Private Life & Death Spoken By the Fire

Nothing beat the crackling of an open fire after a hunt. The deer they had hunted was roasting over it, pieces of meat skewered of cleaned and sharpened three branches. Ava had brought along her mother's spice mix that she had used on the meat she hunted since she was a kid, it would make the meat taste amazing. Ava had rubbed it all over the meat pieces. Now all she and Isstar had to do was wait.

The hunt had been a good way for Ava and Isstar to reconnect, Ava was really in her element in the woods, running through them after a prey. The deer on the island were faster than the ones in her home woods and offered a bit more of a challenge, too.
Sauron was laying between Ava and Isstar, happily gnawing on a leg bone he'd been given from the deer, his tail wagging. Ava occasionally coaxed the fire under the deer with her bare hands (she didn't feel a thing) and otherwise just leaned back and enjoyed the scent of the evening forest.

"You're a bit rusty, I bet I could've caught 10 deer in the time it took you to take down one."
Ava said teasingly and grinned at Isstar. They'd each hunted one deer, and though Ava had hunted hers first Isstar hadn't been that far behind. The open fire they'd set up was a pretty big one, since they needed to roast both deer on the spot. Ava still had too much leftover meat at home.

Ava snorted at Isstar's retort and leaned forward to rearrange the coals again.
"Please, you would've taken forever even if your deer had been sick and dying."
Ava continued teasing lightly, but there wasn't bite in it. She was just feeling chill and good, hanging out with one of her best friends. Ava had recently realized that she had pretty many friends, but Ava never stopped feeling like it was a miracle for someone like her to have friends. Ava never stopped feeling grateful for it.

"Bitch, I don't hunt in dragon form, the whole forest would go down in flames."
Ava pointed out with a snicker and a roll of eyes. She hunted partially shifted, her dragon form was really inconvenient for small and medium game hunting. Isstar didn't fool her for a second though, Ava knew the guy was just kidding.

"Wow, the great grump Isstar just said thanks."
Ava said jokingly and snorted, but she soon returned the genuine smile 'cos she could see Isstar was being genuine as well.
"Sure thing, dork. I gotta make sure one of my best buddies doesn't get too rusty, can I?"

Somehow the way Isstar proclaimed the shortness of life brought a weird, ominous feeling to Ava's gut. She turned her head and looked at Isstar with a frown. He was looking away and the expression on his face was sad and foreboding. Ava opened her mouth to ask what was up with him, but then Isstar asked about the future.
"Uh, I was just gonna go to college and study to be a vet and forest ranger and make a wildlife sanctuary."
Ava explained, usually she would've been more passionate while explaining her plans for the future but she was too distracted by the shift in the mood. Even Sauron had stopped gnawing on his bone and was looking at the pair with slumped ears.

Isstar began to ramble a bit, talking about his time off the island, and something in his voice was so sad that it made Ava feel kinda sad too. Sure, Isstar wasn't exactly all sunshine and rainbows but something was obviously up. Once it looked like Isstar had reached a midway point in his tangent Ava spoke up.
"Isstar, did something happen when you were away? What's up with you?"
Sure, it was maybe bit too blunt, but Ava wasn't good with being subtle. She wasn't fucking Wynne. But Ava's voice held concern and so did the frown on her brow, as she looked at Isstar up and down in worry.

Isstar was talking like a dying man and Ava didn't like it one bit. She stayed quiet out of respect but the more Isstar spoke Ava's frown became that much deeper and her anger rose. How fucking dare Isstar call himself a product? No one called Ava's friends something like that, not even they themselves. And Ava was ready to say as much, she was ready to punch Isstar and stop him to talk shit like that. But then Isstar got to the part about an expiration date and Ava realized that...he was serious. Isstar didn't make messed-up jokes like this and though he spoke casually Isstar's expression was serious. Ava's face immediately went loose and blank, as the shock settled in.
Isstar...was going to die. He was going to die in half a year or so.

Ava didn't react for a while, she just stared at Isstar without actually looking at him. Her mind was racing as her thoughts tried to desperately gather themselves. Now, normally people would probably cry when they heard something like this. They'd cry, they'd ask questions, they'd pity. But Ava wasn't normal. Instead, the moment Ava's mind and thoughts became whole again her frown returned, and a growl crept up from deep in her throat. She felt nothing but anger. Sauron instinctively whined and inched away from her, as heat began to rise from her.
Ava stood up in quick, jerky movements, walked away from the fire and with a loud roar hit the closest big object (a tree) with all her strength. The tree never stood a chance; the impact created a big cloud of smoke and cinders and once the smoke settled there was only a smoking stump left of the tree. The trunk, branches and leaves had all burned away.

Ava breathed heavily before the tree stump, staring at the ground with her face twisted up in anger. Her fists were clenched so tightly her nails punctured the skin on her palms. But Ava didn't notice, she was desperately battling against her anger. Anger was Ava's base instinct, it was her first reaction to most things. But Ava knew she shouldn't be just angry now, and she was having a battle with herself.
Eventually, after few minutes of heavy breathing the intense heat Ava had been emitting slowly died down. Ava turned around, but didn't go closer to Isstar yet. Instead she glared at Isstar from few meters away, now her expression was a mix of anger, confusion and anger.

"What the fuck am I supposed to say?"
Ava said in a low, dangerously serious tone, her voice breaking in the middle of the sentence. It wasn't a serious question, it was more like a thought spoken out loud. Ava had thought that Ysolda losing her eye because of her had seriously messed her up, but that was nothing compared to this.

"How can you be so-?!"
Ava started to yell, but then cut herself off and forced herself to take deep breaths. Ava was baffled at how Isstar could be so fucking calm about this. He was going to die! Sure, this was a magical island where fuckers came back every day. And this guy had the smurfs backing him up, they should be able to help him, if not before he died then after. Ava knew that, she fucking knew all that. She wasn't stupid. But death was...it couldn't be pleasant. Ava realized that Isstar must've thought about it a lot, his death. That's why he could be so fucking calm. That's why he spoke about it like it was normal. But that didn't change the fact that it pissed Ava off!

"I won't pity you. Pity is fucking pathetic."
Ava said after she spent another few minutes sorting out her thoughts, her voice was still wavering from both anger and something akin to sorrow.
"But I will say something. How could I fucking not when you just said you'll die!"
Ava gritted her teeth and lifted her hands to her face, the wounds on her palms had already healed. She rubbed her face roughly and let out a loud sigh.
"First of all, never fucking ever again call yourself a product in front of me. Dying or not I'll punch your teeth in so hard you'll shit them out. Doesn't matter if I or anyone else doesn't think you are, you can't think so either."
Ava almost growled and looked at Isstar with flaming, determined eyes.
"And you better not fucking die even if you do. Even if your body quits on you you better come back later, if you don't I'll come after you wherever your soul goes and drag you back myself. This is fucking Manta Carlos, it lets complete assholes come back so if it won't let my friend come back I'll burn the entire place down."
And if Isstar knew Ava at all he also knew that she meant it.