Sparrow wandered through the willows, her fur freshly chopped short except for the top, she kept that spiked up if only for the benefit of still having hackles. Friar kept her all trimmed up and it was easier than trying to keep up with her wooly coat. Scars splattered across her shoulders from The Long Night and the rest of her body from all of the battles she had ever been in. Her reflection in the tepid waters was barely familiar, but she thought it suited her better. She looked less fun, less jolly. No more lopsided smiles and brash snark. Everything that was left was raw and scarred and out in the open.

Time wasn't kind. Not to Hanako, and not to Sparrow it seemed. She'd made a habit of visiting this place, it felt familiar and comfortable. Sort of like the willows beyond Sea's Plain, nostalgic, like she'd stepped back into her past and felt better for it. More in control. Change was inevitable and all that deep and philosophical shit, but it didn't mean she had to like it. For one, getting older sucked and two, it all just seemed so easier back then? Had simply found herself in Boreas, apart from her captors and been swept up in it all. The Armada, the Fatalis', it had all been so easy to be pulled into the fold. But now the fold felt...sticky, uncomfortable, like a jacket that used to look amazing, but now was far from flattering or comfortable. And it wasn't even really Sirius' fault, he'd always been decent enough to her, but his son and the expectations and the gap he'd left behind. Honestly, she was mad at him. How dare he leave her after all he'd done. She didn't even know why she thought about him still, except that she was resentful and bitter and-

Well, speaking of bitter feelings.

Hanako's face smushed, brows all furrowed, nose wrinkling. What was she doing here?

Sparrow looked all sorts of rough, shabby and not- not what she'd come to expect from the Pirate King. Well, more like Pirate pauper from the looks of it.

"How the mighty have fallen." She said once she'd gotten close enough to speak, but not so close she was within biting range. Naturally, Hanako wanted to feel smug, but it just came out sounding trite.  

Sparrow never expected nor wanted to see Hanako again, and yet here she was. What was she supposed to feel? She was on a murder march, free from the constrains of the pack obligations. She intended to ignore the woman entirely, moving to walk away before she was spotted, but then the shrew voice cut through the comfortable silence. A quick dark glance through narrow-lidded eyes shot in Hanako's direction. "Talking about yourself again?" she huffed, moving further from the splotched woman like she had mange. She didn't have time for this, nor the complications it brought. "Who killed Recluse?" Sparrow asked flatly. She didn't expect Hanako to know, but she knew of the woman's shallow distaste for the deceased and hoped it shut down the conversation. She also knew the killer wasn't Hanako. She wondered if Hanako could even kill if she wanted to. For a moment, her expression shifted from stony to pity at the poor discarded lovething, defenseless without her guile and flited looks, but it fell back into place after a blink. "I plan to kill them," was all she had left to say.

Hanako sent Sparrow the dirtiest of looks, bristling and venomous and-wait what? Recluse was dead? Since when?  She couldn't even muster a feeling of oh that sucks or poor her, a feeling of apathy settled over her. It was like being told someone she didn't know died, they weren't friends and had maybe spoken once at most. Was she being a bitch? Probably, it felt like it was second nature these days. Sparrow seemed to be feeling some kind of way about it though, since had she been the sort to go out and kill people? As far as Hana knew pirates were...chaotic but not exactly the murdering type. Or at least they'd never killed anyone she knew of, or word hadn't floated back to her ears about their misdeeds.

"I didn't even know she'd died." She stated, perhaps more coldly than she should have. Then again neither of them seemed to have kind words or feelings for the other, time had made them bitter it seemed. Or more bitter. "Why? Will that make you feel better?" Was that an attempt to twist the knife or simple curiosity? Hanako wasn't entirely sure, perhaps a bit of both.

And somewhere, buried not very deep and with a rusted shovel she idly felt a pang of jealousy. Just looking at Hanako it was clear to see that someone had hurt her once, a chipped tooth and a docked tail. Where was her vengeance? It felt unfair.

The small woman was so upset and spiky like a skunk before it sprays. It didn't bother Sparrow, she knew the woman was harmless. She said she didn't even know Recluse had died and Sparrow let out a short, breathy laugh devoid of warmth, "Yeah, you wouldn't." She didn't exactly consider Hanako world wise despite whatever type of ambassador or whatever she had claimed to be at one point.

Hanako asked why she'd kill and if it would make her feel better. Sparrow leveled her gaze at the splotched woman without missing a beat. "Absolutely," she said flatly as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. "I would erupt the mountains, bring forth The Long Night, grow crystals all along my body if it meant I could see her again. Killing her murderer is the least I can do for her. I would lay a hundred bodies across the battlefield just to ensure we can reunite in hell. And then I'll spend the rest of whatever afterlife I have making sure no one ever touches her again." Sparrow felt even more conviction than before after seeing Recluse's husband bedding in the other woman's pack. He wasn't going to be doing any avenging any time soon.

Hanako seemed dejected somewhere deep down. Sparrow saw her new injuries, but they were Azure's problem, weren't they? How odd it was to recount your dedication for your dead girlfriend to the girl that dumped you. How cold it felt to know that she would have once done the same for Hanako had she been chosen. She wasn't Recluse's first choice either, probably not anyone's, and yet, they had all been her first choice. Now they sat on opposite boundaries - Recluse on the ever burning, ever bleeding wound of Sparrow's heart, and Hanako on an iced over scar.

She had spent long enough here with someone who barely gave her the time of day.

"So that's it. Now, I've wasted enough time here and you're in the way." Sparrow turned to leave, feeling like she had less energy than she had started out with. "Goodbye, Hanako."

Hanako found herself rolling her eyes, all of that for Recluse? Of all wolves? Maybe if it had been someone else she might have understood where the fire came from, but as far as Hanako knew, or assumed, it wasn't as if Sparrow and her had that sort of thing. It felt like dramatics for the sake of it, something to make the former King feel like she had a purpose or else she might drink herself into an early grave. Or at least that was Hanako's jaded read on the situation, tugging at the narrative to pick it apart, to make it look petty. Had Sparrow truly cared for Recluse she shouldn't have let her died, it felt like such a failure on Sparrows behalf, one Hanako couldn't even muster an ounce of pity for.

Would she have died on Sparrows watch? Was she being cunty for drawing that conclusion, oh most certainly. She was throwing rocks at a stone ceiling, only to act surprised when shards of it hailed down on her, leaving her cut and bleeding. Because Azure hadn't been here to defend her when she'd needed it the most, maybe no one out there was capable of what Hanako thought she wanted, her demands as endless as the night sky above.

And yet she couldn't stomach the thought of ending this conversation with Sparrow having the last word. Hanako thrived on conflict whether she realised it or not.

"You're not even half the woman you used to be. How could you even be sure she'd want you as you are?" I certainly don't, was left unsaid.

Sparrow could have watched the contortion of feelings across Hanako's face. As much as the koi woman tried to hide it, Sparrow had grown familiar with that face. She didn't care to now. Didn't pay Hanako any mind as she tried to evaluate the worth of Sparrow and Recluse's relationship. Hanako never knew Recluse really, and Sparrow wasn't sure Hanako knew her that well either.

What made her and Recluse special was the lack of labels, the lack of rules, the lack of choosing. Recluse had her husband, her pups, and yet she still came to Sparrow. She wasn't perfect, and never pretended to be. Unlike some dainty wolves, Recluse hadn't needed a guardian, she needed partners, wholly less needy than Sparrow's previous relationship. Hanako could think whatever she wanted, but it bothered Sparrow none because, after all, what did she know about love?

After several steps, Hana called out in what Sparrow could only assume was desperation to keep the interaction going. She said Sparrow wasn't half the woman she used to be, and how would Sparrow know if Recluse would want her now. It drew a sharp laugh from Sparrow, and she didn't even glance back. "Her love never had contingencies like that, unlike some, which is why we'll love one another no matter what the other does. But..." Sparrow took another few steps, and for the first time since Recluse's death, a wry smile pulled up on her maw. "Even if I'm half the woman I used to be, I'm still more than double the woman you'll ever be, and I wonder who would want you as you are."

She had already said her goodbyes, but now she left with warm fuzzies having her ego stroked - at least she'd never be Hanako. At least the pitiful woman had managed to cheer her up after all

-exit sparrow -