Wolf RPG

As if Yule couldn't get more perfect, there was a full moon, peeking through the clouds every once in a while.

Night came earlier than normal, obviously. The day hadn't been long enough--it never was. She remembered Mum rushing to get things in order, and cursing the arrival of nightfall. It was always perfect, though, just like everything else Janis touched. Lily just hoped that she could be an adequate substitute for her mother, even if no one else around had met her. It mattered to her, at least.

She trotted through the winding paths of the willows, near the edges of the territory, looking for party arrivals. She wanted to keep their rendezvous space clear, but there was a large clearing in a bend of the minnow pond that served well for a gathering. The blackbird had set up wolves there already, and would run back and forth until things were mostly settled.

Now it was just a waiting game. The horizon was still pale, which was good--there was still time. Time enough for waiting. She felt the magic in the air, took it in with deep, excited breaths. There were flutters in her stomach, going back and forth between excitement and nerves.

It was Yule. And though she walked through the forest alone, she felt her mother's presence beside her--and knew that while she had left home through her own volition, home would never really leave her. Not as long as she kept its spirit alive, far away as it was.

word about the neighbor’s upcoming party spread through the plateau and it’s members. it had been awhile since he was invited to any celebration, he was just a child. it was weird to be attending one again, but exciting non the less.

@Ruenna would be guiding the pack to elysium. issun was tasked to escort her there. he kept a steady pace, humming quietly to pass the time. this was a much needed break he was looking forward to. a time to relax with friends and meet new people, what more could a hard working man asked for?

they had finally arrived at their destination. issun was dazzled by the view. he had rarely seen trees like these, let alone in winter. beautiful flakes draped the low hanging branches. they painted winter in a beautiful way. under the trees sat the host, he assumed. he put on a smile and trotted towards her. “hello,” he greeted with a bow, “i’m issun, from the plateau. i’m sure you’ve met ruenna by now.” he nodded to the beta. “this is a very beautiful place,” he awed, taking in the surroundings once again.

Valette heard the howl and realized that this was the invitation for the Yule evening. It had been faint but she had been keeping her ears open for it ever since she heard about it. Valette had told @Steph about it and that she would have to look after the pack. This was the moment that Valette would have a moment with Greyback alone and she was very excited for it. The female made sure that her fur was all clean even though it was dark in color. She also made sure to smell like Easthollow.

She howled for Greyback at their border. Eager to see him. They would still have to travel for a bit before they would arrive but that didn't matter. 'Greyback! Are you ready?," she asked once she saw him. Valette couldn't help but to have her eyes travel over him eager. She recently realized how much she really liked him. She kind of wanted him to be all hers she thought she was keeping that to herself but perhaps her body language showed more than she intended.

Once they were both ready they had to travel to the hushed willows. Valette had an idea where it was, once they were close they only had to follow to scent marks. She was certain it wouldn't be too difficult, if she wasn't going to be distracted too much.

Khali had known that the celebration was upon the pack. Not wanting to show up to the party empty handed he headed out to find a couple rabbits or anything to take with him. The sandy man trotted to the outskirts of the border to sniff out a trail. 

Soon he found the faint scent scent of a rabbit. Slowly he crept until he caught sight of the little thing not even moving. Khali got as close as he thought he could before pouncing on the hare and ending its life in a quick moment. In his head he thanked the rabbit for its life so he could provide a snack for his friends. 

After the second hare was caught he headed back to the party. Not only was he excited to see who would show but he was excited to spend time with Lily. They hadn’t spent much time together since becoming mates but he hoped they could see more of each other when the new year came. 

Khali came upon the gathering and smiled with the kills in his mouth. Slowly he padded to a good place and dropped them off. Then he caught sight of his beautiful mate. Nothing could beat the blackbirds beauty. A small happy sigh escaped him as he walked up to nuzzle her and then lick the top of her head. “Hoping for a big turn out.” He said softly and looked back at everyone.

The first to arrive smelled like the plateau, and sure enough there was Ruenna. She greeted the man with a wag of her tail and gave the beta a beaming smile; she considered her a friend, at this point. Her torchlight eyes wandered, a question in them, looking for Kavik and Liri, particularly the latter.

She had just taken the first arrivals to the temporary rendezvous point when she ran into Valette and Greyback. Hallo! she cried out, heartened to see that they had come all this way from Easthollow. And yet they seemed to be alone. . . I do hope others from your family were able to make it, Lily said, looking around. Here, follow me.

Introductions were made all around, between the plateau crew and the Easthollow pair. Olive arrived with the family in tow, and Lily herded them into the fold, giving any child that accepted it a kiss on the cheek or the forehead, depending on what she could reach first.

Then Khali--wonderful, handsome Khali!--appeared. And with food, too! She bounded up to him, almost childlike, nuzzling into the soft flesh where his jawline met his neck. Even if not, you're here, Lily whispered, transfixed as she pulled back to stare at her mate. That's what matters most, to me.

She wrapped her tail around his hindquarters for a brief moment before moving to the center of activity, lifting her chin and beginning to sing, in a high, lilting voice:

Yule is here, and so are we,
Blessed shall our winter be--
The snow may fall,
But we are all
In happy, loving company!

Sing, all! Yule is nigh!
Dance, all! The moon is high!
Love will never die!
Our stories live forever!

This went on for some time, with Lily trying to get the assembled crowd into the chorus. ('Twas simple enough, anyway.) Throughout, she kept her ears perked for new arrivals, eyes flashing 'round the clearing.

Rue led the Blacktail Deer Plateau wolves toward Lily's howl, an excited spring in her step. It had been decided that she and Issun would go first, with @Kavik, @Minori and any others (@Takara?) who wished to go to the celebration following behind. Kavik had thought it prudent that the two leaders travel in separate parties, and Rue could certainly understand the logic behind this suggestion. Rue and Kavik had hunted down a fine buck to offer up to their hosts, which would be carried to Elysium by the later party. Issun and Rue were to focus on paving the way, laying down a heavy scent trail that the others could follow. 

Issun introduced the pair as they arrived, and Rue wagged her tail merrily. "Happy Yule, Lily! Kavik and the others are right behind us." There were more wolves arriving, spilling in seemingly from all directions. Rue cast her warm, honey-golden eyes left and right, taking in the happy faces both young and old. She couldn't help but smile, catching the Yule spirit nearly instantaneously. Lily began to sing, prompting the others to join in. Rue did not need to be asked twice. She lifted her dulcent tones to weave into Lily's, humming along wordlessly until she was able to catch onto the lyrics. The song would guide the later arrivals here and welcome them to the celebration.

it hadn’t been intentional when she’d been close to olive and seabreeze and their family, stumbling upon them as she aimlessly wastes her time. she stays back in the shadows of a willow, watching as they fumble to get it together.
 
come, children! sings one of the mothers and her eyes narrow, harden into daggers from her hiding spot. she speaks about a party and her ears twitch, curious. was she supposed to know about this? was it mentioned in the meeting she hadn’t been paying attention to. would @Mali be there? does he even know? she thinks about turning to find him but soon the little family is moving and instead of going after her brother, she follows along at a distance and trails behind.
 
when she sees other bodies, especially ones unfamiliar to her, she migrates from the others and stands off by herself, watching quietly.

What a night.

For once, she is able to put her sorrow on the back burner to deal with later.  It simmers there with the lid on, dangerous and burning, but for now it is more or less benign.  

She has such a big family. She is thankful for all of them.  She is proud of Brilliance, who she has not spotted, for hearing her out and showing up to the meeting.  She is thankful for her wife's patience, for Lily's strong will and determination, and for Delight's silent, but distant, presence.

She doesn't know why, but tonight she feels the need to close the distance that has settled so comfortably between them.  He has been alone through all of this.  He's lost a daughter, too.

Hey, stranger, she breaks from song to call, Come over here!

Because she had escorted Kavik and her scent was sure to be noticed, she figured she should make an appearance. Yet when she does finally shamble toward the gathering, she noticed that there were more unfamiliar faces than familiar and it finally sank in how absolutely not her thing she was. She stopped dead in her tracks and watched everyone try to gather around, some woman calling her children in a sing songy voice as everyone ran around. It was noisy. Loud. She didn't like it. Then she spotted a girl hiding away from everyone in the shadows and she sighed in relief that she wasn't the only one. Slowly she followed that idea and chose to hide under a willow somewhat close to the other girl but far enough away to respect her desire not to be crowded or at least Minori assumed that was what the stranger wanted. "I truly hope Kavik chooses to leave soon. This...is not my thing" She murmured, pretending to speak to herself but leaving it open for the other to comment if she chose.

Terrific, she remarked to Ruenna, grinning. The Blacktail Deer Plateau wolves made themselves comfortable. As for Greyback. . . She shot the male a frown, but said nothing, not wanting to spoil the night. She understood the need for private time together, but her invitation had been for all of Easthollow, not just their leaders. Ah, well. Maybe news of it had leaked out to the subordinates--

She was very happy to see Seabreeze and Delight interacting, trying ever-so-hard to bridge the gap between, if not them, then certainly their children. Brilliance was here, at least, and she shot a smile at the speckled girl whilst singing. When the song had concluded, she did a small leap in place, excited.

Yule, Lily explained, her voice pitched above the quiet rumble of voices, the longest night of the year. A time for family. A time for love. Meet and mingle, share your stories. We won't stop until the sun comes up, she laughed, eyes glittering with joy.

Lily raced over to Khali, looking around the perimeter. Not a bad crowd, she murmured, though somewhat critically. No Lost Creek Hollow or Swiftcurrent Creek, though. And only two from Easthollow have come, she remarked, displeasure clearly writ over her face as she stared at her mate. Greyback and Valette decided to invite themselves and not the rest of their pack.

Stop it, Lily! This was no time for sourness. She tried to shrug it off, drawing closer to Khali as a cool breeze whistled through the trees.

Soltero felt tingles of anticipation climb up his legs when they approached the crowd, vibrant eyes of light emerald searching out over the gathered wolves: in reality, he was in search of someone in particular, but allowed a polite smile to creep over his features if looks were to be passed his way. The moon was held like a royal pearl in the blackened sky, washing pools of light over the clearing when the hazy clouds shifted and cleared - the smoky traveller cast his vision up to the heavens, but it soon fell among the wolves again, large paws drawing him nearer with each step.

Ears pricked at the words that reached them, feeling a soft shiver of wind brush over his pelt; the winter was far from over, and he gave silent thanks for the slate-grey coat that protected his skin from the biting cold.

"The longest night of the year. A time for family. A time for love. Meet and mingle, share your stories. We won't stop until the sun comes up."

The Valento felt his anxieties shifting, blowing away with the following breath of icy air and becoming replaced with an odd excitement that stirred in his belly like a waking dragon; this sounded fun, but he'd never even known it existed! Soltero remained silent, but chuffed toward Lily in greeting once she had ceased to speak, and then, oh then, he caught sight of who he'd been looking for: a pale wolfess draped in champagne hues, standing amongst the crowd. Stormy tail swaying, the young man dipped his head and then padded off toward her, praying silently that it actually was Ruenna (he couldn't see her face clearly), and not somebody else - he still wasn't the most talented speaker, and it would be horribly awkward to meet the eyes of a stranger. Once he drew close enough to speak without interrupting any other conversations...

"Rue," he greeted with a grin, lacings of hope in his voice amongst the deep, low rumble.

Valette saw the frown on the female's face and wondered why that was. Valette glanced at Greyback. It had not been a lie that they were here having some private time. However, that was for the trip here and back. Now she was quite willing to be social with others. Valette noticed a child singing. Perhaps this would have been fun for her children to come, then again, when she had gotten the invite she had not been familiar with Elysium yet. What if it had been a trap? Then she wouldn't have wanted her kids to be here.

Then a new wolf approached and Valette realized that she had seen this wolf before, when he called upon Mawk and Cebra. Valette smiled in greeting but she wondered if he had even seen her. He seemed pretty set in meeting others. Valette turned to Greyback and nudged him. "Let's mingle!" Valette then moved forward to the others in the crowd. Valette decided to join the strangers in song. Her voice joining the other's tones. There were so many others she didn't know! She didn't know who she should talk to first, so she just joined the festivities.

brilliance smiles up at papa when he shows up, wagging her tail. she’s glad he’s here and she doesn’t have to be alone. it won’t be so bad if she has someone to stick with her.
 
of course, that is until he says he has to go and talk to the other wolves. noticeably, she flattens, but not enough for delight to stick around as he turns and leaves. she doesn’t even have a chance to get a word in and instead, watches him disappear into the crowd. pale blue eyes migrate to the ground for a few seconds, deciding it was a bad idea to show up.
 
she turns, surprised to see another wolf. one she doesn’t recognize that belongs to elysium so she blinks a few times, listening to her discomfort. she snorts. at least she’s not the only one having a bad time but she does not realize her attention is being called for, so she turns and, with a final look after her father, leaves the group.

He had given word to his pack of Elysium’s invitation, and so come time to travel, they had left. Akavir remained at his side, eager to see more of the world and it was the boy’s enthusiasm that kept the swarthy Mayfair’s gnawing concerns to himself.
 
At their arrival, the shadowrunner had taken to the edges of the gathering, his gaze fixated upon those surrounding them. Akavir had boldly strode forward to mingle—a brazenness about the youth that he recognized was once his own. He blinked—swallowing his sense of unacknowledged hesitation before following after Soltero, who wove his way to a honeyed she-wolf that remained unfamiliar to the Creek regal.

by the time terance and @Treason had arrived, it would seem that everyone who was going to come had already arrived (i think). terance had little on his mind besides looking for @Okeanos, @Ibis, and even @Seabreeze. he spotted his ex-wife with delight, whom he recognized instantly, and okeanos along with her. his daughter was not present, and there was a clear bit of disappointment on his face, but he tried his best to conceal it. she'd probably show up later. instead, he began to comb through all the wolves that were there-- getting an array of scents, not just from the wolves of elysium. he recognized the scents of the wolves from the creek-- made note of valette-- olive, lily... he didn't recognize the other wolves. 

had terance been a bit older when they left, he might have recognized @Constantine, but as his green gaze landed on the murkwater man, terance didn't immediately strike any memories, so he skipped over him. he glanced to treason with a small smile, and then made his way to greet his wife and @Delight with a waving tail.

Okay, so they didn't have the exact timing down, so they'd ended up showing their faces fashionably late?  That's still a thing, right?  Whatever.  This whole thing still seemed a little weird -- that they were just voyaging in to some other pack's territory and not going to get chewed on for it.  It was a bit of a longer journey than she was expecting anyway -- Lily had made it sound like oh, it was right over there.  Yeah, not quite right across the freaking planet but a good deal longer of a trek than she'd been thinking.

Perhaps it was unsurprising that Treason didn't know a majority of the wolves here.  There were a few here that she recognized -- for good or for bad.  You know what, probably mostly for bad since Treason was an opinionated beast.  It was unfortunate that Minori hadn't been devoured by the bears she believed couldn't move to different territories, and she was still displeased with Olive and Seabreeze having just bailed on the pack in the first place, and if Kavik was around she wasn't going to exactly be stoked to see him either.  Treason wasn't exactly great at making friends.  However, she was good at keeping her normal stoic expression no matter who came her way.

This was a good opportunity to do some subtle intel-gathering and people-watching though.  As Terance veered off towards his former mate, she wove through part of the crowd, analyzing the pack scents before she found a place to sit and observe.  She wasn't going to do any singing or be the one initiating any conversations on her part.  She was just happy to observe unless someone came over to pester her.  This was an odd enough gathering of wolves that she was sure something would be entertaining.

Akavir had been quite intent to go with his father when the wraith had mentioned the invitation. He had remained closer to home since the disappearance of his brother, hoping to assist in whatever small way he possibly could, while finding serenity in the silence the creek offered. Talos was withdrawn and angry, Akatosh made for amicable company. No one talked about the broken family, and so he didn’t either—choosing instead to eagerly await the return of his mother and his brother.

When they had arrived, the boy had looked up to his father, and at the quiet look the man returned to him, Akavir skimmed between the others, weaving his way and finding more interest in the faint conversations around him and the unfamiliar scent each wolf offered. There were none others in his age range that he found found yet, but the simple task of exploring outside of the valley had him enraptured.

The song seemed to do the trick, guiding the late arrivals in to the festivities. Rue could have sworn that she saw Soltero arrive, the full moon reflecting in the pale fur around his jaw and down his chest. But her mind could have easily been playing tricks on her, convincing her she saw what she had been most wishing to see. Thinking back to the afternoon she met Soltero made her heart hum with delight; a feeling that was almost foreign to the girl who had suffered so much difficulty lately alongside the rest of her pack. It made Rue wonder if the encounter had even been real at all, or if it was simply some daydream Rue had concocted in order to escape the mounting strain of trying to lead a weakening pack. 

Although she had lost sight of Soltero (or the Soltero lookalike?) in the crowd, it was not long before she heard her nickname rumbled in his distinctive baritone. Rue met the man's gaze with a smile that was quite a bit less restrained than the one he might have recalled from their first meeting. The festive feeling in the air had certainly gotten to Rue, but seeing the Swiftwater man again was what really had her spirits soaring. "Hi, Soltero!" she chirped, returning his greeting with an enthusiastic tail-wag. She also smiled at the man who trailed Soltero, presumably a packmate. "I'm Ruenna," she introduced herself to the darker pelted man. "From Blacktail Deer Plateau," she added. 

Rue's merrily-sparkling gaze quickly slid met Soltero's once more before she turned back toward the larger group. "That's our alpha there, Kavik," she said, gesturing with her muzzle. "Aaand there's Issun, a mercenary... and.." Rue's gaze scanned the crowd, but she couldn't spot Minori. That was odd, but it wasn't going to bring Rue down. The arrival of Terance and Treason also wouldn't bring Rue down, despite the fact that their supposed-allies had been less than sociable at their last meeting... Treason most particularly.

Rue shrugged, eyes returing to the Swiftcurrent Creek pair. "I guess that's it," she finished with a small chuckle. Lily was inviting them to contribute, and normally Rue might have taken the cue to search her memory for something to share. And perhaps she might later. At the moment though, her attention was focused on the Swiftcurrent wolves.