behold, the pretty filthy creatures

Winter's chill grasped this land tightly, refusing to let go. It was as if it was held by the throat — a madness and panic that made others scutter and skitter. All around, she could tell the meadows had been taken by coming frost and the anxiety of other canines. Their stench was strong, self-proclaimed healers, looking to stock their cache before all was blanketed. While she did not blame them in the end, it was survival of the fittest, she also scoffed over the poor pickings they left.

She felt like a scavenger. A bird plucking stray meat from the bones of the fallen. It made her fucking sick. She left the flowers and foliage to their devices, merely glancing them over once or twice. Seeing that the crop was saved, and would flourish next spring, she let it be. Instead, she wandered indiscriminately. With no community to call her own here, she was left to her own devices. This was both useful and dangerous. She had to think about survival and would continue to look for some idiot pack to take her in. 

Nobody knew here here. It would be easy to weasel in.

Looking up from her trek, the young woman started when she locked eyes with a greyscale man. A brow lifted, and her head tilted somewhat. But she said nothing. He didn't really seem to grasp her presence yet. It, too, would be easy to slip away. And she did turn, somewhat and slightly, before a voice reached her ears. She stopped dead then. What did he want? She didn't know him. He didn't know her.

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Having recently completed @Izumi's first round of training, the crane previously expressing her wish to hone her skills in the ways of battle, Osamu found himself more and more drawn to this peaceful place. He was by no means a romantic - at least, not that he had yet discovered - but the view was pleasant, and what scent remained of the many flowers that dotted the landscape tickled his nose in an enjoyable way. Being a wolf lent so much more color to the five senses. At first he had abhorred the change, missing the more dexterous nature of hands and their base utilities, among them the gift of cooking - but he could not deny the intensity of the difference between life then versus now.

Sounds were sharper - clearer. His ear twitched, and he could easily pinpoint the exact location and distance of the source of any noise, whether it be the sweet sound of birdsong or a stranger rustling through the underbrush.

Scents were more impactful - for better or worse, he thought ruefully.

Sensation, touch, so much more sensitive with four paws upon the earth, traversing terrain of all kinds in his adventures across the land.

Sight - he could detect movement with much more clarity, and although he did not see in the vibrant hues of his previous form, his heightened awareness and visual scope lent him an edge over most prey he encountered.

Perhaps the only thing that proved lacking in this body was the entire deal having to do with taste, being relegated mostly to raw meat at this point, but he supposed it was a reasonable sacrifice to make.

So caught up in his reverie, Osamu did not even notice the wolf who appeared nearby until she had almost come upon him. His eyes flickered toward her, briefly startled, though his body made no move to flinch.

“Greetings,” he said cordially, dipping his head out of habit. Any woman he would automatically treat with respect, having been raised on such terms. “I am Osamu. I was simply enjoying the view.”

He shifted, then, unsure of what else to say.

The lady was painted by a dark palette, decorated in hues of umber and deep charcoal, touched with a hint of navy, perhaps, in the right light. She wore a studious expression, seeming quite occupied with her work, but it appeared she had seen him long before he had spotted her - a fault on his part, and one he clearly must work toward to better.

“You seem... busy.”

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He introduced himself, behaving in a courteous way. Almost knightly. Inwardly, she flinched. The resemblance was an emotional one — not physical. Jinx drew in a short, curt breath before gathering herself. No way, this guy was definitely not the one she recalled from her world. Golden boys were a dime a dozen, it seemed. He was nothing special, this Osamu. Now that he had addressed her, she couldn't exactly slip away unnoticed. For all she knew, he'd attack her when her back was turned in an obvious retreat. Even if her back was to him now, half turned, he at least spoke first. 

"I ain't busy" she replied at last. The woman turned her body to fully face the other greyscale. He dressed in pale greys instead of russet points though. His eyes were blue, not a sharp yellow. He made the mistake of trying to talk to her. The weird people in this world, she swears to the gods... All cheerful as fuck. He even smelt like that woman, that one that spoke the strange language at the Watering Hole "I assume you're one of Aika's companions?" She asked him bluntly, though not as cutting as it could be. He didn't look to be related, so he could have just been traveling with the group.

Jinx turned to look past him, back the way she had come. A curt nod is given to the water's body. "Met her back there" she said out of keeping the conversation — and information — coming "she said she was travelin' with her kin and companions" She fleetingly wondered if Aika had even mentioned meeting her or if her warmth was just a facade "name's Jinx."

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Perhaps it was the afternoon's hazy light, but something in the stranger seemed to darken at his presence. She had been guarded before, clearly no stranger to a potential threat, but as he spoke, her jaw set almost imperceptibly into a hard line and a vague tenseness set in around her. Either he reminded her of someone she did not care to think about, or he simply rubbed her the wrong way, but he decided to continue on their halted conversation in a neutral fashion for her sake.

"I ain't busy."

She spoke in a clipped tone, terse and unwelcoming, but had she been truly undesiring of company she would have turned right then and marched off. No - something kept her here, whether it was idle curiosity or a need for more information regarding some distant subject, but he assumed she would get to her reasoning soon enough.

"I assume you're one of Aika's companions?"

Her lip curled unexpectedly, the movement so subtle it might have been easily miss by anyone else - but Osamu had a trained eye, and he quirked a brow at her distaste. He wondered if it had to do with the group itself or her general demeanor, but thought it prudent not to ask.

“I serve my lady Izumi,” he responded matter-of-factly. “I do not yet know the names of her family or followers; to others, I am not what one might call a social butterfly.”

He had learned the phrase fairly recently and was pleased to be able to use it in proper context. On the other hand, the stranger would likely argue he was doing a damned good job at being social right now, which he would not refute.

“Well met, Jinx.”

She continued sternly on after that, describing only in vague detail how she had encountered the individual a short time back - there was no trace of fondness in her inflection, merely an exchange of information to satisfy her own ends.

“You say you have met one of her own - did the message of Izumi not resonate with you?”

A personal question, but meant with no pointed end. Osamu did not take things personally, and preferred to glean information in his own way, whether it could be put to use or not.

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Service. Serving. Loyalty. Blinded. Coercion was over with; fealty was demanded. She preferred not to serve anyone. The line between thinking for yourself and trying to please others was a fine one. She felt it wasn't good to follow if you couldn't remain an individual. Osamu spoke of a woman that Aika hadn't even bothered to mention. Jinx's face narrowed thoughtfully, especially her yellow eyes. "Seems odd you don't know your lady's siblings by their names" Faces she could understand but didn't this Izumi not speak of them? "we didn't talk about her, actually."

She shifted a bit in her standing, though not one of unease or tension like before. It was an attempt to get comfortable now. "Aika only mentioned she was travelin' with siblings" Gods, she dodged a bullet if the message didn't reach her. What was this, a cult? She felt a spike of wariness. "we discussed other things." Important things, like this realm's intentions. Jinx even went as far as to discuss her realm a bit. Even if she was a right bitch at times, she also knew it was a bit rude to talk about another's private conversation. She kept it vague, but not because of Aika's sake. 

If this was a cult, though... They'd find fault anyway.

The gathering of kin and servants was the makings of a community. But unlike others, she had no interest in these foreign-speaking wolves. It would be a bother to learn and speak their language. It would be a bother to be talked around if she refused. Who knew what shit they'd say directly to her face, but speak Common and not? Jinx would rather avoid that hassle. In the end, it was not worth what it could give back to her. She had a feeling that higher ranks went to family, anyway.

This world couldn't give her what she wanted. But if she chose to be somewhere and part of something, she'd prefer something with a fancy title. A leg up above others. "So what ya doing out here alone?" she asked him, cutting through the silence "need some space?" Didn't his lady need him?

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For Osamu, servitude did not necessarily mean enslavement. He regarded most things of such nature as transactional; he would offer his services, and in return he would be paid in coin, food, or shelter, whichever of the three he presently had most need of. Circumstances had changed with his arrival here, however, and now he offered his skills for the safety net of a pack - greater resources gleaned from the collective, and taking up a cause along with it which he found more and more inclined to believe in.

Izumi was once a woman of high standing - heir to a dynasty, from her words. Osamu thought it a worthy pursuit to aid her in rebuilding her empire from the shambles it had become, and perhaps even carving out a niche of his own within it so that he might retire one day without needlessly looking over his shoulder.

A distant thought, of course. He had many good years of hard work left in him yet, being only at the five-year-mark, but it seemed wise to plan ahead.

However, it seemed the woman before him was made only of hard edges and bile; he observed the way her eyes narrowed as she sardonically mentioned his lack of knowledge of the Fujiwara family tree, to which he responded with a gentle roll of his shoulders.

“I have not had the opportunity to introduce myself to the rest of her clan,” he said simply, unblinking in his peculiar, stony gaze. “When it is pertinent, we will know each other. I was contracted by Izumi alone to assist her in learning the ways of the warrior, to better defend herself and her future home. I am content in the meantime to coexist with nameless faces.”

Names were useful for everyday conversation, yes, but so very personal - they were so easy to kill, and so easy to miss. He had buried more names than he cared to recall.

"Aika only mentioned she was travelin' with siblings," Jinx said with a hint of disdain. "We discussed other things."

It seemed she did not wish for him to know what these 'other things' were, and he respectfully let the subject drop.

"So what ya doing out here alone? Need some space?"

“When my services are not immediately required, I find the mere act of walking to be calming,” Osamu responded casually, glancing down at the withered flowers next to his paws. His eyes shifted back up again, meeting Jinx's own cold stare. “What of you? Do you plan to take your ire out upon what remains of the beautiful foliage?”

If she looked very carefully, and studied his mouth at just the right angle, she might have seen the corner twitch up into a ghost of a smile.

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"Well, as long as you get to know them in time."

She let it drop as he did, but had to make the comment first. Aika had been... fine, she had been good around Jinx. Despite her indifference and somewhat hostile remarks. Aika even tried to follow after her when she snapped at the other woman. Though it was no fault of the Japanese woman, and Jinx tried to make the point that her talks of 'being in the ground' were unwelcoming to others. Her family would miss her if she was gone.  Simple. 

Aika was lucky to have family still around. 

Especially in this world, where you could easily become spirited away from them in another. Never to see them again. Never knowing what and how they were doing. Frankly, Osamu seemed to be assuming a whole lot of Jinx in the short moments they talked. If she was bothered by him, she'd move on. If she was annoyed with him, he'd know about it. She didn't like to talk about herself or others she had met in great length. Perhaps this was just a sign of respect; not talking shit about people.

Personally, she felt was very odd he traveled with their group and hadn't introduced himself yet. Surely they knew of him. Maybe because she once was part of a caravan of Romani... It was difficult not to turn to another person and start talking on the road. "Ya say 'contacted'... Did you not come from the same place as them?" Jinx sniffed idly, as if trying to catch his origins by smell alone "or rather, did ya not know of them in the world you were before?" They could be from the same place...

In the end, it was none of her business. Just passing curiosity. She wasn't going to be offended if Osamu refused to answer. She snorted in some amusement when he was finally direct with his assessment of her. "If I was offended or irked, I would have said so by now, much less not talk to ya" Jinx pointed out to the man "maybe you're just assumin' I'm behaving in a way cause you don't know me personally" But she was, also, not offended. Pointing it out, really "but I ain't mad about that either."

"So I'll be direct" she adds "I ain't upset in any way. Not with ya, or Aika, nor even your lady. I just talk like this. It ain't personal toward ya" She allowed this to sink into the man's skull before continuing "so, yeah. I talked with Aika, but she didn't mention a pack. It never came up. But what we talked about is... not my place to tell others. She'll do it if she wants to" Though she sorta hoped Aika would get over such thoughts in the long run. "but it ain't against your lady." She would add this.

Just in case he had a worry about dissent.

"But, no, I'm not going to start tearing up the field" she stated "the frost'll do that without my influence." She needed the foliage to continue working anyway. Killing your items and tools was a waste.

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"Well, as long as you get to know them in time."

Strange, how quickly this woman flitted from hot to cold with her remarks and mannerisms. At first she had seemed to harbor some significant distaste for Aika and her ilk, but now it was suddenly very much her business that Osamu get to know the whole clan - she was a mystery, but he chose not to provoke her by inquiring further. Perhaps there was a more personal history between them that he did not know of.

He held his tongue, and let her continue, observing the defensive flash of her sun-yellow eyes as they raked across his form.

Osamu returned her gaze serenely.

“I first met Izumi alone, here, wandering the Plains,” he offered by way of explanation, hoping to soothe the prickly woman before him. “The first I have seen of any of the rest of her people was at a great gathering only some days ago.”

Jinx seemed only slightly mollified, barking out another short series of questions, possibly meant as a mild interrogation to assess if he was another as-yet undiscovered Fujiwara or a threat to the clan as a whole - not that she likely cared.

"Ya say 'contacted'... did you not come from the same place as them? Or rather, did ya not know of them in the world you were before?"

The samurai shook his head slowly, closing his eyes briefly during the movement.

No - he knew no one from his past.

“I suspect we share a land of origin, given the statements I have heard in passing,” he remarked in his signature monotone. “But I do not find any of them familiar - however, it is a line of inquiry that I should like to pursue further.”

Jinx derailed the conversation from the Fujiwara dynasty at large and went on to speak more of herself and her own conduct, justifying her rough nature and terse manner of speech simply by the way that she was. Osamu shrugged, personally unaffected by her exposition but pleased with her own self-awareness.

He knew he wasn't particularly social or well-adjusted either, after all.

I talked with Aika, but she didn't mention a pack. It never came up. But what we talked about is... not my place to tell others. She'll do it if she wants to - but it ain't against your lady.

That was enough for Osamu, who was grateful for the bookend statement. It would have been extraordinarily difficult to reconcile handling two warring siblings of high status, though duty and obligation dictated he would side with Izumi - he was her sworn samurai, and answered primarily to her.

“That is comforting.”

His glance shifted toward the ground between them, and he noticed the interesting inflection in her tone.

“Not fond of winter?”

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She refused to apologize or feel bad for behaving like she always did. Jinx did not bow down and conform to another's standards, and she was willing to place the man's earlier assessment (or continual assessment) of her to the side. "Did ya die in your world?" Aika said she had died, but she had not in any way "ya mentioned wantin' to continue such a topic, that's just why I ask. I didn't die, but others have. I slipped into this world, aware I was being taken away from mine." Though the circumstances were up in the air. She remembered being there, exiting the cave-in, and then... nothing. She remembered that she lived through it, remembered surviving. 

"But if you don't want to talk about it deeply, I won't press" Jinx added to Osamu "trying to make sense of this place is something we have in common, that's all" Death was a sensitive topic for anyone, that was perhaps her only sympathy to another's plight. The man would continue and she barked a laugh. It was short and curt but to the point. Somehow amusing "winter is piss poor for my tools of trade" She remarked after her cawing died down "all the flowers and plants dying makes being a healer harder unless ya stock up ahead of time" Seeing as she didn't have a community yet, nor a pack, she had to leave what she gathered behind when she moved places "there's no point in keeping a cache unless ya got a steady flow of patients."

So her items were more preparation for herself than others.

"Lemme guess" Jinx muses "ya like spring?" Her words were wondering, not accusing "I heard your language, met with people like yourself before in my world. They always spoke fondly of sakura - cherry blossoms. Said the sight was beautiful and that they wanted spring to arrive. Their favorite viewing season. That's what they said in Common Tongue, anyway" She shrugged "not that you're all the same, no. They just missed their home, and I don't know anything about your culture outside of spices and sakura."

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He flinched, jarred by the abrupt way she asked. The samurai was fine talking about it - it was something that had happened, after all, and one could not change the facts - but it was still difficult to reconcile one's brain to the harsh reality of having perished once before. It still didn't feel right, and he looked down at his paws pensively, flexing his claws into the earth with a brooding sort of look. How she spoke of exiting her own world, however, met him with some surprise.

“You 'slipped' into this place - and knew while it happened?” he asked, intrigued; a strange new interest lit up behind his eyes. The way she spoke of it, the transition almost sounded intentional.

“I was slain by a demon,” he said quickly, more interested in the woman's tale than his own. “It is strange how scars do not carry into this place, or I should look very different to you now.”

In his past life, he had possessed a drawn face full of fine lines and a great, jagged scar across his cheek; his hands and forearms were covered in badly-healed cuts and bruises, and at the unfortunate time of his death, he had briefly become the proud owner of a stab through the chest and four claw marks that had raked across his back, tearing through his armor like papier-mâché. No, he didn't mind the fresh canvas - it made him a little less imposing, and conversation was no longer wholly focused around the various stories each scar held.

Osamu raised a brow, then, surprised by her admission. He did not take Jinx to be a healer upon first glance - he typically knew healers to be soft-spoken and gentle, which were often necessary attributes in their line of work so as not to ruffle the patient who was already likely in enough pain. She was far pricklier than he would have taken one for, but then again, this world was full of surprises. He surmised she must enjoy it enough to continue the trade, in spite of her surly attitude.

“I suppose that is right,” he conceded. She continued for a time, muttering unhappy quips about the coming change of season and its impact upon her work, and he felt himself suddenly very amused by her antics. Yes - there was no doubt she took pride in her trade.

“Lemme guess - ya like spring?”

Osamu snorted as she went on, though the action was not malicious or angry. She spoke of 'his people' and their fondness for cherry blossoms - mercifully without scorn - and seemed about to lump them all together into a melting-pot of assumptions, when she backtracked at the last moment and retracted the implication. He was impressed. She might have possessed a hard way of speech, but she wasn't necessarily cruel - just opinionated.

That wasn't such a bad thing.

“It is true - that cherry blossoms are beautiful, and something that must be seen to be truly believed,” he affirmed quietly, looking out across the field. “But I enjoy winter. The stillness - the quiet - the soft sound of snow beneath your footsteps. There is something almost... soothing about the way that it hushes the world around you. It is a time of reflection, of peace.”

He almost - almost - considered flashing her a tired smile, but instead settled for flicking his gaze back toward the woman with a bemused expression. “I suspect that is not what a healer likes to hear, of course.”

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Jinx closed her eyes, scrunching her face as she recalled the sensation. "Felt like somethin' was pulling me. Thought I was walking in a subconscious way, but it was more than that. Drifting and pulling is different" She mused, remembering the sensation well "didn't hear a voice. No warning. My vision just went black. Felt like I was falling from a great height, but I didn't feel the air. It was suffocating. Something was going on, I knew that much. It wasn't normal. Woke up after falling unconscious with all my memories intact. I hear some folks say that their memories are absent, foggy, or missing though." She snapped her eyes open.

The way she described it held no sorrow or anger, just a matter of fact. Reciting a sensation or action. She felt it was stupid to latch onto what could be, and though she wanted in her heart of hearts to claw her way back to her world... Jinx knew it wasn't meant to be. "Slain" she repeats his chosen word, not saying that demons typically ate or consumed their prey. His demons were potentially different than her own, she also assumed. Osamu didn't talk much about his death, so she didn't press it "ya did more than appear different. Ya got a whole new body to boot, combined with your revival." She didn't know he had been a different species though. That would have been interesting.

She shrugged as the conversation continued. He seemed to be amused by her words, not offended. Even proceeded to tell her his preference of season. "Every season has its use and issues," Jinx remarked "and that's your personal opinion anyway. Why would I waste my time tryin' to change your view? Like it or not, that's what you prefer. There are some plants that survive in winter and frost even" Waste of time, indeed "just tickles me funny that I'm talkin' to someone from that culture when I couldn't understand a lick of what those people spoke about back in my world." She smirked now, amused.

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Jinx spoke with a measured severity, closing her eyes as she recounted the experience. He was very curious, not believing it possible to drift into this land consciously and with full memory; he thought one simply either woke in a confused stupor or arrived through some other macabre means. She spoke with conviction, however, so he listened.

She told him of walking - tethered, almost, in a dreamlike state, pulled toward something she could not touch or see. How she continued, footstep after footstep, led long by some invisible force until -

What Jinx described was almost exactly what he had experienced going through the portals that had suddenly appeared throughout the landscape. Osamu had utilized them in a bid for freedom, for escape from this unfamiliar hellscape, and he remembered well the suffocating sensation she described; just like falling, but seeing no earth, no sky. All had been a void which he had been unceremoniously thrust into, recalling how the air had been sucked straight out of his lungs as he was flung helplessly into nothing.

He did not, however, lose consciousness. Osamu was spat out from the other end of the portal and into the open sea, and it had been deeply, deeply unpleasant.

He stared at her, fascinated.

“We had... such things appear, many moons ago,” he ventured after a brief interim. “Doors - entrances - I do not even know how to describe them, but some strange means of traveling vast distances manifested themselves here, and they were similar to what you described. I went through them myself, wishing to find a way back home... alas, my efforts only saw me placed at the other end of the countryside.”

The way she repeated the word 'slain' gave him pause, and he regarded her with an inquisitive look. She seemed to be wrestling with its deeper meaning.

Oh.

“Slain, as in run through with a sword,” he said casually, as if it were one of the more normal things that had happened to him of late.

Osamu glanced down at his fluffy chest as she mentioned his new body, and the reminder almost made him wince. He rather liked being human - the hands thing was honestly pretty great - and he still had trouble finding sustenance in this form, completely unused to having no tools but the ones that came attached to his own body. “It seems that is the case,” he said with some regret, “Although I miss the one I had.”

He'd lived in it for some forty-odd years, after all. You got used to a thing after a while. Comfortable.

Jinx had warmed up to the samurai, it seemed, and spoke with a more natural ease than she had in their first moments together. All the talk of dying and being pulled into another world seemed to create some kind of connection between the pair, and for that he felt some relief.

Osamu took on a strange expression, and thought

"こんなこと?" — You mean like this? he said... teasingly. My god, he was trying to branch out.

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Funny, how talking like this would be banned and shunned in her world. It was why her people embraced change, unshackled by the beliefs of the kingdom they oft traded with. Until shit hit the fan. "Mmm." She mused to herself, taking his words with both a grain of salt and believing them. It was still hard to believe it had happened. Osamu repeated her own repeat, speaking of a sword that a demon used. The demons of her world were more manipulative and made others do their dirty work. She didn't think a demon was physically strong enough — unless you believed the churches spouting different circles of power — to run someone through.

"Your demons are bolder than mine."

It was the only thing she remarked on before he switched back to being unnaturally playful. He spoke the same language the Spice Traders did, and she twitched an eye before boldly approaching him. Jinx stared frankly and totally at the man before she tried to - more or less and if allowed - whack him wolf-like upside the head with her paw. "Like that," she snorted, not knowing at all what he had said. Not knowing she had more or less, again, repeated his words "stop that." But she didn't growl or snarl at him, demanding him to stop for true. It was like Aika. She stated bluntly what she felt like, with no formal connection or care. 

Jinx walked back from him quick-like, as if he would retaliate from her 'tease'.

It was almost like a mother scolding a child. "You're all going to give me a headache, switching back and forth" She groans, shaking her head "and there's more of ya around, speaking that language? Good gods."

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He had perhaps been mistaken.

She was, in fact, still very much cold and terse, and as the woman lifted her paw in an aggressive wind-up to strike at his head, he jerked his neck nimbly to the side and bristled reflexively. His eyes took on a cold glint, flashing silver steel as he fought back a rumbling snarl that threatened to escape from the back of his throat.

Jinx admonished him without malice, however, and she did not look ready to start a fight. He realized it was simply the way she behaved, and felt his hackles lower again as he wrestled down his rising tension.

Un-learning old habits would prove to be a long journey for the samurai. His experiences, his profession had never seen one to strike at another without full intention of either beginning a spar or a fight to the bitter death - he swallowed, a hard feeling, still visibly uncomfortable.

He was trying.

“We do not always speak it. We do seem to share a similar land of origin, given our histories and native tongue,” he said speculatively, “However, it is important that we cultivate fluency in the common speech of this place.”

Osamu exhaled, sending the rest of his tension along with it.

“We are currently searching out a permanent home - not in the plains, as it is too sparse, and a bit warm for our comfort - but in the mountains. It is hard going, as they seem quite... populated.”

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