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Jackson was feeling a little unsure of himself, though he refused to admit it. The pride he'd felt at achieving his long-awaited goal of shifting form and the certainty that he would now be recognized as an adult had faltered somewhat that morning. He'd been approached by the Angela that morning, an unexpected and unwanted encounter for the boy. She told him of the Rast ceremony, his coming of age, and what would be required of him to do the next day. The idea of it was altogether intriguing, daunting, and a little frustrating. The youth was so close to being seen as an adult that the could almost taste it, and suddenly this obstacle stood in his way. If Jackson didn't know any better, he would have guessed that the woman had made all this up for him out of spite. But growing up amongst such cultures had ingrained the importance of ceremonies like these into the pup's brain, and he knew better than to question it.
But he did have questions, and from them stemmed his worries. The hybrid boy had tried to let go of those worries, slipping out into the forests earlier that day in an attempt to meditate, like Panda had shown him a few weeks earlier. It helped to remove some of his initial jitters, but there were still some things on his mind. He worried about what he would do, but he sought to correct that. His father would have to know more about this, wouldn't he? And asking his father about it would be certainly less shameful than seeking out the white-furred leader again and enduring more time in her presence.
So the boy slipped into the Anatheman caverns, clad in the black knee-length shorts which were the only article of clothing he'd obtained in the short time since learning how to shift. He made his way through the entrance nearest the stables, doing his usual best to ignore the equine creatures, a task made much easier now that his height on two legs had laid his old fear of being trampled to rest. A brief walk through the common room brought him to a tunnel on the left that led to the cluster of dens where his family resided. It was a familiar trek, one made numerous times by the boy, and he effortlessly found the arched entryway that opened up into his family's den.
Inside, Jackson found an ebony-furred, ruby-eyed wolf, but it took the boy no more than a moment's consideration to note that it was half-brother Scorpius. Their father, whom Scorpius was quite the spitting image of, was nowhere in sight, and after a quick glance around he realized that Agony was not here either. He approached his older brother, wondering what he was doing here. The hybrid boy came to a halt beside his sibling, cerulean eyes examining the pen in paper in his hands. "Hey, Scorpius," he said, gaze drifting up to meet glinting rubies. "What's up?"