Demon's Genesis

Chapter 6

"No, no, no, no! Not like that!"

I growled as my mother's harsh tone erupted from behind me. Every single thing I do wrong, she just has to point out, doesn't she?

I heard her pawsteps as she approached me. "What am I doing wrong this time?" My tail lashed as I snapped a reply. I was annoyed from being yelled at yet again for doing something wrong, even in the slightest way.

She glared at me. Her eyes were cold and her mouth was hanging slightly open as if she were about to make a sharp retort. I mentally graced myself for the harsh words, but they never came. Instead, she just shook her head. The dust that was clinging to her thick coat flew off, clouding the air in a momentary haze. My nose itched suddenly and then several sneezes exploded from my muzzle.

"Would you mind not sneezing right in my face, son?" I opened my eyes that had automatically scrunched up to be met with my mothers' usual disapproving expression, her ears pinned to her skull. "I don't want to fall ill because of your diseases."

Glaring in response, I chose to ignore that last comment. Instead, I observed her for movement as she swiftly scoured the clearing for a ripe berry; her eyes sifted side to side through the bushes with such accuracy and precision I was almost impressed. Upon finding one, she made a short mew of satisfaction and reached out to hold the stalk in the curve of a single claw with a delicacy I'd thought she was incapable of demonstrating.

"You're just picking the berries off without the stalk, Lloyd. it'll spoil faster if you do that." She spared a glance from her operation to make sure I was listening to her.

I rolled my eyes. It's not like they're gonna last longer that a couple days, with me around. Hell, they might not even last till tomorrow.

I debated whether or not to ignore her and decided against it, coming to the realisation that preserving the berries could be more useful in the summer when berries were less plentiful and spoiled more easily.

"Watch closely." She moved the same claw on the opposite paw so it lay gracefully on top of the berry stem, right next to the claw that was holding it in the first place. Then with one swift motion, she brought her claws together, snapping the stem so that there were only a few strings of fibre clinging to the ripped off stem.

"Like so."

I snorted, trying to mask my admiration with uninterest. "It's not that impressive. I reckon I could do it easily if I tried to."

Rather than snapping at me to watch my tone, she grinned mischievously. Was that amusement in her unusually soft gaze? What's going on?

"Go on then. Show me how it's done."

"Alright then, I will." My sharply-spoken words were all bark and no bite. Mother could see that just as well as I could. Still, she chose to sit back with her tail wrapped tightly over her toes and watch me with a lazy expression. Whether she was doing it out of amusement or the pure satisfaction of catching me off-guard I would probably never know.

Swallowing the lump of regret that had formed in my throat, I strode over to the bush opposite the one she had just picked from in hopes of finding a bigger berry then she found. I glanced back to see her watching me calmly, and I could almost feel the glee in her expression as she watched my every move.

Abort, abort! This bloody mission has already failed. Urigi curses on my stupid pride.

Still determined to prove that I could do better and impress her, I scoured the thick bush for a well-sized berry and upon finding one around the size of my paw pad, I sent a silent prayer of thanks to the probably non-existent gods.

Closing my eyes, I exhaled slowly, trying to calm myself. I attempted to replay how she had picked the berry in my head. So I just hook it under my claw like this..? As delicately as my shaking paw could manage, I slipped my claw under the large berry. Then I have to snap it somehow? Using my opposite paw I placed my claw on top of the stalk, 3..2..1.. go!

Splat.

The fat berry burst all over my paws.

Overripe. How embarrassing.

I placed my paws on the ground and they made a disgusting squelching sound.

And sticky... apparently.

I heard a soft chuckle sound from behind me and spun around to see mother grinning at the mess I'd made of myself. My ear tips grew hot and when we made eye contact she burst out laughing, but strangely enough, it wasn't the cold, forced laugh she usually used. Instead, it was a cheery, warm chuckle. I should've felt embarrassed, or defeated but I didn't. She wasn't laughing at me; she was laughing at my amateur mistake of picking the wrong berry, a mistake any beginner could've made.

A sly grin crept onto my face and scooping up as much berry slop as I could, I bunched up my muscles— praying to the gods that the push of three paws would be enough— and leapt at her.

My powerful young muscles sprung into action and in a split second I had launched myself across the clearing and toppled onto my mother, the hunk of rotten berry still in my paw.

She rotated her head until we were making eye contact and before she had the chance to open her mouth and start questioning, I had used my paw to smother her muzzle in rotten berry.

"How'd you like that mother?"

I chirped, amusement saturating my tone.

What a sight to see, my stubborn, strict mother completely helpless underneath my weight, her muzzle scrunched up in disgust at the sickly-smelling bright purple goo covering it.

I wheezed in amusement, rolling off of her to collapse into a chortling heap on the ground, whacking my paw against the dusty earth repeatedly as if attempting to share my glee with the dirt.

I felt a soft tap on my shoulder and stretching my head around to be met with the unimpressed expression of none other than my mother.

Oh, Thexa.

I was mentally preparing a crappy sentence to defend myself, like, "Oh, sorry mother, the berry just told me I really yearned to be close to you, so who am I to crush it with the truth?!"

Oops, that one's a bit too literal.

I met her gaze with a lump of regret balling up in my throat and then the most unexpected thing happened, her eyes softened and she held out a paw offering to help me up with a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"That was a good leap, Lloyd." she complimented in a soft tone as I took her helping paw and she heaved me to my feet.

A strange mix of shock and pride pulsed through my veins and I blinked at her, not bothering to conceal the surprise in my gaze.

"Thank you?"

She dipped her head in reply, and then glanced over at the bush I had made a mess of before looking back to me.

"Come," she guided me over to a different bush, and with her tail on my shoulder and warmth in her gaze, she glimpsed back at me with an emotion foreign to her gaze—affection.

"Let's find a good berry, and I'll show you how to do it the proper way."

YEPO ITS BEEN A CENTURY SINCE I UPDATED SO LETS HAVE A NICE FLUFFY CHAPTER

y'all are gonna need it to prepare for whats coming

i mean what

Word count: 1277