He'd had enough of this life! Being a rogue wasn't for him, and he decided he'd had enough of it all! Since his father had given up the throne instead of passing it to him, he had no choice but to seek elsewhere to live. There was no drive nor purpose for him as a loner, though perhaps in another pack he'd find it again. He had briefly considered gunning for his own pack to prove to his father that he was probably more capable than the aging man, but suffice to say Ifrit didn't quite feel ready nor did he want to be tied down in leading just yet. He still wanted to have his fun...and not to mention he still had plenty to learn. His father had been absorbed in his own things, and while Ifrit had ended up going away with his father for most of his pup hood, the experiences he had out in the world were not really things he could apply as an alpha.

Shame.

He stood at the border of a pack he had been observing lately. Noting that most of them bore an array of colors and mutations. While he hadn't personally spoken to any of them, they had piqued his interest from afar. Now that he had finally decided to hell with being on his own, he stepped up to the border and let loose a powerful howl so that it would reach the ears of whomever had authority.

It was really just a stroke of luck that she was even near by at all when she heard a stranger calling for them at the border. She had been spending a significant amount of time out near the firefly lake as they began to finalize their preparations to officially claim that section of land as theirs. She had gone out there in the morning with Alastor to do one final sweep of the area to make sure the predators they had been driving off had stayed gone and were on their way back through the rock garden to go back across to the island when she heard the howl. She stopped with a curious tilt of her head toward the border. "Hmm, who could that be?" she mused aloud, glancing to her husband with a grin. "Shall we go find out?" She kissed his cheek and then turned toward the border, interested to see who it was that had called.

When they neared the border she spotted the red and black banded brute who matched Alastor in height and bore a curved set of horns with similar dark coloring as the rest of his form. He was on the younger side it seemed, perhaps freshly two years old from what she could tell from a first impression. As she got a bit closer she noticed the fangs that protruded from his upper lip as well which prompted her to keep looking for any other gifts this unknown male might have had and she noticed his paws that were similar to her own with a structure like a large feline's. She had no idea who he was, but he very much wore all of the traits she would typically find interesting in a wolf. Her aqua gaze showed her curiosity as she approached him with Alastor along side her, giving the stranger a slight smirk. "Hello. I'm Manea and this is my husband Alastor," she said in simple greeting, gesturing with a motion of her paw to her mate. "We are the Genetrix and Genetor of this pack—Elysium. What brings you to our borders?"

"Manea Mendacium"

The alpha pair of Elysium had been finishing applying fresh scent markers around the Firefly Lake in their last phase preparations for absorbing the land into the pack's fold when the call for them rang out in the early morning air. Alastor lifted his head, hot breath cutting through the cold air in a humid cloud while he cocked his head with curiosity. Manea sidled up beside him, musing about who could be calling them this early in the day. "I haven't a clue, my dear," he replied. He certainly didn't recognize the voice, but that just meant they'd be meeting someone new today! Glancing back to his wife with an equally amused grin, Alastor leaned into her kiss before returning one to her crown and following alongside her as the two Mendaciums made their way to the Rock Garden's far border.

Upon their approach, another male wolf was spotted waiting for their arrival. The brute wore the same colors as him, though in far more distinctive banded streaks across his giant form. The wolf matched him in height and build, but not in age, his features still wearing the softness of youth and his eyes bright and focused. Atop his crown, the stranger wore a set of curving horns, and already Alastor knew Manea would be admiring them and inspecting him for further mutations. They approached the stranger, Manea doing the honors of introducing them and starting discussions with their visitor. When she gestured to himself, Alastor nodded his head to the other wolf, giving a simple, "Hello!" before quietly studying the lad with curiosity. All the while, the little demented smile he always wore lingered on his lips while he observed the interaction between his mate and their guest. As always, he would let her do the talking—he would only jump in if he felt the need to. After all, he could learn so much from a wolf simply by watching them.

"Alastor Mendacium"

He didn't have to wait particularly long before the sounds of an approach reached his ears. Emerging from the other side of the borders, a she-wolf with shades of purple and a set of...he wasn't sure what to call them...some sort of serrated brow bones? Etched into her skull. Crimson gaze briefly roamed her features, noting that the she-wolf also bore a set of feline-like paws similar to his own. Interesting. The male, on the other hand, was a tad simpler. Much like himself, the beast was about the same height and bore similar colors. A little lower, Ifrit noticed the set of claws that looked peculiar. Interesting indeed...

The pair greeted him, though the woman in purple introduced herself as Manea, and the male as her husband Alastor, along with their titles. He assumed those were the ranks considered to be an alpha or something close. Regardless, if they were the ones to answer his call, then they held power here. "Elysium? Never heard of it." He didn't say it to be rude, but rather, as much as he watched them from rogue lands, he simply never got the chance to learn the pack's name. "I am Ifrit. And I've come to seek entrance into your pack as a new member." Might as well just get straight to the point, no? He preferred not to beat around the bush, after all.

"Speech"

Manea's inquisitive aqua gaze lingered on their guest after she had made their introductions, wondering what brought him here, when he questioned the name of her pack and mentioned how he had never heard of it. She raised a brow at the comment that was borderline condescending if he had said it in any other tone, but she made an attempt at least at letting it slide since she didn't know the male well enough to know his true intentions yet. "We are one of the newer packs in Boreas," she admitted. Really, she wasn't all that surprised that he hadn't heard of the pack's name before since they had mostly kept to themselves in this far corner of Boreas since their founding, but she also hadn't expected him to voice that fact either. "We're coming up on a year since our founding. Time certainly does fly," she mentioned with a glance toward Alastor, giving her husband a small smirk before refocusing her attention on the male across from them.

The younger man introduced himself as Infrit and surprised her by saying that he had come to join their pack. With how their conversation had started this certainly wasn't where she had expected it to go. However, she was in need of more members since Aslatiel and her family would be taking their leave soon enough so she couldn't exactly turn down the opportunity to have a willing new member to add to their ranks. "Is that so? Certainly a bold move to strike out to a pack that you didn't even know the name of," she replied with a chuckle, settling down onto her haunches since it seemed that they would be here for a bit to get to know their new recruit. "Tell me a bit about yourself then. What skills would you be bringing to our pack?" She left it open for Alastor to ask any questions or make any comments he wanted as well, valuing her husband's opinion of wolves as well.

"Manea Mendacium"

The young male at their borders spoke upon their greeting, mentioning quite brusquely and with an aloof detachment that he'd never heard of them. Unlike Manea, Alastor didn't take offense to the other wolf's curt demeanor. In fact, it told him more about the other wolf simply by watching and listening. "Good," Alastor interjected before Manea began to explain that they were a newer pack in the lands. In his mind, if others hadn't heard of them, then it meant they were safe. No one would come looking for them, attempt to harm them, and his family was guarded. Manea had founded Elysium to be a home for the Mendaciums first and foremost, and by maintaining some anonymity, it meant they weren't drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. Al didn't know if Manea's vision for the pack had evolved or not, but to him, the stranger's words were more a compliment than anything.

The wolf introduced himself simply as Ifrit and expressed his wishes to join their ranks in Elysium. Alastor cocked his head to one side, expression unmoving and impassive while he studied the newcomer closely with piercing abyssal black eyes. Manea handled most of the dialogue with their prospective new recruit, Alastor joining her in a seated position while they settled in for the inevitable interview phase of the joining process. Manea wished to know what skills he had to offer the pack—a prudent choice, but as head of the pack's fighters and security, there was a much bigger question dwelling on Alastor's mind. He permitted Ifrit the open air to answer his mate's question first, then asked his own with blunt directness that seemed to be favored by the red and black male. "Where did you come from, Ifrit? Are you a Boreal wolf, or were you raised outside this continent?" While Manea inspected Ifrit's potential future in the pack, Alastor would scrutinize his past. If there was anything noteworthy of raising red flags, he'd sniff it out.

"Alastor Mendacium"

"Good." Gaze drifted to Alastor for a moment, a brow raised in interest before Manea told him they were one of the newer packs. Coming up on a year now, and honestly, time really did fly. Had it been that long already since Incendium had dissipated? Time wasn't really something he kept track of, what with all the other things he had done to keep him busy. "Is that so? Certainly a bold move to strike out to a pack that you didn't even know the name of," "Wouldn't be the first time I've done it. The name to me isn't as important as the rest of it, after all, I roamed with a nameless band of rogues for a while..." Though he couldn't say it was a good group to hang around what with the things they did, but he mostly stuck around trying to find some sense of purpose but to no avail. She asked him a couple of questions, and Ifrit wondered just how much he should tell her, or if he should just keep it simple. Did his past with Incendium really matter? He was past all that. Didn't much care for it. Still pissed at his dad for not giving him the chance. While it wasn't quite water under the bridge just yet, he didn't care to talk about it. Not yet. Not with strangers. But none of that was really important right now, anyway. "As I said, I roamed with a nameless band of rogues. Conducting raids, mostly. For resources, we otherwise couldn't find outside of pack borders. Medicine. Supplies. Whatever we needed to survive. Things of that nature. Most of us were indifferent to who the targets were, and I didn't care one way or another who it was, either. Us or them was the band's way of thinking." That should be enough, right? There wasn't really much to say about himself. Not that he wanted to share yet, anyway. "I suppose you could say my specialties lie more in stealth approaches and sabotage. I'm in, I'm out, I'm gone. Hard to imagine with someone my size, I'm sure. And if confronted, I like to try and leave a mark to remember me by." He rumbled, gaze drifting from one alpha to another. He turned his attention then to Alastor, "I was born here in Boreas. In the Northern lands. So I'm quite familiar with everything North of the Wall, and a bit of the Eastern lands. But when I left, it was beyond these lands." "Ifrit"

Manea hummed softly with interest as he explained how before this he had roamed with a pack of rouges, explaining a bit why the name of the pack didn't matter much to him. She supposed she could appreciate that logic. As much as she agreed with the opinion of her husband that it was likely for the best that they hadn't pulled much attention to them for many reasons, she was still the kind of wolf that wanted to know all of the details of something before she dove into it. Ifrit did not seem to be of that mind set which wasn't a bad thing, per say, just something she took note of. Ifrit went on to explain how the band he had spent time with had raided for supplies when needed for things that they couldn't get themselves otherwise. She nodded quietly, taking in what he was saying while she continued to size him up, deciding quietly if he would be a good fit for their pack. She had made Elysium as a safe haven for all sorts of wolves so there was certainly no reason that he couldn't make a home here, but it was always a difficult decision for an alpha to vet someone from one meeting.

Eventually he got to listing his specialties, listing stealthy attacks and sabotage which she assumed were skills gained during his time with the raiding rouges. She smirked a little as he rightly guessed that she had a hard time imagining him doing such tasks with his impressive size, but she had long learned not to judge a book by its cover. The answer to her husband's question of where he had come from intrigued her though. He had been born in Boreas, more specifically the northern regions past The Wall. She raised a brow inquisitively at that, connecting a few dots with guesses and assumptions. Of course she couldn't assume that everyone that came from the north around the time that she imagined Ifrit would have been there had been a part of the fallen pack she had attempted to claim, but it seemed like a strong coincidence at the very least.

Manea paused for a moment, assessing him for a beat longer and sharing a glance with Alastor before she rose to her paws and nodded for him to follow. "Alright. If you're truly interested in being a member of our pack then I see no reason for you to not join us." She waited for him to cross over the border before she began to walk across the open, rock-dotted field with their newest member on one side and Alastor on the other. "The majority of our members make their home on the island in the mountain caves, but you're welcome to make your den wherever you please. We own this area in the Rock Garden as well as the near by Firefly Lake as well," she explained as they walked. "Our list of laws is short, but firm. If you cause trouble for yourself then you will have to take the consequences for your actions. The pack and I will not hide or defend you. Everyone is expected to pull their weight and you will earn ranks in this pack based on your skill and the work you put into yourself. The more work you put in, the more you will benefit. If you ever decide you wish to father a litter and want those pups to be a member of Elysium then you simply need to get my approval to make sure we can sustain them. Simple." She gave him a curious look as they neared the land bridge that would bring them to the island. "Any questions?"

"Manea Mendacium"