Log: Ongoing

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

When; January 12th, evening
Rating; PGish?
Characters; Lyra Silvertonguelyra_of_dust, Tomoe Hotarusilence_bringer
Summary; With Lyra mentally battered and emotionally torn from Cobray's accusations, Hotaru tries to help.
Log;

She carefully made her way to the door of Flat #37 of Building #5. Taking a deep breath, she raised a hand to knock on the polished wood.

"Lyra-san? It's..me."

Comments

[lyra-of-dust.livejournal.com]

Lyra opened the door slowly. She'd stopped crying, but her face was still streaked with tears, and now utterly emotionless. Pantalaimon trailing glumly at her heels.

"Come in," she said, her voice as blank as her face.

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

Hotaru frowned slightly at the girl's demeanor. She was certainly no empath, but it didn't take empathy to tell that the girl was severely depressed. In a way, she reminded Hotaru of herself, only a bit younger. She bowed and turned to shake her head at Archer. She wanted him with her, certainly. But perhaps...this was something for another girl. Hotaru squeezed his hand and smiled before following the younger girl inside, closing the door behind her.

[lyra-of-dust.livejournal.com]

Lyra walked over to the couch before sitting down heavily, Pantalaimon in her lap.

"He-he said that I-That I was a liar, and that I'd betrayed him, and that I'd stabbed him through the heart. I-I know I didn't but he, he really believed that I did-" her voice had started to tremble and her hands clutched Pantalaimon's fur, her knuckles white.

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

Despite the somewhat garbled words, it was easy for Hotaru to tell what the matter was.

Betrayal. By someone she cares for.

That was something Hotaru understood well, though she was loath to admit it. As much as she wanted to believe that it hadn't been true, her fragmented memories were starting to come together. She knew that Itachi-sama had attacked Archer, had gloated while the man she loved nearly bled to death. And so she did the only thing she could think of to do. Gently, she reached over and pulled the younger girl into an embrace.

[lyra-of-dust.livejournal.com]

Lyra wasn't used to being hugged- but she wasn't going to complain, and she wrapped her own arms around Hotaru's small frame.

"Last night, before Ingram- I tried to track him down, but he kept running away. I should have... I should have been able to find him, I should have been able to stop Ingram from..." she mumbled.

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

"It's not your fault. You tried, didn't you? That's what matters most."

She sighed as she held the smaller girl.


"If it's anyone's fault....it's mine."

[lyra-of-dust.livejournal.com]

"No, it's not enough. Even if I tried, if it didn't accomplish anything, what's it worth?" Lyra asked bitterly.

"And how is it your fault anyway? You weren't the one who did that to his head," Lyra looked up at the older girl, a puzzled expression beginning to form on her face.

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

"It's worth something because you care. Even the smallest effort, if it has feeling behind it, matters."

She glanced away, biting her lip.

"When I first came here, I was all alone. I..met someone. A man. He understood me, valued me. I...loved him, I guess. So when he was injured in a fight, I did everything I could. I healed his wounds, even though his enemies told me he was an awful person. I...didn't believe them. I still..don't know whether I believe them..."

She swalllowed, thinking back to the image in her head of Itachi-sama driving a sword through Archer's chest. She shuddered slightly before continuing.

"I...I healed his eyes. The same eyes that he....used to hurt your friend.."

Hotaru hung her head, ready to receive the girl's anger. Afterall, it was rightly deserved, wasn't it?

"I'm sorry...."

[lyra-of-dust.livejournal.com]

Lyra's initial reaction was to be absolutely furious, to yell at her, to hit her and scream at her and vent all of her pain into violence.

But then she remembered a pretty black haired woman with a golden monkey dæmon. At the thought of Mrs. Coulter, at the thought of her mother and how she'd been taken in by that woman's charming facade, how it had taken weeks to realize that woman's true nature, even despite Pan's suspicions, Lyra's anger softened, and she spoke in a sympathetic tone.

"It's alright. I've been decieved like that before, thinking someone was wonderful and kind when they were really evil and cruel. I-you don't need to apologize, it's alright."

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

The girl's response surprised Hotaru. Violet eyes snapped open, as she turned towards the younger girl with a look of disbelief on her face. She..she didn't blame her? Didn't blame Hotaru for her naivete and misplaced trust that had now led to someone else being hurt?

"I...thank you...but I think you're being too kind."

[lyra-of-dust.livejournal.com]

"Being angry at you... Wouldn't do any good. It might make me feel better, to blame you, and to yell at you and hit you, but there are more important things right now than hurt feelings. Like the countdown, like whatever Ingram and his friends are planning..." Lyra's eyes were downcast.

"Being angry at you would be selfish and stupid," Lyra said, turning her face up to meet Hotaru's eyes, ice-blue staring into violet, "I'm not going to make myself feel better at the cost of hurting others."

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

"I..thank you."

Realizing she had completely neglected to introduce herself, Hotaru blushed slightly.

"My..my apologies. I don't believe I introduced myself. My name is Hotaru. Tomoe Hotaru."

[lyra-of-dust.livejournal.com]

"Hotaru... I should be the one thanking you. For helping me to calm down-I can't sit around feeling sorry for myself, that wouldn't help anyone, I need to do something to help... It's the only thing that'll make me feel better. Thank you..." Lyra smiled weakly.

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

The dark-haired girl nodded to Lyra with a smile.

"You're welcome. I'm ..glad that I could help a bit."

[lyra-of-dust.livejournal.com]

"Yeah... Everything that's going on... I can't let it get to me," Lyra shook her head.

"Hotaru... You helped a lot."

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

She smiled slightly, tentatively reaching out to ruffle the younger girl's hair.


"You...remind me of a friend I used to have. She had a spirit a lot like yours."

[lyra-of-dust.livejournal.com]

"Really? Who..." Lyra didn't shrink back from Hotaru's touch. Pantalaimon sat calmly in her lap, and she could feel him, giving her strength.

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

"Her name was Chibiusa. She was...my first friend. The only one who didn't think I was strange because of my powers. She was a few years younger then you, and even though I tried to get her to go away at first, she wouldn't. I..I'd never had friends before, and I thought that she would be in danger if she stayed around me, because of the attacks I used to have."

She smiled at the thought of Chibiusa's imperious manner as the pink-haired girl had demanded that Hotaru stop acting like that, and stop trying to pretend that she couldn't have friends.

[lyra-of-dust.livejournal.com]

"Powers... Heh. It seems like everyone here has those. I've... sort of been keeping mine a secret... Not because I don't want people to be scared of me, but because I'm scared of people," maybe it wasn't wise to tell her this, but Lyra felt that she could trust Hotaru with her secret.

"Do you know what an alethiometer is?"

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

She shook her head.

"No, I've never heard of one."

[lyra-of-dust.livejournal.com]

"It-it's this," she pulled the golden device from the bag she always held at her side.

"If I ask it the right question, it can tell me anything... I'm the only person who can read it easily. Everyone else has to spend years of studying to even start to read it. But I can read it easy... I'm scared that if someone finds out, they'll take it away, or try to force me to ask stuff for them... that's why I don't tell most people about it."

[silence-bringer.livejournal.com]

Hotaru studied the golded wheel with it's dials and numerals. She'd never seen anything like it.

"It...answers questions? How? I've...never seen anything like it."

[lyra-of-dust.livejournal.com]

"Symbols... Each symbol has a whole range of meanings and I can sort of... feel the meanings and put them together," Lyra shrugged.

"It's... like focusing your eyes and looking down into clear water, like stepping down a ladder in the dark-it en't easy to explain."