[se] we can't go on together

Hotaru

Somewhere my lifeline still hums and sings
In the mess of all I have thrown away

Hotaru muffles her laugh into her arm wrapped around his neck as he pulls her straight off her feet in a whirl of jubilation, squeezing tightly in return. He smells just as she remembers, and his body is warm and solid in her grasp, reassuring all her senses at once of his wholeness.

He remains close even as he sets her down, which is a relief as her own hands stay poised on his shoulders, fingers slightly curled into his clothing as if preparing to tug him back by them should he try and disappear again. Joy fades at the edges at his question, the duffel bag across her body a heavy reminder of all he has missed and all she has to inform him of - but at least she can answer honestly as to how she is faring.

"Better than I have been in years," she admits, smile unburdened and a glow beneath her skin that had been absent since even before the war. Glancing down at the kite he'd ended up with - now a little crumpled and in need of repairs - Hotaru hums and quickly concocts a way to sneak him off away from the crowd. "I can make one for myself and we can catch up while we fly those?" There's so much she wants to ask, even more that she wants to share, but she wants Noah to herself for a moment while she does.

Hungry now,
I am gathering new seeds to throw wide