claws rut the jungle blood . Power discovery

[METEOR]

“Not a family trait.” The autumn wind snatched Quasar’s soft voice, and the young apprentice nearly bristled at his own quietness. An itch crackled in his chest, thrumming in his paws, bushing up his tail’s fur. Vaas’s tone and behavior scared him in a way the boy never saw—not from Vaas, anyway.

His yellow ears, pinned against his head, twitched. Had he… heard Vaas admit to familicide? No matter how Quasar wished to the contrary, he understood. Oh, how he understood. After his parents died and Rhinestonestar stepped up to father him and his brother, both of their lives improved so dramatically. Everyday was a new breathe of fresh air. Each act of kindness released an inhale he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

Quasar looked at Vaas, his blue eyes shining with empathy and… loathing. The pup would’ve grown up to murder his father, if the beast of a man hadn’t died by rats’ claws instead. He knew this. But he hated knowing this disgusting fact about himself; he hated how quickly he took to violence. When he looked on Vaas now, he saw the person he would’ve been forced to become, if luck hadn’t struck the right animal down for him.

“Power isn’t a family trait, whether mental or magical,” he repeated, louder and clearer. “I won’t believe that. How else would a son surpass the father? It’s a lie used by the old to control the next generation. So many traditions and platitudes are force-fed into children while they are still young enough not to question it, so they will propagate the fucked up system well past the point when they would otherwise shake off such bullshit.”

He exhaled. And shivered, in the cold, but made no move to stand closer to any of the adults. The crackling in his chest became a roaring buzz in his ears, and the canine shook his head, desperate to clear the static, but the sounds only increased in volume. Quasar grimaced, gritting his teeth so hard his jaw popped, and snapped his glare from Vaas to Rhinestonestar and back to Vaas.

“Do what you like with your water. But don’t tell me it’s a gift—or curse—from your bloodline.”

[sub][W]isker[/sub]