This is the long forgotten light at the end of the world
What he said both confirmed and expanded upon what Sah had said. What her father had asked of her. It was good, in confirming that it wasn't simply spouted nonsense or overprotectiveness - but Seren didn't much like hearing it anyway.
Mulling silently over the implications, she blinked in surprise when the hair tie was offered. She thought to decline it - but thought better of it, and accepted the elastic. Tying her hair back into a loose bun was swift and efficient, motions repeated a thousand times over; she listened while moving her hands, and had to smile at the quiet optimism he displayed at the end. Or was it simply habit, like her smiles? "It must be lonely," she murmured softly. Compassionate of his melancholy even in the midst of her own crisis; it was so much easier to concern herself with his troubles than look at her own for too long.
But his confessions all but demanded some sort of response from her, so Seren obliged.
"I have been entrusted with a lot of secrets, lately," she offered after some thought. If she couldn't talk about them, then maybe she could do as he suggested - share what she felt about it. "Big and heavy secrets, that I asked to hear while claming that it wouldn't bother me at all. But... they do. And I'm being warned against trusting people, and answering questions, and I just...!" She had to break off and breathe, to combat the tension that wanted to build up. It would bring tears if she let it, and crying wouldn't solve anything. "Nothing is simple anymore. I just want to enjoy my life, but it's hard when so many of my friends are in pain. And there is nothing I can do about it."
Seren wished that she could do as Harper, and turn her rant into a joke at the end. But her chest was aching too much. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. Maybe break something - the colors of the world beneath were grating on her eyes.
Mulling silently over the implications, she blinked in surprise when the hair tie was offered. She thought to decline it - but thought better of it, and accepted the elastic. Tying her hair back into a loose bun was swift and efficient, motions repeated a thousand times over; she listened while moving her hands, and had to smile at the quiet optimism he displayed at the end. Or was it simply habit, like her smiles? "It must be lonely," she murmured softly. Compassionate of his melancholy even in the midst of her own crisis; it was so much easier to concern herself with his troubles than look at her own for too long.
But his confessions all but demanded some sort of response from her, so Seren obliged.
"I have been entrusted with a lot of secrets, lately," she offered after some thought. If she couldn't talk about them, then maybe she could do as he suggested - share what she felt about it. "Big and heavy secrets, that I asked to hear while claming that it wouldn't bother me at all. But... they do. And I'm being warned against trusting people, and answering questions, and I just...!" She had to break off and breathe, to combat the tension that wanted to build up. It would bring tears if she let it, and crying wouldn't solve anything. "Nothing is simple anymore. I just want to enjoy my life, but it's hard when so many of my friends are in pain. And there is nothing I can do about it."
Seren wished that she could do as Harper, and turn her rant into a joke at the end. But her chest was aching too much. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. Maybe break something - the colors of the world beneath were grating on her eyes.
Seren
