Brotherly Love

Her words hit him like a blow to the back of the head. He dug his claws into the soil and squeezed his eyes shut. Nothing made sense. He was so confused, and there was something in him that told him he ought to lash out and hurt things and make Ganja cry. That was the color of his soul, and he wanted to embrace it, nourish it, let it grow. So why did he want to crack his skull open with a rock and pry that nasty little evil thing out... and... set it on fire, or something? On top of it all, now he was embarrassed for asking such a dumb thing, for acting weak in front of Ganja. Oh gods, what if she told Mother?! His legs began to shake and the child felt as if he was going to cry.

There she was, Dione was in his mind, trying to teach him and show him how he was supposed to be, but he was being stupid. He growled with all the severity his six month old vocals could muster and whirled around, lashing out violently at a tree. His claws caught in the bark and tugged painfully, his pad scraped and scratched and he felt the sting as it started to bleed. Why couldn't his stupid brain just make up it's damned mind! "This is stupid! I don't know what to do!" He collapsed down onto his rump, favoring his left paw, letting it dangle just above the soil. "My brain wants me to hurt things and Mother wants me to hurt things, but..." Her growled again, at Ganja this time, somehow desperate to prove that he wasn't weak... He was dangerous, right? And she ought to be afraid of him! But instead of biting or lashing out or savaging her he began to cry.