[Sphinx]

ooc;;
This is a recruitment thread for anyone interested in having their characters become an officer. Current officers are expected to join. Sphinx also always allows youth to come watch and gain experience. Outside of that, please ask before joining. First round deadline is Feb 1st.

The officers were low in numbers, had been low in numbers for quite some time. It probably would have had any other position leader shaking, knowing that they didn't have enough workers to boss around. Knowing they didn't have enough fat to pad the ranks. It never bothered Sphinx though. She didn't care about the numbers, and certainly didn't care about having a little extra fat to look good. Sure, a little curve in the right places was easy on the eyes... but only if it was in the right places and you knew what to do with it. The Warden only cared that her officers were capable. With their current number, her ranks might have looked a little hungry, a little thin, but she could guarantee that it only made them bite that much harder.

She didn't need numbers, and to the Red Dragon's pit with what the numbers made them look like. She needed loyalty and skill, and she would have both. She refused to accept anything else.

When she arrived at her destination, the large stretch of land beside the lake's banks--one of the first spots Achilles ever taught her how to fight--she glanced towards her mute prisoner with a warm, empathetic look in her eyes. "I'll admit, this isn't going to be fun for you..." She said the words softly, an apology dancing in the notes,"But, if you cooperate, I think I may be able to help you get out of slavedom. Soon." In order for this all to work, the pretty little priestess needed a slave... and the girl she had chosen was one of her favorites. The brown captive never made trouble, never pressed her luck, and if she remembered correctly, Valefor only had good things to say about her. Sphinx felt bad for what catching her eye meant for the pretty pink-eyed girl, but still, if she did cooperate, the Warden believed it would help prove she believed in the cause. It might even help her convince Tibet that the girl was ready to be allowed into the pack.

If you were going to use her like this though, you could have at least tried to learn her name.

No time to dwell on that. She was a Warden now. She had to be stronger. She tilted her head back then, and let out a long, sweet-sounding howl. The message behind it was simple: all current officers, along with their bonds, were to come to her. Anyone that wished to become an officer was to come to her. Her newest bond was to come to her. It was a recruitment, sure, but it was more than that. It would be an event. A lesson. She was a priestess at heart, despite her Warden exterior, and the order always had something to teach.

"Welcome, everyone. This is a recruitment for new officers, a competency check  for the current--though I'm sure he'll do nothing but impress--and a lesson for any youth and bonds that arrive. Before we begin, introduce yourself to your brothers and sisters."

[Garrison]

   Garrison has always been an imposing sight-- large, powerful, and simply radiating fury-- but he must look even better now. Crux framing him to one side, the half-Bacchus coming into his heavy fur, and Karma on the other, with all her charm and angst. Their House is small, but strong. He won't tolerate weakness anywhere in his sightline.

  "Evening, Warden." the dire greets with uncharacteristic leniency. It's good to see her back in command; that she has overcome her grief, and stronger for it.

  Had she not, he's fairly confident he would have won a challenge for her rank. He's no good with logistics, though. Leave it to her, so long as she's better at it. He listens to her speech, eyeing Karma for a sign she's petulant enough to interrupt, glaring enough to make it obvious that won't end well. The Fringe grins at her vote of confidence-- sure, he's a hunk of muscle and that alone puts him in the winner's circle-- but it's nice to be recognized. He wonders if her mate's spoken about him.

  Garrison snorts as soon as Sphinx finishes speaking, reserving his place. "Garrison, Officer, Slaver, and Shogun," he's especially proud of that last bit. "This is my bond, Crux, and our house slave, Karma. At your command, Warden."

[Crux]

CRUX

thorn in your side

Paws carrying him in step alongside his bond and their slave, Crux walked with eyes forward and head held high. He was proud to be Garrison's bond, having earned that title by their early sparring. He hadn't known it at the time, but it had been the last time Feizen had ever seen him, though he hadn't noticed her there but for the lingering of her scent after she had wandered away. The start of his new life had been the end of hers.

The call that had reached their ears had been a welcome one - Crux had begun to become antsy. So many changes had occurred lately, with gods vanishing and one of his own mothers also gone. He felt an aching in his heart and used work and his new house to force the pain away. Forced it away with a snap and a twist.

Finally, they approached. Sphinx was present, as was a slave. Crux gave a cursory glance at the slave before looking at Sphinx expectantly - waiting for her orders.

Welcome, everyone. This is a recruitment for new officers, a competency check  for the current--though I'm sure he'll do nothing but impress--and a lesson for any youth and bonds that arrive. Before we begin, introduce yourself to your brothers and sisters.
He gave a slight nod, though he was unable to speak as his bond interrupted his thoughts with a snort. Crux's eyes flashed to him and although his expression didn't change, it was clear his mind was at work. He knew well enough that Garrison was bold and adamant that he be heard. He had a strong personality and forced it ahead of the crowd, like a ship sailing through troubled waters - confident and ambitious. So too was Crux, though he waited his turn.

Garrison, Officer, Slaver, and Shogun, This is my bond, Crux, and our house slave, Karma. At your command, Warden.
As Garrison spoke, Crux began to memorize Sphinx's face and markings. He began a moment after Garrison concluded his introduction, not allowing Karma to speak first if she were to speak at all. After all, she was a slave - what did she have to say to a Warden that wouldn't cause someone, somewhere to snap her ear off? I am Crux, Boshin. False bond of Garrison. After all, he had been bonded just on the cusp of his first year and had not had the chance to enter any other rank recruitments. The Boshin rank was new, apparently the joiner of Kyuu and Hawk. How one rank could just absorb all who were bonded but not ranked was beyond him, but he supposed it was fine. But to have that rank essentially be the wolves at the border? How was that not just tempting fate of anyone who might wish to escape? At your command, Warden.

OOC

He does want to be an officer.

[Ashtaroth]

   Ah, she'd nearly forgotten-- the finer points of a bond. Being at the beck and howl of a ranked individual. It could be worse. She could have been reduced to someone like Garrison.
   A ridiculous thought-- of course she wouldn't.
   The Yellow House led by a wolf of grey-blue goes first, naturally. Mindless soldiers, as they should be. She looks to Sphinx before speaking. "My name is Ashtaroth, False Bond of Sphinx." One can imply Boshin from that-- unless they really are stupid.
   The young woman would probably have benefited from a Yellow influence in her early life. As is, she falls back into silence once introduced; she understand her place is to learn.

[Anonymous]

A N O N Y M O U S

✦ Speech Text ✦

The flametail assassin was astutely aware that he knew no one present. Not the brute of an Officer, or his accompanying entourage-- an odd group, looking to his eye like a flamboyant mother and a quiet son when standing next to Garrison; not miss false bond in all her wasted glory, and not even Sphinx, commanding Warden and Priestess.


But this fact did not, and would not, stop the Jin from crashing the party. Anonymous neither demanded attention nor received it, and yet all the same, his presence would be felt. A constant, lingering reminder that necks could be chopped. That the God’s were watching; and that most importantly, he could hide anything behind that cryptic poker face. Perhaps he was there for one of them. Perhaps not.


If he were anyone else he might’ve enjoyed a thorough mind game, a power play to see if the people truly flinched before the assassins. Anonymous, however, was devoid of many things; and the desire or intent of manipulation was among them.


“Anonymous,” he croaked. “Jin.”

[Sphinx]

Tuesday did not answer her immediately--though Sphinx knew that she couldn't, at least not in the typical way--and the Warden priestess took it as a sign passive approval. Not like the purple-eyed girl had much of a choice in the matter anyways; she was stuck doing what the officers told her to do. If she did exactly that however, and did it well? Well, Sphinx would then do her best to make sure the silent slave was rewarded for it all. She didn't have much time to dwell on the future of her captive though, because her call had been answered.

 "Evening, Warden."

The Warden Priestess straightened up a little at the sight of Garrison and his household, and a proud, radiant smile spread across her face as they all gathered onto the scene. The three of them were not hers to be proud of as a Warden, per say, but that did not matter. She was still a priestess... and she could see that the goddesses were hard at work rebuilding their flock. Houses and the creation of said houses were key features of their religion and culture, and seeing it being done and done correctly was enough to make her want to start singing their Rosa's praises. Time and place for everything, baby girl. Sphinx chastised herself gently, amusement flickering in her eyes. Still, Garrison should be honored that the deities were moving through him, using him to show their true glory. This was what Oukoku-Kai was really about. 

The social butterfly listened carefully as her primary officer spoke for his house as shogun, nodding along every so often as he went on. She committed the names and faces to memory with efficient ease; she knew of Karma--the Warden knew all of her slaves, even if she didn't always know them by name--because the pretty little thing had a way of getting tails and tongues to wag... she had also been keeping tabs on Crux. Her cousin's son had always interested her. He had been hidden from the valley for a long time, but from what she heard, he was taking to it quite quickly despite that. He was a hard worker, and Oukoku-Kai certainly needed more of those. 


"Good to see you, Officer." Sphinx spoke only once both Garrison and Crux had finished, making sure to respectfully greet the ranked wolf first. She nodded in acknowledgement to Crux too, flashing him a friendly smile before at last flicking her tail to recognize their house slave. "Thank you for coming Crux."  When Ashtaroth arrived and introduced herself, Sphinx flashed her a pleased look, nodding in greeting and approval as the girl took her place. The Warden knew that her bond was not interested in becoming an officer... but she also knew that she could learn a whole lot by being there anyways.

“Anonymous, Jin.”

"Welcome, Anonymous." Sphinx greeted easily as he arrived. The Jin might not have known about her, but she knew him--by name at least. They had belonged to the same house at one point... back when he had been one of the cannibal's bonds. The thought of Ink to this day still made her skin crawl. The social butterfly still remembered how the previous Captain Ni had threatened to eat her as a puppy.

Rosas, this valley was truly something else.

"Becoming an officer is truly an honor, but it is one that comes with great responsibilities. We are the fine line separating the unrighteous from the righteous... we keep our brothers and sisters of the valley safe from the sin they carry on them, and we hold onto our captives with potential until the valley and our Rosas change them into the true-blooded wolves they were meant to be." Sphinx paused for a second, glancing between Tuesday and Karma. Captives with potential. "We are expected to be strong in body, sharp in mind, and incorruptible in spirit."

She would only take the ones that were.

"Right now, I want to see a combination of the first two." The Warden priestess spoke strongly, then motioned towards Tuesday,"It is easy to bowl over and break a wolf who is kept in our quarters. We feed them once a day, and they are not given the same privilege to exercise and hone the body as you and I are. All of you--as righteous disciples of the Rosa--should be able to crush them. That is not always our intent however. What use would our captives be if we broke them? We are wolves of war, and the only ones that are useful to us are those who can fight in Ragnarok."

"Garrison, on this slave here, please show the others how to properly subdue and choke-out an opponent without injuring them."

She had no doubts that Garrison could pulverize any slave they had into dust, but she wanted to ensure that he could also use a finer touch.

"After he is done, Crux you will do the same. Know, that your opponent will now know what your aim is. Adapt. Anonymous, after he goes, you will show us if the Jins have any different techniques of subduing without breaking."

Sphinx turned to Tuesday next.

"You can move around and be a challenge... There was a small flash of a smile, a note of mischief in her voice but it quickly disappeared, "But the main thing I need you to do is,  after they knock you down, get back up and do it again. Every time."

[Tuesday]

Most days Tuesday spent her time in quiet contemplation, never stepping out of line, and though she would like to give witty responses to the stupid guard that watched her every action, she could only give him her variety of "you're stupid" facial expressions. Nothing ever came of it, because she was mostly brushed off, like she was a nuisance.

During her usual boring day, the brindle wolf knew something was amiss when the pretty yellow wolf came to her, no one just sought her out, and she was beckoned. While mildly confused, she wasn't stupid enough to not listen, so Tuesday followed with quiet steps. The place that she had been brought to was unfamiliar to her eyes, having never been here before, probably and briefly took a moment to look around.

She paid rapt attention to every word spoken, and for every moment that passed afterward Tuesday knew this wasn't going to be some fun meet and greet.

The Priestesses last words of possibly no longer being a slave caught her attention completely and she stilled. Ultimately, that was what she wanted. Tuesday disliked being a slave for so long, the need to rise higher in the ranks was great, and that required doing what she needed to do in order to move forward. Maybe there was a task that she needed to do in order for that to happen. Cautiously nodding her head, Tuesday left her fate up to yellow one.

When the Priestess called, several others had appeared in response. It was only when she had begun to explain what was going on that Tuesday started to feel dread and her heartbeat quickened. She didn't know what she expected to happen, but for some reason she felt surprised. What did she know? Her experiences in this pack were limited, and though she had heard whispers from other slaves she didn't understand.

Wide lavender eyes met green once more, and she nodded sharply. Although this sounded the farthest thing from a fun night out, she would take it, and she would get back up when they would inevitably knock her down. She had to.

[Garrison]

  Something between a smile and a snarl comes over his face, one lash of the tail, and he stalks towards Tuesday with a singular focus: the throat. Stepping into what has become their sparring arena, he breaks into a trot, ducks his head, and opens his mouth.

  He expects the slave to dodge. If she bucks back, then the throat is fine, but to the side-- if she ducks down to keep her most vulnerable parts out of his teeth, that exposes the scruff. Garrison isn't exactly a cunning sort, but if there's one thing he can do, it is dominate. Whatever he grabs is easily taken to ground (waifish thing never stood a chance), and keeps his face away from the thrashing range. At the scruff, that just means standing behind her; from the throat, you tuck your ears and tilt high to force their bottom jaw up and shut.

  He holds for a moment or two, a signal if the Warden gives one, and lets up. "Scruff gives you control without getting too close to the teeth, and doesn't risk a kill like the throat does." Garrison glances over the others that have attended, although he seems to mostly be addressing Crux. After all, when he's all grown up, he'll have the option to take after Garrison's brutish ways. "You do whatever works."

  If Sphinx has nothing to say about the strategy, he returns to his place between bonds-- even if Karma happens to scoot away a little.

[Crux]

CRUX

thorn in your side

When the lady saw them, she beamed, and Crux could not help but feel pleasantly surprised. He had not seen the lady Sphinx in quite some time - in fact, he wasn't sure if he'd ever met her in person - but he respected her immensely. She nodded to him and flashed him a smile as he greeted her, and he offered a smile and nod of the head as she thanked him for coming. He noted Ashtaroth as she entered and found a place, and also the Jin Anonymous whose flame tail was sure to catch some eyes.

He listened silently as she spoke, blinking as Sphinx brought up the idea of bringing slaves to the faith. He knew all too many wolves who didn't see it that way - who instead saw the slaves as mere instruments, tools to be used and discarded once they had been used up. Crux was of the same school of thought as Sphinx. He would help those who he saw potential in, those who were willing to help themselves. Karma was... fiery. She could do well if she only learned. The mute girl Tuesday, he had spent some time with before. He looked at her curiously as Sphinx explained their challenge and worried for a moment that one of them - Garrison specifically - would seek to harm the girl more than necessary. He was comforted by the fact that Sphinx was here. He did not think a priest of her nature would allow it. He looked to Tuesday, hoping to meet her eyes. If she did look at him, he would give the slightest of smiles. After all, he had been the first to try to explain their religion to her and try (really try) to understand her when she could not speak.

Crux watched as Garrison leaped into action. The older male went in for the throat, or the scruff, aiming to take her to the ground. Afterwards, he gave some instruction about throat versus scruff, which Crux took to memory. The other male came to his side and Crux began.

He trotted in, coming in towards her one-o'clock. Suddenly, he made his move, kicking off and lunging for the skin on the side of her neck - not as loose as her scruff but near it. If he managed to grab hold, he would throw his weight into her, raising his left foreleg and hooking it around her back, pushing her down and into the earth. If he was able to down her, he would straddle her and hold her down, fighting against any struggle. If she struggled hard, he would drop his weight onto her, though she was small enough that her struggling likely would not do much against his weight.

At the call of release (if the Warden did give a signal for release) or after a few long moments, he would release her gently and give a cursory glance to ensure he did not injure her before stepping away and taking his place alongside Garrison, hoping that he had done a good job.

[Ashtaroth]

   Ashtar listens intensely to Sphinx's instruction, watches Garrison fight as much a brute as he seems to be, disinterested in the display. No finesse, just the blind violence of Yellow. As she would expect. She sits, poised, brown eyes always on the slave, unless her bond speaks. Leocor was the only slave to her house as a child, and the girl is well acquainted with how he came to be in that position. She has little interest in the rank of Officer, a more subtle approach than Feizin-- may she rest in pieces-- and the priesthood. She's never seen a heathen so close.
   Crux tackles Tuesday, and Ashtaroth intently studies the lines of his body: the weight of his fur, sun in his eyes, stars in his pelt. The Boshin likes looking at him more than speaking, she thinks. It might be the lingering tendrils of Scheherazade in her mind, but the boy bores her. That said, the two of them would have the loveliest litter.
   He leaves her sightline, obediently returning to stand with his house, while Tuesday drags herself to her feet. If Sphinx intends to elevate this slave, she will share a house with Ashtaroth. She's perseverant, at least. As soon as she's up, Ashtaroth's eyes flick to Anonymous. Now this, she's interested in.

[Anonymous]

A N O N Y M O U S

✦ Speech Text ✦

At best, the situation was undesirable. 

His methods were directly challenged when faced with the situation head-on. There was no place to hide, nor shadows to skulk in. The element of surprise disintegrated on Sphinx’s tongue as the order left her mouth; but as she had said to the boy previously, he too could adapt. 

The eager prepubescent leapt promptly into the fray with Anonymous ghosting him like a shadow. The scuffling pair were allotted their space to do their own dance, but the Jin never strayed far from the bulkier boy’s frame, using him as a well to sever the slave’s line of sight. 

The moment Crux separated from poor, rattled Tuesday, Anonymous struck out like an agitated snake; giving her barely the time it took to regain her footing which he sought to immediately displace with one, violent jerk of her left wrist. The girl stood a decent chance of popping her shoulder out of socket if she resisted, but it was an easy fix, if a painful one. 

His aim was straight forward: quick and utter domination. If he managed to down her, his jaws would seek to flex and tighten around her skull, limiting movement and placing a paw upon her spine to dispel any desire to wriggle. Upon Sphinx’s signal he would let go, licking his lips, and then as if to explain his actions a single, “Surprise.”