''Come home,'' Vixey pleaded to her son. ''Find somewhere closer to us, please, Loki.''
''No. How could I? I need to start moving off, to find my own place. Away from here. Away from the past.'' Loki turned, looking at Vixey. She was drenched, as would be the case in such heavy rain, but he couldn't bring himself to care that she - one of only two family members he truly cared for - had subjected herself to the elements.
''But your father-''
''He's not my father,'' Loki snapped coldly. ''He is the embodiment of everything I grew to hate. I was raised to hate and fear the hound, and he befriends one. I grew to despise those animals that sleep with men - do you not recall snatching an occasional kitten? - and I find out that not only was he one of them... I was born to be one of them. I was *bred* to be one of them.''
''Then what am I? Then what is Bae?'' Vixey responded quietly, looking very well hurt. ''What are we to you, Loki?''
He stared at her coldly. ''You very well know,'' he told her quietly, turning back to enter his den.
''Loki, you can't live alone out here forever,'' the quiet call from the mouth of the tunnel came, but Loki didn't listen. He simply laid down in the depths of his home, and to himself, he thought, 'But this is how I *will* live.'