Noir had been on his best behavior, he’d kept his head down and he’d barely been able to lay an eye on Poem since the fire. Odysseus spent the most amount of time with him, but his dad was probably the second most. He was almost never alone, and when he was it seemed like he was confined. Being able to travel the island freely and do whatever he want had been good for his tainted soul. The boy had craved privacy, and now he was allowed it. A smirk played on his features as Summer preened herself on his hips. She seemed much more at ease in his presence with his probation. He wouldn’t have gotten away with his usual pushing her around wit the adults watching him, and even though she knew the fact well she hadn’t fought against him.

Noir sighed heavily, feeling deprived of alone time. The island was very close to Abaven, when he looked out over the ocean to the North-West he could make out the cliffs that fell from the plains in the moonlight. He stood quietly, glad to have found somewhere quiet to be by himself.

Theta’s time at the festival so far had been well spent, she still wasn’t satisfied with it though. She still needed a way out of her current life. She was wandering looking for anyone else she could possibly talk to when she laid her eyes on a figure she hadn’t seen in a long time.

Theta’s eyes widened as she saw Noir, he had been imprinted in her mind from the time she spent at Abaven. She had hoped that she’d meet him again but she hadn’t known it would be this soon. She walked towards him with a gleam in her eyes. “Noir, How’ve you been.”Theta noticed that they were both a lot bigger than when they first met. “Beat up anymore of your sisters in my absence?” Theta wasn’t entirely sure about her feeling towards Noir but she was certain that they were more positive than anyone else in her life.

Noir was really beginning to feel relaxed, the ocean breeze was pleasant and the night was relatively quiet. He had no interest in the games everyone was playing, he was content with not being under surveillance. He even felt a hint of a smile play on his lips, as the sound of paw steps caught his attention. Blue and lavender eyes shifted to catch sight of a familiar form. Theta. She looked a bit more intimidating now that she’d lost the majority of her puppy-like look. They’d soon be a year old, and it was obvious in their close to adult forms.

”Theta,” he returned her greeting with a warmth that wasn’t offered to most wolves. ”Kind of terrible.” He answered, feeling his grin leave as he looked out over the ocean. ”Yeah, my mentor caught me fighting with Poem and i’ve been on lockdown since.” It was awful, but he’d been ‘good’ the whole time so at least his dad had allowed him to come to the festival. ”What about you?” He asked, honestly curious about what had happened to her after she had been allowed to leave Abaven.

Theta enjoyed the chance to see Noir again, after being annoyed and cranky all the time it felt nice to allow herself some happiness. Being away from her family and the cold in the north made things even better. She knew it wasn’t going to last long, but she would enjoy it while she could.

Noir hadn’t forgotten her name either and she was glad to hear that. She wasn’t glad to hear though that Noir’s life hadn’t been that great. Getting grounded was no fun for the person involved, only the other people watching. Knowing her brother Tornadic was stuck at home while she was out here was pretty fun. Although in Theta’s mind fighting was a bad reason, she would encourage fighting rather than discourage it. Fighting was something everyone needed to learn and if the losers were allowed to get through, well a world full of weaklings was no fun at all.

Noir asked about her life and any hint of joy in her expression went away. By this time she had moved to sit by Noir to watch the ocean. She wasn’t particularly interested in talking about her own life, but there wasn’t enough reason for her to avoid talking about it either. Red eyes aimed towards the horizon Theta’s mouth began to move “After we left Abaven we went back home for a little while, it wasn’t nearly long enough though. Dad gave up the pack and in the process had a litter with some other woman. He drug us all up north to live in our uncle’s pack and it sucks.” Theta began to be less melancholy and slightly more angered “I have to deal with mindless pups clamoring for my attention, a pack in the freezing cold where nobody’s interesting, a father who doesn’t even care about what we want, and we’re not even at the top anymore.” Her eyes had drifted over to Noir’s “We’re not at the top anymore and I hate it, if you’re going to be anyone you have to be at the top and I can’t accept that we’re not anymore. I’d rather be anywhere else than at my home, at least you have a mentor and people that act like they care about you.”

Theta’s emotions had been exhausted, she had said all she wanted to say. Not all of what she said was true, some of it was said in the heat of the moment. Either way she had said it and felt a lot better for doing so.

Noir watched her come to sit beside him before she answered his returned question. The look in her eye was similar to his own, dissatisfied with the direction their lives were taking. He hated to hear that her father had given up his place as alpha. He couldn’t imagine his dad doing the same, but he was old enough now that he could appreciate how aged his dad really was. While he knew there were more pups expected in Abaven, none of them were going to be brothers and sisters. Cousins. So many cousins. He already did not like his siblings, the new pups sounded like they would be even worse.

Oddly enough Noir felt himself able to commiserate with Theta. Most of it anyway, he kind of felt like he wasn’t at the top, but at least Rhyme was still an alpha. What really took him aback was when Theta compared her life to his, and told him what he failed to see. Wolves that cared about him, and a mentor. That’s what the adults said anyway, the reason they punished him was because they cared about him. Noir wasn’t sure he believed it when they said it, but here Theta was offering up her third party opinion.

”What if we run away.” If they didn’t like what he did so bad, maybe Noir would just be better off if he left. It didn't sound like Theta felt much different. ”Not tonight,” he didn’t want to think about going missing right now. Rhyme would be on him in a hot second, Summer wasn’t that faithful. Then it would be even harder for him to escape. ”Soon though, maybe before the first big snow.” Even if he was still on probation Noir knew his father wouldn’t chase after him once he was a year old. He was always talking about freedom and making your own choices. Once he was a yearling he would be free.

Noir was the one to suggest what had been on her mind for a while now, running away. It was Autumn now and if they waited until the first snow they would both be a year old. Theta wasn’t one for patience, if she wanted something she wanted it right then and there. She didn’t know if she could wait a whole season. Ideally she could run away right now and wait for Noir to join her, but she knew her father wouldn’t be too keen on letting that happen. When she turned a year old though there wasn’t much that could be done to stop her, she wouldn’t be a pup anymore then.

“Yeah, I’ve been wanting to run away for a while.” Theta had resigned herself to being patient this time, impatience wasn’t going to do her much good here. “Where would we go though? Where would we meet?” Theta wasn’t entirely confident in the idea of just the two of them fending for themselves, but she couldn’t think of anyone outside of the pack she would trust, much less inside the pack. “Do you know anyone outside of Abaven?”

When he said running away.. he really meant gathering Shaye, Rhyme, and Odysseus on the day he turned one. He’d tell them exactly what he was going to do, and then he’d tell them matter of factly that they had no power to stop him. They wouldn’t dare try and keep him contained, especially after his meek attitude while under house arrest. Then.. He’d do exactly as he said he would. He was going to leave Abaven. He’d gotten a glimpse of what else was out there, about being the best and a winner he wanted to be.

”I don’t know. Maybe I can call for you in the battlefield?” You could hear someone calling from that location for miles and miles. His voice was already deep and he could get loud when he wanted to. Theta could hear him if he called for her. It seemed like every wolf in Boreas knew where the place was, so he wouldn’t be lost for long. ”I have family in Legion, I think kind of close to the battlefield. We could get some training there.. And I don’t know. I don’t want to just go from one pack to another.” What good would that do him anyway? It seemed like Chaos at least wanted something to do with him. Even if Rhyme didn’t want him to. He couldn’t say anything when Noir was finally an adult.

Theta didn’t want to go from one pack to another either, but she was smart enough to think about how running away would affect them. If they didn’t have a couple of weeks to get on their feet they’d probably crash and burn then end up crawling back to their parents. She liked the idea of meeting at the battlefield, she definitely knew where that was. If it all worked out right they could spend a couple weeks at Legion then take off on their own.

“I don’t want to just go to another pack either, I just want to make sure that we don’t majorly mess up in the process.” Theta could be reckless, but she wasn’t reckless without some thought beforehand. “The battlefield works though, I just really hope this works out.”

Theta looked out towards the distance again, she didn’t know what the future held but she could only hope that it was better than right now. It made her smile to think of her and Noir making it on their own. She’d have to make more friends than just him of course, but they were out there. Somewhere.

Noir didn’t forget his interactions with Chaos either, and how his uncle had threatened the pack to get what he wanted. If thy just showed up at Legion, would they be allowed to even leave after they introduced themselves? That would have to be a task to tackle when they got closer to the day. Theta was happy with his battlefield suggestion, and he nodded. He hoped it worked out to, he was losing his patience for the adults in his life. He wanted and needed his freedom.

”I’ve been learning how to preserve meat, next time they make me work on it I’ll start stashing bits away. Summer, my raven, would help me if I made her.” The raven was good at hiding things away. ”We should have a back up plan, in case something doesn’t work out.” He mentioned, blue and lavender eyes gazing at her as she lost herself in the horizon.

Still looking out at the horizon Theta tilted her head down. They did need a back up plan, but the best Theta could think of was just sticking it out by themselves. She remembered a cave they had seen on the way to the festival. She didn’t think it smelled occupied and it might work as a place to stay while they figured things out. “I saw a cave on the way here, it might work as a base until we can figure things out if talking to your other family doesn’t work.” Looking back at Noir she spotted him looking at her. She chuckled a bit to herself, maybe it was time they stopped being so serious, it was a festival after all.

Theta leaned over to Noir to try and playfully nudge him with her shoulder “What’re you looking at.”

He and Theta were both fighters, and he was getting pretty big. Big enough to scare off most things at least. Between the two of them they could take care of what was needed. He would bring a stock of food if they had trouble feeding themselves, and he wasn’t above stealing if it meanthe didn’t have to come back here to Abaven. Theta had a cave in mind for a place to stay if Legion didn’t work out like he thought it would. He nodded in afirmation as she finally turned her bright ruby gaze back on him.

He didn’t quite understand the look in her eye as she leaned over and nudged him with a quick quip. ”You.” He told as her though it wasn’t obvious, but he mostly understood she was playing and he aimed to nudge her back similarly.

Of course she knew he was looking at her, she just wanted to see if he’d admit it. She giggled a little as he nudged her back, “Haven’t you heard it’s not polite to stare?” she wasn’t expecting a straight answer as she kept the playful tone in her voice. She wanted to enjoy this moment, soon enough they would both be struggling together and there wouldn’t be much time to enjoy themselves without over thinking everything. Theta’s adulthood was gonna come fast and hit hard, not to say that she wasn’t prepared for that, but when she got older there was a high chance she’d miss it all.

Noir raised his dark brows as she asked if he had ever been told it wasn’t polite to stare. Had he been staring? Her playful banter followed a few amused giggles, a sound Noir wasn’t used to hearing in his presence. He was used to his sisters and tormenting them. Not that he’d done much of that recently. He barely saw his sisters most days. Noir found himself wondering if she did much of it in Winterfell. ”Since when have we been ‘polite’ around each other?” Noir asked her back, the corners of his lips pulled back into an amused grin. ”What do you think it's like, being a loner and not having any rules?” He asked while aiming to lean against her shoulder as he pondered the same question.

Noir was right they hadn’t been that polite around each other, neither of them seemed to be that type of person Theta was okay with it though. What would being a loner be like? She had thought so much about leaving and surviving, but not about how she would feel. “I think it’ll be fun and hard at the same time. The feeling of having control over our own lives and the freedom to do what we want, that’s what I want and if we get that it’ll be great.” She seemed a little shocked as he leaned against her shoulder, it felt weird and foreign. She wasn’t quite sure how to react, she didn’t want it to stop either. Taking a deep breath she settled into it, yeah, this was alright.

Manners weren’t his thing when he was around someone like Theta. He could relax and show his true self instead of hiding behind his good boy persona. The act was a necessary evil, if he wanted to be free from Abaven and his father’s thumb he had to keep his act together. Once he was out and alone with his friend.. he’d be on the right track to righting his world. He doubted he’d be able to topple Poem one day, but at least he could get away from his probation. Theta told him what she thought, and leaned more heavily against his shoulder. He wasn’t.. he couldn’t ever be this close to his sisters. They took everything too seriously.

”I think it’ll be more fun than hard.” He told her, deep down knowing they would run into difficulties. ”We wont have much trouble if we stick together.” He wasn’t one for sharing glory, but survival wouldn’t be so bad if he had the company of a similarly minded she pup.