The sun rose from the east, setting the ocean afire as Hanako waded ashore. Water dripped from her pale, yet fiery coat as she padded further up the beach, her stride graceful and easy, as though the swim across the strait had been no effort at all. The doves in the canopies above were beginning to stir, cooing and calling to one another as they emerged from their nests. Though she liked the barracks well enough there was no denying that the Ashen palace was far more beautiful and idyllic, and when she closed her eyes and breathed in the ocean breeze she could easily imagine calling it home.No matter how much the Fatalis' spoiled her Hanako just couldn't-not that she'd really tried, to be honest- shake her sense of entitlement. For as long as she could remember The Keepers had told her that she'd end up living in a palace, married to a king or an emperor and that through serving them she'd find greatness. She couldn't just cast aside all she knew nor had the world even given her a reason to. Her time within the Ashen Empire was temporary, but whilst she was here she figured she ought do what she could to help out those on top.

As a humble servant of the Ashen Empire it went without saying that her knowledge and skills were at their disposal, it only seemed right to make herself and her talents known. To the right wolves. If nothing it would serve as practice but in a best case scenario it'd be nice to also try and make some more friends in high places. Or so she thought. Tipping her head skywards, Hanako let out a soft awoo. A casual summons that held no demands or sense of urgency, just an open invitation.

A small, weak howl sounded from inside Ashen territory. Ordinarily it wasn't something that Chimera would even consider answering, but he was so close to the caller that he could see her from his resting place. It was irritating. He'd been forced to choose a new place since Venom had learned where he liked to stay, but it seemed that this location was worse. At least he knew his sister and didn't entirely mind her presence. A new wolf? And an outsider to boot? And at this hour? The boy felt terribly inconvenienced. Rising from his place hidden among the thick foliage between the palms, the two-toned young man stalked forward. It was rare that Chimera let anger take hold. Normally he was cool and collected. Already larger than the strangely spotted girl, Chimera invaded her personal space, neck curling down to stare hard at her with one pale, dead eye and one rather irritated pink eye. "What do you want?" He was none too friendly about his words and they were tinged with a growl. Didn't she know that most of the Kleins were primarily nocturnal? The girl had a lot of explaining to do to the young prince. "Speech"

Venom heard the voice too, though she was slower to react. When she saw Chimera approach the stranger she hung back in the shadows of the white woods. She was well camoflaged here, and she assumed she could easily watch the interaction from afar. The woman was from the Armada, but Chimera didn’t care. With perked ears Venom listened carefully, curious to what kind of information she could gather from both parties. She wouldn’t let Chimera give her too hard of a time, but she would find amusement if the white marked woman fought back. The Crown Princess got comfortable, careful not to reveal her presence as she listened in with curiosity.

Hanako wasn't left waiting long. He emerged from the treeline, a beautiful mix of dark and light the likes of which she'd never seen before. It was almost mesmerising, like two wolves were smushed together into one form. She'd been about to greet him, friendly words dancing on the tip of her tongue but she clicked her mouth shut when her pale gaze took in his prickly demeanour. He stalked forward, his pink eye scalding hot as moved in close and cast her in his looming shadow. Yet another wolf that made her feel small, close to insignificant. Hanako's instinct was to step back and submit to his power play, to give him whatever he wanted, but her heart ached at the thought. It felt like a betrayal. As though it proved that all the reverence and respect she'd shown Azure was cheap and just for show, like she'd roll over for anyone with even a hint of authority. Which...was sort of true but what else was she supposed to do? Spit at their paws or treat them like common folk?

But of course, she was getting ahead of herself, she didn't even know who she was speaking to just yet. There was no reason to kick up a fuss cause he hadn't rolled out the red carpet, it was a little disarming for sure but nothing Hanako couldn't deal with. She pushed on, completely unfazed by his close proximity, after all if he wanted to stand close then he was more than welcome to. Or so she made it seem.

"Oh hey." Hanako greeted in typical friendly fashion, never fighting fire with fire. Her smile was warm and inviting and her gaze several degrees cooler than his own. "I don't mean to be a bother, I can come back at a better time if you'd like. It's not that urgent." That was a bluff, if she returned later she'd just be wasting both of their time."I was just wondering if I could speak to Venom, if possible."

She left it at that, it was all on a need to know basis and since she didn't know who this guy was...Well, a spy could hardly go around waving a flag spelling out who they were and what they wanted. Discretion was key and it was a skill she intended on putting a lot of time and effort into developing.

The girls perky demeanor irritated him. Chimera wrinkled his nose in distaste, lips peeling back from sharp, white canines. People like that...disgusted him. It wasn't that she was lighter aligned. His young, stupid sister was much less dark than he was, but even she knew to curtail her enthusiasm around him. This brightly colored creature was just too much. Even her voice grated against his ears like a squawking turkey.

She wanted Venom. Chimera wrinkled his nose anew. Why? Venom didn't lead here. His two-toned pelt bristled and he moved forward again, this time bumping into her. His tones were low and dark, not yet as deep as they would become, but still rich and menacing. "I don't know how you Armada dogs do things, but in Ashen, most of us sleep during the day." That pink eye blazed as it bore into her. He was tired and cranky and it surely showed.

"My sister," he continued, "is probably preparing for sleep as well." With his chest, he aimed to give the girl a push back towards Armada lands. "Go away. You serve us. We don't serve you." The sunlight was already beginning to hurt his eyes which irritated him more. His jaws snapped a hairsbreadth from her face, teeth crashing audibly together as he snarled at her. "GO!"

She remained hidden, maybe because she willed it maybe because the wolves before her did not pay her enough attention. As the two of them met Venom very carefully aimed to circle around them. Instead of being behind Chimera she would try and get behind the Armada woman. With silent steps like a cat the Crown Princess slipped from the trees to reveal herself to her younger brother as Hana revealed her query by name. She was looking for Venom.

A classic Klein smirk lifted her features as Chi commanded her leave. Though she would have liked to wait for the girl to turn back towards her to return to the Armada if anything she was unpredictable. Venom would have to reveal herself if she hadn’t already been noticed. ”Looking for Venom?” She questioned, soft tones slipping from pink lips unlike Chimera’s harsh tone. The girl ignored her brother’s outburst, much more curious than he was. Had Sirius sent her for some reason? The Klein godlet flicked her forked tongue impatiently, curious where the rest of this meeting would go.

It was clear that Hanako did not expect to be met with such aggression. His initial prickliness was excusable, perhaps even understandable, but this? She was at a complete and utter loss. Her eyes widened at his snarls and she finally took a step back, her ears flicking back as though she couldn't stand to hear the awful things he had to say. Never in all of her life had she been spoken down to like that, insulted and even compared to a dog, of all creatures! Her throat tightened as though his jaws gripped her neck and she swallowed thickly, trying and failing to dislodge the lump that had formed there. For all of her inner turmoil, the hurt that settled in her chest, Hanako managed to school her expression into something fairly neutral. Maybe she'd been a little too forward, a little cocky in her new given role but did she deserve such a verbal lashing? Surely not.

And then he ramped it up another level, pushing her around as he snapped his teeth in an open but hard hitting threat. And it wounded her, cutting her deep like a blade between her ribs. She glanced down, half expecting to see blood dripping onto the sand but it was only water. More than anything she wanted to turn tail and run, to cry and cry till her voice gave out, but her mask never shifted and her eyes were glassy and dead, as though she was prime meat for carrion birds to poke at.

And then a lady appeared, beautiful and heaven sent. Hanako cleared her throat, turned away from the devil half man and nodded at her question.

"Mmm, I have a...proposal for her ears. If she wishes to hear it." She shot a side glance at the Ashen boy, clearly not wanting to speak to him again anytime soon. She couldn't appease him and...nor did she really want to. "But I didn't know that The Kleins were nocturnal, so that's good to know. I'll be on my way. "It was the only slight she could afford to say, given how lowly they all seemed to think of her.

She didn't back down much but she did start to take on that familiar stink of fear. Chimera began to fantasize a bit once that first pungent whiff of fright struck his nares. He could bite her. Sink his teeth into her soft flesh and listen to her scream and beg. She looked like a soft, coddled thing. No doubt she would sing when he brutalized her. Unfortunately he was pulled from his fantasy by Venoms approach.

Chimera sneered as the ugly spotted girl spoke of a proposal. She didn't even apologize for her intrusion, merely said that she'd be leaving. As she turned to leave, Chimeras eyes flashed and he turned to Venom shaking his head in disbelief. "What are they teaching these currs in the Armada?" His voice rose, growl tinged and sharp. "You haven't been dismissed. You'd do well to learn your place before you lose something else."

Maybe his mother made a mistake telling him that he was a prince. Chimera was as entitled as you could get. All should bow before him. This wretch wasn't showing the least bit of awe or respect. Again he shook his head. He could tell by the look on Venoms face that she was intrigued by the whole situation. "At least make her be quiet so I can sleep." With one final push as he turned, the two-toned boy stalked off into the dark shadows of the palms.

Chimera turned to her with indignance, the perceived disrespect resonating deeply within him. Venom observed him calmly and nodded lightly, ”unfortunately, Sirius is not running a slave pack.” Her words were murmured lightly in return to her brother. ”As you wish, brother.” Venom offered the punk a sly grin and with a flick of her tongue dismissed him into the jungle behind them.

”He’s right though, you haven’t been dismissed.” Venom slithered closer to the oddly marked girl. Pink and purple eyes flashed with interest. ”Don’t mind Chimera,” the princess eased off the woman if she halted her retreat back into the Armada. ”He doesn’t get on with anyone.” With a shrug of her shoulder Venom invited the she wolf to follow her down the beach, opposite the way the youthful prince stalked off.

Dual toned tail swept lightly at her hips as her attention focused on the woman. ”I am Venom, now who are you?” More importantly who from the armada sent her.

And now she was a cur. Hanako said nothing, letting his insult sink in as he went onto say that she hadn't been dismissed. Except she had, did screaming GO and shoving her away mean nothing? Or would he go out of his way to take insult no matter what she said or did, twisting it to suit his nasty, cruel narrative? It certainly seemed so. More threats followed and whilst she didn't feel as though she was in immediate danger of losing any extremities he certainly seemed adamant on convincing her otherwise. Whether he did it or not didn't really matter to Hanako though, the fact that he wanted to was more than enough to curdle her insides, making her feel nauseous.  

And then he stomped off, having done his part ruining her, tearing her apart with tooth and claw from within. She hated him, it was a strange and new feeling, adding yet another layer to the pile of hurt building up inside of her. The woman soon took over, pulling Hanako's attention back to the here and now and Hanako offered her a polite head dip in greeting. The Ashen lady seemed to agree with the sentiment that she hadn't been dismissed and Hanako knew better than to argue otherwise and simply let it go.  Hanako wrinkled her nose a little at his name, as though it was an insult in and of itself. How could she not mind him when he'd been so awful to her? And if that was his way of not getting along then she shuddered to think how he treated his true enemies.

"I'm Hanako, I work for Sirius. I recently became a...spy of sorts for the Armada and I wanted to offer my services to you. My role isn't common knowledge since...well it would kind of defeat the purpose." She shrugged.  "And that's why I didn't say so before." She finished, idly wondering if these people even deserved her time and efforts. Klein superiority and her loyalty to the Armada aside she didn't really feel a pull to serve... Not that her body language said as much, her mask stayed on. Just about.

Venom hadn’t paid much mind to the insults, she was used to the hate and it wasn’t directed at her anyway. Hanako hadn’t looked like she was majorly affected but who could know. She should know not to take a pups words to heart. Chimera was big, and didn’t give off the air of innocence but he was young and didn’t care about anyone’s feelings. Except maybe his own.

The young Princess was given the woman’s name, though she couldn’t be for certain if it was her true title or a fake. ”A pleasure,” Hanako said she worked for Sirius, no big surprise there. If that were the case this was most likely her true name. Venom’s lips curled into a classic Klein smirk as she betrayed her amusement. A spy. The quilled she devil felt her eyes widen at the mention of her title. This girl couldn’t have been older than herself and already Sirius had her as a spy?! She must have been special indeed.

”Hmm.” She mulled lightly as she tried to decide how to best take advantage of the offer given to her. ”There might be one thing.” Her tone was still slightly sweet as she took a moment longer to contemplate. ”Can you find out why my apprentice Azure hasn’t been visiting me?” At this rate she was going to have to send for him to ever see him again.

She waited patently as Venom mulled over her words, her purple eyes alight with a cunning and cleverness the likes of which Hanako had never seen before. It was a welcome distraction, that and the mounting curiosity at which sort of request she'd have for the Armada spy. She hoped it would be a chance to test out her skills and to put the advice Resin had given her to use, but when Venom finally made up her mind it wasn't exactly what Hanako had anticipated. Or even hoped for. Not for one moment would she have expected that Azure was anyone's apprentice, least of all to an Ashen wolf. He hadn't said as much, nor did he even need to, but it was obvious that if Azure had his own way he would've severed ties with the Empire. That he would have ruled over the Armada as a king and not a Warlord.

At first Hanako felt a sting of annoyance, as if the role she'd worked hard to gain had just been boiled down to a glorified messenger, that she'd have to go back and forth between the two as if it was below Venom to speak with her apprentice in person. Azure deserved better than that and Hanako was almost tempted to say as much. But before she wandered too far down that path and got all lippy in defence of her prince, Hanako couldn't help but get caught on the phrasing of the order. This wasn't a matter of asking, she'd simply been told to find out. Almost as if she didn't want Azure to know she'd been wondering where he'd gotten to, like she missed him.

Oh.

Hanako felt a sting of jealousy but did well to hide it. Always always smothering her true feelings down, out of sight and out of mind.

"Of course." She said with a dip of her head. Nothing nearly as low as the ones she offered Azure. "From what I can tell the heirs have been busy post raid but if there's anything else to it I'll report to you." Hanako had a feeling Venom was looking squarely at one of the root causes, not that she was dumb or brazen enough to say as much. "Is there anything else?"

Venom watched the girl with obvious interest, she was curious about the woman at least. More so she was interested in how she would take her role and how she would perform. Such a role needed someone talented, smart, and good at hiding how they truly felt. Venom wished desperately that she could read her mind, to see what exactly was going on behind those bright beautiful eyes. She would have been incredibly interested in what she found, perhaps even a bit perturbed though she wouldn’t have known why. She liked Azure, Venom wanted him to ascend to his throne and to have a powerful ally by her side. She hadn’t made the connection that she’d want more than that as time went on.

Just busy after the raid Hanako made it seem. At the least Venom could assume that she was familiar enough with Azure and Mortis that she knew their ranks, maybe not so much that Venom was mentoring one of them. Still she hadn’t expected much in that moment. Hanako could go back and dig further, Venom had no reason to think the girl was part of the cause and she knew more than she let on.

”Thank you, Hanako.” Venom spoke genuinely, but she didn’t expect this to be the last of she heard from her. Sirius wouldn’t keep her apprentice from her with busy work. ”No, you’ve done enough for me today.” Venom wasn’t a fan of being in debt, the next time she saw Sirius she’d at least put in a good word for the enthusiastic spy. ”Do let me know if I can return the favor.” Venom also offered with raised brows and a quick flick of her forked tongue. ”You’re dismissed,” Venom offered with an amused giggle, but made no motion to move herself.

Hanako wasn't sure what to make of Venom either. She wasn't an easy read, her pages stuck together and resistant to being pried apart. The spy wanted to be of help, if she could, but she'd be a liar if she claimed she had any real affection or loyalty towards the Ashen Empire as a whole. The Armada had treated her well, welcomed her with open arms into the fold but she felt as though the Ashen pack wasn't one of comradery or pride. Just a bunch of wolves who were happy to stand atop a pedestal and look down on all the rest. Royalty but twisted and bent into the wrong shape, as though they had forgotten what had made them great and powerful to begin with. But maybe in her bitterness Hanako was reading too far into it, all too eager to compare these unknown and faceless wolves to Chimera. A monster if she'd ever seen one.

"It's no problem. Hope to see you again soon." Returning with the information she wanted, if Hanako could find the right way to frame it.

She'd been dismissed and as curious as she was about Venom she didn't really want to hang around any longer. Her emotions were kept in check for now but she wasn't sure how long she could keep them at bay, before they bubbled over the edges and reduced her to a crying mess, no doubt. Hanako dipped her head once more and turned to leave, back to the sea where she swim over to the mainland.