Kotori was truly entrenched in the logic of pride being kept in the family name.  This meant even the pups he had no real interest in entertaining had to do the name proud.  Kotori also had to prove of all his siblings he was the most responsible and thoughtful.  The arrogant young man would do what was needed to show off well.

Kotori made his way to the sparring and howled.  He called for all the Fatalis pups to meet him.  He didn’t give a damn what play the kids were up to.  The young prince and princesses should know that training would come before play, especially if they wanted the honor of spending Kotori’s time and getting his guidance.

Kotori sat down, thinking over how he’d work them all.  He really didn’t know the skill most of them had.  Kotori would have to get a feel of their abilities and then decide.  Maybe it would just be some skirmishes to watch or teaching them how to work together.  Teamwork was more important than the children might realize.

"Kotori Fatalis"

Mother was in one of her fussy moods, the sort where she never wanted to let him go. After wriggling from her naked grasp, Levi had been quick to make his way to the Sea's Plain, where he knew she wouldn't even dream of following in the condition she was in. Sodden grains of sand coated the fire of his paws as he roamed down the length of the beach, his gaze set on the horizon as gulls soared overhead. There was usually something going on within the Armada's training grounds and sure enough one of his uncles- he didn't know which- was getting things set up, like he had a lesson in mind. Watching him for a moment longer, Levi was already on the scene when the last note Kotori's howl rolled off his dark lips.

He'd always been fast and punctual, but this was a little too much.

Instead of an overly friendly, puppyish response, Levi merely took to eyeing the circle he'd drawn in the sand. A little sloppy, wobbly in places but close enough to the real thing to make do. The azure of Levi's gaze roved over his uncles form, he lacked the usual slash markings and instead had softer, elongated splodges. Almost like the markings of a big cat. He was every bit Fatalis in his build though, tall but not overly so with muscles honed from seasons of training and practice. An expected standard of their bloodline, nothing like that roll of lard on legs who was supposedly his Aunt.

"Hi." He said, content to leave it at that as they waited for the others.

Calypso was busy training nearly every moment of the day, though still it felt she was getting nowhere no matter how hard she worked. Second in strength to her brother Basilisk, second in speed to her brother Levi. She gave the smaller wolf a frustrated frown as - while Calypso had ran as fast as she possibly could - Levi was already on scene, relaxed and not at all huffing as hard as she was from the sprint. How the hell did her little brother get here before her?? Calypso sighed and settled beside him, reaching out with one paw and giving him a gentle shove on his shoulder. "Get slower." She insisted to the runt of the litter, before directing her attention to her uncle and repeating Levi's greeting. "Hi."

"Speech"

Makara was a bit slower than her siblings. When she heard the call, she had to quickly clean herself off - they were still trying different blends and poultices to stay her allergies, and today she had some wet herbs smeared beneath both eyes like war paint. "It's coming from Sea's Plain! I don't need my paws covered!" she called over her shoulder, darting out of the den. Levi had already left in a flash, leaving mother to fuss over her for a few more moments before Makara managed her escape. True to her nosy nature, Mak loved to be in the thick of the action. Relief bloomed in a hot blush across her face when she realized that she wasn't the last one to arrive. Hehehehe... Makara skidded to the edge of the circle opposite her siblings, practically vibrating with excitement. "REPORTING FOR DUTY!"

Morgawr didn't particularly like work. She didn't really like fighting, or hunting, or even studying. She liked thinking, and she liked being alone. She didn't like to talk. She didn't know why, really, but she didn't care. People were overrated, in her opinion.

Still, when Kotori called for her and her siblings to come for training, she went. Slowly, but she did. That meant something, didn't it? She was at least going to put in a minimum amount of effort here. Maybe it would be decent. Maybe they'd all get along, and nobody would tell her to do anything stupid.

Levi, Calypso, and Makara were already there. Morgawr waited behind them, just waiting for whatever was to come. She could leave if she wanted to.

When Kotoro’s call rang out in the pack lands, Basilis paused. For a split second, he thought his Uncle had called him back for another lesson, then he realised his name alone wasn’t in the summons. Curiosity getting the better of him, he abandoned the beach and raced towards the gathering. He arrived as Morgawr was approaching, and he brushed up against his small sister, before glancing over at Makara - even now, already, he knew he needed to keep an eye on her.

She seemed fine, and there was Callie, a little out of breath, and Levi, his expression as bland as ever. Bouncing forward, Basilisk nudged his way to the front of his group. A place he was accustomed to being. “Uncle Kotori” he said in way of greeting, showing off his knowledge of this warrior Uncle.


"Basilisk Fatalis"

At least Kotori didn’t have to wait overly long.  Kotori’s brows arched in surprise as Levi showed up even as he’d finished the call.  Did that mean he’d already been training?  Admittedly they were going to be small considering they were still young pups but dang this kid was a shrimp.  Well, it better be able to defend itself.  The boy got a nod of his head, “Hello.” Short and sweet, no reason to waste a lot of words when there were still pups to come.

Kotori had already met Calypso though unfortunately, it hadn’t been the best greeting.  He had been sick and she’d come to check out his fires at a very poor time.  Well, Kotori didn’t need them to be his friends but he still should make a better showing this time.  If he was going to teach the pups at points they needed to trust his intentions and respect his status.  Another nod given and a polite, “Hello,” to his niece.

A new pup he hadn’t met before arrived on the scene.  Kotori had to resist scrunching up his nose at the albino girls condition and the strange wet herb smudges under her eyes.  What was up with this?  Her fur seemed in poor shape as well.  Kotori had spent a very short time trying to be a healer and the main thing he learned was how boring it was.  Still, he wasn’t so dense as to not realize something was up with her health-wise.  The albino certainly had plenty of energy and drive with her greeting.  She got another simple nod and “hello.”  

The next pup that came by contrast looked to have no drive.  As far as Kotori could tell there was limited interest in her.  Not the most promising thing but he still didn’t know her to judge if that was truly the case.  So far she was the only one not to get a greeting.  Kotori considered her a moment but gave her a “hello” as he turned his head to spot Bas coming up behind.

The last pup appeared, the one he knew the best of the lot though that wasn’t really saying much.  The boy seemed happy enough to see him though.  “Hello, Bas.”

Well, that was the lot of them, now for more than one-word greeting.  “As the future of the Fatalis line, I decided to help each of you grow stronger.”  He didn’t ask if they all had an interest in learning how to fight.  Kotori would be shocked if any of Azure’s weren’t expected to learn how to fight and regardless everyone should know enough to defend themselves.  

Kotori glanced to one side and called out, “Come on,” before looking back at the kids.  “Have any of you fought any predators at this point? Coyotes or some such?”  They were still young so Kotori was quite sure the larger ones weren’t likely to come up.  Coyotes sometimes tried to get on the land though and were sneakier than a large bear.  Kotori had fought some with dad on the pack land before.

“Today you get to fight two enemies,” Kotori turned his head to watch as Splash came into view, Fang on his back.  The snow leopard looked curiously at the children while the tiny mongoose stared at them with an uncanny focus.  The mongoose had the strange addition of his midsection on the body glowed blue.

“This is a lesson on teamwork.” He smirked, “don’t take the mongoose lately.  He isn’t going to kill a wolf certainly but you’ll find him hard to stop and the bites he delivers are nasty.” They were warned.  Fang wasn’t one to hold back if he was in a mood to be nasty.  Kotori had considered being their opponent but he wanted to watch and see if they could work well as a team and how well they could fight as individuals.

Splash looked towards Kotori then at the pups and gave a toothy grin at the lot of them.

"Kotori Fatalis"

His uncle didn't make a fuss and simply returned the greeting in kind. Calypso was the first on the scene and was quick to shoulder him as she settled into place. Was she still annoyed about that? His speed had always seemed a given in his mind, her fault for trying and failing in the first place.

Shooting her a look, Levi stressed the syllabus as he poked at a known sore spot. "Slow."  

One by one his siblings rocked up onto the scene: Makara loud and boisterous as usual, Morgawr the dark horse of the group and.. Basilisk was just big, what else was there to say? Turning his focus back to their elder and teacher, the golden tips of his ears flicked forward in muted interest. Levi wasn't convinced he needed much help to get stronger, felt as though he was doing fine on his own so far but he knew it'd look bad if he didn't try his best like the others.

"A cat with Bas."  Levi said, matter of factly without any finesse or an attempt to brag. It was what it was, why sugarcoat it?

It seemed as though they were to fight a cat and a mongoose? All of them together? Easy. Not needing much prompting, Levi was quick to spring into action, paws feather light and he wove in close, testing how they'd respond to such a quick advance.  And what would his siblings do? Leap in and bite like a pack of wolves? Probably.

Calypso settled in to hear her uncles lesson, but grew more and more confused the more he spoke. Wait, were they just.. to attack now? No instructions, or practice, just jump in and fight? While she thought on it, Levi sprung into action. Calypso jumped forward to support him, circling to the side opposite of her brother to harass the companions from a different angle. "Come on guys we can beat them." She called out to the rest of her litter, a hesitantly hopeful grin upon her maw as she danced around behind their targets. Levi seemed to be simply testing the things and hadn't struck yet, so Callie decided she'd be the first. With one swat of her puppy paw she aimed to catch the cat's tail in her claws.

"Speech"