Name: Kendrick Mercer-Lane [ken drik unfazed by the distractions around him]

Gender: Male, bisexual

Age/DOB: ~20? Aged in Vortal construct / RY3? introduced to the Rookery at large in RY5

Origin: Appeared on scene at Rookery with sister Raven, is Rookery-centric born to disparate Repurposed and Rookery parents, probably conceived 'nowhere'

Family: Mother Rhea Mercer (Rookery), father Keenan Lane (Repurposed), full sister Raven Lane, numerous other half-siblings including Siren, Ruby, Nohaa, Choxen, Kellogg and Tanner

Other: He just sort of appeared, even Mel doesn't know exactly when he was born, and that suits both Rhea and Keenan just fine; he can keep that secret - he is around 5 years younger than Raven but he 'grew himself' to be a bit older in appearance

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 170, unmodified, he is tall and slender, wiry, and tends to look like he needs to eat, but he's quite healthy

Hair: dark brown-black with the start (somehow) of grey at the temples, his hair is stiff and wiry, rather than wooly like his sister's, but is still very thick and tends to keep its shape when he styles it; usually kept in a tail, as he likes it longer than shoulders, has a prominent widows peak

Eyes: green, while they don't glow as strongly as Raven's do they are reflective in the dark, and somewhat tired looking, under heavy brows

Appearance: medium to light tan skin, considerably lighter than Raven's but still notably darker than his father, with no scars, but he does have some amount of freckles and moles; tends to look much more tired than a 20 year old should, and he is lean and looks a touch on the gaunt side; has full lips and deep laugh lines, high cheekbones, and is quite handsome once you get past the sleepless look; dresses dapper and crisp, and does not keep any facial hair; has a deep, quiet, and slightly scary voice that he uses to intimidate people when needed, but does have a rumbling laugh and a genuinely amusing chuckle

Icarus Processing: none needed, this time. While Raven did require it to boost her Vortal power, since he was conceived outside of the normal Earth dimension and raised entirely in a Vortal construct it's kind of hard to avoid him being remarkably strong without it. However this does mean that his physical body doesn't benefit

Image Credits: Meiker / Embergeist Phantom
Genetic Abilities: though he is certainly his father's breed of Convocation, being born into a body suits him very well. He is extremely apt in his Vortal communication skills, able to sense life and any Vortal echoes at distances up to 100 miles. He can discern individual thoughts at 10 miles, and easily communicate to other Vortal minds at even their farthest reach. His empathy is remarkably strong with individuals, though he can also manipulate those emotions with small groups. He senses history and potential futures with the echoes that Vortessence brings, and is able to tune these to pick and choose how to act around people. Though he seems apt to understand whether someone might betray the Rookery, he only alerts whoever might deal with it, and moves on. His strong suit however is in Vortal space creation, and moving between dimensions. As he was entirely conceived and grown to adulthood within Keenan's own construct, his skill is innate - he was always able to manipulate the energies there, creating his own 'room' at a very early age. He would occasionally skip out of the entire dimension and need to be retrieved by Keenan, but also played hide and Vortal seek with his sister who thought this was magnificent fun. As soon as he was old enough to realize she needed space to store her 'frozen' friends, Kendrick began working up new and more interesting locations in his Vortal space, and thus he is truly a master of it. He recreates down to the molecule some spots, enjoying other people's works, then lets most of it vanish, keeping things he wants. Any door on virtually any dimension can become his doorway, leading to over two dozen specific-themed spots, or to whatever place he deems worth visiting. They'd taken a trip through the Healing Den and apparently the 'ambassador suites' really thrilled him. He maintains his spaces without any effort, and can enter anyone else's as if they were his own - which kind of irks Paxton to say the least. Wilson, not so much: since his sense of style is much stronger than Keenan's, Wilson often hangs new outfits up in a closet that only Kendrick has access to. He too can freeze living things in stasis, though he tends not to do that as it's more Raven's 'thing' and he wants to do his own style. Though he can teleport locally, he tends to get a bit tired doing that, and would rather open a door - even hastily - than appear actually exhausted. Using Vortessence, he can heal himself and refresh his appearance, though he cannot shapeshift like Kellogg or even Nohaa. However he can alter the shape of matter in small amounts, about the size of a softball worth of material he can change with a flash of light if it's much bigger to start, and does this to establish points of reference in other dimensions.
Skills or Profession: does interior design count? Probably. Though he's got practically-learned skills from years with every tutor from the Healing Den or book that Paxton's Sanctuary could offer, he does still enjoy fiddling with matter and Vortal echoes more than psychology or medicine. So it's kind of unclear what exactly Kendrick does? In reality he's been searching for ways that the Rookery world - as well as many others like it - can defeat the Combine. All those doorways he can open, may lead to a place that defeated them, or was destroyed, or even just never heard of them. All of that he soaks up and makes notes for, and leaves in his own personal library. He reads a lot, and reads or speaks in any language that exists and his human form can emulate, and those which he can't speak, he can still comprehend. He has been able to imprint messages on notes Vortally, which appear in whatever language the person reading it (or just seeing it) can understand. He can aid his mother in the lab, but only to the extent of handing her the right piece of equipment or finding her notes on something at just the right time, and since he can duplicate things into his own realm, taking the time he needs to locate a very-lost phrase or once-mentioned formula has become a hobby for him.
Personality: a quiet type, as spooky as his father at his prime 'Over The Top Sinister' in ways, but he really does just want to help people at his core. He will do that in his own time, in his own way, however, and doesn't let anything distract him once he's on a course of action - as his name implies. He does however set aside time to make friends, enjoy lovers, party with drunken frat kids, or listen to his mother's music with dad.

Events or History: as above, some time while Raven was growing up in Keenan's construct, it was a forgone conclusion that Rhea and Keenan would absolutely have more kids. It's somewhat sad to note that Local Lane looks at this with a more-than-faint envy, but he has his own concerns these days. An attentive child, Rhea is slightly disappointed that he isn't also more scientifically oriented, but then again look at his dad - he's an administrator, rather than an experimentor. The family did take a lot of trips - it wasn't just endless, time-frozen hours within Keenan's 'sterile' constructs (he did have to consult with Wilson and Pax) - particularly to Twoarth, Paragon, and to the Healing Den itself. But also Kendrick discovered his own doorways to the World (via the Void-connected echoes he felt around Morgan Valena as he taught at Carramba), and even The End proper thanks to getting lost at a beach party with friends in Crescent City. He immediately knew how different each of those worlds were from one another, but also how similar, and has always used their various echoes to traverse safely from one dimension to another. Also picked up from Valena: he uses a small Xenian crystal placed anywhere he wants to easily return to, and they're now scattered in a huge number of disparate locations, safely hidden from view by virtue of being doorknobs, handles, knockers, or even peep-holes in shape. Where his father is a big train fan, Kendrick is all about doors or doorways, he does find them fascinating. (And does show off a little here and there, because that one time he saw Keenan opening his 'it's just a glowing rectangle' door he knew he had to be way more imaginative about it than that!) He has sat in on Carramba high's classes remotely, and had he been graded on any of them he would have passed with ease almost all of them. Though he looks older than he really is, he still occasionally acts like a late-teenager, often known as 'that spooky goth kid' to some groups.

His dragon knew him from within the shell, and they actually Impressed on hatching when he was around 'sixteen' and they spent the rest of his maturation as a team. Kendrick had to learn 'roll-up doors' and warehouse sized portals, and Gozu'lath has her own set of doorways into his dimensions when she wants to come with him - thoguh she's fine with just doing it herself... They permanently reside in their own construct, but also have room at both the Mansion and Rapture, he doesn't hang much in the deep-sea facility but certainly is welcome there.

With the revival of Nexus connectivity, Kendrick has discovered he has access to a very wide variety of new worlds! And ever the explorer, willing and happy to just up and swipe ideas or imagery to suit his personal needs, he's dedicated a hallway with doors leading to a number of those worlds. And from one of them... he was spotted easily by the locals, but not because they wanted to chase him away - far from it. They learned a lot in the brief time that Kendrick and Choxen were at Dawnwatch, including that... people could teleport too? This could be very interesting indeed. They offered both Choxen and Kendrick little eggs - which hatched while they were back at home in the Grounds. Julep is as sweet as her name implies, and almost smells like the drink!

Flitter

Name: Julep
Gender: Female
Size: 1' s / 1'8" l / 3'4" ws
Colors: #55A568 | #21512C, two tone bright and dark green
Features: Fancy, Long and slender, the Fancy type was developed as a vanity pet for the Rich prior to the apocalypse. They are slightly longer than standard firelizard size, but also lighter built, like comparing a sleek racing canine to a working breed. They have long slender wings and a long muzzled, delicate looking face. (from site)
Powers: Winged Flight, Julep is quite strong in the air for a little creature, and spends a lot of time choosing just where to land and pose.
Teleportation, needing a little bit of space for her port to be effective, Julep likes flying fast straight up, and porting into or out of trouble - she absolutely thinks with portals and is quite accurate with her movement through them.
Assisted Firebreath, the mere thought of chewing something smelly or sticky or crumbly to make her burps burn is absolutely the last thing on her mind. If she's ever touched 'firestone' or whatever-will-work, she doesn't remember it...
Telepathy, she relies on Kendrick's presense for a lot of her activities, whether that be chirping to encourage people to move out of his way, or standing in a proud pose on his shoulder to attract attention. She's very responsive, but also seems to need his reassurance frequently.
Parentage: unknown, wild type
Origin: made by Nekonomi of Dawnwatch
Other Info: Extroverted, Sweet, Clingy, Easy to Please; she has an aggressive streak only in terms of her 'getting right up in your face' if she feels threatened, but only when she knows Kendrick has things under control... She likes his careful confidence, and has gotten him into a little trouble now and then when she snuggles up to people and expects him to do the same.

Dragon

Name: Gozu'lath, good job connecting the dots outside the box
Gender: Female
Size/Shoulder/Length: Small, 5'6" s / 25' l / 44' ws
Colors: shiny black body, wingsails slightly mottled but very slick looking; claws bright white; eyes change though not always as expected color combos, as red shown is 'happy'
Features: Blackstone-based Alskyran Old World nexus, very long and lean, sport-sized with large wings; some features may change based on partner; egg layer, hide requiring maintenance, bond required, TH or K ending to names though Vortigese otherwise
Powers: Winged Flight, as slick as she looks on the ground, she zips through the skies like a wraith, a glistening shadow or oil stain. Blink and you miss her, Gozu slips through complicated areas so easily she might as well be oil. Even with her wingspan, she can take off and land with very little room, springing into the air, or even just teleporting straight up or out of a tight spot to reach open spaces. She is strong enough to carry her rider and one or maybe two others, but she isn't really big enough to carry more than two comfortably. She is however very durable in the air, and can hover silently, and uses her environment to her advantage, all but running sideways or even upside down on large sturdy surfaces while racing through a place. She does leave gouge marks, but hardly ever knocks anything down while doing this. It's possible she's watched Keenan's flitter clinging to things while they were growing up, and emulates it!
Teleportation, Gozu is a master teleporter, in fact her 'weakest' ability is that of long-distance ports on site, but even then she can move up to 50 miles at a pop two or three times before resting. Her localized short-range teleportation can be used a score of times in short succession, and she hops around 500 meters at a time, the shorter distance, the more times she can do it without breaking a sweat. However because they were basically born and raised outside of space and time, she is able to sound out in the same way that her rider does, sensing dimensions, genrehopping with such ease that they might as well be tag-teaming. She can jaunt through time, though she's had to learn more about any individual location first before attempting it, and often just allows Kendrick to guide her. Rather than seeming ragged around the edges or so exhausted she'll collapse after any given dimensional or even temporal trip, she seems relaxed, almost refreshed. This all comes very, very naturally to the dragoness. She can take with her about 6x human sized objects, though not while flying to teleport destinations, as it obviously has to be 'with' her and she can only lift so much.
Communication, Gozu is deeply connected to her rider emotionally and Vortally, and is able to tap into his thoughts easily from any distance including across dimensions. They don't need to spend all their time together, and she is known to take trips to places they've found just to stretch her wings while he's studying somewhere. She speaks verbally but not very well, she does understand all the words going on around her, but forming human-like sounds is difficult with a muzzle like that. Telepathically however, she is known to be able to communicate with even normal minds easily, though that relies on closer range - from around 50 meters for a normal unVortal mind, to over 50 miles to other telepaths.
Unassisted Firebreath, like her parents she can breathe fire, but not really very well, and why would she need to aside from starting a bonfire on those beach party nights?
Parentage: Silver Tork [gold Diamoth/brown Lilioth Alabaster clutch] and black Denhadarvahth [green Chaybeth/blue Arfeth (both Dawn sisters, gold Gillith /bronze Branth) blackstone/Victory Dance]
Siblings: Ell'daa-veth who has bonded to Valentine, Cheljohth to Ursula, Loomleth to Parece, Arrbek (with Ty), Oha'lyk with Questell, Keh-thii'tioth with Niven Walker, Xkah'lih-beth with Gareth
Origin: Healing Den Hallowed Silk
Other Info: She doesn't mind the 'lonely' nature of having grown up in a constructed locale with her bond. She's never been lonely - she can always meet them in their own favored spots across the multiverse! Where her rider can move so can she, after all, and the Den as well as Twoarth are known nexus spots for such gatherings. Like him, however, she doesn't much care for Rapture's pressing weight of ocean above and darkness all around - much more enjoying the open spaces above the Grounds, and boy she does love the smell of coffee! She's been known to hang out at the Cafe On The Hill and just sniff.

**

Around RY 8, perhaps late in the year, toward autumn, a battle had been held against the Combine and was a decisive victory for the local dragons and riders. Without the need to hold back now that a local outpost had been demolished (it would be rebuilt by the Combine, certainly, but for the time being, it was empty and could not spy on them), a party was being held on the shore of their little 'lake' in the middle of the sugar cane field. A copse of trees surrounded it, now half-golden and red with the weather having changed.

Kendrick was attending the party with his friends, and Gozu'lath flew through the skies to find a nice spot to watch all of this. One of the newer dragons, from an offworld dragonry, had been helping with the Grounds recently, and she spotted him along the gentle grassy embankment. She knew he'd seen her, she saw the flicker of his tail and his emotional burst just a little bit. So... she landed in the light woods, quiet but not trying to really sneak.

She emerged to see that he had been looking for her - not walking around, but instead passively perceiving for her wings rustling, her clawed feet stepping on those brittle leaves below. She didn't need to communicate much to him, rather she just placed herself beside the smooth orange colored dragon, and they watched the party together. They'd have their own party in the skies perhaps later...