Tal nodded in agreement, a wry, rueful smile on his lips. It was a Kaito family trait, apparently, to bully the awkward courier - never letting him get too proud or full of himself without a little helpful prodding to keep his ego in check.
The smile faded as he wrapped his arms a little more securely around Hotaru, continuing to stroke her hair as she spoke of the last time she'd seen her son. All the legends of Mort and his Halls claimed that they were a place of happiness and comfort, and that the god was endlessly kind and welcoming, but to hear someone who had actually met with that god and spoken to one who existed in that place brought faith out of the realms of the abstract and into the light of reality for Tal. His hand slowed, the courier awed and wistful as she described that meeting and Enzo's last words to her.
"Well," he said slowly, trying to find the right words for the feelings that swirled in complicated whorls within his heart. Memories of the months and years after first his father and then later his mother had passed. Wanting so desperately not to say the wrong thing in these moments of trust and vulnerability. "What's it mean to you? The difference, I mean. Between... between livin' an'... an' just survivin'?"
The smile faded as he wrapped his arms a little more securely around Hotaru, continuing to stroke her hair as she spoke of the last time she'd seen her son. All the legends of Mort and his Halls claimed that they were a place of happiness and comfort, and that the god was endlessly kind and welcoming, but to hear someone who had actually met with that god and spoken to one who existed in that place brought faith out of the realms of the abstract and into the light of reality for Tal. His hand slowed, the courier awed and wistful as she described that meeting and Enzo's last words to her.
"Well," he said slowly, trying to find the right words for the feelings that swirled in complicated whorls within his heart. Memories of the months and years after first his father and then later his mother had passed. Wanting so desperately not to say the wrong thing in these moments of trust and vulnerability. "What's it mean to you? The difference, I mean. Between... between livin' an'... an' just survivin'?"
