& I'm still scared of losing

They were saved from their conundrum, or at least, Hazel could hope that they were. They... they kinda were? They were kinda saved? Maybe she'd gotten her bell rung a little bit, as she disentangled her limbs from Lis's. Damn his elbows were so sharp, but well, Hazel was used to it. She was pretty much always used to it. It's fine. She's fine. Stubborn may as well be her middle name. Really, the red and pale girl was as hard headed as they came. Independent as all hell (unless it was Bas helping.) (Even still, sometimes when it was Bas helping.)

Maybe someday one of them would realize how much Hazel really did need him, but that... well, those were complicated thoughts. Something about a coming of age story. Something about the weird nature of... them. Those were things that the yearling would ignore as they ricocheted around between her ears.

They had, after all, been roped into helping. She supposed they really had committed now, and dad wouldn't be too pleased if he heard that she'd wiggled her way out of helping Halo when she'd specifically asked. That and... well, maybe sometimes helping the little healer was fun. Even when it wasn't fun, Halo always seemed to have the best snacks. At the trauma specialist's request for help, Hazel looked to her best friend and shrugged. "Why not... maybe she'll feed us after," after the period of scarcity in a very formative period, Hazel had developed a rather odd relationship with food. Still, another thought for another day.

She strode out into the mid-afternoon sunlight, blinking hard against it. One look at Halo's face, and Hazel knew that she knew... but also the yearling was glad that she was playing it off. "Yeah, uh... okay so what are we doing at the lake?" Always curious, she crossed to pick up the bucket that was already full (of raccoon.) (One raccoon.) (One surprised, and then delighted raccoon.)

"Speech"