Bastille was doing his best to pretend that temptation wasn’t eating him alive. The wash of his emotions returning and the sudden forceful detox from drugs had knocked him down several pegs, and god, did he hate himself for his hubris. He’d taken far too much comfort in the apathy, shielding him from his problems, and now he barely knew what to do with himself when he suddenly felt all of those problems again. He was half asleep half the time, still recovering from the toll of the other night, and shaking with withdrawal the other half. As it was, his sharper edge seemed to have dulled, trending back towards the more neutral state he’d first joined with.

He yawned as he heard Aali yelling his name, and wandered in her direction slowly. He might have felt tired just thinking about helping someone, but she was tiny and adorable and who was he to refuse her of whatever it was she needed? Bast would sooner pass out from exhaustion than ignore her, and so he was there a few moments later, blinking at her. ”Mm, yeah, Aali?”

Hazel wasn’t faring much better than Bastille in terms of exhaustion, having been dragged through his hell second-hand. She’d been alright for a day or so, then she was slammed back into something she couldn’t control. Now her head hurt and her eyes burned, but Aaliyah was calling Bastille and Hazel was looking for a distraction anyway.

The girl made her way up to the trio, taking a seat near Bastille without really thinking about it. He might be convinced that she was upset with him (the voice in her head was certainly trying to get her to that point), but she was just as tired as he was; she didn’t possess near enough energy to get angry. Of course, that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel the sense of being overwhelmed that just about dripped off him.

Forcing her head into the conversation, Hazel felt a small smile play across her lips. Aaliyah? As Seraph for the day? No doubt that would be...catastrophic on a number of different levels. But Hazel wanted to see it play out regardless, just because it sounded like fun and it might give Bastille a break.

“Sounds like her ambitions are reaching new levels,” Hazel purred. “I say do it. Aali seems like she would make a fine leader.” Which...wasn’t entirely true, but Hazel was excited to see the sort of fun and games the little girl would come up with. So long as Roy was her counsel, she had faith no surprise raid on Tanglewood would happen today.

★ — hazel — "speech" — eight months — the ascendants — tags — ★

Bastille cocked his head to the side as she muddled through her words, and found himself smirking in amusement as her request finally made itself clear. Little baby wanted to be Seraph, yeah? If she were older, he might have pointed out that it was a shitty job, but Bast had a weak spot for kids and he wasn't about to tell her that. "I don't know, Aali," he drawled slowly, gaze flickering up as he noted that others were joining them, "Sounds like a lot of work. You sure you want to do it all?" He offered her a crooked grin, momentarily looking away from her as others weighed in on the issue.

His gaze lingered briefly on Hazel -- she look nearly as tired as he felt, which he supposed made sense, but he couldn't help the flicker of guilt. His problems didn't need to be her problems, but after a moment he looked away, offering Gordon and Gen idle nods of greeting (with a slight roll of his eyes are her less than subtle joke). Turning his attention back to the little thing, he supplied, "Well, they all seem pretty convinced you can handle it, so if you're sure, it's all yours, kiddo."