The boy oozed pure, unadulterated laziness as he roved the territory in search of something fun to do. He'd been actively exploring the area since leaving the den; each day going a little further as he sought to see everything the land had to offer. He knew there were other wolves in the area - packmates, if he remembered correctly - but he had yet to see any. Packmates, he decided as he'd tried to wrap his mind around the concept, were like littermates in a bigger family. And even though they had different mothers and they slept in different dens (and he wasn't sure exactly what held them together, since as far as he could tell they had nothing in common) he wanted to play with them like he played with his family. With meeting one of these mythical packmates in mind, the boy had zeroed in on a trail and set about following it. Even if he hustled (which he was loath to do unless he was being chased) Jupiter didn't have much of a chance of catching up to the stranger that way. He was just a little too languid for that chasing nonsense. What he lacked in speed, though, he made up for in tenacity. Sooner or later whoever he was following would have to stop and when they did, he would pounce.

Ashmedai walked slowly through the pack. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do here really. He didn't know many of the others and there seemed to be even less willing to either swoon over him or compete with him. For Ashmedai, those were the two preferable main types of interactions. He didn't really love the whole in the middle relationships. He also didn't meet most wolves more than once or twice, though, so it wasn't a big deal.

But now he was in a pack. That meant he had to actually put effort into knowing the wolves that now surrounded. Honestly, it sounded bothersome. Couldn't he just spar with them all and call it a day. Yes, mutual bonding through fighting.

Wasn't that a thing?

Well, Ashmedai guessed he could still try. He was used to making big, bold impressions, not long lasting relationships.

Ash stopped his leisurely walk and plopped himself down by a tree. When did being in a pack get so hard? When did he start caring what others thought about him?

It took him literally forever to catch up to his packmate. Literally. Forever. No joke it was the longest trek of his life. He'd never walked so far or climbed over so many big rocks in all his days. Granted, he didn't have very many days behind him, but still, it was a lot of walking. And there he was: Jupiter's packmate. The boy eyed him critically. He looked like two different wolves smashed together. His top half was bright and colorful, but his bottom half was dark and speckled with white. And his fur was kinda weird too. It looked really smooth on the bright half, but fluffy like Jupiter's on the back half. He was intriguing to say the least. Welp, time to meet him. Jupiter crawled up the small outcropping he'd been peeking over and waddled towards Ashmedai. Once he was only a yard or so away he flopped down in front of the his packmate and beamed up at him. "Hi! My name's Jupiter. We're packmates." "Jupiter" "Amadeus" "You"

There was a rustling. At first, Ashmedai thought it might be a rabbit, but as it emerged, Ashmedai could have sworn it was one of his siblings. He had to do a double take.

Triple take.

Quadruple take.

He KNEW those eye dots, but at the same time, there was enough... neon blue to make is just questionable.

The pup announced himself as Jupiter. Ashmedai stood and briskly moved towards Jupiter, bringing his face down till his nose was almost touching the pup.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm Ashmedai. Say, Jupiter, who'd you say you belonged to?" he asked hurriedly.

No way this was the pup of that cosmo-wolf.

"Who's your dad?"

Wait, she hadn't had a mate with her. This pup probably didn't KNOW his dad.

Ashmedai pulled away from the pup. Maybe he was just being too hopeful. Ash looked away from the pup sourly.

"Does your mother know you're wandering around? I coulda' been dangerous you know."

Jupiter remained where he was as the grownup looked him over. The big guy was funny. His uncertain movements kind of reminded Jupiter of the time he'd cornered a squirrel. The silly little critter hadn't known what to do and it had bounced between two boulders. He'd almost caught it, but at the last second it made up its mind and finally picked a direction. He remained sitting, beaming brightly, as Ashmedai stepped close enough that Jupiter was forced to go cross-eyed in order to keep looking him in the face. The grownup introduced himself and then asked him a question Jupiter found kind of confusing. He didn't belong to anybody! Nope, he was his own man. "I didn't 'cause I don't." Jupiter cocked his head at Ashmedai's second question. Boy, he was full of silly questions, wasn't he? "I don't have a dad, I have a mom. Her name is Artemis." Looking at Ashmedai all cross-eyed was making his head hurt so he leaned back a little. The move was unnecessary, though, as Ashmedai stepped back soon after. "Does your mother know you're wandering around? I coulda' been dangerous you know." Now it was Jupiter's turn to be sour. Ashmedai wasn't going to tattle on him, was he? That would be mean. "No," he sniffed, "She doesn't know everything. And you can't be dangerous. You're my packmate." "Jupiter" "Amadeus" "You"