The Somber Lay

After a somewhat tense greeting at the border, @Tiberius continued to lead Kuhn into the heart of Tsukiishi leaving @Valmúa behind, half expecting her to find her way in anyway.   Kuhn had actually never been in the haven itself, and any time he wandered around he usually kept to the outskirts.  Up until now he had actually avoided the mountain hold, as to not offend their already loose relationship.  

Kuhn followed @Tiberius in toe as he lead him through the hold, semi ignoring the looks of whatever inhabitants where here at the time, and still carrying the fish; now rigid from the cold. The hold was actually a nice place despite its position in the far north, the mountains all but stopped the wind, and the evergreens seemed to prosper here and the birds sang.  It seemed to be a respite from the open tundra.  Curiously, some of the trees here where colored pink, which made the whole place feel like some sort of dream.  After a while of following Tiberius, and looking around; eventually they came to a den: Reiko's den. 

@Won i heard is going to be a guard, @Reiko  or other SS

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Gyrfalcon is just appearing for this one post. Just wanted her to be there to give some canon nasty looks >D

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 Life fucking sucked. Really, like a lot. Her girlfriend she was certain didn't want to be her girlfriend anymore and she was here just wasting away with nothing to do.

 Except make pelts.

 It... kept her busy. Gave her paws something productive to do and it helped ease her tattered mind. Visible bags could be seen under her eyes and she seemed to have a permanent scowl on her face. Still, she worked and worked so that she could give out some nice items to the inhabitants of Shiroshika. Currently she had a deer, killed that morning by someone else. She'd gotten half of the pelt off and was now taking a small break. Her eyes were closed but ears perked as she listened. But it was the scent that had her opening her eyes.

 They snapped open, gaze focusing on the hulking tiger accompanied by Tiberius. It was the same tiger that was with that red bitch. The start of her troubles since returning. He was with Tiberius so it was official business and nothing to stick her nose into.

 But that didn't stop her irritated thoughts.

 He lips curled into an angry snarl, claws digging into the snow beneath her. Fucking asshole. What was he doing her with Tiberius? If either of them were to look over, she would avert her gaze and go back to work. Hackles bristling as she angrily began to pick again at the pelt. Doing a fine job of tearing and ruining her earlier delicate work.

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^^It had been about four months since he’d joined Shiroshika and in that time, he had made it his personal mission to care for the little woman that was Reiko. Everyone else seemed to know what they were doing around the pack, and Won kind of just took Reiko under his wing without anyone’s guidance or permission. It sort of just… happened, and Won was okay with that, so long as Reiko was, too.

They took frequent trips around Shiroshika and any other place within the territory that Reiko wanted; Won didn’t mind carrying her around. It felt nice to be useful and needed, versus being a nobody within the pack.

On this particular day, the duo was returning from a trip when Won caught the scent of the feline. It was not an uncommon scent within Shiroshika, with their resident tiger - of which Won had only heard of and had not had the pleasure of meeting quite yet - but the scent that he noted was not the same as the idle scent within Shiroshika. Won would not remark upon the scent, as it seemed mingled with that of another scent, one of Shiroshika’s own; another male that Won had yet to meet, as of yet. Perhaps, Won mused to himself, they were training a new feline for something? He didn’t know, and he didn’t ask questions, though they did pass the angry female who seemed to be working on something.

By the time the duo reached the den of Reiko, Won found that they were not alone, with two handsome big guys awaiting for them at the den; the two scents he had picked up on the way back through the courtyard. A larger wolf, who Won assumed was a fellow guard, and the tiger.

Pausing in stride, Won titled his head upward, in an attempt to glance at Reiko. “Were you expecting company, m’leige? Shall I steer us or them elsewhere?”

^^
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Antares eventually got wind of the tiger too, and came stalking after the entire situation from its place on the borders. The musky scent alone was enough to ridge his hackles up. Naturally, he was too late to see the scene transpire in the first place, but still wanted to follow-up. The trail was fresh enough, and he had no other more pressing matters that investigating whatever this was exactly. Above all, the dark scout would keep watch.

It soon seemed that they were heading towards Reiko, which was a bit worrying to him.. who didn't know all of the finest details here. He just smelled a great predator within their mountain keep and knew their empress was not at her strongest; instinct said the rest.

Yet.. nothing raised any real alarms though. He, however, was awfully wary of the feline sorts by default--and would really prefer not to deal with their kind at all. Didn't care to trust them much based on what he knew they could do, marked as enemy from some ancestral log of his and amplified tenfold when they were strangers as well. But, with Tiberius here, presumably in some type of control of the situation, alongside others of the pack, he hoped this wouldn't be worth concerning himself with. Maybe it was just a friendly visit. Reiko did keep company with at least one feline he could account for, he reasoned. Perhaps that was all.

For now at least, Antares simply kept his distance even when he did finally start to catch up to them. Nothing had gone wrong yet, and he didn't want to interrupt peace with his predisposition. So not long after his ears pricked towards voices, he stepped off the path and into the nearby shadows. He was not able to keep still with all of this in mind, and would stay loitering nearby in case something happened to warrant his backup.

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he's just lurking so can skip him in future rounds/this might be a one off thing idk

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Some time passed as he received stares and looks. The tiger felt like an intruder here and the time went by awkwardly as he sat in silence, waiting for Reiko to return to her den. In that span of time, Kuhn began to question why he even came; likely to be lectured by the little empress, and her gang in the importance of borders and the magic of friendship.

At least he couldn't fault the wolves of shiroshika for being overtly hostile, if they where, he would have to think about killing his way out of this place, as he wouldn't be able to run.

Watching intently, Kuhn's eyes tracked the injured empress as she entered the scene. She addressed him but he remained quiet for a moment toying with the rigid fish under his paw and looking over her frail state.

Why had she asked him to come to her? "Well I don't think you could walk to the Everfrost.", He answered bluntly as the words slipped out. A guilty smirk washed over his face for his comment. Though, he was impressed the little empress would show herself in this state.
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^^

Could probably skip Won as needed.

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Their stroll around campus had been a nice one, as it always was, but the arrival of the tiger added tension that Won did not like. His responses to the queen caused the taxi’s eyes to narrow with disdain. A sarcastic response with a smirk about his features was no way to respond to the empress, and what’s worse, is that Kuhn likely knew it, but chose this path because he knew that he could.

How many wolves would it take to bring the animal down, should he decide that he’d overstayed his welcome, or should they simply piss him off? An ear flickered, and Won took all of one step forward with a disappointed sigh.

Where Won had hailed from, tigers were a thing of beauty. They were these royal, majestic creatures that were worshipped and looked to as gods were to humans, and yet - here Won was, within walking distance of his favorite creature on earth, and he was disgusted.

His mouth opened to speak, but what would he say? He was in the company of an empress and a fucking tiger. He was a nobody in comparison. He wanted to glance towards Reiko, to read her facial expression, as he had always done previously, but he didn’t want to take his eyes off the orange stain. So here he would stand, with the empress on his back, unmoving and silent unless Reiko signaled otherwise.

^^
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^^

In all honesty, Tiberius would safely say that Kuhn was blinded to Valmua's true nature towards Shiroshika. Blinded by his... whatever he held for the little gremlin and didn't truly understand that her desires for Shiroshika were not in the vision they, together, held. But... he respected Kuhn and hoped that with his influence, Valmua would leave Shiroshika alone. He didn't give a fuck what she did with anyone else, aside from Olive, so if she directed her chaos towards others then well, that was their fuckin' problem. Still, he wasn't quite going to take their dismay of the cat being personal, as him as an individual as opposed to him in company with the gremlin. It was as if none of them had ever been blinded, he thought dryly.

He stood toe to toe with the guard at Reiko's den and he resisted the urge to snarl in the boy's face, as if he needed a goddamn fuckin' appointment to see Reiko. As a matter fact, they did have a goddamn appointment and Tiberius thought he would like to see the other Guard try and steer him anywhere. Who did this chump think he fuckin' was? Tiberius stayed true to form, similar to the shadow who remained in the distance and held his features motionless as Reiko spoke, her voice lacking it's typical tone.

Truthfully, he couldn't necessarily fault Kuhn for being precarious with his answer. He was being faced with wolves he did not know in a territory that he had been summoned to, with only Tiberius as a real ally. Tiberius would step forward to the step that Won would take, dipping his chin in clear warning that the attitude wasn't needed here, that Reiko and Tiberius knew the way of the tiger. Watch, learn, don't fuckin' react as if you mean to start something, he would have advised the other man yet he remained silent. He would speak if necessary but for the moment, Tiberius kept his eyes steady. ^^

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His harsh joke obviously wasn't taken well, the conversation immediately pivoted to something less than cordial. At least it would be good to clear this up right away. Kuhn had to scrape through his memory of the incident with Reiko's spoiled little daughter. Ah yes the threatening and bravado.

After a long moment of thought, a deep laugh escaped his chest as he smiled again. "So you must have got one side of the story. Your daughter threatened me, I simply reminded her of the reality of using force. I called her bluff." , standing up Kuhn scanned the crowd, now trying to have a bit of grace. Peering back at the helpless wolf, Kuhn once again cracked a smile, "In fact I said something like: I wouldn't rip her head off for her threat." , flitting his tail he continued to lock eyes with the empress.

"I understand Valmua wasn't welcome, and that she stole from you." He conceded looking at the fish under his paw. "Take this, as a token from... us."

"I hope it will sooth the theft and trespass. As for your daughter, she is still young, I'm sorry that happened."
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^^Let’s be honest, the moment Reiko had mentioned the threat to her daughter, piled with Kuhn’s disrespect for them, Won suspected that this would not be pretty. It was not often, in Won’s lifetime, anyway, that one was called to meet the boss by escort for good reasons, so he would remain where he was, silent with Reiko on his back.

He did not speak; he did not move, unless Reiko personally hinted or commanded him in some way. He listened to the two speak like a fly on the wall, eyes on the tiger and never once taking them off. This, of course, would mean that he completely missed out on whatever was going on with the other guy.

When the command was given to the back of his ear, Won sneezed. Dogs often used sneezing to communicate to the humans that they were not aggressive, and in his instance, Won was sneezing to confirm that he understood the order. A flicker to his ears would have alerted the others that she’d spoken, or that he’d heard something that they had not, so a simple sneeze would just have to do in the meantime.

For now, he would wait for the kitten to leave the den. Once he left, the Empress would be dropped off, and he would follow them as directed.

^^
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At first the big cat listened, until a sort of maximum information overload hit.  Taking a moment to mull through what she said and filter out the usual predictable lecture. Two and two got put together, she was emotional.  Though she did a great job at hiding it, it made sense that Kuhn had hit a sore spot with her own daughter. It was only by the content of what she was saying could he figure this out.  She likely didn't bring him here just to tell him that he couldn't hunt their mountain, Tiberius could have told him that in the Everfrost.  

Hearing whispers, it crossed his mind that he could be in danger, he had offended a powerful woman, and a mother; their was nothing left to say as reason was now gone.  Without a word his hackles raised at the suspicion that he could be double crossed now.  Though it was only a suspicion.  The best option if that where true would be to seize Reiko now, and bargain his way out.  Though, he didn't come here to make things worse, he wouldn't be the villain based on paranoia. 

There was plenty he wanted to say, but it would be wasted breath.  He turned to leave in silence, keeping his wits about him, making slow threatening individual eye contact with every present guard aside from Tiberius.  His eyes would tell them to keep their distance, assuring them that treachery would be answered with the death of the first one who dared.  It wasn't what he wanted. 

Leaving, his stride was surprisingly full of confidence.  He had it off his chest and his own conscious was clear, he didn't feel bad at all.  He no longer needed to try with Reiko, and had made up his mind about her.  Typical, gritless, mediocre... Irrelevant. 
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 It was quite the crowd, wasn't it? Gyrfalcon could easily have wandered off to do something else because this was probably none of her business. However, she was being nosy and wanted to hear what the empress wanted with the pet tiger. Her ears twitched towards the conversation and she marveled at the cool tone that Reiko used. It seemed to only amuse the striped beast and his threats and callous tones only infuriated her more. They should shred his stupid hide to pieces! Let him leave after that, he'd think twice before coming back with that trespassing bitch. He looked around at everyone and the woman silently sniffed in disdain.

 She ripped and tore at the carcass, trying to delicately peel away hide from flesh but was just tearing it in her rage. He pissed her off, she wanted him out of here asap. Soon, she got her wish as the law was laid down. He was unwelcomed, as was Valmua. The red bitch. If she saw them hanging around she'd gladly call for backup and get them escorted off of the lands. If only she were strong enough to whip them herself.

 In any case, he began to look around in the heart of the territory with a threat in his eyes at those guarding him. Gyrfalcon narrowed her eyes on him, watching. There was nothing she could do if he decided it was easier to attack them all now --and how fucking irritating was that?-- but she could hopefully raise some sort of alarm if it happened. But, there seemed to be no incident forthcoming--

 “Gyrfalcon, please remain I have a different task for you.” Huh? What? Her head snapped around to Reiko, the anger and irritation that had burned in her eyes was replaced with confusion. A different task? Her? Was she insane?

 And yet...

 The downed falcon felt her heart flutter in her chest, there was some excitement there. Joy that she would be able to do something, anything more than just lying around feeling sorry for herself. She would wait until it had cleared out a bit more and then she would hobble over to Reiko, ears perked. "What sort of task do you mean?" She asked, hope fluttering that she would be able to really contribute again.

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It did shape up to be an interesting gathering, one that the Ostrega was glad to be able to catch. He would much rather hear and see it for himself, then take his own conclusions as needed. Even as proceedings began, Antares remained skeptical for how this might unfold; right away, he didn't sense a warm reception. He picked up names, and pieced together in greater detail what had happened to land them all here and now.

The feline did offer a gift, but Reiko's tone stayed cold as she recounted their history. It seemed that was enough, the damage was done and hunting permissions were revoked, though ultimately the empress still sought a peaceful conclusion here. It didn't appear that the tiger would argue any, but something about it all still didn't inspire great trust to him--though he had come to find he simply leaned that way with cats by default. Antares was a bit tense, waiting to see what the next move would actually be as he slipped forward from his lookout post, angling towards Lord Kuhn to help escort him out. Would he keep the peace? What had he wanted of this meeting, besides a frigid lashing from the empress?

Antares leveled back his menacing eye contact best he could hope to, his tail stiffening as he did, while simultaneously wishing to vanish. He took up a stride to follow the cat's confident leave after that. He kept a few body lengths between them out of some respect for.. whatever this was, and of course, unless addressed he had nothing to say after all of that that. Not now, and not today. He would shadow along beside, or close enough, until Kuhn left the territory and then some.

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 A duty? For her? It was a small thing but it made her feel immensely useful. Vera had taken her leg, not her mouth and she would make sure to spread it far and wide that that red bitch and her pet were no longer welcome. The earthen-toned female dipped her head. "Consider it done." Well, now she had something else to do besides make pelts for the others. -exit-

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