Humming to himself as he went, Jupiter wove through the thick, gnarled trees. Occasionally he stopped to brush off a spiderweb that stuck across his face before carrying on unperturbed. His dad had tried to scare him with stories about this place when he was a pup, but by the time they were together enough for Angelus to try the whole bonding thing, Jupiter had already spent seasons on his own and was unimpressed with made up stories about white haired, puppy eating hags. He'd brushed his old man off and not thought much more about it beyond a lingering irritation with the needy elder Imperialis.

He was thinking about that now because his father had passed away sometime in the Spring. While he hadn't officially joined Fireside because he was too much of a rover, Angelus had visited whenever the wind had blown him by. He'd tried his best over the years to bond with his son but Angelus had always rebuffed him. Now that he was gone Jupiter wasn't sure he'd made the right decision. Regret nagged at him. Just a little. Jupiter had never had that feeling before so perhaps it had to do with the circumstances surrounding Angelus' death. Or, rather, his discovery. He'd seen a lot of death in his life, but nothing really prepared you for finding a loved one like that. It was too real, too undeniable, too visceral. The discovry had him questioning a lot of things.

Suddenly Jupiter realized he wasn't alone. He stiffened, his nose working, and then relaxed when the scent registered. "Ain't it past your bedtime, kid?"

The day she'd joined Fireside it was as if the weight of the world had been relieved from her shoulders - and what better to replace that weight with other then the lingering scent of sheep shit and goat urine. Never before had she realized how disgusting some of these livestock were, and it definitely encouraged the Klein yearling to reach much much higher on the totem pole. All that considered, it was still a choice she'd make again in a heartbeat. The stresses of the Empire and the Abraxas name were off her mind at last and she was free to be whoever she felt she needed to be. Now if only she could stop the weird, hot feeling she got when she was around Alarr she'd be set for a happily ever after.

On her 'off' days she spent little time in Fireside's territory, desperate for the chance to escape livestock duty for even an hour. The soulless forest was nearby and just spooky enough to draw her attention, perhaps even interesting enough to give her something to talk to Alarr about the next time she saw him that wasn't how pretty his eyes were. Damnit, she was so off her game lately. So off it in fact, that she did not immediately recognize the voice of the brilliantly colored asshole who called out. Not until she saw him, at least, as Jupiter's markings made him hard to mistake.

"Nope, just doing a wide patrol to check on you seniors." She gave back. "Make sure you've not gone and gotten lost in your old age."

Unperturbed by Pestilence's sass, Jupiter sank to the ground with his tail tucked under his butt and his back legs kicked out in front of him. He then casually lifted a hind leg and began to scratch his belly. It was a gross show of casual shamelessness and he honestly thought nothing of it. Jupiter yawned widely and shrugged before replying. "Oh, is that so? Well, my dear, it's not me you should be worried about here." Could he lure her in? He knew she wasn't a pup anymore but he was willing to bet the last dregs of childhood naivety hadn't left her yet. Maybe he could get one last lick in before she wizened up.

He smirked knowingly at her, his expression hinting at hidden knowledge he was debating sharing with her. Of course he was going to say it, but only after giving her a chance to stew over what he might know that she didn't. By now he'd stopped scratching and set his foot back down, but to draw the moment out Jupiter lifted that foot again to scratch lightly along his ribs. He lifted the corresponding foreleg to grant deeper access to his armpit. Then and only then, did he deign to begin to share his wisdom. "Don't you know what's in these woods?"

Jupiter looked like he was about to say more and then stopped himself. Instead he got to his paws. "You know what? I should walk you home. Come on."

Pesto was absolutely ready for round two of their playful banter and this time she was determined to win. She'd lost a few points in their first meeting when she proudly announced insulting the orphan, but she was older now. How hard was it really to match Jupiter's wit and sass? Though to her surprise he did not come back with an escalating offensive comment, and Pesto's brows furrowed in suspicion. "Right." She returned sarcastically, though a shred of worry managed to touch her words. Jupiter did know this place better than her, but really what could be so bad about an unclaimed wood?

Pesto waited for him to give her more, watching his paw as it scratched and scratched and scratched. Her own paw tapped at the ground impatiently, and her gaze began to wander over his shoulder and into the woods. After way too long of a build up he spoke once more, and as Pesto's maw opened to reply some form of 'no, idiot, enlighten me' he backtracked. Home? The fur on her spine bristled and her already furrowed brows squeezed harder. "No, wait, sit your ass down!" Pesto jolted forward, aiming to push her paws upon his shoulders before he started to head out. "I'm not a kid anymore, if there's someone bad here I can help you kill them. Just tell me what who I'm looking for." She made her voice as serious and brave as she could, though her anxiety showed in the subtle shifting of her weight and roaming gaze.

The moment she leaped up and put her paws on his shoulders Jupiter knew he had her. This pleased him greatly but his pleasure didn't show on his face. He very gently, but firmly pushed her paws down and gave her a dad look. For once he was going to be a responsible adult here. Or, rather, he was going to pretend to be a responsible adult, because there was no real danger in these woods as far as he knew beyond the usual predators. "Look, I get you're brave and all, but there's somethings you just shouldn't fuck with, you know?" Normally, if he felt like dictating the flow of something he'd just bulldoze the process. If he'd been serious here that would have meant shoving Pestilence in the right direction and then manhandling her from that point on, but since this was all a show he was going to be more civil. "And you really shouldn't be fucking with things that can't be killed. Well," he amended with a thoughtful toss of his head, "Things I don't think can be killed."

He jerked his head in the direction of home. "Now come on, don't make me drag ya." Jupiter had the perfect story in mind. It seemed fitting, if a little bittersweet, to tell Pestilence the story his father had told him. Or, rather, had tried to tell him as he had never had the patience to really "deal" with his father. For that reason he was going to have to improvise some of the story. Was that a bad thing? Jupiter wasn't sure he wanted to look close enough to that question to find out.

Jupiter was not being his usual self and the realization of that frightened Pesto almost as much as the unknown, unnamed entity that apparently made the woods so dangerous. "Can't be killed?" She repeated, incredulous. Impossible, there were few stories of creatures not of this earth that had no physical form and thus couldn't be injured or killed. They were all just stories, and Pesto hadn't heard mention of ghosts since she'd made it perfectly clear to her family how she felt about the so-called 'spirit world.' With a huff she continued, eyeing him suspiciously. "Everything can be killed Jup, even you if you don't start talking." He pushed her paws away and Pesto allowed them fall to the forest floor with a soft thump.

She stared him down for a moment, and then turned tail and sat with her back to him. Pesto had grown over the last season, she now was even larger then Jupiter was and perhaps even beginning to rival the height of her childhood tutor Sirius. "I'm calling your bluff, buddy blue. Drag me if you must, but I'll just keep coming back until you tell me what the hell is out here." The fur upon her spine bristled as a stiff breeze blew over her, but still the yearling remained. She was stubborn, and nothing would stop her from hearing this story out if only just so she could tell another adult how ridiculous they were. Hari had stormed off in a rage when he'd heard the truth from her about his stupid owl, surely Jupiter would take it much better then her uncle had.

Her casual threat made it impossible for him to resist the retort, "That's precious, princess." But now at least he knew she was ready; a fact further solidified when she plopped down like a petulant child and refused to be moved by any other means than dragging or story telling. If it didn't serve to further the greater plot Jupiter would have jumped at the chance to drag her while contrarily ignoring the easier way out simply because it was what she wanted. And he would not have been dragging her to Fireside, mind you, but to the river because it seemed a more fitting end and he sure would have gotten a kick out of it. But alas, it was story time.

Very pleased with himself, Jupiter sat down hard. He sighed loudly for Pestilence's benefit. Since her back was to him she missed his smug expression, which he quickly hid lest it color his story-telling tone and give her a reason to be suspicious. "My grandpa used to tell me stories about this place. About a white witch that lived here. Crazy ass woman who used to run around plucking out eyes and shit for fun when she was alive. She'd fuck up anyone for any reason or no reason at all if she felt like it. So, naturally, she makes a whole lot of angry spirits because they died horribly, you know? Really fills the place up with ghosty, revenge-seeking fuckers. They try but they never get her. She's too smart for 'em. Eventually she does die, though. So all them spirits are still here and got like, ghosty blue balls and shit, so what's an angry ghost to do about it other than trying to bust one in whoever ventures in? So travelers gotta deal with those fuckers, but that's not all."

Jupiter let his gaze fall to the ground, his expression thoughtful, and he started to scratch the shape of a woman in the dirt with his claws. "Nah, this forest has seen too much shit for that to be all. Valentine says this was that witch's favorite place. Had a pack here, or something. So naturally she's here too, doing all the same shit as before whenever she gets the chance." He shrugged nonchalantly and looked up to see if Pestilence had turned around yet. "Sounds like a bunch of shit, right? I thought so when Valentine told me about it." He gave the figure in the dirt a scowl and jagged teeth and then looked up at Pestilence again. His expression was dead serious. "I've seen 'em both. I've... They..." Jupiter trailed off, seeming flustered. "We just gotta go, alright? They won't bother me anymore but you're exactly their type."

Pestilence was more than pleased when Jupiter relented, and as her back was to him she allowed herself a shit-eating grin as he started to divulge the story. The longer he spoke, the more her upturned lips trended downwards. A witch? Yeah right, witches didn't exist. Toxicity thought herself some sort of witch and Pesto had shown her once that her brute strength won over whatever stupid spirituality she'd shown. However, Toxicity didn't go around murdering people brutally and then having them return as restless spirits either.

Slowly she shifted so she could glance over her shoulder at him, eyeing his weird drawing in the dirt. When he moved to look up she looked back away quickly, staring up at the canopy and humming tunelessly. "Sounds like bullshit to me." Pesto interrupted under her breath, though her eyes roamed the dark forest with suspicion.

By the end of his tail the tone of Jup's voice had changed, and Pesto finally stood and turned on him to squint at his serious expression. The blue man was a jokester and took nothing seriously, to see his deadpan face brought a shiver over her. "So, like, hypothetically... why would I be their type and not you?" She asked, swallowing hard to clear her voice of the hesitance. From further into the treeline a branch snapped, and her head spun towards the sound. Inch by inch she backed up to close some of the distance between her and the adult. To be able to protect him obviously.

He was careful to avoid her gaze as he waited for a response. Jupiter looked ashamed, which was an expression that rarely ever touched his features. He couldn't remember the last time he'd ever felt genuine shame. Most of that got burned out as a youngster one particularly hot season when catching food poisoning from a scavenged kill had the same odds as a coin toss. It was hard to keep hold of your shame when you can't even keep the backdoor closed, so to speak. He'd learned so, so much about himself that season. Ah, memories.

"Weeell," he said slowly, realization dawning on him suddenly. Fuck. "You know..." He'd been so focused on looking the part that he'd forgotten to construct a good punchline. Damn it. Jupiter cleared his throat as though the answer made him uncomfortable. "They target those who are uhhhm...innocent." Okay, a punchline was forming. It wasn't really the sort of answer one gave a teenager but eh, why should he care? She was old enough to break from wherever she was from and strike out on her own. He could have a laugh at her expense.

Jupiter stood up, destroyed his drawing with a wave of his paw and padded over to Pestilence. His expression was reserved still.  It was difficult to keep it together as he leaned in to murmur, "They only harass virgins." He waited maybe one whole second before dissolving into laughter and brushing by her in the direction of home. "Best not to linger, kiddo." Man, he really needed to find friends his own age because that would have slayed.