Foundation

Stolas would greet Fiametta with an easy, wide smile, something that didn't always grace the young lord's face as of late unless he was in her presence. She regarded him with interested eyes, her dark gaze roving over him while she began to look him over. A curious brow raised, the yearling uncertain what she was up to until she explained that he looked different in the daylight. That was when he realized that this was actually the first time either of them had seen the other in broad daylight. All of their rendezvous thus far had been at night—the bonfire festival during Samhain and their time stargazing earlier in the autumn. In the sunlight, Fia's dark coat suddenly shone with all manners of dark reds and burgundies, and Stolas took note that parts of her coat that he had initially thought were black were actually acutely dark red too. Just like her personality, there were many more facets to her coat than met the eye, and it just took the right light to bring them out in her.

Fia made a comment about how she had just been lamenting the loss of summer so they could go swimming when he had taken the plunge himself. Stolas chuckled, flashing another toothy smile to her despite his ears folding sheepishly back to his head. "Well, it's not too cold to go swimming still, and when you grow up around water..." Stolas had barely finished replying when he felt a pressure suddenly push him back, sending the dire wolf stumbling back over his own paws and careening back into the stream. He yelped in shock, clearly unharmed, but most definitely taken by surprise as the cool water once more slicked his already damp fur to the planes of his lean body. Raising his head from the water and peering through the droplets dripping from his brow, Stolas looked up with wide gray eyes to find Fia leaping into the water with a massive splash, sending water all over him again. The poor lad just couldn't stay dry!

A peel of laughter escaped the adolescent male while he returned fire on his waterlogged friend, the two wolves devolving into an all-out splash war with one another in the gentle stream. Stolas swam in closer range to Fia so his broad splashes could be more effective, flinching against the spray Fiametta sent his way in retaliation as the water war continued. Fia would never know how out of character for Stolas this was either. The yearling was usually the quiet studious type who kept to himself, pouring over his books and focusing on his own physical fitness training. A bit of a loner, but as an introvert Stolas never complained. As the great water war came to an end, Fia floated about on her back for a spell with Stolas slowly padding alongside her, content to just be present here with her. His fervid gray gaze met Fia's intense eyes, holding her stare for a moment while she drifted along his side. After a moment, she suggested they head for land to dry off. "Right behind you," he replied, paddling after her until his large paws hit the silty shore of the riverbank.

Once more, Stolas rose from the river like some sort of young aquatic god, clear water sluicing from his lean body like a waterfall. His dark coat clung to his taut, youthful form, revealing the growing muscles of his well kept body that were usually hidden beneath his plush coat. The sneaky lordling waited until he'd pulled himself up onto the shore and Fia was near him before beginning to shake off, maybe deliberately getting her caught in the spray of loose water for a little extra good measure. The splash war would be his to win! "Ah, that was refreshing!" Stolas remarked with a happy little grin to his friend. "What would you like to do now?"

"Stolas"