{se} feels like I'm sleepwalking when you're gone

Hotaru

Somewhere my lifeline still hums and sings
In the mess of all I have thrown away

Oh, she notices the pride even without a flashy show of feathers or wings, which causes her to narrow her eyes in an even more playful fashion. "Count your wins, Wrenzaok. I'll get my pound of flesh." It's the hollowest threat she's ever uttered and they both know it, because the only way she'll even the scales is by giving into that little ache in her chest that she refuses to look at.

They both relax into the ebb and flow of laughter and bad jokes, and Hotaru's tongue is already curling a response before she can think too heavily about the implications. "See that's the ticket to luxury; have a kid too much like you, hand over all the work to them under the guise of passing on the mantle, sit back in the equivalent of retirement, and rake in the benefits." She flourishes her hand in a showy display of what appears to translate as 'success'. Then she remembers they're planting a tree for his lost daughter, and she has to be grateful for her perfect poker face lest she visibly show the wince she can feel trying to work its way to the surface.

Luckily they're too busy maneuvering the sapling into the hole they've made for her to linger on ever-sensitive topics such as children. Especially when thinking about children and Sunjata is her particular Achilles' heel, and one that has never ended well. It's ironic that sort-of-exes is a safer topic than that. "That's so sweet," she murmurs, a bit taken aback - but in a pleasant way. She'd quite enjoyed Isla's company too and thinks only good things of the Remedy now, but for the doctor to have complimented her and gone so far as to ask Sunjata to take care of her? Sunjata must surely feel the wave of emotion tickling at the edges of the bond, escaping her normally iron grip, because it overflows so readily in her old, sentimental heart. Gods, she has grown soft. "I'm glad she reached out." For both of their sakes. Though it initially made her feel worse for having been even tangentially involved in the Remedy leaving Sunjata's side.

Opening the packet of specialized fertilizing pellets Evie had given her (Ru had just nodded along really) she sprinkles it around the roots before standing to begin shoveling dirt back over the newly planted tree. "I'd lend you some of mine but I don't have much more," she laughs, unafraid to admit it. Likely only three worth mentioning.

Hungry now,
I am gathering new seeds to throw wide