The small pup sat upon a rock, head hung low. There was no point looking around, this entire land was barren and dry and ultimately the worst place Pestilence had ever seen. Dried tears clung upon her cheeks and her sinus' felt stuffy with the constant sadness that poured from her. All around her in a circle was her sigil, scratched haphazardly into the red dirt with angry jutting lines crossed through them. She hated Abraxas in that moment. He took her father from her and he threw her mother into sorrow. Her siblings were all blessed with 'gifts' but Pestilence would have gladly offered any of them up to the volcano instead of her father if Abraxas loved them so much. A new wave of sobs came over her and she threw herself into the dirt, the browns and reds of the ground sticking to her small wet muzzle. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Sirius was on patrol when he found the little pup, upon a rock and bound in tears. He made his way over to her, and well he had not spent as much time with Pesto as he had with Venom, he still felt that possessive bond over her. “Hey, Little Ghost” he said gently, scooping up the black and white wolf, who looked so much like her mother, and pulling her close. “How about you tell me all about it” he offered, knowing exactly what ailed her, and knowing he could do little to help. He could however be there for her, standing over her, and growl at anything that looked twice at her. That's what he was good at doing, much more so then the touchy feely part of things. Still, he forced himself to try, for the little pups sake. "Speech"

Her mother's vessel showed his face and Pestilence was inwardly glad it was Sirius and not one of her siblings or Obi. Sirius was as close as a Klein as one could be without actually being blood related, and Pesto sure as hell didn't want to see an Abraxas ever again. "Dad is dead and this place sucks!" She declared loudly, kicking a pile of dirt with her paw. He scooped her against him and the small pup lifted her head to stare into his blue eyes. "Can you help me run away, Seer?" The princess asked softly, her voice breaking. "I don't want to live here anymore. I hate them, I hate them all." She thought of the blessings Deathbelle's other children carried upon them, and then of Archon's half-blood siblings and growled. "I don't want to be an Abraxas anymore. I want to go somewhere where I never need to hear that stupid name ever again. Please?" Sirius had once said he'd do anything for them - that meant anything right? If he said no, she'd command him. Then he'd need to listen. She was a princess. He had to listen. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

[/b][/b][/b]

Well. he thought as the puppy threw a giant sized fit, kicking the earth with a paw before he picked her up and held her close. At least she allowed him to do that with minimal resistance. Of course, if he had really wanted to grab her, and she had really wanted to resistance, he had a feeling he knew which would win - the frantic, wiggling kid, of course. He asked of her something big and terrible, and he looked at her with solemn eyes. “You don't have to be an Abraxas to be a Klein” he told her, hiding most of the derision in his voice. He had never thought well of the Abraxas’s, with their god-fart religion, and mightier than thou attitude - not because they were stronger, but because their bloodline was blessed by a god. Please, strength showed true. “You want to leave? Did you want to go right now?” he asked the small pup, forcing her to consider her words. “Do you know somewhere else sheltered from the volcano, where you won’t be breathing in sulfur and ash?” he asked her curiously. "Speech"

He didn't understand. Of course he didn't, adults were stupid. Pestilence wanted to not be an Abraxas much more then she wanted to be a Klein. She didn't hate her mother's name, but she wasn't in love with it enough to drive the hatred of her father's bloodline away. She'd rather have no name then be an Abraxas-Klein, as long as the 'Abraxas' was attached. The pup didn't respond to Sirius' first words, looking down at his oversized paws silently as he tried to reason with her. Then he spoke of leaving, asking if she wanted to leave now and her head jolted back up. "Yes." She told him sincerely. She did want to leave right now. He continued, asking where she might be headed that would be safe. "Uh, that way?" The small pup lifted a paw and stabbed it west-ward as she spoke, her voice changing to sound how a mother might talk down to her stupid pups. Wasn't it obvious? The volcano was east, mother moved them here so it must be safe. Therefore, further west should also be safe. "Or that way." Her paw moved south, gesturing out into the distance. Either way she went, it was going away from the volcano and therefore had to be safe enough to live. "So can we go now?" "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

He snorted, turning his laugh into a cough. It was believable enough, with the hint lf smoke in the air. She thought those directions would safe from any after shocks? He knew she was just pointing thinking like a pup. She still had a lot of growing to do, and might have had a chance to do so peacefully if it hadnt been for Archin recklessly fighting on a volcano top. Well, what was done was done and Sirius would deal with the consequences.

"Alright then, are you walking or riding?" He asked his little mistress. He had made a promise to her once, to help her if she asked for it. He would let this play out, and if worse came wot worse and she didnt decide to turn around, then they could camp out the next terratory over for a day or two before she cold lonely and hungry and wanted to go home.

It irked him to go even a step further then he had to away from Zee right now, but he knew he wanted to do this. To give the pup something, and to hold on to the promise he had given her so she would know it was true.

Pestilence couldn't hide the emotions bubbling up as Sirius agreed with what seemed to be no hesitation whatsoever. She was first surprised, then overjoyed, and then as he asked what her preferred method of transport was she remembered the last day she spent one on one with her dad. "Would you like to climb on, my princess, or would walking suit you today?" Archon has said. Pestilence had accepted the ride happily, clambering onto his broad shoulders. Her smile faded and she sniffed to try to keep the tears at bay. She looked up at Sirius' oversized frame and then back to the distance they'd have to travel. Pesto wanted to ride him, she really did. But what if that overrode her treasured memory with her dad? Her lips trembled and she stared at her paws - silently apologizing to them - before speaking. "I'll walk." She said softly, starting out and heading west. As she walked she continued to speak. "You only have to help me get somewhere safe and then maybe teach me to catch mice so I can eat. Mommy needs you to keep her safe and make her happy again, so you can't stay and live with me." It made her sad to think of being without her mother and the other Kleins. She'd miss them terribly. "You can come visit though." "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

His words affected her, he could see she was remembering something, comparing him to her father perhaps? The thought made him feel uncomfortable, he already had a hidden, selfish desire to wish these pups where his. Instead, his role to them was protector and mentor, and he was doing his best to achieve that. He waited in silence well she worked through the emotion, and the decisions she had to make. “Very well, then” he said, and he started to walk, moving in one of the directions she had pointed out. He didn’t intend to go far, just a territory over, to give her a taste of independence and loneliness. “No, I'm all in, or all out. If I come with, its as your guard.” he warned her. She needed to know that he was not going to leave her alone, that was a risk he could not take. The world was chaotic enough as it was, anything could happen to the small pup out there. He kept to a gentle pace, but it would be a brisk walk to Pesto’s much smaller legs as he led them towards Illusions Oasis. “Now, the first order of business is finding somewhere defensible and subtle, where are you going to sleep at night? You don't have an entire pack to keep you safe, so your choice of location is going to matter.” "Speech"

Pestilence rolled her eyes as he spoke of staying with her as her guard. She didn't need a guard, and besides he was HUGE. Pesto could hide in a tiny den safe from stray wolves and cougars, but Sirius would need a real den and that wasn't nearly as defensible. Didn't he know anything? Regardless, she let him believe that he'd be allowed to stay. After all, once she had everything she needed from him she could simply command him to leave and he would. He promised to do what she asked. "I'll find somewhere tight and small to sleep." She spoke aloud. "Maybe I can clear out a rabbit's warren and squeeze in there, that'd be safe." Pestilence decided she would be very good at this whole living-on-her-own thing. "If we see some rabbits on the way you should probably teach me to catch them. I'm going to need to be able to eat, right?" She turned to look towards her guard and gave him a small smile, her tiny legs moving quickly to keep up to his pace.While she walked she continued to speak aloud her inner monologue. "Maybe I should have brought my blanket from home, but it's too late now if I go back to the den mom will ask questions." "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

Sirius looked down at the smaller figure beside him, and caught the eye roll. Well, it didn’t matter what she thought, he wasn’t about to abandon the pup out in the wilderness. He could already get into enough trouble with this, if Deathbelle wasn’t currently caught up in her misery he never would have gotten away with it. The last thing he was going to do was actually endanger the girl. “Well, see what you can find” he suggested, gesturing for her to begin her search for a rabbit warren in the Illusion Oasis. “Food is generally essential. Yes. do you know the order of importance in surviving on your own? What’s the first thing you need to find?” he instructed the young girl, sniffing as he spoke for any small game he could teach her to hunt - as he had been bidded to do. He laughed softly as Pesto mentioned Deathbelle asking questions. “She would at that, and you would lose all chance of this venture” He agreed, waiting for Pesto to take the lead. This was her adventure after all. "Speech"

Pestilence felt as if this adventure was somehow turning into a lesson and she almost rolled her eyes once more. The only reason she did not squash his teaching right then and there was because the things he knew would be useful to her in her time alone away from Ashen, more useful then sermons and ceremonies. Her heart clenched painfully, and she threw herself into her response to ignore the feeling. "Shelter, then food?" Her voice took on a questioning lilt at the end and she looked back up at him to see if she was correct. She thought food must be the most important, but she assumed Sirius would think otherwise. Without somewhere warm and dry to eat the food, there was little point to expending the energy to catch something right? She continued forward and put her nose to the ground, sniffing loudly to try to discern the scent of a small prey animal. Her brows furrowed in frustration as the dozens of smells mingled into some amalgamation that she could not identify. Why couldn't her parents have taught her this stuff better? "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

[/i][/i]

He looked at the little one again, and was reminded how young and sheltered her life had been. She wasn’t wasn’t raised in the original Ashen Empire, with the famines and droughts… shelter was her first guess on priority, a warm place to rest your feet. Impulsively, he leaned over and gave her a nuzzle on one of her little ear tufts. “No, your body will shut down without water faster then it would without food. Shelter is a comfort, but not always a necessity. Water, food, shelter” he explained, watching as she struggled to find a scent. “Alright,” he said, taking pity on her. “We aren’t the only ones that need water, so we find the main water source, and find the scents leading away from that” he suggested, there would still be a lot of scents to work through, but it would give her a place to start. He wanted her to try, but he would always be there to guide her. He was giving her a taste of independence, and reminding her how much she had left to learn. "Speech"

Sirius nuzzled against her ear and she shook him off, shooting him a glare. Somehow she felt like he was looking down on her, like a child who didn't know anything. She gave a 'harrumph' and turned away from him to stare at her feet. "I know that." The pup lied. "I thought you meant which was more important food or shelter." That didn't still relieve her from the fact that her answer was wrong and shelter was on the lowest of the priorities, but it made her feel a little better for forgetting about water entirely. "I'm not a baby anymore you can stop treating me like one." She took his advice however annoying it was and began to focus on finding water instead of bunnies. Why did he always have to be right? The pup was so frustrated that she wanted to just send him home that minute. After a few more minutes of trying desperately to scent or hear some sort of water source, the pup gave up. But that didn't make her a baby, her nose just wasn't very good. She was a princess, and princess' didn't need to find this stuff themselves. "OK then, find me water." She commanded him, her voice breaking to sound quite unsure. It didn't come naturally to her at all, and she suddenly felt bad for even trying to order around her guardian. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

She gave him attitude, and he fell silent, turning as through to look at the world around them, but really he was hiding his smile. The last thing the kid needed was to see that, and to further think he mocked her. In truth, it was just the fondness, that possessive strange emotion he never really translated correctly. “If I thought you were a baby, I wouldn’t have let you leave the safety of the pack” He pointed out to her. He followed on after the small wolf as she began to seek out what he had suggested. Her solution was to turn imperiously to him, and order him to find it. He gave her a serious expression and dipped his upper half into a regal bow. “Of course, your Highness” he agreed easily, seeing the hint of doubt in her eyes, and the way her voice had cracked. He wasn’t one to reprimand her for ordering him about, after all, she was a Klein, in line for the throne. Her mother was Deathbelle, who had always held his loyalties. He began to walk forward, looking for the lake he knew was in the illusions oasis. He followed the downward tilt of the earth, until he could scent water, and lead her towards its source, stopping at its banks, and turning to the Princess, as through to await his next orders. "Speech"

Pestilence was surprised with the way he without hesitation took her command, giving her a bow as he did so. She blinked at him and then narrowed her eyes in suspicion - waiting for the punchline - but the titan turned and did as he was told. The pup followed behind him as fast as she could, and eventually he lead her towards the water source and turned back towards her. "Wow." She breathed, awed at his tracking skills. "That's amazing." Would she one day be able to find things that easily? It was like he'd been here before, but that was impossible. She never saw Sirius leave Ashen's territories and he was always there outside the palace when they woke up and went to sleep. She realized then that he'd no longer be at his post in the morning when she left her den to explore the world, and he wouldn't be there to say goodnight to anymore before bed. Pestilence was going to send him away - and she had to, because mom needed him - and she'd be alone. Her small paw pushed around a small mound of dirt as she contemplated and when she looked back up at him he was still looking at her expectantly. "Sirius, do you believe in Abraxas?" She asked suddenly, her voice hushed. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

She seemed amazed at his ability to find water, and he supposed it should have been shocking, they were on the edge of a desert after all. However, he had heard of this land, and knew of the lake here, so it had only been a matter of figuring out where it lay. The pine trees that lazed haphazardly around the outskirts of the water created an almost dense foliage, and he waited for her to begin searching for signs of prey. Instead, she got serious, looking up at him, and asking a question he knew he only had one answer to. “The god?” he asked softly, but he already knew that was what she meant. The god of her father's religion, the belief that they themselves, children of gods, were also gods. “I do not.” he admitted. “I believe the one great changer in land is strength. The strength of the volcano has outdone us, and the strength of one wolf can outdo another.” he couldn’t imagine it was the answer she was searching for, now that she questioned the passing of her father and what that meant for her. But, Sirius would not lie to her. "Speech"

The pup could not hold back her sadness at his reply. Sirius was one of the only adults she knew would never lie to her, and so if he said Abraxas was a lie then it was fact in her mind. "But then..." She began softly, her voice sad. "But then dad died for nothing. And he's not in heaven?" Perhaps Pestilence shouldn't have asked at all - the knowledge that her father's body was turned to ash and his soul had nowhere to go was worse even then the fact that he was dead. Sirius believed in strength, and that sounded more accurate to Pestilence then that blood made you godly. It was why her mother was so brilliant although a proclaimed mortal - she was strong. Pesto wanted to be strong too. "One day when I get strong, I want to..." kill them all she wanted to say. There were more Abraxas' besides her siblings, and she wanted them dead although she could not bring herself to say it. "I want them to feel what I feel." She finished flatly, unhappy with how her words did not get across how strongly she wanted the Abraxas bloodline to suffer. "Will you help me?" "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

He knew his words hurt her, and a part of him wished he could have given her a beautiful lie. But he would hold true to himself, and give her the world as he saw it, and offer his shoulder for her to lean on. Perhaps he didn’t have the disposition to be around children, but he would not abandon her. He said nothing about her father's body, she had already heard the answer in his words and voice. “You want vengeance?” he asked her what killed your father was the lava in a volcano. But, she knew that the Abraxa’s family was involved, and he would not deny it. He had no loyal to that family, and did not see Deathbelle’s children as Archon’s. They were Klein’s, through and through. “I can help you learn, and hone your body” he said, but more than that he would not offer her yet. She was young, and hurting. Who knew what she would wish for a season from now? "Speech"

Pestilence whined. "I can't kill a volcano!" She complained, stamping her paw upon the ground. While it had been the lava that took her father's life, Pestilence knew that there was more to it then that. He'd gone to the mountain for a reason, and she was certain that it was related to the religion he devoted himself to. If he had been a normal wolf with normal beliefs he might still be here, and Pesto blamed the Abraxas forefathers who put the stupid lies into his head to begin with. "You said you'd do anything, Seer." Her complaints continued, upset that he was only willing to teach her. "I can't fight them all on my own, I need your help. You can beat anybody." The pup didn't understand why her mother's vessel wouldn't fight for her. Did he not care for her as much as he said he did? It made her angry. "I command you to. I demand you help me." She envisioned herself strong and grown standing beside the towering vessel with an army at her back, facing off against the stupid Abraxas lineage and watching him rip the heads off each one of them. Maybe she'd drag their corpses to the volcano and throw them in, too. Maybe she'd make their children watch. "Speech" "Thinking" "You."

A chuckle did slip through this time, even if the topic they spoke on was somber. “Then your not trying hard enough” but it was clear the words were teasing, and not serious. No, you could not fight mother nature, you could only get out of her way. He grew serious as she commanded him again, demanding that he take life in her name. It wasn’t the first time he had been given such a command, but usually it was from the older generation of Klein. He had fought in their name before, he had almost died doing so. “If that is your wish.” he said curtly, wondering if this newest generation would bring war to their people. He thought of Zee, and knew he would not let her near any such bloodbath, even if it meant weeks without seeing her… but he was getting ahead of himself. “I believed you would wish to do this for yourself” he said to her, sitting on his hunches since it was clear she wasn’t about to start searching for rabbits or a place to bed for the night. "Speech"