when you're feeling lost

HARPER

Consternation flees from her features as she turns, and Harper's smile is warm and inviting, happy to see that his presence alone can bolster her spirits somewhat. Not that Seren seems the type to want to wallow of course, though he idly notes the strain around the edges of her beautiful smile. It's a type of training he can't avoid, though he wishes to. There are things he would like to be able to ignore about the people around him. His empathy is a burden and a boon all in one, and he can't always stop himself from caring.

This is one such time, and he moves closer until they are shoulder to shoulder, taking in her odd choice of dress and carefully averting his eyes from the curve of her stomach to look instead into her eyes. "Do you want to share, or would you prefer to be distracted?" Leaving the choice in her hands, aware that sometimes you simply weren't ready to talk about the things that bothered you.

"It's part of my daily training routine," he admits sheepishly, hand brushing curls back out of his face and following the motion to shyly rub the nape of his neck. "I was a vigilante back home. Patrolling the streets at night, fighting crime, all that fun stuff. It's a good way to stay in shape, but it reminds me of home, and a little of my childhood too." It's a vulnerable admission, but Harper has never been the type to conceal his heart. His darker past, yes, but everything else was openly transparent and freely given.

if brokenness is a form of art
I must be a poster child prodigy