Neverwinter Forest Checking out the dance floor

Backdated a week+ (two? what r dates) and currently wibbly-wobbly place in time but wanting to get this actually going so they can get shoved over to YL, heh. This is probably a maximum of three rounds? I'm also PPing pretty vaguely for people to show up so Mal can explain so we don't have hawkward "Xyz arrives at the place and waits" posts, it's been long enough. Specifics may be tweaked & narration added depending on other thread.

@Aibreann @Nuala @Cam @Caerus and Ciaran will be here too but I play him so shhh -- I know some may be recently-ish caught by sweeper or otherwise slow, just poke me on Discord if you need an assumption or two made and/or anything has changed.
@Tuathal -- I know we talked previously about you playing him again so he might come along? If he's not, no prob, feel free to ignore my tag. :P
@Jackalope -- We also already talked, your choice if you wanna have him say bye here or if you wanted it BTS! Date is still wobbly, so... Yeah >_>

After all that had happened, all the loss... How many good memories were there in the forest now, truly? How many had been poisoned and replaced by darkness? Mal wasn't sure. All he knew was that by now everything that had happened, everyone that had he had lost weighed him down -- it was crushing. Those that he had left he had to protect, one way or another, and he couldn't do this alone. How many had he lost? He didn't want to go through the list again -- it started too early and went too long. So he tipped his head back and howled for his pack to meet him near the heart of the packland.

But as faces arrived, it felt so final, even though he was sure that the majority were going to travel with them -- they were family, after all. Perhaps it really was a mournful time, based on what he was going to say. I don't know if we can stay here any more. So many bad things happened recently -- it would be safer for all of us to go somewhere else. The few of them that remained. Even Kyr had disappeared, as she had kind of threatened to. Hua's pack will take us all in. I think it would be best. -- I don't want to give up our home, but with all that's happened to us.. Around us, assuming Mal found out about MSP & co from Hua, if not, ignore that. I just can't risk any of you if for some reason the world's acting against us for staying here. It's too much. Far too much loss. And even admitting that they should probably give up on their home hurt in its own way, but Mal wasn't fool enough to place some land above his family, at least not when the risk assessment of the moment went so strongly against him.

Mal's announcement came as... no surprise, really. Tuathal had seen a lot of shit go down in his short and miserable life, and knew well enough how wolves reacted to family leaving, family dying, territory blowing up... okay, maybe not so much that last one, but hell, you didn't need to be a scientist to factor in that the BOOM and disaster on what used to be Moonspear was probably a damn well reason half of Neverwinter suddenly seemed to up and leave.

So why hadn't he?

Something kept him rooted in Neverwinter. Probably because he had nowhere better to go, or nothing better to do. Maybe because that soft spot in his heart was finally oozing through. He'd never been in Mal's paws before, largely because he never cared to put himself in such a place of responsibility when he could hardly keep track of himself. But he felt sorry for the boy, and more than that. Would Ceara have left already, if she were here? The memory of her was growing hazier -- and he realized that for once, he did not know.

"What worth is this place if everyone dies trying to keep it?" he said, glad Mal seemed to see eye to eye on what even made a home a home to begin with. Some wolves would go down with their ships. He, for one, was glad the kid was willing to hop into the lifeboat and row with them to safer pasture. "If this Hua's got a place for us, my vote's we go."

eating, sleeping. . .hell, breathing had been a challenge as of late. kyr's departure to help the wolves on the mountain, and then simmik's betrayal. it was too much, all too much, and the hopelessness that filled the forest suffused him as well, from nose to tail tip, from his spine to his toes.

the call was, really, inevitable, as was the message that went along with it. cam nodded along absently, keeping to the edge of the group (though close to mal, and within the alpha's eye line). for once, he had something to say—so after the man he thought was named tuathal spoke, cam piped up.

we should go to the island, he said hoarsely, having not really vocalized much in days. clearing his throat, he moved on. there's no reason why we should stay here and continue to suffer. and it hurt, it hurt to leave behind the forest he so loved. but it brought nothing but pain as of late, and mal's shoulders were clearly overburdened by the catastrophe of it all.

no. let him rest. let them all rest, and recover, on this island he had been so enchanted by in the young haoming's descriptions.

but before that: i'll stay behind for a little while and look for your children, cam told mal, meeting the bicolored gaze. one last try. if i can't find them within a half-moon or so, i'll head to the coast and rejoin you there.

a bold decision, but one not made with haste. he'd thought a while about this; it was only right.

Anyone else is still free to post whenever!

He nodded to Cam, Thank you. He wanted to be hopeful -- that Cam would find them on their way back to the forest and all would be well, but was that even a reasonable thing to think? His sisters had vanished and never returned, and now so many of his children had done the same. Were any of them alive? He didn't want to know if the answer was no. A look to Ciaran and Nuala, and to Caerus too, glad they were all here and ok, but worried about their siblings and half-siblings that were gone. It wasn't how he'd wanted things to be.

But back to the plan. We won't leave immediately. We should eat our fill from the caches -- empty them if we can -- make sure everyone's rested. Then we go. Not rushing, no mistakes, we all get there safe. Because that was the important part, why leaving was important in the first place. Yuelong would hopefully be security, safety. Maybe give them all a flicker of hope in times they needed it. Right now, Mal did feel pretty hopeless.  All sound good?