As far as Kuroki was concerned the Armada was a kinda your house is my house kind of deal. He was aware of their shared past, that it was an extension of the growing empire and yadda yadda but the politics of it all was rather lost on him to be completely honest. There were lessons aplenty back home both in Japanese and the common tongue but really he wasn't a very studious boy. Never would be. Listening to stories about divine winds and dead gods was fine and all but he'd much rather do his own thing, live life his own way without the Shogun's shadow looming over him.

He hadn't been over this way in a little while but it looked about the same. Even with his lanky puppy limbs the grass was still a little taller than him, though not by much, and swished back and forth as the cold ocean breezed rolled in from the west. He didn't mind the cold so much, if the coming winter was gonna be a harsh one he'd make do as he always did. Maybe take a nap next to the hearth fire in the palace if it got real bad. He tended not to hang around Inu too much since that's where all the real serious adults tended to spend their time, no doubt adulting. Bleh.

Not something you'd catch him doing anytime soon if he had any say in the matter. A friendly spar on the other paw...now that tickled his pickle. Tipping his head back he let out a casual, warbling kinda howl. His request wasn't really polite, manners would never be his forte, but his intent was obvious all the same. Come 'n git it.

Arcturus was doing his usual thing, exploring around the plains, even though he knew everything within the Armada borders pretty well by now. Owl was with him this time, the bird becoming his companion more often than Ashur now since his mom had been gone for a while. She had told them to stay with their dads and that she'd be back, but that was a couple of weeks ago now and he really wished she'd come home. He missed sleeping in her den with her and Tira. Her loved his father and all, but not having his mom around was really bringing him down.

He was moping as he shuffled through the grasses some more until he heard a howl for a spar. His head popped up, listening curiously to the voice he didn't recognize. It wasn't all that often he heard someone looking for a spar around here and he was at least curious enough to want to go check it out. He hurried off to find the wolf that howled and soon enough he found a boy a little older and taller than him. That didn't really phase him though. His parents were shorter than Grandpa and Mortis, but they were still really good fighters! "Hey! I'll fight you!" he exclaimed as he trotted over to the orange splattered boy, hopping into the defensive stance he had practiced with his father in front of him.

"Arcturus Fatalis"

It didn't take long for someone to heed his call. Sure enough a pup wandered into sight, considerably smaller and younger than Kuroki but obviously unfazed by it all. Power to him. Wagging his tail in laid back, lazy sweeps, Kuroki casually squared up his opponent as he eyed up his stance. There was no need to feel too bad then, it wasn't as if he was actually gonna beat the kid up and he looked like he knew what he was doing. Ish. Enough to make this fun anyway.

"Alright." He uttered in his native tongue, more to himself as he too got in position.

Kuroki wasn't quite as stiff or as proper in his stance, Hattori was a great fighter and a decent teacher, but Kuroki had little interested in doing it the right way. He fought whatever way was the most fun, shortcuts and cheeky little cheats, things that were ever so close to fighting dirty. For all his finger wagging Kuroki knew Hattori was the same, even if he wouldn't admit it or not. Ultimately winning was all that mattered. But since he was just messing around Kuroki kept it light, he wasn't going to kick dirt into his opponent's eyes today. Probably.  

Instead he barrelled on in, jaws reaching for the thick floof on the back of his neck. Probably too thick to do any real damage but it'd be a good spot to wrangle him and keep his opponents teeth at bay.

Kuroki vs Arcturus for spar
Round 1/2
Age: Under 1 year
Size: Dire wolf
Build: Medium
Mutation 1: Antelope horns - Defensive
Mutation 2: Sabre teeth - Offensive
Mutation 3: Eagle talons - Offensive
Skills: Expert Fighter & Expert Hunter
Specialty: N/A

Arcturus grinned as the other boy got into a fighting stance as well. He'd learned from his training to watch his opponent and learn from them too and he realized that the Ashen boy had a different stance from his own. Not completely different, some of the defensive stuff was the same, but his didn't seem as structured as what Naiche had taught him. He held his ground as he was charged at and he tried to duck out of the way as the much taller boy went reaching for the back of his neck, but he didn't quite make it. He felt the thick mohawk of fluff that made up his would be mane get caught up in his teeth and he winced, not that he was actually being hurt but just the feeling of all his furs getting pulled at once did not feel good. He reached up with his front paws and started pushing on his white chest, shoving him and poking him with his feline claws to try and get him to let go.

Arcturus Citlali Fatalis vs Kuroki for Spar
Round 1/2
Age: Under 6 months
Size: Small
Build: Light
Mutation 1: Feline Claws - Offensive
Mutation 2: Saber Fangs - Offensive
Mutation 3: Mane - Defensive
Skills: Intermediate Fighter & Beginner Hunter
Specialty: N/A

"Arcturus Fatalis"

Kuroki grinned around the mouthful of fur, all yellow and bright as the tips tickled his tongue. Despite his interest in spars Kuroki wasn't really a violent kid, having so many sisters really taught him a good sense of restraint, helped him know how much was too much, yanno? Hattori was fine with killing, didn't blink at eye at bloodshed and so just to spite him Kuroki had concluded that wasn't his thing. There were not alike and nor would they ever be, the harder Hattori pushed the harder the prince fought back. Venom seemed to understand this, so why didn't he? Then again she'd always had more sense about her, wasn't as stubborn as an ox.

Oki felt the prick of something pushing against his chest. Adjusting his grip a little so he could glance down, sure enough he spotted needle-ish claws poking out from between his toes. He wasn't totally unfamiliar with them, as Kit sported a pair of them herself but whenever he saw claws he couldn't help but smugly think: mine are bigger. Talons and all.

Attempting to step out of reach of his claws, Kuroki reached further down the mane, hoping to hold him steady at the junction of his shoulders. His smaller stature was helping him out a lot here, making it hard for Kuroki to aim and get a steady grip. That and you know, he wasn't standing there like an idiot, just letting Oki grab him as he pleased. With a smug little grunt in the back of his throat, Kuroki's hind leg kicked out to sweep at Arcturus' left hind leg, whilst maintaining his efforts to reaffirm his grip on his mane. Again no real harm would be done, if he lost his balance and looked like he was gonna fall Oki would just let go. He didn't like hurting people just to prove a point, unlike some.

Kuroki vs Arcturus for spar
Round 2/2
Age: Under 1 year
Size: Dire wolf
Build: Medium
Mutation 1: Antelope horns - Defensive
Mutation 2: Sabre teeth - Offensive
Mutation 3: Eagle talons - Offensive
Skills: Expert Fighter & Expert Hunter
Specialty: N/A

Arcturus wriggled and struggled against the larger boy's grip, pushing and swiping at his chest to get free, but with no luck. He huffed irritably as he was held by his fledgling mane, grimacing at how it felt to have his fur tugged and pulled like this. The paw that swiped at his leg did manage to move it, but he quickly put it back into place. He might be young and he might be inexperienced, but he at least knew how to keep a sturdy stance, darn it! He started moving his shoving, scratching paws up from his chest to his neck, batting at him to try and get him to let go of this stalemate they were caught in.

Arcturus Citlali Fatalis vs Kuroki for Spar
Round 2/2
Age: Under 6 months
Size: Small
Build: Light
Mutation 1: Feline Claws - Offensive
Mutation 2: Saber Fangs - Offensive
Mutation 3: Mane - Defensive
Skills: Intermediate Fighter & Beginner Hunter
Specialty: N/A

"Arcturus Fatalis"

And the winner is...

ARCTURUS

KUROKI must give up by submitting, fleeing or passing out. Totals: Kuroki: Attack Roll: 26 Defense Roll: 80 Agility Roll: 38 Perception Roll: 72 Total: 216 Attack[26] + 50% Bonus[13.00]: 39.00 Defense[80] + 10% Bonus[8.00]: 88.00 Agility[38] + 0% Bonus[0.00]: 38.00 Perception[72] + 0% Bonus[0.00]: 72.00 Total[237.00] + 5% Bonus[11.85]: 248.85 Arcturus: Attack Roll: 73 Defense Roll: 85 Agility Roll: 37 Perception Roll: 96 Total: 291 Attack[73] + 15% Bonus[10.95]: 83.95 Defense[85] + 10% Bonus[8.50]: 93.50 Agility[37] + 10% Bonus[3.70]: 40.70 Perception[96] + 0% Bonus[0.00]: 96.00 Total[314.15] + -20% Bonus[-62.83]: 251.32

Despite how prickly Kuroki could be when worked up and in a bad mood, he wasn't a sore loser. Nor was he much of a bully either. When he felt Arcturus' paw press against his throat he was more than able to take a hint and relinquished his grip. It was no surprise that he was related to Sirius, Kuroki had been taught a thing or two by the Warlord and whilst his methods were a lot different from the Shogun it was obvious they were affective. Spitting the stray bits of fur from his mouth, Kuroki rolled out his shoulders and swallowed away the lump of discomfort that had formed in his throat due to the pressure. It wasn't a big deal, it'd pass.

For Kuroki fighting didn't carry the same weight as it did for others, he had no sense of honour or responsibility to win. It was just an outlet, he did it cause it was fun and he liked it. Why did everything have to be deep?

"Ai, you win" He waved him off with a flick of his front paw. "Name's Kuroki. Oki's fine."

Once the grip on his would-be mane was let go Arcturus stopped going after the larger boy, hopping back a couple of steps and giving his fur a shake. The longer, fluffier mohawk of fur on his neck was all slobbery and stuck up in weird ways, but all in all he wasn't worse for wear. He gave his opponent a bright grin when he admitted that he won. He already couldn't wait to go back to his sister and brag about how he won a fight against one of the boys from Ashen. He knew his dad would be happy to hear it too. Either way, it was still a fun fight so he was happy about it whether he would have won or lost. "Nice to meet you, Oki! I'm Arcturus. Arc is fine." He didn't really have any friends besides his sister and uncle, but could family still be considered friends? He didn't really know. There weren't any other pups in the Armada so his options of wolves to hang out with around his age were pretty non existent. "We could spar again sometime if you want!" he said eagerly. It got boring fighting his dad and sister all the time.

"Arcturus Fatalis"

Kuroki planted his rump on the ground, his tail idly wagging as he got all comfortable, casual. Maybe he ought to be more polite around the neighbours, so to speak, but he wasn't ever really polite with anyone. Shaking things up now would set a weird precedent, and Kuroki didn't want Hattori to think his nagging was finally getting to him. The Shogun could go blue in the face for as much as Kuroki cared, no punishment or tribulation was enough to change the Ashen Prince's mind.

Raising a paw yet again, Kuroki offered Arc a lazy wave. Bygones were bygones, clinging onto grudges and resentment just wasn't his thing. Life was too short to spend it being a stick in the mud, like some.

"Yeah o'course. Hit me up whenever." He paused then, eying up Arc up and down as he tried to put the puzzle pieces together. He had the teeth and all but there weren't much else to suggest he was related to old man Sirius. "So you Sirius' grandkid or what?"

It felt reasonable enough to ask, he was free to come and go into the Armada as he pleased, but the wolves here were just about as stuffy as those back home. He found it more amusing to pester his siblings than anyone else, especially since by now he knew what made them tick like the back of his paw.