Things had changed significantly for the crimson male. He had convinced himself at last that Eden and the child she had stolen were dead. And now it was just him and the three now-yearlings. Time had flown far faster than he would have liked, and he was determined more now than ever to gauge how his children had grown so far. Had they gotten lucky and avoided the demons that plagued his blood? Or did they turn out as unlucky as him? He wasn't even sure he'd be able to tell so soon...or if at all. After all, his own hadn't emerged until he was closer to two or three years old, and then that's when everything changed for him. If they were cursed too, he needed to get ahead of it. To either help them get control and embrace it, or at the very least to do what he could to destroy it if he had to. But he wasn't sure he could even go that far...to destroy those demons would mean destroying a part of himself. And he had already lost so much in his life. But would it really be his call? He supposed he'd find out sooner or later...

He sought out Aresenn, wanting to spend more time with him and assess him at the same time. He needed to do more with them. Teach them. Bond better. Protect them as much as he could...but also...he wanted to discuss a few things. He had met someone that aligned more with what he desired than the Pirates, but he wasn't sure what to do. He supposed he'd figure that out later. For now, his focus was on them and them alone.


"Speech"

The crocodile fight had left him particularly battered, having taken a significant beating as the reptile had thrashed against him as he and Sephiran had stolen its life. But in the end, it was dead and he was not- just surprisingly knotted muscles and bruising that felt like it went nearly to the bone. That on top of the swim to and from the main Island in the nearby archipelago and back, the young Praetor was exhausted. Even now in the few days after the encounter- it felt as if had gotten a lot worse and was only now starting to get better.

He wasn’t one to lay out on the beach, but the warmth that was captured in the obsidian sand was actually fairly soothing to his otherwise invisible injuries. So, when he finally was able to gather the motivation to haul himself out of his sleeping quarters that morning, he found himself working toward the tide. Allowing himself to relax, not giving a damn who came out and saw him. At least until his father appeared …

He heard the approach before any of his other senses registered he was no longer alone. The wind that came off the waves was fickle, and pulled any possible scent cues out over the water. Through a narrowed eye, he searched for the movement out of his peripheral. When he saw his father’s massive crimson build heading his way from a bit further down the beach, he was suddenly a little more eager to care. Aresenn sat up to face his sire, though he was quickly reminded he wasn’t capable of fast movements of his own. Based on the screaming protests in his legs and sides, he eased himself to a standing position as he awaited Ignis to come into a conversational distance. When he did, Aresenn called out a casual greeting. “What’s going on?” Not really sure what else to say.

"Talk" Walk He had found his boy easily enough, though as he drew closer, he noticed there was a recognizable stiffness in the boys movements as he stood up. A knowing smirk drew up on his lips. Had Aresenn been out training hard? Had he gotten into a rough fight? Or something else? Whatever the case, he was proud of the boy. He seemed to be working towards the goals that Ig had yet to know, as opposed to lazing about and getting drunk and fat and lazy like...well...he supposed Sparrow's cousin Ares was one such example. "Lazy clod." He muttered quietly under his breath. But ah, Aresenn. Yes. That was his main focus. "Not much. Figured I'd take the day off of my duties to spend some time with the lot of you. I know I haven't been as present as I should've been what with...everything that's happened the past year, but...I will be. I will make that effort for the three of you." He regarded his son, pride in his gaze. He hoped he wasn't too late for them. Hoped he could still make it up to them. They were growing into fine young wolves, and out of the three of them, this kid resembled him the most. Or at least, as close as he could get anyway. "What have you been up to? I've noticed you've been going out a lot which is fine, you are a yearling now. I just want to know how you've been."

When he was answered with a casual response, Aresenn relaxed a bit. Nothing was wrong, so he didn’t feel it necessary to be on guard. The Unholy Sin went on to explain that he was just taking advantage of a day off. But when things made a sudden turn into his sire expressing his regrets over the distance between them, Aresenn merely offered a simultaneous nod and shrug. The boy didn’t take the absence personally by any means- he and his siblings had managed all right. Maybe they were all better off for it. None of them had been coddled or spoon-fed anything. They were hardened. Tough. Self-reliant. Though … come to think of it, he supposed that their father’s distance had made them all distant as well. He couldn’t remember a time when he had sat down and just had a conversation with Rivin or Diablo. He was loyal to them- protective of them. He wouldn’t allow a member of his own family to be pushed around, and wouldn’t hesitate to back either one of them up. But as far as their connection to one another … he felt it was pretty non-existent. Was that worth regretting? He wasn’t entirely sure.  

Aresenn wasn’t going to reassure his father, not wanting to linger on a perceived emotional topic that he didn’t have any attachment to. Instead, he was quick to run with the follow-up questions. “I’m doing alright,” He quickly answered. Really, he had been spending quite a bit of his time alone, but he didn’t feel like that was worth mentioning. The loner he had been hanging out with, was probably more interesting. “I’ve made a … uhh … an acquaintance by the name of Saxe.” It was too weird calling Sephiran a friend, and honestly childish to identify him as such. Sephiran was more like someone who didn’t completely annoy him, and he just happened to have parallel interests with. Maybe that was the foundation of a friendship. As to what they had been up to … “We fought a bear, and killed a crocodile out on the islands- still not quite over that one yet.” He explained a little sheepishly- rolling his shoulders to feel the twinge of pain in his muscles leftover from the difficult fight. “He’s got some kind of egotistical bloodlust going on- he takes things further than I would. But we get on alright.” The Saxe boy was far more impulsive than he was. In the event that Sephiran initiated something that he wasn’t interested in pursuing himself, Aresenn was sure that he wouldn’t have a problem walking away. Though, the disasters that ensued had been quite entertaining- minus the injuries that came with them. Blinking away the thoughts, he offered a half grin. “It’s good practice at least.” Helping to clean up the messes of a borderline sociopath that is.