Despite being antagonized by a really stupid looking long-frog, Fisher couldn't help but twist the Dragon's words into a glorious burst of praise. Dragon had called him a Land-Fish, and instantly his memory of Noodle Dad came reeling into his mind. A grin spread across his fluffy, scarred face and he let out a thunderous laugh.

"That's right! I'm a Land-fish! Son of Noodle Dad, I am a Land Noodle Fish and you'll see just what happens to ugly warty frogs when you mess with Noodles!" He shouted up to the alligator, hauling himself up the Spire. He was hardly afraid of falling, and he barked back a retort just the same, "I've jumped off of the very top of the Spire and landed unharmed, you fat fool! This is my element!"

His paws started to fall into familiar nooks, his wide, grooved grip easily holding on the Spire's slick, aqua form. He could feel the massive erect crystal throbbing under his paws and it filled him with confidence. He was easily gaining on the lizard now, and soon he'd be within reach to start casting spells to try and shove the overgrown loser off his precious stone.

"Get ready! After this, you'll never forget the name Fisher, the great Land Fisher Noodle, King of the Spire!"

note ;; @Dragon @Eve

Noodle Dad?

...What the hell was a Noodle Dad?

Pride swelling his chest, glittering malice dancing in his eyes, the alligator tilted his toothy head and peered down.

"I am the son of Aquarian!" he bellowed, laughing a little spurt of flame into the air. That would teach the thing. "Noodle Dad," indeed; pfft. It sounded silly, and clearly Aquarian was far better than whoever this Noodle Dad might be.

But he'd gotten distracted for too long. He still had no intention of harming the fisher, this Land-Fish, but he had no intention of being pushed around, either. With a guttural growl he turned, sizing up those last few paces of shimmering smooth crystal.

He'd spent days clambering up, failing and failing and wounding himself, then recovering. He wanted to prove that he was capable of whatever the dragon Raheerah was, even if he had to go about it entirely differently. With a final guttural bellow he lurched forward, heavy bulk swaying precariously along the steep path, muscular tail gripping the ledge with his rough and armored scales. Claws scraped along the rock and he powered forward, aiming to reach the pinnacle of the Spire at last.

This time, he did not slip; pure willpower had driven him this far, and he seemed to be almost grinning as he took his place where Raheerah had perched, settling along the top of the crystal. His battered ridged silhouette would be visible throughout Polaris, he knew, and pride--and moreso, satisfaction--filled him. He turned his head to almost lazily eye the Fish-thing scurrying upward, but he was so filled with a vague and hazy joy that he only watched, for a moment, content.

Then he roared, again, jaws opening wide, triumph flaring through him like fire.

I made it. At last. I don't need wings to fly.

The vibration of his bellow rumbled along the stone beneath his belly and he settled, looking down on Polaris from above, his natural toothed smile wholly true to how he felt.

He barely noticed Fisher below, and he certainly had no idea what the brown noodle had in store for him.

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@Eve ; @Fisher o_o

Fisher could hardly believe his tiny, round, bearish like ears. He could also hardly believe that Dragon had scampered all the way up to the top, leaving him in the dust. The fact that the fat lizard thing had blatantly ignored his triumphant gloating was bad enough, but...

The alligator not only knew Noodle Dad-- or Aquarian-- he also claimed to be the swamp serpant's son. To be fair, he shared a sort of scaly, long, wiggly resemblance, but he was too fat and shaped all wrong and could barely noodle at all. Still... Faced with that fact, Fisher could only do one thing.

Bitterly accept that his brother was hella ugly. He tried to haul himself up the rest of the way, stammering, "You mean we're brothers?" But the Dragon was busy roaring and being all proud he had made it to the top. The noodle slipped slightly, and he only just managed to remember not to dig his claws into the spire. He had to gently hold the monument, lest it berate him for digging in to deep.

"Wait! Hey! Look, see, you see that-- That mark, it should be right by your foot! That's my mark, I put it there when I was a pup! Look, if you're the son of Aquarian, too, that makes us brothers! Noodle Dad IS Aquarian! So you're more than welcome, I guess, to hang around. Just, hey, make some room up there for me, y'hear, noodle-frog?"

The noodle stared up at the dragon, trying to come to grips with the facts as he barked up to the other. Would the dumb, ugly scale monster believe him? Or would he have to knock some sense into his... Little.. Big? Brother??? Oh Caves this was confusing.

note ;; @Dragon

Dragon hardly heard Fisher, at first; it had been such a long, slow climb. Exhausting, really--and when the little brown thing had turned up right at the end, threatening him (though almost certainly they were empty threats) so close to his goal, he'd had that last spurt of adrenaline, of determination.

Now, in the wake of his success, he was too happy to care about anything. He was floating blissfully in a fog of victory; he was basking on the Spire itself.

But--a clawmark, by his foot?

Fisher was right about one thing: Dragon was fat. It was a muscular fat, but it meant that he couldn't simply crane his head around to peer beneath him. He tried tilting his head comically sideways for a moment, staring down at the smooth gem surface--but he couldn't see it. His bulk was simply in the way. Still--he eyed Fisher, listening to him speak.

"Another brother?" he rumbled at last, eyeing Fisher over. The brown thing didn't look like Aquarian--he was small, and the wrong color, and furry. Perhaps the mother had been a very tiny bear...? Dragon pushed the thought away, turning himself slightly to more face Fisher. He was suspicious, but that was no reason to turn the creature away.

Dragon then turned back away, letting his thick and muscular tail slide slowly over the lip of the Spire's summit, dangling down like a scarred and ridged ladder. He'd let him up, sure; he had no reason not to. He had no idea of Fisher's electrical powers, and anyway, it'd be good to have not one, but TWO sons of his father here, taking back what the black dragon had made his own. He puffed out his chest and throat as he waited for Fisher to climb, trying his best to give a bit of a little speech, solemn and noble. If this really was the first meeting of two brothers, he had to make it sound good--or, if Fisher was lying, at least he'd sound dignified and impressive to the stranger.

"Come, then... Brother. And let the sons of Aquarian take back that which Raheerah laid claim to."

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@Fisher

Fisher was relieved, immediately, as Dragon seemed to settle into the idea that they were brothers. That certainly made things easier-- and hey, he was more than willing to share the top with a family member... Even if he was kinda ugly. Yet, as Fisher scanned the rest of the way up, he found there was not a single good foothold to be found-- either Dragon had knocked bits off, or his big fat tail was in the way.

"Hey, uh," he barked up to the alligator, trying to get up but not making any new ground. It was just impossible, as far as he could tell. "Mind scooting over-- your butt's right in the way of the good climbing bits!" His fur prickled, feeling absolutely silly... But the last thing he wanted was to fall off the spire again. He was pretty sure he'd snap his neck the next time it happened.

fisher.. why ya alWAYS FAILIN'... ;; @Dragon

The alligator turned to regard Fisher with quizzical bemusement.

"I am giving you my tail to climb... brother," he said, humor lacing his tone ever so faintly. And the word felt good enough--this "brother"--so perhaps this Land-Fish was indeed a brother of his, and a son of Aquarian. "You can climb my tail, or should I move it?"

He eyed Fisher for a moment longer, pondering. What had his new brother's name been...? He'd heard a lot of shouting, and something about him being fat. Was he fat? ...Did it matter? Briefly, he felt a vague pride--if he was fat, it meant he was well-fed, and healthy, and big. Yes, he decided, he was fat, and that was good--a great, fat dragon. ...But that didn't get him any closer to Fisher's name. Had he actually given it? Had Dragon said it? It didn't matter; he'd lost himself in the joy of his ascent, and now he had no idea what his new brother's name was. But he couldn't just say that he'd missed Fisher's name. That would be rude, and he didn't want to insult his brother.

"What is your short-name?" he asked, compromising. Clearly he'd heard Fisher's FULL name, obviously. Naturally. No, he just wanted to know his brother's short name. The one he was meant to call him in conversation.

Dragon eyed Fisher, hoping the mustelid just gave a name--and didn't fall off the damn Spire, for that matter. He coiled so that on the off-chance that Fisher slipped, he'd be able to lunge and try to grab him. Though alligator jaws snapping shut on him might not be the best idea. As ever, though, Dragon didn't think that far.

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@Fisher

... Man, it was really easy to get a big fat lizard to like him. He had no idea how he had managed it, but all the sudden Dragon was being an incredibly nice dude. Just because he had announced that they were brothers. The little noodle filled this information away for now, thinking that he might be able to befriend other huge fat gembounds just by claiming to be their family. You know, small, innocent white lies. The best kind. He definitely would not get eaten for claiming to be related to some big jerk down the line.

Still, it was a bit of a stretch for him to reach Dragon's tail, even from where he was. He reached out a paw and frowned, knowing that he'd either have to jump and risk falling to his death-- or doing the smart really fucking dumb thing and try to use his magic (which always failed him when he really needed it) to try and make himself look awesome.

Well. Unless Nemean just popped out of the sky in that instant and told him not to, he was going to try and make a fool of himself and/or die. So, here goes nothing.

It wasn't... Uh. The worst failure, in his entire life. So that was something. The noodle reached out and just for a moment, his gem was pulled towards Dragon's own, and he got his paws on to the tip of the alligator's tail. "Woah-- hey, thanks!" He barked as the grip of his magic faltered, leaving him with a deep ache in his gem. He scrambled the rest of the way up the grooved, rigid back of the oversize lizard all the way up to his big, long face.

"You can call me Fisher, brother," he repeated softly, a grin spreading across his face. His copper eyes looked out into the distance of Polaris, taking in a view he hadn't seen in cycles.

note ;; @Dragon

Dragon had never had a weasel on his head. Or anything, for that matter, aside from tiny flying things. Still, aside from a brief worry that Fisher might scratch his eyes out (and he quickly squeezed them shut), he seemed friendly enough. And he seemed to have stopped being aggressive, which was good. He hoped.

He was wary that the little mustelid was in fact about to spring a trap, and had only climbed up here to set Dragon's face on fire or something, but given the fact that Fisher was in fact perched only a few inches away from what could instantly become a stream of flame, he wasn't too worried. Instead, daring to crack his eyes open, he found he could see Fisher staring out at Polaris. He wondered where the creature lived, where he'd come from, and briefly cast his mind back, trying to remember if he'd ever seen him. No, he--wait... Yes. Yes, he had--he thought. He took a sharp breath, eyes widening as he stared up.

"You were there when I was born," Dragon rumbled abruptly. The realization that Fisher was--though smaller--older than he was quickly eclipsed by the memory of the mustelid floundering in the shallows as they'd fought Aquarian for the first time. Before he could get too amused by this, though, or whatever he might have been, he realized at once that it clearly meant that Fisher was Aquarian's son, too. They'd both been present at "Noodle Dad's" emergence, so they must be brothers.

Obviously.

"We were fighting our father," he added, in a vaguely confused way, since he couldn't remember exactly why. He had a vague thought that he'd just decided to attack the giant thing, but he wasn't sure. Maybe there had been a reason. "...Which of us is the big brother?" he added bemusedly.

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@Fisher

Fisher considered the question, putting one paw over his other and settling his chin on top. Dragon was quite comfortable, for big long frog thing. It helped that he smelled like a stinky swamp, just like his old home.

"Well, I'm definitely older," he decided after a moment. He had been nearly two cycles old when Dragon hatched, if he hatched during Aquarian's first appearance. "But realistically, you're definitely the bigger brother."

He tilted his head and peered down at one of Dragon's eyes, tail swishing behind him. "So do you still hang out in Cetus?"

WOW WHAT A LAME POST IM SORRY ;; @Dragon

"Cetus is home. I am going to go there now," he added, though he didn't specify when "now" was nor did he move, just yet. "We all live there, the children of Aquarian. The Children of Rot. We feed him, and he guards us. He told us that Raheerah was very dangerous, but we came and fought him anyway. I suppose you have to fight the big things to stay alive," he added, rumbling as he turned the thought over in his mind. He sounded very wise, he thought to himself, and let out a little vibrating grumble of approval.

"I wanted to get to the top first. I don't need wings to get up here. I'm better than that other dragon," and even to Dragon, this sounded a little peevish, a little childish. So he continued, in a slightly more solemn tone, "I had to prove it for myself, at least. Why did you climb it?"

He started to look down, again, to search for Fisher's clawmark, but this time he had Fisher on top of his head, and just in time, he remembered. So instead of dipping his head down, he quickly lifted it back up, careful not to unbalance his new brother. His big-little brother.

As an afterthought, he spoke again.

"You could come and live with us, if you wanted. I need to go back, and make sure they are feeding Father." His tone was musing, but the concern was real: if the others weren't actively hunting to feed Aquarian, they may well lose his guardianship--and that would not do.

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@Fisher