My ears are ringing. And everything is much too bright. My body is kinda tingly, like it all fell asleep. Why am I looking up at the sky? I sit up and make a popping noise with my mouth to judge the sound. When I barely notice it I reach up to rub the backs of my ears. "Ugh, monsters don't get tinnitus do they?" After I let go of my ears I think I hear something to the right side, so I turn to look. "Oh, hey Ginro. Sorry, I couldn't really tell what you just said." I rub my ears again and look around.

I'm sitting a short ways outside of the edge of the Yggdra-Umme's clearing. Which is now dominated by a deep crater instead of a giant tree. The tree itself is knocked over, shattered at the base, and partially blackened, laying halfway out of the clearing on the other side. It looks like some of the branches tried to grow into the ground after it fell over, but those branches are the most heavily blackened now, and there is still dark lightning hanging about it.

I stand up, dust myself off, then huff slightly when I notice that my leaf has been destroyed again. I look myself over a bit, noting a few bruises and slight lightning traced burns along my arms and chest. The fur on my arms, legs, and tail is standing on end, and the arm fur specifically seems a bit singed. I sniffle a bit and try to adjust the pressure in my ears. They pop, and the ringing dips to a tolerable level. My gaze moves back to Ginro. "Okay, so what were you trying to say? And how long was I out?"

He grabs me by the ear the same way Lara might. "I said don't do that again! I thought it'd just be the same as your other bombs, but when I heard the boom I came running back, and you were on the ground!" His grip loosens and his eyes tear up. "I thought you were actually hurt, idiot!" His hand drops away from my head to clench both fists at his sides as he looks down. "You started to sit up before I could even reach you, so it couldn't have been long." He was rather huffy with that line, but at least he gave an answer.

I work my jaw slightly, briefly unsure of what to do or say. Then I hook my tail behind his back and pull him close for a hug. He tries to push me away, but isn't strong enough to make me let go, so he gives up and accepts the hug after a moment. "I'm sorry for being an idiot. And I know it won't make up for it, but I promise not to use higher ranked bombs as battering rams." He makes a choking noise, that I think was meant to be a laugh, so I pat him on the back then let go. He takes a step away and rubs at his eyes.

"Now then, what should we do about the tree? I might be able to eat pieces of it. But, it's made of some funny sounding metal, so maybe it'd be better to keep it?" I look at the still massive remains. "Uhh. If we can get it back to the Den?" I ruffle my hair, then shrug. I prod at my bruises a bit as I walk towards the edge of the crater. When I reach it, I look down. It isn't terribly deep. It sort of looks like a big swimming pool. There's even water at the bottom. Slightly pearlescent, shimmery, water. "Wait, what?"

I slide down the crater to stop by the edge of the water. It looks like it's slowly welling up, some sort of spring? Ginro comes down after me as I sniff at the new pool. It has a sort of rich iron and mineral scent, with hints of veggies and a touch of spices. "Smells kinda like, blood soup? Or since it's pretty clear, would it be a consomme?"

Ginro closes his eyes as he sniffs at the water. "Mmm? I don't know what that is, but it smells good?" I hum positively. He gulps and opens his eyes to look down at the pool. I stare at my slightly singed hands, wondering if lightning blasts count as washing.

After a moment, he reaches down to scoop up a handful of the strange liquid. "Ah?" He raises his hand to his face to take a sip. "And here I was hesitating to put my dirty hands in it." I snicker slightly, then scoop some up and drink it myself. "Bleh? Tastes like instant ramen with too much water." I dump the rest of the liquid out of my palm and look up at Ginro. He's licking his hand clean? "What the hell? You like it?"

"Yeah! It tastes kinda like the fat from the edge of the meat I ate earlier. But without the sticky texture. The meat itself tasted better, but still." I tilt my head, then lick my own hand a bit. Yeah. Flat rust soda. I shake my head, then stand up. My gaze meets that of a blue fox. Calmly sitting on the edge of the crater, even after I spot her. This one, doesn't seem familiar? She's smaller, and has a different shade of blue fur than any of Suna's kits. She seems different enough that I decide to Identify her.

"An evolved version? Or subspecies? Something. Either way, you're awfully bold, little one. Even Suna and her kits were afraid of me at first." I shake my head, then hold a hand up to beckon her down. "If you want a drink, come on down and help yourself. We won't stop you. And, this might be your only chance. I don't think leaving this pool here alone is a good idea, so I'll probably replace that old tree with something." Her tail gives a single, lazy looking, swish, then she crawls over the edge and walks to the edge of the water, keeping low to the ground all the while, I get the impression that she's trying to sneak even though we're already aware of her. Now that I have a better view of her, she looks, kinda skinnier than Suna's kits too. To the point that I can sort of see her ribs through her fur.

I take a moment to think about that as she starts lapping at the shimmery liquid. ". . . You are, alone aren't you?" Her tail wraps around her side and chest, but doesn't make any obvious response. I mutter under my breath while staring at her. "Either I'm adopting this fox, or I'm making Suna do it." I stare down at the pool. "Now, why does this smell good, but taste meh? And what should I do about it?"

"I suppose it must be water with essence in it. So, is the essence just too thin for me? But there is enough of it overall to catch my attention." I rub my bruises and tap my tail on the bottom of the basin. "Sooo uh. Don't want to leave a pool of essence alone, for sure. Could be dangerous. The Yggdra-Umme capped it off pretty well. So a new tree should work. And if I give the new tree a skill for concentrating essence into fruit, it should make good use of the well. Well? Oh, the old tree had a skill called Wellspring Access. Will the new one need that?"

While I'm thinking on that, the young fox finishes her drink, then creeps around the pool to where Ginro and I are. I decide to leave her to her whims, and keep thinking on my own current interest. "As for what to base it on, I've got to go with the Golden Apple tree from the Garden of Hesperides in Greek myth. Though, I guess Norse mythology also has golden apples. Idun hands them out to the various gods to maintain their youth, but I'm not sure if the stories ever said where she got them?" The fox has gotten within a few feet of me, and is now actually standing up instead of crouching. She seems to be sniffing at me and Ginro curiously.

"If I don't give the tree any combat abilities, I should give it a guard too. So, obviously gotta be a dragon. Western? Eastern? Or should I go with the classic multi-headed serpent?" My tail swishes lightly as I think about what I'll do. The fox stares at my wiggling appendage, then after a moment walks behind me to step on it? I hold my tail in place carefully. "Well, that's a little rude, don't you think?"

She doesn't respond to that. After a moment she jumps up onto my back, then higher up to land on my head. Once up there she settles herself down, nestled between my ears, with her front paws set on the curved parts of my horns to hold herself steady. It's a little weird how cozily she seems to fit there. "Ooooookay. I've got a fluffy crown now. Not to mention your attitude seems pretty serious for such a silly action."

I sigh softly, then grin. "Well, do what you like. I've decided what I'm doing next." I stand up carefully and look at the pool of essence water. It has risen nearly to my feet in the time I was thinking. I shoo Ginro away, he scoops one more handful of the liquid before climbing out of the crater. I hold my left hand out and activate my Monster Creation skill.

I feel the sensation of something slashing across my palm, then silver blood wells up from the fresh wound. The blood draws together into a mass about the size of a grape. It's less than I expected, given that I'm aiming for A Rank. The fox on my head tenses up, and tries to hide her face in my hair. I tilt my hand to drop the blood into the essence below.

When the blood touches the water, it seems to start sucking it up. The water level quickly drops, eventually revealing a hole at the center of the bottom of the crater. A moment after that, a golden shoot rises from the nearer edge of the hole. Roots and branches sprout outwards quickly. The roots spread as if to cover the hole, though it looks like there are still gaps. The trunk of the tree grows quickly after that. At the end, the tree stands just above the top of the crater. A large golden tree with four main branches, seemingly pointed to the four cardinal directions, each bearing two or three large golden fruit, as well as many smaller bud like shapes that I guess to be immature fruit.

"Tree of Wisdom?! That makes it sound more like Judeo-Christian myth than Greek! And it doesn't have Wellspring Access? Can I just, not give out World Skills? Not that I quite get what those are anyway. And why does it need four different fruit skills? I guess each skill matches one of the branches?" I feel a little tail at the back of my head swish twice, then a little paw tapping my forehead. "Eh? Well yeah, I guess you can have some. I was still thinking, but sure." I close my eyes and sniff at the tree. I catch five distinct scents from the young tree. The tree itself, has a sort of heavy cinnamon vibe to it, though for some reason it doesn't really whet my appetite.

The fruit are surprisingly varied. The smell that stands out the most has a sort of rich spiced honey thing going on, it seems to be coming from the north branch, and reminds me of the time I tried Mead. Likely the Fruit of Essence, given that it stands out the most. After that, the eastern fruit smell similar to black licorice, which I've never liked before, but does seem appealing now? The southern fruit have a bold citrusy scent. Despite still looking like large apples. The western fruit remind me of ginger? But still fruity? Weird. I crouch down and clear my throat softly. "Do you have a favorite? And, can you hop down so I can go up and pick one without dropping you?"

 She jumps down more quickly than I've seen her move so far, then runs to the trunk of the tree. After sniffing around a bit, she stops by the west side and puts her forepaws on the tree while looking up. I glance at Ginro for a moment, but he seems to be approaching the tree on his own, so I'll leave him to it. I walk to the tree, then jump up to grab ahold of the west branch. I pull myself up next to a ripe fruit. It's a bit bigger than even a honeycrisp apple, and it does look like solid gold. I hold myself up with one hand and grab the fruit. When I touch it, it feels like a normal fruit, despite its metallic appearance.

I shrug that off and move my hand up to snip the stem with my claws, then swipe my hand under the fruit before it falls. I look down before letting go of the branch. Despite making sure I dropped a ways away from her, the fox is sitting at my feet looking up at me before I've managed to orient myself. "Ha. Alright. Buuuuut. One thing first. I want to see your Humanoid Transformation." She tilts her head slightly. "You know, make yourself kinda like me? Two legs, hands. All that?" Her tail wraps around her side again.

She stares up at me, seemingly mulling it over, then walks a few paces away before turning to face me again. I feel that ethereal feeling I got when Ginro tried to transform my claws, then a puff of smoke obscures the fox from my view. A moment later the smoke blows away, leaving a small girl in it's wake. She still has the fox ears and tail, but otherwise looks passably human, and is wearing something like a blue fur dress? Her hair is a bit long and frazzled, slightly darker than her fur, and pulled back into a plain pony tail that almost matches her actual tail. She looks about ten or so, but given how skinny and unhealthy she seems, I wouldn't be surprised if she was actually a bit older and just malnourished. Now I feel bad about making her wait. She is still rather quiet, and has a blank face.

I hold the fruit out, and low enough that she could reach it. She walks in quickly, but a bit unsteadily, perhaps not used to her human form? Then grabs the fruit in both hands. When she goes to take a bite I notice that her teeth are still pretty sharp. She makes a soft squeaking noise when her teeth sink into the fruit. Huh, the first sound I've heard from her? I smile slightly, then walk past her to the tree. I set my gaze on one of the Essence focused fruits, and jump up to snatch it.

Once I'm back on the ground, I take a small bite to start with. The flavor is as sweet as vanilla extract smells, and tastes like a honeycrisp apple drizzled with actual honey and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg? This should be downright saccharine, but damn if I don't love it. My next bite is bigger. The third bigger still, and the same for the forth. Then after the fifth, nothing remains? "What the hell? Did I eat half of it at once somewhere?!" I didn't leave a core, or the seeds, or even the stem.

"Pff. Ha ha ha! Oooh. Nope. I'm ridiculous when I don't control myself." I look around. Ginro is sitting atop the tree of wisdom, specifically on the south branch, and eating a fruit. The fox is maybe halfway through hers, and looks a bit better. Like her face has more color, and her hair looks less dry? That said, she seems to have slowed down, so she might be about full already. Looking down at myself, it seems like my bruises have healed to the point of being sort of yellowish instead of the fresh purple they were a bit ago. "Uuuuh? Well. I'm going to make the guard dragon for the Tree now. Kay?" Neither of them say anything about it, but Ginro at least waves.

I climb out of the pit and approach a nice open area away from the remains of the old tree. I decide to take a moment to think it through. "Another A Rank? No, let's say 'As strong as I can make it'. I kinda feel like that might be A Rank anyway, but we'll see. I want it to take care of this garden too, so instead of going for a typical dragon, maybe I should add something else? Oooh? How about I cross a dragon with the Ceryneian Hind? Might make it a bit like a Qilin though? Mmm, as for skills. I kinda want to give it Humanoid Transformation like the lil fox has, see how that plays out. Beyond that, some stuff for keeping the garden as is?"

I feel a piercing sensation on the palm of both hands, so I hold them up to watch how much blood it takes. The blood wells up until I'm left holding what look like silver jewels, each the size of a golf ball. "It's more, but not enough for a jump in rank? . . Did I use essence from the pool when making the tree? Or does the blood not matter as much as I thought?" I cup my hands together. When the silver beads touch, they flow together into one uniform sphere. "What the hell? Is it solid or not?!"

I hold it between my fingers and shake a bit. Which has no apparent effect. While I'm doing that my shadow is spreading across the ground, reaching further as I continue to mess around. I start squeezing the orb, which feels about as hard as a rock between my fingers. Then I hear an odd, crunching noise off to the side.

When I look that way I see a fallen branch from the Yggdra-Umme sinking into my shadow, and breaking apart while it does. After that I finally notice that my shadow has spread about ten meters in every direction at this point. "Guess, it doesn't like to be kept waiting?" I snicker at the absurdity of the idea, flip my hand over to hold the silver blood down towards the shadow, then release it.

When the offering lands in the dark pool, it seems to jerk away from the branch, as if excitedly diving towards the better source of essence. After that it draws together in front of me. A moment later a set of ten golden spears poke up, as they rise the point where they connect together becomes apparent, then the top of a head with rich brown fur and dark emerald scales.

The rest of the head rises up, then stops to stare at me. The head is nearly as large as a person on its own, and mostly like that of a deer, though the upper canine teeth are over the lower lip and visibly sharp. The creature's eyes are as deep a green as it's scales, and have vertically slit pupils. Speaking of the scales, their placement is a little odd. The head is mostly covered in fur, but there are odd spirals of scales leading up from the neck? Some of which reach most of the way across the head.

Curiosity apparently sated, the creature resumes its emergence from my vast shadow. The neck seems to be furred on the front and back and scaled at the sides. The fur at the front is a cream white and looks extra soft and fluffy. A pair of brass colored cloven front hooves reach up out of the shadow and brace against the ground to keep lifting it up. The pattern of scaled sides and furred back and underside continues along the body, though the legs appear mostly scaled with fluffy white fetlocks.

Once the full being stands before me, I notice that the tail would suit a dragon better than a deer. Being long, thick, and overall kinda whip like, though the top side is still fluffy. It's significantly larger than a giraffe, a bit under twice as tall at the back, though with the build of a deer. The creature is overall quite similar to a deer, perhaps even moreso than I intended, but still has some traces of a dragon, so I suppose it's fine. It's currently looking around the clearing taking in its surroundings for the first time. So I take the moment to Identify it. It seems to turn to look at me again briefly when I do.

"What does 'Selective Fire Breath' even mean? Ugghh? Whatever. Aside from that, seems pretty good. Taking care of the area, turning into a human like form, taming the wild monsters around here, becoming more dragon like, and flying, despite not having wings." The Cervidracus turns towards me, and lowers its head to look at me, apparently interested in what I just said. "Right. Use your Humanoid Transformation so we can have a little conversation."

For a moment I get a feeling like it is looking down on me, instead of just looking down because I'm so much smaller. That irritates me into snarling, and the Cervidracus freezes like a deer in the headlights. I guess it has good instincts, despite whatever caused it to react that way. "Rebellious streak over then? Good. Now get down here so we can talk."

It looks around uncertainly, then lies down in front of me. ". . . You don't know how. Of course. Haaah. Wait right here." I run back to the crater, pick up the fox girl and her roughly half of a fruit, in a princess carry, and take her to the Cervidracus. It looks at her curiously, even raising its head slightly as I set her down. "Okay, now, could you turn into a fox and maybe back again?" For a moment she seems more inclined to hide the fruit from the larger creature's curious gaze. When it doesn't take any actions she eventually relaxes, then looks up at me for a moment before finding a loose leaf to place her fruit on. Guess she doesn't trust me to not eat it?

She keeps the fruit in sight as she gathers her energy, then. Poof, she has returned to her natural state. The Cervidracus stares, head slightly tilted. Her tail twitches, then she turns human again to show off to the great beast. It finally seems to get the idea, because that same kind of energy is gathering around its massive form now. The fox seems to get that her task is done, she retrieves her fruit, then steps a short ways behind me to watch while occasionally nibbling at it.

The smoke cloud from its transformation is enough to completely shroud my view of the clearing for a few seconds. When the smoke clears away I stare in surprise at the figure before me. They are a fair bit taller than me, perhaps seven feet tall, compared to my five foot three. Though I'm not certain I'm exactly the same height I used to be, so my guess on their height might be a little off. Beyond that they have a slender, androgynous build. And of course, the antlers and deer like ears, as well as the long reptilian tail, remain. They're wearing a sort of loose furred leather vest and scaled leather pants. Their face is also androgynous, and still bears the spiraling scale patterns, and they have their mid length white hair loose and wild. My general impression of them is as a tall athletic huntress.

"Are you um, a girl or a guy?" They start patting themself down, exploring with their hands a bit. "Ehem. You can take your time to do that later. For now, I'll introduce myself. I am Typhon, or Tai for short. I created you, with a special task in mind." I pause briefly. "And, I suppose I should give you a name. Your job is important enough for that, I think."

Thinking on it, last time I gave someone a name was with Kinu, and that was, kinda an awkward way to do it. I should make a bit of a show of it here. Before I proceed though, they stop looking themself over and speak up. Their voice leans more towards the feminine than their appearance, but has an odd feel to it. It has a graceful flow, but sort of a wild undertone, like their nature is to be a wild animal, but they're trying to be civilized instead. "I am a woman. At least, I think that is right." She steps in close, reaching out to touch me. I notice that she has claws, a bit shorter than mine, and retaining the brassy color of her hooves. She touches my horns first, then moves on to my fluffy ears. "Why are you strong when you are so small?"

"It's not about size, it's about how you use, it? . . . That makes it sound like I'm insulting myself. Eh, never mind that." I push her hands away and shake my head. "Anyway, I'm just high enough a rank that I can be small. Now then, you're a girl. Gimme a sec to think." While my attention is off of her, hers seems to drift over to the fox, then to the tree. If we're thinking mythology, there is only one name that fits for her, so I'll have to go with that. I snap my teeth to regain her attention.

"I have decided. Your name shall be Atalanta, after the great huntress from Greek myth. . . Huh. That still felt a little awkward." I scratch the back of my head, frown slightly, then shrug. "Anyway, I made you to protect that tree, and hopefully take care of the garden around here. You can sorta do whatever you want though." Actually watching for that sort of thing this time, I feel a crackle of energy arc from me to her. It felt more, savage, than when I use Monster Creation, or focus my Essence in my claws. After that, my stomach growls a bit.

Before I comment on, or act upon that, I spot a little fox girl looking up at me with an air of expectation. ". . . Ah. Do you, want a name too?" She gives a slight nod. "Alright, that should be fine? Just a D rank. That won't cost much. . . How about Rin? That's a cute little name." There is a subtle buzz of that energy this time. Er no, it feels different? The wild vital energy from before easily flowed from me to Atalanta, but for Rin, it feels a bit more reserved, and doesn't move quite as easily.

Rin's tail puffs up a bit, then she dives back into her fruit. Hey, she didn't just want a name so she could eat more, did she? I walk over to the remains of the old tree and strip off a chunk of its bark to eat like jerky. This time she manages to finish the fruit, and like me, she didn't leave anything behind. Her eyes look a little sleepy now. She blinks, then rubs her eyes.

Rin gathers her energy and returns to her fox form. She looks a little better now. Still skinny, but now I doubt I could count her ribs just by looking. Though unlike Suna, her color hasn't changed at all. She walks a ways north, pauses to look back at me, then continues. "You want me to follow you?" I look over to Atalanta. "I'll be back in a bit. Don't cause any trouble with Ginro. Oh, and if you see other foxes like her, they're free to come here too."

I take off after Rin to see what she wants. On the way, it's pretty interesting to see her pass by other monsters without being noticed, just to have them react to me. Though most of the monsters here are plant types, so many just try to hide by acting like normal vegetation. There are a few, less clever things that try to attack me. But having another interest right now, I swat them aside instead of actually fighting them.

After a while we reach a point just within the ring of Titan Umme with an odd little grove of dull gray metallic bamboo. The spaces between the stalks are small enough that I have to squeeze between them. Rin leads the way to the center of the grove, and specifically something that seems to be an old shrine with bamboo intruding a little too close to its walls. Within the shrine is a weathered statue of something that looks like a canine. If I had to guess, I'd obviously place it as a fox. But the details are too worn down to be certain.

When I actually step into the shrine, I feel vaguely like I'm being watched. But I can't sense anything other than Rin here, so I shake it off. Behind the statue is a little nest made of soft leaves, bits of fur, and the like. There are also various things around the room. Large bones with obvious bite marks, shiny rocks, some coins, a knife, and a few crudely carved wooden toys. "So, this is your home then? Why'd you lead me here? . . Oh. By the way. I was going to ask, would you like to come live with me?"

She stares up at me as if that were obvious. "You weren't even waiting for an invitation?!" I grin wryly, then laugh. "Okay, okay. It's fine. But still, what are we doing here?" She runs around, gathering some of her toys, the knife, and taking a minute to look through the shiny rocks before deciding on a few to add to the little pile. After that, she looks around again, then places her paws on the statue's pedestal. "I'm, not sure I could take that back. It'd probably fall apart." Her tail droops. "Ah? Uh. Well, you can always come back here whenever you want. It's not all that far away. And I can have one of my friends come with you if I'm not free."

Her tail swishes lightly, then she gives a small nod. After that she returns to the pile and taps a paw next to it. "Yeah, I can carry that much. Might need to fight with my tail if any monsters come at me while we travel, but that's fine." She takes a little lap around the room, sniffing as she goes. She stops at a seemingly random point, then scratches at the dirt floor. She digs up a small leather pouch, perhaps a coin purse of some sort? Though she bites onto a strap on it herself, rather than adding it to the pile. I collect her other luggage, then follow her back to the Tree of Wisdom's clearing.

Once we walk back into the clearing, the first thing I notice is Ginro and Atalanta messing around with leaves from the Yggdra-Umme. I hadn't noticed before, but they look pretty similar to the normal Umme's leaves, but have a slight metallic sheen, and are quite a bit tougher. It looks like he is trying to make a vest and pants in the same fashion as the ones she is wearing from them? And she is helping. They're cutting leaves into strips and uniform pieces, and stitching the pieces together with the strips.

When Ginro spots me, he waves me over. I approach, but set Rin's treasures down a short ways away. Once I'm close enough he speaks up. "I think this'll hold up better than the normal leaves. This one is fit to me, but I'll make a little bigger one for you once I'm done with mine." I nod, then go to snack on a bit more of the Yggdra-Umme's bark and now nearly cooled sap while he works. Rin sits around still holding on to her pouch instead of doing anything more interesting. After a while she seems to get bored and look at the toys I set down, but musters her determination to continue guarding whatever she has in there.

About half an hour after I talked to Ginro he approaches me, he is already wearing his leaf stitched outfit, and is holding another one. I pull the pants on first, then try the vest. It's a little off compared to a normal vest, with straps across the front that are connected instead of having something like a button to fasten it, so I have to pull it on over my head instead. The pants are a little short legged, but they're too long to be shorts. They fit a little loose, which is nice, as tight pants would probably feel weird on furry legs. But the waist settles a little low leaving room for my tail, rather than having a tail hole.

Looking closer, the two articles each seem like one uniform piece of leaf, instead of being patches stitched together. "Huh, that's a little weird. But it fits comfortably. And it's made from a high ranked monster, so maybe it'll last quite a while? Normal leaves were never going to last long, honestly." I look up to him with a broad grin. "Thanks, this is pretty good. Now, let's go home, yeah?" It's getting a little dark out, so I'd like to get Rin home and settled sooner rather than later.

I retrieve Rin's possessions, as well as one of the Yggdra-Umme's fallen branches, then approach Atalanta with Ginro, and Rin following along. "Hey, I was thinking. You can fly, right. So how about you give us a ride? I'll point out where we need to go. Aside from that, I'll get the Woodworkers from our place to build you a house out here, if you'd like."

She tilts her head. "What is a house?" I hold a finger up, then move my hand back down and furrow my eyebrows. Finally, I shrug and roll my hand around to indicate that we should just move on. She steps away and returns to her Cervidracus form, then lies down for us to climb onto her back. Rin seems hesitant, but after both Ginro and I have jumped up, and I beckon to her, she finds a way to climb up, using Atalanta's legs as footholds, mostly.

Once we're all comfortably settled, Ginro and I hanging on to the thick fur of Atalanta's back, Rin tucked between me and the branch I'm holding, she stands up, then runs around the edge of the clearing before starting to climb into the air as if ascending an invisible stairway. Once she has cleared the treetops she turns her head to look back at us. "Wahhoo! That's pretty crazy! Ah, right! Head that'a way! And keep an eye out for clearings!" I point in the direction Ginro and I came from earlier, and she loops around to run that way.

Chaos_Sinner777

I was originally planing to go with a Ten-headed dragon with a different element of breath attack for each head. Ya'know, play into the Ladon angle, with a lil extra. However, for some reason the writers block hit hard when I was trying to write up the creation of that dragon, so I decided to go another way with it. Guess I wanted more of a Forest Deity, than a classic guard dragon?