A/N: Corrin and human things, it is now to be implied that something weird is going to happen.
Canon name = nickname:
Velouria = Vella. Keaton = Keaty. Hinoka = Hina. Setsuna = Seta. Corrin = Lupus. Sakura = Saku. Ryoma = Red. Azama = Monkundo.
Half-beastdragonsoul2013: Being an archer, I'd really hope Setsuna has great perception and superb eyesight... doubly so since the one she's protecting if vulnerable to her very weapon of choice.
Consort: A keen eye, able to see slight shifts in movement. Which easily allows her to discern what all Corrin has going on for body language. Corrin does use more body language than most.
Good point, though I'd also might be able to argue that the Wolfskin wouldn't have access to the same thing. I'm putting Wolfskin's intelligence simply higher than what the average person thinks them capable of, but not enough to where they're making tools and the like. Even so, I'd be concerned about something if they seem particularly satisfied that they just split a dummy's head open.
Just a bit this time. There's going to be a... distraction of sorts to prevent a full encounter, like with the others. Oh yes, a rest is going to be really needed, or else she might end up snapping really easily.
Guest (Chapter 7, Feb 23): I did grab the word Lupus from another language, as I wanted something that would translate to 'wolf'. With that said, Velouria is the one who originally gave Corrin that nickname, as shown in a flashback in Chapter 5.
RoselineGift: I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it!
Corrin was panting heavily as she ran around outside of Shirasagi's walls. A huge smile is on her face as she took in the feeling of the sun heating her body, sweat coming down in waves from head to toe, and the winds that rush by hitting her… everything really. She left her clothes off to the side near a lake. Minute by minute passed as she continued her seemingly endless sprint, a stamina gained from the mountains.
It wasn't until she reached that one lake at around her starting point that she stopped and jumped in. "Ah!" Unlike that first lake, this one is much colder and Corrin giggled as she started swimming around. As she looked into the sky, she wondered how the pack, her family is doing. They're okay, right? Corrin's mind jumps from topic to topic as she floats atop the lake's surface. From Keaty and Vella, what treasures they might have gotten, if Keaty is still acting like he 'doesn't like that' even though his tail wags so furiously, whose giving Vella her rubs and scratches. Her thinking goes back to her actual blood-family. Kind and gentle Saku, tough but caring Hina…
Takumi.
All of their respective 'retainers'. Seta's absentmindedness but highly keen nature, Hana's tendency to try and cover the fact that she's glaring, Oboro's and Hinata's outright distrust of her. Does Hina and Saku have a second retainer, too? She wonders if Hina's other retainer is as good as Seta, or if Saku's second retainer is as rough as Hana.
She needs to find a sword trainer.
Apparently, her big brother is really skilled in swords, but she hasn't seen him yet, or his retainers. Corrin rises back up as she looks around, then shivered as she noted that the air gotten a whole lot colder. She walks out of the lake, clutching herself. Even the sun seems to be granting her no reprieve. Corrin blinks her eyes a few times and…
Why is she in the mountains? "Seta? Keaty? Vella?" She calls out. Her clothes are gone and it's cold, she's confused on how she got back and… why is it so cold!? Corrin's walk turns into a jog, then a run, "Keaty? Vella?" It then literally hits her on why it's so cold. "Snow?" But, it's too early. "Keaty! Vella!" She darts through the increasingly frigid winds, trying to find her way back to the pack, to bundle with a fur and get squished between Keaty and Vella. She picks up a scent, and another and… "Keaty!" She goes into a sprint as she locks onto his…
His…
Corrin's legs give out and she drops to the snowy ground. "K-Keaty?" Blood, blood, and more blood. "V-Vella?" The entire den is almost blanketed in a layer of blood, "Alpha?" She looks around, and in the nearby forest, she can see traps that have been sprung, Wolfskin that have fell to them. "I… Keaty! Vella!" She screams, their scents are almost too intertwined with the blood of all the others. "No. No no no no no." She almost missed them and it wasn't because she forgot their scents, she'd never forget their scents. She finally collapsed as she saw both of them, in a situation that she'd never imagine that would happen.
Keaty, Vella, all the others… fur-less, no Beaststones. She raised her head up to the sky and let out the most powerful howl she could manage. Her throat becomes strained as the howl slowly drops, but not in volume, but in its tone. Deeper and lower, less human and more beast. The howl finally ended, sounding more akin to a roar as she looked around and… why are things so small now?
She looked upon the pool of blood, and in that twisted reflection, she saw something looking back that was nothing like her.
"A-ah!" Corrin shot right up, her heart's racing and her eyes are wide. She quickly clutches at… it isn't cold. The air is warm, actually. Her eyes dart from spot to spot, a garden… that's right. Seta is lying down beside her, somehow still asleep. Corrin sniffed, and noticed she was crying. And how couldn't she? To have that kind of nightmare of seeing her family, the pack… skinned. Corrin actually took several steps and ended up vomiting, as if emptying her stomach will also remove the images in her mind.
A moment later, she reared her head back and howled without hesitating.
"L-Lupus?" Seta finally stirred, thankfully her talking came after Lupus had already finished howling. "Oh… did you," She paused and Lupus heard her walk a few steps closer, "Ears drooped, body trembling… angry?" She guesses as a few more steps were taken, "No, uh…" Lupus rises from her hunched over position and Seta got a good look at her, "Frantic, eyes wide… scared? Did you have a nightmare, Lupus?" Lupus slowly nodded, infinitely grateful Seta could figure it out herself. As thanks, she did the first thing she would do if Vella were here and she felt scared.
Lupus threw her arms around Seta and openly cried. A string of incomprehensible and fragmented words came out of her mouth. Seta smoothly returned the hug and brought them to a sitting position.
"Vella?" Seta suddenly asked, "Keaty?" A pause as Lupus's shaking stops… did she say that out loud? "Were they the ones that raised you?"
Lupus shakes her head, "No-one. Just… saying words."
"Oh, they must be Nohrian words, then?" Whether or not Seta bought her lie is beyond Lupus.
Lupus bites her lower lip, suddenly feeling so horrible for telling a lie to someone who can understand her so well. The only one who can read her and is so… "Seta?" She starts, taking a breath, "If I were to tell you something really important…?"
"Do you want to tell a secret?" Seta guesses. "Would it make you feel better if I shared one, too?" Lupus pauses, then nods. "Um… let's seeeee. Oh! After I was recently chosen to be one of Hina's retainers, I was practicing my archery in the training yard. I missed one of my shots and it ended up landing at the nearby stables. The animals didn't like that too much, and one of them took it as a threat, so they started making a lot of noise. I, uh, left." Seta finishes with a smile.
Lupus smiles in kind, before her mouth forms a thin line. "Keaty and Vella are my siblings. Brother and sister."
"You had names for High Prince Ryoma and Hina?"
"Huh? No." She quickly shakes her head, "They're… Wolfskin." Lupus closes in and drops to a whisper, "In the mountains bordering Nohr and Hoshido. They raised me."
A pause, "Cooool." Another, yet even longer pause, "So thaaaat's how you know how to howl…"
Lupus freezes on the spot, "You heard that?"
"Yeeeep." She still seems as carefree and unbothered as before, "I heard a howl the night when you jumped into the lake, and you were the only one not at camp. I didn't think about it much then, but now that you mentioned… 'that', it makes sense." Yet another pause, "What were you howling about?"
"Sadness." Lupus eagerly responds, "I miss them. All of them. Especially Keaty and Vella."
"What are they like?" Seta tilts her head, seemingly fully invested. And with that, Lupus talked for the longest time that she had ever remember talking. With Seta's help through asking about her life, the nightmare slowly receded until she forgot about it. Seta became a beacon of sorts to her.
Lupus trusts Seta. "Do you have any siblings, Seta?" The two are now walking beside each other, simply walking around and observing all of the plants.
"No, I'm an only child." Seta replies, then proceeds to look Lupus over, "Ready to go?"
Lupus beams and quickly nods, "I am!"
Once more through scent, Lupus guides Seta across Shirasagi's countless twists and turns. "So, Hina smells spicy and Saku is flowery." Seta comments along the way, "What do I smell like?"
Lupus slows to a stop, "I dunno." She turns around, "Um… if you don't mind…?" Why was she feeling so nervous all of a sudden? Is it because Lupus couldn't simply sneak a sniff in while hugging? That Seta actually acknowledges she is letting Lupus get so close? Yet, once Seta opened her arms in invitation…
That nervousness was still there. Taking a hesitant step forward, she goes back into a hug with her. Why is it so warm? Lupus goes to sniff her, as she so easily did with Hina and Saku. "Well…?" Seta asks.
Lupus realized she had sniffed Seta for far longer than she would have anyone, "Nice." She replies without a shred of certainty, "I mean… uh. You're sweet like Saku, but…" A pause, "I dunno, but I like the smell."
When she finally makes eye contact again, Lupus is flushing and Seta is simply smiling that lazy smile. "Well, when you think of what I actually smell like, let me know!" Lupus slowly nods and takes the lead again. Unlike when they first started though, Lupus ended up making a few wrong turns here and there, distracted as she was by Seta's scent. She had no clue why.
She wished Vella were here, maybe it's a Wolfskin trait Lupus picked up without knowing?
Lupus ended up following Hina's scent trail to a different spot in the castle. This spot had an extremely long table, with so many chairs. Hina, another man whose hair just pointed everywhere, Saku, Hana, and yet another man, but this one has red hair… another man sat near the front, red armor and spiky-ish hair, and finally a woman, at the end of the table. "Seta…?" Lupus slightly retreats into Seta's presence. "Too many new faces."
Unfortunately, before Seta could get a chance to explain who is who, Hina and Saku noticed her… which led to Hana, crazy hair man, and the red hair man to take note, finally leading to the red armor man and the relaxed dress woman to see her. Lupus expected all of the new ones to run towards her, but… they didn't. "One at a time." She picked up on Hina quietly saying, "Take it slow, like I told you all." She…
Hina told them. The red armor man stood up first, "Corrin." He seems to be constantly struggling not to dash at her, "G-gods, it is you…" One step, then another, "Corrin." He immediately grabbed her and gave her a huge hug, "You're alive. You're safe."
"Seta…?" While not completely off-put, and somewhat welcoming the bear-like hug from this man, she still looked at Seta with uncertainty.
"High Prince Ryoma?" Seta gently asks, "A little less tightly, add some space."
"Hm? Oh, right." He gently backs off, "I forgot Hinoka advised me to listen to you…" He mutters. "My name is Ryoma, and I am your eldest brother, Corrin. And I am… so happy that you've finally returned." He offers her a completely genuine smile.
Lupus already likes him better than Takumi. "Ryoma?" She echoes. "Ryoma." Lupus looks him over, "Red?" She turns her gaze to Seta, "Red?"
"Reeeed." Seta nods, completely aware of what Lupus is going for, "Kinda of simple, but I think it works."
"Corrin?" Red looks confused.
"Lupus likes giving nicknames to people." Seta informs him.
"Lupus?" Red echoes. "I don't…"
"Red." Lupus points at Red, "Seta." At the archer in question, "Hina." Across the room to her big sister, "Saku." Towards the little sister, "Lupus." At herself. A pause as she scans the crazy-hair guy over, "Weird?"
"Hm? Oh, Azama? Uuuuh, that sounds a little offensive, Lupus." The two seem to have completely forgotten Red's presence. "Monkundo."
"Monkundo?" Lupus echoes.
"It sounds weird." Seta raises an eyebrow.
"Oh!" Lupus quickly agrees, "I see what you're getting at. Okay, so Monkundo." She then looks at…
"Corrin?" Red asks, "Would you care to join us at the table? Are you hungry? Thirsty?" Before Lupus could even consider answering, her stomach growled, then she sheepishly smiled. Red chuckled in response, "Then come, there's plenty."
Lupus hesitated a half second before following him… they only have so much because they end up wasting a lot. "Seta?" Lupus asked, but the archer was already by her side, gently grabbed her hand, and brought her to the table…
She's so good at that.
Then, of course, came the next big issue. Lupus and the Wolfskin never used most of what's in here. "Corrin?" The well-clothed woman at the end of the table gently called her out… Lupus can practically feel the aura of peacefulness around her. "Please, sit down." She smiles.
Her eyes dart back to Seta, who nods. Lupus ended up sitting next to Seta, who sat next to Hina… then to Monkundo. "What would you… oh, right." Seta stopped herself.
"What are these circle things?" Is the first thing to come out of Lupus's mouth. "And the small pronged thing? The tiny dagger? Some really tiny bowl?"
"See? The people who 'raised' her didn't even bother with basic skills!" Hina harshly whispered down towards the peaceful lady… as if Lupus couldn't hear her.
"Calm yourself, daughter." The gentle lady coos, "Then we'll just need to teach her." She then rises from her seat and walks towards Lupus, "Hello, Corrin." She smiles, "My name is Mikoto, and I'm your mother."
"Hi." Lupus hesitantly greeted, already starting to feel a bit overwhelmed, more with this stuff with the food than the people. "I'm hungry." She quickly states, as her stomach decides to growl again. "Meat?" Lupus averts her eyes from the woman and back to the thing holding all of the other things… including the food.
Not that Lupus recognized a single thing. So, she simply pointed at one of the things that at least remotely resembles meat. "That would be chicken. Ryoma, if you don't mind?" She gently asks as she takes the seat opposite of Lupus.
...Chicken? Yet, that question couldn't be pondered on for a single second when the smell of that chicken came around, "Um…" Lupus started, but then visibly recoiled as the overpowering smell of whatever that chicken has came around. "Why does it smell so…" Lupus couldn't even describe it, "Never mind."
"You n-never u-used sp-spices in y-your f-food, big s-sister?" Saku asked.
"Spices? Is that what is making it smell so bad?" A pause, "Then I don't like spices."
"Perhaps I should fetch an spice-less chicken for Lady Corrin?" The red-hair man next to Saku offers.
"Is there any deer? Stag?" Lupus asked, before he could get a response. "Bear?"
"Forest animals." She picks up Hina commenting.
"We don't have any available, no." The… her mother states. "Would you mind passing the green beans, instead? That doesn't have any spices in them."
"...Green beans?" Lupus echoes. "Seta, what do you normally eat?" She quickly looks at the Archer.
"Uh…" Seta looks the table over, "Actually, here…" Seta grabs one of those dagger things and cuts into the chicken… all the way through. She then splits the whole thing apart and starts cutting out pieces right from the center. "There, the spices should barely be noticeable now." She smiles as she places the pieces on that circle thing and gives it to Lupus.
Another sniff, "Oh! Thank you, Seta." Lupus smiles. "H-Hot!" She felt her finger burn as she attempted to pick it up.
"Oh, sorry." Seta apologizes, "You're supposed to use these." She picks up one of the pronged things and…
"Why?!" Lupus finally exclaims. "Why are all of these things here? Why are there so many bad smelling things in the food?" She clutches her stomach, "I just want some food."
"Lady Sakura, if you don't mind?" It's the red-hair man again, "I would like to get some food for Lady Corrin."
Saku nods, "Alright, i-if you in-insist, Subaki."
"Lady Corrin? Just some spice-less meat?" He smiles at her. Lupus quickly nods, "I'll be back shortly, then."
Her stomach growls again and her eyes dart to the pieces of the inner chicken, still looking as hot as earlier. The mother has since gotten back up and returned to the original spot, seeing as Seta can do better. "So, Seta?" She asks, "What were you going to show me?"
"Hm? Oh." She grabs that pronged thing, "A fork. So, you do this…" She places the points into the piece of chicken and lifts it up. "Then you place the food in your mouth, close, and pull it off." Lupus's eyes dart from the food on the 'fork' to Seta.
"...Seta?" She still looks unsure.
"Hm… open up, Lupus." The Archer smiles. Lupus, trusting Seta, opens her mouth and she puts the 'fork' slightly in, "Okay, now close." She does so, "Uh, a little looser so I can… there you go!" Lupus then finally gets to chew and swallow that piece of chicken. "Well?"
"Too many parts." She replied, "It still tastes a bit bad, too."
"Would you still like some more?" Seta asked and she nods in kind. "Alright, here we goooo." And so the process repeated, until the chicken that Seta cut out for her was gone.
"Still hungry…" Lupus muttered, before letting out a rather… vocal belch.
"Daughter…" Her mother sighs.
"What?"
"It's not polite to burp at the dinner table."
"Why?" Lupus is quick to ask, "Why are there all of these little rules?"
"It's part of being a noble, etiquette is…"
"Then I don't want to be a noble." A silence descends over the table, "I don't like that 'etiquette' thing." Lupus slumps back in her chair. "Chicken wasn't that good, too many spices, too many little things to do just to eat." She continues. "Eating isn't supposed to take so long. No wonder everyone here is so small compared to…" Her mouth snaps shut.
"...daughter?" The mother asks. "Compared to who?" Thankfully, Hina, Saku, Monkundo, and even Hana didn't pry anymore.
"Is there something you would like to share with us?" Unlike Red.
A pause, but before either pressed more, "Bears." Lupus grabbed the first word she could.
"I would be concerned indeed if anyone started resembling a bear." Monkundo finally says something. "Were you expecting us to be fatter? Heavier?"
"Azama, enough!" Hina cuts in.
"I've returned!" Subaki proudly states, "I apologize for the wait, but I had some… difficulties finding the perfect one."
Saku giggles, "Thank you for putting in the effort to find such a good one for her…"
"I'd do no less." He smiles as he places the cooked chicken in front of Lupus… and not a single speck of spice ruined it. He chuckles as drool literally starts to pour around her mouth. "I believe this is perfect for you, Lady Corrin."
"Corrin, please wipe your…" The mother started, but was cut off as Lupus swiped the whole chicken from the table and ran off.
"I'm not letting etiquette ruin this chicken!" Is the last thing they heard her shout.