05-21-2010, 02:19 AM
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(681.)
King's dark tail twitched in pleasure at the approval, and the vaguest flicker of a smile enkindled itself on the boy's tawny facial features. He was blinded by his own (ill-placed) reverence of his Haku Soul—from early on he had found the dark mystique of the largely-absent father-figure far more interesting than the presence of his mother in most circumstances, and the fact that he had once been the all-powerful Rosen of the pack had not helped to deter this. What had started out as awe had festered in the youth's mind to something a little deeper, enough to where he viewed most of the members of the Dahlian pack as of now to be not nearly as worth his time. He had not spoken to many of them, instead wandering the territory alone as if in search of Haku. He knew he would not find him, but then again he was here now. This gave the puppy a shred of a feeling of victory—he had not been wrong to search, as he had found him in the end. He had won, yes, he had.
So when he looked at the grinning demon, he did not feel the twinge of his better judgement telling him to run. When he man turned and began to walk away, he did not notice the impulse that told him to turn and do the same. No, he followed his darker intuition and curiosity, following the man who had caused so much blood to be spilt while spilling so much himself.
King was struggling to keep up with him when he began to increase the pace, increasing his own paces to leaps and bounds to keep up with the chocolate-furred wolf in his Secui form. He didn't dare complain, though he was very thankful when Haku slowed his pace once more. The boy caught his breath, a dark ear flicking as he considered his father's questions. They were strange—why would he want to know? Then again, it may be interest in his son, as Conor and Emwe were as well. Yeah, that was probably the reason. "It's been boring, really. I mostly just explore, and try to hunt. I did meet a kid from Phoenix Valley, though, once. But, um... nothing much more besides that," he said in bursts of words as he fitted them in around his breaths. As for his half-brothers, "They're doing okay, I guess. Conor's been dealing with pack stuff, and I haven't heard much of anything from Emwe." Not that he really cared, but he tried to keep that opinion out of his tone. King's seething distaste for Conor and total lack of regard for Emwe was not usually a secret, but he felt nervous mentioning such things now.
Haku's final question sent that little feeling inside of him twisting again, making a part of him feel ill. Weak! he thought violently as he seized that feeling, imagining tearing into it and throwing it away. He did not need feelings like that, feelings that would make him weak like the rest of them. He was sure his father did not have feelings like that, and that was all the reason to destroy it. He considered a response as he trotted along, considering from all angles before finally just deciding to tell the truth. It wasn't as though King condoned murder just yet—he thought that the death of one usually meant his chances of living went up, but he was not quite to the point of giving the thumbs up to a massacre. But still, this was his father—his idol. If he killed someone, he must've had a good reason, right? Some people should... just die. "I'm not angry," he eventually said, which was truthful. Angry was not the right emotion—somewhat fearful, and morbidly curious was a little more close to the target. Why was he calm? Well, he truthfully believed that his father wouldn't do any harm to him. Perhaps a blissfully ignorant sentiment for anyone near Haku Soul, but it was as it was.