See you on the Malibu beach

Dread squared his shoulders, set his jaw. His eyes narrowed. Hackles up. There is hurt in the boy, deep, long lasting hurt. "I'm not fighting your war." The words are spoken, maybe as a plea, ears pinning back against the boy's skull. Standing up to his father feels strange, but maybe it's empowering too. Maybe. He looks Sirius in the eye now, expression drawn and serious. He'd always been a serious child, the most severe of his siblings. As Dread is about to open his mouth and make his choice, someone else arrives. The words from moments ago die on his lips.

Scald. A diplomat, Deluge's brother. Dread's expression remained hard drawn, listening as the boy speaks. As the boy outs him, for the conversation he's had with Gilgamesh himself. Shit. At this point, it was a bell that couldn't be un-rung. Though his heart pounded in his chest, the boy looks at his father. He looks, and for perhaps the first time, he sees him. The Warlord looked... old. A man who had fought, who had won, who had loved, who had lost. A man that had spread his legacy through this place, and who wore its scars. There's something awful about seeing your father not as your father, but as a man. Dread has lived a relatively sheltered existence, having been shielded from that view up until now.

"You don't get it. You never will-- I'm not making requests anymore. I'm telling you," his voice wants to crack, but Dread swallowed hard. "I'm not turning my back on my whole family. Just on you." There are too many emotions in his system. The yearling is overwhelmed. Grief that he's never processed, things that he's never given heed to, things that he's felt he couldn't... it all bubbles to the surface. It hurts. Though Dread feels like he's going to throw up, he'd fight to keep it together for as long as his father could see him.

With grief blooming in his chest, Dread turned away from his father. He'd been offered the chance to take control of his own destiny. Maybe it was the wrong choice, but he wouldn't let anyone see him second guess himself. Not now. There were too many emotions he didn't know how to process, too many feelings involved. Dread would make the choice to walk away.

"speech"