She had been dealing with the news of her brother's death. Of Gargoyle missing. What if Gargie had been captured? Her reunion with her sister was a whirl of emotions. Though mostly, they had reunited with broken hearts. Her heart and soul felt heavy. Their parents were gone. Passed away when they were younger. And now they had lost a brother...possibly two...but there was no way of knowing yet if Gargoyle was still alive, or if he had met the same fate as Faolan. She hoped with everything she had, that Gargoyle was still out there somewhere. In an attempt to distract herself, Claire headed to her den and began to shuffle some things around. Pulling out old and worn furs that needed replacing, dead leaves, and anything else that had begun to clutter her den. It was all she could think to do to keep herself from falling into the depression that she feared would grip her, and never let go. "Speak

Claire had been distant lately. And he wanted to know why. He wasn't one to really care about how others felt, but it was always different with Claire. He figured he'd finish his patrol first before heading off to find her, so he hurried to finish up his task before heading to their den. When he finished, he caught wind of her trail already heading to the den as well, so he picked up the pace as much as his limbs would allow. Though he was much older, he still had plenty of fights left in him. He likely wouldn't get the death in combat that he always dreamt of...but alas, he supposed someday, he'd go out in his sleep more likely. As he approached the den, he raised a brow at the mess that was cluttering up outside. What was she doing? "Claire...? Are you alright...?" He knew the den was due to be cleaned, but this was...not how she usually did it. Had something happened that he didn't know about? "Talk"

She almost didn't hear his approach, though her ears flicked back when she heard his question. Tears nearly threatened to sting her eyes, but instead of letting herself cry, she began to furiously kick out more debris and junk, nearly hitting Greed with some of it without realizing it. Her breath felt like it was caught in her throat, her heart hammering hard against her chest as she felt like he world was collapsing. Through gritted teeth, she swallowed back the lump in her throat before answering. "It's dirty." She blinked several times as she did her best to keep the tears from coming, but with each passing moment, she could feel the weight of them pressing against her. "Help me." She dared not turn around, and instead, acted like her life depended on cleaning her den. She unfurled some old furs that contained bits of moldy food and dried herbs - when did those get there? She rarely ate inside her den! She grabbed the dirty bundle and carried it out, throwing a dirty look at Greed as she practically - and roughly - shouldered past him to throw it out. "Speak

Eyes widened as he suddenly saw things being thrown out in haste, ears flattening as he ducked and sidestepped some of the things. "What the he-" An old fur came flying out, smacking him in the face and cutting him off. He shook it off his head just before he caught her saying it was dirty. Though he could tell something was up...he could hear it in the strain in her voice. Had he done something? Had something happened that he didn't know about? Did she get some bad news? Was she feeling uncomfortable in this pack? Was she hungry? She demanded he help her, so he quietly did as he was asked told and picked up some of the old junk that was outside of the den and moved it off to the side so that at least there was a walkable path in and out. "I don't know what happened, bu-" By the time he had faced the den again, she had come out and roughly shouldered him and threw him a dirty look. "What the hell, Claire! If you're mad about the den being dirty, I'll clean it more often!" He was a little angry now, but he tried his best to keep it from being directed at her. This was unusual behavior for her, so something happened. He walked into the den and picked up a few more things that she hadn't yet gotten the chance to throw his way, and when he headed out and dropped it outside, she was going back in for more. He could see that she appeared to be trying to occupy herself with a mindless task, so he decided that it was probably best for him to remain quiet, and help her until she was ready to talk. So with that in mind, he scraped together some of the old pelts, and moved them off to the side. He'd dispose of them later. "Talk"