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."