He had lost his brother's trail a long time ago it felt like, but he had confidence that he'd run into him eventually. A brother's intuition was never that far off and he'd had an enjoyable time making his way this far none of the less. Navy-tipped paws carried him along the bank of a fairly large river while he wandered this area that was new to him. He had been slowly cross crossing his way down though Boreas from the north for a while, taking in the sights of the lands that his grandfather had told them about as pups. He occasionally crossed things he recognized from the stories and it was interesting to see how closely they matched what their grandfather had told them or maybe how much they had changed over the years. The forests in the north, the mangroves in the east, it all seemed weirdly familiar even though it was his first time seeing it all first hand.

As he followed the river further south he made sure to steer clear of the other packs as he went by. He'd caught the scent markers of a couple, but he didn't necessarily want to tangle with one of them until he got a better lay of the land. His brother had set out for this place way before he had so surely he would know who was worth trusting by now. Finding Romulus was going to be top priority and after that maybe he could do a bit more exploring and getting a lay of the land. Even the places he had already seen he wanted to go back and look at again purely because he didn't take the time to really enjoy it the first time around. He was too focused on tracking and looking for Roman's scent to pay much attention to what was really going on around him.

That became even more evident when a loud roar startled him and made him spin around, landing face to face with a crazed looking lion. "What the fuck...?!" he muttered, tripping over his own paws as he stumbled back away from the large cat, but it seemed like it could hardly see him. Half of it's face was covered in some kind of strange crystals that were sticking out every which direction and everywhere that the crystals broke through the skin was also oozing some gross, glowing liquid. The one eye that wasn't covered in crystals seemed kind of unfocused and glassy, like the lion wasn't really even here even though it was physically standing in front of him. Upon further inspection he realized it was also soaking wet like it had just come out of the river behind it and that confounded him even more. How did it manage to swim across such a big, fast moving river?

In the moments that he spent ogling the infected predator with wide, confused ruby and emerald eyes, it suddenly lunged for him before he could manage to jump fully out of the way. He tried to doge it, but its large paws ended up knocking into his shoulder and shoving him off of his feet, sending him crashing to the ground with a thud and a grimace. The lion loomed over him. It wasn't even pinning him down, but instead just standing with one foreleg on either side of him, breathing hard and dripping that glowing ooze on him. His lips pulled back in a snarl and he growled as he twisted to be able to kick his hind legs into the lion's stomach, knocking the breath out of it a bit and making it stagger, but not enough to get it off of him.

WC: 619
Total: 619 / 1500

"Remus Armada"

Shuriken had a lot to think about, especially her behavior towards her sweet sister before the illness very nearly took her. Ike didn’t want to think about what she’d have done if Iki died and she hadn’t apologized. Her elegant sister was still not yet fully recovered, so she had kept her distance. She brought gifts while Iki was sleeping, but she wasn’t ready to talk to her… not yet. It felt like she had lost her sister altogether, but she knew it was all of her own selfish doing. Now that it looked like their home was going to make a recovery the young princess was out on her own, sulking and feeling sorry for herself. Exactly what her parents discouraged her against.

White gloved paws carried her along on her own, she didn’t feel right being in the presence of other wolves either. Especially after everything with the Hallows and Ezra… Her pale cheeks flushed at the thought of him, in embarrassment and anger at herself. For believing she had a chance with someone like him. Ike shook herself and very nearly sent her trajectory into the river. That was why she didn’t deserve anything, not her sisters, not her pack, not her friend. She was defective, and wouldn’t measure up to anything as incredible as Iki.

Her inattentiveness was going to get her killed too. She didn’t even notice the boy walking up the bank until the roar made her jump as the massive cat raced up behind her. Sopping wet and crystal blind. The beast had obviously succumbed to madness. Thankfully its crystals eyes weren’t on her, they were on the horned boy over her shoulder. Before the princess could react, and all while her jaw was hanging open, the lion took aim at the slate wolf.

Shuriken reclaimed her wits but not in time to keep the wolf from being bowled over by the massive cat, it stood over him menacingly, and Ike was herself then charging for it. The stranger kicked at its belly at the same time Kiyohime found her mark. While it was taken aback by the boy’s attack her own came out of nowhere. Her antlers were still in velvet (thank goodness they were growing back!) so she was hesitant to use them. Instead she opened her mouth to reveal terrible teeth and she aimed her eagle like talons at the base of its neck, hoping to cause enough damage or at least make it retreat now that it was facing two well armed opponents. Ike claws with a fury and when her teeth caught purchase she shook with a vengeance.

440
1059

"Speech"

Remus was just about to give kicking the crazed predator another go, hoping maybe if he doubled down on the damage he had done that would finally be enough to at least get the lion off of him. Before he could do that though, he caught a glimpse of a black and white splattered form rushing toward them from the corner of his eye and suddenly the lion above him was roaring and yeowling in pain as the attacker clawed at its neck with wicked looking talons and ripping at its throat with their teeth. He didn't give himself a moment to question what was happening. Instead, he immediately took the opening to wiggle out from under the big cat and get back to his paws, getting out of the way of this other wolf that had undoubtedly saved him from the lion or at the very least made his escape significantly easier. As soon as he was back on his paws he knew he didn't want to leave this stranger on her own in the fight so he jumped back in, head butting the lion with the hard curve of his horns into the soft portion of flesh between its neck and shoulder, tipping his head to bite hard into the front curve of its shoulder as well as the two wolves drove it off.

The lion staggered back, now badly injured on top of the crazy illness it was clearly suffering from, and as it stumbled backwards it ended up falling into the river behind it with a hard splash. It flailed and struggled against the strong current of the water for a few moments, but eventually fell still and its body started floating down the river, occasionally disappearing under the surface and leaving a trail of red blood and oddly colored ooze lacing through the water. Remus gave himself a shake and sighed. "Damn, thanks for helping with that. It really caught me-" he began as he turned to face the speckled, splattered wolf that had saved him, his emerald and ruby gaze really focusing on the antlered young woman for the first time. Somehow he wasn't imagining that this wolf was going to be both a girl and also as striking as she was with antlers that matched her split coloring and patterns like he'd never seen before.

He blinked with surprise, but quickly caught himself, clearing his throat a bit as he dipped his head to the young woman in front of him, offering her his signature roguish grin. "My apologies, miss. I just wasn't expecting to be saved by such a beautiful angel." He chuckled softly as he lifted his head again, looking at her curiously. Her scent very distinctly held the scent of one of the packs near by that he had skirted past, but all of the packs were new to him so he didn't know if it was one he could trust yet or not. "I'm Remus Armada... May I know your name? Or should I just keep calling you Angel?"

WC: 510
Total: 1569 / 1500

"Remus Armada"

Working together the two strangers worked together on instinct to put the beast to rest. After a few well delivered blows the cat slipped off its paws and into the water. Silence surrounded them. Ike was breathing hard, trying to catch her breath as her heartbeat pounded in her ears. The boy seemed in similar shape to she was, and as he tried to catch his breath he thanked her and brought his strange colored gaze up to her features.

Ike’s brows furrowed as she found his features and he stopped talking mid sentence. She was half surprised his jaw didn’t hit the floor too. He quickly composed himself, smoothing over any ruffled feathers as he drew himself up and spoke a greeting. It was a good attempt at being noble but Ike just thought he was being corny. She huffed as he described her as an angel. She was a clumsy puppy and just saw him trying to get in some sweet words to an Ashen Princess. Ike wasn’t buying it and she wasn’t impressed.

He introduced himself, and his last name caught her attention. He didn’t smell anything like the empire pack. Was it just a coincidence? She was caught off guard and despite her age and the training drilled into her skull her manners were forgotten. "If you’ll stop calling me that…” She started, but found her propriety returning. "Princess Kiyohime Oritsu-Abraxas, but I prefer the shortened version of my middle name: Ike.” She offered him generously, suddenly curious now that she got over the shock of being flirted with. Even if it was only because she was royal. "And you’re welcome.”

"Speech"

To the antlered girl’s credit she was very much not phased or pleased by his attempts at flirting. He smirked as she essentially gave him her name only to keep him from calling her “angel.” Well, either way, he made an impression and got her to introduce herself so it still felt like a win in his book. He kind of liked how she didn’t immediately give in and start flirting back or even roll her eyes like most girls would. She had a nice composure to her and when she introduced herself he got a glimpse as to why.

He lifted a brow with curiosity in his ruby and emerald gaze when she introduced herself as Princess Kiyohime Oritsu-Abraxas, presenting him with quite the regal sounding name that went well with her name. While he certainly wouldn’t have minded calling her Kiyohime, he appreciated her offering him a nickname as well. Ike was a good bit easier to say. "Oh, pardon me, I didn’t realize I was in the presence of royalty," he teased with a lopsided grin, dipping his antlered head low in a deep bow. He chuckled as he stood again, eyeing her with a different kind of appreciation. Yes, she was quite striking and pretty, but she also saved his sorry hide and was a Princess to boot.

"Well, tell me, Ike," he started, sitting back on his haunches and rolling his shoulder to work out a bit of soreness that was starting to settle in from where he had been thrown to the ground, "What pack has the privilege of having such a beautiful Princess? I’ve only been in Boreas for a short time and I’m sure there isn’t many packs that are the same as my grandfather told me in his stories."

"Remus Armada"

Shuriken was young and her personal view of herself wasn’t anything near reality. She didn’t see the beauty of her pelt nor the pretty sculpture that was her body. In her head Ike was a clumsy, dirty puppy, that no one should trust. She didn’t believe she deserved the rank she was given, and even less did she feel that anyone could be honest and find her pretty like the young man before her did. Surely he was being deceitful and just trying to get on her good side. Too young and too naive to really understand what was going on, Ike adopted a spiky exterior. Though she didn’t raise her quills.

Though she very nearly did as he teased her about her royal status. Ike had the sense not to let how annoyed she was appear on her features, she had brothers she knew that would only make his teasing worse. Her lips flattened into an unamused line, but she didn’t interrupt as she addressed her again. He sat back, quite casually, something Shuriken wasn’t really used to. She was reminded of Ezra and his laid back nature and how easy she had found herself relaxing into his easy presence. Remus gave her the same kind of feeling, but she felt far less comfortable relaxing around this man. Maybe it was the setting or the fact she didn’t know where he was from or what his intentions really were.

"I’m Crown Princess of the Ashen Empire.” She told him, not quite ridding herself of the stiffness of her position. Being given such a high rank, feeling like she was under such pressure, it was so hard to relax these days. He mentioned his grandfather, so at the very least it sounded like his blood lines ran deep here in Boreas. "What names do you know of?” Ike at least had to know the names of the other packs in the world with her position. Venom was teaching her daughter but they hadn’t quite made it out to talk with the rest of the world’s leaders or even just Ashen’s leaders. Though she knew that was coming up soon.

"Speech"

He felt like normally he was at least moderately successful at getting girls to like him or at the very least crack a smile, but Ike was giving him a run for his money. He wasn't sure if she was just always this serious or maybe he had done something to rub her the wrong way—maybe a combination of both. Whatever the reason she was making getting to know her a bit of a challenge so it was probably a good thing he enjoyed a challenge. It was actually something that caught his attention about her. The girls that flirted back with him right away and swooned at his advances got boring quickly. There didn't seem to be any risk of that with his beautiful princess.

At least she didn't seem to hate him so much that she wouldn't answer his questions. The Crown Princess of the Ashen Empire. If nothing else it was a very impressive sounding title and it wasn't for just a pack, but a whole empire. Maybe that was why she seemed so stiff and proper. With a title like that it probably carried a lot of weight with it. He hummed as he reached back through the memories of the stories his grandfather would tell of Boreas and the lands they came from when she asked what names he did know of, tipping his head slightly with thought.

"Fiori was the pack my grandfather and great grandmother were a part of... I remember him saying something about Lirim, Abaven, Dragoste... In some of the really old stories there was Glacium and Bevroren..." He gave a small shrug, offering her a bit of a grin. "I know at least most of those are gone. My grandfather and great grandmother saw Fiori fall before they left Boreas years ago. That's kind of where my knowledge of this place ends. But I just wanted to come here... See where my ancestors are from, you know?" He didn't know if making this kind of long trip just to see places he had heard about in stories would make sense to anyone else, but he figured he might as well be truthful. "Plus, my brother came out this way a few seasons ago and I figured it was about time I came to find him."

"Remus Armada"

The princess was on edge ever since she had been given the heiress rank, something she didn’t believe that she deserved. The girl was struggling with the promotion, with her self confidence, with her personal ability. It was a lot of weight on her shoulders and so it was squishing out much of the free spirit she had once embraced so easily with Ezra… Ike idn’t know why the boy popped into her head at that moment. She didn’t really want to think about him anymore, it just hurt. Ike was glad he was happy, someone like that deserved happiness. She tried to keep her own feelings to herself lest she make a fool of herself or hurt Ezra.

Ike had pulled a lot of herself inward after seeing Syanna was Ezra, smiling wasn’t quite so easy, and she took life much more seriously. Her childhood innocence had dissipated, and she took Remus much more seriously than the goofy boy she had crushed so hard on. She didn’t hate Remus, he gave her absolutely no reason to, but she didn’t find herself put at ease either.

Shuriken tried to be as diplomatic as possible, it's what her mom would have wanted and she was trying really hard. So she sat and talked to the boy after an exciting meeting. The only pack name he uttered of any familiarity was Abaven, and Ike didn’t really know much about them. "Abaven is the only one I recognize. They’re a pack in the far east.” She told him what she knew.

He was also out here seeking out his brother. Ike tried not to think of her behavior towards Iki again. ”You missed him, huh?” Ike asked knowingly, not really expecting an answer. ”I’m sorry. Anyway, I don’t think I have any other information for you. But if you want to know more about Ashen or if you’re about to get eaten…” There was a hint of teasing, a vast difference to the rest of their encounter. "Call for me.”

"Speech"

Remus nodded with a hum when Ike said that she recognized Abaven out of the list of names she was given. It was interesting that with so many packs in his memories from long ago stories only one of them was still around and even then he had a hunch it had changed leadership and how it was run quite a bit since then. He had lived with a pretty substantial group of his family, but they hadn't really considered themselves a pack by any means and there wasn't a real structure or leader. They all just kind of lived together and supported one another. Because of that packs were all kind of a mystery to him, but he was interested in them and how they worked.

He grinned when Ike made a comment about missing his brother, giving a nod in response. Before he could really say anything else though she more or less put an end to their conversation, saying that she didn't have any other information for him. He was a little disappointed to feel like he struck out with the pretty girl, but the little hint of teasing in her tone and the invitation to call for her gave him a bit of hope that maybe he still had even the slightest chance. "Maybe I will," he replied with a chuckle, getting back to his paws. "Thanks again for the assistance. I hope I'll see you around, Princess Ike," he told her with he same sort of teasing on his tone before giving her a dip of his head and turning to walk away, heading south toward Auster to continue the search for his brother.

"Remus Armada"