blood moon

Getting here had been a pain in the ass.

Life wasn't exactly the best for the Lone Wolf. She'd barely escaped her home, newly dethroned, and for the first time set foot outside the land of her ancestors. Outer, more modern Midi hadn't been safe for her either, so out into even less familiar lands she'd run, but it wasn't all bad. In this time she'd learned valuable life skills that no princess would ever need or want, but she was no longer a princess now was she? A stubborn woman would have taken some hits to the dignity by now with all she'd had to do just for food and shelter, but it had gotten her a loyal following. Hanako had always had a way with people. Something in her drew them to her, putting them under her command. She could make an army anywhere with enough time. As she kept moving to evade the persistent Ozaki clan, even small skirmishes went in her favor and earned her escape.

The wolf girl had set up quite a large tent compound in Desierto by the time she heard about a mysterious and idealistic guild within the cursed lands of Sin. Elysium. It was then she knew she had come to yet another crossroads. Desierto was harsh and unforgiving, and she absolutely despised the unceasing heat, sandstorms, and just...sand. Sand was ass and always in her ass. At times the whole country was so lawless that thieves raided every night, but her following was mighty despite its small size. Hanako was well on her way to having a new kingdom to command, but nowhere near strong enough to oust the Ozaki. And while hiding in the desert appeared to keep her from being found by the enemy clan, Hanako refused to get comfortable. She didn't want to eke out an existence on the run. She didn't want to be a poor, homeless, hunted outcast. She couldn't make a home with these people. If she couldn't trust  her own clan to stay loyal, how could she depend endlessly on these randos? All of this was still failure.

But what if....what if the word about this guild was true? They wanted to destroy the world and rebuild it into a better one. Old Hanako would have been appalled at the mere thought of discarding ancient traditions, but that Hanako was dead. The world was dirty and twisted, and if she could either use this guild and its people to remake her kingdom or at least be on their side when the deed was done, she could right her failure and start over. She could have all the things she wanted this way, one way or another. The aspect of having a guild master reign over her wasn't ideal, but dropping everything and running from place to place every few months to just stay alive was getting her nowhere.

Sin was so much worse than she'd heard of, though. Taking a ship across the small sea between Desierto and Sin, she and her underlings stepped foot on the retched, rotting hellscape. Not only was just the environment hostile, but every creature that managed to draw breath there was a killing machine. By the time she fought her way through the skull entrance toward Elysium's guild hall, every single one of her army was dead or dying in the red lands behind her. Callous as it was, they'd done their jobs. She uttered the bleakest of thanks for getting her here to their released souls and staggered inside. Hanako had taken quite a bit of damage herself, her ceramic-like skin splashed with her fallen comrades blood as well as her own. Some sort of behemoth had used a claw to tear a rather large gash into her side, but she'd not die so easily. Her determination and arrogance was all she had left, and like hell she'd die to something so filthy and lowly while in the position of a nobody herself. "Hello?" she called into the dim lit catacombs, slowly limping her way to the largest of structures she presumed to be the guild hall she sought. She'd made it. "Hel...lo...?" she called again, much more feebly as she collapsed.

As the glow healed the girl, the wolf girl slowly started to stir. Dark, thick lashes fluttered and revealed garnet orbs. It took a moment for them to focus, but once they did, she startled a little. There were two faces looking down at her, a man and a woman. At least she thought it was a woman. Her appearance was strange and rather unfortunate, but Hanako wouldn't speak such a blunt thing to the person healing her, if the scaled woman was indeed affiliated with the dragon coiled around her. This must be Janet Cinderfeild, the master of this guild, from the rumors she'd heard. The man was a mystery, but that was to be expected. She'd breached into Elysium's territory by the skin of her teeth, so it made sense that its members would be investigating. A sardonic smile crossed her lips and she tried to move, but found she wasn't completely healed yet. She yelped as her lips pulled into a snarl over her teeth, understanding. Hanako was at their mercy. Hopefully this had not been a miscalculation.

"I would say I'm obviously not okay," the dark-headed girl spoke, tone tired. She merely said what was obvious, though it was a bit condescending. It was the princess in her. Either way, she sighed and decided to be more friendly. "Sorry. Thank you for not letting me bleed to death. Getting through Sin was a bitch," she huffed out a tense laugh. "I sacrificed a lot to get here, so I hope I can join your group. Every single one of my comrades died trying to help me get here," the lone wolf informed them, her ears flattening against her head. They'd done their job. While she didn't really view them as people important to her, she wasn't heartless. Some of them were tolerable and they'd apparently been loyal. It was only after they proved themselves by dying that she trusted them, as fucked as that was. If this didn't work out, she'd have to make the journey back out alone, and then try to rebuild yet again. This had been a gamble indeed. "I'm Hanako." the ex-princess offered, bringing up a bloodied hand to shake if they so chose.