::: empire's expansion
hungry-- as per usual, hotaru finds herself hungry, but there's nothing for her to do other than place a pale palm on faded fabrics, pat and try to ignore negative space behind secondhand silk scarlets. she walks down the street with a face twisted in contemplation, mind going over things to do--the brunette had already gone through her usual spots for collecting bets today (the purer of wrongs to commit), and wanted to keep her nose clean before the airships took off--so picking pockets--at least in daylight--was out.
"oh fuck right off," passes through pursed lips when--for what feels like the hundredth time--the monster that's her belly growls; walking around isn't doing a damn thing for her, prompting her to stop and squat in a street alley, focusing on the goosebumps that raise on her skin from the shadows' chill. it's never warm enough in republic city, she idly thinks, for her skin longs for the relentless heat of a home over a decade away. an expanse of time she's just on the precipice of closing; her toes curl at the though, she grins against her knees, staring off into nothing in particular.
that's when a swatch of sanguine catches her eyes, scrambling and... and... fluffy? hotaru raises her head slowly, lips twitching as she breathes a low, "holy shit..."
it takes about six minutes, a few scratches and a bunch of curses for the bender to get her hands on the thing--a fiesty fire ferret, who, by the looks of it, was a runaway.
just like her.
"hey, hey, hey--come now, gimme a sniff, i smell like a friend, right?" a crooked grin places itself on her lips as the creature allows her to pull it close, resting on her shoulder. "i'm gonna call you seiji. the third. you're part of my clan now--" her smile reaches full symmetry as a thought comes to mind, "--which means i should introduce you to someone!"
taking familiar steps down a familiar route, it doesn't take long for the girl to approach the residence of one of her favourite people. with quaint knocks that don't express any of her excitement, she makes her presence known--it's her way of being considerate, she doesn't know if the male has had a long night or not.
...
lips pressed to the keyhole, she whispers, "eijiji..."