Moonspear Dreamland, I need you

Let Simmik post first if ya please! Don't freak out if the thread title changes, may or may not add a travel thread, so gotta make lyrics fit if so. >P

The one good thing about Moonspear thinking they owned the world was that following their track back to the correct mountain was easily done once Mal's nose crossed a scent he remembered. Now who it was, he wasn't sure, but it was enough that Mal was sure that he and @Simmik had gone the right way. Thankfully, no world-ending nonsense had happened during the trip. And now they were almost at that big stupid mountain

And so they walked along. The borders had to be just up ahead. His smile was a little nervous as he looked to Simmik, Keep on your toes to start -- we'll have to see what kind of mood they're in this time. I got an idea or two in case they're pretty grumpy, but I don't wanna use them unless I have to. He'd probably said a variant of that a few times during the trip.

It wasn't much farther before he halted. Yep, borders. He looked again to Simmik, then forward again, taking in a deep breath, washing the uncertainty from his grin, then tipped his head up to howl. It wasn't entirely specific -- he hoped for leadership but he wasn't actually sure he caught their names. He preferred that one brown guy since he seemed reasonable, but hell if he knew. Mal still wasn't gonna trust them.

She followed, close and quiet and she scanned their surroundings. From what she had heard from Mal about Monnspear, she half expected them to jump out at any moment and start something, so she had been on high alert from the second Mal had picked up on their scent. She nodded as he spoke, explaining to her once more to be aware and that he had a plan if things went sour. Got it, she assured him, pairing her answer with a quick nod. She would let him lead the interaction and try really hard not to let her pride or her temper get the best of her.

It didn't take long to reach the borders, and she stopped next to Mal, her citrine gaze scanning the the area in front of them as his howl echoed through the winter air. Her heart rate increased some in her chest; she couldn't help but be a little nervous, but she was careful to keep the feeling from her face and posture. Instead, she would meet whoever answered the call with a stoic expression, a shrewd gaze, and an assertive but relaxed posture. The last thing she wanted was to start something and make Mal regret letting her accompany him here, nor did she want to appear weak to the wolves of Moonspear. It was a delicate balance, and Simmik hoped she could keep it up.

Dragomir was near the borders as always when the call went up, and he wasted no time heading straight for its source. His border training with Hydra was nearly complete and it was high time he got more field practice. Besides, as one of Moonspear's highest ranked subordinates, he felt perfectly entitled to flaunting his minute authority attending to visitors. He needed something to take his mind off the fact that his sister was missing—again.

He arrived in short order, slipping past the trees and out of the shadows to stand before the pair. His eyes went to the snowy she-wolf first with her vibrant orange eyes, then slid sidelong to the patchy wolf at her side—oh. It was that jerk who tried to chase him and his sister out of an unclaimed forest that one time, barking about how he owned the whole thing by himself. The sight of Mal was enough for Dragomir's expression to completely deadpan.

Seeing as Mal was on Dragomir's top three list of least impressive wolves, he chose to volley his attention back to Simmik, granting her the respect that Mal likely felt he was due. It wasn't like Drago to hold a grudge, but those days were some of the lowest points of his life. Mal acting like some kind of big man by trying to chase two starving, hurting kids away was the kind of first impression one could never come back from. So Dragomir blatantly chose to appoint Simmik as the authority between the two and arced his brows with a neutrally delivered, yes? directed solely at her.

Desdemona followed shortly after Dragomir, as a guard should do. She did not recognize these two, but as they smelled of many others, she assumed they were not here to join. Not that they could accept, the spider knew they had a bounty of warriors amongst the spire, and with new mouths to feed once some are born, there was no room to take more. 

A gaze, neither welcoming of unwelcoming stared silently at the two. Judging, watching and waiting for what they would do. She had a wary stance that was ready for what would come, or what would never come. She thought it was best to be prepared, as the boy beside her held a rather negative look toward them, thinking he had met them. She had not seen the boy with such a neutral face, and concluded they had not given the best impression. So, Desdemona remained silent, guarding and letting the higher-rank taking the reign of the situation.

Oh great, this kid. Once he sort of recognized the approaching figure, Mal looked to Simmik, a slight tug at his lips like 'Oh great, this guy.' You know what, it was probably a great thing that Mal didn't have the chance to even attempt to recruit him before the goon squad popped out of the ether. Total personality clash -- this kid fit in way too well with the sulk-squad to run with Mal's crew. What an easy way to make Mal not regret a thing that had happened.

Mal's posture demanded nothing, he was relaxed and causal and sought no challenge. He bobbed his head as the guy approached, waiting politely, another glance to Simmik to see what she thought as this guy passed whatever weirdo judgement he obviously was in those brief seconds. And good day to you too, he chirped immediately, grinning broadly despite the little punk's outright dismissal. Water off a duck's back. But you see, Mal wasn't necessarily a changed man, he just planned ahead a bit more. The approach of the other chick gave him an even better audience to prove Mal was totally just a nice guy who was misunderstood. Kill 'em with kindness.

Mal was quite chipper and polite about it all, paint a picture of being respectful and responsible, We've come here bearing information that might be wanted by your pack. I understand if you don't want to talk to me, but I'm a patient man -- I've had good conversations with your alphas since, I know they must be busy, but I can wait for them if you'd rather return to your duties. That was where he paused, ears tipping back slightly as if saying he knew that was such a sacrifice.  Then he looked to the woman, passing a cheery smile and polite nod her way as he introduced them both since she didn't know at all, Mal and Simmik from Neverwinter. Then back to the guy, to Simmik to see if she wanted to add anything in, back to the guy if not.

To worsen her wariness of these Moonspear wolves, the boy that answered their call first showed Mal nothing but disrespect. What was worse was that he addressed her as if she were the one in charge here. And what did he expect her to do with that exactly? She was on Mal's side, more than this Moonspear wolf knew, and so his unnecessary display only angered her. She stiffened and narrowed her eyes at the other wolf, saying absolutely nothing in response to his one word greeting. She refused to look away when the woman joined him, offering only a flick of her ear in response to her approach. She was willing to stand here and stare back at the rude guy for however long it took but Mal began to speak, clearly not as put off by the whole thing as she was, or maybe it was just that he had expected this. It had been obvious that her leader knew the boy and from his expression, they weren't friends or anything close. 

She would let him do the talking for now, unwilling to play whatever game this guy was playing. Her gaze never left the shadow, though, even as Mal introduced them. She wondered what direction this would go now. The animosity was obvious and felt like it would only get worse, and she worried whether the presence of the Moonspear leaders would make anything better, although she was careful to keep any worry from her expression and show only cold disapproval to the two who were here.

two outsiders, two moonspearians— soon to be three.

arcturus watched from the steppes, intercepting only once he recognized a shift in the party’s mood. a tension, sifting through them like a wind.

he came down alongside dragomir and desdemona, noting first the neverwinter wolf and his companion, who appeared just as visibly ruffled as dragomir. arcturus studied the two of them in bemused silence, his gaze finally resting expectantly on Mal as he awaited further explanation for why their shadows darkened his keep.

Mal seemed to be in a much more chipper mood than he had been back in the forest that day. Dragomir wasn't really buying it, but slowly slid his gaze sidelong to the mottled wolf nevertheless, particularly because Simmik's gaze burned back at him and made him uncomfortable. If showing her a higher level of respect than her comrade was disrespectful to her, Dragomir didn't understand how or why.

Desdemona's presence comforted Dragomir immensely, though he gave no outward indication. His expression remained flat and unreadable, but his tone was firm when he said, They're busy. Say what you need to say and then go. He was certain Hydra wouldn't want wolves from another pack loitering around on her doorstep and he was positive that whatever news Mal and Simmik had to bear wasn't so important that it couldn't be delivered to one of Moonspear's high ranking subordinates instead of her or Dirge directly. Motivated partially by common sense and partially by pride, Dragomir refused to bother the Alphas with something that he could handle himself.

Thankfully, Arcturus soon arrived, so if they weren't comfortable delivering their news to him, they could give it to Hydra's second in command instead.

Desdemona remained stoic, only giving a short nod to the strange wolf who smiled at her. She felt her skin crawl with that sort of act, and felt more comfort once the Beta came through. Likewise then turned toward him and nodded to him as well. It was well that there was many around to keep the strangers in their place. 

For now, it seemed the two older Moonspear wolves would let Dragomir continue talking.

So, minor textwall, sorry. XD

Look, if these wolves were allergic to someone being positive, that was their own issue they had to deal with. From Mal's own experience their own grumpiness was akin to some sort of festering disease -- their lives couldn't be too pleasant if their world was just flat grey. Mal's act, if it could really be called that, wasn't so much a lie as it was the way he had decided to present himself in general -- things had been better since, and here he would be unflappable. He'd pretty much expected some sort of treatment like this, which made it easier to keep rolling on like it didn't matter. Maybe he should have explained it better to Simmik? There were only so many ways to explain how bad of an attitude the entirety of the pack seemed to own.

And then the went-from-ok-to-suddenly-pushy wolf showed up before Mal had a chance to have to ponder asking something snarky. It wasn't like any of them gave him names. Well, that was at least a step above the spoiled brat. So his attention shifted to the one he trusted a smidgen more. Moving on to the actual reason he was here, Mal wasn't really cheery, but he also wasn't in even the same solar system of gloom as Moonspear, it was just business. We've had several lone wolves attack our younger members, a slight pause for a breath then for him to look back at the punk -- you know, wolves just like you, kid -- then back, for no discernible reason and wanted to see if you'd had similar problems, or to warn you if not. One of ours was almost killed. The man who attacked him might be dead, but from certain other freaks, I think we all know those types don't just roll over and die easy. A grim smile to punctuate -- that black headed witch was the most notable example. That man was black, purple eyes, and probably was pretty messed up as of a couple weeks ago. If he'd known about what happened to Simmik, pretty sure this is where in the timeline it would have gone. But he didn't, she'd said nothing, so it was just a nice little breath before he continued on.

The other one I don't have a physical description of but I know his scent. He was farther east in the last week. But if you've had any issues with a man who didn't cause gaping physical wounds, but definitely messed up someone's head, maybe it's the same guy. I'm searching for signs of both while I'm out here letting folks know. No signs of either out here so far, but that doesn't mean they didn't start over this way. And thus ended the primary reason he was here, with an inquisitive tip of his head to ask if any of that sounded familiar. He counted on their help about as far as he could throw them, always best to give them the chance.

With that transition came to a slight brightening of mood,Aside from that, I've got a short list of wolves I'd like to mention that my pack has been looking for, and I'll be happy to bring the names of any you're seeking to the other packs when I go to the others. But he'd already done enough of an info dump, that could be next post. It seemed like a fair enough trade to him -- and low effort on their part. If they turned it down, Mal was pretty sure it only reflected badly on Moonspear as a pack. He looked to Simmik, just for confirmation, Which after that, I think that covers most of it. Assuming the affirmation, back to the older guy, But yes, basically if there's any messages or the like, I can bring them along and save whoever you'd send the walk. No big deal!

very sorry for the wait

She refused to let her searing gaze falter or her muscles relax as the shadow spoke again. He declined to call the leaders and requested for them to just deliver their message to him; it angered her further, something that she found irritating. Why did he get under her skin so much? She thought she had her temper under control, had even silently coached herself on the way here to try and remain calm but at the first sign of potential conflict, she had forgotten everything. Now she stood there, strung as tight as a bow, her fiery gaze only moving with the arrival of another. This one said nothing as well, just came to stand next to the female and observe quietly, although Simmik could feel the subtle power he gave off. She realized quickly that if things went badly, they were already outnumbered and would probably be even more so withing minutes. She drew in a deep breath, focusing on each tense muscle and willing it to relax some—just enough to allow her to adequately assess the situation without the haze of anger potentially distorting things. She tapped into Mal's energy, trying to follow his lead and not let them ruffle her any more than they already had. Eventually, she was able to quiet her temper and relax just enough. She still didn't trust any of these wolves, here or hidden somewhere within the mountain territory, but she was capable of remaining alert and assertive without stirring things up more—for now, anyway.

She listened quietly as Mal began to speak, eyes moving from wolf to wolf, reading their reactions and and body language. She wondered if they had been dealing with anything similar. Would they tell her and Mal if they had? She hoped at least that they could leave here knowing that there were more eyes on the situation, even if those eyes didn't belong to anyone they could really call an ally.

the beta listened with a canted ear, compiling the information mal provided -- and trusting both dragomir and desdemona were doing the same. his heart swelled with pride for a moment to see his keep so thoroughly defended. they were both excellent representatives of the spear, and he wished to inform hydra of their noted presence when this was all said and done.

arcturus couldn't say he could place the first wolf mal described, but he didn't miss that pointed look to dragomir, either. the beta couldn't read what that look meant - was he insinuating something, or was arcturus just paranoid?

both of these wolves allegedly male. arcturus made note of that, for his intel had informed him only one of the crew the 'spear had on their kill-on-sight list was male. he wondered if the second wolf was not the same wolf that had set his teeth to dragomir.. but it was a wide, wide world -- and arcturus had learned to mistrust coincidences.

"we have not had grief from any such wolves." arcturus answered for his company, tilting his head to either desdemona or dragomir to see if they wanted to speak too: if they did, he would give them the floor. "but i am sorry to hear of your troubles. we will keep an eye out for wolves of those descriptions, and excise caution when we leave the 'spear. who are the wolves on your short list?"

Dragomir had nothing more to add, and listened to the exchange between Arcturus and Mal with interest. He didn't miss the pointed look Mal shot at him right after mentioning a wolf who went around attacking young wolves and, no longer thinking of himself as just a kid, he couldn't help taking it as a personal insult. Having been attacked in his youth and having lived through more terror and torment than most his age, he couldn't believe any wolf would even think that he was capable of attacking kids—which is precisely what he took Mal's look to mean. He was very careful to control his expression then, and only barely succeeded.

He flicked them back to Simmik, then quickly away when he realized she was glaring daggers at him. What the hell, he might've asked if not for the Beta now commanding the attention of all gathered. This was his home. If he was allowed to act like he was above anyone anywhere, it was here. Especially when one of those someones had treated him so poorly, or at least that's what he thought, but clearly neither of their visitors agreed. Not understanding where that blazing fury in her orange eyes was coming from, Dragomir turned away from her and resolutely refused to look at her again.

At least Mal had useful information for them. Dragomir, for his part, knew nothing about either of the men Mal mentioned. The description of the first didn't match Sanguinus—had he been more attentive at the time he might've connected the appearance with his shadowy accomplice, but she was certainly not male and he had never noted the colour of her eyes in the low light of the cave—and the second didn't fit, either. The pair had been quick to resort to physical violence. They'd had a lasting effect on his psyche as well, but the physical wounds were bad, too. Neither of them was a mere psychological predator like Mal was suggesting.

Was told to skip Desdemona!

Okay, so at this point maybe things had settled down. Now things were fine, were they not? Would there ever not be tension between his pack and Moonspear? He had to wonder. The one guy had taken control of the situation on the Moonspear end of things, and as long as they remained this way, it would be fine. Then hopefully it stays that way. If they show their heads near again, I'll let you know. He still thought it was worth being wary about, but it was up to them whether or not they took it seriously. Not much more he could do there.

A scarred man named Alarian, small, grey and gold. Yearling named Helios, tall, black and gold. My sisters Brilliance and Solomon, both dark with light speckles. If you've run across them, we'd appreciate them dropping by the forest, if only to say that they're doing okay. Another glance to Simmik just to make sure she had nothing to add. Assuming she didn't, he concluded. As I've said, we're happy to return the favor. A slight tip of his head then, curious. Favor for a favor and all that jazz.

The dark man stated that they had not had any trouble with the wolves Mal had described. Simmik silently wondered if he had any reason to be truthful with them about it but decided she would take him at his word for now. He at least asked to know of the wolves they were looking for, which relaxed her some. She listened to Mal describe the few wolves on his list, refusing to look at the boy who had greeted them, unaware that he had made the same decision regarding her. 

When Mal paused and looked to her, she didn't immediately say anything. She wasn't sure she wanted to at first. But then she decided that even if these wolves weren't on their side, it couldn't hurt to mention her brother. When she was sure Mal was finished, she added : Add my brother, Ego, to the list. It was the first she had spoken of him, but lately she had often wondered where he might be, especially after her run in with Mesa. Mostly grey with some white. Yellow eyes. At least that was how she remembered him; it had been a long time. That was all she wanted to add, and so she fell silent again and waited for the the dark man to speak.

arcturus found the heated, silent exchange between dragomir and the female yearling amusing, but he did not comment much on it. his focus shifted to mal as he mentioned names. arcturus had never met an alarian or a helios. the lack of recognition in his features gave him away. nor had he met a brilliance, solomon, or ego for that matter.

"not wolves we know, but i will keep their names in mind and instruct them to the forest should they come here." arcturus didn't revel in being the bearer of bad news, but could give mal little else.

None of the names were familiar to Dragomir. For one second the nasty thought that maybe those wolves walked out on Mal for a reason, but he was quick to banish it. He wouldn't want someone thinking of him that way if he was just concerned for the whereabouts of a friend or especially his sister. So instead he offered a shake of his head. He hadn't heard of any of them.

With nothing left to the meeting that concerned him, and with the discomfort of Simmik's stare weighing on him, and with Arcturus holding the reins of it all firmly in hand, Dragomir silently took his leave.

Think we can pretty much wrap this up I think with this round!

Seemed like the kid was wandering off too. Whatever. It was all coming to a close and so far they hadn't been eaten alive or anything -- that was a bonus. No good news, though, which was unfortunate. Still, if they actually did send them to the forest if they appeared, that was a positive. Did Mal count on them to do that? Probably not. Either way, Mal would make a mental note to add Ego to the list for future adventures and replied, It would indeed be appreciated.

Moonspear didn't seem to have anybody they were looking for, from the lack of response. Thank you for your time -- you know where to find us if you need our assistance for something. Or just stop by for a chat. He gave the guy a broad smile, but hey, it really was time to leave. So after that he bowed his head, turning to Simmik and giving her a 'let's scram' kind of nod unless she had something else to say. Before something dumb happened.

She wasn't surprised to hear that they didn't know anyone on their list of missing wolves. The shadow who had taken charge of the meeting assured them that they would send anyone that fit their descriptions in the direction of the forest, which was really all they could ask. 

The one she had been ignoring turned to leave then, and she let her fiery gaze flick to him briefly before she looked to Mal. He said some parting words and then motioned for them to leave. She offered the dark man a curt nod before turning and trotting away at Mal's side. 

It had all gone pretty okay, even with the rude one that had greeted them first. Maybe things wouldn't continue to be strained between them and Moonspear, but only time would give her that answer.

their meeting drew to a gradual close. arcturus watched the dark back of dragomir turn, his gaze sliding back to mal politely. in return for his formality, mal was given a nod of understanding -- should anything change and these wolves show up, arcturus would see to it that mal knew.

glancing sidelong to the boy's quiet companion simmik, arcturus watched as the two departed with an unreadable expression on his face. once he was certain distance had been put between them, he closed the gap and trailed their departure, ensuring they had exited the spear.