Ira had grown rather accustomed to exploring the territory of the newest pack he called himself a member of, and it's surrounding territories as to aid in making a mental map he could consult for future use considering this was his third time relocating since his arrival in Teekon Wilds. In truth, he was attempting to, as the saying went "kill two birds with one stone". He was both learning the layout of Silvertip's surrounding territories but also on the hunt for wolves to recruit to Jinx's cause. She had granted him the title of recruiter at his request and Ira was not too terribly keen on the idea of letting his guardian and new alpha down. As it was, Ira felt like a right vagabond, though this time he didn't measurably different than the previous moves. Tark had whisked him away without his consent, and when Jinx had moved him from Horizon Ridge clung to her because he had needed too. Without her he knew he would die. This time, she had given him a choice and he had chosen to follow her not because he didn't think Fox was a capable leader – on the contrary he thought she was pretty cool – not that he planned to tell her that, mind – because even the mere thought of parting with Jinx created a chasm of emptiness and pain in Ira. Without ever meaning to (especially so given his curse) his fondness for Jinx had grown into affection that was blossoming into something even more dangerous.

Ira had seen the river from his previous perched upon the mountain and have brazenly ventured towards it, discending his perch with percision and caution, recoiling when he had began to slip on used to the treacherous terrain. Regardless, he continued down, having not been all that high up, catching sight of an ink smudge that seem to be moving in the distance. Focusing upon it he loped forth, quickly closing the distance between them with bristling hackles and bared teeth, remembering that wolves were not even allowed near their borders, even though said ink smudge wasn't technically near them.

That was a musky scent of wet fur mixed with an abrupt familiarity that caused Ira to put on the brakes rather furiously as he barreled towards her, attempting to careen so he didn't slam and her like he had originally intended on doing. This action, however, caused him to propel from his gained momentum in a manner that was probably hilarious in the river, the cool water rushing to greet him, immediately soaking him as he pushed and paddled until his head broke the surface. "What the hell, Bones?" He spat, climbing upon the shore giving his coat a furious shake in a manner similar to her when they had first met. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" The Princeling commanded fixing her and his unwavering stare.

A shiver slithered as a chill raced down the length of his spine from the cool air that kissed at his sodden fur that dripped in some places. It had not been in his intentions of landing into the river. He did not seem to share his companion’s love for swimming. Or whatever it had been that she’d been doing in the water - maybe she had been bathing and who was he to judge that? He was rather prissy when it came to the neatness and well kempt after fur. He felt incredulousness tug at the muscles of his face when she smiled at him in a manner that appeared to be rather easy to him. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, unable to understand what she was smiling about. Jinx’s rules were crystal clear and though no one but the wolves of Silvertip were privy to said rules Ira felt the odd urge to warn her; to tell her that she was lucky it had been him that had seen her and not one of the others. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, his shoulders rising and falling with the depth of the action, as she asked him what he meant. He could tell that she didn’t know - and really he hadn’t expected her too, the question had just irrationally spewed from his lips without any real conscious thought from him. “No, er…I don’t think so,” He glimpsed over his shoulder to ascertain that there were no sharks in the water before he shook his head.

“I don’t mean the water,” He couldn’t believe that he had actually answered her playful question but a glimpse at the looming mountain reminded him promptly and fiercely that there was something bigger than her playful question - that was why he was there, after all, and though she might be safe as long as he was with her, he still needed to warn her anyway. “Listen I’m not supposed to say much,” It was true, they were supposed to be secretive and all that but for reasons that were unknown to Ira he wanted her to be aware just in case. “Actually I’m not supposed to say anything but you know how I am with obedience,” Ira said with a slightly cheeky grin. It was shocking for him to go against Jinx even if he really didn’t think it was a big deal. “but you’re not safe around here. I know you’re not on our borders but still, the others will attack you.” And given that the only ones he actually knew were Jinx and to his utter dismay Lecter who was his new stepfather he couldn’t even say ‘they may attack you’.

Bones kept smiling at him, though he had a sneaking suspicion she was trying not to laugh at him but he did not dwell upon it because she had not actual laughed at him. The Princeling watched as her eyes flickered to the mountain and then back to his face, “Yes,” Ira confirmed to her question about them living on Silvertip and listened to her expected exclamation about not being any where near their lands. “I know but it doesn’t matter,” Ira shook his head, ears slicking back to his head for a few moments before they rose to settle at half mast. “They don’t care, Bones.” Ira said glimpsing back at the moment himself. It was true that under Jinx’s rule he felt like he had more freedom than he ever had before, and didn’t regret his decision in the least, but there was something, a small amount of worry, maybe, for her. “Parley? What is that?” Ira inquired, having never heard the foreign word before.

Their conversation took a different direction then as Bones explained where she was going even without any prompting from Ira, telling him that she was heading to see her father. For a moment Ira recalled their previous conversation and the cruel words he had spoken to her in regards to her still unknown father to him. According to Bones her father not only wanted her but wanted her to move to the Plateau but she stated that she wouldn’t because she was loyal to the Creek. Bones gave him a toothy grin that he took to be smug when she informed him that he had been completely wrong about her father. For a moment, Ira studied her unsure if he was jealous of her because her parent had wanted her, or if there was a part of him that was actually glad, for her sake, that he had been dead wrong. He didn’t dare investigate that further though, unsure of what exactly it meant. His jealousy was only sort lived because he thought about Jinx and how she was a better parental figure than his own parents - whom he couldn’t even remember anymore truth be told - had obviously ever been; and she was his - to whatever extent that meant. “Well look at that, I can be wrong after all,” The Princeling admitted in a startling admittance that he wasn’t *gasp* perfect after all.

If there was anything Ira understood it was loyalty. For all his faults, for all of his nasty flaws, his loyalty was probably one of his most redeeming qualities that he had going for him. It had been loyalty and love that had allowed him to make the decision without thinking about it - because he hadn’t needed too - to follow Jinx. “I get you want to be loyal to the Creek, Bones, but sometimes you have to do what you really want to do, and forget about what is supposed to be right.” He had subconsciously ghosted forward a step. “Do you want to live with him? If so, then do it.” Ira was well accustomed to doing whatever he wanted because his lack of moral compass didn’t give him a defining definition of what was “right” or “wrong”.

“And just think, if you move to the Plateau you’ll be closer to me. That’s a plus, right?” He gave her an arrogantly smug and somehow still boyishly charming grin then, exposing his teeth, a soft chuckle escaping from him.

Bones explained what ‘parley’ was to him, informing that it was like a truce, and for a moment Ira contemplated the word, tucking it away into his growing mental dictionary though he was not exactly sure if he would ever use it or not. “I didn’t make the rules, I’m just giving you a fair warning,” Ira supposed he understood though, the territorial urge to keep any and all away even if they were a well accepted distance from the borders. “Probably not around the immediate territories. I could ask Jinx, I guess,” Whether he meant specifics or if Bones could have safe passage he wasn’t exactly aware yet. “I didn’t say you couldn’t,” Ira spoke but then sighed again. “But I also don’t think the others will care. I think they’ll just attack blindly. I’ve only seen a few of them, I don’t even know their names or anything. I don’t know, one of them looks downright demonic,” Not that Ira feared the one called Sitri (Ira didn’t fear much of anything, except maybe love) but the Princeling sensed something off about him, nevertheless. And then there was Lecter whom Ira didn’t trust as far as he could throw the elderly male (which was not far). “And Lecter,” Ira’s mouth twisted bitterly around his stepfather’s the shaman’s name. “He’s a freak. I don’t know what Jinx sees in him.” The frustration of the ages for Ira, apparently.

At Bones’ loud teasing, Ira grinned at her, shrugging his shoulders carelessly though he felt a smidgen of embarrassment creep into his face. “Yeah, yeah. It’s the first and last time.” He rolled his eyes in a haughty manner, eluding confidence - though he was full of bullcrap because no one, not even he, was perfect. “I guess that makes sense, you don’t really know him,” The whole concept of not moving because she didn’t know Atticus was admittedly lost on Ira who had went with Jinx even though he had not known her. Their situations, however, had been vastly different from one another. Ira had been too young at the time to care for himself, while Bones was fully capable of caring for herself. At Bones’ jibe - it took Ira a second to understand that it was a jibe the only word truly sticking out to him being ‘stink’, confirmed by her leap to the side confirmed that she anticipated his response. “I do not stink,” Ira contradicted in a quiet tone instead of a loud defensive one, snapping his teeth at her playfully though he stayed rooted where he stood. “I just got a bath, duh,” An unintentional one borne of his attempts to avoid slamming into her but it counted, somehow.

“How do you know you’re not the one that stinks, hmm?” He countered, shooting it back at her with a mischievous grin.

Ira snickered when Bones agreed with his counter proposal but made a show out of extending his muzzle to sniff at her, catching the scent of wet fur, Swiftcurrent Creek, girl and a scent that was uniquely Bones. “I think you smell fine, actually,” Ira murmured mischievously, before he sneered again and glimpsed back up at the looming mountain with a sense of contentment settling in his breast. The sense of contentment was chased away and replaced with first curiosity as Bones began to speak that gradually morphed into unhindered revulsion when she spoke of Lecter, not sure if he was more disgusted at the fact that she called the Shaman “his” or the fact that Bones had Lecter’s stench all over her. “He isn’t mine,” Ira hissed at her, pupils narrowing in their respective pools of ice colored irises. “That’s disgusting. I hope you got a billion baths and then rolled around in a lilac field afterwards he smells like…I’d say ass but it’s worse than that.” Ira’s lip lifted in his abhorrence at the thought and then offered a “I’m sorry he did that to you.” Because he was sorry. “Mmm, lucky me,” He agreed in a dark and sarcastic tone. “Jinx has some sort of fascination with him, I don’t know what it is.” But Ira supposed that despite his distaste and dislike for Lecter as long as he made Jinx happy then Ira wasn’t going to kick up too much of a fuss.

For a moment Ira contemplated Bones’ words, in a simplistic way calling him Jinx’s son. Was he her son? Obviously he was not a son of her body - no she had lost any of those with her miscarriage - but Ira supposed that in all the ways it truly counted he, more or less, was. The concept went against their initial agreement on their relationship when she had taken him under her wing, but many things had changed since that time. “Yes,” He finally responded, accepting that he would be proud to be Jinx’s son - even if it was only by adoption. “I…she didn’t really tell me and I didn’t ask,” He admitted with a deep breath. “But it very well might have, yes. It’s…I don’t think it had anything do with Fox. As far as I understand Jinx likes Fox well enough.” Which left the only other conclusion: that yes, in part, it had something do with her miscarriage.

In truth, Ira was afraid to bring up her miscarriage, garnering the logical fear that it would make her upset.

Ira would have happily been contented with never being associated with Lecter but because the elderly male had something going with Jinx, and was also a pack mate that likely wasn’t going to happen. He snickered and then laughed at her addition to his comment about Lecter’s stench. “Maybe we should invent some.” He suggested with another snicker, not sure how well Jinx would have appreciated Ira’s dislike of her boy toy, and while he cared in a way, it wasn’t enough to make him stop. There was nothing that really stated he had to like Lecter - who as far as Ira was aware didn’t like him, either. Bones admitted that she had been there when Jinx had lost her babies, and there was something foreign and soft in Ira’s eyes. “I should have been there,” He had been there for her, whether she had needed him or not, during the aftermath but still. “I uh, thanks - for being there for her.” It must have been awkward for Bones who didn’t know Jinx well but his gratitude, while extremely rare, was genuine. “I don’t know, I guess it has something to do with being savage and badass or something.” Ira shrugged but in truth he, himself, was rather looking forward to putting out his talismans painted with blood and sprinkled with poison - not enough to kill but enough to make anyone who sucked the marrow from them sick. “Oh hey, if you find bones painted with blood along the borders, if you get in that proximity don’t chew them or anything. It’ll make you sick.” He didn’t admit that they were his, neither did he elaborate that he had poisoned them.

“I don’t know,” He admitted, suddenly disliking those three words. “I don’t think so,” He drew thoughtfully but in truth he wasn’t a hundred percent certain. “What about you? I’m sure I’m an enemy to the Creek now.” Ira was not certain what had happened after he had left when Jinx hadn’t returned when she had promised she would because at that point it had no longer pertained to him. Bones admitted that she was still “pretty fond of him” and then leapt towards him. Before Ira had time to react further than his muscles pulling taunt against the sinew and bone she had planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek and had bounded away giggling. For a moment Ira blinked in some kind of shocked stupor before he swung his head away to look at her, squinting at her. “What was that? What was it for?” His sharp commanding tone was ruined by the grin that was creeping across his lips without his consent. More importantly, he wondered, why he liked it.

Ira’s eyes followed Bones’ movements as she leapt to and fro reminding him more or less of a frog though he did not attempt to retaliate. He was too busy trying to make sense of it, over thinking it, surely, while trying to reason why he did not actually think it was gross as he definitely would have before. He wondered if maybe he was sick and that was what was wrong with him because surely something had to be wrong. “I know what it was,” He huffed realizing that in her defense he had questioned her as to what it was as if he hadn’t know. “It was rhetorical.” He added in a under his breath mumble, finding it perhaps curious that she did not answer his second question. She seemed a little preoccupied with dancing around as if she had ants in her pants, if Ira was being honest.

Ira had not expected Bones to strike at him as he had giving him no time to react other than to tumble into the water after she reared up and wrapped her forelegs around his neck. Once more - after he had finally began to dry, too! - the cool water rushed to greet him, pulling them apart beneath it and he paddled until his own head broke the surface sucking in a greedy gasp of air, blinking away the droplets that clung to his lashes as he glared at her. “That depends on whose the shark,” he shot back before he pouted, rolling his eyes. “I was just starting to dry off, too.”

Ira watched with playful disdain as she climbed onto the bank and followed in her steps - because he surely wasn’t going to linger in the water if she wasn’t going too - even though he had not been willing to take a second swim (though the first hadn’t been a willing dunk either). He clamored onto the bank a few feet away from Bones and shook out his coat for the second time before he laid down in a sphinx like position in the grass, letting the sun’s rays warm across his silver tipped spine, watching her with a bemused expression as she scratched and told him that she wasn’t the shark there. “I was warning you, not threatening you,” The Princeling rolled his eyes and snorted. “Trust me if I was threatening you, you’d know.” He teased giving her a mischievous grin that exposed his sharp teeth.

Bones’ sudden declaration that she had to pee was as brash as they came, and for a moment Ira felt a moment of disgust at how, well…unladylike Bones was. There was a way to be both crass and refined, though Ira supposed her inability to be refined was something that he liked about her. She didn’t come across as icky as he probably would have thought about most girls his age, though to be fair she was the first child of his age that he’d came across since he had fled the Red Keep. Ira was silent as she dashed off to relieve herself, supposing that he was refined enough for the both of them (not to mention narcissistic on top of it). “Oh yes,” Ira drew when she returned, smirking to himself when he felt her nose against his cheek. “I coped a look because I’m so fascinated with bodily functions,” He teased her sarcastically before adding, “And because your ass is so fine.” Nevermind that he actually might have thought that was true His eyes flickered to her face then, to see how she handled his teasing.

“The finest ass I’ve ever seen,” Ira murmured in a soft purl as he grinned at her deviously, his eyes dancing with sensual mischief. Ira was not consciously aware of the sexual connotations his words held despite the fact that he had reached the month mark where his curiosity and exploration with the opposite sex would begin to take hold of him. He chuckled under his breath when she attempted to make herself into a pretzel - at least that was what it looked like to him - to glimpse at her own rear end, sneering when she sniffed it. The insolent Princeling watched with subtle amusement as she in a manner that lacked elegance threw herself down beside him, close enough that he could feel her side brush against his, the contact eliciting little jolts through him though he remained unaware as to their meaning and therefore did his best to ignore them. He had not, though he did not speak this to Bones, ever hear of Romeo and Juliet, though her plan was diabolical - especially the sneaking around part he was very, very good at sneaking - though the ‘love’ bit caught him up.

“Well,” Ira drew on an expel of breath. “That’s a morbid love story.” That admittedly sort of fit in with his morbid mind - come to think of it why hadn’t he heard of this story before? Love. He repeated the word in his mind. Love. The thing that destroyed. Yet…Jinx swore to him that his curse did not cause her miscarriage (it was still too in coincidental for Ira to believe her just yet). He was lost in his thoughts when Bones nipped his ear so much that he didn’t even say anything in regards to it. It was only when she pounced upon him, the weight of her body and the pressure of her forepaws wrapped around his neck as she chewed on his ear did he break out of his train of thought, squinting at nothing in particular. “You want to write a love story with me?” Ira asked her abit incredulously. First the kiss, then the talk of a love story.

Could it be that Bones was trying to tell him something, Ira wondered. “Is this your way of saying you want to date me? Because if you want me all you had to do was ask.” He told her bluntly, taking the chewing of his ear like a good sport Ira was not known to be.

“Courting - dating it’s the same thing,” Ira spoke in a dismissive tone, and if he had a hand would have given it an errant wave as if the term used didn’t make a difference because in his mind: it really didn’t. She spoke of “wooing” and that if he wanted to romance her he would have to give her gifts. Ira peered up her as she released him and moved so they could see one another’s faces, icy eyes searching the plains of her face to see if perhaps she was joking. It didn’t seem like she was, though he did not have the first clue at what kind of ‘gifts’ to present to her. His idea of gifts were probably a little bit more morbid than what she was expecting because he was a morbid and dark creature despite that his fur reflected quite differently. “Well what kind of things do you like?” He asked in a thoughtful tone, wondering how or even if it was wise to make trips between Silvertip and Swiftcurrent just to deliver her gifts to her like some misguided romeo.

“No we’re not,” Ira contradicted her, but this was mostly his knee jerk reaction to being told he couldn’t do something. Because he was a Princeling and Princelings could do whatever they so pleased, thank you very much. “We can do whatever we want.” He breathed to her mischievously, lowering his voice glimpsing down at the smooth and elegant curvature of her throat that flowed in a continued elegant path down to her chest as she laid her head between his paws, her underside fully exposed to him. “I don’t understand how your body can be so elegant,” He spoke, aware that he was basically telling her was admiring her in a less crass manner than he had previously. “when, no offense, but you’re not.” It was fascinating to Ira who couldn’t understand that harsh contradiction of body to personality. “Don’t get me wrong, I like how you are, all of you but I’m just wondering.” Because he was an inquisitive being and fascinated with her.

“I think I will,” Ira purled to her when she spoke of him pursuing her ass and leaned down to press his muzzle against the soft fur of her chest, teeth ranking through the plush fur teasingly just because he wanted to see what she would do. This was new territory for him and he planned to see how far he could go before she boxed him in the ears.