v for vedette,

 

 

Vendrussel looked back, to see if the woman had followed her into the depths. The shadowey figured pushed through it's depth, waving clashing in a bit of a wild ride but she doubted the other would be tossed under so soon. She was strong, she was someone that seemed to be from the Military ; not something the dragoness was unfamiliar with. Her homeland could be said to be similar within the pride and honor of a warrior, but more laxed within rank and bonds itself. Focusing, on the culture overall then the strength of an army. Two who held no fear of death, was enough to take any on.

She would swim to the isle, where the gate laid and the rope swayed lightly. Her paws reaching to it's stoney platform, "To the top, you will be tested," she told @Vedette, whether she was still within the water or not.

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  Moisture accumulates in the fibers of the soldier's fur, salt dragging her down. The ocean had never been Vedette's acquaintance. She'd steered clear of it in her past life; and in this one, it was becoming clear it'd become a one-sided relationship. Her teeth grit as she pulled her sopping body onto the isles that Vendrussel had led her to. Tension in her jaw locks it to the usual resting look of carelessness. Emoting had never been a skill that the girl had acquired. 

 'To the top...' Ocherous eyes gazed over the swinging rope that led to an even stepper rock. "Wilco." Vedette said nothing more as she stepped forward, the wind trying to toss her off balance, though she'd steadied by the unfamiliar weight of the water in her fur. Whatever test awaited her, she'd be sure to take it. The sway of the bridge underneath her paws was foreign, but not as unknown as one might think. She'd come across objects that were not made by a wolf's paw before. The guards-woman glanced over her shoulder at Vendrussel, wondering if she would follow. It was nothing more than a quick glance before she pulled her focus forward, crossing the distance between the islands. 

  Calloused paws reach the other end of the smoothed platform. Heights had never scared her; there was rarely anything that did. Vedette stood, waiting for the other woman, a counterpart that she could not perform whatever ritualistic task without. 

wilco = will comply
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She was someone of little worlds — following Vendrussel without much protest, nor' even a conversations. Stoic, quiet, a guard of sorts that would seem to stay still-lock if someone were to order it. Though Dragonford was not militaristic, she still valued warriors. She could only hope the other though would get used to the variety of.. Strangeness, that came to the isle. She would say easily that many's personalities were not of the normal, and eccentric to their own brilliant ways. Vedetta, seemed like a fit within their glove.

"Our ways are simple, to dive off the cliff willingly." As they approached so, passing the torii gate and onto the edge, she smiled lightly. Her paw waving toward the edge, a calling toward them. The wind breezed lightly by, and she glanced to the waters depth. They held no big test, nothing of battles or brawns, and only but one of courage ; if she would dive.

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 The churning of the ocean was like a beating washing machine's heart. The core of it sloshing with whisking waves. Vedette was made for many things. Her body was stocked with muscle and a frame that was bulky, built for hard work. Eons of building and moving trees, not running letters from county to county or swimming, in fact. She could swim, obviously. She'd gotten this far. But she was not as graceful in the water as Vendrussel was. Whereas Ven was a fish, gliding through like she had fins; the water sopped Vedette's fur and aimed to grasp at her and sink her like a stone. She fought through the water, a march of thrashing legs. It would be an adjustment getting used to the unfamiliar territory she found herself ensnared in. 

 The sea dragon joined her at the top of the cliff. Vedette stared out at the ocean, glimpsing different isles in the distance. Even as Vendrussel divulged the task to her, she stayed staring outwards, as if she could see her home beyond there — or even a shred of familiarity. She was indeed willing. Orange eyes fall down to the waves below. There was no reflection from this high up or anything she might have seen to coax her easily into the water. Nothing awaited her below but the cold, clammy grasp of the ocean. Was it better than death? Was there even such a thing here? 

 Something stung in the back of her throat. Awareness of a past feeling. Familiarity. A blaze of heat presses against her face in this throwback. She remembers the feeling of when she carried her father, — half dead, half alive, wheezing through the wildfire. The emotion of staring blankly in the face of death, — in the face of hell, and not feeling fear. It was something she knew about the lack of it. The igniting spark in her heart when she found her father not breathing afterwards. Blank. A clean slate of emotions as she stared endlessly...

 "To dive..." She murmurs under her breath, closing her eyes and taking a step forward, and then another, until she felt herself 

   diving, 
   diving,
     diving down into the ocean below.

 The impact against the water knocked the breath out of her lungs. It reminded her of the first week of basic training, getting thrown five feet back by another cadet; his shoulder shoved into her chest at impressive speeds. She does not wheeze. She does not make the subtle mistake her father did and dies from the inhale of something that was not air. For a long moment, she floats in the water, not above the surface but below it. Letting the sinking feeling fall over her. And then, her orange eyes break open, like an awakening. 

 She kicks off, thrashing her way to the surface and as she breaches, letting a long howl out. A sob, a breath, a wheeze. She had felt. And it had been the first time since she buried her grandmother in the rain that she had felt anything — and been able to express it. She falls back, floating on the water with nothing but elation, keeping her drifting along the salty brine. The emotions salt her own face, and she finally understands the ocean in a way she doesn't think she could have before. Vedette closes her eyes again, and lets the ocean wipe her cheeks for her, like the mother she never knew. 

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A true soldier, who followed orders without a question or word. Vendrussel went to the edge and watched her fall, effortestly in the water that many before her had done, and even herself a view times. The dive itself was nothing great when the waters were calm, though an impact at the wrong angle can still be hurtful. It was exhilarating for some, and others a terror of heights and what floats to the depth itself. She had seen a shark in the midst a few times, but officially never contacted it so. It was a mystery how they'd yet to meet any terrors within the ocean, such as orcas as well.

Vendrussel stepped downwards of the mound, awaiting for the drifting Vedetta to return — be she was within a piece. Floating with eyes closed in an utter serenity, that she wished not to disturb so, though muttered enough that the other may here, "reborn as the Dusk Dragon," the Alpha so nicknamed, a smile upon her face and a looking, back to the main isle.

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 The woman stayed floating; one with the waves and the salt alike. They carried the same properties, raging emotions that wash back and forth, unable to break away and the same salt content, whether or not it was shown. It felt like an eternity, floating down against the waves. Part of her thought they might take her back to her homeland, but she had never been much for hope. Vendrussel had joined her down at the bottom of the isle. Hearing her soft voice brought her back to the reality she had known so well. Vedette dunked underneath the water after hearing her. 

'The dusk dragon.' A new title for her, a new identity. Vedette breaks the surface of the water again, set anew and her cheeks wet with no notion that she had been crying. Even if Ven had seen her, the cadet wouldn't admit it. She never shed tears or faltered from a straight face. She'd never had time for emotion or herself. Vedette had spent most of her life taking care of others. She preferred it that way. 

"Thank you." She says, her voice is still the same gruff tone that she usually spoke with. But now, she is not as tense. There is a sense of sincerity in her voice, though. One that she did not show many people other than her higher ups. The dusk dragon started paddling back towards the isle and bowed her head once she was close enough to feel her paws on the sand. "You say this region does not have a name. Does it have a government? Or there are various groups?" She asks, her blazing eyes set on the other woman. There is still confusion laced within them, but she is eager to get set straight. Staying ignorant was not a trait of hers. She needed to be in the know. It was better to have all the information on the table, to grasp to it like a lost man to a map. "And do you have a mission for me?" A query that slips from her mouth before she can stop it. Would she have a mission? Or was that something she was going to have to get used to without? With war on the brink, there had to be something. Whether it was train or lead a group into a small scouting mission to find out weaker links in borders. She was ready for whatever; she just wanted to get moving. 

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With the moment passing, the other joined her upon this rock. If let her, Vendrussel would reach over and help groom the seawater off. A sign of affection between packmates, she often tried to do this if they let her, and answer any questions they have. Pertaining to the land, to the pack, to the war itself — and she would not ask much back. To her, what was done in the past was no more, even if their deeds were unjust. Within this new region, what seemed like a new realm altogether — everyone had a new beginning.

She couldn't judge with her own sins. All she could do was see them for herself.

"There isn't any like the sorts, but there are many packs around. There is Empyrean in the south, more to the East, one is Frostchant, Elysium, and Shiroshika. Plenty more I do not know the names of. Some are even within the desert and plains farther to the west, but I doubt we will ever see them." She wondered what happened to Little Haven, or that group that she stumbled upon within the desert. Both regions were far too vast to properly explore, much less to leave for a few days. It'd be a weeks trip and even more, she'd expect to be gone for a month.. It wasn't worth to, especially when she wasn't particularly close to any of them there. But Meissa, was a kind giant.

"Then our enemies within those mountains," she pointed her paw north, "those are Northfall. In the beginning they harassed us, but I will say what I have done is not something to be proud of. Blood has been slain, and she was young — by my own fangs. With so, their vengeance is high. Be careful, for they too, will come after you despite the sins on my paws. My only wish for you is to help defend our borders."

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 The churning of the sea does not seem as loud as it did when she was falling down into the ocean below. Now it is a lullaby in the back, an acquaintance made. The dusk dragon grew rigid as Vendrussel reached over. Scales flaring at the base of her neck, only to be calmed by the awareness that she was not being rough nor reaching for a punch. Her hackles flutter back down, but the tension in her body stays. Physical touch was not something she knew much of. The only touches she'd ever been given were when she asked a question one too many times to her grandmother; she was thrown a few swats. But, for someone to reach for nothing more than an affectionate groom, she didn't know how to react. So she sat stiffly, like a child being bathed in front of a friend. 

 Vendrussel then taught her the names of the surrounding packs. But no names of a government official like a king or a queen, just numerous different gatherings of wolves. Vedette found it interesting, but it was not out of the unknown. She had heard from outsiders in her homeland that there was much beyond. Where kings and queens did not exist, only men and women who came together and appointed a leader not of royal blood, but out of democracy. This, she found odd. But then again, it was only what she knew. 'Plenty more I do not know the names of.' It sparked interest in the dusk dragon. Before, she had researched natural disasters, so she knew of long plights on her own. It wouldn't be far out of the realm of possibility that she could go on a journey to learn of those out west to find out as much as she could. She kept the thought tucked away. 

 She did not dare interrupt Vendrussel, letting her explain the world and the way it worked. Vedette's eyes followed where Ven pointed towards the mountains in the North. She then clarified why they were enemies. The ex-soldier looked back at her. "You were protecting your own. Proud or not. Sin or not. Your own come first. That is enough for me." Back in the day of her homeland, there had been a rebellion. Men, women, children slain in the name of their hoped ruler. No one apologized nor felt bad. They did it in the name of what they believed, and that was enough. Twisted and as sick as it was, Vedette understood, more than anyone. She had seen worse. She had not spilled youth's blood, but could not deny if it was for safety, that she would. "I will stand posted at the borders until you call me home, then." She concludes, her eyebrows furrowing in thought as she looked back to the mountains. "Should we go now, commander?" She is only ever used to talking to a higher up, and 'commander' was the simplest term for it. It was by default her go to. 

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There was more relief that knowledge of others understanding what had occur. Although true that she was defending her home, her land, herself, that nonetheless the burden on Vendrussel's mind laid clear as there was a great divide on who understood, and who scorned. She was not a wolf without enemies anymore, and sometimes her thoughts wavered with so. If her own wolves judged her, how could one stand tall as a leader? But some still held onto her with a faith, and she smiled at Vedette, "thank you."

And with a nod, her maw pointed toward the true isle in the midst of the sepulcher. Lushed with trees so they would go, and she too would venture into it's depth and learn the love of it's seas. Although not so flushed with prey, it would bring an understanding why they treat the brim as their own grounds, albiet, with some delicacy. At the very least, Dragonford now welcomed their newest dragon within the brood; the dusk dragon.

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