Phoenix Maplewood Last Man Standing

It was a nice, if brisk, spring day, and Saena was in a less stormy mood than she had been of late. Her inability to sleep soundly at night, compounded with the sudden alarming return of her hallucinations, left her bereft of energy and struggling to get through each day without a meltdown. The ghosts were no longer merely animals, but morphed into images of Reek and Tavi, or Tavi with happy babies, or Reek sneering at her, which was the first clue Saena had ever had that they weren't truly ghosts. They were part of her mind, somehow, though she lacked the ability to fathom hallucinations and therefore assumed her nightmares had become reality.

The lack of sleep had mellowed her somewhat, however, and as she wandered blankly through the woods she called home, it was without her usual haughty dignity and fiery temper. If anything, she seemed defeated, yet somehow less volatile than days previous. She was able to walk with head lifted above her shoulders, if just, in a faint semblance of her usual pride. When she spotted Esaro wandering as aimlessly as she, Saena did her best to perk up, but no doubt she looked haunted with her eyes sunken in from fatigue.

Nevertheless, she approached amiably and attempted to sound upbeat when she said, "hey, Esaro," although she fell rather short of her mark on the tone, which ended up sounding more tired than anything.

This looked lonesome!