She greets him, but he finds himself unable to look her in the eye. It will be easier for her to tell him the truth if he isn't staring at her like a hopeless lost puppy, and when she speaks again he winces in anticipation of words that will hurt. Of course I don't, brother. He is power; you are safety. He is more than you could ever be. They are close, the twins, of course, but the young titan thinks it is only he who is so obsessed by her, that the feeling is not mutual and she sees him as naught more than an irritance. But she reassures him, and he allows himself to hope, to believe. "Oi," he says to her jibe, but it's half-hearted. She still loves him. That is all that matters.

He never should have doubted her. They are one.

He looks back to the dragon, haggard breath returning to normal now he feels somewhat safe in the knowledge that his sweet sister has the ability to share herself between the black beasts in her life. The limp obsidian rag doesn't look much like the fire-breathing deathbringer that it will become, but there's no doubting it is still rather magnificent. He, he scolds himself, not it. "What have you named him?" Delicately, tenderly, he leans down towards the hatchling - having not seen him shred Nymeria's nare with his prickly young claws - and flares his nostrils to inhale the scent of him, scale and iron and birth and sister. The same air leaves his nose in a gentle huff, a greeting to the little creature that he is going to force himself to love because he is family now. He is part of Nymeria's mind, part of her being. He has been introduced to their own little herd, the herd ruled by Confutatis and populated by Volterra, Nymeria and, of course, Mongrel. He wonders how the black will get along with mother's mutt, wonders how mother will take to the creature so embedded in her daughter's mind. Will she see Volterra as a failure for not having yet obtained an egg for himself?

He looks over to his sister, eyes narrowed to scrutinise her as though he can see the barbs of a bond forming inside her mind. "Is he inside your head yet?" Forcing his way in like a rough lover, paying no heed to the barriers that stand in the way. He hopes it doesn't hurt - he would hate to have to stomp on the dragon for harming his sibling, however unintentionally.