Scene #7707: Underroot Meeting

Owner	Pose
Hiromi	"Hey, take care, alright?" "Thank you again, for coming to help. Granny even said you and Captain William were an answer to their prayers." "Old folks worry too much. Don't you worry about us, too." Taro and Suke say goodbye to Hibiki a short distance from the camp. Her next destination, if she's going to return the compass, was told to her by a heavily bearded man tending the horses. There's a town a ways to the south, by the next seabound river. She just needs to look for a tree on the cliffs. Can't miss it. It's a significant distance away, and without any warpgates to speed her along, but being able to (basically, almost) fly is at least as good as a vehicle, even on invisible horse trails. This would be easier if there was at least wagon traffic to leave ruts in the grass, but it's just grazing land, as far as the eye can see. At least, until she spots the tree, which happens well before she can see the town beneath it. Its size is deceptive, wide enough to appear short, but sections of the roots could be each ten feet thick, spread in a tangling mass, and the whole of the camp she'd just left could probably fit beneath it. Getting closer reveals clearly the chasm behind it, and down inside it, buildings cut directly into the cliff face. There's a river all the way at the bottom, with boats passing through, and people walking along bridges between the opposing faces. But there's no immediate need to go down there, when there's already an obvious entrance beckoning her, up here. A stone statue, lifelike in detail, not yet weathered, of a wolf stands guard over a passageway beneath the tree. There are lanterns by it, unlit in the daylight, above containers for sticks of incense. The interior takes some getting used to, with bright daylight coming down through the gaps in the tree's coverage in stark lines, forming a contrast of light and shadow that hides the actual shape of the place. There are, just visible if one strains to adjust, side passages in either direction, and sealed jars lining one side, but straight ahead would be pure darkness, if not for the flicker of firelight. Up ahead, then, lanterns have been lit, even during the day. And that's where a wolf waits. A perfectly ordinarily-sized wolf, under the center of the massive tree's body, curled on a raised dais of smooth stone and soft earth. Objectively, she should mass only about as much as Hibiki does without her armor, but the instinctive feeling of a far larger presence is one that may be becoming familiar. The bronze bands around her forelegs, and the bells by the wolf's ears are likely unnecessary confirmation. This is, quite definitely, Hiromi the Archwolf. She was already watching for one to approach down that passageway. Now she sits up. A wolf's lips shouldn't be capable of speech, and in fact, they aren't, as such. They're not really words that she hears, but something that carries meaning without being a language. "You are welcome." Invited, allowed, expected, permitted, positively anticipated, good to be seen, requested.
Hibiki Tachibana	"I'll try not to...but only if you make sure to take care too, you guys! I know you'll be just fine!" Waving off the two, Hibiki knows she's stayed long enough, as much as she's enjoyed her short visit here. There are things that need to be done, and a brief glance down at the compass she's holding as she heads off reminds her of it. She knows what she has to do...and now, where to go. To the south... The trip is definitely going to involve a lot of jump-flying to cross the distance in a reasonable amount of time. Times like this, she almost did wish she had a vehicle of her own, but she won't complain. Traveling by foot keeps her focused. And it means as long as she's going in the right direction, from an airborne vantage point, she'll eventually find the unmistakable sight of the tree she's searching for from afar. Maybe it could be described as an archtree for an Archwolf. The river-cut chasm and the town within it get passing curiosity from her the closer she gets, but it looks like that's not going to be her destination. Into the passage she goes, at a slow walk. Hibiki doesn't have any supernatural ability to see through the shadows, and uses the trails of light streaming down from above to help keep her way. At least, until the glow of lanterns that have actually been lit guide her forward, further and further, her grip on the metal object tightening slightly without her realizing it. Until she's found what--or rather, who--she came for, stepping into the space resting at the center of everything. It'd be impossible to ever mistake that presence for anything else. Nor the words-but-not-words that she understands regardless. "Hiromi..." Hibiki's expression is slightly tense, in a different way than most of her previous run-ins with the wolf. It's like she's trying to figure out how she /should/ be carrying herself right now. But it fades somwhat, as she takes a couple steps further in before stopping a short distance away, turning the compass up on her palm and holding it forward. "Before anything else...because of this, we were able to help Taro and Suke. So thank you."
Hiromi	"Taro and Suke," the not-words are not-names, but they still evoke those two individuals like vivid memories, unambiguous in reference, "are of my pack, though they don't yet know what this means." The sense of the 'pack' is at once 'family' and 'nation,' and more than either. "They still seek a place to be, and that is why the young wander. I heard and shared the wish that they safely return from their wandering." The light coming in from the passage behind darkens, a cloud passing in front of the sun. The lanterns faintly flicker behind paper screens. Seeing is still easier here, after adjusting, for being uniformly dim. "Did helping them help you, Hibiki?" Hearing one's own name in that form of speech is different. It's as if one referenced the essential being of her person, but seen from the outside. Mostly recognizable, but the one so addressed may see the differences. An understanding far more exact than 'weapon-armor-girl,' but from the same external perspective. "This was your trial," test, challenge, examination, a chance to prove something, to overcome something, a moment that may turn toward one future or another, "and I heard your answers, then. I offered you a boon, as well." A favor, or a blessing. "I've not forgotten that. But you came to save them, not for yourself, didn't you? Maybe you've forgotten everything else." It should be impossible sense humor in a wolf making wolf-noises. When she lays down, head still raised, it puts her head a little lower than Hibiki's. "Tell me why you've been maimed."
Hibiki Tachibana	"Your pack..." The feeling of that helps her understand a little more of what things are like here. Hiromi's home. Taro and Suke's village, the one resting right near this very tree...so this is how it is. She watches out for them all, doesn't she? Hibiki's eyes briefly close, at the same time the light dims. Hiromi's presence is clear enough that the lantern-lit darkness is almost something she forgets exists. But not in the same way to how she's used to it feeling. It really is so much different talking to her like this, face to face, and not from afar over the radio. Right down to her very name. "I forget things a lot," she ends up saying with just a little bit of wry humor of her own. Mostly, it helps her relax that little bit more before her tone gets more seriously thoughtful. "I think it did, a lot more than I thought it would. The shoe being on the other foot...and that helping people doesn't always take the shape I thought it would. Her eyes open again, settling on the Archwolf's as she lowers for a few moments. Though they shift to her right arm when the question is asked, and she raises it up to her chest. The wrist is neatly bandaged over. "...I got into a fight with someone. Someone I felt really complicated about...and even more complicated now, I guess. She took it because..." Hibiki pauses, apparently trying to find the right way to describe it, and her focus goes a little distant. "...she needed to, for her own goals. To break my bond with someone. And probably to teach me a lesson, too...she could have done a lot worse than maiming, if she wanted to." There's a small tensing from her shoulder down, like she'd be trying to clench her hand if it were still there. "...But a lot of it is my fault, too. For everything I was trying to protect, I still lashed out with my fist, because I was too angry to do anything else..."
Hiromi	"Raising the young ones well," the senses of 'letting children grow' and 'helping to reach new heights' overlap, "is the second of the most worthwhile challenges. Parents and teachers must be neither too soft, nor too hard. Letting them help you fight was the best decision for their growth." This carries an air of solemn approval. "I see, so you lost a fight. Was it because you were too weak, or was it because you didn't know what you should be doing, or was it because you'd been tricked? The body, mind, and spirit," temperament, discipline, valor, "can each suffer from weakness. Understand why you were knocked down as you regain your footing, as the first step." That last is a 'soft' order. It's only on examination that one would find it strange how difficult it is to ignore Hiromi's 'words,' when given in the imperative. "Because I've offered you a boon, and because I like you, Hibiki," 'like' can be understood only through a cavalcade of meanings, some much more dangerous than others, all of them overlapping, "I'll make you this offer." "Become mine," there's that danger again, "one of my pack," that's comparatively safe, "and you will be the second of outside lands to taste my blood," that's literal, "after Captain William Hook." A wolf has idle motions, like a human does, but Hiromi looks like she could maintain that pose for years. "One of my blood will have a body suited to grow. All injuries can be overcome with the will to stand again. This seems a suitable boon, for you." It is, explicitly, a request. Hibiki just has to say 'yes.' Or 'no.' Or any number of other things, though it's clearly unambiguous consent that Hiromi's looking for.
Hibiki Tachibana	Neither too hard, nor too soft. Hibiki visibly mulls that over, as well as the other meanings behind 'raising' as Hiromi continues. "...Maybe it was all three," she says with some thought. A command from the Archwolf has a pull that can't be denied, but in this case, it only acts as further reinforcement for what she was already going to do. If she doesn't understand that...she'd be right back where she began, the next time it happened. The intonation of what Hiromi says next has her looking back up at her with surprise, hanging onto that sense of hair-standing danger behind 'like'. Though that sensation is nothing compared to that of the actual offer being made. It's only the wolf's heavy presence that stops her from having a more visceral reaction to 'become mine', but it's everything that comes after that gives her enough pause to simply stand there with her mouth slightly open for a long moment. "One of your pack...?" It's a serious offer. It's impossible to misunderstand the intent behind the not-words, after all. The power to overcome all injuries, as long as... There's a moment where she remembers back, to what seems like an eternity ago after everything lately. To her jealousy over Persephone, and her own offer to Hibiki - to gain the power she wanted, to do what she could do. Just like that. At the time, she denied it. Because she'd be doing it for the wrong reasons, and because she'd have been ignoring what she could accomplish herself. What about this time? This boon isn't like that. It'd be the power for her body to match her very own will. "...I already belong to a really special person," she finally ends up saying to break her silence, with a very small smile that belies how seriously she says it, before moving on. "But...you know, I'm still going to have to fight you again, Hiromi. Maybe a lot more. Not just to push past you myself, but to get Featherman's...our mountain back. And to show we all managed to grow, together. When that happens, I won't be able to accept this boon of yours anymore." "Because by that time, I want to be able to stand up beside them all on my own, and be someone they can stand up beside, too. Not as much of a little pup as I am right now. Are you really sure you want to make that offer, knowing that?" Maybe a question for a request isn't what the Archwolf wanted to hear at this junction, but for Hibiki, it's an answer she needs to hear first for herself.
Hiromi	Having expected that Hibiki would stay true to that 'special person,' Hiromi shows little reaction to that first rejection, though a rejection of her earnestly honest confession, it still is. Maybe she'd be hurt by it, if she were a human, or maybe the circumstances of the Archwolf make any comparison too difficult, in the first place. "Any of my pack may challenge me." The concept of a 'challenge' includes fighting, but only for certain purposes, overcoming and reversing decisions and ownership included. "I wish you to grow, and to try. Did you think I'd be displeased, that you overcame trials set before you?" A canine tilting her head to the side is among the more mutually understandable of gestures. "Do you wish to fight without help because you hope you won't need it, or because you don't believe you've earned it, or..." Visually, Hiromi presents a far greater presence when she sits up, and the wolf becomes a woman, a more human-understandable figure of natural strength and might, sitting on the dais with one leg drawn up, leaning forward. The otherworldly side of her presence is only moderately increased. Her lips part, but the speech is much the same, but that some words are also 'words.' "Or is it that you don't wish to tell others you accepted help? Or is it because it is my help? You have many little worries, yes? Young ones often do." She is, even sitting, a lot taller like this. More so when she straightens. "But I don't wish to take more time for little worries. Will you betray me, or won't you?" Trust can be betrayed, as can expectations. "Will you be of my pack, or won't you?" It's certainly not something that can be offered casually, being anything that overlaps with 'family.' "Don't worry that we'll fight. Don't worry that you must prove yourself with a handicap. Don't worry that my own choice might lead to my defeat. These are not betrayals." Up close, without other things to distract one, it's easier to see how the claw, a bone that wasn't there before, but moved beneath her skin and then bloodlessly broke the surface, appears. Hiromi extends just one, and reaches out to the side. There's a shift in the earth beneath, and one of the sealed jars seen on the way in is conveyed along the ground like a belt had carried it, popping up into the air, where Hiromi catches it. She tears open the seal lifts stone bowl from the dais that also hadn't been there before, and pours some of the jar into it. It's alcohol. Very old, cloudy sake. There is, very possibly, something mystical about it, but it's not nearly as potent as the drops of blood that drip from Hiromi pricking herself with her own claw. It could nearly pass for a different sort of wine, after that. "Here is the proof of my sincerity," effort and cost that was due, "And what remains is your choice." She could still say no, though that might betray something. Or she could take the blood-wine, and a missing hand would only be as much trouble as when Lilian had cut off Hiromi's foot -- assuming Hibiki can master that kind of technique.
Hibiki Tachibana	Understanding how the Archwolf relates to normal people in those matters, just maybe, might always be something Hibiki can never entirely grasp. But her tiny smile nevertheless takes a small turn for the apologetic, only for a moment before Hiromi elaborates. It says a lot...and gives her plenty to think about. All the more when the wolf woman rises up, and Hibiki remains standing tall to match her stare as she leans forward. The mention of 'little worries'--is not wrong. Those are something she might never grow out of having. Is she still worried about openly accepting help like that? /Is/ it because it's Hiromi? ...Or are there so many layers to them that it's not so simple to describe in words like that? But, Hiromi is right. Beyond those worries, the most critical question of all still needs to be answered. Will she, or won't she? Will she accept this offer not given lightly, and everything that comes with it? Hiromi started as her foe, and in a way, she still is. But she's also helped her learn, wants her to grow in her own way, and even helped save someone she now considers a very important friend. Does she trust her? Will she betray the trust she's been given? Does she even need this kind of boon? ...Maybe she doesn't. But more than that, Hibiki realizes she doesn't dislike Hiromi much at all. Maybe there are parts of her she'll never understand. Even things she might not ever agree with. But...after everything, she thinks she really does like her. Taking this path of mutual trust means... "...Okay. Then the choice I'll make is--" With a furrow of her brow, and audibly steeling herself, Hibiki takes the blood-wine with her one good hand, after setting the compass down. And she brings it up to drink from it.