"Are you sure...?"

"...No."

Stepping through the threshold, Shion took a deep breath. It had been so long...so long since he'd had a proper conversation with his father. Matter of fact, he didn't recall a time when they'd ever even spoken more than a few words, he was always pulled away, or his father was somehow spooked off. But he had decided, here and now, that he would speak to the man he'd been taught to fear and loathe.

"...Hello...? Sadiki...er....Dad?" He called out hesitantly, keeping himself close to the walls. He didn't know what the man would do with him showing up unexpectedly, and he certainly didn't want to stay if he wasn't even here.

"Yes...?" A voice came seemingly from both everywhere and nowhere. Like silk, so soothing and yet it made Shion's hair bristle at the back of his neck. "What is it, dear Shion~?"

"Can...can you talk?" Shion's voice was wavering. He was so nervous, he wanted to bolt out of there as quickly as possible.

Before he could, however, he was suddenly scooped up. Sadiki had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and picked up his son with a grin that would make most people run for their lives. His wing-like tendrils curled around to wrap around the small boy, and he cooed softly.

"I can always talk...And I suppose you have questions~?"

"I...I have some..." Shion admitted.

"You are the first to ask...shame." Sadiki sighed wistfully. "At least you might be able to get my grandbabies to not fall for Kei's lies...?"

"...Lies?" Shion asked, his eyes going wide. He had doubted Kei always telling the truth about how awful Sadiki was, but lies?

"Yes. Unfortunate." Sadiki carried Shion with him deeper into the home. "Where shall we start?"

All too quickly, Shion became utterly comfortable in the man's arms. He was right, something had been amiss, and now he was going to get some answers. How he'd been lied to by his oldest sibling, and how unfairly he had been treated would come out.

It was the start of a new relationship, and the dismissial of another that had, thus far, been built on lies.