Tal was neither saint nor priest nor poet, but there were times when he found the right words in spite of himself. What had happened to Hotaru in the Feverlands was a violation of her heart and memories that he couldn't begin to imagine, but he didn't need to in order to offer her what comfort and solace a warm, living body and loving heart could provide. He knew already in a distracted, distant part of his mind, that it would be many days and nights of rebuilding the intangible memorials to her lost ones after the Lamplighter had shattered the carefully-constructed tombstones in her soul. He would, he hoped, be there when she needed him, but for now all they could do was take things one day - one hour, one minute - at a time.
Lips quirked against her hair, the courier not even trying to protest his gruff concerns over such bright souls as Sohalia and Jude. Instead he gave a little nod of acknowledgment and simply listened, building a picture in his mind of the shy, sensitive young man she described. A creator, and an artist, and a heart that was, perhaps, too gentle at times.
"One of ours," he said with a quiet, prideful satisfaction at the discovery that Ru'in would have belonged to Halo just as Hotaru did. "In every way that counts." He shifted a little beneath her, just enough so that he could bend his arm more easily and stroke her fair hair in a slow, easy rhythm. "He an' Enzo sound like night'n day. Were there any things they had in common growin' up?" Traits inherited from their formidable mother, so brave and clever and lovingly wicked as she was... or simply mannerisms passed through the Kaito branch of their shared heritage.
Lips quirked against her hair, the courier not even trying to protest his gruff concerns over such bright souls as Sohalia and Jude. Instead he gave a little nod of acknowledgment and simply listened, building a picture in his mind of the shy, sensitive young man she described. A creator, and an artist, and a heart that was, perhaps, too gentle at times.
"One of ours," he said with a quiet, prideful satisfaction at the discovery that Ru'in would have belonged to Halo just as Hotaru did. "In every way that counts." He shifted a little beneath her, just enough so that he could bend his arm more easily and stroke her fair hair in a slow, easy rhythm. "He an' Enzo sound like night'n day. Were there any things they had in common growin' up?" Traits inherited from their formidable mother, so brave and clever and lovingly wicked as she was... or simply mannerisms passed through the Kaito branch of their shared heritage.
