[SpringsSong]

Both are in anthro form.

"And you're sure that he can just appear out of a portal on the spot, so long as he knows where it is?" a masculine voice said as he looked over at his sister, a tall woman with long, grey hair and a slender build.  She sighed as she said, "Yes, Lennox; after all, he and I appeared outside of a cafe through one of those portals.  Now, will you let me call him already?"

Lennox sighed as he pulled out a cell phone from his pocket.  "Fine.  Here, take your phone and call your boyfriend." He said, half expecting her to make a rebuttal.  However, as she snatched the phone from him, she said, "I think I will, thank you very much." She dialed in the number that she had saved for Validus.  "Come on, come on... answer the ph--okay, fine, I'll leave a message.  Hey, Validus; it's me, Alexa.  I was just wondering if maybe you would be interested in coming out to Wilt'no for a little exploring?  My brother, Lennox, and I are at an oasis with what appears to be some ruins not too far from here.  Just gimme a call back once you get this message.  'Bye~"

"And this is why I'm not exactly in the dating world..." Lennox said under his breath.

[1.1--adding later][1.1--adding later]

[ToxicShadow]

Why call back when you could simply arrive in the same amount of time?
Before too long, just as long as it took for Validus to realize that he'd left his phone on vibrate and had a voice mail alert from Alexa, a strange portal appeared within the desert of Wilt'no, near an oasis. The location was a little iffy, but it helped just knowing that was where Alexa was. In some sense, she was also a location or could be with the simple term of: "Near Alexa." Turns out, he wasn't too off. The portal appeared just a few yards from where Alexa and Lennox were standing.

Sure enough, the black-haired man stepped out from the swirling vortex. Before looking around, however, he turned to face the portal, holding out a hand toward it. Seconds later, another, more delicate, hand fell into his own. Then out popped a young woman in a large, brightly colored Victorian dress. One hand was within her brother's hand, the other was holding a parasol above her head.
"This isn't exactly a prime location, but I suppose it's better than staying at home," she announced, glancing around her and taking her one hand back. Soon enough, her eyes landed on the other two not so very far away. "Is that her?"

Validus was quick to look where his sister, Virgo, had pointed. Sure enough, it was Alexa. And that male, he must have been her brother, Lennox. Hopefully, they would not mind Virgo's company as well...
He smiled, then shouted, "Alexa!~" Indeed, he was quite excited to see her again.

[SpringsSong]

Almost instantly, Alexa turned to the direction of where the voice had come from.  Her eyes brightened as she called back, "Validus~" in a happy voice.  She turned back to Lennox and said, "Come on, be social, Lennox~" as she ran over to Valdius.  She was vaguely curious as to who the other female was; looking at the style of her clothing, she was probably a sister or half-sister.

Lennox raised his head slightly as he said, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that their family is nobility or something." Alexa merely shook her head as she said, "Didn't I tell you that his full name is Regalis Validus?  Regalis is a title of nobility, in Latin, at least." Here, she turned back to Validus and Virgo as she smiled.  I'm guessing that this is your sister, yeah?" she asked, offering a smile to Virgo.

[1.2][1.2]

[ToxicShadow]

One of Validus' ears twitched, and he chuckled, all in good humor. His eyes were on Lennox as he explained, "Our father is a crown prince...from another world, outside of Evelon. I have his blood; half of my blood is royal. I guess I'm a prince, as he was to be king. They spoke Latin." He shrugged. Just because he was royal-blooded didn't mean he let it go to his head. "And yes," he turned to Alexa as he said, "this is my sister, Virgo. She's a full-blooded royal. Her mother being the crown princess of another kingdom of our father's home. Please excuse her attire. She just has an obsession with the Victorian Era."

Virgo shot a glare at her brother, before smiling at Alexa and Lennox. "To clarify, I'm only his half-sister. Though our family does not distinguish between one another for whom our mothers are. And really, don't mind all he said about our blood. It means little to us now." Validus had been right, Virgo simply had an obsession, and said obsession had dictated her fashion choices in life. "Even though you're to be sent back home to rule the kingdoms..." Validus spoke, though it was mostly to himself. Virgo ignored him. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Alexa." Oddly, the young woman curtsied. To Lennox, she rose a delicate eyebrow, "And you must be her brother?"
"Lennox." Validus interjected after his sister's words. "It's nice to finally meet a brother of Alexa." He offered out his hand for a handshake.

[SpringsSong]

Lennox gave a small smile as he said, "Obviously, my sister has spoken of me--and Aeragorn, I would assume--to you before this.  It's good to finally meet you, Validus." Here, one of his eyebrows raised slowly as he said, "We have numerous half-siblings ourselves, but those that live with us are like full-blood siblings to us, even though sometimes it is evident that we aren't full-blood siblings."

Alexa rolled her eyes as she said, "And it is a pleasure to meet you as well, Virgo.  I must say, that is a very elegant, charming dress." Here, she curtsied as well, even though her skirt was considerably shorter than Virgo's.

[1.3][1.3]

[ToxicShadow]

Soon enough, all the formalities were good and done, the names exchanged and such.

"Yes, she has spoken of you, and Aeragorn as well," Valdius confirmed it. He was actually quite pleased to be here now, able to meet one of Alexa's family members. After all, from what he was told of them, her brothers would probably like to passs judgement upon him, to see if he was good enough for their sister.

Upon seeing Virgo's expression, it was easy to tell that she was very pleased with Alexa's comment. "Thank you~ Our sister, Trixxx, is brilliant in tracking down Victorian clothing. She manages a costume shop, so I suppose I'm just very lucky." Indeed, the family was all very diverse.

Having taken time to look around him, Validus smiled to himself. "I haven't been here since I was kid," he commented. "I snuck out of the house one time as a child, and this was where I ended up. You were born here, weren't you?" He asked, eyes going between Alexa and Lennox.

[SpringsSong]

Alexa gave a small nod as she said, "Yes--we were born here.  However, Lennox and Aeragorn were taken home by a Magistrey, while I stayed out here with my mother to train for the war.  I should have known from the get-go that my mother would never let me go to the war with her." Lennox also gave a slight nod of his head.

"Our mother happened to be out here when her time came, otherwise we would have been born at our home in Nori.  I mean, Aeragorn and I ended up in Nori soon enough anyway, because we didn't want to stay in Wilt'no--our father and stepfather were there, and... it looked like they might've gone at each other." He said, and Alexa rolled her eyes.  "Sometimes I don't understand our 'wolf' instincts; like fighting over a mate..."

[1.4][1.4]

[ToxicShadow]

To someone such as Virgo, training and not making use of said training was rather pointless. She was a mage, a mage that held power over both of what her parents did. She was one of the most powerful out of the lot of them so, of course, she had trained. "That's rather silly. If you trained for the war, then she should have allowed you to go."

But Valdius, on the other hand, was able to see why their mother had not allowed Alexa to go. Did he fully agree with it? No, but he found that part of him did.
"I'd fight for you," he commented, eyes moving to lock onto Alexa's eyes. He would, truly, if he had to. He didn't even think twice about it. "It's not only wolves that have that instinct. I believe all males, and most females, have that instinct within them somewhere. It's only natural to do anything for people you love or care about, isn't it? Being protective and willing to fight for someone... It's a way to show that they care. Even though, with a mate, it's really all up to how the female feels. Whom she loves. In a fight for a mate, the males would fight because they both have feelings for the girl. But the female would even go to the loser, if she loved him."
Validus' words had a double meaning, though. If he had to fight another male for her, whom liked her, he would. If he had to fight for her, for any other reason, he'd do that too. If anyone dared to hurt her...

Virgo chuckled. "You know, brother dear, you remind me of Father and Niti when you talk like that." Though, she could easily see just how much Validus really cared about this girl. "I don't have feelings for anyone, but I think I can say that, if I did, and another girl had feelings for him too, I wouldn't just let her get him so easily. I'd give her a run for her money, if I had to... What about you, Alexa? You're a trained fighter. In the end, would you really let someone you loved go that easily? Not put up any kind of fight at all?"

[SpringsSong]

A simple glare from Alexa kept Lennox from answering for her, for she knew that he would.  "I would give the other girl such a run for her money, she wouldn't know what it was that had hit her.  I'm not sure that I'd have to worry about it, but there's a reason I'm referred to as a warrior princess." She said, chuckling slightly.  Now, Lennox took the opportunity to explain.

"Mother didn't let any of her children, regardless of if they had trained, into the war, because she was afraid that they would be killed on the field of battle, like she was.  She had a... I suppose you could say a legitimate reason for not allowing Alexa to accompany her.  That aside, there were also two others that were stronger than Alexa to begin with that went."

[1.5][1.5]

[ToxicShadow]

In the time that Lennox explained the intentions of their mother, Validus closed the space between himself and Alexa. First taking her hand with his, then her lips with a kiss.
If it ever came to him, he could not imagine himself with another girl. Was it because he has developed a love or Alexa, or was it just that he'd never tried? For he was not a shallow person, it must have been the first.
"Maybe I should make you a princess."
His words came out half teasing, possibly...half serious.

"I believe it is a risk that a parent should be willing to make," Virgo said, in response to Lennox. "I do understand why a parent would be protective. But they cannot protect their children forever. They grow up and lead their own lives." She shrugged. "Our father was away at war when I was born, so I did not have that problem. Validus... He was the first born child, and he did not go either." Zelosis had been protective of him too...

[SpringsSong]

Alexa smiled as she blushed slightly, returning the kiss to Validus as she smiled slightly.  She noted the tone in which he said, "Maybe I should make you a princess," but she merely chuckled as she said to Virgo, "My mother is well aware of that fact now--she hasn't tried to protect any of us from life as it is now; she's moved on to have her own happy life with her husband somewhere in Jawan, and most of us are rather good at caring for ourselves.  I know that my son is more than capable of taking care of himself, what with the profession he has and the troubles he's encountered." She chuckled as she recalled reading the past few letters that had come in from Marcello; they weren't exactly filled with light and happy news most of the time.

"Don't I know that's the truth," Lennox said, shaking his head.  "One of my daughters ended up being an all-out rebel and just kinda... ran away one day.  Still haven't seen her since she ran off, and that was well over half a year ago." He shook his head again, and Alexa said, "Don't worry, Len; I'm sure that Llei will come back eventually... when she's ready to face the music."

[1.6][1.6]

[ToxicShadow]

Ah, yes, that was right. While neither Validus nor Virgo had any children to speak of, Alexa and Lennox couldn't say the same. Validus had been oh-so-lucky enough to have to raise his own younger siblings when his father had gone off to war. His sister here, on the other hand, had never experienced anything like it. She probably never would, as she had not any luck in the dating department.

"It is good that your mother let things go," Virgo concluded, for the sake of speaking. "Unfortunately, I don't have my own children, nor does my brother here." She glanced from the other sibling pair over to her brother. "I suppose I never will, with my luck."

But, of course, Validus had something to add. "I may not have had my own children, Virgo, but I had you. You, Trixxx, Kratos, Ziede, Nitidus and everyone else. Being the oldest, I didn't have much of a choice in my life, when Father was gone." Children had to be raised by someone, after all, until they were old enough to fend for themselves.
One of his ears twitched, yet his eyes wandered back to Lennox. "I hope you hear from your daughter soon. I can't imagine not knowing anything..."

The whole time, Virgo had been making a bit of a face at her brother. "Surely, we were not all that bad."

[SpringsSong]

Alexa gave a slight chuckle as she said, "I'm sure that you weren't that bad of a stand-in father for your younger siblings, Validus." She smiled as she looked around some, giving a thoughtful murmur.  "Hm... this isn't all too far from where Mother and I trained with a bunch of other friends, if memory serves right.  In fact, if I remember what Ryen told me, this is the oasis that Mother and the others that were training came to before my brothers, sister, and I were born."

"I think you're right, Lex.  Of course... Natala took Aeragorn and I back home pretty fast." Lennox said as Alexa chuckled.  "Ah, yes; the Magistrey that was out here the whole time.  Anyhow." She said, turning back to Validus and Virgo.  "So~ which way should we go first?" she asked.

[1.7][1.7]