Ah. So Sunday is... That hurts. Their paw that isn't against the mirror trembles.
Chirithy has never lost anyone who isn't Mint, but - they can still think about Mint facing down who they thought at the time to be Master Ira, demanding answers about Ephemer, because it hurts - losing a friend. It hurts. And Chirithy remembers - he remembers - Mint trembling and shaking as people died around her - so many hearts scattered in the wind - Mint crying and reaching out for the hearts - and that hurt, too, it hurt, feeling like you failed, it hurt feeling like - it's not the same -
Chirithy shakes their little head. But then... Chirithy failed too, didn't they? In refusing to - in being unable to - convince Mint to stay out of the war, to join the Dandelions... That was a failure, and Mint almost died for it - and she didn't, and that's importnat, that she didn't, but -
Chirithy still knows what it's like to fail. To let someone down. He was the one who erased Mint's memories of the war. He was the one that let them go to war to begin with.
But... most importnatly for Federico, right now... Chirithy pulls itself away from the mirror and trots over to him, putting a paw on his back, not quite tall enough to reach his shoulder.
"I know what you mean... losing someone is scary, and... hard..." What else is there to say? NO, no, don't lose track. "But it's okay to cry, Federico. Crying lets you know that you're real - that you have a heart to cry with at all. When things are sad, or scary, crying can help us. It can help us feel things at all. It can help us heal."
That's what they would have told Mint, if Mint said something like that, about crying not fixing anything.
"Sometimes you just need to cry, and to feel," Chirithy says. "And that's okay. Sometimes your head is a little clearer after you cry - then it's easier to think."
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Ah. So Sunday is... That hurts. Their paw that isn't against the mirror trembles.
Chirithy has never lost anyone who isn't Mint, but - they can still think about Mint facing down who they thought at the time to be Master Ira, demanding answers about Ephemer, because it hurts - losing a friend. It hurts. And Chirithy remembers - he remembers - Mint trembling and shaking as people died around her - so many hearts scattered in the wind - Mint crying and reaching out for the hearts - and that hurt, too, it hurt, feeling like you failed, it hurt feeling like - it's not the same -
Chirithy shakes their little head. But then... Chirithy failed too, didn't they? In refusing to - in being unable to - convince Mint to stay out of the war, to join the Dandelions... That was a failure, and Mint almost died for it - and she didn't, and that's importnat, that she didn't, but -
Chirithy still knows what it's like to fail. To let someone down. He was the one who erased Mint's memories of the war. He was the one that let them go to war to begin with.
But... most importnatly for Federico, right now... Chirithy pulls itself away from the mirror and trots over to him, putting a paw on his back, not quite tall enough to reach his shoulder.
"I know what you mean... losing someone is scary, and... hard..." What else is there to say? NO, no, don't lose track. "But it's okay to cry, Federico. Crying lets you know that you're real - that you have a heart to cry with at all. When things are sad, or scary, crying can help us. It can help us feel things at all. It can help us heal."
That's what they would have told Mint, if Mint said something like that, about crying not fixing anything.
"Sometimes you just need to cry, and to feel," Chirithy says. "And that's okay. Sometimes your head is a little clearer after you cry - then it's easier to think."