He tried not to come here that often, as if he was weaning himself off of thinking of the mangroves as his home. It was strange how he could go so long without staying here more than a day or two at a time and yet he still felt so comfortable in this portion of Boreas. Every once in a while he would indulge himself and he would linger between the mangroves, the hot springs, and the willows just to enjoy the places he liked the most. If he could get his mother on board with moving back to this area then he might just stay here permanently. So far he hadn't had any luck in doing that, but perhaps with time... Things could always change.

Ulric wandered aimlessly through the mangroves, stepping over the many steams and forms of water that criss crossed through the territory. Being alone was always a love and hate for him. The empty silence gave him plenty of space to think which was nice to that he had time to process his thoughts. However, that also meant that there was plenty of room for his thoughts to spin out of control. A sigh left him as he continued on his with his weaving, wandering steps while he tried to decide if he should move on to go somewhere else or if he should try to find something to do here. Either way, his own mind was beginning to be is own worst enemy.

"Speech" Thought

is this really necessary...

It would seem that no matter what the young boy did, he ended up in places with water. It wasn't like he was afraid of water, more so the things that he knew grew within its depths. Festered, oozed, all that nasty stuff. Fresh water was at least a lot different than stagnant, there was less time for bacteria's to bloom. In fresh water, it was more good things that grew there, little things that fed the food chain as they should. It was little comforts that eased the mottled yearling's mind, watching as the water flowed through the many channels it created through the roots of the mangroves. Plus, it was warm, and there was no mud to be seen. Instead, lush sands hugged his paws with each step, grains tickling over his toes. He would take this over the gross, melting snow that they had had only a few weeks ago. He would doubt that Amaranth was here though, there were little places to hide, and even less trouble to cause. Gus felt bad for losing track of her, they were supposed to be hunting for their family together, and there was hardly a time that he was too far away from her. He knew deep within his bones that they would just appear at each other's side in no time, it was one of those strange twin things.

Blowing out a sigh, Astra hopped over a large outcrop of roots before rubbing himself against the base of the tree. The smooth bark caressed him, itching that spot that he just couldn't reach. It was a beautiful spring day, even he had to admit it. Even then, it was hard to be alone. There was very little time for that in a family as large as his, even though they would endlessly drive him mad, at least they were there. Worry gnawed at his belly for a moment, but he shook it off. They were yearlings now, they should be able to take care of themselves. Still, he would like to be there to help if the need arose. At another exhale of hot air, Gus picked up the scent of a stranger. Hugging the mangrove to his left, his ears folded back as he peeked over the maze of roots and streams, trying to see where this wolf was. There was something odd, nearly familiar, about this one's scent. It caused his head to flop to one side, baby blue eyes quickly spotting the massive wolf that wandered not too far away. His coat was mottled like Astra's own, the same earthy tones covering his body. If not for the white on Gus, they would look much the same. Could this be another Adravendi? He had been told many tales of just how far their family stretched, but he had yet to really bare witness to it. Curious, he let a bit more of his head poke out from behind the tree, staring at the stranger without saying a word. He wasn't scared, of course not, more... unsure. If this male was family, surely he would be kind, but it was the unknown that made the boy hesitate. He wasn't about to go out there and find out which one it was.

Astralagus Adonis Adravendi

Large paws stopped at the edge of one of the more clear streams that twisted between the trees so that he could dip his head down to the water to take a drink. He had already begun to run through all of the potential options and possibilities of what he could do with the rest of his day. The weather was so nice that it felt like a waste to not do something with it, but at the same time when he wasn't with his family it felt like he just didn't have a reason to do most of the things he would normally do. He could hunt, but it didn't make sense for him to take down any kind of sizable prey without someone to share it with. He could practice his fighting, but he was at the point in his skill level that practicing on his own didn't do him much good. He could explore, but then he was in the same boat he was now with just being alone with his thoughts.

As he lifted his head another wolf's scent caught his attention and when he lifted his gaze his silver eyes connected with a blue gaze that seemed to be closely watching him. Surprise colored his expression as he looked at the young man that peeking around one of the trees at him. From what he could see the boy couldn't be much older than a year, but it was hard to tell with how he hiding. He had come across enough of his distant relatives at this point to be able to pick up on the similar notes that their scents all held so he could say with at least a moderate amount of certainty that this was indeed one of his cousins in some shape or form. The Adravendi family tree was so broad and spread out that felt impossible to actually trace back to see how they would be connected, but that had never really mattered to him. Family was family.

"Hello there," he greeted, offering the boy a smile. As if the scent wasn't enough of a sign that they were somehow connected, the young man had the distinctive blue eyes that he had come to associate with most of the Adravendi line. He hadn't gotten lucky enough to catch that trait, but he did have the molted browns which they seemed to share as well. "No need to hide," he added with a soft chuckle as he padded a bit closer, his tail wagging gently behind him. "I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess that you're an Adravendi. Am I right?"

"Speech" Thought

is this really necessary...

The stranger greeted him well enough, seeming kind in the ways in which he spoke. Gus still kept his eyes trained on him, narrowing slightly as he tried to figure out his next move. He did seem to be family, related in what manner though he wasn't quite sure. There was something inside him that told him that it was okay, something that the young male didn't feel too often. While the unknown could be fun to explore, he was not blind to the dangers that it could pose. Despite those thoughts, he felt himself tense as the other neared, only to relax slightly when he asked if he himself was an Adravendi. "You're right, I am," he said warily, pulling his mottled body out from behind the mangrove. "Astralagus Adonis Adravendi," Astra said with pride, his chest inflating as he took a few steps closer to the other. It was a fun alliteration, all his a's lining up as he stated his full name, baby blues softening as he looked the spotted male up and down. This felt... okay, right, so he had to be family, right? Gus wasn't usually comfortable around those he didn't know, but he could already start to feel his anxieties slip away.

Pulling himself fully out from behind the high rooted tree, the child felt his tail pick up and give a few wags. As he eased into himself more, the need to ask the male a million questions started to nip at his tongue. Who were his parents? How were the two of them lined up? How did the mangroves grow here, in the sands that shifted so frequently. Was that why the roots were overexposed? He bit his lip slightly, just barely withholding the questions that were burning inside him. He needed to be cool, calm, and collected. That's what was expected of him now that he was a yearling, right? He wasn't a child anymore, and shouldn't act as such. But wait... Gus felt a single brow raise as he looked at the earthen coloured male, his body freezing. "Wait. How did you know I was an Adravendi?" He had a feeling, a small inkling, but the other seemed so much more sure in his conviction of who he was. Was it something that came with age, or was Gus missing more information than he had hoped?

Astralagus Adonis Adravendi

Ulric smiled when the young man confirmed that he was indeed part of the Adravendi family and came out from behind the tree he had been using to hide. Once he could fully see the boy he could certainly see even more of that family resemblance in his dabbled, earth toned coat. He also had a good bit of the white that Ulric associated with his mother and her portion of their family and of course the blue eyes that seemed to be signature to most of the other Adravendi wolves he had come across. Sometimes he wished he had gotten that gene as well, but that was purely just because he didn't enjoy having the same eyes as his father. He grinned a bit when he heard his new acquaintance introduce himself. That was just the kind of long, regal name he had come to expect from his Adravendi relatives. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Astralagus. I'm Ulric Adravendi," he replied with a dip of his head. He gave his cousin a curious look when he noticed the way his brow raised skeptically and had to chuckle a bit when he heard the question that had made his expression change in such a way. "From your scent mostly," he admitted. "I've met quite a few of our family members over the years and everyone has had a few similar notes that are pretty easy to pick out. You also just look like you could be an Adravendi from your fur color and pattern and eye color as well." Adravendi was a large, vast family with all kinds of different traits mixed into their bloodline, but there seemed to be a few common themes here and there that he noticed and some were more common than others. He settled down onto his haunches and smiled as he just enjoyed being around family again for a while. Even though he had tried to separate himself from his family a bit to figure out his own path, he still couldn't help the happiness that finding one of his relatives brought him. "Talk"

is this really necessary...

After the long statement of his name, and knowing his siblings, he was surprised that he only heard Ulric Adravendi in reply. A soft hum left the boys lips in wonder, most of the family that he knew had quite the mouthful of name. He knew that their bloodline was vast, but perhaps he had no interacted with enough to really understand their traditions and ways. Besides, he had been far more interested learning the lays of the land and how everything worked than to dive into family history. That seemed like a lot less fun. Deflating from his previous puffed chest stance, he wandered in closer, nostrils flaring as he asked his next set of questions. He was so focused on the answers, wanting so badly to learn how he knew he was family, that he forgot all of his pleasant words in reply to the greeting of his kin. Astra's ears pulled forward, hanging on every word that slipped past Ulric's lips. So, he had met a lot of the family? So many questions floated up into the young wolf's mind, but he did his best to keep them back, and at least fain some sort of air of civility. "You do smell a little like me, I noticed it when I first saw you. Or at least a little familiar, so I was trying to remember if I had met you or not," he admitted, sheepishly drawing in the sands below at the silliness of it all. Poking closer still, he drew in more of Ulric's scent, realizing just how tiny he was to the massive wolf in doing so. Pushing that aside, he breathed in deep and focused on the smells that rushed past his nose. It was nearly overwhelming, so many things all at once that it was hard to draw out just one smell...

Pulling back, Gus' nose wrinkled upwards as he turned and sneezed. It was hard for him to comprehend everything that he had just witnessed, again making the hungry for knowledge boy seem ashamed. "You smell like lots of wolves," Astra finally said, chewing over the words slowly before stating them out loud. There was the scent of not just himself there, but it would seem like a whole group of wolves. Since coming to these lands, the boy had not had too much of a run in with other wolves, not those outside his family group anyways. So did Ulric just meet a ton of wolves, and always keep himself surrounded by others? That sounded... irritating. Rocking back on his own haunches, he looked up at the massive male with an inquisitive look, ready to hear all that he had to offer him.

Astralagus Adonis Adravendi

Ulric watched as the inquisitive young man wandered a bit closer and seemed to examine his scent as if he was confirming what he had been told. He nodded and smiled softly when Astralagus mentioned how he had smelled similar. "Exactly. You'll notice that with a lot of our family." Every family member he had ever come across had at least matched his own scent slightly - enough that he had been able to guess that they were part of his family tree. He was admittedly not that well versed on their history and couldn't recite his ancestors much farther than his great grandmother, but he did at least know know enough to be able to pick out his relatives out of a crowd. He did notice their size difference as the boy got closer to him to examine his scent even closer, but it wasn't anything new to him. It was more rare and surprising for him to find wolves that were as large as him than the opposite. He was a bear of a wolf - it was something that he was very aware of and even a bit self conscious of sometimes whenever it caused others to be nervous around him. He blinked with surprise and smirked a little when the boy turned his head to sneeze after studying his scent for a moment. When he heard that he smelled like a lot of wolves he was honestly a bit surprised, but it did make sense. It was just a fact that he had forgotten about after so many years of pretty much living on his own with just his mother as constant company. He nodded in agreement and replied, "I recently started working with a pack near here so that's probably most of it. I've also started living with my mother and two nieces again so they're probably mixed in there as well. That happens when you live with other wolves sometimes - their scents all kind of mingle in with yours. Of course if you only live with your immediate family you probably won't notice it as much since you all smell like each other." He quite liked how many questions the younger wolf asked. It just showed that he was curious and interested in learning. There was nothing wrong with that. That didn't mean he wasn't going to ask a few questions of his own however. "Are your parents around here?" he asked with a slight tilt of his head. He was partially just curious to see if he could piece together how they fit together in their family tree, but he also just wanted to make sure the boy had someone to look after him. Of course he looked to be old enough to start being on his own more, but Ulric still worried all the same. It was just part of his nature to make sure everyone he encountered was either able to care for themselves well enough or had someone making sure they were cared for. "Talk"