Maki was a fighter, supposedly. She had all the markings for it, talent on both sides of her family- the Hattori's in particular were meant to be real good at it, Oki had once told a story how her Grandad single pawedly beat the snot out of a giant cat with long, dapper like teeth. That for all his gruff seriousness and judgement, the old man could hit hard, or something, like that. So then why was Maki so sucky at it? She really did try, had fought in raids and kinda trained, but it never quite worked out as she intended. Nothing came naturally to her, she wanted easy and effortless, and life just wasn't like that. Bummer.

So naturally, she had to run into a polar bear, a real pissed one at that. Stumbled into it really, too busy dreaming hunks with muscles and muscular hunks.

"Ooop-" was all she said, her ears flitting back as she looked up at the bear.

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He was ready to fight some more polar bears. He lost against Absinth in the raid, the smartmouth slave had him on edge and he was not having a great time without Mom. And Dad... Ugh. He needed to tell Bas about Dad.

Maybe he'll drag a seal home for the lard he can use for ointments. He nosed the biting wind and noticed a wolf scent, polar bear, fish, seal, and of course the ever present gulls on the wind. Maybe if he ran into the other wolf they could help him take down a-

The sound of a pissed-off bear was unmistakable. His white ears narrowed in on the sound and made a beeline. The last time he found a pissed off bear it was making a meal of the girl who was currently pissing him off.

And the BASTARD had zeroed in on another target! Time to end this shit, he wasn't going to let a wolf eating polar bear live another day. He knew it was the same one from the scar he left on the beast's armpit.

The bear moved to chomp the girl with its teeth when Oleander ran through the snow like the wind and ricocheted off the side its face with a snarl, unbalancing the ursine. Muscles rippling under his snow white fur he landed and pivoted back at the bear. This time aiming to grasp its throat as it stumbled and swiped at the air.

"Speech!"

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Maki didn't quite understand what was going on first, more than a little confused, the porch light was on but Maki was in fact upstairs singing in the shower. She whipped around, thinking that angry bear had brought back up, that he was best buds with some wolf-though really, why couldn't a bear and a wolf be friends? Except nah, now that she was actually paying attention it seemed they weren't buddies at all, cause the newcomer went right for the bears throat, violent and angry, very brave.

A hero if she'd ever seen one, in the flesh at least.

Rushing into help-though frankly she'd probably be more of a hindrance- Maki skitted to the side, aiming to grab a hold of its nubby tail and tug, hard. Maybe she'd be a good enough distraction that her new-found ally would be able to do some real damage.

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The bear had already been weakened by Oleander from their last skirmish, and it would come at him with a vengeance. He didn't mind if the girl was too stunned to help, he'd taken on this beast in particular on his own before.

He ducked as it swung at him. Then it roared out in pain from its tail being tugged but Ollie hadn't seen the girl grab it yet.

He made to grab the beast's throat again but this time the bear was ready and swiped Ollie into a bank of snow. It kept spinning to try and grab the girl. Ollie was winded and weak for a moment.

"Speech"

Maki held on for dear life, her legs lifted off the ground as it spun around, teeth gnashing as it attempted to fling her off. She wasn't entirely sure how she was hanging on, except that her jaw muscles were starting to ache real bad. Letting out a muffled sound of protest, she was flung aside, landed in the snow with an undignified oof, legs stiff like an unturned turtle. She rolled over, scrambling over to the aid of the white wolf, not sure if they were hurt or not, or what they should even really do.

Moving to stand between the bear and winded wolf, she let out a bark, the closest thing to an angry boof she could manage. If nothing else maybe they could bluff it into thinking it wasn't worth the fight?

The moment the girl barked out her defiance was when his wind returned to him.
Oleander let out a deep huff and stood beside her, his viridian eyes boring into the polar bear menacingly. It made as if to try and jump at them both but Ollie jumped forward first with a wild bellow, his snow white fur bristling and his tail high and his dark lips curled.

The bear finally thought better. Though Ollie knew this wasn't going to be the last time he'd face this particular bear. It finally rumbled off and he turned to the monochrome girl, panting.

"Hey, you okay? I'm Oleander. It's not the first time that bear tried to make someone his lunch." He said, shrugging back at the receding beast. His eyes looked over her quickly, the way healers do, watching her gait and seeing if there were any injuries.

"Speech"

"Woah really?" Was probably not the normal question to ask, but it slipped out anyway. "Like you're two bitter rivals...destined to keep fightin' and fightin' till one draws their last breath..." It was very dramatic, and she was definitely stowing the thought away to use in one of her stories. Maki kinda wanted an enemy or rival too, wouldn't it be cool? She thought so, at least, it didn't really...dawn on her how shitty it would be to have someone constantly trying to kill her and all.

Maki realised he'd asked a question, made a quiet oop noise under her breath before she stood up a little straighter, actually paid attention. Her paws were a lil cold, the snow was deep, the chill gnawing at her bones.

"Yeah I'm okay, you're real brave though!"

He tilted his head at her as she described a very dramatic theme between him and the bear. He was slightly confused, a little amused, a lot tired.

"Well, I won't be drawing my last breath for a good long time. His days are numbered though. If I catch him hunting one more wolf his skull might be my new helmet." He pledged cooly, narrowing his dark green eyes back at the limping receding form of the bear.

She had grown silent and he turned back to her with a quizzical brow raise. She mouthed a quiet oops and straightened up. Ah, she was a space cadet. It made him smile as she brought her attention back to earth.

She remarked she was okay and he nodded curtly at her praise. He flicked his tail in a silent thank you. He didn't really believe he was brave. He just saw a need and knew how to fight them off. He rolled his shoulders for a moment before glancing back at the bear. He was alert in case anything else was intending on making the girl a meal.

"So what's your name? Need some help home?" She had a pack scent about her but he couldn't place it quite yet.

"Speech!"

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Oooh, Maki wished she could be half as confident. And the thought of him wearing a cool bear skull helmet was pretty rad, painted a very warrior-esque picture in her head, even the slashed markings over his eye added to the whole theme. Little did she know that Fatalis' in general carried that vibe, like the wolves on her dad's side were always super splodgy. Sometimes shiny like fish too!

She thought about his offer for a moment, expression pinching as if it required deep and pensive thought. She didn't need an escort home or anything like that, but she certainly enjoyed the thought of it. Not even for the attention, really, but it'd be good material for her stories- a noble warrior saving a fair maiden, then to graciously offer to guide her home, safe under his watch. Yes yes, she liked that a lot, it had good potential.

And she'd fallen silent a little longer than what was socially acceptable, the snow continued to fall, snowflakes dappling the black of her coat.

"Oh yeah! I'm Maki! Of the Hattori-Klein type!" Her grin was so derpy, she thought herself so funny. "I'm from Hemlock, I'd love an escort home, oh brave sir."

He tilted his head at her as she became silent again. A softly amused grin stretched his maw. Her mind was obviously full of these fancy ideas. He nodded as she finally responded to him with her name!

"Good to meet you, Maki, of the Hattori-Klein type!" He replied good-naturedly, pretending to be a bit more fanciful himself for a moment.

"I'm Oleander Fatalis, from The Armada. Lead the way." He bowed his head and stretched a paw forward to encourage her to take the lead home.

"What brought out here?" He asked lightly. Though he was a touch smaller and lean he was used to the others around him towering over him.

"Speech"

She grinned, all wide and toothy, ears flopping a little lopsided for a moment. No airs and graces, no fancy Hattori-Klein stuff, just wonderfully and happily Maki. And it was just so comfortable when folks played along, didn't look at her funny or tell her to act her age, that she was almost grown.

Oleander Fatalis. She knew of that name, Grammy used to see Sirius as family, but time and distance had sort of just...made things quiet, fade away slowly but surely. It was kind of sad, that even without a dramatic finale things could still just end if you weren't paying attention. A lot of her old stories had fallen to such a fate, something she'd never really realised before, a sudden pang of guilt hit her, like she should have tried harder to keep them alive, you know?

But then he'd asked a question, and it'd be rude to just blank him, least of all when Oleander was being so gracious. She hopped over to catch up, fell instep as her tail wagged behind her.

"Well, folks say I stay home too much, that I need to go out and earn my keep and do stuff." Daydreaming about rippling shoulders and muscular rumps didn't keep anyone fed, after all. "I bet you're good at stuff Ollie."

He couldn't help smiling and shaking his head as she paused again. A bonafide space cadet! She was quite a thinker no doubt.

She finally hopped to catch up to him and told him that she stayed home too much and needed to get out.

"Can't imagine why..." He quietly mused to himself with a soft chuckle, while they walked along.

"I don't know about good," He grinned with a mischievous look, "I'm the head healer of the Armada." He replied holding his head high as he shared his title, "The Trauma Specialist." His boyish boasting coming into full swing. He had never boasted about it but it was true. Even if he frequently found himself overwhelmed and in over his head.

"You gotta be good at something yourself Maki. Not just getting into trouble with bears, right?" He asked with a tilt of his head.

"Speech"