HOTARU
She's in a long black coat tonight
Waiting for me in the downpour outside
Waiting for me in the downpour outside
Her spine tightens at the sound of his approaching steps. Whose she isn’t sure, she won’t turn to look. Not as the door opens, nor as a chair is pulled. Only when an accented voice calls out to her does she unfurl, shoulders still hunched protectively as she slowly turns to sit cross legged on the bed to regard him silently.
His smile is a mockery of the roguish joy she remembers, but she’s sure her own face is drawn and unmoving. “We hunted Hels on the beach first,” she starts, voice distant. “I met Kamaria alone in the markets.” A flicker in her eyes, pain perhaps, or something else. It’s there and gone too soon. “Then we went to the bar. Got drunk - or I did at least.” Deimos always held his liquor better than she did, size and infrequency of indulgence both playing against her. “I told him about the Advocates. We went out onto the beach, and I was upset so we let our magic out on the ocean.” There’s a stiffness here, a brushing over of emotions lest they dissolve into another screaming match. “He told me to go back to the Inn, but as I was heading there I realized he wouldn’t have left me to walk home alone. So I ran to the Slagveld.” Sighing, she pulls her hair to rest over one shoulder, and idly fingers the ends.
“There was no fire yet. No sign of it. But I couldn’t be certain, so I ordered everyone out. I knew he wouldn’t reveal himself with others around, but I also knew he wouldn’t want to hurt innocents. It was all I could think to do to try and get him to show himself to me.” Precisely why she had been so tight lipped about his invisibility, and even than hadn’t clarified if it was magic or an item that allowed it. “As they left, I told Atlas to guard the door. I didn’t want anybody coming back in and getting hurt, and I just had a bad feeling.” The grief is something she can’t conceal, for all her other emotions are confined below the surface. “When he wasn’t on the ground floor I ran upstairs - and that’s where I found him. And the fire. His magic is so powerful, it doesn’t take more than a moment, and it spread so fast.” Mere moments, mighty and unstoppable.
“I barely even had a chance to try and talk to him. Then outside, someone cut Atlas’ throat.” Her voice comes out in a croak, eyelids flickering as she tries to fight back tears. “It…it fucked me up. Deimos had to try and guide me, he didn’t know what was wrong. And by the time I could talk, the stairs were already full of smoke, so he dragged us into the side bedroom.” Inhaling a ragged breath, Hotaru presses the heels of her palms to her eyes to try and press the tears back in. “And then someone else stabbed him, and he healed himself, and I kept telling him to run, because he was just trying to help and then -” she breaks apart with a hiccup, nails clawing at her temples as she shakes and tries to grapple herself into some semblance of control. “A woman set fire to him. And killed him.”
Hands still over her eyes she shudders an exhale. “I jumped out the window. I was…senseless. I attacked the woman with my lightning. I tried to kill her - and justly so, in my eyes. But she got away.” Rubbing her face, she turns bloodshot eyes to Nate, hollowed out and hurt. “And that’s it. I didn’t see Deimos again until we met at Apopo, for a different excursion we had planned.” She hadn’t slept at all that night. Wandering Torchline’s beaches, coming to terms with her loss.
His smile is a mockery of the roguish joy she remembers, but she’s sure her own face is drawn and unmoving. “We hunted Hels on the beach first,” she starts, voice distant. “I met Kamaria alone in the markets.” A flicker in her eyes, pain perhaps, or something else. It’s there and gone too soon. “Then we went to the bar. Got drunk - or I did at least.” Deimos always held his liquor better than she did, size and infrequency of indulgence both playing against her. “I told him about the Advocates. We went out onto the beach, and I was upset so we let our magic out on the ocean.” There’s a stiffness here, a brushing over of emotions lest they dissolve into another screaming match. “He told me to go back to the Inn, but as I was heading there I realized he wouldn’t have left me to walk home alone. So I ran to the Slagveld.” Sighing, she pulls her hair to rest over one shoulder, and idly fingers the ends.
“There was no fire yet. No sign of it. But I couldn’t be certain, so I ordered everyone out. I knew he wouldn’t reveal himself with others around, but I also knew he wouldn’t want to hurt innocents. It was all I could think to do to try and get him to show himself to me.” Precisely why she had been so tight lipped about his invisibility, and even than hadn’t clarified if it was magic or an item that allowed it. “As they left, I told Atlas to guard the door. I didn’t want anybody coming back in and getting hurt, and I just had a bad feeling.” The grief is something she can’t conceal, for all her other emotions are confined below the surface. “When he wasn’t on the ground floor I ran upstairs - and that’s where I found him. And the fire. His magic is so powerful, it doesn’t take more than a moment, and it spread so fast.” Mere moments, mighty and unstoppable.
“I barely even had a chance to try and talk to him. Then outside, someone cut Atlas’ throat.” Her voice comes out in a croak, eyelids flickering as she tries to fight back tears. “It…it fucked me up. Deimos had to try and guide me, he didn’t know what was wrong. And by the time I could talk, the stairs were already full of smoke, so he dragged us into the side bedroom.” Inhaling a ragged breath, Hotaru presses the heels of her palms to her eyes to try and press the tears back in. “And then someone else stabbed him, and he healed himself, and I kept telling him to run, because he was just trying to help and then -” she breaks apart with a hiccup, nails clawing at her temples as she shakes and tries to grapple herself into some semblance of control. “A woman set fire to him. And killed him.”
Hands still over her eyes she shudders an exhale. “I jumped out the window. I was…senseless. I attacked the woman with my lightning. I tried to kill her - and justly so, in my eyes. But she got away.” Rubbing her face, she turns bloodshot eyes to Nate, hollowed out and hurt. “And that’s it. I didn’t see Deimos again until we met at Apopo, for a different excursion we had planned.” She hadn’t slept at all that night. Wandering Torchline’s beaches, coming to terms with her loss.
singing "Baby come home" in a melody of tears
While the rhythm of the rain keeps time
While the rhythm of the rain keeps time
