It hadn't taken long to find some odd work here and there in Port Astera. Lii had done somewhat well for herself, arriving by Charter boat out of the way around the continent through a network of contacts beginning and reaching all the way backwards to Desertio. She voyage had been most pleasant, truly, and she had spent much of the time fishing and gathering food for herself for the journey ahead. She knew, already, where she was headed. For now, the Infinity Wolves had a repertoire of knowledge, a cove of treasures and ideals with which Ikanbi, or Lii, knew she could align. Her shadow flickered in the candle light, and she donned somewhat cleaner attire today. Clean, in that its colors were whiter, and brighter, and more appealing.

Purple cloth, with black belts, and a dark black with purple accented coat donned Li's figure as she exited the boat she rented a room from and stepped out into the docks of Port Astera once again, breathing in the sea air. She lit her pipe, and took a long drag before passing it off to the sailor on her left, whom did the same and passed it to the dock worker on his left. Lii denied another hit, and made her way through the streets with what had now become recognized repetition. The motions were mostly the same. Every day, with few exceptions, the ships arrived, the shipments were unloaded, then transported. The routes were easy to learn, she committed the schedule to heart, and wrote it in her journal already. By the end of the month, she knew the layout of Port Astera quite well, though some if its finer hidden nooks and crannies were still quite foreign to her. She blended in well her, she was certainly not the only dark-skinned person around.

She mottled with a Desertio crew for a while, finding some work on the docks and on ships and enjoying the sunlight and the warmth of both the days and nights. After a few weeks, she revealed to some of her coworkers, the closer associates, that her real name was Ikanbi and that she was a Hunter. They discussed her situation in great length, and eventually Ikanbi took their suggestion of seeking out the Infinity Wolves Guild Hall for Guidance. Ikanbi smiled, she had heard good things about the Infinity Wolves from her family, and she remembered fondly a very ornate looking gun she had seen with sixteen wolves worked into its masterful craftsmanship, then recalled a horn of legendary power.

Still, her journey was long, and the Guild Hall was to be quite a walk away. In the mean time, she stopped in a local vendor stall for some street food, drawn by the presence of other's from her work that had mentioned the place. The food was smoked, seared, and spicy. Red chiles adorned the food in a rub, almost paste-like, giving it a wonderful zest to its smoky and spicy flavor. She nibbled at it, her beef on flour with peppers and made small talk with the crew before she set back in the direction the supposed guild hall.

Stagnancy and Boredom, that is what Kon felt whenever he returned to Astera, the sleepy harbour port of Western Fiore. Since the clash in Oak against the Eternal Nightmare and his everpresent rival Odin, he had been more and more uneasy just remaining stationary. In the past, he would have just left but obligations prevented him from preparing the wolven guild. With his cousin being the Guild Master who had sponsored them when they had first formed the guild he was feeling almost as if he’d be breaking her trust if he left the guild. For now, though he had resigned himself to recruiting potential replacement members in the hopes that they would be able to someday replace his presence within the guild. And just as his luck would have it, this might be one of those days where a plucky young individual with lofty goals, full of ambition, passion and areas to grow came to the guild. Kon could hardly remember those days, his first experience as an aspiring mage wasn’t exactly the most pleasant of memories, but not many of his were…

But those were manageable with something he had become all too familiar with. Slipping his golden coated right hand through the gap of his vest into his inner sleeve Kon revealed a narrow flask before taking a quick sip of the cool-burning aged blood infused liquor. An interesting mouthfeel to be sure one which he could only find in Desierto of all places. Returning the container just as quickly as it was removed, the ranger rubbed his forehead before finally making his way into the main guildhall itself. Appearances were important and revealing his new fondness for alcohol might be in poor form to new members. Flair was commonplace for any experience guild member but he wasn’t going to get around with his normal combat attire. Instead, the otherwise sinisterly dressed man donned a casual business attire finished with a simple black vest.

Surprisingly quiet for a weekend the guildhall only had a handful of members compared to the weekend earlier. “Perhaps a festival in another town?” He thought to himself nodding on the way out to the lone guild member in the corner. Naught a word to be said to his peers, Kon instead left the building to find prospective members. Pushing open the doors with the slightest of pressure, the former mage was embraced immediately by the glare of the sun. Whether it was his Boscian heritage or newfound vampire abilities, Kon had come to despise the radiant light and so flicked up his collar to shade his neck ever so slightly. Leaving the area was a chore, to say the least with tourists, merchants, fishermen and commonfolk being in their droves through the town, so for now at least Kon would just steadily make his way to the harbour and maybe grab a drink from an unsuspecting simpleton.

In a stir, Ikanbi made her way through the streets. The music had started and the soft sound of strings and the ocean filled Ikanbi's ears, much to her delight. She waltzed through the streets silently, and eventually she did come upon some sort of clearing that lead into a rather ornate looking building. She paused then in the shade and admired the craftsmanship, the architecture, the sweat and labor that had gone into the building. The ornate wolves did call to her, a signature totem in her family line. She would be the first, she supposed, from her family, were she to actually consider attempting to get in. No sooner had this thought crossed her mind than someone awfully extraordinary waltzed out of the great building's doors.

A pale lady with menacing, odd-colored eyes strolled out of the Guild Hall before Ikanbi's very eyes and made their way into the streets. The eyes immediately caught Ikanbi's attention and she threw up her hood and began to make pace with the crowd in the streets, walking behind several other civilians as she made her way closer towards the odd-eyed individual and took in their finer features. One Amber eye and the other with a fire to it as well, Ikanbi considered for a moment what species of monster she may be looking at and began to wrack her brain over it quite hard as she shifted around the others. From a passing guard, she stole a knife, took it right out of his belt, and quietly slid it up her sleeve as she neared closer and closer to the light-haired lady.

Ikanbi stepped closer and closer still before coming quite close to them before saying loud enough for her to hear, "And what manner of monster is it that walks out of the Infinity Wolves hall today?" Her words were pointed, a spear in the ocean air. She clutched the knife and eyed the odd-eyed individual curiously, but maintained a several meters pace away from them tenaciously.

Before him stood a fledgling, a reflection of what Kon had been when he first started on his own path to greatness. Admittedly however he was somewhat taken aback by their directness towards him spitting venom at his face even having not done anything to the woman. Was Kon a monster? Arguably yes on many counts be it the nature of his being having turned into a vampire only recently or the deeds he had committed many years ago. Curious to see what brought them before the man, Kon looked intent at them before answering their own question with another in toe. “I am not just a member of this proud guild, but a founder of the Infinity Wolves, however what gives you the right to call me a monster?” With the thinnest of smiles, Kon noticed the knife in their hand. “How precious…” he muttered to himself as he wondered what they hoped to do with that against him. “There’s no need for that now, unfortunately you’ll find no luck if you want to even try using that on me.”

Instead of going on the defensive as he would anyone his equal, threatening him with a blade, Kon instead shifted half-way back towards the guild hall, waving them to accompany them inside. “You wanted to see Infinity wolves, well come inside I’ll show you around the guild hall, perhaps you can tell me your name, I am Konstantin Sokolov, you may have heard of me just don’t believe everything you may have heard though, nasty stories floating about kinda comes with the territory for someone like me.” Ending with a sarcastic laugh.

Ikanbi didn't say much at first. She listened intently as the woman before her spoke, her odd-eyes darting down Ikanbi's body and taking her in. Certainly, Ikanbi shouldn't be surprised that an oddity was a guild founder. What luck then, should she have it, to stumble upon a founder of all things as she happened to want to examine the hall. She had heard many stories, and she had so admired the architecture as she had strolled closer still. Hesitantly, she stepped forwards as the woman did, though, having come to terms quite quickly with the way they were being spoken to that they were going to be quite outmatched in the event of a skirmish.

She relaxed then, just a little, and pocketed the knife away in her right pocket. She stared at the white work of the building behind Konstantin and gazed at their limbs, taking in their unique appearance. How odd, she thought to herself, though quickly dismissed that it truly wasn't even that odd at all. Of course one of the Founders of the Infinity Wolves had a fake arm. Why would they not? She chuckled audibly and began to follow Konstantin warily. "Forgive me, I am wary of those with red eyes..." Her voice trailed off for a moment before she added, "You may call me Lii." She said somewhat pointedly.

As they neared the doors, Ikanbi stared at the wolves worked into the architecture and admired its craftsmanship. "Hmm. You have a nasty side then?" She said on the note of supposed weird stories. "I have heard your name, but I am new to Astera and have only heard small talk. Are there stories I should know of you then?"

“Lii…hmm?” The ranger notated while remaining silent upon her bigotted remark towards his eye colour. A quite presumptuous comment to make, red eyes hardly denoted a villain. He didn’t even have red eyes, perhaps a red eye?, he didn’t look in the mirror frequently enough to be able to say. Holding back his tongue on the comment, he instead probed further into the origin of them, their tan was certainly distinct. “Desiertian maybe?” He thought to himself, recalling his time in the sandy country as almost entirely comprised of similarly skinned people. Or maybe they were just hardy adventurers who had spent more time under the sun then most. Either way it was irrelevant inclusion was a key component of the guild and he saw no reason to exclude someone purely for the sake of their skin. Their discrimination towards “dark races” so far had left more then to be desired at least from Kon’s perspective.

And yet hoping to show that not all vampires were terrible people, even with the things he had done, Kon chose to reveal himself upon being questioned. Now inside the guild hall itself, he listed off a few of his achievements mixing in some of the gorey details, missing others either intentionally or purely because he had forgotten them in the first place. “I am a man with a long track record…, both for the crown and my own personal interests, there was a time when I push through swaths of people regardless of race, gender or even age, those early years were a mistake thinking that I was doing good when in actuality committing more harm then those I was fighting against.” Clasping his hands together, Kon continued. “These days I’ve tried to dissociate myself from all that save for one recent incident though that was purely for selfish reasons.”

As she walked behind the odd eyed woman Ikanbi looked around and checked the corners, glancing behind her as the door shut and they entered into the guild hall more properly. She looked upwards to the ceiling then down the hallways, left, center, then right, then her eyes swept back to the left before going back to the Guild Leader. She listened, quietly, as they began to enthrall her with a bit of their own history. History was, truly, information for hunters. She listened to the words Kon spoke to her and smiled. She knew all too well what it was like to be a pawn. Truly, here she was again it would seem a pawn in yet another game.

A pawn for now at least, she supposed. It would take quite a bit of legwork to get where she needed to go, to do the things she needed to do. She admired Konstantin's arm for a moment as she spoke and made no effort to hide that she had stared at it. She smiled as Konstanin continued to talk to her. "My sister and I have done our fair share of dirty dealings, though likely not quite to the scale of someone such as yourself I suppose." She bit her lip for a moment and paused, staring into Konstantin's eyes. "You know..." For a moment she paused and thought a little longer.

"There's nothing wrong with doing something just for yourself every once in a while." She said finally.

Kon briefly chuckled as he spotted Ikanbi’s great focus upon his prosthetic, chastising them in jest. “Careful now, you’d hate to have to deal with one of these, hardly the most comfortable thing to log around if I don’t say so myself.” Finishing by briefly pulling off a plate to reveal the mechanics within the appendage. “Here look, I have to maintain this…and this.” Highlighting key components as if they would understand what he was even talking about. Clearly not here for him much less talk about his arm, Kon merely listened on as they mentioned both their and their sister’s dark history. “Siblings…” Kon thought to himself recalling a time long gone by spending days on end playing with his many brothers. Shaking his head, Kon brought himself back into reality looking down once more at the fine woman before him. Curious as to what they were here for in the first place, Kon questioned them fairly openly. “If you don’t mind me asking what are you actually here for?, To join this illustrious guild perhaps, be stamped on the butt with your favourite color?”

As soon as Kon opened their arm, Ikanbi was smitten, no, fascinated. She was fascinated. Ikanbi stared at it with wide eyes, having no real clue as to how it worked but being appalled and flabbergasted by it all the same. "I love it." She said immediately and peeked for a closer look. "It's foreign to me of course, but if it works it works, no?" She said with a chuckle. The Infinity Wolves' leader asked her a more direction question then, and she had to admit she wasn't particularly prepared to answer it.

She didn't hesitate though, and her mouth merely opened and the words came out without thinking. "I am a bit of a collector of sorts." Ikanbi admitted with a grin. She gestured then towards Kon's arm. "Things like that, things exactly like that, are what I am here for. I am on the hunt for some very, very specific artifacts, some of which my family used to own but have had stolen, and some of which are lost to the world. My family is in the trade business you see, but my sister and I are the only ones that really dabble with magic artifacts much. The rest of the family lean more towards other novelties."

She paused for a long moment before she continued. "Though they mean well and wish to help, other than my sister, most of them aren't worth their weight in a fight or as a magic user. I need people that I can rely on, and hopefully in time I too can be just as reliable as well."

And so it had seemed in spite of their initially rough first encounter, that they two had been able to relate with one another. It was a swift change of pace, though to be sure, not one that Kon didn’t disapprove of. This young woman, Ikanbi revealed so much about herself, and her family, that he too only felt inclined to do the same. “A collector I see, perhaps you will do well for something else I have in mind, for now, I must say that I share a similar passion for finding the more obscure oddities from across the globe.” Withdrawing an unassuming key from his pocket, Kon elaborated. “It’s relics like these that truly inspire me and give me the chance to explore without the lengthy and gruelling journeys that come with exploring.”

Slipping the artefact back into its hiding place, Kon pondered for the briefest of moments as Ikanbi revealed their family's talents or lack of for fighting or using magic. “I don’t have any magic, at least not any more and yet arguably I’m an incredibly powerful individual, perhaps it’s their moral fibre that is something that needs to be reinforced not their abilities.” Rubbing the back of his neck, Kon continued. “But if you need people that you can rely on them, there’s many here that you can, though I may have a proposition for you in the future, not sure, will have to get back to you on that.” Chuckling before shaking off the idea only a fool could dream of, Kon finished. “So what do you say?, interested in joining Infinity Wolves?”

Ikanbi stopped gawking and gabbing finally, and became quite for a moment as Konyo mentioned some plans and projects in the making. For sure, Ikanbi could see herself doing great things here with the wolves. A wolf in the making, perhaps she may be, the thought was enticing to say the least. She didn't even have to think on it, the answer was just so obvious and apparent to her in the moment. "I would love to join the Infinity Wolves," she said finally in Fioran, making eye contact with Kon again.

She shook her hand then, but quickly added. "I am afraid I do have one other task ahead of me today before the sun sets and my job becomes much more difficult." She said to her firmly, but did not begin to leave yet. "I do hope I will be seeing more of you in the future. I absolutely have to know what that key does one day." She said with a chuckle before she finally turned to leave, putting her hood up over her head before exiting the doors of the guild hall and going back to the streets.

The hunt had begun.

-exit-

"A new member to fill the ranks of Infinity Wolves, but for how long?" Kon wondered to himself as he waved off his comrade, perhaps they will meet again with them being a bit stronger than when they had met. A curious individual to be sure, one which he could definitely find a use for in the future. But how long into the future would that really be? Running his fingers through his hair, Kon pondered upon things to come. Amongst all the chaos that had occurred within the past decade, Kon felt uneasy with the peace that he had been surrounded by in the last few years. There was one thing for sure if it was politically motivated, he would be in the other direction, the qualms of nobility for the smallest of power were beneath him at this point. Something he'd have to really give time to think about it.

[Exit]