The lesson with dad seemed to have stuck. Dread would repeat the stance, over and over. Whenever he had a moment of stillness, a moment where he wasn't moving or going or doing, he'd try it. It would become second nature. Was there a first nature? He'd take some time to think that over, too. Was there a second nature? Who would he even ask about that? Mom, probably. Dread would ask her later. At some point. Probably. Armed with the one thing dad had taught him so far, all Dread could do was practice. Now that he felt comfortable in the stance that Seer had shown him, he may as well test it out. There had to be a sibling around here somewhere. Someone that he could practice the whole defensive stance thing on... but who? It was daylight, he wasn't going to seek out Kite or Vanta. That wouldn't be fair, he couldn't do that to them. There was also the guilt that ate away at Dread when it came to Crux... no. Now wasn't the time for that either. A blond ball of fur catches his eye, not far off. Dread fixed his gaze on it, calling out to Stratum. "Come practice with me." It's a request, though Dread's tone probably doesn't leave much space for argument. He's a boy on a mission, after all.

To be perfectly clear, Stratum was doing absolutely nothing at the moment. Lounging wasn't even the proper term for what he was doing right now. Summer was here, and the stone was quite warm wherever the sun landed on it. So he was laying on his back on a ledge of dark stone at the mouth of a cave, with his belly up to the warm rays and an absurd amount of drool trickling from the tongue that lolled from his agape jaws. Not necessarily unconscious, but definitely not present on the earthly plane. How could he be? His belly was nice and warm. His back was somehow being kept cool where it touched the stone. This was perfection. Thus, when Dread very suddenly and without warning commanded that it was time for Stratum to "come practice with me", the boy yelped with surprise and flopped awkwardly onto his side. Blinking bleary, unfocused eyes on the larger boy, he waited for the cogs in his head to start turning again. Practice? But the floor was so nice... He hauled himself to his paws and toddled over to where Dread was already settling into a wide legged stance on the other side of the cave's mouth. "Wha?" he grunted, sniffling a little as the fogginess cleared from his head. "What're we practicing?" he called as he made his way over, staring dubiously at the very distinct way that his brother was standing as he waited for the ambling butterball to cross the remaining distance. "speech"