ORIGIN

Brother let out a long-suffering sigh as its boo-boos were tended to, like a dog slumped on the sofa, sighing when it truly had no worries in the world.

Magic? No. It didn't have magic. It could just do cool things because it was big and strong like that. Its slitted pupils shifted to gaze up at Howlite-thing. It supposed she didn't have a sore head, though. But it didn't need magic! The pain was how it knew it was doing things HARD and STRONGLY. Yes!

Did it have another trick it could show her? One to prove it was HARD and STRONG? Oh! It knew one, it wasn't very strong but it was good for hunting...

...It focused really hard on Howlite-thing and how it could show her that it was also strong.

At its neck, one of its boiled-egg-looking markings began to shift and take on new colours. Blobs of colour shifted and moved as new colours bubbled to the surface. Pink, brown, white all slowly blobbed up through the blues and yellows. Then slowly shifted into place.

A childish rendition of Howlite's smile. An alarmingly clown ham-esque portrait of the friend it had thought so hard about while performing the spell, smiling back up at its twin.

Brother stared blankly at Howlite, the praise seemingly going into one ear, through that empty skull, and straight out the other. Elements? Magic? What was she talking about? He could just simply, do that. It wasn't magic, it was him.

Perhaps she needed magic to do her bone tricks, was she upset that she needed magic to move it? Is that why she needed more to impress this Seeing Over? It was a lot to think about, which he would not be doing. And thus, ideas of magic were promptly scoured from his head.

"Task Force?" Brother grunted, it was the tilt of his head that framed the blunt words as a question opposed to his tone. He was good at force. Force crushed rocks and bones. He was very good at that. So the idea there was a task for this, it was down right intriguing. Certainly enough for Brother to voice, which said a lot considering the spinosaurus seemed to operate on a strict 'no more than two words a week' policy.

The beast shook out his hide and as his concentration slipped elsewhere, so did clownham Howlite. Gone from his hide once more.

Brother churred as Howlite talked on. Magic, task force, using muscle? He was good at using muscle too. He watched Howlite pounce on her stone. Then, moved to mirror her actions. Pouncing on a pile of bones, striking them to send them all skittering in all directions. Relishing the destruction and surge of adrenaline.

It put him in such a delightful mood that he decided he could spare Howlite a few more words. "Who teaches?"

He didn't know much about teachers; was it not enough to watch others? The life around them and learn from that? Did this magic require more than to see and do? Brother puffed; this was all such a headache, so he simply chose not to think about it any further and just keep his ears out for Howlite-thing's answer.

...Magic? Muscle stuff? That didn't seem right. He could simply do the things he did. It wasn't an outside influence; he was just THE ULTIMATE HUNTER. It was all him. Not magic. He was just this good.

Perhaps others needed to be taught, needed to be shown how to do things, or needed the crutch of magic to hold on to. But NOT him. He could just do these things. "Already know thing." Brother snorted derisively.

Then, with a deep focus, Brother scowled before his skin began to change colour in a wave. Starting from the tip of his snout, scales folded over, as if 'turning over' onto this new colour, until it reached his tail tip. Brother stood before Howlite, an ivory-yellow, matching the colours of the bone caves around them. Ah, yes, that was more like it. Now the Howlite-thing would see he was simply This Good.

"I help. I follow." Brother announced, less of an offer and more of a demand. Ready to paddle after Howlite whether that was to settle for a nap or move on to another place.