you bleed just to know you're alive

my darling can you hear it? something's lurking in the leaves
I can feel its preying eyes on us from somewhere in the trees

She isn’t expecting to be touched by anyone or anything, so high are her walls and so private are Halovians. As such she jumps when a light touch curls against the skin of her arm, red-rimmed mismatched eyes falling to gaze down at a small kitten composed of starlight and gleaming clouds. The soft mewl it gives pulls at her wretched heart, and she untangles her gripping fingers from her hair to offer her knuckles to it to sniff, uncertain if the kitten would have the same reactions as one made of fur and flesh.

So distracted is she - scatterbrained, her traitorous mind whispers - that her shoulders tighten anew at a young woman’s voice over her shoulder. The whites of her eyes are streaked with red, broken vessels, and dark smudges below her eyes steal attention away from her beauty in a blatant exclamation of her exhaustion and illness. Those eyes widen as they fall on Seren, surprised to see her even as she remains blissfully unaware of the girl’s involvement at the Slagveld that fateful night. Unsure what else she can possibly do, she gestures with a weak hand to the chair across the table from her own. “I’m not so sure you can promise that,” she whispers, and though her inherent grace never falters her voice is hoarse and thick with unshed tears.

my dear don't let it catch you - all that's left to do is run

Hotaru