where my armour ends // private

[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0px; width: 55%; line-height:115%; text-align: justify;"]Trust, how fragile and fickle a thing it was. So easy to damage, to irreversibly tarnish, a permanent stain impossible to see through. Hana was naive in her belief that all wounds would heal in due time, that her thoughtless actions may one day be forgotten and the cinders of old friendships stoked back to life. Unlike Koadiak, however, Hana was hasty to place her trust into the hands of those that would mar it. It left her with broken friendships, scars, children. But the chocolate feline was not one to learn from her mistakes, continuing to believe there was good in the world around her and she could persevere through the trials thrown endlessly at her. She was mature in body; no longer a fledgeling adult, a mother to five, spangled with old wounds that left behind milky scars and abhorrent memories. Yet her mind never aged with the rest of her, an archetypal paladin that would (and did) die to protect those she loved, or those that needed protection. Selfless, loudmouthed, brave, stupid, bold, such a thin line her actions walked between courageous and suicidal.

It was a vice Hana would never grow out of, as a hesitant voice called through the soft shifting of evergreens whispering to each other in the winds. Hesitance fixed the earthen girls paws in place, disc-like ears swiveling forward in confirmation that her isolated mind wasn't playing tricks on her. The voice seemed as lost as she did, lacking the confidence of a predator here to protect his lands. Hana's held breath released in a relieved sigh, vapor clouding her vision briefly as silence settled between the two strangers once more. Impulsive as all her previous actions, Hana took slow steps toward the beckoning call, copper eyes narrowing to peer through the gaps in the barren brush blocking the two from each other. How had she not scented his approach? Heard the soil crunch, the remaining snow groan beneath his paws? Was she truly so lost in thought she could no longer properly defend herself? Yet the discomfort, a palpable sense of unease from the boy behind the bushes, gave Hana an easy excuse to write off her lack of attention. He was no threat. His voice carried fear, wariness, the hesitance of someone who had not been expecting company. This stranger shouldered the fears Hana had forced herself to face long ago, to rip them from their home in her heart.

Whether it was the craving for the company of another or sheer foolishness Hana did not know, but snow-dipped paws carried her toward the dividing wall of brush against the wishes of her buzzing mind. A canine she had been expecting, from the shadowed form through the brambles, the depth of his voice, the heavy downfall of his paws- a hyena in such cold, unwelcoming lands was far from what she had on her mind. Ducking her head low to squeeze through the naked branches, large ears rotated carefully forward to remain alert of Kodiak's movements. "[abbr=formal "hello"]안녕하세요,[/abbr]" she greeted softly, reverting back to her birth language as an act of her nerves. Pearl white canines grazed her lower lip as Hana pulled herself from the shrubbery, straightening her posture to fully view Kodiak while her muscles remained coiled for an easy escape if need be. Yet the tension drained from her body within seconds as Kodiak came into full view.

He was nearly a mirror of Hana, or how Hana had once been, yet the image was different. Warped, distorted, shattered, like the moon viewing itself from the rough and choppy waves of the ocean. Fearful, hopeless, lost. She saw herself in the imperfect ripples, her isolated struggles, she saw Pierce, his distrust of others after his closest friend drove a dagger deep into a chest. To say Hana was hasty in her assumptions about Kodiak was an understatement. Yet those same conclusions kept her grounded, once erect ears slowly reclining to rest softly against her head.

Weak, her conscience called to her. You are vulnerable.

Hana slowly lowered herself into a sit to prove she was of no threat (as if someone of her small stature could be taken as a threat regardless).

Strangers cannot be trusted.

Her dense tail came to curl tightly around her lithe frame, white paws disappearing behind thick plumage of well-maintained fur.

They've only ever hurt you.

But Hana was not one to learn from her mistakes, continuing to believe there was good in the world around her. To believe she could persevere through the trials thrown at her, that she could help this stranger through his own. A smile pulled the corners of her lips up, the most cathartic action she had performed in countless days under the gaze of another. Melancholy clawed at her ribcage like a beast rabid for release, unshed tears burning the back of her eyes. Gods, how she missed contact. The company of others. She spent many nights shut away, playing games alone late into the night, but the reality of her solitude came crashing down onto her as she was met with the presence of another aware being. No fantasy to lose herself in, nobody to visit late in the night, just herself and that was no longer good enough. "Lost?" Hana interrupted her thoughts with a single word question, voice strained as the domestic feline struggled to compose herself. Hana Song would not cry, not when there was nothing to cry over. She had wasted too many tears on her own pity parties. Instead she drew in a slow breath through her nose, releasing her tightly clenched jaw to dispel the tension with light words to returning smile. Gods above if there was one thing Hana could always do, it was act.

"'M not too much help, but I can try."