It was time for a taste of freedom, even if it was quite small. As he and his siblings grew older, his parents were slowly loosening their reign on them - slowly, very slowly, but surely. And even though little Bronze knew he was still within shouting distance of both of them, he was ready to stretch his paws and explore on his own. Not that he hadn't done some exploring of the forest surrounding their den before, but he hadn't done it on his own, which felt decidedly different. He was cautious as he took the first few steps out of view of his parents, breathing in the crisp winter air. He wouldn't go far, he'd promised them, but he wanted to see what else there was to see. But it seemed like it was mostly.... more of the same. Tall pine trees that seemed to stretch higher than he could ever imagine, and all he could see stretching ahead of him was a vast field of trees and snow and vegetation. Slowly he began to pad forward, feeling the snow crunch beneath his paws, the forest mostly still and silent save for the ambient noises of foliage rustling and wildlife slowly rousing as the day drew on.

Ciná followed the border of the pack along the edge of the Space Pines, just waiting not so patiently for them to be allowed the freedom to go beyond them. They had been let loose within the pack lands a while ago, but the frozen tundra around the ship and the same boring, repetitive trees here got old very, very quickly. He wanted more and he wanted to go somewhere exciting. But since that wasn't allowed and he wasn't exactly willing to break those rules and get in trouble - at least not yet - he was stuck here for the time being. Turning his attention back toward the middle of the pack's lands, he began trotting through the snow to head back toward the ship so at least he could go find one of his siblings to bother or maybe go find their father so he could pester- er, ask for him to take them on an adventure of some kind.

Before he made it that far though, he spotted another boy wandering alone though the trees. He looked like he was probably a little younger than himself and was almost exactly opposite in color palate from his fiery coat, instead being covered in all shades of steely blue. Since it was a stranger and not someone he had met already, it got Ciná's attention and he curved his path away from its intended target so he could go greet the boy at least and see if that turned into something interesting. "Hey!" he called as he got a bit closer, as loud and boisterous as ever as he gave the new acquaintance his award winning smile. "I haven't seen you around before! I'm Ciná. What's your name?"

"Cináed"

Though he was eager to stretch his legs even more and explore far beyond the boundaries of his pack, Bronze knew he wasn't quite ready yet - neither were his siblings. His parents, his mother in particular, tended to be the hovering sort, not that he had anything to compare his life to. It simply was how it was, and he wasn't the type to blatantly disrespect his parents' rules. Not quite yet, at least. He'd enjoy the bit of freedom he'd earned and enjoy it, or that was what he planned to do. And man, was the world so big. He'd walked all through the pine forest with his family before but never on his own, and somehow everything seemed much larger and stranger now that he was alone. The trees were taller than he'd realized, stretching high toward the sky - some looked like they disappeared into the clouds themselves. He was awed by all the scenery as he walked, more than once finding his head tilted straight up and toward the sky.

Bronze was so engrossed in his surroundings that he hardly noticed a stranger approaching him. He was clearly older, and his coat was so different than any of the wolves in his family. Instinctively he stiffened, alert and attentive. He was silent for a long moment as he registered the stranger. He smelled pretty similar to his family, so he had to accept that he was part of Incendium too, and his eyes were a piercing yellow that captured his attention easily. "Bronze," he answered simply. Truthfully he wasn't much of a talker, though most of his siblings were similar. That didn't mean he wasn't curious though and he still fixed his attention on Cináed with his bright, interested blue stare, clearly expecting the older boy to lead the conversation.

Ciná felt a pause after the blue-hued boy introduced himself, for some reason expecting the stranger to say more. When he didn't, the Preator boy shrugged, pulling another grin onto his lips and ignoring the slight moment of awkwardness completely. "Alright! Nice to meet you, Bronze." He supposed there was a bit of a difference in age between them, though they were both still pups. Hanging out with Bronze wouldn't scratch the itch he had to go out of the pack's lands, but his dad would be happy that he was making new friends, right? Sure, that made sense to him!

"You haven't been out around here much yet, huh?" he questioned, though he already knew the answer from how in awe the boy had seemed just looking up at the big pine trees around them. He remembered thinking everything around him was cool when he was first given access to the pack's territory to explore on his own so maybe Bronze was in a similar sort of situation. That got him thinking and wondering if maybe he could find something to interest the younger boy since most of it was still new to him. The pine forest wasn't all that exciting, but he knew of a couple little hiding places and stuff like that.

He leaned in like he was going to tell the gold-marked boy a secret, a mischievous gleam in his eye. "Hey, you seem like a cool kid. Do you wanna come see my secret hide out?" he offered with a grin. "Maybe I'll let you use it too. It's a great place to hide during hide and seek."

"Cináed"

Bronze didn't really know how he was supposed to interact with others. He only knew his parents, and his siblings - everything else was foreign and strange to him, but in a way that was exciting rather than scary. All he knew was that he'd learn more and more as he got to know all the wolves in Incendium, and though talking to other kids seemed difficult to him (at least so far) he was determined to meet everyone he could. Fortunately for him, the older boy didn't seem too bothered by his single-word introduction, instead pushing past that and talking to him like normal. "You too," he responded after an awkward pause. He was glad to meet him, even if he didn't truly know how to express it.

Ciná was right that he hadn't been out much. Was it that obvious? Bronze hoped he didn't seem like an idiot, walking around staring up at the trees. All at once he became self-conscious and redirected his focus to the older boy as he shake his head. "No, not really." Was it not normal that his mom kept he and his siblings so close to home? He didn't know any different, but he knew that he was here now and ready to explore the world. And that included whatever cool place Ciná was about to show him. His eyes widened, bright with interest at the prospect of something secret, and he felt his chest inflate with quiet pride at the other wolf's compliment. "Secret hide out?" He practically whispered, as if afraid someone might hear them. He hesitated for a moment, considering it; would he get in trouble for going too far? Would his sibling be mad if they weren't included? He decided, worse case scenario, he could show them later, as long as Ciná wouldn't get mad. "Yeah, show me!" The blue-furred boy brightened up a bit, letting a small little grin touch his lips at the prospect of seeing a cool secret hideout.

Ciná grinned wide when he saw the idea of a secret hideout light up the younger boy's face. Good! At least he could get some kind of real reaction out of his new acquaintance! Sure, he was really hyping up something that probably wasn't all that exciting in reality, but what would this boy know? Tall trees were exciting so surely this little tucked away place would be equally as exciting if not more. He chuckled and gave a big, resolute nod when Bronze insisted that he show him this secret and gave a wave with his paw for him to follow. "Come on then! It's past those trees there, a little closer to the border." He knew that there was no way Bronze would have been out this way yet considering how sheltered he seemed so if nothing else he was at least exposing the poor boy to a new part of the forest.

He turned and started walking off through the pine forest, already thinking up how he could make what was little more than a hollowed out log way more exciting. He led his new buddy though a clearing that was maybe a couple dozen feet form the edge of the Incindium territory, trotting over to where a pine tree had fallen down once upon a time with several other smaller trees growing up around it, some brush and moss clinging around the sides. "Here we are!" he announced, pausing in front of the entrance of their "secret hide out" "Sure it doesn't look like much now but just imagine if we got a hide to hang over this part like a door and back towards the other end the outer layer is pretty thin so we could probably make a secret back door for quick escapes! Plus, who even comes out this way anyway? You'd be totally hidden. Or it could be like a secret storage place for cool stuff!" He glanced at Bronze, curious to see if he was really selling this to him or not.

"Cináed"

No matter what sort of wolf he was, he couldn't help but be excited by the prospect of a new and exciting adventure. There was so much of the world he had yet to see and if Ciná could show him something new, he was all ears and willing to tag along. Unless he started taking him too far away, then he might have to stop and reconsider things, lest he get in trouble. But for now he wasn't thinking about those things, instead just thrilled at the possibility of finding some new place that almost no one had ever been before! At least that was what he was making up in his head. Eyes wide, he nodded and hurried after him with all the rush of someone going on a grand adventure that might just slip out of his grasp if he hesitated even a moment longer.

They veered through the rows of pine trees with ease, heading out further than he'd gone before. Mostly it all looked the same though - vast trees that reached high toward the sky, interspersed with snow drifts and frozen patches of vegetation and rocks and fallen tree branches. One in particular stood out, not that Bronze thought much of it until his new friend led him there. It was just a fallen tree... right? Except the inside was hollowed out, he noted as he twisted his head around and toward the ground to peer inside. "It is cool," he agreed readily. It wasn't big enough for all his siblings though so he wondered if he ought to keep it to himself for now? Maybe he could tell Pyrite - she was smaller than him and Cina anyway. Not that he expected a bunch of them to be trying to pile in here at once. But he was right, it would make a really good spot to hide out. "Do you have any cool stuff in here now?" He squinted as he peered inside, not quite confident enough to climb in yet.

Cináed smirked as Bronze peeked down through the hollow tree trunk and agreed that it was indeed good, his chest puffing up with a bit of pride with knowing that the slightly younger boy had been convinced of his quick thinking. Sure, he had made up almost all of it to try and impress the blue boy beside him, but the longer he looked at the tree trunk the more he was convinced of it himself. With a little bit of fixing up he could certainly see how it'd be a great hiding spot or maybe just a secret storage area once they were too big to actually climb inside. He almost regretted showing it to Bronze so it wouldn't be secret to just him any more, but he was building a bit of trust with the boy so that was probably worth it. There was plenty more logs around the forest anyway. that he could fix up and make his own.

He hummed when Broze asked if he had any stuff here yet and he gave a little shake of his head. "Not yet! I just discovered it the other day so I haven't had time to do anything with it yet. You're basically getting a sneak peak! Maybe you should come back out here in a few days and see what I've done with the place then," he suggested with a grin. "And if you find anything you want to add to it you can bring it along! We could make it the pup only secret stash!" He was genuinely getting excited himself now, his tail wagging eagerly behind him. "If you wanna tell your siblings you can and maybe I'll tell mine and we can meet up out here sometimes."

"Cináed"

Cina was right, this was a very cool spot. He'd have to really think about whether or not he wanted to tell his siblings about it. On one hand it'd make a neat spot to hide things from them - not that he had anything at all, let alone anything worth hiding. But if he did he might regret telling them about it. Of any of his siblings, he'd tell Pyrite first before the others, but he didn't quite know yet what he wanted to do. Either way, he decided Cina was pretty cool and that they were definitely friends now that they had a secret together. It wasn't really in use yet though and Cina suggested in a few days he come see what he'd done. Bronze grinned eagerly at the thought.

Maybe they could decorate it too? Inside at least, somehow. Or maybe that would get in the way of hiding out in there. Hmmm. Thoughtfully he padded around the hollowed out log, getting a good look at it. Okay, maybe Cina was right. It'd make a better stash for cool things then for them, and then he could tell all his siblings. "Okay. Our secret spot," he commented with a little smile. Now, the real important question... what would he hide in here? Maybe he and the other kids in Incendium could find some cool treasures and stash them in here, he just wasn't sure where. "Maybe we could find cool stuff on the.. ship... to hide in here." Yeah, that was what his mom had called it, even if the world meant little to nothing to him.