Training Time - surprise

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"