[Painwheel doesn't really notice the pinkening of his complexion, since she's still kind of idly futzing with the sand. she smiles a little at her feet, which pigeon inwards, and she closes her eyes.]
That's just how it feels. Friendship can be the greatest feeling in the world, I think.
[and sadly, somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembers a girl with long, blond hair—then a girl just like her, who doesn't remember Painwheel, that pretty blond hair all eaten up by a black mass with teeth and eyes.]