[SE] the sound of all things good breaking

A joy hard-learned in winter was the warming of the bed
You'd shake for minutes there and move your legs

"She didn't leave, she was taken! And so was I- or do I not matter, now that you have a new FAmiLy?" The last two words are spat with a vehemence that would make Flora proud, and feels entirely foreign in his mouth. He's long since stopped listening to the rational side of his brain. He'd tried to make the smart plan work.

Time for dumb brute force.

"Not monsters?!" he bellows over Noe, unable to believe his ears. "They literally turn normal animals into weird toothy bullshit that makes you sick just by looking at it, No'!" He's breathing heavy now, ready to dig his heels in and keep arguing until she sees some goddammit sense.

And then she says she's been to Starfall, and Koa abruptly stills, muscles locking in electric tension underneath his skin. "You what?" Oh, he's angry - wrathful, even - but more than anger his voice quivers with unabated fear. Terror wraps around his heart in a vice-like grip, making his pulse stutter and snarl. No, no no no, she can't go there. If she goes to Starfall then he can't follow, can't keep her safe from the terror at their door.

Koa Carpenter

Wrap the blanket over you and keep your head within
Let your breath heat the air until you'd feel it getting thin