The bad weather had not let up at all, leaving the sea roiling and angry as Hanako watched it from the safety of a sand embankment. Usually flooding wasn't something she concerned herself with, but the way the waves were rushing up the beach and inching closer and closer with each inward sweep had her wringing her paws nervously. Many of the other dens in the Armada hadn't faired so well and Hanako had gotten smug on the knowledge hers remained intact, a fact mother nature seemed to determined to rectify. Wagging her proverbial finger as though to say, oh you thought!

Leaping down from the sandy crest, Hanako galloped along the shoreline, the water already riding up to her shins as she pushed herself into full stride. She was fast on her paws, always had been, but Hanako  knew she couldn't outrun the ocean. If it wanted to claim her den and make it all waterlogged then there was little she could do but try and save as many of her valuable as she could. There was plenty she wanted to keep, soft furs and hides caught and prepared by Azure himself, along with little trinkets, odds and ends of sentimental value. Far too much for her alone to retrieve all in one go.

She was panting as she scrambled to the mouth of her den, paws grasping at her furs as she tried to haul them outside. The water was steadily rising and the waves foamy as they slammed ever closer, causing Hanako to stumble a little as she almost lost her footing. She didn't know where to start or what to grab next, she wanted it all and loathed having to choose. Enough to make her curse.

Adalia was making her way down to the ocean to fetch some seaweed. There were many beauty benefits in the green ocean weed, and it was something she had used in the past. She could make a wrap for Briars paws until they felt soft and new after a day of walking.

What she hadn’t expected was the angry ocean that met her gaze. She gasped, knowing her inability to swim meant she should go no further - until she saw the form of a white and red marked wolf flying past her and racing into a den.

Idalia instantly saw the issue, with the rising sealine. This den would soon be covered. Did this woman live there? Racing after the stranger, Idalia poked her head into the den. “Please! Lady, may I help?”

"Speech"

Hanako hadn't been expecting company, after all who else was mad enough to venture out into the waves like this? But she had no intention of turning down a helping paw either. She whipped around, almost giving herself whiplash as she finally managed to bundle up the majority of her bedding. Backing up she foisted them in the girl's general direction, using all her effort to keep them above water. The stranger offered to help and the scents, beyond the wash of saltwater, that clung to her coat were of the Armada, leading Hanako to assume she was a newcomer of sorts. Perhaps eager to do her part and fit in. Not an approach she'd ever tried to take but each to their own.

"Take this to dry land." She wasn't exactly polite about it but given the circumstances it made sense she was a little frazzled, her voice strained and high.

She turned back and was quick to duck back inside as she rushed to gather the smaller, more finicky items she collected during her stay here. Hanako paused for a moment despite it all, the pink of her pads gently smoothing over the lid of her jewellery box. She hadn't opened it in what felt like forever and felt a pang of guilt for having rarely worn one of the bracelets that was housed within. For obvious and numerous reasons. Now wasn't the time for that though, there was not a moment to lose. She backtracked out of the den, gently grasping the box between her teeth as she turned as best she could and offered the box out. Having not realised that the clasp which was supposed to hold it shut was loose, leaving the box cracked slightly ajar.

The Lady was working in rapid time, bundling up some bedding, and tossing them in Lia’s general direction. With a silent cry, the red-marked wolf leaped forward and grabbed at them, tossing them over her back to keep them from dandling in the water.

The commanding tone brooked no arguments - not that Lia would have ever given any regardless. “As you please, my Lady!” she agreed, trying to adjust her grip. With her arms full of bedding, she turned, about to race back up to dry land, when Hanako was pushing something else in her direction. A beautiful jewellery box. Lia reached for the box, and the bedding began to slide off her back. With a cry she jerked her head up to keep it from sliding anymore. She had already grabbed the edges of the box, and it was tossed high in her mouth. She was holding on tight, not wanting to drop it when it suddenly opened, and its contents dropped to the water pooling in front of them with a 'plop'. Just as the sweeping tide came in even more fierce than before, almost shoving her off her feet and burying whatever had fallen in the water.

"Speech"

Hanako saw the disaster unfold in slow motion, how the box titled in her grip, angling sidewards as the lip popped open and the contents all fell out. She tried to rush forward to try and save what she could, catch them under paw before the waves dragged everything out to sea, but the water was murky and dark, kicked up sand making it impossible to even see the fire of her toes. It was all gone. The bracelet Mortis had made for her, the pretty things Azure had bought for her at the fare, all lost to the sea.

Hanako wheeled on the stranger, her eyes alight with hurt and frustration. Those were things she could never get back, the memories stolen along with them.

"What-" For a girl whose words often came so easily, Hanako struggled to even string a line of thoughts together. She couldn't tell what hurt the most, that she'd trusted the girl to do the bare minimum or that she'd been powerless to stop it. "I asked you to do one thing and you-" She clicked her teeth shut as she turned and rushed to wade out of the water, the rest of her things could drown. She didn't want them any more. "Forget it!"

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as Hanako stomped her way up the sandbank, shoulders shuddering as her feelings mounted within her. She was not a happy fish to say the least.

Lia could only watch in horror as the beautiful, shiny things were swallowed by the rolling waves. She was getting soaked to her belly now, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. She looked up to Hanako again, and the hurt in the other girl’s eyes was a slap to the face.

Still holding the bedding, she expected a blow. Instead, the other wolf stormed angrily away. That seemed even worse somehow. Adalia ran up the bank and carefully placed the Lady's bedding on the grass between the ocean territory and the plains, before racing back to the den.

She couldn’t swim, but she wasn’t going to give up that easily. She ducked her head under the rising waves, she felt about with her paws. Desperate to find anything that had fallen from that beautiful box.

"Speech"

Seawater dripped from Hanako's coat as she scrambled to set foot upon flat land, her ears tipped back as she heard the girl thrashing about in the waves. She was wasting her time and breath, the ocean could be generous but sometimes it was equally cruel. Hanako would never see any of her prized possessions again, they were lost, like they were never hers in the first place. Casting a look over her shoulder, Hanako's expression soured, a storm cloud looming over her head. It was an accident, somewhere deep down she knew that, but the grief of losing her belongings was easier to swallow when she had someone else to blame. Perhaps her seasonal hormones were making her catty, difficult in ways no one but Azure was equipped to handle, but she'd only just met the girl and a sense of bitterness was already taking hold. Edging dangerously close to resentment.

"I said forget it." Hanako snipped, finally turning with a bitter flourish.  "You won't find them now."

Lia hadn’t realised that Hana hadn’t gone long. As she scrambled beneath the rising water, searching for anything, anything she had lost, she heard movement. Looking up, soaked from head to tail, she looked to Hanako’s silvery eyes “I’m so sorry, My Lady” she said as the other wolf turned from her.

The words, while angry, weren’t a command, and Adalia let her paw fish around one last time, and… something. She pulled up the feathery creation. A bracelet, of some sort. Placing it gently into her maw, she made her way to Hanako. Bowing low before the Koi fish, letting her soaked head touch the ground. “My Lady, I found a bracelet, may I search for the rest?”

"Speech"

The fact she'd managed to find anything was a miracle in and of itself. Hanako snatched up the bracelet and slipped it onto her wrist for safe keeping, she wasn't going to go swimming anytime soon. Not when the waters were so rough, even a strong swimmer stood little chance against the sheer force of the waves, leading Hanako to quickly dismiss her request with a curt shake of her head. She eyed the feathers that adorned her wrist and struggled to deal with the mixed emotions that swelled within her, relief clashed with animosity, making an already bad day even worse. She deserved all of her things, to have her collection reduced to one was unfair beyond belief and the fact the girl was being so apologetic rubbed Hanako the wrong way as well.

With the way she was feeling, insufferably moody to the extent even Sirius would probably tell her to knock it off, an apology just wasn't enough to smooth things over. Nothing could cut it, like the storm this too would pass eventually. Probably.

"Why'd you keep calling me that?" She was even more ass-kissy than Hanako had been when she'd first met Azure and she'd been laying it on reeeeal thick.

The bracelet was quickly snatched from her, so fast she almost didn’t notice it’s going. Luckily Adalia didn’t accidentally hang onto it any tighter then she needed to. Whilst Hanako fixed it to her wrist, the bowed slave watched her toes.

None of the annoyance seemed to be lifted from the woman. The crashing waves an ambiance to Hanako’s dark mood. She didn’t answer the fire-marked wolf's question, instead she asked one of her own. “My Lady?” she asked, turning it into a question, confused by. It took her a moment, but then she realised that this wolf did not know

Holding her head low in a well-trained posture she started to explain. “The Warlord purchased me a few days ago, My Lady. is there something else you wish me to call you?”

"Speech"

The woman made a point of avoiding eye contact and her posture remained demure with a touch of nervousness swirled into the mix. Hanako had sort of been like this once, not quite as unsure of herself, but every word and action was accounted for. Something to be thought about so that she presented herself in the best of lights. Now she only tended to save her mask for special occasions, when there was to work to be done far from the Armada's borders. Hanako had grown into her own woman, filling in the spaces she'd once left blank.

And yet the woman in front of her was a strange reminder of what could have been, just another pretty girl who'd been worn down till she was soft and malleable. A tool not in shape but certainly in purpose.

Hanako liked to think she was different though, that her situation was leagues apart from the slave's that stood before her. For one, she'd never been made to serve in any tangible way and if someone tried to make her do some chores now she'd laugh them off none too kindly. But why had Sirius bought a slave? She hadn't even known he was still in the market for such things and perhaps more importantly why hadn't she been gifted one???

Knowing this only soured her mood further. Poor Azure was going to get an earful when she found him.

"I don't really care, do what you want."

Poor Idalia didn’t know how to take this strange woman, with her sulky voice and dismissive attitude. She normally waited around for a hard dimissial, but she was starting to realise this woman wouldn’t give her one. Lia had stuffed up, and tried to make amends. Now, the consequences would fall as they did. If word got back to Briar and Artorias about how she had damaged another wolf's property, would they drop those sweet smiles and sunny dispositions?

She shuddered at the thought, lowering her head to Hanako once more. Leaving the bedding and empty box where she had placed it on the grassy embankment. The bracelet was of course now around Hana’s wrist, and her den was half submerged. There was nothing more Idalia could do, except to continue to stand on this woman's toes. “As you wish, My Lady” she said, and turned to trott away. Definitely not fleeing.

-exit unless stopped-

"Speech"

Hanako's lips remained firmly downturned, eyes narrowed slightly. Usually her social butterfly instincts would kick in and she'd do her best to sweep it all aside, act like it was no problem at all when she was indeed harbouring plenty of resentment. However, as things stood she simply wasn't in the mood, felt no desire to be all nice and sweet, force a smile when she wanted to do nothing but scowl. If the slave wanted to cut her losses and leave then Hanako wasn't going to stop her, instead she turned and headed inland, tail curled between her legs and  a shiver running up her spine as the adrenaline began to fade from her system.

At the very least she ought to tell Sirius about it, other dens might have flooded too and it was better to be safe and sorry.