binding more than blood

Manea dipped her head gratefully as Venom agreed to love any child that landed in her care and that it did in fact take a lot of trust to make this kind of arrangement. Then Venom turned the attention to her daughter and as Ikgai stepped forward, as poised and well spoken as ever, it solidified Manea's theory that this wasn't Venom's idea at all. She turned her full attention to the young woman and she spoke quite confidently about the benefits of joining the two female-led packs which brought up a fact that Manea hadn't really considered before that moment. She thought about the other alphas she had met so far—Chimera, Sirius, Artorias... the only other women leading packs she could think of were Theory and that bitch that bested her in the challenge. She had not made contact with all of the packs yet so perhaps there were more out there, but she did appreciate Ikigai's thought process around joining together their packs with this in mind.

Joining them together with blood was certainly a strong statement and Manea was not entirely surprised with Ikigai offered herself as the one to be joined with one of her family members, but she was already pleased by the offer. She would never want to pull a child away from Venom, especially not one that clearly meant so much to her, but Manea's fondness for the fair girl and all of the lovely gifts she was born with made her incredibly excited to see what a union with her family would produce. She gave a nod and a glance to Venom when the counter offer of having one of her children united with the other woman's eventually and of course her mind went to little Fia. She didn't know how soon Venom was looking to have more children or if she even had a possible suitor to take the place of her traitorous former mate, but in was something Manea would certainly be open to discussing in the future.

Her aqua gaze settled on Ikigai again with a soft smile as she offered herself as the binding force between their families, endlessly impressed with the lady's poise and tact. She considered the woman for a moment, certainly not taking the offer lightly in any way, but a small grin still tugged at her lips as she spared a glance toward Venom to tell the Empress, "You have raised one hell of a woman, Venom." Chuckling softly, she looked back to Ikigai and dipped her head. "It would be an absolute honor to welcome you into my family. I know this can't be an easy decision for either of you and it is incredibly selfless offer you've made." She considered for a moment who she could offer to Ikigai as her future partner and she hummed softly to herself. "My son, Saracyn, only just crossed over his first birthday... While I'm certainly not opposed to waiting until he comes of age for your union, I can't say with certainty that he would agree to such agreements. He's inherited his father's... fiery spirit." She smirked a little and thought some more.

The unfortunate reality was that females were typically favored in their selection of pups from their litters to the number of males in her family were typically fewer. Her brother was far too old now for someone as young as Ikigai and already had his woman that he was quite attached to. That really only left one more option to offer her. "I have a cousin that has grown up with me like a brother," she began, looking between the two women. "His name is Poe. He is taller than I with black and red coloring, impressive horns, and—ironically—unique eyes not too dissimilar to yours. He is a quiet and stern man, but I often make my judgements on others with how they treat and care for pups and he is one of the most sweet and caring caregivers I have ever seen. I think that he would make for a wonderful mate and father. I do believe he would agree to the arrangement if it suits you both. Perhaps I could take you to meet him, if you'd like. Though... If you would prefer to consider Saracyn I might be able to convince him." She paused for a moment before adding, "Additionally... I have been trying to fill my higher ranks for some time. I have a position available for my diplomat and head of external affairs. If you're interested, Ikigai, I would like to offer it to you should you find either of my men acceptable and join Elysium." She looked between the two women, waiting to see if it would be a worthy enough offer for Ikigai's paw. She wished she had another child closer in age to Ikigai that she could offer, but the timing of things was not in her favor this time.

"Manea Mendacium"