Broken Boulder if there were any more left of me, i'd give it to you

Alarian's self-esteem was ever-fluctuating; often he made reasons within his own mind for it to plummet again, but the smallest things soothed these self-inflicted hurts. His brother's arrival was one such thing. At once his imagined feelings of being unwanted dissipated, and he couldn't resist touching his nose briefly to Zamael's leg. Sometimes it still didn't really feel real, honestly.
He considered the question for a moment, briefly pleased with his brother's comments on Paradise Garden. Dead, He decided, tone slightly wry; he meant it, though. Lately he felt like a walking corpse, and it was entirely his own fault. I ate something though, so... less dead than usual. How are you? His eyes lit slightly with curiosity, obviously expecting a better answer than the one he had given.