Hearth is warm and smells like tea and socks. That is the trap.

You tell yourself plants are patient. GROVE tells you PAR is falling, then falling as a hobby. Imani does not drag you. Imani lets the clock be the adult.

On the hab screen, Leaf Hall is a dim green photograph of a better morning. LEDs sit idle because idle was your plan. The greens lean. Leaning becomes stretching. Stretching becomes pale.

You can still go back when the alarm gets rude. You can stay with the cup because the storm is weather, and weather is for waiting, and waiting feels like not making a mistake.

Not making a move is a move.

GROVE: “Canopy sugar-debt model: unkind.”