Dagda was not a fan of the cold. When he'd risen from a patchy slumber that Autumn morning, a freezing nose and frosty breath had greeted him. Goodness knows why he'd found himself in the north of the continent, of all places. Although, he had to admit, a cold butt when he sat was much better than a one sodden from constant rains, Auster.

Once the male got moving though, he warmed up well enough. Although he made light of it in his head, the upcoming cold months were a prominent worry in the male's head. It would not be his first Winter riding solo, but he'd been travelling through a horrid humid and sticky place that he never wished to go back to. Dagda had not appreciated the unrelenting sun which seemed to constantly torment his with its' laser gaze, or the nasty coyotes who had hounded him.

Around noon, the wind began to pick up, ruffling his mahogany fur and jumbling up all the scents around him. A tangy, sulphurous smell caught his attention. The medic wrinkled his nose. "What the heck is that? Deciding to investigate, the loner switched directions, trotting into seemingly into the middle of nowhere until BOOM! A great column of bone-meltingly hot water shot into the air only a few metres in front of him.

"Aah!" Scrabbling backwards away from the nightmare, watched wide-eyed as the water continued to spurt up and then stopped as soon as it came, leaving only a great cloud of steam behind.

Exploring near the newly claimed lands of Fýri seemed like a good idea. He'd spent a good long while walking the borders and continuing to establish markers but there was still a lot outside of the pack's lands that he'd yet to see and it didn't pay to remain unaware of what else the north had to offer. Setting off, and hoping - perhaps foolishly - that Seph would keep an eye on things just for a little while, Ignatius ventured a little ways outside the border to see what he might find. The mornings were frostier than ever as fall came full force, which made getting up to do patrols both easier and more difficult. On one paw, it meant leaving his den, but on the other, once he did leave the comfort of the pelts he nestled into at night, it was nice to have his first activity warm him up. A strange scent hit his nose as he reached the edge of the gorge, drawing him towards it. Following the sulfuric smell, Ig found that the land grew muddier the further he went until in the distance he heard a blasting sound and spotted a jet of water shooting up towards the sky, and frazzled looking wolf standing a bit uncomfortably close to it. No sooner had he arrived than the water disappeared though. "That was something else," he mused aloud as he stepped closer, remaining a bit weary in case there were more places where water could come blasting up at any moment. To his displeasure the air here was almost a bit muggy even after that apparently piping hot water disappeared. "TALK" "YOU" THINK

Well, that had been a shock. Dagda watched the steam curl and evaporate into the afternoon sky and caught his breath. A splash of water had hit his paw and he shook it absent-mindedly as his heart rate returned to normal. If he'd been a few steps further forward and the male would have been a goner. Steamed wolf would be on the menu for whoever found his corpse.

A nearby voice shook him from his trance and the healer looked over his shoulder to spot a wolf like a living flame. "That was something else," Dagda barked a laugh, more out of adrenaline and hysteria than amusement. Setting his paw back on the ground, the male backed-away from the small steaming hole he could now see in the ground and turned to face the new face.

The wolf was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Reds and oranges intertwined so that when the male moved, breathed, embers seemed to float on him. On his face. a mask of icy blue covered an eye and an ear. What on earth?

"So are you." he replied, his usual flirty tone toned down in favour of genuine awe. "I was almost toast just there. Might've ruined my day." he smiled.

The guy laughed, and Ignatius understood the nervous undertone. The brown pelted wolf had more or less just skirted death by a matter of inches from what Ig saw. Hell, he was a bit frightened just watching. It wouldn't do to have a corpse laying out near his pack after all.

A somewhat sheepish but still genuinely friendly smile played at Ignatius' lips as he shrugged, "Believe it or not, where I'm from I'm hardly a rarity." Stepping a little closer to inspect the steaming place where the water had come from moments before, still maintaining a reasonably safe distance in case it happened again. Initially he'd expected for things to be relatively safe when he was exploring. Now he knew he'd have to be careful here. Was this the only place with that crazy water jet, or were there more spots waiting to errupt? Ig cast a suspicious glance around before returning his gaze to the other male and laughing softly.

"That would've been a shame, indeed, but the day's still young, nowhere to go but up after you start with some trauma," His smile widened and he dipped his head as he remembered to more formally greet the man now that he was certain they weren't in immediate danger of becoming roasted wolves. "I'm Ignaitus Agnivo. I'm glad you skirted death - I'd hate to have to drag a body further fro my border after I've only just set out for the day."

Well, if this guy wasn't a rarity, Dagda definitely had much more of the world to see! Despite his fiery colouring, this male seemed fairly laid-back, enough so that Dagda felt it safe enough to relax from his hyper-aware state. The healer mirrored the guy's smile and lifted his scalded paw back up to shake and cool it. As soon as he got out of this barren, hellish place Dagda would go and scrounge around for some herbs to soothe it a bit.

Another laugh, this one more genuine now that he'd relaxed. followed Ignatious' statement. Indeed. Could narrowly missing being boiled alive get worse today, or was that just tempting fate? Dagda's ears perked when the male mentioned a pack, although his grin didn't falter.

"Well I'm glad to have saved you the trouble, Ignatious. I'd hate to be a bother." he grinned. "I'm Dagda, pretty new to these lands and extremely new to the dangers of hot spouts of water coming out of the ground. I do hope your pack isn't in the danger zone." he joked. He was curious about where this guy was from. Loner life took its toll, especially in winter. Ignatious seemed decent thus far, so if couldn't hurt to explore options. "Whereabouts is it, my fiery friend?"

Impishly Ig grinned at the reply and shrugged, "Call it selfish, but I do prefer to avoid what can only be considered bad omens on the doorstep." It wasn't often that Ignatius loosened up this quickly around someone other than Seph, but he was deeply enjoying the banter with the man who went on to introduce himself as Dagda. Hmm... Didn't sound quite like a name he might hear back in those forsaken lands of his past, but it was a nice enough one he supposed. Easy to remember.

"We have some things in common, then," Ig mused, glad he and Sephira weren't the only ones who were relatively new arrivals in Boreas. For a moment he wondered if his mother's lands had featured piping hot geysers. Avis had been there before, but she hadn't mentioned such a thing if there was one... Nevermind that, though, Ig would be a fool not to sense an opportunity here. He hadn't forgotten all he'd learned spending his childhood being taught all about how to rule, after all. Newcomers were a lot less common there though. "I assure you all water remains only in streams and ponds, with the occasional rainfall. It's just a short ways to the east, not a very long walk from here at all, I only just left."

Glancing at Dagda's paw for a moment and noting the burn - an injury Ignatius was all too familiar with - he found himself reflexively asking, "If you'd like to walk with me to my border I'm sure I could find something for that. There's probably more herbs in Fýri than out here." This area was rather barren, and he was sure that Dagda would probably need to treat that sooner rather than later. He might not know the guy just yet, but try as he might to do the more intelligent thing, Ig was raised too well to not try and help as soon as he saw someone he figured was in need of it in one way or another. Lifting one scarred paw, he smirked and added, "Not a healer, but I do have some some useful personal experience."