Neverwinter Forest When I fall asleep you lead the way

Shortish pack meeting! This can just be an one post and done thing, just want to make sure everyone ICly gets to hear. If there are any questions, feel free to ask in your replies and I'll answer as needed. As such, no real rounds and a bit of PP to make people arrive. :P

Only excused absences are @Zephyr & @Kratos who'll get a separate thread! Though lemme know if your char also can't attend for some reason. @Simmik @Mango @Phillip @Vallkyrie @Mathieu

Mal came to clearer patch in the forest and sat down. He'd had a lot on his mind -- the attacks, what he should do as a leader and all that. Everyone deserved to be kept up to date. So after a few minutes of formulating his words, he raised his head and howled for the pack. Okay, he was actually kind of nervous but it was time to swallow that and be a big boy, c'mon Mal. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and waited.


He gave them all greetings and the like as his packmates arrived. Then, once everyone was here, he spoke up, So unfortunately I'm not calling you all for a party but there are some stuff I want to go over. Thanks for coming. A brief pause, We've had a couple of cases of people who were outside the borders getting attacked by people. Not the same psycho either. So if you gotta go wandering, be careful. Hell, bring someone with you if you aren't comfortable. I'm sure nine times out of ten, wolves at there aren't bad, but I don't want any of you meeting that one actually bad guy. We can work on making sure people know how to defend themselves, but for the short term, yeah, be careful. Hopefully Kratos could share some of the knowledge he had about fighting eventually.

Well, that was part one. Now for part two. But over the next few weeks I'm gonna be gone occasionally. I want to go by some of the nearby packs, just let them know that we had trouble and that they should look out too. Basically just prove we're good neighbors, and if they're having issues with the same people, maybe we can work together to get rid of them. Or at the very least he hoped Moonspear would leave them alone. It was a bit of a risk, sure, but all things considered, Mal had come out on top this far in life. He was pretty street smart (read: suspicious of everyone) and it had served him well.

If you guys have any messages you want me to carry on, let me know some time before I head out. I can ask them to keep an eye out for missing siblings or friends, or anything like that. He looked across the group. Phillip was one of those he assumed would want him to go looking for someone -- Alarian -- and Zeph probably wanted him to keep an eye out for Helios and stuff too. But everyone else? He'd give 'em a chance to answer.

Simmik answered the call swiftly, quickly covering the cache where she had deposited a vole before moving through the trees in the direction of the howl. When she arrived, she sat in the front, focusing on Mal and whatever he needed to tell them. He had never called them together like this, and she wondered if something had happened.

When he first began to speak, his words made her heart race inside her chest. How did he know about the asshole she had run into and fought with while out exploring? She hadn't said anything to anyone. If a packmate had noticed her wounds and asked, she would have made up a story about falling or something. She hadn't wanted anyone to know and feel sorry for her or think that she wasn't capable. Besides, she had taken care of it...kind of. Reason eventually broke through her moment of panic and her heart began to slow as she decided that he must be talking about someone else. She wondered if other members of the pack were having trouble with the same wolf. She kept quiet for all of this, listening intently as he addressed the pack.

When he mentioned making trips to other packs to warn them about the troubles they had been having, she perked up but waited patiently for him to finish before speaking herself. You shouldn't go alone, she pointed out. The pack couldn't afford to lose him. I can go with you, she offered, a curt nod following her words. She hoped he wouldn't think her speaking up was out of line. He had just warned them not to travel alone after all.

Phillip arrived relatively quickly, which was surprising. He hadn't moved much in the past few days. Whenever he did decide to move around, it was more of a slow shuffle than a walk.

He tried to make himself as unnoticeable as possible. He stayed huddled in the back. If anyone were to greet him he smiled and nodded, but nothing more. He briefly glanced around to check if Zephyr was there, but he assumed he was too weak to make it.

Mal began to speak. Each word made him shrink back even more. The outside world was no longer this wonderful place; it's a cruel place with dangerous people lurking in the shadows. He didn't want to see what else was out there and so he could make no progress in finding Alarian. Mal was his only hope.

Mathieu nodded his head in silent agreement. If Mal was leaving, then he was obligated to tag along. He noted that Simmik shared this sentiment and figured that her company could count as reward. I'll buddy up with anyone else, too! Things must've been worse than he'd thought for it to warrant a pack meeting. He looked between his packmates and gulped, wondering who would be the next victim. And...and practice fights. I can do those. Primarily for his own benefit, but that was irrelevant.

When Vallkyrie arrived, she found s placement amongst the small group quickly. Icy eyes danced over the group, taking note that @Belharra was right in saying it was made up of a bunch of kids. Savor herself and Mal, who were approaching their second year this come spring/summer, the rest seemed like they havent even reached a year old yet, if barely. They were the lost children, a group likely formed by either having been lost by their parents or flat out left them. In the group, she found the young black wolf with the scarred crown she had found in the forest months ago. Phillip... She speaks delicately, coming to approach the youth with a small smile. She was happy for another familiar face here. Turning her head high into the direction of her newly malted Lead, she nods to his words. While your out, I'll do as I can to keep things settled here. She wasnt any medic, but she knew a few things and if she were the eldest, couldnt help but feel a bit responsible for those gathered.

He dawdles getting there, not making an especial effort to arrive in a timely manner. But seeing handsome boy Mal there, looking all composed and leaderlike, had him paying attention. He sat down beside the others, a couple of unfamiliar faces and- oh! There was that boy- Phil, Felipe? Something like that. 

As he listens to Mal's drawn out speech, he maintains the attention span of a child, drifting in and out of the conversation as boredom suited him. Something about bad people and good neighbors- he got the gist of it. His packmates began to offer their assistance here and there, and so he chimes in cheerfully, If anyone does get hurt by bad people though, I'm totally here to heal you or whatever. 

Okay, anything after this is totally optional! If nobody else replies in a couple weeks I'll edit on a "ok, good job peeps" kind of thing and archive. :P

See, this was how a pack was supposed to be -- got just about everyone together, and everyone was willing to help out. Mal thought he was doing a pretty good job, all things considered. I think going to Moonspear won't take too long, so it'll be a good way to test to make sure everyone's up for it, right? A lopsided smirk.  So if Simmik's with me for this trip, then we got Vallkyrie holding down the fort -- Matty, you wanna help out with that? Then we got Phillip and Mango on interior stuff. He looked to Phillip, You able to keep an eye on Kratos and Zephyr, make sure they have help if they need it? Hopefully they'll be back to normal soon anyway, but... He'd rather be sure, y'see. And Mal was unaware of any drama between them if there was any (?) so it seemed like a good fit since Phillip already knew Kratos was a bit snappish and stuff. It just felt like they'd been hurt forever already. But back to the whole group, Can mix it up for the next one if we need to -- there's like like four or five places I wanna go to eventually, but we'll work those out after this.

Unfamiliar voices continued to arise. Mathieu turned to Mango and whispered, Oh, you're the healer? We gotta hang sometime. He winked, hoping that his request had been heard. Mal started to speak again, so he gave the Alpha his full attention. 

Sounds good, Matty assured him with a nod. He turned to the woman — Vallkryie, right? — and flashed her an enthusiastic grin. Hopefully, she'd be able to teach him some things so that he could do some actual work.

Vallkyrie scouted the group as others spoke, putting the pieces together on who was who here by name, for savor Mal and Phillip, Kyr had not met them before. Mal spoke that he was going to Moonspear firstly, to which the crow spoke up. If you meet Hydra, would you give her my regards? Vallkyrie had firstly went to the Spear as a possible home so that she could be nearer to Katya. As it turned out thet were all full up, maybe it would be for the better, it was yet to be seen. Either way, she wanted the mountain queen to know that Vallkyrie was still around and had joined a pack within the same sanction of lands. 

Vallkyrie lifted then, ready to get to it and keep tabs on the border. If Simmik and Mal were to leave soon and two were injured, that only left four able bodies in the newly claimed lands. Lucky for Kyr, though they were not members, she had a few allies she knew would be willing to look out for the betterment of the forest. Her icy attention passed over @Mathieu whom grinned into her direction. The grayscale yearling flashed a grin to her in which she smiled in turn. Jerking her muzzle up and out to the side, the motioned for him to come along with her.  Might as well get to know her partner if she were the scouting type and he were the muscle to her aid.

He nodded to Vallkyrie, Yeah, I will if I see her. Will see if I'm that lucky. Knowing how things went for Mal it would be the most disagreeable Wolf that would meet him at the borders. And that was pretty much what ended up happening anyway!

That's all I wanted you guys here for today. Come bug me if you think of anything. And that was it. They were dismissed. Once everyone else had departed, Mal headed off to find Kratos and Zephyr.