Postcards and Polaroids

The last to arrive, when he sat himself down his mother began speaking. This is when his ears flattened fully to his head, unable to stop the unease from showing. He didn't like this - not one bit. Not even a little bit. He couldn't make a decision - not yet! He stifled a whine that threatened to emerge, and he waited anxiously for his brothers to choose - and they did. One, by one, by one, they chose to follow their mother. Dragon perhaps had the most interesting reason - citing their father. The father they had never met and certainly was only by blood important; how would he know anything of their father? Why was it important? Kharnage's answer was simple, and then Gryphon responded, and Gryphon at least seemed to be as conflicted as he. Then, it was only him left, and he stayed silent for the longest time, looking down at his paws. He couldn't look at any of them - not Mother, not his brothers, and definitely not Cascade. To leave... to him, that seemed to be the biggest of sins. But to stay, that too was a sin in that he'd be abandoning his family. How could he decide between pack and family? How could she make him choose that? It doesn't matter that Imperium was quiet lately. It didn't matter that many were gone, Imperium still existed and he was still loyal to Imperium, and he had a mentor and... how could he choose?

The silence growing, and he could almost feel their gazes upon him. He was the last to decide. "I... do not know." His lack of a decision made him feel awful - from Dragon's words, which hinted that if he stayed behind then he was the scumbag their Mother mated with (for some reason he didn't understand), but to him, leaving was what would make him bad - betraying the trust, betraying the loyalty he swore.