Hey. I saw how you were looking at him. I'm not blind, you know. Cut it out, got it? Go stare at somebody else, or better yet, learn not to stare at all!

Gods. People are so rude.

What? They are! Always staring atcha, you know? Or worse, staring at him. I know I'm weird looking, and brighter than any daemon should be allowed to be-- I mean, really, look at this fur. No, on second thought, don't. I don't like being stared at much more than he does-- and neither of us like it. But I know I'm weird looking, and I'm gonna attract some stares, but poor Ty. He's not just weird looking, he's not even alive looking. He gets more stares than I do, and nobody knows how much it hurts him, because he doesn't let them know.

You shoulda seen him before the accident. He was the cutest little ball of green fluff you've ever seen, into everything, always asking questions, with more energy than anybody that little oughta have. He was always the energetic one, of the two of us, always dragging me out to play or climb trees or cloud-watch or something. We didn't need nobody else, because we had each other, you know? Everybody loved him anyway, of course, because he was so cute and, well, lovable. Like everybody's favorite little kid.

But now he's that. A big hunk of metal that nobody wants to hug or coddle and everybody stares at. And, of course, it's all my fault. What? It was! We were too young, you know? Thought we were all that, thought we were the best-- wanted to impress the family with our greatness, so they'd leave us the hell alone for once. Well, we impressed 'em all right, just not in the way we'd wanted to.

But of course, there's all those people who think he should hate me. They bother him about it all the time-- they bother me about it all the time! "Oh, Ki, you're so rotten, to have done that to your brother!" "Oh, Ty, how can you stand being around that boy?" Please! It's like, because I made a mistake, I'm supposed to kill myself now, or something. Yeah, right! I'm the only person who acts at all normal with Ty; not even Mother's sure how to treat him, anymore, and she used to dote on him. And they want to deprive him of that? "They" are crazy, because there's no way I'd do it. My fault or not, I'm not abandoning him while I indulge in a fit of guilt or something pointless like that.

I just wish people'd stop staring. He doesn't deserve that; he feels bad enough as it is, just looking like that. How many little kids-- and trust me, he is just a little kid, under all that metal-- like being singled out in one instance, and then shunned in another? It's enough to make anyone go bitter, and it's a wonder he's still as great a kid as he is, when nobody's willing to even make friends with him.

Oh well. I guess that's what I'm still around for, right?