Ash had worked on getting up a nice pile of fermented fruits in two of the buckety looking things he had found in the bramble. Honestly, with this collection, he was pretty sure he could get black-out drunk for at least a day and a half off of this. He wasn't actually proud of himself- although he was willing to admit that he should be. He just felt... raggedy. He had been drunk just about every day, rarely venturing from the orchard. Now that winter was upon them, the amount of fruits would be limited to lemons and grapefruits and... some other things Ash never cared to identify. The good thing about this orchard was that it always seemed to be growing fruit, which meant it could almost always be used to ferment things.

Not that Ash was good at fermenting things himself, but he had nature for that and he was good at finding already fermented fruits anyway. So he sat for a moment, a little tipsy from earlier, with his two buckets of alcohol just wishing for a reason to start drinking before the sun set.

What an unusual place. Ivy had wandered a bit farther than usual from Kesali's claimed lands, navigating the winding rivers that bordered the lands to the northwest of the plains. The trip was lengthier than she would've liked - it seemed as though recently a pack had claimed some territories adjacent to their own - a fact that irked her slightly. She'd have to ask Branch about that one soon. For now, though, she was intent on simply exploring as much as she could, hoping at the very least that she could find something useful to bring back home. Sadly, winter's arrival didn't exactly provide for the best exploring, but she'd have to make due. Luckily winter hadn't fully settled over the lands, not yet at least, and even now the scent of fruit was strong in the air. Not just any fruit, though, but.. rotting fruit? Ivy wrinkled her nose at the stench as it touched her nose, though pressed on further into the orchard. What the female hadn't expected to find there, even among the smell of fermenting fruit, was a wolf with a bucket.. or two? Quirking an eyebrow, Ivy cast an inquisitive look at him from a long distance before making her presence known, slinking gracefully around an oversized bush that she'd been peering at him from behind. "Mind if I ask what those things are for?" The question wasn't said with much hesitation at all. Ivy was far from shy, and for the sake of knowledge there was little she wasn't willing to ask.

Just as he was good and happy and about to drink, a woman appeared- well, Ash was sure she had come from somewhere, but to him it was all the same. She asked what those things were for. Ashmedai looked over the buckets, then back to her, quirking a brow spot.

"They're for puttin' me out of my misery," he said truthfully, though the crooked smile on his maw implied it was a joke of sorts.

He gave her a look-over that was brief enough to not be sleazy, but only just barely- he was a little tipsy and his focus wasn't all that great anyway.

"But it could be used for a nice date if you're interested," he said, same toothy smile implying a joke where there was none.

Okay, maybe he was being a little bit sleazy, but he didn't mean anything by it.

That curious look never quite left her features, her head tilting slightly to the side as she examined his buckets. After a moment, when he noticed her, her amethyst gaze drifted to meet his own. His answer was a peculiar one, though it didn't entirely answer her question. Not one for pleasantries, she didn't return the playful smile, instead choosing to close the distance between them enough to get a better whiff of whatever was in his buckets. Whatever it was certainly smelled interesting, and though vaguely unpleasant it wasn't altogether horrible. "Must be quite the misery, judging by the smell of.. this, Ivy gestured with her nose at the buckets and the liquid they contained. The smell was much stronger than she'd anticipated, though she really wasn't sure what she'd been expecting to begin with. Certainly not his next comment, either. A single brow of her own lifted now, casting him a questioning look.  "I'm not, but I appreciate the offer." He definitely wasn't her type. He was far too big, and far too... male. The comment wasn't taken to heart, though. Judging by his slightly slurred speech she had a feeling this liquid was having some sort of effect on him, and she was too curious by nature to cast him aside over a simple comment.  "And I can't help but be intrigued. What would it take for you to tell me more about this.. drink?"

The woman drew near kind of suddenly, basically sticking her nose in his buckets.

"Woah, back up, buttercup," he said, although he was the one who took a step back. She said it must be some kind of misery, which Ash simply replied with an empty laugh. He wasn't quite sure anyone would understand why he was so torn up about Sparrow's death, much less this... strange woman.

Then she shot him down. Starting to get a bit cross, Ash pulled the buckets towards him a little protectively. She asked more about the drink's effects.

Ashmedai smirked, "It tastes like shit, but it makes you feel good, so there's that.''

There was more he could say about the drink and his experiences with it, but instead he shrugged.

"I could tell ya all about it, but you'd be better off knowin' it and feelin' yourself," he said, sliding one of the buckets towards her with a wicked smile.

The way the male laughed told her that his misery was quite the misery, as she'd observed out loud, but he didn't elaborate on it. She could only guess his reasons why, but she was more interested in his little concoction than she was in his problems, truth be told. Her curiosity persisted through his demand to back up, but if anyone had asked her he hadn't sounded all that serious about it anyway. He did, however, pull them toward him.. temporarily. 'It tastes like shit, but it makes you feel good, so there's that.' Now there was something she could get down with. Well, maybe, depending on just how good he was talking. Ivy was surprised when he changed his mind from his slightly possessive mood, pushing one of the buckets toward her. "Hm," was all she murmured, taking a deeper whiff of the drink and deciding no amount of sniffing would tell her what she really wanted to know about it. After a moment of hesitation, she did as he'd suggested, slurping a mouthful of the liquid from the bucket offered and wincing slightly at the way it burned on its way down. "Definitely tastes like shit," Ivy agreed, lapping her lips and trying to keep from frowning at the aftertaste. "How soon until its effects start to outweigh the taste?"

The woman seemed curious in the drink and Ashmedai simply watched, devil's smile playing on his lips. Eventually she took a sip and Ashmedai followed, taking a significantly larger drink than her. Ashmedai glanced over the rim of the bucket to watch her wince. When she did, he hid his expression by taking another drink.

She asked how long until the drink took affect and Ash leaned back on his haunches, "Well... that... depends."

He tried to answer honestly, but it really did depend.

"I mean sometimes it just hits ya. Other times it takes a while. Just drink till you feel something, then you can either stop or keep going- doesn't matter to me."

His smirk didn't go unnoticed, but Ivy had trouble finding much malicious intent lurking in his expression. Though it had been obvious that the male had been drinking from the buckets, he only confirmed it for her by taking an even larger sip. Being poisoned hadn't been a worry of hers - perhaps if he'd been offering her the drink so readily she might be worried, but instead he'd been a bit protective of them. For a moment, at least. Now he merely seemed like he wanted to see just how it might effect her, and she wouldn't deny that she was curious too. "Drink 'til you feel something. Sounds like a foolproof plan." Another slurp from the bucket confirmed that the taste wasn't as horrible the second time, and the burn somehow felt more pleasant. Ivy raised a brow as she paused to glance over at him. "How do you go about making this stuff, anyway? Quite the skill you have here." Even though she didn't quite know the effects firsthand, she was intrigued.

The woman drank, saying his plan sounded foolproof- to which Ashmedai nodded proudly. It was a plan that had yet to fail him. After a few more sips, she asked about how he made the drink and Ashmedai sighed. It wasn't a bad sigh, just a thinking sigh as his eyes went skyward.

"Well.... nature does it," he said. "But also you can do it if you know how. Me, personally... I just take what nature provided and mix it. It's something around rotted fruit, but when they get fizzy- or slightly after that. There's some wolves who can make it better, but I actually grew up here and was kind of able to just... get some whenever I wanted."

He tried to give a good answer, but he had none really.

"A wolf in the pir- in the band I was leading knows how to make all kinds of stuff. Pure liquid too with none of the floaty bits. He's a short motherfucker, but he's good at what he does."

Ashmedai smiled thinking of the odd slew of shipmates he had. He wondered if Rhys would come after him after all. Maybe she'd bring some of the others along too.

"I'm sure someone in these lands knows how to do it like that. Prolly not as good tho."

The way the drink settled in her stomach was strange, but far from entirely unpleasant. Was it already working? Judging by the way it burned on the way down she could only presume so. The male opposite her seemed pleased by her assessment of his plan, and he earned a faint, tight smile from Ivy. She lapped at the drink a bit more - it wasn't like she had any particular misery to drown away, but the possibility of good feelings as Ashmedai had so eloquently said was admittedly tempting all on its own. She listened carefully as he explained how nature did it on its own, but you could do it on your own too if you knew how. He admitted he'd been able to get fruit on his own here, and she nodded in understanding. "Huh," Ivy remarked simply at his description of a short motherfucker. She'd certainly met some interesting characters in these lands - mouthy ones, at least in comparison to her own family and the wolves she'd met thus far in her life.  "I'd be interesting to find someone who can makes it half as good as this man you speak of. Surely I have some services I can offer that would make it worthwhile for someone to teach me a thing or two." Ivy offered with a slow shrug, already feeling the alcohol loosening up her mouth, even if she wasn't totally aware of it yet.

The woman seemed to... at least accept what Ash was saying. She eventually stated that she would give some sort of something for someone who could make wine half as good as the man Ash had described.

"I mean, we called him Gluttony. Maybe if he ever makes it around this way, I'll introduce him to you, Miss...?"

Ashmedai left his question hanging for a bit. He hadn't gotten her name yet, had he? With his nose out of the alcohol, he could smell she was from a pack, but he could ask about that later. He took another sip, this time a little more controlled. He didn't really wanna get some pack wolf too caught up in the pirate gang.

The initial sharp burn slowly faded into a more pleasant sting, comforting rather than aggravating now. How much more could she safely drink, she wondered? She took the brief moment when Ashmedai started talking again to lean down and take another few sips. Shit, this stuff is actually pretty good, she thought to herself, feeling a slight grin tugging at her lips. She'd definitely have to find a way to get this again... They called him Gluttony. She let out a low laugh that surprised even her.  "Ivy. Ivy Wreckage," she introduced herself, lapping at her lips and savoring the taste of the liquid.  "What about you? Does the drink master have a name?" Ivy quirked a brow as she looked over the bucket at him, curious now about this fellow.

The woman seemed to be relaxing a bit, letting a small smile and laugh escape her lips. She introduced herself as Ivy Wreckage. Where had Ash heard of Wreckage anyway? He couldn't find the will to care in his tipsy state. He could remember to think about it later probably.

She asked his name and got a smooth smirk in return.

"King," he said. "Ashmedai Imperialis, King of the pirates."

Ash let out a snort. It was ridiculous and his bandmates usually used that name to tease him, although several had fallen into the habit of calling him 'King' although somehow it sounded more like a normal nickname than a title of honor. So much so, in fact, that Ash had trouble taking anyone who called themselves a king seriously.

"But... Just calling me Ash serves the same purpose," he said with a slightly more sloppy smile. "So Ivy... What brings you out here. Dontcha gotta pack?"

Ashmedai Imperialis, King of the pirates. How.. interesting. She wasn't about to question his title, but she cocked her head as she considered it, quite curious about this fellow. Much more than usual, though she wouldn't immediately attribute her nosiness to the beverage she'd been enjoying since meeting this man. "Pleased to meet you, King," she offered, dipping her head in a slightly over-exaggerated bow. "Or - Ash, if you prefer that," she added as a quick afterthought. Hm. Had she had too much of his drink? Not really, in the grand scheme of things, but she didn't want to seem greedy. And yet... she wanted more, and with as much grace as she could muster she leaned down to slurp up more of it. She lapped at her lips as she paused and considered his question. "Just getting a bearing on my surroundings, I suppose. I do have a pack - my brother's, called Kesali," Ivy explained without much hesitation. "Our family is fairly new to these lands so I'd like to learn as much about this place as possible."

The woman greeted him now by the name of King with all the flamboyancy she seemed to be able to muster. Ash cocked a toothy smile at her when she asked if he liked Ash better.

"I'm fine with either. Ash, King, King Ash, Ash King... As long as you say King like King and not like King, you feel me?"

The words sounded completely different to Ash, the one he preferred sounded much more casual- at least to him. It sounded like a normal name rather than a title of honor. He tried to convey that but he wasn't sure he was doing a good job and he didn't have the capacity to really care much after he tried once.

Oh, so this was the alpha's sister? Ash mentally noted the relation and reminded himself to behave a little. Not that he, an alpha's kid, was very phased, but good relations were good relations.

"There's not much to learn," Ash said, responding to her question. "This place is just like every other place, in my not so humble opinion."

Ash let a smile linger on his face, though it might have been the alcohol persuading his lips to stay up.

"So... how are you liking the drink? Feel anything yet? Can you still run straight?"

Ivy returned the pleasant grin, nodding at his words. "King Ash it is, then," she replied, maintaining his casual inflection on the word King, just as he had. Somehow in her head it made sense, even if she wasn't totally sure why or how. Weirdly, she just didn't care much about anything at the moment, and she quite liked the feeling. It was different from her usual uptight mood, but then again she didn't generally feel quite so inclined to be in control when it came to strangers. "Mmm," she murmured appreciatively, despite him not having any real knowledge. It didn't really help her in terms of neighboring packs and the like but she supposed she had plenty of time for that later. Now, she was far more concerned with her present company and the drink they were sharing. Her ears perked at the question. "I.. think I do," Ivy agreed, somewhat tentatively, her grin brightening. "Can I run straight?" She repeated, standing up tall now. "I don't see why I couldn't-" Her words were cut off as she started walking forward. It felt very much like the world was swaying beneath her paws, and her body went with it, swaying unsteadily as she tried to move forward, instead walking in a rather sloppy zigzag. "-Oh." Maybe she didn't like these effects quite as much as the others, but somehow she still found herself giggling stupidly at her inability to walk straight. She wasn't sure running would be the greatest idea though..