Introduction

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Whoops.

She could see the way his muscles tensed beneath his fur, his body screaming, fighting back against something that haunted him, but the answer was far more tame than his flesh begged to bear. Kei's cheek pulls up, crinkling the corner of her eye uncomfortably like a wince as she sucked the air from her teeth.

Shoulda been four?

The poor joke falls flat on her tongue, leaving Kei to stew in her silence.

We were too young.

So was she when Shun's leg was broken and paralyzed. A mistake taken too far. Only it wasn't a mistake, and it wasn't Shun who broke it, was it? Kei slides the thoughts away with a shift of her eyes, golds staring to distant greens.

With nothing better to offer, she breathes from her mouth, the pitch dipping as she thinks, “Okayyy....whaatttt about...Kyo?” The dragon's tone shifts higher with her suggestion, looking a little too pleased with herself for short notice. “Better than no name.”

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“You're still here, aren't ya?” She might have prompted him to follow, but he could have left at any point. And he didn't. “It means to unite or cooperate. Back home we built these stone pillars in groups. It was a way of initiation. Cooperation. A trial showing you were part of the pack, and at the end you were given a name to travel with. So, it felt fitting.” And then, a bit more cheekily and with a crooked grin, she lightly jabbed him in the chest, “Also means apricot. So again, fitting.”

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In all honesty, she had expected to poke some button. Something deep down coiled like a snake, ready to strike at the pull of a trigger. Except he didn't bite; he laughed. Kei blinked, a wave of surprise washing her out until she registered just what exactly he called her. The dragon's head whipped to the side, spitting air as if she were caught mid-drink. “Oh no— no no, I have a name. No need for that.” She smacked at the arm that grappled her's, but it wasn't to shove him away so much as it was to push the idea that she would not be Peaches.

But his question made her pause and think. “...Well I said nothin' about that. Why, you wanna stay? You aren't scared the big scary empire is gonna come for us?” Her tone bordered mocking, but it was clear she was testing how far his patience went. Now she knew there was a heart in there after all. He was more than a beast looking for the bars enclosed around him; he had already long since escaped.

Kei's stare lowered back to the carefully balanced pillar. It stood alone along the lookout, but there could be more. “So what if I did?” It wasn't clear if she was referring to a home or his company. For all Kyo knew, it could be both.

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“Kei—” The name is sputtered without a second thought. It was the wrong one, but maybe it wasn't. Wayfarer. That was the kind of name the Order would give, Kyo...was personal. The dragon cleared her throat, “ You can call me Kei. Just— not around strangers.” A surge of air filled her head, dizzying yet refreshing as she found her footing again. He was too smug about this. Maybe she should have kept the apricot thing to herself.

“Fine.” She wasn't sure what she had just agreed to. His words were herd, but the meaning rolled off her back like water on a duck, but there was one thing she could agree on. Until they figured this shit out. A home base didn't sound bad. It was something she had yearned for a while now, and she wouldn't lie that it was nice to have those reminiscent memories floating free from the Order, shaping something new with each carved path of the jungle. “Come on. My little idea of home has plans.” Rising to her paws, the dragon turned to take path underfoot and find her way to what came next.

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