"DIANE!"

"ACK!" Diane jumped so quickly the hammock she had been laying in twirled under her movement and dumped her to the ground. With a groan, the woren pushed herself up and rubbed her head, her tail lashing about wildly. "Geez, Alex! I was sleepin'! Whadya want?"

"Diane, you're a girl... what would a guy have to do to get you to stop being mad at him?"

"Yer askin' me about advice with chicks?" Diane gave her brother a curious look as she stood up and brushed herself off. "I dunno. Chicks like flowers. That could work."

"I don't really think flowers is the best idea right now..." It was then that Diane noticed the distress in her brother's voice. She took a good look at him and was startled to see that his ears were drooping, and Alex's entire face had a hopeless look to it. Diane raised an eyebrow at her brother in concern as she sat back down in her hammock.

"Alright bro, wha'd ya do?"

"I don't know!?! Ellie... I was getting her some flowers and she got mad and... and I don't know." He shook his head.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa... slow down a sec. Alright, c'mon bro, full story, what happened?"

Alex sighed and began to pace uneasily. "Alright, I was gonna go see Ellie at The Tiger's Catch, and I thought it'd be a nice idea to get her some flowers first."

Diane nodded. "Right, so far, so good. Keep goin'."

"So I headed over to the flower shop, and was about to go inside and buy her some flowers, but just to make sure I checked my zenny."

Diane nodded once again. "Alright."

Alex sighed. "And then I noticed that I didn't have enough zenny to get both the flowers and a meal at The Tiger's Catch, so I thought 'alright, it's just a few flowers, they won't miss it' and went in anyway."

Diane thought for a moment before nodding. "Right, go on."

"So, I walked inside, and Ellen was there, only I didn't know it was her because she was wearing her work uniform, so I went and picked out some flowers for her and was about to leave when suddenly she was right there yelling at me, and she yelled at me to put them back and then drug me outside by my ear," Alex's ear batted sorely, "and yelled at me and... stormed off... and I have no idea why..." Alex looked at his sister uneasily. "And then when I asked her if I could see her later she called me a criminal in the coldest voice I've ever heard her use..." Alex shivered as Ellen's words ran through his head. "What did I do wrong?"

"Hrm... right..." Diane was tapping her chin lightly. "Yea." She finally nodded. "Yea, I think I see."

"Really? Then what is it? What'd I do?"

Diane clicked her tongue and motioned to the hammock. "Mebbe you should sit down Alex, this may come as a shock ta you." Alex nodded and sat down next to his sister. Diane turned, gazed seriously into his eyes, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Alex... you... are a thief."

Alex blinked and stared at his sister. "Yea? And?"

Diane just started at her brother for a moment before taking her hand from his shoulder and smacking her forehead with it. "Alright bro, let's try this again. Ellen's dad is a cop, right?"

"Right." Alex nodded.

"And stealin' is bad, right?"

"Uh..." Alex's ear batted uneasily. "I guess so... but that's only when you do it to hurt someone. I wasn't-" Diane put her hand up to interrupt her brother.

"Ah ah ah ah, now wait, le's jus' stick ta tha basics right now."

"Right..." Alex nodded. "The basics."

"Ellen's dad is a cop."

"Right, cop, yea, cop, right..."

"And cops are..."

"Like rangers and guards, right?"

"Right. They make sure that everyone is doin' good stuff."

"Right, good, yea, good, right..."

"Alright, followin' me so far?" Diane waited for her brother to nod before continuing. "Alright. Now. You, Alex, are a thief."

"Right, thief, yea, thief, right..."

"And thieves are bad..." Diane stared into her brother's eyes, nodding as she spoke to him. "Alex, stealing is wrong..."

Alex's ears flicked defensively. "But... but I didn-"

"Alex!" Diane cut her brother off quickly. "Stayin' with tha basics, alright? Stealing is wrong."

"Yea..." Alex blinked. "Stealing wrong... right... no, I mean wrong." He shook his head. Diane sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Now let's put two and two together, k? You were stealin', Ellen caught you, Ellen's dad is a cop, Ellen knows tha' stealin' is wrong. Now think about this. There should be a little voice in yer head, it's called a concience. What's it sayin' ta ya? Listen carefully..."

"It's saying..." Alex paused and his ears flicked lightly. "I need to get on my hands and knees and beg Ellie for forgiveness because I just made an idiot of myself with her."

"Very good!" Diane startled clapping and chuckled at her brother. "Alex, lemme tell ya a little somethin' about chicks. Chicks don' pay attention to some of the little details tha ya think they should. They look at this thing called 'the big picture.' Ya know, the whole 'stealing is wrong' thing? Tha's the 'big picture.' The little details are the fact that ya weren't hurtin' anyone, ya didn' mean any harm by it, and tha' ya were just bein' yerself. However, in 'the big picture,' those thin's dun matter."

Alex sighed. "Right, you've made you're point." He got up and started walking towards the house.

"Hey, were are ya goin'?" Diane's tail flicked as she watched him leave.

"To the bathroom so I can practice begging for forgiveness infront of the mirror until I've got it right."

With a chuckle, Diane settled herself back down in her hammock and dozed off once more.