Hattori hesitated as he stood beside the Stone Steppe, ears flicked forward as he took in the sounds of muffled footsteps below ground. There was something down there, an entryway he hadn't noticed before, and from the sounds of it all sorts of creatures had found their way inside. The smell of rotting wood lingered heavy in his nose as Hattori raised a paw to creak open the cellar hatch. He hooked his talons around the edge, testing the weight of it before pushing it open wide enough for him to slip inside. If he wished.

He wrinkled his nose at the waft of must that spilled out, only to give way to the myriad of other scents he was unable to put a name too. Whatever was stored in there came from days long since passed and though he was not much of an explorer he did have an interest in old things...

"Speech"

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn had ventured fearless underground a number of times and though the dark, damp caverns were not her favorite place to explore she found it hard to pass one up. She'd been nosing around the Stone Steppe when she spied a tunnel leading down into strange caverns that were clearly of human origin. She now found herself in a musty room full of wooden shelves. Some shelves were lined with old books, others with glass jars or a collection of oddities. She didn't know what many of these things were for and she reached out to sniff a book, the binding long covered in dust. It tickled her nose and she sneezed loudly, the sound echoing throughout the cavern. Her ears flicked back as she heard the creak of the cellar door. Was someone else around the steppe?

Carefully making his way down the stepladder-which wasn't an easy feat for a wolf of his size- Hattori's paws soon found their way to cobbled stone. There were so many scents in the air he wasn't at fault for not noticing the freshest one yet and instead took to looking about, the pale of his eyes quickly adjusting to the lack of light down there. Shelves upon shelves lined the walls, stocked with all manners of containers and cylinders, some empty and many not. At his appearance even more skittering was to be heard, rats scurried to the furthest corners as though that would be enough to stop Hattori if he wished them dead.

Perhaps he would catch himself something on the way out, but for now he intended to venture a little while longer.

It was then he noticed the outline of paw prints on the dusty floor, leading further into the wood lined darkness. Contrary to what he'd first assumed he wasn't alone. And as if to prove his suspicion true a sneeze could be heard, as though they'd been careless and inhaled some dust when sniffing.

"Who goes there?" He asked the darkness, feeling it fair that he announce himself.

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn took a few cautious steps toward where the opening was, now that the door was opened once more there was a column of light shining down into the darkness. She heard a voice call down into the darkness. She hesitated for a moment then decided she may as well answer rather than startle the stranger and get attacked as a result. "Jynn, an explorer, who are you?" Her ears flicked forward to catch an sound the man uttered though as she did she heard the noticeable sounds of mice. Peering into the dark she saw a couple rodents scurry across the floor and then disappear.

Hattori could not yet see the stranger but he heard the gentle click of claws against old cobbled stone. It was quite difficult to isolate the sound with all the small creatures scurrying about and even now his sense of smell was smothered by dust and the scent of dried herbs. His gaze wandered to a stack of rectangular shapes, piled high and bound together with what looked like dried skin. He didn't have to wait long to get a response, an explorer hm? Made sense, he supposed.

"Hattori." He told them, stepping forward as he came across something splayed out on the ground. Papers scrawled with notes and drawings he would never be able to decipher. "Have you found anything of interest?"

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn waited quietly as the man called out his name and moved farther back into the cavern. She wandered around a large bookshelf and spied the large man who sported a black and orange coat. "Oh, hey there! Well, there seems to be a number of vials and bottles with interesting looking stuff in them but I'm no healer. Could be poison for all I know." She turned and continued farther back where she'd been looking originally. Sniffing lightly at a copper teapot she grabbed the handle in her teeth and wandered a short ways before dropping it on the ground. It clattered, the lid flopping open but remaining attached. Jynn sniffed inside it but found nothing of interest.

The tall and lithesome wolf-if you could even call it that- wandered into view, breaking up the monotony of shelves and strange oddities. The dust and dry air seeped into her scent, blending in as though she'd been her far longer than she claimed. But there was no reason not to believe her, or regard the loner as a threat and as far as Hattori could tell her laid back energy seemed genuine. Like she was truly in her element.

Hattori not so much.

"They must be ancient." Hattori observed, tilting his head up to look at the ceiling. It looked stable enough, with cobwebs in every corner. Being down here for a short while would do no harm, but he imagined long term exposure to this much dust surely couldn't be good for you. "Even if not poison I wouldn't recommend trying any regardless." That being said he wouldn't stop her if she insisted, it was her prerogative.

He looked around again, wondering if they were the first wolves to explore this place. Clearly this place wasn't meant for them, yet another remnant of the humans long since gone.

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn chuckled at the man's dry comment on the vials. "I can second that. I can't explore if I'm dealing with an upset stomach." She was half tempted to knock one of the vials from the shelf and let it break open so she could smell what lay inside but having accidentally knocked over a glass container in another territory she learned how badly some of those things could smell, rotting for years. Jynn cast one more glance about the territory before heading for the ladder. "I think I've seen enough of this. You're welcome to join me in exploring if you want. There's a lot of interesting sights to see and resources to find in these territories."

If she wanted to leave, Hattori would not stop her. In fact he was very much tempted to do the same, to be rid of this place and see the sunlight once more. They had not been down here long but it was enough to get a grasp of the place, to store it in the back of his mind in case he felt as though he'd need to borrow a vial or two. Or perhaps one of those old books. Not that he'd be able to read them.

Hattori paused as he weighed up her offer. It usually wasn't something he'd be tempted by, but he didn't have anywhere better to be.

"Then lead the way."