Meadowlark Prairie Broad-Shouldered Beasts

It was indeed Sebastian. He had the same face, the same blue eyes, the same Rochester dots they both had. In the back of his mind, deep down, Nat knew, the moment he caught the scent, the moment he saw the greyscale form, that it had to be him. But he had to make sure, he had to be 100% sure because he had been let down too many times; way too many to count. Even if he'd kind of shut down the 'moral' and 'good' part of him, he still had his emotions and whether he liked it or not, he still cared, he still loved, he still felt. And the sinking, choking, bitter feeling of disappointment was not something he would like to feel again.

And Nat didn't. Sebastian stopped and gasped out his name, his tail started wagging madly and Nathaniel resisted the urge to smile; he remained steadfastly stoic, not really sure how to react now that he had somehow found his brother. Was he supposed to ask how everything was, if he had been successful on his manhunt for Burke. Was he supposed to express his happiness, or keep stoic as he always did. Emotions and emotions. Confusion. Awkwardly, Nat gave Seb a gentle nudge on his cheek when the younger of the two began excitedly greeting him.

"Yes. You've been licking me all over, surely you realise I'm solid. No ghost or mirage is solid," Nathaniel deadpanned in reply to Sebastian's no-brainer question. Then obviously, his sentimental brother had to make things all the more awkward for his emotionally stunted littermate. The words, 'I miss you' rang through his head and he stiffened before forcing himself to relax and moving his head into a nod. "I'll be surprised if you didn't. I am a great brother after all," Nathaniel said with a straight face, looking pointedly at Seb. "How have you been?"