I am your boy,

As they explored the island, it came to note the other spirals held a certain personality about them. The one she swam too had an unusual bond to a smaller one - something pulling them together as it swayed in the air..  Though with all that came, they were still a challenge to climb. They were steep, the waves clashing upon her pelt as she hugged it closely. One had to swim to even get by to one of the serpentines back, but trying to find a place where to put a paw was troublesome. She grunted while pushing herself upwards, and looked back at @Kei to see if she was behind.

Finally when reaching the tip, an unusual.. Vendrussel didn't know what to call it though. It stood high enough to avoid any stormy ways and managed to stay tall, two pillars holding something between but it almost seemed unnatural, so beautifully carved from the earth itself she placed a paw on it's smooth surface. Stable as it was, it felt.. Divine, in a way - a place rarely sought to as it drifted apart from most of the scattered pieces.

It was part of her home.

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+1 Discovery Point

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So the dragon had returned once more, following her friend as she showed her around her discovery, each bend a new nook in hiding and every turn held an unexpected stretch of wood or grass. How these trees had grown here she had no idea. It seemed so unnatural for a forest to bloom out at sea no matter how sparse it was.

Evidently, there would be more, and Vendrussel would drag her out to the island's side to look to the smaller islands that sprouted nearby. The two, in particular, caught her attention as Venny had already dived in to swim over. She sighed slipping down into the cool torent as she followed. In the week or two that she had traveled between two lands, she had learned that swimming would be a must whenever they hung out, no matter the weather.

She was still slower than the serpent of the sea, but she was adjusting, her body learning which leg to kick when in rhythm with the waves. It took her a moment longer to paw her way to dry land, the rock slicker here with a lower base to the smaller island. Vendrussel, always two steps ahead had already crossed the swinging connector to paw at the portal above. By the time she came to her friend's side, she would shake her body of water, detesting how it made her fur cling to her sides and glanced to the shrine.

“I've seen something like this before...”

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+1 Discovery Point

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"Does it?" When she thought of anything that was remotely similar, nothing could come to mind. Even as the waves gently pushed and prodded below them, and the call of seagulls in the distance.. Her mind remained blank. Her paw rested upon one of the pillars, it could easily slide back to the floor. It seemed slightly smooth, but as time is never escaping, she could see the moss that touched around the area, as well as the slight jagged cracks. It sat upon two godly sculpted stones as well.. What was truly curious was what was the binding that came toward the bigger and smaller one. When Vendrussel lowered herself to such levels, her paws prodded it like a toy of sorts. It felt spikey against her paws, compare to the more softness that it looked like. But when she tried to move, it was a force that did not. Slightly shaking, but refusing to leave from it grounded circle.

As she was prodded the abnormality of string that binded the serpentine rocks, "Hey Kei," she said without turning back, "didn't you mention about being in another pack?"

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+1 Discovery Point

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The dragon nodded as she too came to touch the pillars. It felt the same as those back home, even if the style was slightly different. “There were similar structures at the heart of the Order.” Of course Venny had never seen them. Allies as they might have been, she was a rival and their territory was already reclusive for protection. “Dunno what they're for, but they seem to be left from something before. Maybe it was your dragons.” After all a wolf couldn't sculpt something so perfect, but dragons had magic and clawed hands. Or so she heard at least.

Kei would tilt her head as Vendrussel shifted her attention to the thick ropes that were securely wrapped. “Yeah, why?” Ichorwood wasn't even all that far from here. If she wanted she could probably show her the red forest, or at least from the outside. Crux didn't seem to be horribly strict about borders since so many came and went. Then again, Venny probably wouldn't care. She wasn't looking for a pack she was making her own.

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+1 Discovery Point

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"If they're left by the ancients, wonder what they used for." Echoing moreso on the topic, she tilted her head slightly, moving back from the edge and back toward the pillars itself. Vendrussel hopped onto one of the various rock mounds, an attempt to reach higher to the top of the torii, but she would always fall short, it remained as the highest structure that there was. Even a paw would reach out but only touch air. Though she had seen drawings of such dragons, some with long bodies within the oceans sides, some within the sky itself and long manes flowed from the back.. She saw one of a grand body with wings like a bat - there was more, yet had been destroyed by either others of unknown origins, or simply nature itself took it back. It was their only inclination, of what a dragon may be.. Would one be able to make this?

When she looked down at Kei, "why still here?" a bemused smile settled though, almost like a smirk with a crescent view while upon that wolf. Some part of her knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it. At the very least, where they were now, gave a grand idea for Vendrussel. Oh to bring back the classics, a honor to be, she would do it.

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+1 Discovery Point

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Kei could only shrug at her friend's questioning. To her, it always just looked like some sort of decoration that marked the heart of her old pack's mountain, but now there was another. If it held magical properties they would never know of it. The gate could be as magical as some...portal or something, or as simple as whoever put it there just liked it. Who knew? She had gone beyond caring at this point, now sitting beneath the torii as Venny reached up along the side pillar to try and grasp the high-standing bars.

“What do you mean 'why still here'? S'not like I haven't taken a few trips back to Event Horizon. You're my friend, and the only familiar face I know here.” Well...not the only familiar face, but the only one she welcomed. “What, you tired of me already?”

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+1 Discovery Point

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"You thought about staying?" The lurr of attempt though, she would prefer of Kei would stay amongst the rocks and waves, rather then the forest she held little loyalty to. Vendrussel wouldn't be so keen to.. Rob anothers pack their own member, yet, this was a friend of hers, and someone who didn't seem too loyal to the group known as Event Horizon. Which she thought was a shame, if they truly were a good group, they would find value in the members they have, find a way to keep them at bay, then to idly wander around.

It could be noted she didn't hold much respect to them. She thought she would try her best if the time ever came her land had more inhabitants, to make them loyal, to pay attention to them. She huffed at such thought, and slunked closer to Kei with every sound. She desired an answer, before actions were taken.

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+1 Formation point

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"You thought about staying?"

The dragon rose a brow as she turned to look at her friend. “What is that an invitation?” She snorted with a light grin, tilting her head back to look up at the redwood that arched above. Truthfully she had thought of leaving before, she just never got around to doing it, and then by the time she was sure Sybil was gone it felt...silly to leave on a grudge. Even if she still held that feeling she knew it was her spite and if Shuji had been here...

She didn't need someone to lecture her she could think it through herself. Now though, could she really say it was out of spite? The shadow lowered her head, golden eyes skimming to the sea-kissed wolf who had scooted closer. The sea wasn't exactly her thing, but she couldn't say she hadn't enjoyed her time here with her. She already expected to visit often, but...at that point why not? “I dunno. I guess, kinda. I think I just never really left since I didn't see anything better for me. I hadn't met any other packs since I arrived here and it was something stable so I just ended up lingering.” 

She had been free to do as she pleased and even when she probably deserved it, she hadn't been lectured yet. She was an adult now, but still that rebellious teen at heart. She hadn't spent enough time in her new role for her experiences from the Order to wear off yet. But she also hadn't realized yet she was not tied to any pack the same as she was to her birth pack. She wasn't unhappy, but she was at most content. There was no real reason she had picked the redwoods aside from stability and convenience. “Guess it would save me a few trips too, huh?”

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+1 Formation point

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"It is now." Maybe Kei should've saw it coming, though then again, Vendrussel didn't know if the order knew how her land had did initiations to the young and old. Snake like as she was, approaching the woman with the devilish of smiles, one could almost hear the hyena cackles in the distance. Maybe if the woman gave a definite no, another fate would've taken hold of her. Yet, she gave that temptation of such maybes and the most of the probability, that the familiarity of the other, someone she knew in childhood, were to stay within these serpentine rocks. 

Oh she slide beside the other, "learn how to swim, okay?" and bumped her beyond. Like a gentle tug to the coast, and maybe by that point, the black dragon of the west knew what she was to do, but by then it was already too late! Her smile warped to the sea devil, - and another push to beyond the coast line. Paws scrambling, but it was of no use, for the woman already was toppling from the highest of peaks, and falling into the depths of the water below.

"May Nathesdied guide you."

Any who joined the northern dragon, would be required to take a dive within the depths. As so, the tradition Vendrussel kept.

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Perhaps she should have seen it, but how would she have known? The sea dragon's traditions were more guarded than shared and any mentions of how to join or pledge to the group were locked away. The grin that turned wicked was seen too late and the last thing she would catch was her friend's idle warning,

"learn how to swim, okay?"

“Yeah ye—” Though before she could finish she was pushed. The dragon's words caught in her throat as she tipped forward, her paws stumbling on the rock, still wet from her swim over as she found herself peering down at the crashing waves below. Whatever scrabbling would have saved her was tossed in the wind as Vendrussel finished her, shoving what was left of her footing out from under her until she tumbled over the edge in a splay of limbs and small rocks.

The fall while tall was short-lived, her body splashing into the cold below as the waves embraced and engulfed her. From above, the sea continued its rampage, the ripples of her descent quelling with each new crash against the rocks. Another moment would beat by, just long enough that one might wonder if the dragon would ever resurface until her head finally shot up from the torrent in a coughing fit.

The tang of salt bit at her tongue as she fought against the current to keep herself afloat while she cleared what little water was left in her lungs. Eventually, she'd make it, regaining her stride and breath as she hauled her ass back onto the low rocks of the small island. “VENNY!” Oh how she pissed the dragon off.

If she wasn't running then she best be jumping into the tide before Kei threw her body over just like she had done to herself.

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+1 Formation point

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Nonchalantly did Vendrussel watch Kei struggle in the depths. The waves tugging and pulling, attempting to slam her into it's rocky sides. She watched like someone watching a circus, her hackles going downwards and laying down, arms propped up with an amused smile. A slight wagging of a tail, despite such harsh surviving that was no worry to take, when coming from someone from the order. She would think it was but destiny then, if the woman were to fall into the depths of the sea. 

Oh, but the other was angry, "it's tradition of my lands to become a dragon, you dive!" such a sly smile, and the quick movements to flee. She was on the move as soon as the northern dragon had seen Kei arise from the water, a face full of anger and sputtering of sea water. She had also taken that dive off though, with a grand leap in the attempt to run above the other in that grand attempt. Though, as she was prepared, and dived into the waters ahead, Vendrussel swam away.

"It means you are are a member!" A chuckle through their tag, as now their island became a land of two wolves (perhaps three with Monarch) instead of one.

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+1 Formation point

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Her laughter filled her ears, a joyous song that only boiled her further. Skilled as she may be, this was not her land. Vendrussel could swim circles around her and by the time she had clawed herself to the smaller island's shores, the sea dragon had already fled into the waves.

Traditions.

Kei scoffed, standing from her perch like an angry wet rag. What good ever came from tradition? Truthfully, she knew there was good in some, but not all rules needed to be followed. Shoving her into the water was an unnecessary rule to follow. A rule she believed she could have bent, but one clearly Vendrussel would argue otherwise. Though there was something else to take from all of this...

Venny had made a decision for her.

"It means you are a member!"

A member. One of them. With her. For just a moment her anger subsided as the golden burn of her gaze shifted to the mainland. Though she couldn't see it, she looked to Ichorwood, to Event Horizon. She already knew what remained, what Crux would think... but that would be a conversation saved for another day. She was never meant to be tamed, yet here she was newly born to the dragons. Rather that meant reigning her in or at last permanent freedom she would only find the answer with time.

So with a silent goodbye, she followed her friend into the chilling waters of her new home.

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+1 Formation point

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