Fancy meeting you here

The beasts haunches swayed lightly as he wagged his tail in broad strokes, eyes fluttering shut as the soft pad of Manea's paw gently tapped the end of his snout. A low, pleased hum rumbled in his chest. She followed his gaze, expression thoughtful, and her features twitched with amusement when her eyes returned to him. "You know I'd never turn down a good hunt," she replied with a hint of a smile, leaping from her vantage point and down to the ground. While she was nearly the same height at the withers, her form was svelte and lithely muscled. Sometimes he couldn't help but be astounded by the differences amongst his kin, and the variation that occurred within just their immediate relatives. When she tipped her head away from the group of caribou, he followed mutely. Scarlet and ebony form slipping between the stones that littered the plains, he trailed along until they reached an abandoned hollow beneath one of the massive blocks. It was then that the scents lingering across her pelt finally registered in his mind, the light aroma of milk that still clung to her pelt alongside the hints of masculine musk underlying her own scent. She was not alone, not by a long shot.

A soft grin toyed with the corners of his maw as he came to a stop a foot or so behind his cousin, letting her peek into the den and call out softly. Alastor. A strong name, and he didn't doubt that Manea had selected an appropriate mate, had she been unable to locate her soul mate. "There's someone I want you to meet. Leave the children with Irilyth and come hunt with us." the violet fae called out into the shadows, and had she been looking, she would have noticed the abrupt start her words gave Poe. Children? Plural? Careful as could be, he measured his expression into something calm and neutral. It wasn't... uncommon. Sometimes there were blessed litters, but they were so rare. He didn't want to believe that the daughter of the disgraced matriarch, after having worked her way up the family hierarchy, would abandon her status or their values for a few extra mouths to feed. He glanced between the side of her face and the yawning mouth of the old, cavernous den. Waiting to see who would emerge, and weighing his options.

Within moments, an equally massive male emerged from the shadows. Bearing a very similar palette to himself, though Alastor's markings were far more distinct. Red on black, a stark contrast of colours that certainly caught the eye. Especially over his back, wavering patterns rippling with the pull of his powerful muscles. An odd smile played upon his dark features, the corners of ebony eyes crinkled at the corners with mirth. "Hello!" the man greeted him warmly enough, though there was something lurking beneath the surface of the greeting which Poe opted to set aside for the moment. Manea had chosen well, though the results of this union were still in question. Alastor looked to his mate, and the horned brute followed his gaze to subtly observe what he could see of Manea's expressions. "And who might this be, my dear?" he questioned in an equally upbeat, friendly manner.

In the time it took for crimson stained jowls to part, a small blur of ruby and obsidian shot out of the shadows and into the gap between the amethyst femme's legs. "Mom, Dad! I wanna go hunting too!" the boy cried out, exuberant as any youngster who had managed to escape the clutches of bedtime. Drawn in by the downy pelt and baleful eyes, as always, Poe forgot all of what he'd been about to say. The child had a pale latticework marking around one eye, just like his mother, and cerulean eyes to match, though his pelt seemed to take after his father. What really caught the beasts attention was the gentle glow of the ivory marking around the child's eye. It could easily be mistaken for a trick of the light, rays of the setting sun catching the pale fur at the right angle, but even when the boy's head moved the dim light seemed to remain. "Hey, who are you? Mom, who is he?" the child continued to question with tangible delight. Drawn back to the conversation at hand, the brute blinked at the boy for a moment.

Whiskey coloured eyes lifted to catch the dark gaze of his cousin's mate, and then drifted back down to the youngster with a gentle smile. "Poe Umbra Mendacium, your cousin. And who are you, little one?" for the moment, the trouble of Manea's multiple offspring was forgotten, and he was endeared by the little one that had emerged from the den with such enthusiasm. Heavy crown lowered between his shoulders, stooping to be closer to the child's eye level. His thick tail wagged in slow, broad strokes that swept over his heels.

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