Kichi had been thrilled when Al agreed to take him to explore other areas of Boreas.  The redwood forest could be fun and all but there were other places to explore!  He wanted to meet other wolves and see if a lot of them were pink or if it had just been Realm.  How about grey?  How did they talk and how did they act?  What about other puppies?  The entire world held a lot of mystery to it for Kichi.  Needless to say, Alastor had gotten to answer a good number of questions along the way with all the new sights. Kichi had chosen to go south and going from forest to woods had been exciting but things kept changing and growing more amazing.  The trip had finally brought him to a place of really strange trees and lots of little spans of water all over.  It was a strange place and he loved it!  He was having a fun time grabbing and yanking on the tree branches, testing his strength versus the trees and generally he lost against those plants.  Leaping over the roots and splashing through the waterways was fun also. The boy was about six months old and appeared to fit the puppy part well at the moment.  His grey coat sported white markings along the shoulders, down the chest, along with parts of his face and bottom of his tail.  A bit under his one eye a fresh scar started that curved up to go up around past the eye.  Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed seemed a perfectly good description of his current state. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Since she'd shown how responsible she was, Bowen was allowed to go out on her own. Not out of the territory, but to the very edges of the border. The caramel cream girl was on the trail of a very shiny bird that she was trying to make friends with. Haiku had a bird so she wanted one too. This bird was so pretty. It glittered like the shiniest stone and it had such a pretty voice. The small girl followed it without even realizing where she was going. It was only when her mother's jackals called for her that she realized she had crossed over the border. One of the pair ran back to fetch Resin while the other stayed with the girl. Bowen looked back at the border, then out over the forest of willows. The bird was gone. Aww, man...

The sound of splashing pulled her attention away from what she should have been doing, which was high tailing it back to the safety of The Hallows. Craning her neck to the side, she peered around one of the umbrella like trees. There was a boy there, maybe twice her age. She watched as he bit at the hershe's and stomped in the streams. Even from where she stood, he seemed to be an angry sort. Bowen wasn't entirely sure that she wanted to meet this boy, but when she turned to go back, her paw slipped on the went rocks and sent them clattering loudly. The girl froze, not knowing what else to do. She would undoubtedly be found out.

Alastor was thankful to get a break from all the constant work of having to provide shelter, security, and food for himself, Lurid, and Kichi all on his own. Lurid was still healing, and since she was unable to play or train Kichi in her state, the hulking dark-furred wolf took it upon himself to take the lad out to get some more worldly and social experience. So when Kichi asked him to go explore further south from their usual territories, who was Alastor to deny the pup his chance at adventure? It would be good exposure to the world, and give the man an excuse to stretch his legs. He stopped for a moment to adjust the black leather collar around his neck that shimmered with the sparkling crystal shards he'd found in his nightmare adventures, trailing a few paces behind the grey storm cloud of a puppy. He wanted Kichi to lead the way and blaze his own trail to teach the boy to be independent and give him some freedom from the leash Lurid put him on to behave. The boy needed a chance to act like a child—the child he and Lurid never got to be.

The land they ended up in was a mess of small streams and willow trees, with veils of lanky branches so thick they almost formed solid walls. They were strikingly beautiful to see them hued in the colors of autumn though, turning the strange trees into cascades of lava that flowed to the ground. Alastor found himself quite taken by the color, and realizing just how much you actually missed when you spent all your time up in the frigid tundras of northern Boreas. Black eyes watched Kichi bounce through the streams and hurdle over upturned roots. Alastor's smile grew on his face a touch. Kichi looked happy, despite the nasty-looking wound that would undoubtedly become a very distinct scar just below his eye. It strangely almost mirrored his own, which cut vertically straight down over his left optic. Alastor tried not to think about it while he let his "adopted stepson" play about the groves of willows.

"I bet you've never seen trees like this before," he called over to Kichi was the larger wolf pushed his way through a curtail of thin branches to follow after his miniature companion. A sudden clatter of rocks from somewhere nearby caught Alastor's attention all at once, the wolf's ears sticking straight up from his head and tail flagging alert. "Kichi, stay close to me..." he said, his voice stern. Fun Alastor was gone now; cautious Alastor was here. Silently slinking his way around a grouping of trees, Alastor peered past the branches... and spotted a minuscule russet wolf pup just past one of the streams. His expression softened in an instant when he saw the innocent look on the little girl's face, his eyes blinking rapidly in surprise. The last thing he had expected to find was another puppy out here. Was she on her own, or were her parents somewhere nearby too?

"Hello there!" Alastor called over to the girl, smiling brightly at her and immediately lowering himself down to his stomach as he did when he greeted all puppies. He knew he was a large wolf, and as a pup he had always been intimidated by the sheer size of an imposing adult. Getting down on a pup's level usually made you appear less threatening and also empowered them, putting you on their level. He hoped it would have the same effect on her. This girl seemed like the skittish sort, and the last thing he needed was her getting scared off to go find her parents—or worse, her pack—and tell them there was a scary wolf skulking around. That was the sort of attention they didn't need right now. "I'm sorry if we scared you. My boy and I didn't mean to do that." His tail wagged slowly behind him. Alastor had such a soft spot for puppies. "My name is Alastor. You can call me Al if you'd like. What's your name?"

"Speech" | Thoughts

Warning: Alastor is an explicitly mature character for violent and sexual content. Read his threads with caution.
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“Nope,” Kichi responded to Al about having never seen such tree’s.  He surely would of added more but he frozen on hearing the clattering of something on rocks.  His ears pricked with interest and he started to stride forward in curiosity, pausing when Al told him to keep close.  They were going to the sound though so it worked for Kichi just fine. Stealthily they sneaked up on some terrible tyrant beast they would have to fight and it was; another puppy? Hmm, well that didn’t fit the monster he imagined in his mind from Alastor’s wariness.  Though it only took a second before this became a good thing.  Another wolf, and younger than he was.   It had been of course perfectly correct when he’d first met Al and the giant had lay down and been friendly to him but Kichi wasn’t sure how he felt about sharing Alastor with another pup.  Just as he’d made sure Al knew Lurid was Kichi’s he know felt that Al was also his and not to be shared without permission.  The boy was torn between being friendly, curious, or possessive in this instance.   Neutrality would have to do until he decided.  Kichi walked up to the pup, looking down at her curiously, “you’re kind of pretty,” it wasn’t said meaning to be a compliment though it could certainly come off as one, mostly he was just stating what seemed to him a fact.  His mouth twitched in a playful grin, “and clumsy.” The boy looked up towards the remaining jackal but so long as it let him be it could be ignored.  “So are you all alone?  Want to spar?” Surely all wolves wanted to fight?  It was the best game in the entire world.  Kichi playbowed with the question, tail up high.  He was willing to be friends through fighting!  It was a generous offer.  As long as she didn't try to steal Al from him it was ok probably. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

The girls heart hammered in her chest as a giant wolf approached her. Oh, she was going to be in so much trouble! Bowen noticed that She ran off, hopefully to get her mother. He stayed behind and moved up beside her as the man drew near. The jackal, small but still bigger than she was, bristled and bared its teeth in warning. He wouldn't attack, but he wanted the wolf to know that the threat was there. Surprisingly, the wolf dropped down to his belly in front of her. There was a kindness to his face that she hadn't expected to see. He apologized for scaring her and Bowen blinked her huge green eyes before sitting up once more. She was still nervous mostly as a result of her shyness, but he had made her feel a bit better with his friendly disposition. As the man gave his name, she brightened further still. He gave a short name. That meant that they were friends, right? "I'm Bowen." Wait... his boy? A moment later a pup came striding forward. He was bigger than she was and he didn't have the friendliest look about him. Bowen found her ears and tail tucking again as he invaded her personal space. He called her pretty and clumsy which made the girl furrow her brow. Then he asked if she wanted to fight him and Bowen's eyes went wide. She began to back up, looking to He for help. "N-no." She wasn't a fighter. Bowen was tiny and sweet. Even her brothers never tried to fight her. Where was her mom?! "Bowen"

Alastor paid no heed to the snarling jackal just beside the wolf pup, casting him little more than an annoyed look masked little by his smile. Had he wanted to, both the pup and the jackal would have been dead already, but that alone would have sealed his and Kichi's doom. They were far too close to pack lands, and any puppy wandering alone with a strange animal companion meant that she belonged to said pack—and that the scavenger dog belonged to someone bigger in the pack. The little girl seemed to calm down a little bit but still maintained her guard. He could not blame her; he was a huge wolf that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. That would terrify any child! She introduced herself as Bowen, and Alastor smiled a touch more genuinely. "Hello, Bowen. That's a lovely name!" he said.

That was when Kichi bounded forward, practically toppling into the nervous pup with his bulkier frame. Alastor tensed, black eyes fixed on the bristling jackal, ready to pounce forward if the canine went for Kichi, but thankfully it seemed as if the lanky predator had no intentions of attacking the boy. Kichi's brash behavior earned him a roll of his eyes from the brindled dire brute, Alastor rising back up and making his way slowly over to the two pups. He kept his eyes on the jackal the entire time, trying to make himself seem as little of a threat as possible. The last thing he needed was Kichi getting attacked for being stupid and reckless. "Easy there, kiddo," he spoke to Kichi, reaching with a large paw to try and scoop up the pup to place closer to him, both to keep him out of trouble and to protect him should the jackal decide enough was enough. Alastor chuckled and smiled without showing any teeth to little Bowen. "It's rude to try and fight someone you haven't even introduced yourself to yet, especially a little lady. Be polite and apologize to Bowen. Then why don't you start with your name and what things you like to do?"

Alastor kept his obsidian eyes on the jackal, feeling a gnawing need inside of him growing. The creature looked so delightfully fragile; he'd never fought a jackal before. How much effort would it take to snap those skinny-looking bones? No. No, not right now... Alastor suppressed the innate bloodlust in his sick brain. Besides, he had puppies to play with! He couldn't go killing again with puppies around! He had to teach Kichi how to behave properly in social situations, since it was astoundingly clear Lurid had not taught him any social etiquette.

"Speech" | Thoughts

Warning: Alastor is an explicitly mature character for violent and sexual content. Read his threads with caution.
As his mate, Manea may enter any of Alastor's threads not marked Private.
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Now Kichi was certainly happy with the idea of being able to scare someone however he wasn’t even attempting to scare Bowen so what was her problem?  It was true enough Kichi had rather limited experience with other wolves and thus just expected them to have similar logic to what he was used to.  The jackal was ignored as in Kichi’s mind it was no threat.  Either he could take it on and win or Al would tear it into more pieces than Kichi could count.  Elk were intimidating but jackals were weaklings.

Kichi heard Al walking up behind him but missed his expression since the stormcloud-colored boy was puzzling over Bowen.  Thus it was Al was easily able to scoop him away as Kichi looked up at Al in some confusion at this.  He guessed Al made sense in the part of introducing himself first, that much could make sense.  Apologize though?  The words got Kichi’s ears flat in annoyance.  Not saying his name seemed a thing that didn’t need an apology.  This pup was beneath them anyway, right?  It shouldn’t matter what he did with that being the case.  “Why do I have to be nicer to her for being a girl?”  He had to be nicer to mom because she was mom, not due to her being a girl.  With a sigh of irritation, he looked back at Bowen as if it was all her fault, “I’m Kichi.”  The boy was very tempted to say something snarky with his apology but with a glance back at Al he imagined the time for debating the need to apologize was after this.  “I’m sorry,” even if he had no reason to be, and the belief was evident in his tone.  

What he liked? He looked at this timid little girl and wondered suddenly about other puppies.  Were most of them cowards or was it just her?  That pink pup he’d met hadn’t acted cowardly at all.  She was also pink and Kichi still thought it looked kind of weird.  “I like fighting, and exploring, and upsetting mom’s bear.  What are you so scared of?  Why don’t you want to fight.”  Kichi labeled none of this as rude in his own mind.  She was weird for not wanting to fight and they seemed reasonable questions.  It’s not like he called her out on being a coward.  

Ok.  Maybe he could be a bit nicer but Al had made Kichi apologize and his pride felt it.  Kichi let out a huff, wagged his tail in a false-friendly half-hearted attempt.  “What do you like doing?”

Speech

The big man came to her rescue, trying to calm to boy. Bowen could barely pay attention to what was being said. This whole situation was making her so nervous! She cursed herself for going out of the boundaries of Hallows territory. If she'd just listened to mom, she wouldn't be in this situation right now! Again the boy was speaking to her and by the time she realized what he was saying, he'd given his name. The boy, Kichi, apologized, though he didn't seem to mean it. He said the words, but the apology wasn't in his eyes. They were cold. He was just going through the motions. nonetheless, Bowen shook her head. "It's okay." He then listed the things that he liked to do. Fighting she didn't like. Exploring, they had that in common. Bowen had just been about to remark when he was again asking her about fighting. He added in her fright as well. "Well, I... I don't like to fight. And I'm scared because you're both much bigger than me." She gave her little caramel and cream head a shake. "I never meet strangers." Kichi asked what she liked doing and again she didn't feel like he was being genuine. Emerald eyes drifted to Alastor questioningly before shifting back to the boy. "I like to hunt for treasure. I was trying to make friends with a bird when... well, when we found each other. I was hoping a bird could help me find new treasure." A little frown tugged down the corners of her lips as she listened to her own words. She sounded like such a baby. It was embarassing. A commotion from behind brought Bowen's head turning. The jackal, She, came bursting back through the foliage. She flew up beside her mate and now both jackals were bristled and chuffing. It seemed that neither of them liked these newcomers. The pair moved up beside the small girl, one on either side. They were feeling bold and a moment later, Bowen found out why. "Bowen"

As though there wasn't enough going on currently, it seemed that one of her children was in trouble. Someone was always in trouble, or hurt or needing something from her. Resin was in sore need of a vacation. Dropping the task that she'd been working on, the giantess followed the jackal quickly through the territory and to the edge of it. Ah... so Bowen had gone out of bounds, had she? There would be punishment for that later. For now... Obsidian ears pricked forward as voices sounded. Resin's pelt bristled slightly as she heard the deep tones of a man. Was she going to have to kill someone today? Until she gauged the situation, it was definitely a possibility. The ash and onyx woman peeled from the thicker foliage of Hallows territory and pushed into the stream riddled area of the willows. The fae's lone eye instantly pinned upon the hunkered form of her daughter as the child spoke to a black and red man. Thankfully the brute was down on his belly and looked non-threatening. The child beside him looked a bit more cocky, but she could forgive a child somewhat. The jackals were on either side of Bowen, protecting her as they were able, though they would be no match against the jaws of a fully grown wolf. She appreciated their efforts all the same. Coming up behind Bowen, the girl rushed to her mother the moment she saw her, clinging to one heavily scarred leg. "Bowen," the woman growled in her low, rasping tones, "Are you alright?" Though she spoke to the child, her singular gaze never left that of the man and the boy. She had no reason to be so suspicious other than the fact that she was a mother and this was her child. "Speech"

Obsidian eyes peered down at Kichi with a stern look when the boy gave him an equally defiant stare. He wasn't going to scold Kichi in front of Bowen; he didn't want to wound the boy's admittedly inflated pride, but he would need to have a conversation with hm and with Lurid about the boy's manners and social skills. Thinking highly of yourself was not the problem, but the antagonizing and provoking of situations was. Even the strongest of wolves would become overwhelmed if they turned a volatile situation explosive with a few wrong words. Kichi would need to learn tact and when to play and when to rein yourself in. Bowen gave him a nervous look before responding to Kichi, and he gave the nervous girl a reassuring nod. She clearly lacked a great deal of confidence—if only he could take some of Kichi's and give it to her. He snickered at the thought of these two drastically contrasting pups.

A ruckus from behind Bowen turned Alastor's ears up and his black eyes to focus on the foliage as the second jackal re-emerged to join her brother in trying to look intimidating. Alastor rolled his eyes with a sigh of annoyance. Oh, would you both just fuck off already...? he thought, dark eyes shifting between the two, ready to pounce if either of them made a move toward Kichi. They would be easy enough to eviscerate, but then he'd probably have to kill the pup too to keep her quiet, and Bowen was such a sweet little thing... The brute's dark thoughts were ground to a halt when he heard footfalls coming closer, and then a large grey and black wolf emerged from behind the jackals. That was enough to get Alastor's guard back up. The jackals were no threat, but another wolf was a different situation. As she came closer, Alastor saw Bowen bound up and cling to the fae's scarred legs, seeking shelter in her form. This wolf was either the girl's mother or her guardian, but either way, it put Alastor on alert. Black eyes meeting the newcomer's single sulfur-yellow eye, Alastor slowly raised himself back up to his feet, his toothy smile still on his face.

"Good afternoon, madam! How do you do?" greeted Alastor in a bright, cheery voice. He gestured with a nod down to the pup huddled between her legs. "Is she your little girl? She's a darling angel!" Just for protective measures, Alastor went to wrap a paw around Kichi's midsection and would try to keep the boy safely tucked between his own legs. He also had no reason to be suspicious of the grey woman, other than the fact that she bore the mementos of a number of battles and Kichi was in between them. He had to protect the pup at all costs, even if it meant spilling the blood of all four creatures sitting across from them. "I apologize if my boy startled her, we're working on his manners. Oh, and speaking of manners..." He bowed his dark head, but never allowed his wary gaze to leave the wolf only slightly shorter than himself. "Alastor's the name! And this is Kichi. Say hello, Kichi!"

"Speech" | Thoughts

Warning: Alastor is an explicitly mature character for violent and sexual content. Read his threads with caution.
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Kichi wasn’t sure how he felt about her being scared of them, thinking it both made sense and was pathetic.  Other wolves should be scared of them because of who they were but, being scared to fight seemed crazy when fighting was so much fun.  Al really seemed to like her for some reason.  The boy did perk up a bit more curiously at treasure hunting.  What sort of treasure did she look for?  That might actually be interesting. Kichi had been scared when he was smaller and weaker, the boy refused to ever be scared again.  Ok, most of the time he’d never be scared again.

Kichi would have responded to Bowen but things changed quickly when another adult wolf just as large as Al appeared.  Kichi had to admit the scars around her eye were pretty cool looking.  Kichi intended to stay right where he was and keep his gaze on the other adult but then suddenly Al pulled him back closer to him.  Kichi rolled his head back to look up curiously at Al and listening to all the polite words he was offering out.

Manners huh?  Oh man, that sounded like a fun conversation.  “Hello,” the boy offered at Al’s prompting, “That’s a cool scar over the eye,” the concept of a fighter was quickly given more interest than the scared pup.   The boy's tone was suddenly happier, far more interested in the newest arrival, “How’d you get it?”

Speech

Bowen felt much more confident now that her mother was here with her. The big, strong woman would protect her no matter what. It eased a great deal of anxiety that the caramel and cream child had been feeling. All alone, she remembered how small she was. With her mom present, Bowen felt much bigger. Resin asked if she was okay and the girl nodded, smiling up at her protector. "I'm okay." She then tucked her ears and looked bashfully up at her mom. "I'm sorry I went out of bounds. I was trying to make friends with a bird." She thought that was explanation enough.

The girl watched as Al pulled Kichi towards him and she was a little confused. Her mom wouldn't hurt them. She was really nice and she'd never hurt a pup for sure. Introductions were made and Bowen was a little shocked when Kichi asked about her mother's missing eye. The girls own green eyes widened and she looked up at her mom. Actually... she didn't know how her mom lost her eye so this would be informative for her as well.

The man poured on the charm, complimenting Bowen and then introducing both himself and the pup with him. The child didn't look like it belonged to the man, but Bowen didn't look like like she was her child either so she couldn't judge on that. "Yes," she answered succinctly when asked if Bowen was her daughter. She never had been much of a talker and things wouldn't change now. She was too old for that. He gave his name and that of the boy. No pack affiliation, not that that mattered to her. "Resin," she again spoke the bare minimum. "Aegis of The Hallows." The giantess looked down at the girl, but kept the man in her periphery. Chasing birds... "We'll discuss your birds and your boundaries at home." She wasn't angry with her, but she was a bit disappointed. Boundaries existed for a reason and Bowen knew that. The young boy complimented her scarred face and asked how she'd received such a scar. In her rasping tones, she replied, "In battle." There was no reason to go into the details behind her missing eye or any of her other scars for that matter. Besides, Deciding that they'd had enough interaction, Resin used one big paw to scoot the tiny girl back towards Hallows territory. She gave the barest of nods to the man and his child before turning to leave. She turned her back on him, but the jackals continued to watch, walked backwards until they were close to the border, then disappeared into the brush. It was like the four of them were never there. "Speech"

The older woman was terse, short in her responses and clearly in her patience as she barely humored socializing with them before ushering little Bowen back towards their home. She had introduced herself by rank of a pack, and a surreptitious sniff confirmed that it was her scent that marked the pack borders nearby. Ah, so she must have been the alpha of this pack, The Hallows. Good information to know; he would have to report back to Lurid with his discovery. Kichi asked about Resin's scar, and although the older femme barely entertained his question, Alastor needed to explanation to understand who and what she was. The heavyset physique built upon rippling muscles told him all he needed to know, and a glance at the teeth inside her jaws whenever she spoke told tales of deadly lethality. Picking a fight with her, despite her advanced age, would be a death sentence.

Fortunately, he was also glad to have the conversation winding down now that she had appeared. The sooner they could move on from the tense standoff with this overly protective mother and her scavenger sidekicks, the better. Alastor's expression betrayed nothing of his dark inner thoughts however, that same smile plastered to his face like a painting. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Resin of The Hallows!" he called after her when she turned to leave with her daughter, giving a final parting wave to the tiny pup until they were out of sight. He fixed the jackals with his unsettling grin next, mentally rending the meat from their bones until they too had disappeared into the underbrush. I'll be sure to see you two lovelies again soon... he thought with a twinge of sick delight. Once they were finally alone, he turned his obsidian eyes back down to the storm-grey pup tucked in the shelter of his legs. "Well, that was fun! I'm famished! How about you and I go hunt us a snack and start moving on?" he said, rising to his paws to start leading Kichi away from The Hallows' lands.

"Speech" | Thoughts

Warning: Alastor is an explicitly mature character for violent and sexual content. Read his threads with caution.
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