Mix it up here in my little bowl,

An adult lurked in the background, she didn't know who.. But one way or another there was always someone tracking Ara — and as they grew older, she was growing tired of such a treatment. Protective parents bathed in affection and yet a starvation for a trust and freedom ; the dare devil had no intention to ever leave Empyrean, and yet wanted to know what was around these mountains. To the peaks that were so far away ; to the allies she never personally met ; so much knowledge needed to grasp to improve life for herself.

Next door was the ripperwoods. It was always sickly sweet, where the trees were covered in what seemed to be blood but instead sap, that many animals were attracted to. In the distance, as Ara entered this forest, she gazed at a raccoon who was happily suckling against a tree to intake it's sap. He was relatively fat, and she assumed he was a regular around the land.

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The monochrome man moved through the lands, content and happy for once. Well, perhaps happy wasn't the word for it. He was enjoying himself but he wouldn't necessarily go all the way to 'happy'. Nonetheless, his murderous intentions were quelled at the moment. 

As he walked, the scent of another caught his attention, mixed with that of a raccoon. As he moved closer, he spotted child along with the fat creature, wondering for a moment why she wasn't taking the free meal. With a huff, he would push himself forward, moving to trap the raccoon against the ground with his claws. Glancing over at the girl, he would offer her a sly grin, ignoring the frantic cries and movement of the creature under him. "You're passing up a free meal." He said simply, though hadn't moved to kill the creature just yet, wondering if she was going to freak out or not.

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Life had treated the raccoon lovingly, until the end that came with nature. The cycle continued, watching as a strange other came forth and took hold of them. Ara was observing it with a mild curiosity, and blinked lightly at the one who simply strode in and decide to take that minor entertainment. Tall and heavyset, a black and white that was unfamiliar with the scent of pack upon them. Not one she was familiar with, much less then Empyrean, Ara imagined. They knew of a few.. Nightwalkers, Vanderfell Woods, Dragonford.. Wasn't there Seeker's Bluff, lightly in the distance?

The raccoon screamed and moved, "what's it to you?"

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He simply kept the creature pinned, giving little care about its fight to survive. Perhaps he was a psychopath, but he would never admit it. As the girl asked him the question, he would simply chuckle, grinning with teeth bared. "Just plain curiosity. I'm curious as to why you're letting a clear meal go. Even if you're not hungry, your clearly from a pack." He would sniff the air to confirm it. He knew that scent, a pack that he had met others from before. "Don't you think Empyrean could benefit from more food in their caches, I know most packs can." He had no idea if there were pups on the way, or if they were thriving in members or anything like that. All he knew was that he was never one to turn down an easy meal, be it for himself or for his pack.

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Ara shrugged lightly, "I was interested in how much it could consume." Although she could smell pack on him, it disturbed her lightly how he knew of them, but not the other way around, "isn't it a waste to do what you are doing as well?" she commented as a light jab back, feeling a slick tongue come across through the strange way he presented himself. A cockiness that she was unfamiliar with, as most of her family had a smooth aura to them, calm and collected, and one who but held prey and questioned her so..

"Who are you?" Ara asked raising a gaze toward him, an eye to an eye, and awaiting for information to slip from his maw.

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She thought for a moment, there was a name given that would lend to stranger, and yet if a pack was a float, would it be better to give her real one? "I am Ara Ostrega, of Empyrean," she decided to announce, feeling it was better narrative if they know of the pack on the nameless mountain, then anything else. Her prior noticement of the raccoon now went ignored, already prey for another, she cared little to it anymore.

Knowledge was key.

"Where is Labyrinth?"

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The man cocked his head to the side, tossing the now dead raccoon to the side, no longer being amused by the small creature. Instead, his attention was now on the small girl in front of him, interest in his eyes. "Ara" He said simply, committing the name to memory for future reasons. As she asked the location of his pack, he thought for a moment if she should know, but figured he might as well try to gain 'relationships' or whatever it was that his brother talked about between packs. 

"South in the temperate. Care for a field trip?" He would grin again this time, though no true malic was there. If anything, it was nothing but amusement. This girl was something to entertain him and nothing else. And, the moment he got bored, he would throw her to the side just like he did the raccoon.

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"Perhaps another day. I do not wish for my family to worry." She didn't reject such an offer and in-fact was very willing, Ara would need to tell @Hydra of this and visit down south. She wanted to know who this Lab-pack was, and where they were located ; what kind of wolves hailed there and what uses they had. Any alliances for Empyrean would be but a motion or prowess, and Ara was more then willing to help strengthen the pack. She could tell vaguely at the least they were not weak-willed, for the raccoon was now dead.

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To say that he was a bit disappointed was an understatement. He would have enjoyed taking this little child on a fieldtrip to see just how similar to him she was. However, it seemed she was much smarter than he gave her credit for. Though he wouldn't have hurt her, no that would have messed with his brother's pack relations. Instead, he was going to see just how far he could push the corruption. 

As she declined though, he would shrug, pointing his nose towards her pack lands. "Well, off you go then. Perhaps next time." He wasn't entirely sure if there would be a next time or not, but he didn't really care either way.

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