blood of the dragon

a wild joining thread appears!

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asriel can process his emotions now a bit better than he'd been able to as a child; yet still he clings to caveman-esque grudge. he hasn't met his younger siblings and, cruel as it was, has no real desire to. the illogical part of him, as his mother leaves on her journey, does not go with her and will not stay in the evenrise when she is no longer leading it. he instinctively distrusts anyone who is not family and thus, seeks a home elsewhere.

there was no promise she'd be back —

it is this that drives his decision. he seeks the queen of dragons, @Vendrussel at her borders, tipping his head back to call for her.

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reminder @ self to mark after campion, before boar event

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The line to the sepulcher and the brim was light. They heavily marked the beach front and all the rocks that laid within the waters of the spiraling ridges ; although the rest of the brim itself was proven difficult when they spend more time within the sea then in the mainland. Their main home was deep within it all, unseen by the shores and covered by the spires — a lush isle within the making, although in the meanwhile the various stones were a good lookout point. She stood on one, her ears flickering as the sound of a calling came to be by the very shores that was claimed well. Unusual, to say the least, not many called for Dragonford, much less her.

She dove off, the splashing sound as she landed into the water and gently resurfaced, swimming to the very shore. As she approached the beach and emerged from the very waves, Vendrussel smiled — a familiar face although one quite unexpected, "Asriel," she said, gently shaking the water off of her pelt before coming closer, "you called?"

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she answers.

she emerges from the sea like the dragon queen she is; salty sea water clinging to her pelage and dripping on the damp sands of the shore ...and still as beautiful as he remembered. within his chest, his heart gives a small thrum — proof that his crush had apparently not been a boyhood fling as he'd thought. for, caught up in his own issues at home, thoughts of the seadragon he'd nursed ( briefly ) had been pushed to the furthest edges of his mind. but they appear now; reinforced. a spark renewed; despite that it had never actually left.

“vendrussel,” he greets, offering her a respectful dip of his crown. “i...left my evenrise.” he would not dare call it home: for it hasn't been, in some time. unfairly. but alas, remains so. “i was hoping, maybe, you might have room in your ranks for me. you already know i can heal. and i can fight.”

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"Oh?" She found it rather surprising he would leave Evenrise, since she remembered correctly his mother was there. Maybe it was simply a whim of a boy wanting more, although Vendrussel found it amusing if his wanderlust adventurers only led him so far, "we can always afford more, especially healers." As of recently there was very, very few.. And the one that knew a bit of knowledge sought a more wayfarer life at the moment, and so the Dragoness thought it was a perfect timing in general. Although he was young, he was growing to be a man, and can be easily trained by others for that life. .. She thought for a moment, that they would need to find another who is fully well-versed in treatments.

"I must warn though we are at war with the Northfall wolves," she basked her head over to them, "I tell all, and would not mind if you retract your desire." Then she turned to look back at him, smiling lightly at so. She didn't know whether the neighbor Evenrise was even aware of what was happening below their peaks.

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her surprise is to be expected and azriel does not find it unwarranted. many words swim upon his tongue, coaxed to the edge of his lips by the salty sea brine peppering his muzzle with salt and sand. words that he could not live at his mother's bosom forever — and while true enough it was not the full truth. it occurs to him in the short silence that lingers between her soft oh? that she hadn't required any sort of answer for him. no why's hanging heavy in the air. for this, he is grateful: for how could he explain that he was angry with his mother: for asking his opinion and then doing the exact opposite. that he is jealous of and thus harbors an ugly dislike for his new siblings. that he didn't really want them to be born but hadn't presumed to be the one to make that choice for his mother.

it was so many things. petty and unfair.

and now with her departure. her spiritual journey or ... what ever had inspired her to leave hearth and kin.

and how evenrise hadn't felt like home.

but, she hadn't asked for these things and asriel will not offer them. this is, with any luck, a new leaf and he intends to make the most of it. to see who and how he'll grow to be out from beneath his mother's wisping shadow.

she speaks of war with northfall: he remembers mention of them vaguely but he was kept in shadows. in truth, they mean nothing to him and he has no issue fighting with the dragonford wolves against them. “it is no love lost,” asriel speaks truthfully. “i will fight alongside you and do what i can to heal wounds in the aftermath.”

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"I appreciate that." Her head shifted to the sea before them, where the Sepulcher lay in the ocean and the rocks stood tall, "all have to swim. If you wish to truly join, you too must learn. Follow me into the depths, and I will take to to the awaiting trial of our wolves." For Dragonford, to even reach the very isle everyone had to swim. Those who visited themselves came to, although she couldn't blame too heavily — the smell of wolves could not in the ocean, it only would drift away. They can mark on the stones itself and try hard so — but anyone, in the end could venture beyond their beaches.

She prowled back into the water.. A final look back to the boy with a smile ; someone who left Evenrise for some reason and she'd find out another day and time. Everyone held their stories, as she momentarily thought of Jun who too, was in the midst of royal fueds and wanted no more, only to find himself at sepulcher's very rocks.

She would leave him to one of them distances away, where a torii gate laid high and the ropes attached to another rock altogether. She thought of dubbing it as: the dragon's reach.

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a glimpse is spared seaward; frosted lavender gaze studying the frothing waves as they roll lazily onto the shore. he has swam before, but never the sea. still, it feels like a first step of initiation and he is eager to ...at the very least not disappoint her. “one more thing,” he breaks the silence between them before she enters the sea “call me valtyr. please” asriel had been the name his mother had given him and if he was to turn a new leaf and ( for now, at least ) sever ties with his bloodkin he wanted to do it in a manner he thought was right. whole.

he trudges into the sea after her, fighting against the waves roiling against his chest; pushing as it tries to push him back to shore. he resists and eventually, it becomes easier the further out to sea he moves; an eye kept upon her head as it bobs in the water ahead of him.

when he reaches the shore of her isles it is after her and he lets the waves push him to the shore; staggering a bit before giving a furious shake of his pelage to rid it of excess water. frosted lavender gaze takes in the torii gate; unsure what to make of the strange structure: made of what he assumes is trees and coils of fur that form the 'rope'; but he makes a point not to gape too much, sure that he will have time to explore the isles on his own later.

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"Valtyr," an assurance of name as she nodded within the sea and grasped the tongue of so. She knew certain names held a meaning to each, although her own held none. Did it mean anything to him, she wondered? To even abandon his previous one and overall a homeland.. Such a boy gone through a lot, it made her think of her own sins upon the very matter. Would she too, be renewing herself to a better life if not for the death that took her? So much anger for only one child, and an anger that transferred to karma that could not be taken back.

Into the ocean they were, swimming as she looked back to the frosted boy to see if he was. He managed his pace well, and Vendrussel nodded to approval. She would would bring him to the very isle, an ushering to lead him up and face it's peak. Into the gates of the standing wooden torii, an unknown structure that no one could say what it was, or even the name itself. Just that it was like a gate to a new beginning, and forgetting of any blames they held onto the past, and a new title underneath the name of the Dragonford.

"All you do is have to jump," she said with a large smile upon her face, as the woman's paw ventured over it's edge.

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he follows, dutifully, up the pathway, beneath the towering gate. a soft shiver slithers down his spine. this is a place of power. he can feel it in the basalt colored stone beneath his paws; taste it upon the breeze. at the gesture of her paw, he moves nearer to the edge and peers over. the rock face gives way to dark waters below: frothing waves splashing up as it trying to reach where they stand. still, they come to about half way, falling back to the sea.

he withdraws for a moment, peering from the watery depths, to her and then back again.

valtyr's mission was clear: jump.

he takes a breath and then another, deeper this time; holding the air within his lungs. his muscles tense and coil beneath his pelage and he leaps from the stony edge. for a moment, he floats upon the air and thinks that maybe he will grow scales and wings. that moment is minuscule and both reality and gravity is pulling him down. he stretches his legs before him, like a diver stretches their arms and crests the water with a splash; the water burning his nose as and stinging against his legs as he cuts thru it.

for a moment, valtyr is disoriented before he peeks his eyes open — bracing against the sting of salt water in his eyes — and pushes himself towards the sunlight, taking in a deep, greedy gasp of air as his head breaks the choppy surface. he takes a moment, treading water, to get his bearings before he swims to the shore; even more sodden than he'd been before; dripping upon the sands and grasses.

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As he disappeared from the edge and into the depths, she peered over the ledge in an assurance his head would reappear from above. Within a distant past, her family, her clan, would allow such wolves to simply drown. Deeming them weak and unsuited for their ways ; and she, would not partake in that. Witnessing many friends and own family dwelve into sorrow as they lost their very kin. She was prepared to save the renewed Valtyr, however he re-appeared.

She ran back down the spire and smiled at him so, "Welcome to Dragonford," and hummed lightly, "frost dragon. Renewed within our oceans." As all would be, every one would get their new title, a nickname as a dragon of the ford itself. He came from the frosted tips of what once his clan, and forever bears the looks of an arctic man. Though for the meanwhile, instead of the icy, northern forests, he would be within the cold seas.

And Vendrussel welcomed him.

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the frost dragon.

valtyr takes a moment to drink in the title; taking it to heart. fitting, he thinks; though it is special to him because it accompanies him at the time of his rebirth. leaving behind his past and embracing his future: as vast and unknown to him as it is.

he gives a shake of his coat to dispel the water clinging to him. a new title for the man having emerged from the boy. he would, from this day forth, call himself the frost dragon with unbridled pride; and sets for himself the lofty goal of striving to earn the right to keep both the title and his place among the dragonford wolves.

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