Morningside Cuesta different now; better than

somehow, the part about her mother didn't faze her. she supposed, as Grayday had said, her anger had simply burnt out. it was hard being angry at someone who you didn't really know, who even now was just a blurred dark face in her mind. really, it hadn't bothered her for weeks, not anymore. she simply had never gotten to love her biological mother, and her disappearance did little to the growing girl, save the absence of an important figure in her life, she never knew she needed...and likely didn't. 

when he got to the part about Adeline leaving, Dawn saw immediately similarities between her and her brother. she voiced this, adding in a murmur, "Like Sunny." she wondered how he had dealt with it, and fell silent, waiting. 

he'd killed someone. her gaze widened a fraction, disbelief obvious. her Da, a murderer? she shifted, the information coming to a shock to the girl, who simply could not picture her Da tearing away someone's life. he was the first she had heard of committing such an act, for the fact that some wolves might actually do thus had never really, truly, occurred to her. "You- you killed someone."  her voice was a hollow statement. Did he expect to simply drop that out there? " Who was it? What did they...did you-"  she broke off, for her Da was obviously not finished with the story, and while the information had unsettled her more than she cared to admit, she fell silent. 

he listed the other things he had done in his anger, his grief, and she was silent, watching in a kind of shocked stillness. her Da had killed someone. the information reverberated inside her skull, and she wasn't sure how to feel about it. he said they deserved it, but, her Da-

his question had her focused once more, mind attempting to make sense of what he was telling her. she thought she got the general gist of it, and yet felt unsettled. he hurt Adeline, with his selfish, bad love. he hurt her, and, she realised slowly as she tried to piece things together, " When Steady died...is that why she left?"  it made sense, as she had left shortly after. but one thing bothered Dawn, and she asked it then, without fear, for the question burned. "Do you think...you'll love someone with bad love again, Da?" the story had shaken her, shaken her like when her Da had been bitten. she didn't want the horrible things he had spoke of to occur again, and didn't know if she could...her gaze was solemn as she looked at him, still digesting the tale that seemed to make Da...a whole lot different.