There had been a time when Mortis knee every single wolf in the pack. He was quick to be the welcoming committee to those that found their way to the Armada. Somehow, more wolves had slipped into the pack and he hadn't had a moment to appreciate or meet them. Then Mal had gone missing, and he found his time take up with searching and wallowing. She had been his best friend, and now she was simply... gone.

He wasnt sleeping or eating well any more. An adult would have told him he was pinning, but he had been too busy missing her to put a label on his emotions.

When he crossed the scent of a wolf he knew he had introduced himself to, he hesitated.for the first time in his life, he debated the worth of letting someone else in. Of letting someone else hurt him. Oh, he was a bum head. Of course he qoumd go meet them. How could he let himself have doubts? Forcing a friendly smile onto his features, he bounded forward after the scent.

Naiche was walking that boundary line again, but not all of it.  He had broken up the boundary into chunks to explore when he had time, and spending extra time in each section to help himself continue to memorize it.  He would go past the boundary a short ways off then return walking a further into the pack grassland and move along.  Systematically breaking down every section of the land.  He was learning at a good rate with the attention being put into it.  From any hole in the ground, to time it took to travel from one spot to another, all of it was important.

Naiche heard someone coming, one who smelled of the Armada.  The wheat-colored wolf stepped back into the boundary line.  The wolf was moving at a decent clip, not just some lazy walk.  Then here he came and of course the one thing that stuck out first were the wings.  Wolves could have wings? Was it really a wolf?  It was massive but that wasn't abnormal here but, It had wings!!! Naiche had probably never looked so shocked in his life.  It looked friendly and Naiche forced his mind away from the shock as it got closer. It smelled of the armada, it smelled like a wolf.  Wow.

"Hello?" Naiche questioned the greeting as he came forwards.  This place took the cake for surprising him in one form or another. Naiche managed a welcoming stance, but there was no getting passed that stamp of shock on his face."Speech"

Mortis bounded forward to meet the man, and paused when he registered the shock in the other wolfs features. He followed the man's gaze to his wings, and then back to his face again. Mort broke out into a sheepish smile. He was use to Armada wolves already knowing about his wings. He forgot sometimes what a shock they could be.

Still, he let his tail give a welcoming wag, pushing aside any worries and concentrating on the moment. Welcoming the distraction. "Oh, hey your Naiche right? My Da accepted you into the pack, but we haven't met yet." He explained to the other wolf. Bounding a little closer. His wings spreading out lazily in the air around him. He trotted up and nudged his shoulder against the other man, grinning across him. Wondering when the shock would wear off. "I'm Mortis Fatalis" he finished introducing himself.

He knew a tinsy bit about the man. He still lived at home, so he got a lot of his gossip from his old man. It struck him then, that he could pick his own den in the pack starting tomorrow. Did he want to move out of home? Build himself a home? What a strange idea. He liked curling up intop of Sirius and sticking is noes into Zees coat.

A wolf with wings? Still, Naiche nodded focusing on reality of the moment, his mind once more settled in place. “Right, I’m Naiche.  A pleasure to meet you.” The smaller wolf responded politely.  His dad? Sure enough this was another one of Sirius’ kids.  If the kid have wings, did the mom have wings also? The pain in the ass princess didn’t have wings, thank goodness.

“Like you said, your dad just let me join recently,” glancing a quick sweep of the area and back to Mortis, “So I was just taking another look around.” After a pause he had to speak it, “Alright, we both know I was staring and sorry about that.  I hope its not rude but I gotta ask.  Do those work? I mean can you actually fly?”  Was there etiquette on asking about that? Somehow Naiche doubted he would easily learn etiquette on asking wolves about their wings.  Naiche was embarrassed on the staring part, he normally didn't try to act like a moron but he had been a bit shocked at the sight.

So what was the son’s rank anyway? How polite was he supposed to be? As the son of the warlord Naiche assumed pretty respectful but at the same time, that apparently hadn’t been a concern with his sister.  Did the pup’s not get any special ranking and have to earn it? Maybe just the eldest? Well, at least so far this son seemed pleasant.

"Speech"

Through he ready knew the man's name, he confirmed his identity. Speaking matter of fact as through trying his best to be casual. It was clear that he had been given a little bit of a shock, everyone reacted to his wings differently. Some ignored them entirely, some - like Naiche - became shocked. As the man mentioned taking a look around, Mortis blinked back at him, wondering where he was going with this. When he explained that he was staring, his questions seemed to pour free.

Mortis was used to this question, so some of the shock of it faded. Okay, so Azure had pushed him off a cliff and broken his paw and almost killed him. He couldn't be skittish at the idea - or rather impossibility - of flying forever. "No, they are too heavy, and unlike a bird my bones aren't hollow. Flying is impossible" he explained to the other wolf.

He bounded closer, letting one of his wings brush over his new friend, attempting to tickle thr other man's nose. "I get it, your curious. Feel free to examine them and get it out of your system" he said with patient ease.

Wings that couldn’t be used, that sounded like a tragedy.  Flying would be pretty awesome.  Naiche hadn’t used his imagination on something impossible since he’d left his band.  The feather tickled, causing a twitch and then his tail reacting without his consent as it wiggled back and forth.  Somehow seeing something that should only be a bit of an over imagination was real, and instead of being shocked now it seemed, well great!  

Naiche took up the offer, nudging the wing gently with his nose, getting a good sniff in.  Then the bird-like wolf had Naiche circling around him, pausing to get a good look at the back feathers before ending up back in front.  When had something entertained him so much? “That’s great!” Yah, he sounded much more relaxed and happy now. “Too bad you can’t really fly.” Just like that he liked this wolf, he didn’t know much about him but he was friendly and somehow had Naiche feeling more like the yearling he was.

Here came the next problem, he liked the idea of being this wolfs friend but he wasn’t very good any more about random chit chat, so now what?  What would the wolf like to talk about? Future goals of abilities and status were what was always on Naiche’s mind, but would this happy and bouncy wolf be on that same wave length? “Seems like every day I’m here I see something new.  Either everyone here is real special or my prior band was really dull.”

Ok, he’d try to find some common ground, somehow.

"Speech"[/b][/color]

mortis fatalis

Mortis stood still and let the grassy toned wolf wonder about him and get in a good sniff and examination of his wings. He hadn’t underestimated the man's curiosity, and he jumped to the idea. Mort’s tail wiggled behind him a little, amused and chuffed at the attention. “Yeah, but i’m wicked at climbing trees, and no one expects a giant winged shape to jump out at them” he said, a hint of wicked teasing in his eyes. He had used this tactic on more then a few wolves at this point.

“There's definitely weird things around, my wings, and Azure’s bear paws, and fangs and horns and all sorts. I hear they became more common after the volcano erupted and killed a large chunk of land for a while.” He explained his father's theory to Naiche “I doubt your band was dull, just different”

Ooc: there is no correlation between the volcano and the mutations. ;)

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Naiche nodded at Mort’s comment, “I have to swallow my pride on that one.  If I saw a huge wolf with wings leaping out at me from above, I think that would have my breath taken away before you even struck me.”  Any wolf who wouldn’t be horrified at the sight deserved plenty of respect, not counting those who already knew Mort’s trick at least.

“So you’ve been in some real fights I imagine then?” Naiche asked curiously.  Not that he assumed Mort was weak in any way, but he seemed young to have had many reason for serious fighting.  “At least I don’t assume many official spars would start that way considering the entire point is surprise.” Then revelation struck, “or is that just to scare friends for fun?  If it’s a real fight I’d be interested in how that worked out.”  Naiche hadn’t been in any serious fights before he joined here.  He still had no reason to fight another wolf for anything other than a spar.

A volcano causing mutations like these extremes? It sounded strange but what else would cause a mutation? Volcano’s erupting weren’t something that happened every day and so it might make sense that was the cause of the changes? "I would of never imagined a volcano could do something like that, but I also can't say I could imagine anything else doing it.  So since volcano eruptions are rarer things, I guess that could potentially be the reason."
"Speech"

Mortis laughed softly, good natured aas Naiche admitted that a wolf leaping from the trees would scare the heebie jeebies out of him. It had worked a few times to give him a head start, but Malalia had still managed to kick his ass. He chased away the memory of his lost friend, concentrating on the here and now.

“Yeah… a few” Mortis admitted. His father had been training him since he was old enough to walk, he had a few battles and even a malee under his belt. He had missed the raid, giving up his spot to another. Mort quirked a side of his muzzle, and shook his head. “It started out as a competition with a friend, I haven’t done any real spars that way.” He agreed.

“I didn’t see it myself, I was told it happens just before the Armada was founded, and I came along a little after that. I saw some of the end of the ash, this summer has been the most lush I’ve ever seen the world.” He explained, which was… just another reminder of how young he was. Technically, he ranked third/fourth in the entire pack. Sometimes, he didn’t think he would ever be equal to the responsibility.