have to watch me age and wither and die makes me hurt for you." Alas, she is not selfless enough to consider leaving him now or in the future to spare him that sight. Her fingers curl slightly in his shirt. She watches the wrinkles spread out like fissures, and she wishes - uselessly - that such pacts with gods did not have ends like these. "And while I know we can't reunite with Nate, knowing I may wait forever to see you in Mort's realm hurts too. And that you would have to suffer the experience that hurts you most just to achieve that..." her head shakes slightly, frown deepening. Envisioning Sunjata drowning at all makes her feel sick to her stomach after all he has been through. If one day, hundreds or thousands of years from now, he wants to rest with Mort, he will have to suffer those painful memories as the last of his life? It feels cruel and unfair, and it only heaps misery on the Valkyrie because of it.
Hotaru has considered hundreds of endings to Sunjata's visit to Frey, and yet the word immortal bowls her over all the same. It's likely a bad habit, but for a moment Hotaru holds her breath - it's the best way to wait out the deluge of emotional reactions cascading like toppling cards inside her chest. When she exhales, it's undeniably shaky, but the rest of her remains thankfully steady.
"That's..." she attempts to start, but words fail her immediately. Her own bond withers until it offers only faint glimpses, though she resists building a wall there, not wanting him to get the wrong impression out of all the feelings his admission has drawn out. She bites her lip, toying with it plainly in a way she would never let anyone else see. Though she is proud of him for meeting her eyes when telling her, Hotaru is the first to look away; down, at her hand on his heart, as she tries to grapple with the far-reaching consequences of this change. "Part of me is relieved, and grateful," she murmurs, starting slow and working her way through each emotion instead of trying to formulate a response all at once. "I know the refuge has its purpose, but it's a relief to know it's almost impossible to lose you if something goes wrong." And there is a deep sense of love and appreciation that he told her his weakness so readily, though perhaps it hasn't occurred to him to keep it a secret.
Slowly, her expression folds into something more sorrowful. "But...and I know it's selfish," she mutters, slightly ashamed, "but knowing that I will outlive you is painful. Knowing you will have to watch me age and wither and die makes me hurt for you." Alas, she is not selfless enough to consider leaving him now or in the future to spare him that sight. Her fingers curl slightly in his shirt. She watches the wrinkles spread out like fissures, and she wishes - uselessly - that such pacts with gods did not have ends like these. "And while I know we can't reunite with Nate, knowing I may wait forever to see you in Mort's realm hurts too. And that you would have to suffer the experience that hurts you most just to achieve that..." her head shakes slightly, frown deepening. Envisioning Sunjata drowning at all makes her feel sick to her stomach after all he has been through. If one day, hundreds or thousands of years from now, he wants to rest with Mort, he will have to suffer those painful memories as the last of his life? It feels cruel and unfair, and it only heaps misery on the Valkyrie because of it.
Such a lovely, pretty hand to hold - if you had the time
