If he was going to live in the north, begrudgingly or not, he knew he better get to know the lands of it sooner rather than later. The only places he was mildly familiar with was the mountains from his time coming up here to collect metals and gems, but otherwise he was hopeless with finding his way around. Once he was fully settled into his new den and his forge and workshop was up and running he had little that he could use as an excuse to keep from going out and learning the land. He struck out from Armada's territory and wound up in a valley of sorts with a shallow bay intruding into it. If nothing else it was beautiful and he could at least appreciate that aspect of things. He walked over to the edge of the water to get a drink and just as he lifted his head he heard something behind him.

He turned around and his sea foam gaze landed on the form of a shaggy brown bear cub that was wandering up behind him. The cub didn't worry him—but the mother that was most certainly somewhere near by did. "Shoo! Shoo!" he said in a hushed tone, waving the cub away from him, but that did nothing but make the cub call out at him which of course summoned exactly what he was trying to avoid. A big female grizzly came charging out of the trees a moment later, roaring and snarling as he stumbled back, trying to put some distance between him and the bears.

"Ruga Amanto"

Ara finally had a chance to explore the polar sound, a place she had thought about a couple times over the last few days. She had hoped to find a place where the wind hit the cliffs at just the right angle to making a sweeping sound effect, but in reality the place was quiet. Sheltered and snug with high cliff faces around it, it was different to what she expected. But that was the point of exploring, right? To learn what was as she expected it to be and what was different.

As she made her way into the valley, she could hear sounds in the distance. What sounded like a wolf in hushed tones she couldn't decipher, and the call of something young. A bear, perhaps? Curious and a little perplexed she walked closer to the shore. In time to hear a roaring mumma bear, and she moved out of the trees in time to see its advance. Whooping in delight, Ara charged in. She wasn't about to let a stranger have all the fun.

As the bear went for Ruga, she went for the mumma. Nipping at its legs as she ran close to it and then away, moving to the side as she attempted to distract and annoy the creature.

Ruga was just about to go sprinting through the trees to try and escape the angry momma bear when another wolf suddenly appeared just as quickly, a flash of red and black with horns curling from the top of her head. He blinked with surprise, but was grateful for the assist as she came charging out right for the angry bear and nipped at its ankles, drawing its attention away from him and onto her instead. That allowed him to stop running and turn back into the fight, his confidence boosted a bit with the additional help. By now the baby bear had run back into the trees, clearly not that eager to be in the middle of the fight, so if they could just get the momma to follow suit then they would all be right as rain. He charged in as well, giving his own quick bites around the bear's hind legs and thighs, keeping moving so that he was never in one spot for too long. He didn't necessarily want to majorly injure the bear since she did have a kid to care for and all, but he definitely didn't want her around here any more.

"Ruga Amanto"

She noticed the other wolf turning back to them and she lifted her head to shoot him a grin - and then did a double take. His red-fire tones rippled across a well forged body, and his paws faded into sooty dark shades. Handsome, much! She whistled appreciatively and laughed as she was forced to duck and turn her attention back to the fight. Narrowly avoiding decapitation from a powerful blow.

Then her lava toned savior was there, distracting the bear and giving her a moment to think. As she spotted the bear cub sprinting back to the trees, an idea formed. "Keep her busy, hot stuff!" She yelled out and snuck away from the fight as quickly and quietly as she could manage. She just had to hope the red wolf was cunning enough to keep alive Ling enough for her to act.

She grabbed the cub in her jaws, grunting with the effort of its weight. It might have been just a baby but it was shockingly dense. It cried in alarm and she knew her time was up. She sprinted with all her might, anticipating mumma bear to be right behind her as she reached a section where the ocean dropped off. She let go of her grip on the bear and it tumbled into the water. "Ruuuun!" She yelled, her voice lost in panting glee as she did just that. Taking off to the tree line as fast as she could manage.

Usually it was him tossing the flirtatious comments at ladies and unabashedly shooting his shot at them, but this time around it seemed like the roles were reversed as his beautiful savior tossed a grin his way and whistled, making him do a double take at her as well with a salacious grin of his own. Well, now he had even more of a reason to get this bear out of here so he could spend more time with this pretty, feisty woman! When she told him to keep the momma bear busy, he shouted back, "You got it, gorgeous!" Dodging another heavy swipe of the bear's paw, he lunged in and landed a quite bite at her shoulder, making her all the more angry and fully keeping her attention on him while the ball of obsidian and fire ran off into the trees, seemingly with some kind of plan.

A few moments later he heard the alarmed cries of the baby bear, but he didn't look to see what was going on, instead keeping his eyes on the prize for keeping this angry mother busy and focused on him until the last second. He heard a splash along with more angry, scared calls from the baby and glanced back to see the baby bear kicking up water near the edge of the water. The lady certainly didn't need to tell him twice and he took off at a sprint away from the bear family, giving her a grin and laughing as he met up with her and ran beside her through the evergreen trees.

They kept running until they were well out of the range of the momma bear and he didn't hear any kind of purist behind them and only then did he feel comfortable slowing to a stop in a small clearing, laughing being hard panting breaths. He turned his bright gaze to her with a wide, lopsided grin, giving a little exasperated shake of his head. "That was maybe the craziest idea I've ever seen, but boy do I like your style." As he caught his breath he turned to face her with a chuckle, letting himself get a good look at her now that they weren't tangoing with a furious bear. "I'm Ruga," he said with a dip of his head and a sly smirk.

"Ruga Amanto"

When was the last time she'd had so much fun? Running and laughing wasn't easy, but she managed it. When they were far from the scene of the crime, her partner slowed and she matched his pace. Easing into a light walk and then a stop. A pretty clearing around them as she turned her attention to Ruga. She had finally stopped laughing, but her lip twitched. "Did you see her face? I thought she was going to pop a vain" she snickered. The look of pure audacity and anger when the bear realised what Ara had done wasn't something she'd quickly forget.

She preened at his compliment, looking like the cat that got the cream. "And you damsel and distress VERY well" She purred back, teasing him like he was someone she knew well, instead of a stranger. "Okay, you fight pretty well, too." She allowed, before holding out a paw. "I'm Naráca Mendacium" She introduced herself. If he took her paw she woukd use it grab him in close and steal a kiss to his cheek. If he didn't, she might be tempted to do so anyway. Her blood was running high from the adrenaline, and she wanted to see if he tasted as spicy as he looked.