He could care less about what dictates "proper conversation" but he could tell Belhara was a little uncomfortable. Of course that only amused him more, his eyes practically glittering with mischief now as he smirked at her knowingly. His eyes easily said "you think that's bad? I can get much worse." She didn't seem convinced that he could get Boneskull eating the wolf meat but he knew it wouldn't be a chore. He loved it after only a few meals after all and now nothing else compares. His brows furrowed and he frowned at her when she said that it was a male thing to do to name him something useless. He snorted.

"I consider it quite useful myself, as useful as taking in a pup and actually raising him even though he's not mine."

Oh yes, he was planning on using that against her as long as possible. Belhara seemed almost too pleased with the female pup for his taste. Why did she seem to approve of anything the little pipsqueak did? The girl gave her attitude and Belhara gave a smile in return as if she did something good. Really? He sulked again. No fair, such a sexist thing to do. She did look surprised by the pups' reactions to each other though. Cuirass meanwhile took it all in stride. Sure he missed Kronos every day and would love to have his brother back but he understood that maybe not all litters were like that. After all, if Kahina was mean enough to call him Bone head like she said her mother called him then Cuirass didn't blame him one bit for hating her guts. Little brat.

Belhara didn't even try to intervene when the girl teased Boneskull and he tried to go after her. Cuirass didn't know whether to be insulted that she didn't think to defend Boneskull's honor or pleased that she must feel confident that he could handle it himself. Of course then he had to go and ruin all those positive thoughts by telling him to make up his mind. He growled and flattened his ears in response, talking through gritted teeth.

"It's just an expression, sweetheart. Like cool your trap. It means shut up."

He gave her a sharp look, raising one brow expectantly. Then she had to go and ruin it again by saying that Boneskull probably had worms. What the heck was she talking about? He jerked his head back, nose wrinkling at the very thought as he poked Boneskull again, this time around his stomach. He looked at her and shook his head.

"I most certainly didn't feed him any worms so he got those from someone else."

He was not going down for this one! But then he had to try to behave because Belhara was actually trying to teach now. He found it easy to listen to her soothing voice even if the subject matter was enough to make him fall asleep. He was only half listening really and when Belhara asked Kahina what she saw in the stars, he snorted and shifted his weight, totally still sulking a little. Of course she would ask the girl. What about Boneskull? Maybe he saw something even better when he looked at the stars!

Kahina had an attitude about her for sure. She growled and braced herself for attack when Boneskull went after her, almost inviting an admiring look from Cuirass when she dared him to come after her. Girl's got some fire. Good, he liked that. But she seemed just as bored with the subject of stars as he was, her ears flattening as she told Belhara that all she saw was light. But then she seemed to try a little harder, finally pointing out a little cluster up above as she said a smear. Cuirass snickered under his breath.

"A smear, she says."

At least Boneskull had settled down when he stepped between him and Kahina, plopping down in defeat but he looked bored too. Couldn't Belhara teach them something more fun like how to kill bunnies or something? At Boneskull's question, he shrugged.

"They're talking about stars. Annoying things, really. They light up the night as if for the strict purpose of annoying predators who are trying to hunt in the dark."

That was his best interpretation anyway.