Pesto, Pasketti, and Noodle.

Pestilence was preparing for her journey outside of Ashen. She'd received her mother's blessing, told Alarr of her intentions, and very soon would be ready to leave. Deathbelle's conversation with her had reminded her of the cruel world that existed outside the Empire's borders, and how little experience Pestilence truly had within it. Her mother had gifted her a companion monkey to help take care of her, and Pestilence decided she'd go the whole way with her self defense. After all, Fireside might not accept her and she'd be a rogue - wandering and able to be claimed by anyone.

She'd trained hard with Sirius, her siblings, Hari, and many others. Even a bear died at her fangs and another one chased away, and so Pestilence felt truly powerful at last. However all the other warriors she'd met had more than their mere strength to guide them, and had the help of companions and weapons to use in battle. Alarr's monkey was extremely helpful to him, it seemed. It did the hard part of crafting, and Pestilence was determined to see if her monkey could also develop those skills.

And so she lay upon the grass, scraps of metal held securely between her paws while she watched the monkey tinker with her makeshift forge. The pair discussed each step as logically as they could, and the first one they'd decided upon was making a mold for the metal to solidify in.

"Pasketti, I don't know how this will work." She worried to the monkey, who simply looked at her with a firm glare. "Alright, alright." The near-yearling stood, lifting her paw and taking one last glance towards him before placing it back down into the clay. She pushed hard, until her claws stuck into the muck firmly. Pasketti moved in then, gently digging around the girl's paw so that when she pulled it out the lump of clay went with her. She disliked the feeling of muck surrounding her paw, and grimaced.

Once it had dried, the pair pried her claws carefully out from it. When she peered into the mold, she saw divets that would fit her claw perfectly. "This would be perfect, if only I wanted a weapon made out of clay." Pestilence addressed the monkey, voice heavy with sarcasm. However Pasketti had other plans, and got to work with a mixture he'd premade. He poured it into the holes, and Pestilence looked over his shoulder wondering what it was made from. So far the monkey had said very little, so she knew it wasn't worth it to ask. Other wolves companions talked to them, so maybe one day Pasketti would too. Pestilence didn't know, but she was happy that she finally had one of her own and so didn't push him on it.

Once the monkey had finished his work, he grabbed a rock and began banging on the hardened clay. "Hey!" Pestilence shouted to him, wondering why he chose to destroy their creation. Before long she realized what it was he was doing, and when the bits of clay fell away his mixture had hardened into the shape of her paw and claws. "Hmm." She hummed thoughtfully, giving the monkey a hesitant smile. "Okay, what's next?"

The monkey gave her a primate-like grin of his own before continuing, gesturing to her metal pieces and then to the clay structure he'd previously built. Pestilence didn't know what it was called, but she had seen him messing inside it to create fire and it mystified her. He grabbed the metal shreds and placed it atop the structure in a bowl, fanning the fire below.

It took quite a while for the metal to melt into liquid, and Pestilence ooh'd and awe'd as she watched. Once it was melted, he grabbed the claw-shaped creation and using a stick that he'd jammed in the end, dunked each into the melted metal. Pestilence watched from over his shoulder, her ears perking to hear the sound the hot metal made against the mixture. When she got too close, the monkey bared his teeth at her and she understood the warning. The metal was still hot, and would be dangerous to touch. The pup sat down behind him, her tail wrapping around her legs as she waited.

Finally Pasketti had deemed the creation cool, and instead of bashing the metal off the mould as he had the clay, he wiggled the mould out of the metal. Left behind was something similar to the original clay-like claws she had, but this time made of sharp metal. Her tail wagged with excitement, wondering how deadly they could be once she knew how to wield them. The monkey grasped her paw and lifted it, fitting the new claws onto hers to test how they'd work upon her.

When she placed her newly clawed paw onto the ground, the metal shifted and began to fall. She gasped, looking to Pasketti for guidance. The monkey made a show of thinking, and then nodded. He pulled off the claws, and turned back to work on them. No matter how many objects he tried to use to pierce through the metal, he could not break through to make a hole. Though Pestilence got the idea, and knew they'd need some way to attach the claws to his paws.

After a moment, he sighed and gestured to her paw then back to the clay. Pestilence groaned loudly - they'd need to repeat the process, but this time before the metal cooled make holes in the claw-covers so they could thread them to her paw. She obeyed the monkey, placing her paw down hard upon the clay so that it would form once more around her paw. This time she knew what to expect, and the process was not so exciting. While she mindlessly assisted Pasketti, she wondered where she might be able to get strips of hide to use as buckles, so that the claws would remain on her paw.

The clay was ready to be moulded, and the monkey shoo'd her away as he worked upon a new mixture for the mould. Pestilence left him to it, deciding to find something to kill so they might take it's hide. "I'll go get something for hide." She called to the monkey as she walked away.

She crept along the grasses, nose to the ground in hunt of a rabbit or a fox. Suddenly a bright flash of white caught her eye, and she peered through the grass at it. Pestilence remained perfectly still - in hunting mode - and then suddenly felt something up at the back of her leg.

It was a snake, and in it's mouth hung a mouse. It slithered up her back leg onto her, and dropped the mouse off her to land beside. Pestilence's head cocked, her body frozen. Snakes were dangerous, a few varieties had venom in them and now it had made it onto her back. After she made no move towards the dead mouse, the snake gestured back to it with a flick of the tongue. "...T-thank you." Pestilence told the creature, slowly moving to grasp the mouse. "This should be big enough, I think." The snake made no move to injure her, and simply curled up on her back upon one of her patches of white fur. It was albino, and blended in perfectly with her aside from it's brilliant red eyes. "You wanna come?" She asked it, and it merely shut its eyes and curled further into her back. "Okay. I'll take you back to Pasketti. Hey, how do you feel about the name Noodle?"

Word Count: 1271.