as is commonplace for the boy, Styrmir rises early that morning and slips out while his family (supposedly) sleeps, relishing in the quiet hum of his mind. knowing his siblings are safely tucked away in their beds…it affords him a light-heartedness he otherwise so scarcely enjoys, evokes curiosity and a sense of adventure the likes of which would make his siblings proud. it’s what spurs him to cross the Heidinn border and wander as far as his heart’s content, trying to trace the way they’d come with Mother in that cart. ordinarily he’s too preoccupied playing sheep-dog with his littermates to even think about going out on his own, but today he’s driven by a wanderlust that itches restlessly beneath his pelt. it’s truly mind-boggling how vastly the outside world differs from his mountainous home. everything is so startlingly…flat, lacking in the rocky terrain to which he’s grown accustomed. how…strange. even stranger is the thick dense canopy he’s stumbled underneath, filtering tiny slants of sunlight through the dense leaves. the Viking boy squints up at the ceiling, stumped. where is the squishy ground? the tall oaks? clearly he’s gone farther than he’d thought.

Jiro's lazy demeanor usually ends in him never wandering very far. The northern edges of the oaks is perhaps as far as he's managed before he tires and returns to the bamboo. This nature he holds also begs to question why he was even up so early. Sleep still coating his lashes as he wanders northwest from the bamboo until he's standing before a towering mound of grapevines. He had heard talk of wine being made from grapes, but that wasn't something his pack preferred to use. Rice, right? He couldn't remember the specifics, but maybe the grapes had a different use? The pup made a mental note to ask his mother or Sedna upon his return.

And instead of turning back toward said home, he continues on into the leafy cathedral. There he is met with dazzling rays of morning light shifting through a colorful canopy of green, red, and purple grapes. The smell within the cathedral is captivating and makes his mouth salivate. Jiro begins wandering further in, his eyes on the hunt for the perfect grape. Behind him, his father's cat tails him, ensuring the pup doesn't get eaten by a predator on his journey outside of the bamboo.

As Jiro walks over to a cluster of grapes, intent on trying them, he notices a boy around his age not far away. "Oi!" Jiro calls out, tail wagging in a friendly manner behind him. Instead of staying new his cluster of grapes, he moves over to the other boy. The scent rolling off of him is familiar like one of the other pups that came down from that northern pack. "You smell like that Bjorn pup," he says, his eyes narrowing slightly. Said Bjorn pup had been kind of a dick so he wondered if his brother was the same.

a scent touches his nose, vaguely familiar from that trip he and his siblings had taken with Mother, and a voice rings out before he can attempt to place it. ah, that answers that question then: a bamboo wolf is in his presence. turning, Styrmir lays eyes on the boy for the first time, noting his dark coat and twisting horns, a smattering of white to contrast the black. stars against a night sky. “oh, hello,” he says, polite and oddly formal for a pup, every inch the diplomatic prince. Stymir is close to the boy’s territory, after all, so it’d be unwise to pick a fight - especially when he’s done nothing to offend him. but what the strange boy says next has him perking up, straightening with notable interest.

“you know my brother?” when had Bjorn travelled this far, and what kind of trouble had he stirred up? it’s an inevitable question, as far as his brother is concerned. Styrmir studies the boy with new interest, anxiety tightening his belly. has Bjorn upset him in some way? is he here to take vengeance? “Bjorn and i hail from the mountains,” he continues, by way of explanation. “it is a rather…different climate to this.” well, that’s putting it lightly.

Hm, the boy's greeting is kind of stuffy like his brothers Kaizen and Shinrei. Why did everyone always have to be so formal? Jiro's head tilts slightly as the other boy full faces him. Yep, he surely had to be Bjorn's brother with how they looked and smelled so similarly. "Yeah, weren't you with them? Ya smell like them. Came to visit my home, right? Tojo-kai is where I'm from, I'm Jiro," he smiles, head lifting as he puffs up his chest. Something to be proud of!

"Mountains? That where you're from?" Jiro had no idea what mountains were. "Different? What's so different? Ain't everywhere like this?" Jiro asks, his brow furrowing in confusion. Well, considering he was a pup that hadn't ventured from literally a separate continent, he had no idea about other climates and weather systems and all that bunch of stuff.

hmm, there's something about this boy that reminds Styrmir of his brothers, Bjorn and Stieg. he lacks the stern temperament Styrmir had assumed a Tojo-Kai boy would possess, and he finds himself relaxing incrementally in response. "i was," he confirms, inclining his head. "mother brought us for a trip. pleased to make your acquaintance, Jiro. my name is Styrmir." he's surprised by the boy's question, though he supposes it's not too surprising. Jiro probably hasn't ever encountered a mountain. what a strange thought. "they're...large," he attempts, brow furrowing in thought. "like enormous rocks but pointier. and cold." well, he's no poet. really, Styrmir thinks, the only true way to experience a mountain is to visit one. "nothing like your home," he concludes, shrugging. it'd been quite a shock to him to leave the mountain for the first time and discover how flat the rest of the world is.

Jiro's head cants at Styrmir's words. Large? Pointy rock? Not like home? He really can't fathom the idea of what it's like. Wait. Actually, maybe he could! "Didja pass Bent Canyon or Brimstone Lake on your way? That's like our highest mountain, but I'm not sure its a mountain," Jiro shrugs too and realizes how bored he is with talking. All adults ever seemed to do was talk and talk and talk. He wanted some action! Okay maybe not too much action, but something better than just standing here when they could be eating or chasing an animal.

"Well if you're stickin' around, I was going to do some hunting," Jiro looks at Styrmir for a solid moment, smile playing on his lips before looking away. "Heard there's some badgers in this grove that might be fun to hunt," his eyes side glance back at the boy, trying to gauge his reaction. Had Styrmir ever hunted badger before?

unsurprisingly - his brothers seem to have similar attention spans - the boy grows bored with their conversation and is eager to shift the subject to more…active pursuits. not that Styrmir is complaining, per say. the Viking boy blinks, the only sign of his piqued interest. “that would not be…objectionable,”  he muses, inclining his head in agreement. “though i confess an unfamiliarity with badgers.” clueless as he is, he looks to Jiro for direction, willing to let him take the lead, at least this once. after all, it’d be foolish to reject knowledge so freely given, and Heidinn seems to be on amiable terms with Tojo-Kai, at the very least. “perhaps you might show me?”

Something about Styrmir reminds him of his brother, Kaizen. The rigid, formality of the pup is a bit uncanny, but it was at least something he could work with. A smirk grows on his dark lips as his tail gives a few wags. "See a badger is this uh idk its an animal. It's black with two white stripes and it lives in dens under trees. I'll show ya," Jiro is quick to turn on his paws, nose to ground, and looking for that familiar musky scent badgers give off.

It doesn't take long until he picks it up, tail wagging furiously as he speeds up his pace. Once they maneuver through the woods, Jiro pulls up quickly when he spies the badger's den. "See there, that's a badger den. Ya can tell because it smells kinda like mushrooms and fresh dirt," his whisper is a bit loud, but it'll do. "We gotta find a way to lure it out of its den so we can snag it. Got any ideas?" He turns his silvery gaze to other boy to see what he has to say.