Sparrow had long scrubbed off the Fireside scent from her pelt and made her way around as a free agent. The gap in her pack scent would make her better prepared for when the pirates arose and it was a good chance to visit packs as a loner anyway. She came up north now to the Sparse Pines which... yup. Were sparse and definitely were pines. Well, there wasn't much to see, she guessed, but as the sunlight streamed through the tall, wavering trees, Sparrow couldn't help to think it was pretty.

She wasn't dumb, though. She knew a pack resided here and stayed firmly on HER side of their borders. If they took offense to that... well, at least she was wearing her pirate gear and had her lil dudes with her.

By now it was obvious Kirsi was pregnant, at least to her; she knew without a doubt that there was life growing within her. Outwardly it wasn't yet obvious, and though she'd told Song already she'd decided to keep her pregnancy a secret from the rest of the pack until she was further along and she seemed free of potential complications. She wasn't sure she could handle another loss quite like what she'd experienced before, so she'd vowed to be extra cautious along each step of the journey. This was easily the least risky time, though still she was aware of what was at stake. She'd taken to patrolling the edge of Incendium's borders when she was feeling restless, knowing well that Ignis's rise to power had upset more than one wolf. Some unrest was to be expected, but Kirsi wanted to know if trouble was stirring long before it came to fruition.

Today she'd caught wind of a stranger's scent and made to investigate. The wolf was not a pack wolf, not belonging to either Incendium nor any other packs, at least not that she could tell. More curious than wary, Kirsi made her way to the edge of their borders that stood in the pine forest. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she approached, keeping her distance as she sized up the stranger. Sparrow was considerably larger than her, clearly built for brute strength rather than speed. Kirsi raised a brow as she drew a bit closer, not yet ready to assume the worst, but fully prepared if it came to that. "Is there something you need, girl?" Her tone was cold and dry, without a hint of warmth as she watched her expectantly and waited for any answer.

Sparrow was trying to count the trees as she walked around. How many made a sparse or a woods or a forest? What could possibly be the distinction between them? Well there was certainly no shortage of snow and stuff. Sparrow was more and more sure she didn't love the north. Not that she wasn't large and warm with her coat and all, but her companions would never be happy here and neither would her lil paw beans. A woman called out to her cooly from the edge of the borders. Sparrow offered her a full on flop onto her rump and scratch her ear- see not threatening at all. "Yeah, uh, I'm kinda lost, but I heard there was a big sea ship up this way, but it seems there's... this pack in the way. What pack is this anyway? You the alpha?" Sparrow made a nice show of really hitting the spot of her scritches, tongue lolling out for a few seconds. When she was done she stood and shook her pelt out, fluffing it against the cold and shivering a little for emphasis.

Perhaps if she'd encountered Sparrow at their borders a few weeks ago, she would've regarded her with a hint of amusement, albeit a fair bit of suspicion. Now, though? There was no hint of laughter in her eyes now - only that cold, judging stare as she assessed Sparrow and tried to get a sense of her intentions. It was hard to tell though; she almost instantly flopped down and scratched at her ear. Kirsi merely raised a brow and continued to speculate, slowing leaning back and reclining to her haunches.

She was lost, apparently. How was that anyone in Incendium's problem, she wondered to herself? Sniffing lightly at the air, she found no reason to believe otherwise, at least not from the stranger's scent. "Yes, there's a big ship nearby," she spoke calmly and slowly, with careful effort that implied she thought this stranger might be a bit slow. "This pack is called Incendium. I am not the alpha, but I'm happy to call for him if you'd like." Kirsi couldn't help but be cautious, wary to give out much information. It was no secret that Ignis had ruffled some feathers with his takeover and Kirsi couldn't be too sure that anyone was as innocent as they pretended to be.

"Talk" Walk He had a lot on his mind now more than ever. His uncle was gone. His family more than likely hated him along with half of the pack, and he still felt bad for telling Drifa that he'd kill her if she told anyone what he'd done. He shook his head as he walked through the pines, constantly repeating to himself how stupid he was for saying that. He couldn't kill her! He didn't have it in him to kill anyone! Yeah he'd gone as far as hurting others...but...he hadn't meant to. After his fight with Acere, he had taken off to try and clear his head for a little while. He thought about the damage he had done to his uncle...how terrified Yurei had been...even felt bad for doing what he did to Tsunami...but for some reason, despite all that...that damn voice kept whispering to him. Telling him it was justified. That his uncle deserved it and that Tsunami needed to learn her place. Or at the very least, sway her into seeing how great she and the rest of the pack could be under his rule. He felt like a wild card these days...he didn't feel like himself anymore. As he aimed to leave the territory for another day of checking things out beyond the borders, he caught wind of Kirsi. He paused and cocked his ears, and he could clearly hear someone else, too. Someone he didn't recognize. He quickly altered his course until Kirsi's magnificent blue pelt and a younger stranger came into view, and just in time, too. "No need, I'm already here." He exclaimed as he approached them. He stopped near Kirsi as he sized up the stranger. He didn't know who she was or where she was from, but for all he knew, Drifa or someone could've been going around telling everyone what happened to Winterfell. "Who are you?" He inquired, though his tone displayed seriousness more than anything.

The woman reacted cooly and Sparrow couldn't help but be taken in by how COOL she was. Chilly weather? Chilly people? Man, the north was a really cool place. Get it? Cool. Place. Haha, nice one Sparrow. The woman confirmed there was a ship nearby and Sparrow's tail set to wagging. She looked around but uh... nope, just trees. And more trees. But not THAT many trees- sparse trees. Yup, got it. Well, the pirate ship wasn't HERE, but if the woman knew of it... And if she was in Incendium... "Ah, okay, Indicium, got it- wait, is the pirate ship IN Insidious?" The woman offered to call the alpha, but lo and behold he was here and WOW did he not fit the northern aesthetic. Dude stuck out like a sore paw. Bloody sore paw at that. Maybe he'd fit in towards the volcano but here? Woo boy... He asked who she was and Sparrow did her best little curtsey, "Sparrow at your service and in desperate need to see this pirate ship, to be honest." She glanced between the two, a little amused at their color schemes, but she kept the smile off her face just barely by sucking in her lips for a moment, though the laughter shone through her voice just a little, "And so you're-" don't say something dumb Sparrow, don't fuck it up. "The alpha of Incredulous? Got a name?"

Fortunately for them both, Ignis wasn't far off. The Sparse Pines tended to be quiet and still a lot of the time; no doubt their voices had traveled easily to Ignis. She tilted her head toward him as she heard his approach just before he began to speak. She offered a faint smile to Ignis before returning her attention to Sparrow. She was still wildly unsure what her intentions were - trusting her on any level was out of the question, but perhaps she was as innocent as she seemed to be? Kirsi felt she was good at initial judgments but this female was hard to size up. Hopefully Ignis might have some insight, questioning who she was. She introduced herself though quickly explained she wanted to see the ship. Kirsi was silent, knowing this wasn't her place to answer; instead she merely quirked an eyebrow skeptically and leaned back, interested to see how he responded.

Honestly, he wasn't sure what to think about this...girl who introduced herself as Sparrow. He glanced at Kirsi with a raised brow as the Sparrow talked, but he wasn't feeling very amused. Incredulous? Was she just jerking them around? Testing their patience? Genuinely trying to be funny? Or something else? In a different world and mindset, he might have played along in the past...but now? He didn't do much of that these days. Not since shit hit the fan and his mindset changed. Now he didn't dare trust anyone these days, though he had allowed himself to trust Kirsi - if only a little so far - since she seemed to be cool with his leadership regardless of how he had obtained it. "We do have names, much like anyone else." and for his own amusement, he purposefully left them out for the time being. "As for our ship, if you wanna see it, you only need to look that way." He jerked his head in the direction of the ship as he kept his eyes on her. He wasn't sure what her intentions were, nor why she acted so...weird. Then again, maybe she just had a loose screw or something.

ooc//short tag, I'm tired, sorry T^T

The blue woman stayed silent and the red guy didn't give much good information. He said they had names, but didn't give them and Sparrow flashed a sharp smile, "Alright, Fire and Ice will suffice then, right?" Then he said she'd just have to look for the ship. Sparrow made a point of staring past him and squinting real hard. Nope she didn't see it. Just snow. And trees. And more snow. And even more trees. Damn. Did these wolves have super vision? Nah. otherwise they'd have seen her coming from a while away. "Are you sureeee? It looks... Flat and boring. Like... what do you even do for fun here? Or am I the most exciting thing happening around here?"

"Talk" Walk "Alright, Fire and Ice will suffice then, right?" He offered an amused "hmph" as he glanced at Kirsi. Fire and ice huh? He supposed the pair of them fit that aesthetic to a T. "That's fine by us." He didn't know much about her or what her purpose here was other than wanting to see the ship, and he was still wary about telling her his name still. He was even more amused when she stared past him and squinted as she tried to see the ship that the pack laid claim to. "Are you sureeee? It looks... Flat and boring. Like... what do you even do for fun here? Or am I the most exciting thing happening around here?" "I suppose we're used to the lands enough that we know which direction to look. As for fun, we don't really focus on that. Call us boring or whatever, but "fun" doesn't exactly keep you prepared for the harsher climates here. We do have our activities though. If you haven't already, you might like to try ice skating. Kenocha lake is favorite spot for that sort of activity." He hadn't been in some time, though he planned on taking his kids out there soon enough.

The man said the Fire and Ice moniker were fine by him and Sparrow laughed just a little. See, this guy wasn't SO humorless. As she squinted, he said that he supposed they just knew where to look. Sparrow scanned the whole horizon and, nope, no pirate ship. "Maybe I'm going blind?" She asked, her eyes refocusing on the shockingly red man after a few moments. Y'know, the dull horizon was actually a little better on the eyes, now that she thought about it. He said they maybe didn't have fun because they were too busy surviving the harsh climate. Sparrow rolled her eyes with an amused smile. "Really? That's your excuse? Come down south for the summer and see if you can survive THAT, then we'll talk." She shot him a smirk and a wink so he'd know she was mostly joking. Mostly. "Like, there's life, then there's living. What's the point in life if you're just surviving and not really living? We're wolves if surviving gets too tough to really live, we can move, that's like... our whole thing." Did these wolves get frost bite brain and forget packs were like... able to move? "Like, knock off a little, move your pack to a nice area- you can still have snow and stuff, just... then you can actually have FUN! I know some pirates who throw a MEAN party, and some vikings who do a market with wares and slaves and stuff. You oughta try it!"

He DID mention ice skating and a lake nearby. She didn't think she had been there yet and tilted her head. "Skating? Never heard of it. You an expert? I'll sign up for a class of yours any time."

"Talk" Walk "Maybe I'm going blind?" He cleared his throat a little. He knew she was joking, and he was realizing he was probably coming off as an asshole, but after the shit he'd been doing around here with the pack and all, it was hard for him to return to what he used to be. Before the demons started screaming in his head. Before everything went south with his family. "Really? That's your excuse? Come down south for the summer and see if you can survive THAT, then we'll talk." It wasn't a bad thought. He'd only ever lived in the east and the north, not so much anywhere else. It had also been a while since he'd been anywhere else...He listened quietly to the other stuff she had to say, her joking manner practically contagious, though he continued to steel himself. How did others manage to stay so...happy? Or at least from what he was seeing, she appeared to be pretty laid back and seemingly knew what she was talking about when it came to living. He supposed carefree was the word he was looking for...yeah...that seemed about right. "Like, knock off a little, move your pack to a nice area- you can still have snow and stuff, just... then you can actually have FUN! I know some pirates who throw a MEAN party, and some Vikings who do a market with wares and slaves and stuff. You oughta try it!" He smirked a bit. Just barely, when she said that. "You sure you're not just saying that in the hopes of trying to steal the ship?" He fired back. Jokingly, of course. Though he was definitely interested in the latter stuff. "I'd sure like to meet these...pirates and Vikings. They sound like they'd be worth my time." When she said she'd never heard of skating, he offered a mock look of surprise. "You've never heard of skating, hm? I suppose it can be fun when you get the hang of it. Racing across the ice, wind in your face. As long as you get good momentum going, it can be nearly effortless. I used to be pretty good at it."

Kirsi was silent for a long while, leaning back and listening to the conversation that ensued. She still wasn't totally convinced this stranger didn't have something wrong with her mentally wrong with her but Ignis seemed inclined to humor her, at least for a bit longer. She raised a brow at the stranger's assessment of their lands - flat and boring. To her the north was anything but, though she knew other landscapes had their merits. The far north did too, practically ensuring the wolves raised here would be strong and capable of survival... even if Sparrow seemed inclined to think otherwise. Ignis suggested somewhere else to find entertainment, a lake to the northwest of these lands - Kirsi merely nodded in agreement, finding her own patience wearing thin with Sparrow's antics. It was best to say nothing at all and let Ignis take the reins with this one.