Harbringr was in a foul mood for several reasons. For one, Ashen had been raided. Some flea bitten pack had actually raided them and on top of that he was injured. The older male now lay on the beach, nursing his injuries and taking in the sun. Ari was farther down the beach digging for clams but Costanza was once again nowhere to be seen. He could understand her sleeping during the day, after all she was an owl, but she wasn't roosting in her usual spot. They'd barely spoke these past seasons and it seemed like she was always out. Whenever he wanted to talk she always had something else to do. He was getting to his wits end. He'd captured live mice for her, waited on her paw and tooth and still she didn't seem to want to spend time with him. She didn't care to reminisce about life before the tragedy.

Pesto was mad - no, furious! Her mother had shared her very differing ideas on what exactly was expected of her when she left for Fireside and it had put a whole bitter taste in the yearling's mouth on the idea. She was still going - nothing would change her mind on ridding herself of the Abraxas influence - but now it felt dirty, like there was no way to make both Tyrian and her mother happy anymore. Why couldn't Deathbelle just be happy for her? Why did it have to have a hidden agenda?

She stomped her frustration across the isles with her eyes lidded into a very stern glare. It was accidental, but in her rage she'd accidentally stepped upon Hari's monkey while he dug clams. "Watch where you're going, Ari!" The yearling yelled to him, her teeth flashing. It was no use arguing with a monkey, so instead she whirled and stomped back down the beach at her uncle. "Your stupid monkey is always in my way." She was merely looking for an excuse to be angry, perhaps subconsciously choosing to approach Hari so he could talk her down from her anger and not realizing that his mood was as foul as hers. "Where's the stupid owl, so I can make sure she doesn't run me down too?"

Ari let out a startled shriek as the yearling stepped on him. "Me? I was just digging here!" The monkey bared his teeth at Pesto. Hari looked over at the sound of his companions yell as he saw Pesto stomping toward him. "What's gotten into you? As for Costanza, who the fuck knows…" He frowned, gazing back out across the water. "She's been keeping to herself. I don't know what the deal is. We haven't had any big fights, I've hunted mice for her dinner, I've been doing everything right and still she gives me a cold shoulder." He scowled and looked back to Pesto. "If you ever get married you best be prepared to be utterly stumped by your spouse. I swear." He was tempted to say something about women and moodiness but caught himself. Pesto was a woman after all, she wouldn't understand.

Pestilence ignored his question, unwilling to get into exactly what was bothering her and much more willing to focus on his own stupid problems. It wasn't often she had enough emotions to require an outlet, but here the opportunity was and it was just too frustrating of a topic to ignore. The owl, that stupid creature that her uncle genuinely thought was his reborn wife. Spirituality sickened her, and while usually she was happy to pretend for his sake today was not one of those days. "She's probably out fucking another owl, making eggs, doing owl things." Exasperation was thick in her tone, her lips curling in disgust. "But don't worry uncle, I'll bet that when she's done she'll come back to you and manipulate you into thinking the baby chicks are yours, too. Congratulations, papa." Her paw moved to clap him on the shoulder to really sell the congratulations.

Anger simmered in his stomach at ever word that was hurled from Pesto's lips and as she moved her paw to try patting him on his back his head whipped to the side and snapped at her. Seeking to pierce flesh but not gain a hold. He didn't want to be touched right now, least of all by such a spiteful little brat.

"How dare you." Harbringr snarled, his ears flipping back and his hackles raising. "You have no right to say such things. I don't know what crawled up your butt and died but you can take your ill mood elsewhere."

His teeth pierced her paw and Pestilence's rage grew further - never had Hari ever laid a paw upon her that wasn't in combat or training, and it only further showed the Klein girl how wrong she was about her family. She was getting a rise out of him and while it helped to soothe her anger, some part of her still felt badly for wanting to shatter his dreams. At some point her exasperation grew and her anger began to fade, and Pestilence stopped wanting to hurt him and started only wishing for him to see reason, to not be one of the Abraxas sheep believing in spirits and ghosts and gods.

"Uncle she's taking advantage of you. Wolves don't get reincarnated into fucking birds, okay? She found a sucker and is using you for free meals, shelter, and protection. No different then the dozens of other pets in Ashen, except ours don't pretend they've fucked their wolves once-upon-a-time." Her chest heaved as she exhaled a deep breath, willing him to understand. "Please Uncle, you're supposed to be the sane one in the family and If I've lost you to bullshit then I've lost everyone I've ever loved. Cut the damn bird loose, stop buying into her bullshit."

Hari's eyes narrowed even further, his ears felt hot as anger boiled inside him. Her words dug into him like thorns, twisted around his heart and for a moment he wasn't even sure he could think clearly. He wanted to bite her, to beat her for saying such things and it was at that moment he knew he needed to leave. Pesto was precious to him even if she was being a unmistakable asshole. "We are done here," he snarled, voice low and threatening. Harbringr spun on his heels and stalked swiftly away from his nuisance of a niece. He wasn't going to stand there and listen to her saying such terrible things about Costanza. They weren't true. The couldn't be true.

-exit-