for personal ref. timing this to before dawn x adi
she answered her brother's summons silently, appearing before him haggard and worn. the night had been chaos; comforting Cat, looking after the young and the shell-shocked den mother, her own trip outside the borders to finally lament her grief, and Shale, and then Kasatka and the young again. the constant activity and exhaustion made the day even more unreal, and her head hung low on her shoulders as she finally sought out her brother and made her way towards him, mind too clouded to consider just why he'd called. 

she sought to come to terms with the anger, the challenge, and approached the last few yards with extra effort to bring her head up and seek out the angry gaze that suddenly seemed so familiar.

her brother erupted, and she felt only emptiness. "I can't always baby you, Sunny. I have enough to deal with without you feeling slighted." her gaze was hollow as she stared him down, turning her shoulder and making as if to move past him. surely there were more packmates to check on, more she could do to feed the grief that encircled her so, that didn't involve this. not here, not now.

he erupted again, and only tiredness had her listen to him, allow him to continue. finally, he stopped, and for a moment she pulled together enough thought and emotion to finally speak. "they do not need to learn about death while their uncle goes mad and their mother is in shock. they do not need you to preach about death while their uncle wonders when da will wake up." she snapped, then, fangs snapping close in front of his face, the wolfish equivalent of a slap. "I don't have time to mourn, Sunny. we can't all fall apart, or else we'd all end up like Shale." She was dangerously close to doing just that, however, yet forced her tail to curl high and her hollow gaze to glint with anger as she surveyed her brother.

he was a child. how could he possibly play "who's better" in the wake of what had happened, when he had seen himself what grief had driven their uncle to do? her gaze shuttered a moment, and she gathered the strength to offer him an ultimatum that she hoped would put an end to this, to his words, when his fangs landed in her tail. pain lanced through the grief, sharp and sudden, and a rasping breath left her as yet another thing snapped in her chest. 

she spun, slow and painfully, her tail ripping away from his jaws in a mess of blood and fur. she shouldered him roughly, hoping to push him off and away and succeeding.

she didn't want to fight, didn't want to do anything more than sleep. but Sunny circled her like an animal, until again he struck and drove her to the ground. she hit the earth dully, joints twisting painfully as she sought to twist back, to push him off her, and failed. her fangs only served to rip into her scruff, and she gasped, subdued and delayed, as again she tried to surge upward, only to come to an abrupt stop when she met the larger mass of her brother.

"enough" the word was raspy, broken yet firm. the metallic scent of blood met her nose, and it was only a beat later that she realized that it had to be coming from one of the two; likely herself. she surged upward, twisting to face him, the hollowness becoming hard a moment. "you need to leave, Sunny." faltering, raspy. she tried again. "you need to leave, and come back when you are more than a child." she moved, stiffening, wishing she was far away from here. 

"I need you, Sunny. I need you to be better than this." her breath hitched once, but she stood firm, hunching her shoulders in the quite probable possibility that he launch another attack.

she wanted to open her mouth, to argue. but it was unfair, and tiring, and she let him bolt into the night. she did not wait until he was out of sight before crumbling in on herself, curling tight and grateful, for once, that she felt little more than a husk.