The Princess and the Prince

Cináed smirked when she got even more flustered after he told her that he didn't know about her family, giving her a casual shrug of his shoulders. "Don't have one," he replied easily. "I'm a free agent. It's awfully nice to not have to live up to some fancy name, don't you think?" Of course that was a lie, but she wouldn't know that. If he had learned one thing he had learned from seeing how the other packs interacted at the Ashen tournament it was that his father's pack was not exactly liked and his family didn't have the clout or reputation that his father had led them to believe. It felt better to simply not bring up his family or his lineage than to give her some kind of ammunition to use against him. Sure, she might still use his lack of family against him, but he could pick the lesser of the two evils.

The death glare he got for his retort about her claws and ears made his smirk turn into a grin. He had made a game of getting under her skin and he was winning. He chuckled as she declared her sympathies that his family hadn't had any "gifts" to give him, wagging her special claws as if it was proof that she was superior in that regard. No, Celosia and Infrit were the only ones of them to get "gifts," if she wanted to call them that. He didn't want his worth to be measured off of something he couldn't control anyway. He couldn't change the fact that he wasn't born with horns like Celosia or claws like this little girl. All he could change or improve was his own skills and mind and in that regard he was leaps and bounds over his siblings - not that it really mattered anymore. He could make a name for himself with or without his family.

He laughed as the little fluffy pup said he was lucky her mother wasn't around and how this angry momma bear would have ripped out his tongue. "Must be nice to be able to hide behind mommy," he teased, reaching over to quickly flick her ear again and jerking his paw away before she could claw or bite at it. "Try living without any parents and see how you do." He hadn't been much older than her when his father disappeared for over a season—not that he was really around before that either—and he'd never known his mother. He didn't know what it was like to feel like he had some kind of protection. The closest he got was being able to stay behind pack borders and at least feel mostly confident that he was safe within these arbitrary borders.

As much fun as irritating this little pup was, she was starting to make him think and consider things that he didn't really feel like thinking about on his vacation. He came down into the southern parts of Boreas to get away from his family, not to be reminded of them at every turn. He chuckled and rose to his paws, giving his fiery pelt a quick shake before throwing her a smirk. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, princess," he said as he gave an exaggerated, sweeping bow in front of her. "Maybe I'll see you around, pip-squeak." With that he turned to leave with another chuckle, trotting away from this tiny firecracker of a pup. Part of him did actually hope they crossed paths again some day. She was entertaining if nothing else.

Cináed Praetor