Months of puppyhood had shedding away to reveal a budding young male, cunning, quick and graceful.  Aksel had grown out of his bouncy, playful adolescence into something sharper, more knowing and far more dangerous.  He'd been brushing up on his battle skills, testing his ravenous mind on the unfortunate souls he came across.  In a way he was becoming a lot like his father.  

Nose to the ground Aksel halted in his journey to stretch, his back popping slightly as he rolled his shoulders forward.  Man, he needed something to do.  Who knew where his sisters were.  They came and went like the tide.  And his family?  Pah!  They were never around really.  So what was an adventurous intellectual like himself to do?  Mismatched eyes turned to the moon that hung above him, round full and just teasing his mind with excitement.   He had a feeling things would develop favorably for him.

The battlefield. An ordinary stretch of land with nothing noteworthy or breathtaking. Picturesque in the spring, forgettable in the winter. It was average, really, and you were quite likely to find similar places all across Alacritia. And yet this ordinary little field played host to countless life changing events. How many lives had been lost or altered? How many packs destroyed? How many alphas overthrown? Food for thought, the brute mused as he wandered the battlefield. Very little was going on today. It was largely abandoned with only the occasional distant figure marring the otherwise empty horizon. One such figure drew him in. Upon closer inspection, the figure's features became distinguishable. Young, male and capable-looking. At a glance, these were qualities that Valentine was searching for. Now, whether or not there was more to the boy had yet to be seen, but the brute was willing to investigate. He approached the young male from the left, calling out as he did so, “By any chance, are you looking for a purpose?” For the moment, he would divulge little else. This was the hook. If he got a bite he would give the boy some line. “”

NOTE: Valentine has a female striped skunk companion named Lefty. Unless stated otherwise assume she's present.

Aksel's jewel-toned eyes gazed about him nonchalantly as if he were bored out of his mind.  This was part true, but the young brute had learned through trial and error to never let his guard down and behind his languid gaze the gears of his mind were always turning.  The scent of a stranger caught his attention but he did not turn his head til the other spoke.  A smile on his face Aksel's eyes sought to meet the sapphire stare.  Fate was clearly on his side this day and what a handsome strange if a massively large one.  He was nearly a foot taller than the young brute. Silken voice spilled from his jaws.   "Why, it just so happens I am.  For what purpose are you seeking the aimless…. mister very very tall, dark and… handsome."  "Speech"

Astrid was hot on her brother's trail. She was gods damned tired of wandering around like some useless pile of suet. No, she wanted to be with her family, she wanted to do something. Astrid paused in her pursuit, rolled her shoulders, cracked her neck. She'd been at it for the better part of two days, ever since catching the boy's scent on the wind by mere chance. The snowy fae had left her herbs and her den, dropped it all, it was now or nothing. Still, Aksel was close now, no more than a quarter mile away. She tipped her head back to howl, but the sound died in her throat. A new breeze and a new scent... A stranger, as fresh as Aksel's own trail, and Astrid found herself cursing. Of all the pox-ridden... Gods! What had her brother gotten himself in to this time? He'd never had a good handle on that tongue of his and she was immediately afraid of what might be taking place not too far from where she stood. The young fae loped along his trail, and burst onto the scene, glaring yet joyous to sense a rather calm atmosphere, even if her brother was is in the presence of a giant. "Aksel, what the hell?" she hissed as if he would already know she was miffed at his sudden disappearance however long ago.

Twisting along through the now-familiar battle-scarred land Signy was... surprisingly introspective. This was really where it had started, her wandering. She'd showed up to watch a challenge and Erani had summarily sent her packing to sit with the PREY ANIMALS - she'd ended up kiting out of there as soon as she'd seen Erani lose, knowing she was probably in serious trouble for being there.

And then got lost.

She'd been alone for a pretty long time before she'd found Ozzy, and then it had just been them until she'd managed to find Tad, but then Tad had disappeared again so... Just Signy and Ozzy again.

The pine marten wasn't riding on her shoulders today, instead popping along beside her as she wandered the field boredly.

Until the little beast suddenly scrabbled up her leg to perch high on her neck as a vantage point. "Wotchee self, Siggy," Ozymandias muttered into her ear, tugging her head to direct her attention further right. " 'ere be giants." Signy brightened as she spotted the tall, dark figure. Hoo boy, that guy really was a giant, unless the two kids standing next to him were a whole lot smaller than she was.

There was no cover here for her to sneak up on them, so Signy went with the... direct approach. She barreled up to the trio. "Hi! What are you doing? Mind if I join you? Are you fighting? You don't look like you're fighting." Her gaze sharpened now that she was closer to the two young wolves.... they looked reeeally familiar, though she couldn't quite put a paw on why. And this guy really was a giant... Heck, she could probably walk right under him without even touching fur. Crazy!

Well, she'd finally decided to track her siblings down. It was a bit tricky, since she definitely hadn't done anything remotely close to being called 'keeping track of them' but how hard could it possibly be to find those idiots? As it turned out, a little bit tricky. Good thing she had no qualms with wandering. When she finally got a handle on her brother, the one and only male she'd shared a womb with, his scent trail took her to the battlefield. She really didn't like it there. So many bad vibes. Her hackles tingled just being on the edges of it, but determination to find her blood had her plodding along anyways. The moonlight was turning her ashen ruff to pure, glinting silver, and her frail spine looked shiny and sleek.  The patchwork lass trotted along, a group of wolves making themselves known just a little ways away. She might not have noticed them, had the smallest of the group not made a rather loud ruckus that was solely compromised of queries that could have rivaled even the ones of her own youth. The dark darling cantered gaily towards the group, recognizing her sister to be among them. She must have come from another direction, or her scent had gone completely over Ace's head. Well, it wasn't like they'd spent much time together in their childhood. Astrid hadn't really been a fan of her, and her lazy, happy go lucky demeanor. Whatever. Joining the other wolves, her attention was solely upon those of her family. A doofy grin spread across her dainty features, tongue lolling from the side of her mouth for a moment. "Aksel! Astrid! Long time no see, hm?" She drawled smoothly, double dipped tassel giving a lazy wag. She bounded forward to greet her brother a little more affectionately, nuzzling his cheek a little. So what if they were all grown up and such now? She could chew on his face if she wanted, and wouldn't feel at all like a pup, because that was her brother, and she loved him. Her acidic gaze turned on her sister, eying her pensively. Should she greet Astrid the same way? Probably not, she looked pretty pissed, for some odd reason, and they already weren't really on super affectionate terms. She wagged her tail slowly as she watched the pale lass, before deciding to give up on that endeavor and turn her attention to the other two wolves. She didn't recognize the little one, but there was something vaguely familiar in the way she held herself, and the gleam in her green eyes.  A small frown would crease her brow for a moment, puzzled, but not that interested in pursuing that train of thought. Whatever, if the universe wanted her to know, she'd find out at some point. The titan, however, seemed to provide a bit more interest to her mind. He was kind of blue, which was cool, not many wolves out there were that shade of cobalt. "Who are you?" She asked bluntly, staring up at him without a shade of fear in her eyes. He didn't really look like he needed fear out of her, and so she wasn't about to start shaking in her boots. Her mismatched audits remained pricked, while she stood calmly between her siblings. She hadn't seen them in forever, and she wasn't really concerned about having broken up something important. What could possibly be that important out here anyway? Aksel didn't look like he was about to be caught up in a fight to the death, he wasn't that dumb anyway. Astrid, maybe.  "Speech"

The boy was quick with a witty comeback, earning an easy-going smirk from the brute. A reply was on the tip of his tongue when another youngling raced up. She hissed at the boy (Aksel, eh?) and Valentine got the feeling that they knew each other well. Friends? Littermates? He didn't have much time to think on it, as soon after yet another rogue ran up. This one had a ton of questions. They fell from her lips in rapid succession, spoken so quickly that the brute wasn't even sure they were separate sentences. Before he could process them yet another young fae showed up. Geez Louise. Did they travel in bands or somethi- lightbulb! A band of rogues. That wasn't a half bad idea. They could live and train together, forming bonds and keeping each other in line like a little pack. It seemed these four had some catching up to do and Valentine was more than happy to let them do it. But first he wanted to plant a seed of curiosity. “Someone who can offer you adventure and yes, purpose.” He let his gaze flick from face to face, searching for sparks of interest. “If that's something that might interest any of you, come find me.” He kept it vague, choosing not to tell anything about himself that could identify him. If any were truly interested they would have no trouble tracking him down. -exit Valentine- “”

NOTE: Valentine has a female striped skunk companion named Lefty. Unless stated otherwise assume she's present.