A warm, balmy breeze shifts over the southern territory known as The Runestones. Tall summer grasses sway calmly, waving hello to those who pass it by. Along the horizon, the sun begins to sink, lower and lower, casting rays of pink and orange across the blue sky until streaks of purple and violet begin to morph and appear. Everything is quiet, animals do not stir. Fireflies dance about, lighting the air with a gentle stir.

Amongst the runestones, standing tall and proud, their etchings beginning to glow, an almost teenager lays in the grass. Sprawled out onto his side with all four legs stretched out and his head resting upon a smaller rock that has long since broken at just the perfect height. He watches the fireflies flit around him with white-grey colored eyes, content to be lazy for the rest of the night.

Summer in Auster felt like such a rare treat coming down from Boreas that Finch couldn't help but linger a few days after the Hallows festival had ended. She knew her parents would understand, and she'd sent word along back with some Avalon wolves who had been in attendance. It felt... freeing, to be down here by herself. And a little bit frightening. That edge of fear rendered everything a little bit sharper: the fireflies seemed brighter, the sunset more vivid. Every moment she explored was etched into brain as a moment to remember. When the sun finally sank behind the horizon and the runes on the pillars surrounding her began to glow, Finch held her breath.

It felt... important, although she wasn't sure why.

A few moments passed and she exhaled loudly, having forgotten the simple act of breathing. She chided herself. Really, she was too old to feel like this - and besides, there was investigating to do. Finch swiped a paw carefully through the grasses, looking for a flower she thought she'd caught sight of earlier but didn't recognize. She walked as she did so, her eyes combing the ground, so engrossed in her task and she almost stumbled right over a rock. Oh! Oh!

That wasn't a rock at all. That was a boy. Finch made a soft yip of surprise and stumbled backwards before she stepped on Jiro's rear end. "S-sorry!" She stammered, swaying on her paws.

Jiro is relaxed enough that he could've fallen asleep. With the fireflies dancing above him, the sunset light cascading over the ambient glow of the runestones, it was a perfect summer evening. He even lets out a big tongue-curling yawn before he plops his face back down on his rock pillow, toes curling in that way that sleepy pups do. Breathing slowing down, eyes fluttering closed until...

A soft yip of surprise and a stumbling of paws jolt him into reality. Pushing up hurriedly onto his paws so that he's sitting, he blinks away the sleep, giving his head a shake. When he sees who has crossed his path, he gives his head a cant. Why did she look so scared? She's not familiar either. Well, same sorta pale coat like Imogen, but different. The face markings he doesn't recognize nor her pack scent.

"Not every day a pretty girl trips over me," Jiro says in a teasing manner, his sleepy expression slowly pulling into a friendly smile as his tail gives a few thumps against the dry grass. "Guess I was falling asleep, oops," he lets out a laugh, eyes crinkling at the corners. "Whatcha ya doing out here?" The boy asks, social and curious as ever, definitely not like his grumpy dad.

She didn't realize just how spooked she really was until his tilted head and warm smile assuaged some of her nerves. Finch let out a stuttering breath, teetering on to her hindquarters in a strange pantomime of sitting. "P-pretty?" she stammered, peering back at him in confusion. Oh, he meant her. She hadn't ventured much outside of Avalon, and everyone there was much older... or her siblings. Finnie was used to other compliments: Smart. Clever. Quick-witted. Were they always about her mind? Hm.

"Well, I was here for the bonfire!" She added, gesturing over her shoulder to where the smoke still drifted into the sky. It was a full plume, able to be seen from miles around. "Just wanted to explore a bit, before I headed back. I'm Finch, by the way."

Jiro might have been what was considering rudely staring at the girl, but from the way she was stuttering about had him rightfully confused. Had she not been the one to trip over him? And why was she all in knots over being called pretty? Had she never looked at her own reflection before? "Yep, I call them as I see them," he replies, a quick nod his head to confirm that what he had said was no doubt the truth.

"Bonfire? Oh yeah, some of my siblings went up there," Jiro mentions, his expression turning thoughtful as he looks to where she motions toward the plume of smoke in the distance. Must have been one large bonfire! "It's nice to meet you Finch," he smiles as his pale gaze returns back to her. "I'm Jiro from Tojo-Kai, just over there where the bamboo is," the boy lifts a large paw to motion toward the east where indeed the forest of bamboo stood tall and solitary against the dark backdrop. "You from an Auster pack or Boreas?"

"I call them as I see them." He seemed so confident with his decisive head nod that Finch, not an argumentative bone in her body when it came to matters that didn't include the healing arts, supposed she just had to agree. It was only polite. Perhaps she was pretty. The pale female straightened a little bit at the idea, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin a centimeter. Pretty, pretty, pretty, she repeated on loop in her head. Wow. Well. He'd said it and had been sure of it, so now it was simply an immutable fact. She stowed this new knowledge away to reflect on later when she was alone.

When he mentioned his siblings, she tilted her head to the side and considered. There had been quite a few wolves with horns like his, and some with similar markings. That seemed to indicate he was part of a larger, established lineage like so many wolves were. They often shared distinguishing marks, just like the pale smudges beneath her eyes marked her a Destruction. Even if there were few of them now, she took pride in having a little piece of her family wherever she went. Did he? "Oh, yes... I think I saw more wolves who looked like you - the horns and the... well, they're not quite spots," Finch murmured, eyeing the speckling along his body. "Do you have a family name, Jiro?" Perhaps she'd recognize it.

She peeked over behind them at the imposing field of bamboo. It was so dense that she couldn't even see a way to enter. There was a really pack living there? Impressive. "Bamboo is an incredible plant, you know," she said enthusiastically, gaining a surprising amount of confidence in her voice. "It's nearly impossible to eradicate. You have to remove every trace of the plant down to the root... even if you burn it, it will grow back strong. And quickly, too. But for a bamboo thicket of that size and density, it must have been around for a very, very long time. Wonderful." Finch turned to admire it in truth, her eyes lit up with excitement. She almost didn't hear his question, she was so enraptured by the bamboo. "Oh! I'm from Boreas, just about the center of the continent. Avalon, is what we're called."

Jiro considers what Finch has to say about his family members appearing similar. He'd never really put thought to it before, but then again, he'd never really ventured out into a large group of wolves either. Seeing others that varied differently than his family was a tad peculiar, but he had yet to realize that certain families would carry different genetic traits. The thought interests him as the light bulb goes off in his head.

"You probably saw my older brother, Akito cause he looks most like me," though Akito wasn't actually his brother, but rather a second-cousin, but also his father had adopted the older boy recently so it was pure semantics to even say anything different. "Our family name is Hattori," Jiro's voice sticks a little bit saying it. For some reason, he's not as proud as the others. Doesn't really care that he's a Hattori or that the name has any meaning behind it. What purpose did it hold other than to dictate one wolf from the other? Wasn't his first name doing a good enough job? Eh, more semantics he didn't care to dwell on.

Thankful for the change in topic, his gaze too lingers on the bamboo. Dense as it was, he was used to weaving in and out of the tall, thick stalks. Their rhythmic clacking almost soothing even from this distance. Though his posture is relaxed, he still listens to what Finch has to say. He can tell how she grows confident with her knowledge. Letting his tail thump against the grass a few times to encourage her, he gives a nod of approval.

"We use the bamboo for a lotta things. Building stuff like fences and gates, even using it as a weapon or crafting traps for hunts, but I like the healery business side of it," Jiro shrugs, an awkward smile on his face because he's not sure she'll want to listen to all the mumbo jumbo that he's logged into the files of his brain. "I've never been to Boreas," he admits, feeling oddly embarrassed by the notion, but didn't add on that he had recently traveled to his homeland. He wasn't the type to boast or brag.

It was hard to tell who she had seen amongst the smoke and bustle of the bonfire, but it could have certainly been the wolf he named. Down in Auster, the packs all seemed much closer together - it seemed to make sense that they would attend major festivals like the Hallows' bonfire. In fact, she wondered why Jiro hadn't, but he had seemed perfectly content resting by the glowing stones until she'd literally stumbled into him. Finch glanced around the clearing, taking in the soft light from the runestones. This was a peaceful place. She could see herself losing time here. "Hattori..." she murmured to herself, committing it to memory. "My family name is Destruction, but there are so many of us now that I could run into one and not quite know how we're related at all," she admitted. It had happened recently, even, with a blue female she'd never seen before in her life. You could throw a stone in Boreas and likely hit a Destruction. But her attention was quickly swayed when he mentioned the different uses for the bamboo, and her eyes lit up once again. His approving tail wags only goaded her on and made her puff up her chest just a touch with pride. A balmy breeze blew through the runestones, ruffling her fur and making her shift slightly on her paws. Yes, she could lose time here, with this handsome young fellow. Eeeek! He really is handsome! It was, perhaps, the first thought Finch had ever had like it. She was so used to being surrounded by her (mostly female, save Merlin) siblings, sequestered happily in Avalon amongst the sheep and crops. The fact that he seemed interested in what she had to say, babbling on about bamboo, just made her heart pitter patter a little faster. Be cool. Be cool. Be cool. "Oh!" Her eyes went dreamy, thinking about the many different uses for bamboo he rattled off. "That's so smart, really! Traps for hunting, I wouldn't have thought... bamboo can be awfully sharp if you split it at the right angle. And I bet it can be used for splinting limbs, too! You're interested in the healing arts?" BE COOL. BE COOL. She tilted her head as he mentioned having never been to Boreas, and she said shyly: "Well, this is my very first time in Auster. You should come to Avalon some time! I can show you my herb garden."

Jiro stews on the last name for a moment. Destruction. Interesting to say the least. Unfortunately, his upbringing didn’t include the history of Boreas or Auster. No, his father relied heavily on the teachings from Nihon and the history that came along with it. He felt… dumb. Jiro didn’t know the word for it, but others would simply say ignorance. It made him want to go out and explore and meet more wolves. If they were all as interesting as Finch and Imogen, surely it would be worth it.

Kicking his legs out to stretch them comfortably, Jiro continues to watch Finch with a lazy smile. Her exuberance for bamboo and his mention of the healing arts leaves him chuckling. A nod of his head, a secret blush of his cheeks, he wasn’t used to the attention she was dolling out to him. “Yeah. My ma is a healer and my aunt too. A lot of my siblings are interested in fighting, but I kinda dig the whole plant and making others feel better stuff,” he shrugs, trying to not leave the spotlight on himself. Glad that she mentions he should visit Boreas and her pack, Avalon.

“Oh, that would be cool,” Jiro perks up, his tail thumping against the grass again. “We have a herb garden too, but dad says no one is allowed in the bamboo,” he rolls his silver gaze and lets out a sigh. Would it be so terrible to have a friend visit every once in awhile?

She nodded vigorously, her tail wagging to the same rhythm until she was a near-blur of motion. "Yes! Healing is a noble profession. At least I think so," she said, her confidence waning slightly toward the end of the sentence. "In Avalon, we don't do too much fighting. We raise animals and grow plants... it's very peaceful." Her voice was a bit dreamy as she told him about her home. It was true, life in Avalon was idyllic. Hardly anything ever happened. And that was good, right? Finch did sometimes long for some kind of excitement or adventure... but she had no idea what that would even look like. What if she got up to her neck in adventure and she absolutely hated it and then she was stuck? Now that was scary! "No... visitors? No one can go in?" She repeated, her brow furrowed almost comically. The young girl couldn't wrap her head around that kind of isolation. Part of her knew it would be rude to pry - after all, just because their life looked different from hers didn't mean it was bad or lesser than - but she couldn't stop herself from blurting out: "Doesn't that get lonely?"

Jiro takes a moment to daydream of a place such as Avalon. In Tojo, there were strict rules and expectations. An image to uphold under the tight scrutiny of his father. In earnest, it sounded as if Avalon and Tojo were quite the opposites, yet... He and Finch were so alike. Maybe there was hope for him after all.

He comes back to their conversation with a blink and a disappointed sigh. "Yeah, unless The Kaicho approves of them, no one is allowed in," there is contempt in his tone as his lip curls slightly. What was the point of ever leaving the bamboo if no one could ever bring home a friend? Didn't his father ever get tired of keeping such a rigid border? Jiro doesn't start at her sudden blurting of words, but instead nods sadly. "Kinda why I'm here tonight," the boy admits looking to Finch. "He doesn't wanna shelter us, but prefers his privacy I s'pose," Jiro's nose wrinkles as he rolls his eyes before plopping himself back down onto his back.

Staring up at the stars, he lets out another sigh. "It'd be nice to be able to look at the stars every night," he admits softly, his deep tenor a gentle rumble compared to his massive size.