If the way Aurus' look sharpened made Hakkyuu nervous or caused anything to tighten in his stomach than he sure as hell didn't let it show on his face. In fact, he firmed his expression further and clenched his jaw as he pushed his shoulders back slightly to meet Aurus' stare directly.

"Then don't act like me saying I physically changed overnight is trivial, because you might not be laughing, but you're also not taking it seriously."

He looked away then, glaring furiously off to the side and holding a tight fist at his side.

"I don't even know if Ebonhawke's still standing. I don't know if anyone's still alive. I don't know it--"

Something lurched in his gut and Hakkyuu snapped his mouth closed abruptly as a wave of something unpleasant and unfamiliar swept over him. He really wasn't used to feeling anything like anxiety or deep uncertainty that leant itself to almost despairing sorrow, but the realisation that he didn't know if Vrenille was alive or dead welled up in him like a spring as he bite down hard on something in his throat that felt suspiciously like it wanted to be a sob. He was absolutely not going to start crying in front of this massive fucking tree. No way, no how.