i chose violence

It was taking admittedly longer than he was happy about, but he could feel himself slowly losing the fatigue that had forced him to flop over so suddenly on the warm stone. A very cruel part of him was relieved that Ichor was such a tiny thing, because the longer it took him to get up there, the longer he would have to pretend like he wasn't completely winded by the climb. When he saw the dark tips of his twin's ears, and then the pale fluff of his inner ear peeking out from behind the rocks as the other boy continued his ascent, he rolled up and awkwardly onto one hip. From there, he had a better vantage from which to watch his smallest sibling leap and bound his way up the rocky terrain. What Ichor lacked in physical power he already made up for in drive and determination, he was scaling the dangerous slopes like a mountain goat.

They were reunited on the same cluster of jagged boulders, the volcanic rock warm beneath their pallid paws. He flashed a toothy grin at his brother, and watched him keenly scan the surrounding areas. And there it was, something up here on the slopes of the volcano that would occupy their time in the early evening of the strange, unending night. Odd eyes followed the direction of his brother's outstretched paw, and caught sight of a bright spot of colour amidst the drabness of the terrain. Glowing brightly against the swirling fog and darkness of the night around them, mimicking the small lava floes that cropped up intermittently. Heaving himself to his paws, the boy made a beeline for the strange cluster of translucent stones, and as he drew closer he found himself staring with rapt fascination. Each edge was impossibly clean, smooth on each side with that sharp, even angle all tapering into a point. These ones were special, somehow. What made them different from the others? Their warm hues were such a deviation from the cool blues and purples he was accustomed to, as if these crystals had leeched their colouration directly from the free flowing magma that littered the face of the volcano. Were they tapped into a vein of molten rock, slowly siphoning off its energy to feed their growth?

"They're so pretty, Ich." he murmured, the softness of his voice betraying his hesitation to even utter the words. After all, the crystals seemed to be making their mama sick, so could they even really be beautiful? To gaze at them sent strange buzzing sounds echoing through his skull, nearly drowning out the rhythm of his beating heart as it quickened with exhilaration. "Don't you think so?" he questioned, tearing mismatched gaze from the splendour before him to gauge his brother's reaction.

""