Ooc: after the raid by some measure

Sparrow hadn't been feeling herself. Her sleep was off, her appetite was off, her mood was off, everything. Even drinking brought the threat of bile to her throat and Sparrow had never turned down a drink prior.

She wasn't a religious gal, but it felt like something had changed, shifted inside her. Maybe it was the stress? Maybe it was the guilt? It had to be, right? Everything would go back to normal sooner or later.

Event the drink her body tried to reject wasn't enough to dull the feeling of being off. She felt woozy, agitated, restless and she hadn't even drank that much.

Besides, she had begun to feel rather guilty. Hanako didn't belong here- not as a captive. Or at least it had lost it's spark. She realized she has wanted Hana to choose her. Just having her around was like a temptation that was always just out of reach. If she wanted Hanako to be happy- and even if she didnt- it was better to let her do that on her own terms. Besides, in this one way, it was as if Sparrow was the one dumping her.

Coming into the room which Hanako's scent now permeated, Sparrow snatched the key from Friar's hand and tossed it on the table by the bed. "Babe wake up, you're free, I'm letting you go," she said hurriedly before she could regret it. Her breath still tasted like alcohol and lavender in a ditch attempt to make herself feel better before this. "Go back to your husband or whatever and tell him he failed you, but that he won anyway."

Hanako slept soundly enough, comfortable but not at home amongst her surroundings. She had no idea how the raid went, didn't know if the Pirates won or lost and she couldn't say she cared. Didn't matter much to her in the end. It was hard to cling onto her bitterness, being angry day after day was far more tiring than you'd think and now she just sort of felt...flat. All out of juice. Not quite like she'd given up, given in, but inching closer. Perhaps adapting to her new normal.

Startled awake by the door opening, Hanako groaned and hid her face beneath her paws. Still groggy with sleep she didn't catch the meaning of Sparrows words at first, took a moment to sink in, real deep before her eyes snapped wide, paws dropping like lead.

It was what she wanted of course, had been chomping at the bit for but-it felt so anticlimactic. Like it had all ended with a wet thud, unimpressive, like all of this had been a massive waste of everyone time. All the risks and actions meant nothing in the end. And...Hanako felt strangely offended. Like she wasn't worth the effort after all, tossed away to float to the bottom of the ocean. Forgotten and unwanted.

Hanako pushed herself to her paws, her expression a grimace of sorts. Nose wrinkled and ears flicking back, threatening to flatten but not quite there yet.

"What's wrong with you?" It was an accusation. Cause for one there was something very wrong with Sparrow, both in actions and words. Not right even if Hanako couldn't quite put her paw on it yet.

Hanako's reaction wasn't really what Sparrow was expecting. She was expecting her to dash- a fleeting look towards her, maybe. Instead she was met with more resistance. Hana rose and looked sour. She flatly asked Sparrow what was wrong with her in the kind of way you do when you find your pup trying to drown their sibling in a mud puddle.

"What? I'm not kidding," she replied. "It doesn't matter if you're here if you're not happy, Hana." Sparrow threw herself on the red velvet chaise lounger on the opposite end of the bed like a teen who just got told they were grounded. "It's not fair," she said softly, bitterly, and mostly to herself. "Despite being a pirate, I didn't do any good at stealing your heart back and- I dunno- since you've been here, everything's felt... off... bad? Like-" Sparrow looked at Hanako a little wide eyed- "Do you think I feel guilty? Am I capable of that?"

It didn't really matter now, though, did it? Sparrow flopped back to a relaxed state, looking off somewhere in the middle of nowhere in particular. "I dunno, I just- I want you to be happy and I GUESS that somehow triumphs my feelings for keeping you here all to myself. I'd have you here as my queen, you know. No one would question you, we'd bring you back the spoils of our raids, but if you're not happy here- if you'd rather be a Fatalis and work or bow to whichever scarry eyed man was born the coolest and toughest stick-up-their-butt leader who never has any fun, who am I to say no? Who am I at all to say anything to you?"

Sparrow grunted and turned her back to Hanako, "Everything just feels so... fucked."

At what part during her kidnapping had Hanako seemed happy? Why did her happiness mean a damn thing now? She wrinkled her pale nose, feeling as though she was missing something. Like this mood swing hadn't come from nowhere. This sort of thing was expected from Hanako, but with Sparrow it just seemed...moodiness didn't suit her at all and maybe a tiny part of her was starting to feel bad. Like she shouldn't be quite so hard on her, except she should because she was still angry! Flustered and frustrated and- Her ears flitted back as Sparrow kept on speaking, words she should take care not to listen to. She was free to go, free to turn away and run back to the Armada and yet she lingered for a moment more.

Perhaps because she was a bitch, wanted to press the knives a little deeper and leave her mark. Make sure Sparrow could never get over her, never forget, because more than anything she liked being the centre of attention. But this Sparrow really did seem amiss, like she'd lost all her spark and fire, been replaced with someone tired and downtrodden. Not sexy at all, to be honest. Mopey wasn't a good look on anyone and yet Hanako could relate to that bone deep sense of tiredness. The sort that never shifted no matter how much she slept, made even holding onto what she wanted seem like more hard work than it was worth.

Hanako's eyes snapped real thin, squinty as she took a moment to sniff the room. All she smelled was Sparrow and booze and yet...it was off the mark, not as it should be. A sign that something else, something new was on the horizon.

In short, Hanako came to a natural conclusion. Sparrow had slept with some rando dude, kidnapped Hanako and was now pregnant? What.

"You can say that again." She said, baffled enough for her fire to putter out, mostly. "You know you're pregnant, right? Moods swinging so much I'm surprised the ship hasn't capsized."

Sparrow made enough faces to put on a whole show if Sparrow had stayed looking at her. She didn't, however, and had spent the remainder of the time trying to bore holes in the velvet that glared red back at her. She silently willed Hanako to go. Run. Leave. She didn't want to look at her any more. She didn't want to think anymore.

Haha, too bad, Sparrow.

"You know you're pregnant right?" Hanako had said, blaming her mood swings on it. Sparrow rolled over on the couch, her eyes flat ice, "Hilarious, Hanako." Her face was without any spark of laughter or spark at all. "Am I not allowed to have feelings without it being mood swings? How many things can you blame me confessing to you on?"

Sparrow huffed, pushing herself up only halfway. "I'm a lesbian, y'know? The only women I've slept with- besides you if that counts- is like... Recluse but that was literally like yesterday." Okay, it had been three days. "Also, got you a lava rock. To remember how hot I am or how hot I am for you or something." Sparrow procured the rock from a pouch and made her way to place it on the table beside Hana.

"You don't gotta tell Az it was from me. Tell him you found it on the way home." Sparrow had wanted to show it off all flashy like, but it didn't feel right now. It felt exactly like her heart- having burned so bright once and now cooled to a stony hole-filled lump. "Anyways, never touched a dick in my life- wouldn't even know what to do with one. So, next theory on why my love and isn't good enough for you?"

Hanako scowled so fierce it made the muscles in her dainty little face ache. She thought she was lying? Making this up just to distract from the argument, to shift the blame somewhere else? The huffy beginnings of a tantrum were starting to surface, paw stomping and lips blowing as she took in the dry sound of Sparrow's laughter. All forced with no real humour behind it, like this was the furthest thing from funny they could possibly get. Hanako had been gathering her thoughts, ready to insist she was in fact telling the truth when Sparrow steered the conversation in a new direction, near smeared it in Hanako's face. Didn't give her a chance to look away.

It didn't take a lot to offend Hanako, to be honest. Needless to say she was miffed, the fire being fanned with each following word that passed the soft brown of Sparrow's maw.

"Recluse? Really?" Oh now Sparrow had done it. "You go and wax on about how much you like me, that you want me. Get me a hot rock, or whatever that is. But you go and sleep with her? Yesterday??? That bitch who's had so many kids her tits are swinging by her ankles?"

How would Sparrow even know what she had and hadn't done? The amount of times she got drunk and drugged up out left plenty of room for her to wander off the lesbian path. But that didn't even matter really, it wasn't any of Hanako's business. Except now, she was mad that Sparrow had not only slept with one other wolf but two. Hana should leave, she really ought to. It was the smart thing to do, the right thing to do. But now she was pissed and there was no stopping the flurry of petulance and spite that danced on the tip of her tongue. She was an awful person sometimes, too awful and probably not very smart. At least not right now.

"You're so-so!" She wished she'd just shut up, shut up shut up and stop talking.

Maybe making a grab for her muzzle would work? Seemed like a smart thing to do.

Hanako throwing a tantrum wasn't unheard of nor unexpected, though it wasn't for the reason Sparrow had thought. She honestly stammered for a second. "Wait- you?" left Sparrow lips before she stopped again. "Yes, Hanako, I love you, and in some attempt to accept that you don't love me- never will- I maybe found comfort in Recluse's den." It was bad attention, but it was attention. It meant Hanako didn't want her sleeping with other people.

Now it was Hanako's turn to stammer ."Would you rather me find my comfort with you-" Sparrow began, but Hanako snapped at her muzzle with a loud hollow reverberation that only a good muzzle chomp could do. It hurt, but more than that, it was contact and it lit Sparrow up. She always liked fights, loved the rush, and this was almost cathartic. She should have been mad, she should have, but she wanted more. Any attention was attention, and any contact was contact. Her eyes burned with the tears from her snoot getting bonked, but damn if it didn't feel good.

Without thinking, she kicked the door shut with her back leg. "That's not how you kiss a lady," was all she said, more breathy than she meant before she moved to push into Hanako with an actual, real life kiss, not unlike the one she gave Azure that one time- dry, rougher than any kiss should be, and filled with everything a kiss shouldn't hold, but she went for it anyway.

Any attention, she told herself, any moment, she said, was precious.

Why couldn't Sparrow understand? It wasn't difficult or complicated. Just because she didn't want her to sleep around with Recluse didn't mean Hanako wanted to sleep with her instead! It was - why would the Pirate even twist it to mean that? It was selfish and so very Sparrow that Hanako should have seen it coming, reminded herself she should have walked away as soon as she'd gotten the chance.  Should have even stooped to asking nicely, just so she could have been released all those days ago. But of course she didn't, she was difficult and mean. Not being smart about any of this, making a whole mess, because what? She thrived in conflict? Wanted to be fought over, even now? Evidently yes.

Hanako twisted her neck to the side as she let go of Sparrow's muzzle, eyes widening when she realised the pirate's intent. She'd been about to protest she did not in fact want Sparrow to find comfort with her, but was walloped by the Pirate's following curveball. Something about the door being kicked closed, that chomping on her muzzle wasn't the way to go about kissing a lady.

"What part about me trying to bite you says I wanna make out?" She squirmed away with a hiss, using her smaller height to her advantage. She really needed to leave. Now would be a good time."Go snog your baby daddy or whatever. I'm leaving. Let me out."

How did doors work? Pawing at the frame didn't seem to do anything, but it was better than looking at Sparrow right now.

Hanako squirmed away and Sparrow huffed more dramatically than she should have. Couldn't she do something rational like fight her? "If you don't want me, then why can't I sleep with someone else? Do you want me to just pine out the window while you spit out babies for Az for the rest of eternity until your nips brush the ground, chafed from suckling all those long years? Am I supposed to go grey in the muzzle waiting for you to choose me?"

Hanako went towards the door and said Sparrow should go snog her baby daddy, "Stop projecting and running away for ONCE, Hanako, damn it." She moved to put herself leaning on the door. "I've slept with Recluse, sure, but I've never slept with a man, and I've never even been drunk enough to think any man was attractive, especially not recently since I've been dealing with you unstabilizing every wall I've ever put up! I can't even drink right now without getting-" She bit her tongue for a second. Hmm... Symptoms. Ok, no, what was she even thinking, she literally had never been blackout enough to not find her way back to her own den and not that she'd admit it to Hanako, but it had been one hell of a dry spell. "No, you know what, say it, do it- whatever."

Sparrow couldn't deal with one more half-assed answer. "Look me in the eyes and tell me, right now, that we're done. Tell me that you choose Azure, that you will always choose Azure, and that I'm free to sleep with anyone I want. Or- kiss me and become the Pirate Queen." Sparrow aimed to shove Hanako away from the door with her right shoulder, not so much that it would hurt her, but enough that it would create space. "I can get Eden to dismiss your other accusation."

Sparrow vs Hanako for ANSWERS
Round 1/x
Age: 1+
Size: Dire wolf
Build: Heavy
Offensive Battle Accessory: Sword
Defensive Battle Accessory: Reinforced pirate hat
Companion 1: Harlequin Macaw, Female - Flying - Boosted
Companion 2: Capuchin monkey, Male - Battle
*Companion 3: Mushroom mutated housecat - Battle - Boosted
Mutation 1: Cat claws - Offensive
Mutation 2: Bone spurs - Defensive
Skills: Master Fighter & Master Navigator
Specialty: Knight

Hanako's expression crinkled in unbidden offence. She couldn't even start to think about her intentions and why they were so twisted out of shape when Sparrow spoke to her like that, so rude and vulgar, disrespectful beyond belief. How could Sparrow claim to love her when she spoke so poorly of her? Azure, even at his maddest, never stooped to outright insults, tried to bully her into submission with words and strings of reason that made no sense. They could have been friends, at one point in time if Hanako hadn't-if she wasn't so...Hanako. If she was someone else entirely.

She sniffed as the corners of her eyes began to sting. Instead of speaking she shook her head, why did Sparrow always force her paw like this? Insist on making her speak when she preferred not to, when she could just walk away and save this conversation for another day. Turn it down instead of letting it boil over the edge, spill everywhere and make a terrible mess.

She stumbled to the side, biting back a whimper as Sparrow barged her out of the way, trying to force her into action, when all she felt was the itching need to run and never look back. To avoid and avert her gaze, to pretend this wasn't as complicated as it so clearly was. But she couldn't, not this time, Sparrow wasn't having any of it.

"Why do you always hurt me like this?" She asked instead, sniffing in earnest with watery eyes. "Maybe that's why I can't be with you, cause I'm afraid. If I make you mad or-or do something you don't like you'll hurt me like no one else can. You admitted yourself you shouldn't have done those things, spoken about me like that but it comes so easily to you, doesn't it?" She raised a paw to swipe at her eyes, it didn't help much considering she was about full on crying at this point. "And you're so vicious. It's like you enjoy it."

"I just don't want you to hurt me any more." Like that was enough, like it answered any of her questions.

Moving forward she attempted to push Sparrow out of the way of the door, choosing this was the hill she wanted to die on. Her shoulder was far lower than Sparrow's so she ended up just pushing against her legs, but maybe if she was lucky that'd be enough?

Hanako vs Sparrow for stop being mean (this is a dominance fight rofl?)
Round 1/x
Age: over 1
Size: Medium
Build: Light
Mutation 1: Agility boost - Agility
Skills: Beginner Fighter & Master Navigator
Specialty: Scout

Hanako, as Sparrow should have guessed, shut down. She blamed Sparrow for being so mean, so vicious. Maybe she was, she wasn't sure she cared. "Like I'd ever been viscous with you before this. The whole time- all of this- I just wanted you to answer me straight. Just once I want you to say it to me and not flip flop and run away!" Sparrow didn't bother to blink back the tears stinging in her eyes. "You came in, made me think we had something, ran away, let me fight for you, let me win, and then still couldn't say it. You chose him, Hanako, so just say it with your own maw! Take responsibility for your life, for your decisions. Own them! That's the whole point. That's the whole fucking point!"

Sparrow was hit with the fact that she wasn't in love with this Hanako. She was in love with the Hanako who claimed her freedom herself, who threw caution to the wind. This Hanako was a sad mirror, trying to reflect everyone and everything but herself.

Hanako bowled into her and Sparrow did her best to stand her ground, her eyes going to the ceiling, her tears soaking the fur around her eyes. "Just say it," Sparrow egged on, her voice cracking as it burned it's way up her throat. "Say it and you're free."

She wasn't sure what she wanted anymore. She stood there, trying to resist Hanako's force from bowing out her legs, but she didn't fight back. Hanako could talk, or she could tire herself out trying. The ball was in her court, either she ended it, or Sparrow was going to.

Sparrow vs Hanako for ANSWERS
Round 2/2
Age: 1+
Size: Dire wolf
Build: Heavy
Offensive Battle Accessory: Sword
Defensive Battle Accessory: Reinforced pirate hat
Companion 1: Harlequin Macaw, Female - Flying - Boosted
Companion 2: Capuchin monkey, Male - Battle
*Companion 3: Mushroom mutated housecat - Battle - Boosted
Mutation 1: Cat claws - Offensive
Mutation 2: Bone spurs - Defensive
Skills: Master Fighter & Master Navigator
Specialty: Knight

It was like pushing against a mountain side, Sparrow barely even moved. She was resolute in getting a response, not leaving an inch for Hanako to squirm away, forcing an end here and now. In her heart she knew this had to happen, that something had to give, but she just couldn't find it in herself to say what needed to be said. The words caught on her tongue, heavy as lead and sinking deep like poison.  Hanako was the sort of woman who wanted the best of both worlds, wanted to pick and choose as she liked, but she couldn't do it between Sparrow and Azure. And the Pirate King was right in that she'd already made her choice, just refused to say it.

If they already knew then what was the point? All of this...it felt like an endless hole, a pit that would swallow them both up if they didn't take a step back from the edge.

With tears still rolling down her cheeks she forced the words out. "I choose him. I want to go home to him and my children."


(is this even a fight anymore lol)

Hanako vs Sparrow for stop being mean (this is a dominance fight rofl?)
Round 2/2
Age: over 1
Size: Medium
Build: Light
Mutation 1: Agility boost - Agility
Skills: Beginner Fighter & Master Navigator
Specialty: Scout

Sparrow waited, counting her breaths, for Hanako to give up. It felt like an eternity, and Sparrow could feel the last of her emotions giving up. Friar, outside the door, was getting restless. She could stand here all night, she decided, if it got her her answer.

The feeling of falling out of love was sinking in, her realization of everything she had liked never presented itself anymore. When compared to Jynn or Recluse, Hanako was… lackluster. She was all the drama and none of it fun anymore. She’d lost that edge- what- over a year ago?

“I choose him,” Hanako finally said. “I want to go home to him and my children.”

Sparrow stepped away, letting Hanako fall where she may, ”Good. I don’t- maybe I never really did- love you. I realize that now. So goodbye, Hanako. Go home to your husband.”

Sparrow would wait for Hanako to leave, no matter how long it took, before turning to her companions, ”I need to go see Eden. When I get back, make sure her stench is gone.”