Pack tactics (D1, MM, Closed)

[Kitsu Kanna]

Kanna was the first to arrive in the meeting room it would appear.

She took place at the bland table between four bland walls. The chair was uncomfortable as predicted, maybe to encourage reunions to be brief and on point. The only touches of color around were the ones the participants brought with them and the caps of the marker pens available.

Kanna herself was dressed professionally but nothing more. While waiting for the others, she took out her densai and started reading more articles about the World of Dreams and the celebrities expected at court.

[Tassu]

A dark purebred Kitsu longhair lounged on a pillow, carefully grooming her magnificent hair as if there was no worry in the world.

[Akodo Reki]

Thinking it best to set a clear tone, Akodo Reki arrives at the meeting in one of her duty uniforms. It allowed her to quickly communicate a few things without having to say a whole lot on the subject. On the purely professional side, it would tell those with a knowledge of Lion's workings that Reki was a gunso, part of a legion commander's staff in some capacity, and said legion was the 52nd Akodo Strike Legion. Those who were familiar with Lion deployments would also quickly recognize the 52nd was currently involved in the war against the Mantis.

On a personal level, it told the assembled Akodo Reki was a woman who wore a military uniform to a likely informal meeting.

Reki noticed the cat upon her entry and gave the imperious feline a nodded. She knew better then to just prod and poke a cat, but also knew better then to anger such a beast by not showing proper deference.

With the cat hopefully placated, Reki moved over to join the Kitsu. "Good morning, Kitsu-san." She takes a seat, "Akodo Reki, freshly arrived to the World of Dreams."

[Matsu Eriko]

Perhaps in a slight bit of miscalculation, Matsu Eriko found herself showing up much earlier to the meeting than she originally had planned. She always had a plan to show up slightly later to these meetings, if only to dodge small things like small talk and discussion of grant strategic treatises. It had been a touch awkward being stationed on this world with her new Family, especially when there had been a non-zero cultural overlap when it came to the use of white face paint in the Lion. Eriko, surprisingly to some, had military experience before. While she wasn't in the Lion military, she wasn't unuse to the spartan way of life.

Getting more yellow and browns in her wardrobe was a bit of a challenge but Eriko would like to think she made it work without looking too much like a dork as she was dressed in a casual suit. When she entered the room, her attention turned to the longhaired cat in the room. Her attempts to pet or spoil her with scratches were met with hisses and bats. She would bow to the cat in respect, maybe next time.

Of course, she also bows to make herself known too. "Good morning, Kitsu-san, Akodo-sama. Matsu Eriko, on duty at the embassy." She added a smile to the end of her introduction. These Lion could smile, right?

[Kitsu Kanna]

Kanna looked at the cat. How was one supposed to address an honorable elder that willingly transformed into an animal? "Sama" as if nothing happened? "Chan" as for any other cat? "San" as a middle ground?

She decided that if Chiyo had taken the guise of a cat as opposed to any other creature, it was to be free to not give any more fuck, and thus that any name, or lack of name, would do as well. In true cat fashion she would likely ignore it entirely anyway.

And so she redirected her attention toward the others after a simple nod toward the feline.

"Good morning Akodo-sama, Matsu-san. Kitsu Kanna, Ikoma press, likewise a newcomer on this world."

No one in the room seems to be in the mood for chitchat, so chitchat there wasn't.

[Tassu]

Seeing that a ranking officer (of sorts) was present, Chiyo was determined to make her claim, trying to make her way to Reki's lap. She would persist, unless the human would push her away.

[Matsu Eriko]

Oh, seriously?! Just like that? I oughta... Eriko was perhaps confounded by Chiyo's actions, perhaps taking her claim of territory more as a sign of affection. Her gaze went to Reki for a moment, wondering what sort of thing she must have done to claim the cat's favour in a short amount of time. Was it the uniform? Did she own a cat herself? Or did she keep some cat-favoured herbs in her pocket? Might be worth investigating later on.

She found herself looking around the room for refreshments, wondering if the event planner had scheduled anything to be brought in. Thankfully, she didn't skimp out on breakfast but some tea would go a long way to make the team meeting more palatable.

"Well, I've been here for a few weeks myself actually," she said with a smirk, giving a shrug of her shoulders to make no big deal of her assignment. "Ikoma press, eh? That's pretty neat. What's your role here, Kitsu-san?"

[Akodo Inasa]

Inasa made his way to the meeting later than he wanted, but that was sadly common. Sleep had proven an intermittent thing. He didn't have it as bad as some he knew, who suffered terrible nightmares, but certain people still made a point of harassing him in his dreams. Or perhaps they weren't and he cared more about their approval than he thought. Who knew?

He at least had marked the importance of the meeting by adding a nice jacket to his usual slacks-belt-shirtsleeves arrangement. No tie, though. It would not have improved matters under his hands. He bowed to the others from the doorway politely. "Akodo-sama, Matsu-san, Kitsu-san, good morning. Akodo Inasa, an honor to meet you all."

He looked as the cat for a moment before nodding to it. "Chiyo-san, looking elegant as always." He hadn't known the cat long, but that had been true so far.

[Matsu Hide]

A second Matsu entered the room not too long after Inasa. A tad bit shorter than the other Matsu in the room, but definitely bulkier. It was a safe assumption that she was Matsu trained, given her obviously military dress shirt she wore. Slacks and tie included, of course.

“Good morning! Matsu Hide, marine. I am very honored to meet all of you.” She then bowed after that rather excited greeting. After a moment, she stood up and began to take her seat, close to her wife of course.

Was that a… Cat? Now Hide wanted to pet her but she was all the way over on Reki. Such cruelty.

[Kitsu Kanna]

"Akodo-san, Matsu-san."

"Well, I've been here for a few weeks myself actually," she said with a smirk, giving a shrug of her shoulders to make no big deal of her assignment. "Ikoma press, eh? That's pretty neat. What's your role here, Kitsu-san?"

"Mostly I do portraits of people, dead or alive. Anything from a short box summing up the subject's life achievements with a few bullet points in the sidebar of a bigger article to a several hundred pages biography printed as a book of its own. This also encompasses things like obituaries or collaboration work, where I'm more of a support for an honorable samurai writing their autobiography.

I'm definitely curious about you all telling me about your achievements, hoping there's there enough material for an article or maybe more. But this isn't the subject of this reunion. Or is it? I'm not sure about who summoned the reunion and with which agenda in mind."

[Akodo Inasa]

Inasa found his seat at the table, also looking curiously around, but specifically toward his Family member. He would assume she had called it being the ranking officer, but you could never assume.

He did go a little pale at the idea of an article. "Sounds like you have a passion for your work, Kitsu-san."

[Akodo Reki]

Seeing that a ranking officer (of sorts) was present, Chiyo was determined to make her claim, trying to make her way to Reki's lap. She would persist, unless the human would push her away.

Recognizing her position in the ranking at the embassy, Reki let's cat on her lap and pets the regal creature absent mindedly. The Lioness of course made sure said cat was both comfortable and able to glare as appropriate at the other Lion. She listened as the others began to speak, nodding as the others joined the little group.

Her eyes moved to study each of them, pausing on Eriko and Hide for a moment longer...a small but sad smile briefly appearing before her expression returned to a more neutral state. Finally her gaze settled on the Kitsu, "I believe it best...given we are all relative newcomers to the planet...to get familiar with each other. Personally I am here on...vacation," She presses her lips into a flat line and returns to looking at the rest, "But even so it is my duty to aide the Lion as I am able. I assume the sentiment is similar?"

The cat of course received more pets as she spoke. "Which is the crux of the meeting, how might we best serve the Lion here."

[Tassu]

Chiyo would sit down more or less as if she owned Reki, kneading her paws down as if to make a comment on the quality of the lap provided before slowly lowering herself down, her tail slowly whooshing back and forth. Wiggling her butt as if to seek out the most comfortable position, Chiyo sank her front claws on Reki's thigh as if to make sure she would not fall.

[Matsu Eriko]

A second Matsu entered the room not too long after Inasa. A tad bit shorter than the other Matsu in the room, but definitely bulkier. It was a safe assumption that she was Matsu trained, given her obviously military dress shirt she wore. Slacks and tie included, of course.

“Good morning! Matsu Hide, marine. I am very honored to meet all of you.” She then bowed after that rather excited greeting. After a moment, she stood up and began to take her seat, close to her wife of course.

Was that a… Cat? Now Hide wanted to pet her but she was all the way over on Reki. Such cruelty.

"Hey..." Eriko crack a grin when Hide appeared in the room before remembering the formality of the occasion and dipping her head in a bow from her seat. "Good morning, Matsu-san, I'm glad you could make it."

There was a small smile on her lips when she sat next to her. Last night was hectic enough that she missed meeting Hide at the local spaceport. Traffic was extremely slow-moving in the rain and with the festivities. However, they were together now at least. The meeting felt less stuffy than her and a bunch of born-Lion originally.

"Ooooh, I don't know if I have that many achievements worthy of being published. That's more of the department I'm going to reserve for Matsu-san, here." She tilted her head to the side to indicate Hide with some casual fondness. "She's the one with all of the stories, I'm sure. She's made of heroic stuff and has the look to back it up. I'm just the cute one."

[Matsu Hide]

There was something about seeing Eriko seem so happy to see her made Hide space out. It took her a moment to even realize that her spouse had turned the topic of conversation onto her.

"Me?" Hide pointed at herself as she gave Eriko a raised brow. But under that her smile grew, unable to hide how happy she was to be back with Eriko. "Well, I do have some interesting stories... Though, I'm not sure if they'd be exactly believable. And the best ones do involve Matsu Eriko-san."

[Kitsu Kanna]

Kanna allowed herself a small smile:

"Beating around the bush is not a bushido virtue Matsu-san and Matsu-san.

If you wish to share these stories now, just do so. If you would rather not to or not now, just say so.

And don't worry about plausibility. From my experience as a journalist, the only stories that sound realistic are the ones that are utterly fake."

[Akodo Inasa]

Recognizing her position in the ranking at the embassy, Reki let's cat on her lap and pets the regal creature absent mindedly. The Lioness of course made sure said cat was both comfortable and able to glare as appropriate at the other Lion. She listened as the others began to speak, nodding as the others joined the little group.

Her eyes moved to study each of them, pausing on Eriko and Hide for a moment longer...a small but sad smile briefly appearing before her expression returned to a more neutral state. Finally her gaze settled on the Kitsu, "I believe it best...given we are all relative newcomers to the planet...to get familiar with each other. Personally I am here on...vacation," She presses her lips into a flat line and returns to looking at the rest, "But even so it is my duty to aide the Lion as I am able. I assume the sentiment is similar?"

The cat of course received more pets as she spoke. "Which is the crux of the meeting, how might we best serve the Lion here."

"I'm... You can think of me as an administrative assistant. Managing information, dealing with contractors, that sort of thing," he replied to Reki, then toward the rest of them. "The World of Dreams can be troublesome, as you know, so please call on me if any problems arise from it."

Looking toward the ongoing conversation, he listened for a moment. "Please, share, Matsu-san. I'm very curious about these stories now."

[Matsu Eriko]

"Yes, you," Eriko chuckled with a nod when it seemed like it took a short time for Hide to return to reality from wherever she's been. Was it probably just a bit of shuttle lag? It's not like she wasn't familiar with that, especially having met Hide on such a shuttle. That did remind her slightly about the refreshments and she found herself glancing around the room for a moment. No chance one of those server bots could roll around anytime soon? That was probably more of a Phoenix thing.

"Look at her, very humble, but she's a very clever one. Don't let her tell you otherwise," she said before adding a wink in Hide's direction. "I'm not going to say that the best ones don't include me but I'd like to say that I'm probably more of a backup singer than anything else. She's the muscle of it all. That said, we'd probably eat up the whole meeting going through the story. Maybe save that bit of glory sharing later on?"

She gave a glance to Hide with a nudge of her elbow. "If it's Lion custom to share everything now, I'm not going to stop you, of course."

"Oh, right," she gave a snap of her fingers to bring the conversation back to Reki's topic. "So, I'm a bit of an investigator. If you're looking for someone who might have an ear in the city, I might be your girl. Also, I'm a Kuni witch-hunter, but small details. I'm handy here and there."

[Matsu Hide]

Thank goodness for Eriko. Hide was not prepared to tell the story now, of all times. Plus, it was far too formal an affair for her story of... A surprising amount of action for miai.

"Honestly, yeah, it really is long. And definitely something better to tell over drinks sometime. And it may also ruin mushrooms for you forever!" The Matsu gave the former Kuni a small knowing smirk. "Though, I can give a quick summary. The miai I met my wife," Hide motioned towards Eriko before continuing. "Well... It was an interesting planet in the Phoenix system with a lot of mushrooms and other fungi everywhere. In fact, we had lost one of our own to the planet, but she had died as a true Matsu, fighting on so another could be saved. I'm not well-versed in what happened there. And on the heels of that event, well, I will say there was a kidnapping and I did gather some allies I had made to resolve that issue."

[Kitsu Kanna]

"Miai? Mushrooms?"

Kanna frowned.

"You were on Asakaze weren't you? Did all the survivors agree to spend their honeymoon on the World of Dreams or something? I feel like I meet some at every corner. And they all have PTSD regarding mushrooms."

A few taps on her densai and a newspaper article several months years old showed up on screen, copiously illustrated with pictures of a Matsu sniper.

"Matsu Chiyoko's death certainly did not go unnoticed by the Ikoma. Her obituary was one page long and there was quite the tension with the Phoenix after that. When we lend our living heroes to one clan, we like to have them returned to us as much alive as they went.

Indeed, if you were on Asakaze, it's likely wiser to put off your stories or this meeting won't end before dusk."

She adjusted her glasses.

"With that, I feel like we've all said our ice-breaking piece about ourselves... Except for you Akodo-sama."