Scene #7637:

Owner	Pose
Hiromi	Though she has visited Grand Dorado, Hiromi didn't find the Metropolis to her liking. She'd therefore completed her business and returned, and it's to an entirely different place, if not far by warp gate, that she invites the two queens. The invitation itself is formal, clearly made by well-educated person serving the Archwolf, rather than by Hiromi herself, and delivered by what would be a typical dockworker for a tropical island, tanned and built with muscle-fat and lightly dressed, but for that he is also deferentially polite, and has a natural fighter's gait. Rather than mention of a welcoming feast and challenge, as that last such invitation had been, this one is focused on an item Isahane should remember well. Hiromi took that endless sake gourd after the fight with the oni, and invites them both to help her empty it. That is clearly impossible, but it's what the invitation says. The messenger is offered to act as a guide, but there are carefully written instructions on how to reach Hiromi's current den, as well. Not penned, by the look of it, but drawn with a calligrapher's brush. The first impression, on arrival, is that one is above the clouds. Mountain peaks are visible in every direction, close and steep and narrow. And yet, on further inspection, those clouds are low-hanging fog, and some river runs not so far below. Close enough to see the boats and their battened sails, though it would be hours of trekking and climbing down the cliffs to reach them. Wherever the ground allows for it, and even where it seems as if it shouldn't, greenery rises from miniature plateaus, winding trails, and every crevice into which centuries of wind has carried a trace of soil. There are buildings, too, towers and bridges and villages, terraced farms flooded from mountain streams and rain, though these are all below the place to which the queens have been directed, and the mists obscure them. Up here, the one free-standing structure is a red, open gate, just a set of carefully made crossbars between two wooden pillars. Though it must hold some significance, and is as far as any guide will take them, there is nothing apparently magical in the marker, nor does it present physical security. But then, considering this place's occupant, the presence of a defensive wall would be redundant. It's not as grand as that other feasting hall, but it's far more lived-in. It's hard to say whether it's a cave or a building, having walls of seemingly natural, water-worn stone, yet made for the comfortable motion of one about Isahane's height, and with nearly even floors. Roots twist along the ceiling and down the walls, a reminder of the massive trees growing just above. Wooden beams, these ones carved by the hands of carpenters, are sunk into holes near the ceiling made perfectly for them, without any sign of cracked stone. Colorful rugs and beaded tapestries hang from these, forming walls and doorways, before fur and cloth can be seen underfoot. There is a sense of others also being here, though they stay out of sight, beyond one rug-hung doorway or another. Lights hang from the ceilings, too, though their covered flames provide only dim, warm light, just enough to make out the artisan's designs. One must pass by abstract scenes of birds taking flight from lakes, trees growing over streams, and wolves stalking hares, before coming to the place Hiromi sits.
Hiromi	She would look unprepared for either outing or battle, if it were possible for one of Hiromi's inspiring physique, and predator's bearing, to ever look unready for violence. That said, she is 'at home,' with the only notable item one might not have expected her to still be wearing being that pair of bronze bands above her biceps. The wolf's head designs on them seem just a little heavy for what's otherwise an extreme of casual dress. The long, low table has no chairs, but what must be sheepskin provides thick and soft rugs for cross-legged seating. The room has no waitstaff, but someone must have prepared the cooked dishes, similar to that previous time, ranging from whole duck and chicken to stewed or grilled vegetables. Steaming, as well, seems popular here. There's room for four, and even the impression that someone may have been seated next to Hiromi not too long ago, though there's no one there now, nor was one seen leaving. "Come, sit," she says, "and Be Welcome." the vocalized not-word is an open invitation to treat a place as a temporary home, as well as to bother those living there, at least as much as family would. The gourd was sitting on the table, along with a number of empty, shallow, earthenware dishes, black on the bottom, red on top. Hiromi lifts the gourd, and upends it, pouring three servings without spilling a drop, and sets the gourd down again. Even from a distance, one can tell the quality of that cloudy liquor. Smooth and strong, yet also raw, just faintly sweet by smell, and fiery at even a sip.
Undivided Queens	So it would seem, this time the destination is so high up that Seilatiya of the Queens cannot be bothered to summon up a chariot or palanquin or anything of the sort, yet she had been the one most excessively keen to reply to such an invitation. Instead, after remarking that the foggy height and its matching river and green terraces is "Super cozy.", she has poked and prodded and hassled the woman roughly two feet taller to "Carry meeeeee~!", claiming that it's "More romantic that way! Don't you want to look cool?!" Isahane couldn't quite be said to be 'on the other hand' in this case. She'd been the primary responder to Hiromi's invitation the first time, and though she'd gotten a little battered up, the time was still largely enjoying (and most of the battering sort of her teammates' faults). What she remarks on first is that she "Expected something to be underground." and is pleasantly surprised by the "Smarter, more defensible choice." She says it "Reminds her a little of home." before this intensely annoys Seilatiya, getting back "Huh? What part?! This is totally different! And besides, isn't your home in those Ancestral Lands you were always talking about anyways?!" Carrying her up the mountain becomes Isahane's penance. Not that it's even slightly difficult for her. She can't be as ridiculously strong as Hiromi, but she's still what anyone else would call 'ridiculously strong'. One lady-like lady in her arms is a trivial thing even to fly up there, summoning those dragon-like wings that don't actually quite match her horns, and are indeed slightly different from before, possibly due to barely wearing anything on her torso instead of a full suit of armour. What's really impressive is that Seilatiya reaches the top, cuddled up to her chest, seemingly without a single cherry blossom-coloured hair out of place. Being gently put down, she claps her hands together and trots around the area with breath-holding glee, removing her sandals on the plush rugs and poring over not just the curtains and tapestries, but even the tree routes winding through what she calls a "Home base! No, wait, lair!" and then begrudgingly admitting that this part "Better resembles where you used to live. With less trophies and stuff, and different designs, but, you know." Isahane, slightly vengefully, picks her up again when she starts wandering too far, and carries her to where Hiromi is waiting with a teasing "We aren't all the way there, it seems. Come on." And yes, it seems Isahane had definitely been looking forward to seeing that gourd. Food, too, is a very good reason to show up, but the oni liquor has been on her mind for a little while. Feeling the insulated warmth of the cave on a humid mountain, Isahane strips off that waist cloth, shawl, and removes her open leather-bound boots, and then helps Seilatiya out of two of her fabously patterned layers, until she's wearing something closer to a cozy, eastern house dress, close-fit and hugged with a tightly wound silk sash, as well as some quantity of her jewelry. Though Isahane sits cross-legged at the invitation, Seilatiya kneels down by the table, though this makes her hair touch the soft floor. The former makes sure to grab as much seared duck as she can, while the latter pardons herself to acquire carefully selected vegetables with chopsticks seemingly from her sleeve (which are aggressively pink and gold), but the both of them, apparently, are the type to wait for drinks to be served before digging in. In the meantime, Seilatiya spends her time dreamily staring at Hiromi with her chin in her fingers, and Isahane asks "Is this where you came from? Before the Concord. It wasn't what I expected for your home, but I think it's better. There's something about the mountains. Right?"
Hiromi	One does not tend to think of wolves as fastidiously clean, but the fact that the sheepskin is covered in pure, white, heavenly fluffiness, despite its purpose as a place to put one's feet after having been outside, may speak to the care that someone has been taking in this place. That Hiromi's appearance never suffers from the appearance of earth should be less surprising. She does not have the particular aura that Seilatiya possesses, but there is still the sense about her that Persephone had named 'so real.' It's a subtle but pervasive effect, like a focus on the foreground, a sharpened clarity not literal enough to be captured by photograph, as much a sense of weight as anything. It's like the impulse to hold one's breath while witnessing one massive force descending, deceptively slowly and at a distance, into another, knowing that a shockwave is imminent. It's the expectation that that which is held still, for this moment, may be unleashed at any other. Time may acclimate one to what would otherwise be quickly overwhelming. But she's not so much as moving quickly, right now. The sense of potential energy is figurative, perhaps even imaginary. She's just setting down the gourd, waiting for the other two to sit, and handing each of them one of the saucer-like cups. The last she takes for herself, and raises it, though first she answers the question posed. "From lands close to these, other mountains, but I roamed, I hunted, until I came here. I left, and returned. Many times." Her voice is smoother than usual, though it's more likely to be her difficulty with radios than the alcohol affecting her. Even when she's not using that speech of growling and howling, there's a subvocalization, a line beneath her words, that reinforces the meaning. It's subtle, unlikely to be caught by one unused to the concept, or unfamiliar with it. "But now, come, drink!" Hiromi tilts the earthenware at her lips, tilting her head back with it, taking all of it at once. It may seem small against her, but the natural truth is that she's big, even when she's not in the form of a massive, monstrous, four-legged wolf. She sets the emptied dish onto the table, and immediately pours herself another, while speaking again. "Dragon Veins," she says, and though it's the name of something, the meaning is unfolded beneath it. Not the veins of a dragon, but lines of power that run between heaven and earth, more like the veins of the world itself, permeating all between, and affecting what they touch. "Where river meets stone meets cloud, these are also found. Sometimes. Where trees grow from such earth and water, they carry potential," a capacity, or energy, that can be transformed or transferred to other things, "for many seasons. Hundreds. Fortunate places. 'Lucky' places." That word is one she knows, but feels foreign to her, somehow. "Good places for resting, for growing, for easy training, for raising pups." If any more is needed, she'll refill the drink for the other two. There's plenty of it, after all. The food is good, the best the locals could have prepared with skill and reverently careful attention, but the sake is incredible. "Mountains. Do you have them, like these, in your home?" She asks that to Isahane, though a moment later seeming to remember that she has a question for Seilatiya, "Homes. You can build them, but do you build like these?"
Undivided Queens	"Hey Isa." "What is it?" "I thought of something." "What?" "You know those calligraphic paintings? With the heavy brush outlines? Do you remember what I told you line-weighting is?" "Yes." "Hiromi has the biggest, heaviest line weights, don't you think?" "That's a way of putting it." Seilatiya continues staring dreamily at Hiromi through her expectation, making it somewhat uncertain if she's really absorbing it, but Isahane seems to understand the concept as if it's relatively familiar. "I've never been one to believe much in luck. But in all the other senses, you've chosen well haven't you? You understand the importance land. Not just for what can be extracted from it, but for the land itself, and the value of home." Seilatiya smirks at 'raising pups'. Once they have drinks, both of the pair make themselves thoroughly busy with them. Isahane chugs her first serving only mildly more politely than at the gathering of oni, even going so far as to not throw that dish anywhere. Seilatiya is apparently incredibly talented at gracefully and elegantly sipping quantities that really shouldn't go with that descriptor. Then comes food, because Seila wouldn't be so rude as to let it get cold, and Isa has been waiting all this time to use those chompers. Some companionable semi-silence passes. "Less pleasing to the skin, and less hospitable to the lungs. Fewer things green grow. But the mountains were my first home, before I travelled the length and breadth of the west, thought nothing was easy or restful about them. The skies and the firm stone are familiar in ways that cannot be replaced." Isahane affirms. Seilatiya seems like she needs more of a minute to understand Hiromi's question, staring for a little while before seemingly realizing that she's expected to answer, blinking in maddeningly coquettish surprise, and pulling faintly at her perfect lower lip with her fingertip in thought. "Not really. But it's not like I hate it or anything! This kind of thing-- you've turned nature into a home. It's like, shaping the land, the plants, even turning the animals into parts of 'home'. But when I make things, it's from out of magic. Or, divinity? No, that's not quite right. Because I don't make them out of anything real, but it has to be real, I build it where it's the easiest to build anything." She taps her forehead. "In here~ Because you can build anything in there~ And then when it's finished just the way I like it, I take it out of there, and put it outside, and then it is real."
Hiromi	"I grew in harsher lands," Hiromi says to Isahane, "but here, one can rest softly." She leans back and runs a hand over a white-furred pelt. "Even those who don't sleep enjoy rest," to restore energy and motivation, leisure, recreation, all the things that could never be called 'work,' "after hunting. Now I have many lands to hunt. It is good." She drinks, but doesn't eat much. Perhaps she already has eaten, and that's why Hiromi takes only a little of this dish or that. She takes each taste by apparent whim. One could just as easily believe that this sort of small feast, merely a many-course dinner, wouldn't fill her stomach. That's the impression her sense of size gives, though that's not the reason at all. There's no such power, in the Archwolf, to read the hearts of others, by virtue of her essence or her station. This much is obvious, and Seilatiya could confirm, if she wished to look, that Hiromi isn't merely hiding it. Hiromi hides very little, in fact. It's only the frequent need to form her thoughts into words that prevents them from being revealed. Lacking such an ability, it can only be a purely mundane competence that lets her watch and intuit the meaning of Seilatiya's own look, even when Hiromi appears to be looking in some other direction. Perhaps this, too, is 'hunting.' There's no need to glance between the two queens, when it's a connection she'd already made, from their very first meeting. "You know its importance," she guesses, though whether one can assign the same values as she does is uncertain in most cases, "but, do you raise pups?" 'Too,' unstated. Addressed between them, obviously, she can only mean 'together.' The concept of 'raising' is too complex, too important, to fully carry without her 'true' speech, but she'd stuck to the ordinary word, this time.
Undivided Queens	"It is good, isn't it~?" "Wouldn't that be for me to say? You haven't hunted yourself since years ago." "In a sense~" "And you don't rest as much as you should." "Aww, has it been that bad~?" It's difficult to tell if, into her second dish, Seilatiya is feeling the oni drink or just being herself, despite a mild flush. Isahane is apparently not nearly as buzzed as she would like to be, and begins a third. "But I can feel you're really happy about this, Hiromi. You're excited, aren't you? At all these new places opening up. All these new people to meet. And all these new things to throw fists at~ New things to eat~ New things to experience~ New things to, well, you know~ It's a little infectious~! You're so full of life! Nothing even makes you slow down, never mind want to pause life even for a second. Normally I'm used to trying to raise people up. Fix them. Give them what they don't get to have. But you're really different. Like Isa." There's a pause. "Well, admittedly, a lot less thoughtful and a little more single-minded, but that's not a bad thing!" The answer to the second question is made mostly apparent by the fact that the two answer simultaneously. "A few. Still far too young. They are the charges of the community for now. We have never emulated the royal traditions." "Oh my~ Not until I'm married~ That's just how it is, you know~? But one day~" "In a sense, there are many thousands of people who are yours to 'raise'. They are 'yours' in more senses than only their imperial obligations. They look to you in such a similar way as children, even as grown ones do." "Mhm, but we're not here to talk about that, right? This is rest time~" Isahane appears to consider this for a second, then sigh with the air of someone who looks like they realize they're overthinking something incredibly predictable. Seilatiya daintly pushes her empty plate away, leaning with her elbows on the table in a way that'd be very unpricess-y if it were possible for her to look that way even if she tried. "How about you~? It seems . . . important, to you~ I hear you talk about it a lot, you know."
Hiromi	Just as there are few creatures in existence that someone, somewhere, has not found some way to cook, there are numerous varieties of drink, even considering only those with alcohol, and having not been mixed. Of these, most could be said to be more difficult to swallow as they grow stronger, but there are some exceptions to this, and rice wines are often among them. Even as strong as it is, its creation was clearly balanced by a master, and its light sweetness and rich smoothness, without the complexity or power of such tastes as fruit, produce something dangerous. It's a danger, because one truly could just drink and drink and drink, without tiring of it. Unlike the duck, it won't stop at feeling full. It's doubly a danger, for it appears to have no end. Even so, Hiromi has no sympathy for the oni who had lost to it. That was their own weakness, that they gave themselves over to the satisfaction of a single pleasure. She demands more of life, but good drink is always welcome. "I'm excited," Hiromi answers, truthfully, not repeating the word itself, but something that encompasses it. It's the feeling of blood pumping, hot in your veins. Of the mind wakeful, eyes open and lit. Of desire, with a tinge of hope, and a strong dose of anticipation. It's a complete state of being that is fully understandable, requiring no more explanation than the sound that describes it. 'Everyone knows' what it means. "Hunting, meeting, fighting, eating, seeing, climbing, digging..." Images flash through her mind of each in turn, everything Seilatiya had doubtless expected, and a good few more, things that only a wolf would likely expect. They're simple, easy to understand, requiring little thought, only the context being what is likely to be missed. A wolf likes to dig, and that's no mystery, but the 'why' of it isn't carried in a flash of imagery. "Slowing down? I don't tire, though I can stop to smell..." She pauses, remembering the utterly foreign line, "...'the roses.'" Roses aren't what she'd been thinking of. "In this, too," she says to Isahane, "similar. Many are mine to raise, but you wonder of wolves. Of wolves, some few, too young, showing little of my strength. My mates care for them. For longer, much longer, I needed, to grow. We will see. Yours, too, you hope they'll have your strength, yes? You're a leader of your pack." That's wrapped up in so much social expectation and understanding that a mind could hardly process the meaning carried by the not-word before the speaker has moved on. One thing that stands out, if only in the current context, is that a leader raises the pack, but they have the right / duty / obligation to be as active in adding to the number as possible. The concept of 'heirs' is, perhaps noticeably, absent. Hiromi grins, continuing on without what could have been a convenient pause, "Maybe I have not finished growing. Maybe I will find an even bigger wolf. Proven wrong, on some world. Not yet. None yet have been stronger than I am. But, 'maybe.'" That is very clearly exciting to her, as much as it would require a great altering of her stated views, to have that 'I am the strongest' proven wrong. The reasons are tied back into another complicated mess of wolfish social understandings.
Hiromi	"And you!" she goes on, leaning forward over the table this time, putting down her drink after emptying it... how many times has it been? There's no end to the sake in sight. There won't be, either. "You know a fight, to fight, to drink, to hunt, to eat, to grow!" To Isahane, Hiromi's look is that of a hungry predator, but it's a sympathetic hunger, felt on meeting another carnivore, and one not wholly unlike herself. "Even those with strength, in these homelands, not so many understood. Too busy with old things, broken things, fallen with age and sloth, teeth worn away, never regrown. Barely stepped into new lands, and we meet. Better fate I could not've hoped." Hiromi's still-excited attention turns to Seilatiya. On a smaller figure, it would appear ecstatic to the point of being overwhelmed, but the same quantity of emotion is somewhat diffused, for there is just so much of Hiromi there to feel it. "I know what ails humanity, and who carries shame. Those who would raise them, failed them. But you know this, yes? You know the importance, of care. Of raising pups. Provide what they need, teach what they must know, lead them to strength, set on the path, and then they'll walk it, breaking the cycle fated. Make them strong, and they'll pass on their strength. You understand, yes?" There isn't complete certainty, here. She isn't really certain that Seilatiya understands or, though Hiromi considers these the same question, that Seilatiya agrees. But it isn't that hard to understand the basis of the plan. Foolish parents raise foolish children. Wise parents will break the cycle. Fixing that unfortunate fate is extremely important. How she'll do it, she hasn't yet specified. Only coming back to the point late, Hiromi questions, "When is marriage?" Specifically 'when,' not 'what' or 'with whom.'
Undivided Queens	Indeed, the amount of drink is perhaps slightly dangerous. Isahane's metabolism seems to keep up with it well enough that she maintains her particular dialect without issue, but quickly loosens her posture, takes deep and pleasing breaths of the room, and begins undoing the bindings on her own hair, apparently planning to relax here a while and simply savour the quantity, inhibitions loosened and filled with pleasant warmth. Seilatiya appears to be a teeny bit sloshed, still very far south of white girl wasted (if she's even capable of that), but delighted by everything, giggling, and rose-faced while swishing the remainders of her share around coyly. "I'm excited too~ More than I've been in a really lo~ng time~" she replies. Isahane subvocalizes a laugh-sound, entirely for her own, separate reasons. "Slowing to appreciate finer things, once in so often, is a luxury itself I've grown to appreciate. I once cursed the need to slow at all, but now I think I only lack the patience --no, perhaps even the interest in it-- to not charge forward. What's the point in not trying everything? Not living when given the chance, right in front of you." She nods, not quite 'sagely', but companionably, with Hiromi's answer. "You understand then. They'll grow to be more of my concern with time. But I have high hopes. They have a large shadow to grow into. And I'm not done getting bigger. My people aren't even close to being done." She laughs. "Indeed! And why not? Everyone should know these things! Even humans were made that way! No, some of those things were even made by humans themselves! The human is still part an animal, still a part of nature, of the world. So do as the world does! No use in becoming lost in trying to hide from it." Seilatiya sighs with something approaching infatuation when Hiromi turns back to her. Her half-lidded stare is unblinking, lips upturned, fingertip tracing delicate circles on the tabletop. "I still kinda wanna giggle when you call them pups~" She giggles anyways. "But it's true~ Ev~er~y bit of it~ Ahhh, you're really the complete package, you know~? It took us a while to figure it all out. Ah, but I guess you've 'been around' a while too? It's hard to imagine. You're so . . . big, still~ But even if I'm not big like you or Isa, I think my heart is! And I want them to learn what their 'parents' taught them wrong~!" She enters a genuine fit of giggling when asked about marriage. Isahane replies first and earnestly. "Soon, I think. It felt inappropriate while our people were still wary of one another. Two 'packs' not fully joined. But there is little left to do, so I would wish to make Seila my true-wife." She wraps an arm around the much smaller, insanely delicate and gorgeous looking Empress, and drags her close completely unabashedly. "Indeed indeed~ Even I can't stay occupied with just concubines forever, you know~? Making it off~i~cial~ Ahhh, that's a girl's dream~" Maybe one third sloshed and two thirds being herself. She leans up into Isahane's ear, and whispers something. Though Isahane certainly has human ears, hers twitches anyways, like a hunting animal with that kind of tracking-hearing. "Really? No, that's not surprising. I insisted that you record that jug, so it's only fair. We'll stay a while."