CRAWLED OUT OF THE ROCK YOU CAME FROM;; open - joining

[trojan g.]

[align=center][div style="bgcolor= black; max-width: 500px; font-family: verdana;font-size:10pt;text-align:justify;"]Almost a week ago now, there had been tremors wracking through the island. Ryder had an idea of what it had been, having been up that night that the meteor had crashed into the island just inside the Typhoon, but it had caused him panic, and had caused the mail to pick up the pace in his journey. Though he'd not been on a time limit before, Ryder now gave himself one, scared that the place he'd set himself upon would be gone now that the tremors had come through.

To his relief, however, it seemed as though things were still around.

Coming onto the border of Tanglewood, Ryder recalled the things that his mother had told him. Wait at the border so they won't be too hostile, they're called "Tanglewood", they live partially in a swamp. He was in the right place so long as Ophelia hadn't lied to her kids. He doubted that was the case anyway.

So here sat a large canine on the border of Tanglewood, a shepherd mixed with something else, something that was familiar to those who resided in the group. He was their leader's son, after all, and he held similar features to the tall canine.

//I'm bad with joining threads, so forgive the crappy post lmao

[toboggan]

Familiarity.

That was the only word Leroy could muster which described the scent that befell his moist nose today. Familiarity. It didn't smell of food, that was for sure, nor did it resemble any plant, noxious substance, or fluid that he'd had the pleasure of smelling before. Yet, somehow he knew. He knew that there was something within this odour that coalesced with a figment of his very soul. Perchance the source was an old relic he'd lost long ago? Perhaps a friend from the past, even? Whatever it was, the General pledged to himself that he'd sniff out the entity that emanated the recognizable scent by the end of the hour.

Heart increasing in pace, he lowered his snout to the ground and set out on the path that his destination optimistically sat at the end of. The wolfhound continued along this trail, up until he caught sight of the vague outline of a being. Whoever this is, they either came across it first, or they were the bearer of the distinguishable smell all along. Whilst he encroached even further, he could feel his heart pound even faster and harder than before.

It was a stranger the mongrel had never seen before, but his conscious stated that this was a person he knew. There was a trait present in their visage that heavily reminded Leroy of himself. This person was a canine, and similar to him, they conveyed a pelt of gray, and a size that could be considered rather ample. If it weren't for the lanky ears and the marginally contrasting colour scheme, the hound would have sworn that he was staring at a younger living portrait of himself.

"Err- hello, there," he starts, somewhat hesitant to speak for an undisclosed reason. "There anythin' I can help ya with?"

[VIGENERE CIPHER.]

[glow=white,1,400]YOU FUCKING DISAPPOINT ME ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Despite being gone for two years, Tanglewood was still just the same as it had been when he had left. Vigenere definitely wasn't complaining though; he liked that not much had changed, since he was so accustomed to everything. The savannah wasn't one for change and it was reassuring to come back to a familiar place - and somewhat familiar faces - after being gone for so long.

Vigenere's guard mentality urged him to be hear Leroy as much as he could. With his injury, he knew he shouldn't be up and patrolling borders much, let alone making sure the General was safe - but Vigenere didn't like to sit still. It made him feel useless, insecure... A feeling that made his fur twitch uncomfortably. So when Leroy seemed to scout out a scent, Vigenere tried to follow behind as much as he could, although tried to make it obvious that he wasn't trying to lurk behind the canine. He limped after Leroy, his ears pricked, until he came to stand next to the General.

Before them stood a younger canine, one who seemed to have traits of a wolfhound. The same breed that Leroy was, but Vigenere couldn't say if there were other wolfhounds around. The savannah dipped his head in greeting to the stranger, though said nothing, as Leroy already had that covered.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[wormwood.]

☆ HUNG PICTURES OF PATRON SAINTS UP ON MY WALL TO REMIND ME THAT I AM A FOOL. TELL ME WHERE I CAME FROM, WHAT I WILL ALWAYS BE: JUST A SPOILED LITTLE KID WHO WENT TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL —

Most everything that Aurum knew about the past of Tanglewood was through secondhand information. Obviously he knew of pretty much everything that had happened since he had arrived nearly a year ago, but anything before that remained as somewhat of a mystery to the lion. He knew of certain incidents that were talked about a great deal by the general public, and from the occasional reminiscing of older members – although there weren't very many of those around anymore – but he knew nothing of Ophelia, nor her relationship to Leroy. Thus, he also had no frame of reference for how Leroy could have children. It was a given that Leroy could've had escapades before he came to Tanglewood, or just generally in the past – considering Aurum wasn't in the business of knowing every personal detail of every single other Tangler – but kids were sort of a big deal, and it seemed odd that Leroy would have children that he never talked about. Unless, of course, he hadn't known about them either, which was always a possibility. After all, Aurum hadn't told Whisper about their children until very shortly after they had been born, so it wasn't as if mothers couldn't keep secrets.

Either way, the proxy generally wasn't the type to ignore the arrival of a newcomer, even in his current fragile state. Plus, the arrival of others gave him something new to focus on, other than the rampaging unpleasant thoughts that had taken up residence in his head as of late. So, the angel found himself padding up behind Leroy and Vignere not too long after they had arrived, his tail flicking calmly behind him. Coming up on the other side of the General, Aurum found himself pausing, blinking a couple of times as he glanced between Leroy and Ryder. The resemblance really was uncanny, although he tried not to focus on that too much. Perhaps it was just because they were similar species of canines, so they had a shocking resemblance? It seemed unlikely, but hardly impossible, so Aurum allowed himself to ease slightly, just waiting to see what Ryder would answer with. Leroy had asked the essential question after all, in his own way.

[div style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #1B1B2F; font-size: 24px;"][color=#44437F]— AURUM

#psychosocial.

[trojan g.]

[align=center][div style="bgcolor= black; max-width: 500px; font-family: verdana;font-size:10pt;text-align:justify;"]Relief wracked through Ryder's body for a moment at the sight of the other canine. The only thoughts being that his mother had been right, that his father was here, because this had to be him. How common were wolfhounds after all?

Taking a breath as he listened to Leroy speak, Ryder's eyes flicked around, watching as more showed up, ears flicking back for just a moment - he hadn't been told about winged lions and bright yellow cats - the canine would flick back to the other canine, maw opening up at last to answer the question. "I'm looking for Tanglewood, if this is it. I was told I had family here." Well, a father. He didn't know how much he could call Leroy family considering he hadn't ever met him before, but it wasn't in fault of his own considering Ophelia hadn't told him about the kids, so Ryder would give him benefit of the doubt.

[toboggan]

Okay, this shit was getting a little too weird. Every now and then, a newcomer would join Tanglewood with prior knowledge of the tribe's existence. That made sense, since the presence of the island's groups was something fairly difficult to ignore. But, for someone to throw themselves into the forest tribe because of family living there, that wasn't an everyday occurrence.

Leroy tentatively casts his gaze over his shoulders to see who else had approached since he'd engaged with the foreigner. His eyes meet Vigenere's, before moving onto Aurum's, encountering the both of them with a gleam of inquisitiveness. It was likely that they bore the same amount of knowledge as him about the situation at hand (that amount being diddly-shit), since the canine didn't come off as a long-distance cousin to the other two males present or anything like that.

The general returns his gaze to the stranger, clearing his coarse throat in preparation of speech. "Yeah, this's Tanglewood," he replies, nodding his head softly whilst saying so, "and I'm Leroy, Tanglewood's leader. Behind me is Vigenere, and that other fella is Aurum. Ehmm..- what'd ya say your name was again?"

[trojan g.]

[align=center][div style="bgcolor= black; max-width: 500px; font-family: verdana;font-size:10pt;text-align:justify;"]Eyes did not stray far from the male before him as he looked about those to the sides of him, more relief flooding the canine's veins as it was confirmed that, yes, this was Tanglewood. Ears pricked as Ryder listened to the rest of the words that the leader spoke, and his eyes would widen for just a moment, everything clicking into place. Finally.

Looking to Aurum and Vigenere as their names were spoken, Ryder would offer a slight dip of his head to each of them in turn, eyes shifting back to Leroy before answering. "The name's Ryder, and I'm thinking your the family I came here for, Leroy. My mom's Ophelia." He could only hope the name rung a bell.

[wormwood.]

☆ HUNG PICTURES OF PATRON SAINTS UP ON MY WALL TO REMIND ME THAT I AM A FOOL. TELL ME WHERE I CAME FROM, WHAT I WILL ALWAYS BE: JUST A SPOILED LITTLE KID WHO WENT TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL —

This kid knew what Tanglewood was, huh? Well, that could've been either a very bad sign, or a very good one. Thankfully, it appeared to be the latter, rather than the former. At least, it was thankful for Tanglewood as a whole, since that meant they didn't have some vengeful kid out for their heads because they had done something wrong to his family. Whether or not it was thankful for Leroy...? Well, that remained to be seen. Aurum offered a dip of his head when his name was brought up by the general, feeling more and more curiosity building as the minutes passed. Even Leroy himself seemed a little caught up in it all, clearly a little bit caught off guard by the appearance of the similar canine. Everything seemed to click in place, however, when Ryde explained that Leroy was the family that he had come looking for. Surprise was clear on Aurum's face for the briefest of moments before he hid it away, glancing between the two. He rumbled curiously, eyes locked on Leroy, "Nice to meet you, Ryder... you know an Ophelia, Leroy?" Considering the kid's uncanny resemblance to Leroy, Aurum had his bets on Ophelia either being a lover, or a sister.

[div style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; text-shadow: 0px 0px 2px #1B1B2F; font-size: 24px;"][color=#44437F]— AURUM

#psychosocial.

[toboggan]

At very mention of that name, the general's previously stiff jaw fell ajar. Ophelia. It burnt like a searing iron, and lingered like a pungent stench. The shadowy femme, once the subject of his adoration and affection, now acted as a symbol of heartache, and to hear her named spoken by someone else for the first time in more than half a year, it left him utterly blindsided. Without forewarning, breathing became a trivial pursuit, and his legs went wobbly. Leroy was completely taken aback, and the initial shock he felt proved to be overwhelming.

The unanticipated surprise wasn't all bad. For instance, it allowed the male to process the information at hand without succumbing to the emotional bewilderment which any stable individual would feel at the news of them being a parent. At first, the hound fell to denial. How could he be a father? Many, many nights had been spent with Ophelia, though he couldn't recall an instance where he had- oh, right, there was that one time with the roast pheasant. Wait, she got pregnant from that? And then she ran off while bearing his kids?

Bitch move. And Ophelia wasn't a bitch, as far as he recalled.

The leader chooses to answer Aurum, first. "Yeah, I know an Ophelia," he answered, head swung over his shoulder so he could see the Proxy eye-to-eye, "well, I knew an Ophelia. Kinda loved her, but she sorta ran out..."

Amber oculars fixate on his apparent son (what the fuck) once again, as Leroy coughs hesitantly before speaking. "I'm your... your dad. That's fuckin' weird." Ryder looked like him, that'd been touched on before, but now with the illusion of Ophelia in his mind, his kid's resemblance to her was uncanny as hell. "So, ya came for your pops in Tanglewood, eh," he continued, blood flowing back into his noggin, "well, fuck. I guess you and me need to have a talk to catch up on each other, don't we?"