Ikaris gave a playful roll of his eyes at the response by Ruina followed by the two girls’ laughter. Girls. He had a pretty hypocritical view of side taking when it came to the girls though, since hands down he would have Enzo’s back before anybody else’s. Ikaris pledged his loyalty to the crown prince though at a young age of ten, even though they had known one another since they were four. Ikaris’ father is the Verlice royal family's go-to when it comes to well crafted weapons. It meant Ikaris had often accompanied his father when he was summoned to the palace at the request of the King for whatever new weapon idea he had in store. The year Ikaris fully accepted Enzo as a friend was when they were nine, and Enzo was prying to find out Ikaris’ birthday so he could give him a gift of some sort. Ikaris played coy, but in all reality he didn’t even know when his birthday was. His parents didn’t believe being born was something worth celebrating. Instead though, Enzo told him ‘happy birthday’ every day for an entire year, while gifting him with one small thing every day as well. That was the dedication that touched Ikaris, and it was on the last day of Enzo’s dedicated year-long journey that they picked it to be Ikaris’ official birthday. It’s what actually made celebrating it with each other special though. Far more special than any ordinary birthday if you were to ask Ikaris.

“All that bragging and arrogance will give you a complex, Ikaris. And not a pretty one.” Ikaris didn’t take it offensively, since he could easily spot another person’s mixture of amusement and mischief in their eyes, after all it was a look he wore all too well. “It’s a little too late to not have a complex this far in the game sweetheart.” Ikaris mused to Thaola before he chuckled at Ruina. Honestly, they didn’t even know it but they were stroking his ego. Being the topic of anything automatically makes that ego of his really soar. “I don’t think you can pop his ego,” Tarron accurately commented, and Ikaris gave him a nod of approval before a wink. “Facts.” He simply stated.

“Al was just as tall as the rest of the family.” Ikaris snapped his fingers in defeat at the dead cousin being too tall for the little coffins. Thaola’s additional remark completely confirmed to him that he wouldn’t be getting a sale today for his oddball friend. Ikaris is easily someone who moves around so much that he knows a multitude of people. Right now, that’s just about everyone in Ritha and everyone that attends school with them. He may not have positive relations with them all, but he knows a lot of people who have access to a lot of things. Enzo was almost humored that both Ruina and Thaola were going along with Ikaris’ not so sensitive coffin pitch. It’s usually more common to see Ikaris getting in heated arguments for something he says or does, but at least among friends they were all fairly free to be themselves. After receiving the thanks from both Ruina and Tarron, both Enzo and Ikaris performed an in sync half bow before harmonizing a short, “Of course.” The two boys did chuckle afterwards, but it wasn’t uncommon to see them do or say the same things at the same time every so often.

Amber suppressed an urge to glower at Ruina. “No need to thank me. I offered only condolences, not my sympathies.” Amber retorted with a friendly smile and tone, though her words themselves expressed the opposite. At least in her kingdom, condolences, well it was a word that meant very little. A rehearsed word her mother would call it. It held no meaning, just a few syllables. “Amber,” Enzo sharply scolded, “have you misplaced your manners today or have you been hit one too many times with the bitch stick? Besides, having your sympathy is far more insulting since it’s coming from a person so dense.” Enzo said with a look that was daring her to argue back to him. His eyes held his typical cat-like predatorial fixation on her before she turned red and looked down. “I know ‘sympathies’ was probably the largest word in your vocabulary, but do you think you could say the words ‘I’m sorry’ next?” Enzo spoke while gesturing towards Ruina. As Amber said nothing Enzo gave a small chuckle of ingenuity. “It wasn’t rhetorical Amber, do it.” He ordered this time. Looking back up to Enzo with eyes full of hurt, Amber pushed that pain aside as she glanced towards Ruina. “I’m sorry.” She said in a voice barely loud enough to hear. Enzo isn’t cruel, he just knows how to put people back into their places. If someone can’t handle that quality to him, then they’ve been sitting on the high horse for far too long.

“Not everything needs to end in violence, Ikaris.” Ikaris looked at Thaola like she was crazy. How else could it end in a way that would be entertaining to him? “Though, there wouldn’t be much violence here. At least on the tiger’s part. Ruina could kick her butt, eyes closed.” Ikaris looked at her with an expression that spoke for itself, to which it said ‘exactly, that’s what would make it fun’. Well it was still somewhat early in the day Ikaris observed as his eyes briefly glanced towards the sky for the sun's position, which meant if he wasn’t getting a fight here he was challenging himself to get into one by nightfall. Call it an addiction, but Ikaris genuinely enjoyed the thrill. “Did I really hear you call me a dog?” Ruina asked with her gaze fixated on Ikaris, who stood with a haughty posture. “Would you rather I call you puppy?” Ikaris smirked with a teasing tone.

“I’m pretty sure you have the emotional range of a teaspoon, birdie.” Ikaris’ icier gaze shifted from Enzo to Ruina. It did melt away some at observing the exchange between Ruina and Thaola continue, although Ikaris almost wanted to consider this a challenge. Waiting to insert himself after Ruina’s response to Tarron, Ikaris took the spotlight. “Be careful with assumptions ladies,” Ikaris started with a sly smile, “From what experience I have with women, most. . . if not all, aren’t capable of surviving the gallons of emotion this birdie is capable of drowning them in.” Allowing his own eyes to twinkle with inquisition now, he cocked his head ever so slightly to the side. “Does my bird bath worthy collection of emotion make me the exception to the teaspoon squad?” Ikaris asked playfully. Enzo didn’t quite feel the impulse to defend his emotional capabilities, but he also didn’t think a defensive nature looked good on him. Especially since it was far more humorous to see Ikaris so determined to prove that his ego won’t let him be average in anything. “If we measure men by the teaspoon, do we measure women by the crazy scale?” Enzo added with a slight raise of his brow in the girls’ direction. It’s not like his experience has led him to believe that most women don’t have varying levels of crazy at all times. Even before the official relationship with Amber began, Enzo can’t say he’s found the perfect balance in a female. Some were too clingy, whiny, or just downright awful. A part of Enzo wanted to believe there was a rare breed of females with the ability to actually be genuine partners. Sadly, his faith dwindles by the day. It’s the biggest reason he’s still with Amber. . . because what if he gets worse than her? It’s even sadder for him to think Amber is the best he’ll ever have, but one disappointing day at a time.

“Is that why you struggle to get women? Because of your complex?” Ikaris gave a look of playful hurt before he pulled his posture to allow him to stand at his full height confidently. “There’s no struggle in getting them, it’s keeping them that’s the problem. My complex allows me to adore many, while leaving me to love only the greatest person of all time. Myself.” Ikaris smiled with an arrogant sparkle in his blue hues. It was a half-truth honestly. Ikaris’ narcissism did leave him to adore himself more than a partner, but it’s deeper than just pride. The greater the ego, the more wronged the individual. An ego like Ikaris’ was the impenetrable scar that formed after being broken by the love and trust he placed into the wrong person. Never again, he swore, would he ever be foolish enough to leave himself vulnerable to a female. Ikaris was an affection starved boy, one that endured so much toxic weight from his mother that it broke him. She abandoned her disappointment and left him to the father that always said “it’s your own fault Ikaris, how come you never tried to be better?” A ‘mistake’ he was often called to his face. He learned to give himself the love and praise he had gone his whole life without, slapped a wicked grin on, and decided he was enough. Maybe not to anyone else, but as long as he was enough for himself, then Ikaris will forever be fine. He’s fine.

“I don’t think I’ll ever meet anyone with a bigger ego. And I’ve already met a lot of people.” Ikaris tipped a hand in Ruina’s direction as a token of thanks. “That’s the kindest thing I’ve been told all week.” Ikaris replied playfully before resting that hand on his hip while the other hung idly at his side. “Not true. I said your ego was sickening just yesterday. That’s the kindest thing you’ve heard all week.” Enzo remarked with a flicker of merriment as Ikaris tipped his head back dramatically. “Right, how could I forget such a compliment?” Ikaris replied with a sardonic smile. Thaola’s laughter followed by the coughing fit when it came to Amber’s shunning was a bit infectious to Ikaris, which coaxed a small snicker from him in Amber’s direction. She looked a little humiliated; good. And Amber was feeling a little humiliated, which only added to her sourness. She was only here to be near Enzo these days anyway. The girl had originally been his friend before the group, and when the group formed she still had her crush on the crown prince of Ritha. Soon, her involvement in the group had dwindled to solely only being present for Enzo.

“If it’s a fight you’re after, bird, Ruina, Thaola, and I will be sparring later this afternoon. Probably after lunch.” Ikaris expressed a look of sheer joy before Tarron addressed the rest of the group. “I’m in.” Enzo threw in with his own flare of excitement at the thought of sparring. "If I recall, last time you played dirty, and that was the only reason you won.” Enzo threw a look Ikaris' way while Tarron spoke that little bit to Ruina. She wasn’t the only cheater. Enzo knew from their years of sparring in various arts that Ikaris liked to throw in cheap shots to get a win, but Enzo has done his fair share of the same.

“Would you prefer I call you bird brain?” Ikaris’ smirk failed to fall. “You wouldn’t be the first to use it.” He replied before he chuckled at Thaola’s dish back to Ruina. It was the perfect opportunity to make a good natured dig, so naturally he approved. “What about calling him dodohead?” Tarron spoke, and Ikaris was quick to flick his gaze in the male wolf’s direction. “Could work. If he has the brains to know what a dodo is. After all, they haven’t existed in centuries.” Just as quickly Ikaris fixated his gaze on Ruina while she spoke, and a brief glimmer of defense and vexation crossed his face before it settled on turning neutral. “Just because I’m spacey in school doesn’t mean I don’t know what a damn dodo is.” Ikaris replied in what could have initially been taken as him being heavily insulted, but a very light upturn at his lips expressed he was still being playful.

“Is that a challenge?” Thaola had spoken, and Ikaris expressed amusement through his grin. “For the right girl, it might be.” Ikaris winked after shooting the obviously flirty comment. He can’t say there was much behind it, but it did pique his interest that Thaola responded in that way. It intrigued him needless to say. “Perhaps.” Ikaris gave a satisfied yet smug smirk to Ruina, because in his eyes that still meant he succeeded in being an exception.

“You bet we do.” Enzo was quick to smile at Tarron’s response. While enjoying spectating the exchange between the Truhan’s, Enzo’s eyes briefly shifted to Amber as she stared at him with a questioning gaze. ‘What am I on that scale to you?’ she was silently asking with her eyes, and Enzo shook his head lightly with a phantom of a smirk. “The annoying end of the spectrum.” Enzo mouthed to her, and she narrowed her eyes at him before they both looked away from one another. It would be easier if Enzo could incite Amber to hate him enough to break this all off, well. . . easier for her anyway. She’s not going to like the level of theatrics Enzo is willing to take to announce their separation. Objecting and walking out of his own wedding would induce the maximum effect possible for the wereleopard to get his revenge on her, and his parents for agreeing to this arrangement. They would all be so happy before he gets the pleasure of ripping that away from them. The consequences of such a cruelly timed act have crossed Enzo, but he would take those in stride if it meant living on his own terms.

“You know who I think is insane?” Ikaris looked over as if the question was directed at him. Usually it was more along the lines of ‘are you mental?’ when other people were asking him something like that. As Ruina began to speak again though, Ikaris was thankful he didn’t respond prior to her answering her own question. “Someone’s made it before, clearly, since we know about the forest and creatures inside.” Ikaris couldn’t help but wait to offer his own insight. “Who's to say someone didn’t make it all up for some ulterior motive? I’ve spun remarkable tales for my own personal gain.” Ikaris proposed before carrying on. “If there were beings like me at the beginning of time for example, they would have gone to great lengths to construct a make believe place of fantasy to get others to believe in it. In order to support some kind of self gain of course. Like getting people to give them certain gifts or tokens of wealth, and in exchange they would “guide” those people to this magical place, only to push them off a cliff or something. They would then return to civilization and lay a blanket of whimsical lies over the masses by telling them those they had taken on the journey were chosen to live on in the magical land. A smart con artist would choose only the wealthiest individuals to be ‘chosen’ to go on the journey to wring the most money out of them, while still throwing in the rare poverty stricken sap just so no one catches on.” Ikaris finished, though his gaze almost went a little distant as he imagined crafting that perfect scheme. “It’s possible.” Ikaris shrugged as the distance faded.

“Should I be needing to worry about you leading a cult or something, Ikaris? That is scarily elaborate for you.” Enzo smiled at his friend, to which Ikaris placed his hand to his chin as if he were thinking about the idea. “I would make quite the dashing cult leader, wouldn’t I?” Ikaris concluded before chuckling to himself. “I’m just saying, some people aren’t worth underestimating. . . like dodoheads. They’ll catch you in their scheming snare every time.” Ikaris smiled, as if it were a warning to the group to not underestimate him either. Maybe it was a warning. Ikaris was purposely being playfully ominous to leave the meaning of his words up to the individual though.

“Some fairytales can be used to terrify children.”

Enzo’s lips upturned in a half-smile before he commented more for himself. “Yeah, like the stories about true love.” Maybe when he was younger, and far more naive, he could have romanticized about the typical story book endings of the prince finding “the one”. Looking back that’s how his father generally used to look at his mother; like she was the most precious thing he had the honor to gaze upon. They smiled, laughed, and danced in each other’s arms, and Enzo thought it was what true love looked like in the flesh. Somewhere along the way though, perhaps they fell out of that love, or maybe love runs out. Enzo wasn’t so sure he wanted to have something so uplifting just dwindle away over time. “True! Remember the fairytale your mother use to tell us about the Kobold?” Enzo was not exempt from reacting to that thing's name. In fact, if he had been in his shifted form he would’ve lightly hissed. He’s only ever heard the tales of the Kobold, but the name alone was just threatening to his existence. “That is not a fairytale, that is a horror story.” Enzo corrected, since that would not be among his definition of fairytales. Hell no, nothing magical about it.

“Misplaced affection that pisses people off.” Ikaris scoffed and was ready to throw a retort, but Thaola generally said what he would have defended his former statement with. “It pisses everyone off, some people just hide it better.” Now Ikaris’ brow had arched some in Ruina’s direction before he glanced at Tarron, to which Ikaris dropped his brow and just decided to ignore the conversation. What? He’s entitled to zoning in and out mindfully. “Emotions make us human, cousin. Elsewise we’d be just as savage as our animal counterparts… And last I checked we’re only part animal… So…” Ikaris couldn’t help but at least listen to that little bit, which he greatly disagreed with. “If they’re so savage, why would certain species mate for life, only to be capable of dying of a broken heart at the loss of their partner? That tells me they feel something.” Ikaris responded on behalf of the animal kingdom. He’s not wrong though! Perhaps they couldn’t feel on the same level he or any other human type thing could, but they felt something. If Ikaris had to spend day in and day out struggling to brave the elements, find food, shelter, and all that fun stuff, it’d probably make him a little savage too in the animal’s defense. As if one couldn’t tell, Ikaris is a bit passionate about defending things that can’t stand up for themselves… which says a lot more about him than one may think.

“Yeah, it really does.” Enzo shared a small nod with just as small of a smile with Ruina at her response. There was no sense of intimidation or unease in the slightest Enzo ever felt anyone chose to study him neutrally, because he didn’t care. It’s one of the things that made him so charismatic, but there were a lot of things that just didn’t bother him because he wouldn’t give anything that kind of power over him. He’s in control, not the other way around.

“I was unaware that we had enemies at the moment. So, have you murdered somebody recently, Ikaris?”

Ikaris was quick to give a noise expressing contrary. “Maybe we don’t have enemies, but I sure as hell do wolfy. Two words; chicken conspiracy. Everyone thinks those small brained cluckers are so dumb, but they’re not. Quite the opposite! They’re evil geniuses and they know I’m onto them. Call it a bird’s intuition… but they are just pure evil. In response, I eat cooked chicken in front of them to show that I am in fact not afraid of the impending chicken war. I haven’t killed one, but you can bet I’ll eat the ones served on a platter.” Ikaris more than likely sounded like a mad man ranting about the end of days, but he was very serious about this. Very serious. So much so that he’s convinced there’s a supreme chicken overlord that telepathically communicates to every chicken alive in order to give them orders. If he can find the supreme chicken, Ikaris can end the war before it even begins. Okay, maybe he is a little crazy.

Within the cafeteria, Ikaris was off picking through everything that he found suitable to meet his needs. Which is a heavy carnivore diet, so steak bites equal yum! Ikaris also enjoys seasoned bone marrow bits, since the eagle in him typically gets all its nutrients from eating the entirety of its prey, but in this form he didn’t need to consume every part of an animal to be satisfied. Meanwhile, Enzo found release from Amber’s grasp to get his own small portion of the bacon wrapped steak bites, and a small serving of water, and that was it for the wereleopard. It’s actually not uncommon to see him not eating heavy at designated meal times. He prefers to eat lightly throughout the day, so if he gets hungry later in the day before dinner, he has stashed jerky to snack on. As for Amber, she is (as if it wasn’t obvious) fake. She didn’t need to eat things like the light salad and dressing she put over it, but she did to make herself feel a little more delicate. She did grab some of the steak bites too, but just to rip them up into her salad.

Ikaris and Enzo gravitated back to each other before sitting at the table with the Truhan’s, with Amber following only a moment after to sit beside Enzo. It was actually a bit amusing for Enzo to watch the werewolves eat, compared to Enzo’s more paced bites. Ikaris was practically swallowing anything he put into his mouth whole, which for the bird isn’t uncommon either. The only thing currently annoying the crown prince was how delicately Amber was eating, as if too much food in her at one time would literally kill her. “Slow down, Rui, we’ve still got to spar. Can’t have you using a upset stomach as an excuse when you get your butt kicked.” Enzo chuckled quietly before continuing to eat while silently spectating the conversation.“What flavor?” Enzo asked Ikaris as he gestured to the wereeagle’s bone marrow sides. “Lemon pepper, you want some?” Ikaris asked, and after Enzo nodded, the eagle not-so-politely leaned past Amber so Enzo could scrape a little onto his plate, and in exchange Ikaris took the steak bites he knew Enzo wouldn’t finish. The boys usually picked off and swapped things that were on each other’s plates, so this isn’t unusual. “You two werewolves… I’ve never met anyone who loves bacon or steak as much as you two do.” Enzo nodded, “Agreed.” He commented, but more in a playful way.

“You three about done?” Enzo had already finished a moment before the question, while Ikaris tipped his head up a little to swallow the last of his own meal… and then there was Amber, a little over halfway done. “Yep.” The boys said in unison, already getting up together. Ikaris held his hand out above Amber as Enzo passed his plate over for Ikaris to take. “Wait, can you take mine?” Amber asked as she looked up to Ikaris, who ignored her and walked away. With a low growl she stood up and walked her own plate over to scrape off what was left in the compost bucket before placing it with the other dirtied plates. “Last one there is the loser of the group!” Ikaris’ yell rang out through the cafeteria before the wereeagle took off running. “Damn it, bird.” Enzo muttered before picking up a run to keep on Ikaris’ heels. Competitive friends at its best; which was unfortunate for the people caught in the way of their competition. Amber already knew she wasn’t going out of her way to keep up, so she took her time walking to the gym. She was already the most despised of the group, so there wasn’t much of a point in trying to not come in last.

Ikaris didn’t care if he lost to anyone else, just as long as he didn’t lose to Enzo. Which he didn’t! “Ha! Don’t throw a hissy fit now kitty cat. Accept being a graceful loser.” Ikaris teased as Enzo playfully shoved him. “Cheater. You were already at the exit, so you had the head start.” Ikaris played dumb to that before the boys chuckled. Neither were even close to a pant either, since they both possessed a near equal level of stamina, and it wasn’t too long of a run either. Fun is fun though, and at least they could always find it.