P nossë

Erenvel,

Lioness of Prideless

Played by Naboo

---

Time which had passed without recognition of that around it, and so had eroded the terrain which had opened up the pass from the other side of the mountain, had also taken its toll on her. Having shed the smaller, lanky frame of her youth she had now stepped into adulthood. Though still not the largest, nor the smallest, of the dragons, she was no longer a dragonling. Yet the feeling was not like she thought it would be, still she clung so deeply to that which was intertwined with her soul; equal parts avarice and ire. The result of which lay clear upon her occasionally imperfect and marred pelt, old wounds that could not be erased. Yellow eyes like sun-fire looked out over the jagged, crumbling paths of the mountains at her feet, the crest of the ridge to her right was sharp and yet before her, in all its glory, lay Aesseldar.

Wandering down the path her legs stretched out before her and she kept her eyes split between looking ahead and looking below. Each step brought a light ruffle to her mane, feeling it move against her cheek and igniting the flame of chevrons intertwined into the ends. She followed a trail mindlessly, letting her paws guide her, the silver specks almost like bangles on her wrists, though she wasn't descending. Instead there was an outcrop of rocks, a large ledge that spread before her and a small patch of grass loosely strewn with gravel. Taking her place at the edge she watched as the sun began to break over the distant horizon, pastel streaming across the sky and setting her coat aflame; violent red warming as the shadows receded away from her body. With her haunches firmly seated she took a moment, though instead of enjoying the sight she closed her eyes, letting her nose fill with the scent of dawn. Dew soaking into the grass, the crisp snap of cold air that lingered in her nostrils, and the scents of lions that had crossed this way not long ago.

@Vermillion
vervel
(feel free to use the table if you want <3)

_{art by redthelioness, code by naboo}

Vermillion,

Lion of Prideless

Played by Twesh

---

The altitude- the thinner oxygen. Surely it was playing tricks on his brain? As he scaled the mountain he'd felt the struggle of his lungs, he felt the subtle changes throughout his body as he climbed upwards. Each bit further brought some challenges, pleasantly so. For the lion who loved to tear himself apart mentally it was welcome relief to feel the struggles of his physical body instead. His brain was quiet, his focus on the deepening of his breaths and the lurking tiredness in the background. It was in his daze he thought he smelled something familiar; something that stirred a warmth and love in his heart nothing could tear away from him. There was a time he'd feared her absence, he'd feared losing her, but now that they'd been split for a time and that fear had become realized Vermillion was no longer slave to it. Without chains he ushered in a hopeful joy- a desperate plea to the sky this was not some trick of the altitude.

Hesitantly he paced upwards along an incline in the direction the breeze had come from. His gait perhaps a little too haphazard for mountain climbing, oh how his mother would fret if she saw the disregard he gave the loose pebbles and uneven earth as he chugged his way along trying to track her down. The breeze ceased, the smell clung in his nose but faded away from the world around him. He was alone again, in the quiet still of the mountain. A dream, a fantasy... that was all it was right?

@Erenvel
vervel

_{art by redthelioness, code by naboo}

Erenvel,

Lioness of Prideless

Played by Naboo

---

Once more time elapsed like before, passing though not marking how fast, not affecting her in this moment except for the small bit of eagerness and equal parts dread that she felt here. Would this, could this, be home? What a foolish and childish thought, she could hear the dragon king sneer in her memories, for home was not a place. Having resigned herself to that realization her lips pulled into a more stern line, looking away from the distant lands and turning to head back down the path, to continue and leave the fantasies that had occupied her mind in the absence of travel keeping her feet busy. Thoughts of family, of the past, of Vermillion. She daren't linger on that thought for it hurt to know that her own path in life had, through all the fault of her own, diverged and pulled her in a direction that she'd resented. It hadn't stopped her from being her, from becoming who she was always going to be, but the pain was always brooding in the depths of her that she could only reach when she stopped.

Without going far down the path her vision was interrupted by someone blocking it, standing obtusely in the way like they were all that - oh. Confusion shadowed her eyes as she halted briefly, convinced perhaps she was looking at a ghost, pausing the breath that now steeped in her lungs and lingered in her jaws, and without more than a second passing she was off once more. Loose gravel spraying from beneath her feet as she scrambled down the path towards him, for a moment slowing down her run as if to make sure, to really see him once more before plowing into him. "V...." Burying her face into his familiar mane she felt her face warm with tears, realizing how the absence of him, the very thought that he'd been lost to her forever, had left an emptiness within her. "Vermillion....." Once more she felt lost in her childhood, thinking back to the days when she hardly rose above his wrists and nibbled at his toes, unable to stop the way her voice melted back into a soft whisper of disbelief. If she opened her eyes would he still be here?


@Vermillion
vervel

_{art by redthelioness, code by naboo}

Vermillion,

Lion of Prideless

Played by Twesh

---

For all of her life Vermillion had been worried about losing Erenvel to someone. He had spent all that time growing up with her in fear she'd be swept away and forget about him, not need him. And that was nothing he should have ever been in fear of- a worse fate had befallen them and freed him of how silly those ideas had been. Because it didn't much matter who she was with if they were split so far without knowing where the other was did it? He had been a fool, he knew as much now and it seemed unfair and unjust he could smell her aroma getting stronger in his nose and eventually a blur of red standing out against the rough background. He did not deserve the joy he felt as the realization quickly washed into every nerve end inside of him. She did not deserve his smothering, goofy presence to hold her down. It was not Erenvel's duty to reassure her brother at each turn they were family, that there was love between them. Don't fall back into that. He willed to himself firmly, deadly serious as he scolded his mind for how he was. Only then did he let his feet break out from their silent invisible chains and start taking him closer to her.

The ground was nothing, the air as thin as it was carried him along like a dream. She was there- with each step came a drum beat of his heart and he figured with enough of them she'd vanish like a mirage. A very real, sensory mirage. Erenvel never did. She was there as real as he; flesh and blood. He grappled with emotion and loose ground to get to her as quick as he could; paw pads scraped and chipping as he cared little what it took to get to her. His own features were washed with warm streaks of tears before their touch and embrace. His throat was choking and rumbling with fierce uncontrolled sobs- an ugly gutteral sound, primal and full of a painful longing. "Vel- Erenvel. Erenvel." All he could manage was to utter her name over and over again with his muzzle pressed into the side of her neck. His features became buried away in her warmth and the large male felt so very small beside her.

@Erenvel

Erenvel,

Lioness of Prideless

Played by Naboo

---

The strange sensation of shame slowly began to leech away from her, the warmth of his muzzle pressed against her and the sting of her tears on her cheeks - or were they his? - rooted her in the reality of the moment. He was here, he was real, he was hers once more, how she would not squander this opportunity like she had the last so foolishly. Her breath hitched in her lungs and it felt like it was searing through there, a burning so painful that she sobbed outwardly as his cologne infiltrated her nostrils. That smell, his smell, it was now that she realized for the first time that this, that he was home to her. "You're... it's... i've.." Incoherent words rumbled from her lips as a low purr thrummed deep within her bosom, it ached to pull away from him but as she did she passed her cheek against his to wipe his tears, bright yellow eyes staring dotingly at him. Brother. Her rock, the one that ground her and the one who had always made her feel safe, loved, and important.

"I'm.... I'm so sorry." And that was all she could bring herself to say, all she could do whilst trying to stop the shame from corrupting her features, her smile turning somewhat distant and sad as the tears still burned in the corners of her eyes. "I've missed you, I've missed you so much." She would never let him go again, she could not ever put herself - and clearly him - through that again. A part of her couldn't believe that he was forgiving her, that he was so openly accepting her back once more after her abandonment. The dark part of her brain, that whispering, taunting voice made her wonder what she'd ever done to deserve finding him once more, as though this may be too good to last, to good to be true; but the whispers she held at bay with each moment longer that her eyes stayed fixated on him. The face staring back at her was that of a strong, grown lion whom she'd always regret having missed so much of his life, whose guidance she had desperately needed so many times and had no one to turn to.


@Vermillion
vervel

_{art by redthelioness, code by naboo}

Vermillion,

Lion of Prideless

Played by Twesh

---

Sorry? Sorry? The word was sharp against his heart and tore flesh from soul. His anger and emotions became irrational and a discontent sort of grumble rippled through his breast and out his lips. Physically he frowned but Vermillion did not lessen his affection or need to feel her near him. "No don't- don't apologize." She didn't need to, it didn't befit the image of her he held within. His sister was not an unkind or harsh dragoness; he did not see her as incapable of sympathy or guilt, remorse, reasons to apologize. To him though she was flawless; if there was any creature at fault for the time lost it would be he. He failed somewhere; had to be him. "I've missed you too-" He leaned over to nip at the tips of her ear and bury his muzzle against the base of her mane where it sprouted from her crown.

"-gods and spirits I've missed you." Whatever burst of ill content he'd felt moments before was rapidly fading and the lion sounded tired and dreamy all at once. He so felt this was a dream; that his flesh should pass through her and she would vanish any second. Such realizations never did, never would happen. It was real and all senses told him it was so but that dastardly heart of his wanted to hold onto that doubt anyways. "You're healthy- you're well?" He questioned, he'd expect Vedette to murder him if there was harm that had come to Erenvel in the meantime. It was likely any foes she'd made would have wound up with the short end of the stick and in a ditch but the horrid thing about fights was sometimes even as the victor you didn't really win...

@Erenvel