Of the many things Darkling has not yet come to understand in his youth, friendship is perhaps one of the more perplexing. Unlike most children his age, he had not felt a particularly strong need to seek the approval of peers in the form of friendship. And so Ghaul’s questioning statement is as equally foreign to Darkling as his refusal is to Ghaul.
Without a solid understanding for the parameters of this supposed friendship, he is not at all certain what it might entail. In a way, his insistence that they play a game is his rather inept way of determining those boundaries.
Of course, Darkling had always had trouble boundaries, so perhaps it doesn’t matter anyway.
In the same way that Ghaul demonstrates his uncertainty in the clicking of his nails and shuffling of his wings, Darkling unconsciously displays the same in the unnecessary flicking of his tail. Ghaul’s words however, draw a wary expression to Darkling’s features, and he eyes his brother curiously, wondering just what sort of “friends” he had been making.
Unable to help himself, Darkling almost immediately snips in return, “Are they truly your friends then?” He pauses briefly, gaze narrowing speculatively. “Or did they just tell you that as a way to control you?”
In those few words is perhaps the real reason Darkling has no true concept of friendship. After all, such a thing requires a certain amount of trust he struggles to summon. Still, he doesn’t truly expect an answer to his riddles.
Suddenly, a grin tugging at his lips, he continues, “A fun game, I promise.”
you're burning up the sky, you're a constellation
I think that I could die for this revelation