The spectacled bear waddled out of Hydra and into Tunnel P.

It's so cold! She was jittering, in fact. Being born in Hydra, Adina was used to the feeling of burning alive all the time.

This tunnel was not nearly as hot. She put each paw forward slowly, trying to conserve as much heat as possible.

One step. Another step. At this rate, she'd reach Canis in a few days.

This thread is open to any champions or other gembound in Tunnel P!

Vander almost had everything ready. The Warren was rather empty without everyone milling about, even if most of those beings were lacking purpose in the old Sentinels. No- he shook his head as the thought came through him, his nostrils flaring as he lightly snorted.

He was going to gather more Gembounds, prepare them, train them. His own way.

As he mulled over his collection of gems (he still shuddered at the robotic memory of getting them), an ear flicked back to the noise of a passing creature. Something was coming out of Hydra? Not many creatures did that- not unless it was one that lived there, anyways. Vast wings (or vast for a cat-sized dragon) drew out as he turned, standing, head held high against a dusty mane. There hadn't been any Lessers that dared the tunnel... Yet.

Snaking about the bend that was the Warren's entrance, Vander poked his head around the corner to look at who was travelling down. A... Creature? One of the newer ones, it looked like, the ones calling themselves Gembound.

He worked his jaw and quickly drew his tusks over some errant hairs, smoothing out his chinchilla-esque fur.

"Greetings," he began, clear and concise as he stepped out into full view. He took a quick glance over Adina--

And paused.

That armor. It was so familiar. He should know it, where- no, could it be? He squinted as he took another step forward, inspecting the piece of metal across Adina's back. "Where did you get that..?" He sounded so unsure about this question, as if he just had a second-hand experience with a ghost.

@Adina

Up ahead, Adina spotted something. Something moving. Something small.

And it spoke to her! Greeting her. She tottered up to it. The creature was much smaller than her, but it had wings! Which Adina definitely didn't have.

And even more importantly...

"Fluffy..." She whispered this to herself, but then registered the fluffy creature's question.

"Oh, the sparkly thing? I got it in there!" She turned to face Hydra again, the light emitted from the cave causing her to squint. She turned back to face her new acquaintance.

"I'm not sure what it is, but I thought it looked pretty. And it makes me look like a knight!" She was just guessing on that last part, remembering the description Princess Nerium gave. She wasn't wrong.

@Vander

The valkhound's ears flicked forward momentarily at the soft whisper, though he didn't press to see what she said- the bear seemed pleasant enough, and there was no need to be rude.

Vander paced closer, walking beside her to inspect the piece of armor as he sat up on his haunches. He didn't reach to her and didn't invade her personal space, but he certainly seemed fascinated by the discovery.

"I guess you're not wrong," he gave after a long moment of silence and a short huff of a laugh. "Knights are--"

He struggled to find the concept, actually. Protectors? "Defenders," he settled on, leaning to the side to study the piece more. "If it's from who I think it is, then that description certainly fits. I assumed it was just a story, though..." His voice trailed on as he squinted just slightly. Vander shook his head and hooked one set of wing-claws into his mane, brushing it down some more. Soon, he fell back forward and paced back around to Adina's front, moving to a more comfortable eye-line for her.

"That's, ah- from a being before all this-" and to all 'this' he gestured to the world at large with a flick of one wrist. "How long have you had it? Actually, I suppose introductions are in order. Vander, at your service." His head dipped quickly, but soon his eyes lifted back up to return to marveling at the armor piece. "I'm amazed you even found that. Was that piece all there was?"

@Adina

Adina lit up at Vander's words. He agreed on her knightly appearance, and mentioned something about a story. Her interest was peaked.

Then he introduced himself. And he asked a lot of questions all at once. Adina decided to start from the basics.

"I am Fuzzy Knight Adina!" She thought about what Vander had said after his name. She liked the sound of it. "At the service!"

She had to think about all the questions. So many questions. She started to sit down, but she felt the iron plate starting to slide and immediately stood on all fours again.

What did he want to know? Uuuuuum...Oh yeah!

"I've had it for a short time. I found it while I was on my walk today, so I've had it since today. And uuuuh... I found it next to a really big rock. But I don't know if the whole rock was part of it, too. I couldn't carry that part. Just this piece." She smiled as if that explained anything. Then she remembered her own questions.

"Oh! You said something about a story. What's the story? I like stories!" The important questions.

@Vander

Vander hesitated at her enthusiasm, eyebrows furrowing just slightly as he set his jaw. He was trying to figure out how to respond- but eventually relaxed, giving a soft, modest laugh at her joy. "That's the spirit. Good to meet you, erh, Fuzzy Knight Adina." He gave a crooked, amused smile up at her.

He glanced to the piece as Adina shifted and it did in turn, his own claws idly digging into the sand. She hadn't had it for long, then- then it must be their's. His head turned to the side as he thought, squirrel-like, trying to dig through fuzzy memories. "No, the rock wouldn't be part of it," he added in gently as he mulled.

A story. He squinted, glanced up to groom through the fur below his head, then looked back to Adina. "I don't remember much about them. They were- rgh, I forgot what you call what happened, because I don't know what happened. Before you guys were around. When valkhounds were in these caves, rather than gembounds." A wing-paw rolled to the side as he went on this tangent, but he caught himself and froze for a split second before returning to Adina.

"I never met them myself, mind you. I don't remember their name, even- but I heard from others that there were a champion of their own right. They were selfless, in that they took care of the others, worried over the beings who might not make it on their own, took them in as siblings." He'd begun to talk with his wing-paws again, much like a humanoid making use of their hands to accentuate points. "What you have is a piece of their armor, I'm certain. I've never heard of anything looking like it before. They were successful, too, great in their own right, but their family came before them."

Vander took in a deep, sad breath, glancing to the floor. "Those others they took in, they had gone into Hydra without them, and they went missing when they went to search for their charges. For all I know, they must've died in there, all those cycles ago." His head shook gently, a very slight pouf of dust rustling out of his mane and scales. "The rest of the armor must be sand, by now. I wonder if there's even a chrysalis left of them..."

He glanced away, lost in his own thoughts as a claw drummed over his chin. "I always thought the story to be a warning- I've heard it many times with my own brother and I. Family- it can make you strong, but it can tear you down if you're a fool enough to sacrifice everything for it."

But did he even believe that anymore? The Sentinels were like family, even feisty Hemlocke, but would he put his life in danger just to know its fate in Hydra?

Probably not, he thought with a faint grimace.

@Adina

Adina was nodding her head following along with the story.

Valkhouds, mhm mhm. Gembound, mhm mhm. Champion, siblings, okay mhm. I have their armor, okay cool. Went into Hydra, okay. Missing and died, oof sad story. Sand, chrysalis, yup. Family bad, okay cool!

There was only one thing Adina asked after the story...seemed to be over?

"What's a Val Cound?" Adina didn't quite catch the emotional complexity this story brought for Vander. So she probably didn't recognize that her question was a little insulting either. She of course meant no harm, but intentions rarely have correlating effects.

At least she recognized that it was pretty cool to have found a really old piece of armor. And who ever this "Val Cound" thing was, she liked them.

@Vander

Vander's ears flicked at the question. Was the whole story lost on her? No- she was paying attention all the meanwhile, and he wasn't particularly interrupted by the question.

How could even explain it? "Valkhound. We're the beings that came before you. Five thousand years ago, or something like that." He shook his head, eyes shutting for a brief moment as he tried to formulate his words. "Most of us were specifically designed for a purpose. The other Champions of Hydra and I, we were built to test our bodies in Hydra, run trials, and I guess join some... Army, for- something." The dragon's voice faltered near the end, but he cleared his throat and got back on track soon enough.

"When you hatch from your chrysalises, there aren't any designations you're given- you're set to roam freely about the caves as you want. We had duties and purposes and direction. I was born without a name, even. I had to earn it, and that and my entire life was dictated by people who weren't me."

Vander glanced to the Warren as he continued, thinking. "Valkhound and gembound- there isn't much difference between them, I believe, other than the societies. A lot of us have a hard time adjusting to it all." He didn't even want to begin explaining why they looked so different, too. He wasn't even quite sure, himself. Were the gembound coming out as just... Presets, or something? They all did tend to look alike- all brown and furry and small.

In any case, he still felt the string of anxieties that always came with talking about freedoms granted. His tail drummed against the floor just slightly as he shuffled in place, turning back to look at Adina. "Freedom is hard to process, after searching for it for so many years."

@Adina

Adina could not grasp the difference in age. Five thousand compared to three was not something she could comprehend anyway. She'd never seen five thousand of anything. All she knew was that Vander was a little older than her.

And he kept talking about the differences between them. Stuff about purpose and direction. And he said it was giving him a hard time. Adina could see that he felt bad, too.

He feels really REALLY bad right now. I gotta do something about that. She didn't have to, but she wanted to. He'd been nice enough to tell her a story after all.

"You might be a Valk Hound, and I might be a gembound, but look! We're both fuzzy!" One similarity down! What else?

"Oh! And I learned my name, too! I saw it while I was looking at the ground. Just the Adina part, though. The Fuzzy Knight part I got from a Princess!" She sounded bright, but not squeaky like when she was young. She was more calm, now. Which wasn't say much but she didn't yell in the middle of Hydra anymore.

Adina noticed something else about Vander, too. He needs a hug.
"Would you like a hug, Vander?"

It wouldn't solve everything he was going through, but Adina knew that, at the very least, a hug would help.

@Vander

Vander blinked, startled, pulled from whatever melancholic thought that was forming in his mind. His scales puffed, briefly- He was fluffy? His head shook, briefly. "I- am," he muttered out, as if nobody had told him this before.

His posturing calmed as Adina continued. Or- Fuzzy Knight Adina, then. "I didn't know there were princesses in Hydra," he chuffed out with a laugh, attempting to smile, though looking rather awkward with it. "I guess we are the same that way, anyways. I had to figure out my-- actual name, too, and it took me a while for that, too." He rustled, readjusting his clawed grip on his shoulders, watching the bear.

He paused again, taken aback by the question. "A... Hug?" He spoke in the tone who'd never experienced one.

It took him a moment, before he cleared his throat, glancing away. "Uh-- sure." Except, he didn't move to hold his wings out, just standing there awkwardly. Not that he'd flinch away- he may wince at the amount of dust that could fly out from his mane, but, that came with the job.

(Sorry for delaying this for so long! I don't have much excuse ;-;) @Adina