It's a long way to Tipperary! // Joining // It's a long way, I know!

[Vincent C.]

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So this was it huh? He finally made it to one of the territories of the strange groups his mother and brother had told him about. He could tell it wasn't just another marking from some random animal due to all the different scents that made up the border. Yet, despite markings being made from different people, they all smelled somewhat similar, thus hinting further that this was the scent marker of a group of animals.

Even if this wasn't one of the groups he was looking for, Vincent suspected that this was the best chance he'd have to at least get directions. So when the young cheetah approached the border, he took a seat a few feet away from the marker. Hopefully whoever owned this land didn't mind finding strangers on their borders. He was told that the groups are somewhat welcoming of newcomers, so hopefully, these people would be the same.

After waiting a few minutes alone with his thoughts, he drew the knife that was belted to his side and started to fiddle with the seemingly brand new ka-bar knife that his sister had given him. His mother had warned that this place was like the wild west, with dangerous people running amuck, which was what prompted his twin to give him this knife along with a quick crash course on how to use the thing. From what she taught him, it had seemed pretty simple, but he didn't think he'd have the nerve to actually stab someone with this thing. Either way, he had accepted it so that she wouldn't worry so much about him. Plus, it made a suitable item to remember her by, what with her somewhat martial nature. Course he had a picture of his family in the pouch next to the sheath on his belt, but this seemed a bit more personal.

With a shake of his head, Vin dashed away the thoughts of his family he left behind deciding to focus on the matter at hand. While nobody has come around to greet him yet, he already felt on edge, trying to plan out what he'd say when they arrived. While deep in thought, the cheetah had subconsciously spelled out his name by dragging the long blade of the knife through the ground, bringing the blade to a rest at the end of the "t", giving it an extra flourish.

[agathe.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px; color;"]All Agathe seemed to do anymore was patrol.

She supposed that that wasn't inherently a bad thing - not with the plethora of joiners always found conveniently upon their border - but for a creature honed to be a battle-ready weapon, this type of idleness was quickly growing boring. Every part of her wanted nothing more than to sing with bloodlust in the heat of battle, not put on her friendliest facade and handle interior matters. But she had sacrificed tearing flesh and splitting bone the moment she defied her grandmother and here, she supposed that this was her indirect punishment. So she would embrace it, as she did all things, and hope and pray to her many faced Goddess that she would be granted some sort of peace.

A sigh would fall from dark lips as an unfamiliar scent crossed her path, angled ears swiveling in the direction of faint noise as she abandoned her original course to deal with whatever found itself upon their border. She didn't expect much - she never did - and would by lying if she said that she was surprised to see someone who probably wished to join fiddling around with a knife in the ground. Hm. "What's your business here, stranger?" Agathe would call out to him, expression as composed and cold as usual as she regarded him with that steely, golden gaze, "This is the Ascendants territory." The cloaked snow leopard didn't bother introducing herself, not until she at least heard his name anyways. It'd be a waste of breath until that moment.

[Vincent C.]

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Being stuck so deep in thought, he hadn't even noticed the snow leopard's approach. It wasn't until she spoke up that he looked up from the knife. The small fright she gave him from being startled caused him to jump a bit before he finally grabbed ahold of his nerves and gave the female a coy smile. "Oh, ah um.. Sorry." He said with a small nervous laugh before he picked the knife back up from the dirt and slide it back into its sheath.

When she mentioned the "Ascendants" he turned his gaze back up to her, unable look her directly in the eyes. Vin recognized it as one of the names he'd been given. That was one of the friendly ones right? He couldn't quite remember as his thoughts flew at thousands of miles per second, all blurring together as he tried to formulate what he'd say next. Although he was able to capture one detail he remembered about them, they were the astronomers, right? Or they at least lived at some place that was related to astronomy...  It was an observatory, right? Well, surely those that lived in such a place of science wouldn't be violent right? Though, the person before him did little to convince him of such.

After a few moments of silence, Vin finally managed to form a few words. "Well, um... I'm Vincent, and I've come to.. Join your establishment. If that would be possible." When he had planned this out earlier, he'd hoped he would be a bit more confident. Boy did he mess that up.

[ATLAS.]

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Atlas didn't mind monotony. There was something comforting about the knowledge that he was safe, because boredom meant routine, which meant stability. Like Agathe, he wanders around this territory doing the same things again and again, but unlike her, he... hasn't been all that productive about it. It wasn't so much patrolling as aimless meandering. Stumbling across this situation is luck — good luck to most people, but bad luck to him. The dog isn't the most social of creatures and his mood has been particularly sour as of late. As he comes to a standstill by the cats, his mouth is twisted into a vaguely displeased frown. His mouth temporarily softens in amusement, corner ticking up. Establishment. This is hardly that, just some loose, messy web of people tangled around one another. Still, the word softens his mood. "Our establishment?" he quotes, unable to let it go even as a grin slowly splits his face. For a moment, Atlas doesn't look so severely disinterested in the world. "Yeah, you're probably welcome to stay." (He shrugs, fully aware that he's useless. It's not like he's the leader, yeah?) "Where'd you come from, anyway?"

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｢ WORD COUNT: 192. MUSE LEVEL: 06. APPEARANCE NOTES. ｣

[Vincent C.]

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When the next Ascendent arrived he wasn't entirely sure whether the dog made him more comfortable or less. Though when the dog seemed to find his wording amusing, the grin did slightly help the young cheetah get a better hold on his nerves. Though his next words didn't make him entirely confident that he was allowed to join them. This caused him to furrow his brow a bit in question of his uncertainty. It wasn't until he decided that a "probably" was better than a flat out "no" before he let the shy and slightly more encouraged smile to return.

When the dog asked him about his place of origin or rather his old home, he gave the male a questioning look as he tried to put thoughts into words. He had never really heard any other name for where he came from other than "home" so instead he was forced to describe it. "Well, it's um, different from what I've heard about this place. People tend to keep to themselves, not really ever forming groups... and never forming groups as large as the ones found here." He said, hoping that painted a decent picture. "And heh, as you can probably guess that got boring pretty fast. Which is why I wanted to see what this place.. 'The Ascendents' had to offer."

[agathe.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; color;"]Agathe would study the cheetah for a few, brief moments, the faintest glimmers of amusement appearing in her golden gaze. He was so young that even she, with her eternal wariness towards strangers, knew better than to deny him refuge here. "Well," The snow leopard would begin quickly, easily, position shifting so that she was leaning more on her left side, the air around her becoming less frigid and more casual, "Welcome to the Ascendants then." Ivory canines would flash in some attempt at a smile before she glanced towards Atlas, nodding along with his words. "I'm Agathe Ashyver. I assume that you'll be able to settle in by yourself?"