It had been a while since Hanako had been put to work, she felt a little rusty, rough around the edges as she bounced her way east towards Habari territory. As always, poor Toshi had been delegated the role of pack tanuki, his little sides huffing as he struggled to carry the gift wrap she'd spent the past few days putting together. It was nothing fancy, Sirius made it pretty clear he didn't think they deserved the works, just some dried and seasoned Armada speciality meats, along with the serval pelt it was wrapped in. Basic stuff but Hanako was fairly sure it'd do the trick. She'd barely caught a whiff of Habari before, let alone ever met a wolf from there so she couldn't help but wonder what sort of reception she'd receive and whether they'd treat her better than Valhalla and Lirim had. Neither pack had attacked her, or anything like that, so it could be a whole lot worse but Valhalla had been all uptight and snooty and Lirim...well no one had answered her call. So there was that.

Slowing to a walk, Hanako took a moment to take in the tangle of branches in the distance. Come spring the flowers would bloom, filling the region with some much needed colour. For now everything was greyish and dark, the looming shadow of the volcano set a pretty sullen mood. She looked to her companions, Toshi seemed happy to shrug off his load just before the territory line and Ruri was quick to find herself a perch in a nearby tree. This was a routine the trio had been through before, they all knew what to do. Polite and friendly, but confident in their standing. They were of the Armada and that alone warranted a degree of respect in turn.

Tipping her head skywards Hanako announced herself, that she was a wolf of the Armada and she wished to speak to whoever resided at the top of the totem pole, so to say.

Kali was bored, undeniably, horribly bored, in fact. So bored she thought she was going to die. Sure, she had her siblings, but they were children. Well...she was a child too, but she refused to think in such a way. No, she wanted to be like her mother, all regal and well-respected by everyone in the pack. Her bi-colored gaze had taken in the way the other members had bowed in Recluse’s presence with awe, a certain pride filling her chest with the knowledge that the same blood flowed through her veins. One day, she’d be looked at the same way, she’d make sure it was so. To hold the same power that the albino woman did...the thought sent shivers down her spine.

A chance to start that exact journey came in the form of a call at the border, her auds perking excitedly before she took off at a run with a wide grin on her lips. It took her a while to get there, her puppy legs still short and not as graceful as they would later become, but she made quick work of the ground. As she approached, she saw a pale woman splattered in reds, oranges and blacks, like berries had been dropped on her and she hadn’t bothered to wash them off. It was intriguing, to be sure, and she almost let her mouth fall open. Instead, she clenched it, remembering the way her mother had held herself in these moments. Her little tail rose to curl over her back, chin lifting to try and fit the regal image in her leg. Her stiff legged walk was more comical that she intended it to be. “What do you want?” she asked. Yeah, that was it.

Talking

Wendigo Klein

When the howl went up Wendigo was off doing what Wendigos did best: throwing things in a lava flow. He was getting really good at finding them. It wasn't like they were hidden or anything, but the territory was big and it was hard to say for sure where the cracks would get big enough to let the good stuff flow. Wendigo had learned to make note of where the cracks started overlapping and bulging. Those, in his experience, were the places that would bust next.

He froze with his head cocked and the long stick he was holding stuck in the flow. It sizzled and popped, but he paid it no mind as he tried to work out the meaning of the howl. It was a new person; someone he'd never seen before! And she was calling for someone important. Lucky for her, he was pretty stinking important so he was gonna go check her out.

With a flaming stick clenched firmly in his teeth Wendigo raced towards the border. Much to his chagrin Kali had beat him there and was already speaking to the woman. He peeked around his sister and raised a paw to grab the woman's attention. "Mo' impo'tently," he slurred around the stick, his tongue bulging out from between his teeth as he tried to enunciate. "Do you p'ay gamesss?"

screams | actions | whispers

Table coded by Scarlet

The fact she wasn't totally sure where Wendigo or Kali were... that did not bode well. Her children seemed to have a way of getting themselves into trouble. At first, she had run around like a headless chicken, dashing around to stop her little heirs from maiming themselves on every single thing they seemed to find, but now she was a little more nonplussed, moving with quick efficiency to keep them from taking their own heads off but otherwise no longer running around with the same level of panic.

So when she got herself all ready to go and answer the call, Lilith in her usual spot around her neck, and caught the scents of her two wayward children, and that of smoke she moved at a good clip though did not outright race off to stop her children from lighting themselves on fire. Wendigo in particular seemed to have a sort of proclivity for flame. She'd honestly be surprised if he made it through his first year without burning himself.  

Recluse narrowed her eyes slightly as the small group came into view, the moon high in the sky giving her more than enough light to comfortably see by. She strode confidently over to her son, her daughter's question ringing in her ears. She swiftly pulled the lit stick from her son and smoothly pushed its flaming head into a patch of dirt, twisting to extinguish it. She looked cooly at the woman at her borders then shifted her gaze towards the young boy. "I've told you not to play with fire." She said in her best stern mom voice, though it was undercut slightly by the fond smile that she couldn't keep from her face and the way she gently nudged him, moving to stand between her two children.

Then her attention when to Kali, of her children it seemed her two daughters were the keenest to take after her, she'd caught them mimicking her more than once and she knew this moment would be a teachable one. She looked down at her daughter, giving her a quick lick on her head. "Now dear, remember your manners. We have a visitor to our pack, it's only fair to introduce ourselves first so they know who they're talking to." She looked up at the woman, her face shifting from motherly affection to the face she wore as an alpha, not aggressive but not open and smiling either. "I am Recluse, Seraphim of Habari, these are my children Kali and Wendigo." She gestured to her daughter and son respectively. "What brings you to my borders?"

In truth, Recluse disliked this very much, though she kept her distrust from her expression. The woman bore the scents of the Armada, though she came bearing gifts Recluse did not trust this was a totally friendly visit. Outside of her amicable enough conversation with the warlord's wife she hadn't had any chance to reach out to the Armada itself, too busy setting up her pack so it didn't immediately crumble and then dealing with her pregnancy and children... and it seemed to her they had simply chosen she wasn't worth reaching out to in turn, so no she did not trust this.

Speech

Art by MrRendy

Hanako wasn't left waiting long, soon enough a pup loped onto the scene. The base of her coat was brown and velvety soft, accented with lines of yellow that rippled down her form, reminding Hanako of streaks of sunlight. Her posture was uh...something, and despite herself Hanako had a real hard time supressing a giggle. There were ways to move around with elegance and grace, but it looked like the girl was clenching her butt cheeks real hard. Her pointed question was what broke Hanako's resolve as she let out an amused snort, she really didn't beat around the bush did she? The Wraith had just been about to give her a little insight when yet another pup rocked up onto the scene, this one far more....eccentric than the last. His coat was dappled with white and black, as though he was standing in and out of the shade. Chaotic was the word that sprung to her mind and Hanako broke out into a grin, her tail wagging a little.

"I do! In fact some even say that I'm the best tag buddy around. It's a heavy burden but I bare it gladly, it's a true honour." She went onto explain, her tone light and breezy, completely over the top as she pressed a paw to her chest. But so what, she'd always had a soft spot for kidduns.

Least that was until Mum showed up. Right to business, without even batting an eye at the flaming stick or girl with clenched bum cheeks. Mum apparently went by the name Recluse and was the Seraphim of Habari, assumedly a very snazzy sounding name for alpha. Which was fine, girl power and all, Hanako had heard and seen it all before.

"I'm Hanako, the Armada's diplomat. I'll admit I'm a bit late but since we're all part of the Empire I thought I ought to introduce myself. Go through the motions of schmoozing and what not." She shot Toshi a look and he reluctantly nudged the package forward, as though all of his effort was being handed away. She glanced to the volcano then to Wendigo's discarded blackened stick, the question that followed wasn't anything Wraithy, just honest curiosity. "If it's not too rude to ask, how come you settled on the volcano...isn't that dangerous?"

Kali could hear an intriguing, but mostly concerning, crackling sound coming from behind her. Dread filled her chest and her head turned sharply to catch her patchy brother come trotting toward them, an on fire stick clenched in his jaws. She let out an exasperated sigh at his antics, but in no time she could see the pale form of her mother came into view. Recluse to the rescue! As expected, the Seraphim was quick to pull the branch from him and extinguish it into the dirt, giving her sibling a scolding, to which she gave a contented smirk.

The attention was shifted to her and her tail gave a wag, the girl leaning into her mother’s preening with a happy yip. However, her tail quickly slowed when she, too, was scolded. Her lips pushed into a pout and her head lowered bashfully. “Yes, momma,” she said. Then, it was all business and the girl sat herself down next to her mother’s paws obediently. She watched the interaction, soaking in all the information she could with hyperfocus, her bi-colored eyes gleaming with intrigue.

Talking