No Face was watching them but Evangelos didn’t care. He was going to explore even if it meant going against his mother’s wishes and sneaking out. All he had to do was wait for the opportune moment… and that moment came about midway through the day.

He was still within Firefly Lake, still small enough that traveling very far would be hard on his body. But he was away from the watchful eye of No Face and he was able to explore the area in full on his own. His golden eyes were shining with delight as he padded away from the water and deeper into the territory. He was exploring! And there was nothing anyone could say or do to make him change his mind on the fact that this was a perfectly reasonable idea.

The young one paused, hearing a noise nearby. His heart began beating faster, remembering his mother’s warnings about monsters living away from the den. Well… maybe he could catch her one! But away from the lake there were no reeds and such to hide in. He shot towards it immediately, squeezing against the trunk before peering around it to see a stranger… one as big as his mama.

Evangelos pouted. It wasn’t fair. He wanted to be big too! It also wasn’t a monster… and that was disappointing. Unless this man was also hunting the monster?

“Hey, you, with the face!”

He went out today to search for something for his fox kits to eat. While there was plenty of prey within Abaven, he wanted to get out and away from their incessant chatter and need to follow him everywhere. While he adored them, they had taken to driving him crazy in a short amount of time. He swore they were turning his fur gray. He forgot how much energy kids had! Even Ignis and Actaea weren't that much of a handful, though they had a very different upbringing. Now that they were nearing their first year, their personalities were developing and he could see that Ignis was opening up more. He hoped Actaea would blossom just the same, though he couldn't tell for sure. "Hey, you, with the face!" A voice drew him from his thoughts, causing the man to pause mid-step. He lifted his head and glanced around in vague confusion. "Uh.." Looking around, he couldn't see anyone nearby. Was he imagining things? The fur on the back of his neck prickled the longer he stood there, almost as if he was being watched. Narrowing his eyes, he carried on like nothing had happened and wandered out of sight. If someone was watching him, he would draw out the spy himself. He bounded into the surrounding trees and hid. "Speak"

Evangelos watched as the large male lifted his head and glanced around with a bit of confusion written on his face. But then it was gone, and the male continued on, almost as if nothing happened. Evangelos furrowed his brow with frustration and huffed. Hey! No fair! No one said this guy could just waltz away from him into the trees! Evangelos lost all sense of caution and scrambled from his own hiding place, looking around to see if he could still see the stranger. Alas it seemed like he had disappeared into the trees.

Evangelos scented the air, catching the stranger’s scent. There were other scents mingling too… all of them strangers. Evan nosed closer towards the trees, nose towards the ground as he made a sad attempt at tracking the older male. He didn’t really know what he was doing… but he’d seen his mama do this before. But Evangelos was growing quickly frustrated, doubling back on himself as he glowered into the trees.

“Where’d ya go!?” He growled.

Acere remained quiet, watching the lake and the surrounding reeds. He knew something was there, he could feel their presence. Practically holding his breath, he imitated a satue as he continued to wait. It didn't take long though when movement caught his eye, and like a hawk watching its prey, Ace watched it. To his surprise, it was a young pup that...wait...was that hair? He could have sworn he just met someone with longer than normal fur recently, and he was sure this kid definitely wasn't the same wolf. He watched the pup search for him, but appeared to be getting frustrated. Ace found himself quietly grinning with amusement at the child, then decided it was time to come out of hiding. As quietly as he could, he came out of hiding and tried to sneak behind the boy, practically tip-toeing his way over. It would look comical to other viewers, but there didn't seem to be anyone else around at the moment. Once he was close enough to tower over the youth, he spoke, "Tag, you're it." speech action

Evangelos was feeling increasingly frustrated as he looked for the wolf he had seen. There was no way he could have just disappeared! He sighed angrily, about to give up and go look for his brother when he heard the voice of the stranger. He spun around with a startled growl, eyes narrowing as he looked up at the older male. He puffed out his chest with determination, speaking in a confident tone. “No way! I’m not playing tag with you! You’re where me and my family lives… so uh.. That means you gotta play what I say we’re going to play!” Oh yes, Evangelos, was dead serious about that too. This guy had to listen to HIM! “Otherwise I’ll tell my mom you didn’t listen… and you’ll be real sorry! She’ll make No Face peck your eyes out I bet!”

His amusement only grew as the kid turned around and puffed out his chest. A brow rose as the child told him he had to do what he wanted because his family lived here, even going as far as threatening him by telling his mother and having a...'no face' peck out his eyes. He couldn't help the laughter that began to rumble deep in his chest as he stared down at the pup, his look softer than usual. So, the kid was gonna play that game eh? That was fine. Ace could play a little game of his own, all in good fun of course. "What if I told you that I've lived here six years longer than you have?" He teased, the man standing at his full height as he dwarfed the boy. "I also know your mother, you don't want her to hear that you're not being a good little boy, hm?" He adopted a straight face as he spoke, trying not to let himself grin as he waited to see what the kid would do next. speech action