Chapter 5

Hearing the voice, it brings an amused smirk to Claw's face, and an explosion of emerald surprise to erupt all around Camu's body. The best friend duo slowly turned themselves around to face the vine draped cave entrance and from it, emerged the ocean. Well, not quite literally the actual ocean, but the colour was close enough! A deep-sea blue, waves of it all over the scales, among the bioluminescent stripes. Only the underside of the dragon, was a slightly lighter shade of blue, more like a cyan sort of colour. "Looks like all of you were wrong, I got here first." She was a SeaWing, another one of Claw's long running friends. They didn't get to see her too often, duties back in the Kingdom of the Sea usually kept her away for months at a time. Being in the SeaWing army tended to make it hard for someone to swim over to the Rainforest Kingdom, without being scolded for not finishing all of their tasks first. So, this was a rare meeting, a welcome one at that.

"I guess our 'secret' stash isn't really so secret, huh?" Claw was the first to respond, keeping the grin across his maw, not able to shove down how great it was to be seeing her again. It felt like forever since the last time. Giving Camu a reassuring pat on the back with the wing still wrapped over him, the two make their way toward the cave entrance, before being stopped by the SeaWing just short of going through the entrance. "Oh I don't think so. Claw. Camu. You both know the rules, don't you? First to make it gets first dibs, and you need to ask for permission to enter." She reminded them of this with an oozing tone of smugness in her voice, standing tall and almost regal like before the duo, maw also present with a smirk. Although now that the NightWing realised she remembered the rules, that amused smirk wasn't exactly there anymore. With a roll of his eyes, he and Camu bow their heads down, both speaking at the same time once more. Reciting. "Tidal is the greatest. Tidal is the fastest. Tidal gets first dibs because she is the bestest."

'Ugh, why did I make up this stupid rule?'

Finishing, Claw and Camu raise their heads. Their expressions a stark contrast from how much they'd just inflated Tidal's ego. She pretended to think about letting them in or not, a thoughtful hum rumbling under the gills of her neck. "Yes, yes, you both are correct. I am indeed the greatest, the fastest, and the bestest. Even though I don't think that's an actual word, but who I am to disagree? I have made my decision! NightWing! RainWing! You both may enter, the Sea Cave." There was another rule, whoever won got to name the cave for the day. So with a boosted sense of pride, Tidal steps aside and gestures with one of her ocean wings for the two losing dragons to head on inside. Camu bolts in first, moving from under Claw's starry wing in a flash! Not even seeming too bothered anymore by the fact that he lost, or what his best friend had been talking about with him just moments before. It all just appeared to, fly straight from memory. Which left Claw and Tidal alone together, standing outside, the sun passing the point of midday and into very early afternoon. "You know you may want to stop him, he might sneak a fruit or two to himself before you can get there." The NightWing warns, albeit playfully once their gazes were locked. With which Tidal glances to the side, directing her voice inside the cave. "Camu! If you even think about touching that stash before me, I am so going to drown you! I counted it all, I know how much is there!"

The RainWing's voice then comes echoing back. "You'd have to drag me to the ocean first! Besides, I'd never go against the rules of United Wings, I cannot believe you'd even think I'd do such a thing!" He sounded somewhat offended, though Claw knew him well enough, it took a lot more than that to actually offend this colourful happy dragon. Upon hearing the name, Tidal appeared taken aback, reconnecting her eyes to the dark scaled dragon in front of her. Raising a brow. "You didn't seriously call this place, 'United Wings', did you? Please tell me it was Camu's idea." The smirk returns, and Claw gives Tidal a passing pat on the shoulder. "Nope, I take full credit for that official title." And he heads inside, brushing through the vines to join the hyper RainWing in their den. Now leaving just Tidal standing on the outside, having watched Claw enter. Left with the many sounds of the rainforest, one including a Toucan, tapping its bill against the bark of a tree. Mixed in with a gentle breeze, making the very top branches sway in the wind. "United Wings." She repeated to herself, giving her head a small shake and light amused chuckle. "Whatever happened to Salvation?"

Inside, the cave was surprisingly spacious, with little sections each dedicated to the trio of dragons all from different tribes. Tidal, the SeaWing, had her own small pool on the right side. The water refreshing and cool, and unlike her last visit here, was actually seawater this time around. Giving her a taste of home, of those deep blue depths, except it wasn't quite a dark shade of blue nor was it very deep. As close as she'd get though, without having to fly all the way over to the ocean itself. The ceiling above had decorations dangling on seaweed vines, gently swaying as their owner was the last to enter the den. Shells, clams, abandoned seasnail homes, what looked to be a... small piece of red fabric? Claw always thought that never contrasted very well against the other assortment of beach objects. Why did she find it fancy enough to put alongside everything else? He didn't dare question her choice of decorations though. It was her side of the cave; she could put up whatever she wished.

Camu was already on his side, on the left, with a hammock connected via two walls on either end. The rocky interior being very jagged, and protruding, making this place quite ideal for a group of dragons to have their own sections. Enough room for at least five in fact, if they had two more friends. The RainWing had recently begun to write, as per Queen Glory's recent attempts with the tribe. They'd been out of practice with that sort of thing for the longest time, but Camu was a determined little dragon, and Claw had to admit he'd been slowly getting better at it over these past few months. Going from jotting down the many names of fruits that he knew of, to creating sentences of at least four words. A steady improvement, one which Camu felt extremely proud of himself for, and loved to show his best bud his progress. He had even started to draw, and so the many tries of his artistic nature wanting to spring free into the world, were plastered all over the wall on his side. Right now wasn't the time for drawing however, or getting better at using his talons to create words, now was the time for an all you can eat buffet! Or at least, as much as they could eat without Camu's big sister knowing they'd snacked on some of the food.

"As the newly appointed Queen of...United Wings, I hereby declare that I am entitled to at least half of the fish in that pile. Do I hear any disagreement upon my subordinates?" Tidal asked once she'd walked to the centre of their den, addressing both the NightWing and the RainWing as though she really were the latest in a long line of SeaWing queens. Holding herself in quite a regal posture, one that made Claw roll his eyes as he got to his section of the cave right at the very back. "Not from me, but you may want to keep an eye on your RainWing subject, your majesty." He had such a tone of amusement in his voice, that it made Tidal quickly dart her gaze over to Camu and his hammock, which swung idly with no gold scaled dragon in sight. It made the webbed spine all along her back stand at attention in alert, and as fast as the RainWing had disappeared, Tidal darted away like a fleeing fish into a smaller sixth section of their cave. A tunnel, naturally formed in the rock, which led down into a circular room. Since no light was able to travel too far into the earth, the room was lit by multiple lanterns embedded into the walls, all lit by Claw since only he possessed the ability to create fire just by breathing it out. The rest of their second home wasn't lit for now, not during the early afternoon. Lanterns were the source of light in here too, except these ones, had a special type of glass around the flame. Rarely though, were they ever required to be turned on, night-time visits to United Wings were few and far between. Claw had his species' natural ability to see in the dark, and Tidal could make her body glow at will with those bioluminescent patches of hers. So even when they made those trips to the den during the evening, seeing in the near darkness wasn't a problem in the slightest!

"Don't eat it all at once!" The NightWing shouts down the tunnel to his two friends, with which he gets no response from either of them, probably too busy stuffing their mouths full. He'd be lucky if Tidal saved even one fish for him! Ah well, it didn't bother him too much, catching fish wasn't exactly a task he found to be too troublesome anyway. It was the whole stashing it in their little secret den that was difficult, especially when said den apparently wasn't so secret anymore. Pushing away the thoughts of having to possibly go fishing again soon, Claw retreats to his section, nice and snug at the back of the cave. Or more so the back left corner, a neighbour to his best bud. He had no hammock, no refreshing pool of water he could plonk himself into whenever he wanted. No. Claw's corner was a mix of his Father, and his Mother. Both tidy...and a little messy. Shade could be seen in the way that he had still open scrolls lying about in one spot, overlapping each other. And paint containers sitting in another spot, black and silver paints to be more specific, from the NightWing's latest artistic creation. Or at least, it was Claw's best attempt at creating something. The usual grey stone wall had been smothered in a layer of black, the night sky. And dotted all over it were silver spots, stars. But what Claw had really struggled to represent, even despite being able to see them for reference on many evenings, was the three moons. It was a valiant effort. Two crescents and one full, all in the centre of his painting. Regardless of the quality, he was proud of it. Heck, he'd even managed to cover some of the ceiling in his section with stars and darkness, as though the night was spilling out into the den itself.

This was what could be seen of Shimmer, the more creative aspect over the chaotic.

Lifting one of his open scrolls, Claw slides out...a fish! The sneaky dragon, already having hid some of the stash before even coming here today. A triumphant grin spreads across his maw, which he promptly licks in anticipation for the tasty, juicy treat. "As if I'd put everything down there, not a chance." He chuckled mischievously to himself, and not wasting a second more before eating up his prize, gone in moments. So, feeling satisfied, and his friends still very much occupied, Claw lays himself down in front of his many scrolls. Picking through them until finding the one he wanted for today, 'Adventures In The Nebula.'

"Under the guidance of the night, we fight!"