Lost Creek Hollow i hear the hungry ghosts calling out in the night

pack meeting time! this round will end on friday, february 19th or alternatively when all tagged members have replied. there is no posting order!

tagging — @Ayishik @Root @Jazz @Ancalagon @Shikoba @Haven
tagging for visibility — @Harlyn @Luke @Ilya @Silas @Pippin @Larkspur; i know some of you guys are absent, missing from the pack, or injured or you're obviously too tiny to know what's going on but i figured you'd like to be kept in the loop all the same!

For a change of pace, a light rain had started to fall late in the midday. The morning had been prospertous with snow but the temperatures had rose steadily through the day. His stress had mounted quite an attack away from the den, a certain anxiousness daring to embody him briefly as he made his rounds at their borders. Days had stretched on with nothing to come to light but it had done little in the way of quelling the urge to rally his wolves together. He had rounded back from the borders towards the heart of the Hollow and idled for the longest time in thought, until the faint pitter-patter of raindrops on the earth around him prompted him to make a choice.

Raising his head skyward, Mordecai summoned the wolves of the Hollow to him. He knew the likelihood of all of them coming to be minute, knowing that Harlyn would neither leave their children behind or drag them out into the poor weather. He had seen neither hide nor hair of Luke either; the blue-nosed beta's scent had begun to fade from their territory staggeringly quick. And Ilya, well, he didn't know if she would have the strength yet to rejoin them, but there were others. Others who were aware of what was going on and for him, the overwhelming decision that something had to be done.

The druid was sitting underneath a tree to get out of the rain. She wasn't successful in digging in a den yet when it was raining, and she wasn't really in the mood to be soaking wet. The tree gave her some protection, not a lot, but some. The pitter-patter of the water droplets sang a melody to the woman, a lullaby almost. Her fur was damp, but not soaking. Her eyes were shut, just letting her ears listen to the calming rain.

However, the woman heard the call of Mordecai ask for the pack to meet him. She wasn't very sure what it was about, but she would have to leave her peaceful spot and find the location of her alpha. Shaking off the water from her thin coat, the woman picked up a soft pace and headed towards Mordecai.

His scent became stronger, even with the rain dampening it. She saw him then, he was waiting in the rain for the rest of the pack to come. She quickened her pace, reaching him and bowing her head before settling near him. His face showed some seriousness, why would he call a pack meeting?

"Greetings Alpha" Shikoba said, surprisingly it wasn't choppy like her other sentences. She realized she was the only wolf there with Mordecai, were the others coming soon?

A slightly sour look crossed Lagon's face when a light rain had begun to fall making his patrol ...wet. He hadn't been overly social the past couple of weeks, which he felt bad about but he had times where he tended to get so wrapped up in his duties — filling the caches and patrolling — that he kind of forgot that he wasn't making an effort to be social. He spoke with Root and Jazz (I assumed she bunks with Root and Lagon now) but was otherwise sucked into his pack duties as if it were a black hole. In hindsight, he'd rather take rain over snow any given day and though it soured his mood a bit it was only when he stepped in a muddy puddle, splashing it up his forelegs and over his belly did Lagon entirely give up. He glimpsed down at the dripping, muddy fur shaking his legs but it clung to the ebony tendrils of his fur nevertheless.

Maybe he could clean himself up and find some place to dry figuring that neither of his roommates would particularly enjoy him dragging mud all through the den. As it was, he didn't want to risk getting any mud on his precious bone and stone collection (which still wasn't that impressive but he'd had other things on his mind than his weird obsession). Mordecai's call had risen, however, summoning the wolves of Lost Creek Hollow to him and Lagon's course automatically altered his long legs taking him towards where the alpha male's call had risen from.

He was not the first to arrive he saw, sparing a moment to let his mahogany red eyes study the unknown female that had beat him there before his eyes went to Mordecai. Lagon submitted before he shuffled off to the right side of the small gathering place, plopping down on his muddy haunches as he waited for others to gather and for the meeting to start.

The boy thanked his lucky stars he wasn't way out Scouting when the call was made, but Mordecai's howl was so powerful he wagered he would have heard it anyway. As it happened, Ishi was among the first wave of wolves to arrive at the meeting place, slender white form already submissive as he came to sit among them, and his heart was buzzing with excitement. He had been going about his duties with great enthusiasm so far, a skilled Scout in the making, but the heart of the thriving pack was a whole other matter. He knew nothing about how decisions were made, or news announced, or the really important nitty-gritty of Lost Creek Hollow. It was perhaps time, at last, for enlightenment.

Haven heard her new alpha's call. It had only been a few days since she had joined the Hollow wolves. It had also been a few days since she'd seen Ilya. She assumed her friend probably wouldn't be at the meeting, but Haven did long to see her. She only hoped that the female could get well soon, for she had so much to tell her. Shelley it was the right choice that she'd come to join her friend's pack. First off, she was glad to have been able to save Ilya. Also she liked the alphas. They seemed very nice, and she loved the territory. She could enjoy spending her time here for sure. Haven sighed as she ran through the lush winter forest. All of her thoughts were jumbled, for as she was happy to have a pack again, she had hoped that it would be with Seb.

She soon came to where the call had sounded. The only wolf who she knew was Mordecai, and not very well at that. Also there was another female, a dark male and a super plush male. They were a very diverse crew, and she liked that. She went and bowed her head submissively to Mordecai, adding in, Thank you again for letting me join your pack. You're very kind. She gave him a friendly smile before stepping back to sit by the living cloud. The young beauty began to wonder what this meeting was about. Perhaps about Ilya's attack. She pondered the thoughts, as curious as ever.

Her outercoat was slicked in precipitation and her paws muddy as she made her way towards Mordecai's summon. She'd been rounding out a patrol and since his call asked for a bit more immediate attention than just peeing on things, she dropped what she was doing and jogged purposefully his way. Before long, she began to catch trail of the others and knew she was getting closer.

Since there were still so many unfamiliar faces, she lurked up to the scene and settled nearest Ancalagon -- mainly because Root wasn't here yet. Jazz flashed Mordecai a submissive glance and curled her tail beneath her before she took her own seat to wait, not knowing what all this could entail. While she waited, she glanced around the group curiously.

Root hears the call and, as she immediately turns to run toward, falls on her face. She staggers to get up onto all fours, face covered in snow, and she begins a more careful trek to her leader. There’s concerned laced in her features, along with snow covering one side of her face she hasn’t shaken off, and she picks up her speed to a steady lope until she’s closer.

They hadn’t all been together since their last hunt but things had been quiet lately, even for her, and she started to feel guilty the closer she became to the group of wolves. She isn’t the first here but there are a face or two she doesn’t recognize. Her new friend—the fluffy one—stands nearby but she moves to stand next to Lagon and her sister, squeezing in between the two to enjoy their combined warmth while she waits for the rest of the wolves to come together.

love that you guys responded so quickly!  this round will end on friday or alternatively whenever you all have replied again.

One by one, they trickled out from the dense woodland around him, gathering in front of him.  Unlike the previous events that had drawn them together, he was surprised to see them all there, not lagging or drawing questions forward about why they were there.  That wasn't to say those questions were evident in the loose gazes passed between one another or with himself; he knew they would wonder why.  Mordecai let the silence linger just a while longer for any stragglers and when none seemingly came, he did not hesitate to explain why he had brought them all there.

"I'm sure you've all been aware of the cougar that's been lingering outside of our territory," he began, "and I've called you together today to inform you that another of ours has been attacked by it."  He couldn't have known whether or not the others knew Ilya, but she had seemingly been good about seeking them out one way or another.  "Ilya's healing for now, but we need to continue to strengthen our borders.  I don't want any of you going along them alone, or venturing too far beyond our borders to the north alone."  Of course, he would never know if they'd adhere, but he hoped they would all the same.

Bringing his solitary gaze along them, he lingered over each of them as though he would truly be able to gauge their reactions.  Those would be just as important to him as the matters that were unfolding, and Mordecai continued on.  "I am also asking you all to keep a look out for our beta, Luke.  It's come to my attention that he's gone missing, and last I saw of him, he himself was still healing from an attack by this cat."  A growl punctuated the way he mentioned cat, because to him the cougar was no mere feline.  It was clever, savage, and it would have seemed to him that it had nothing to lose.

And the best he could reckon was that they hold their ground, but would it be enough?

The native woman waited quietly as other packmates she hadn't seen before started to arrive, almost all of them were silent. Seeing that a good majority of wolves were at the gathering, Mordecai called to order and began to speak. His speech wasn't slow, Shikoba desperately tried to keep up and fill in the blanks.

Cougar along the borders, another family member has been attacked. The druid woman felt her heart lurch at the thought, but she had to bit her tongue to prevent growls from crawling out of her jaws. How dare a feline fight her family if they have done nothing? As much as she liked to have lingered on the thought, Mordecai continued, grabbing Shikoba's attention.

The attacked wolf's name is Ilya, strengthen borders, no going along them alone. She silently agreed with the alpha, if a threat is along the borders, there needs to be more wolves since there is safety in numbers. How could they strengthen the borders beyond that though? Scenting more? Thoughts cut off once more, Mordecai grabbed Shikoba one last time.

The beta had been missing, Luke was it? Why would the second in command leave his pack and not return? This irritated the druid woman, family was family. It was a sacred tie that couldn't be severed or destroyed. Shikoba stayed quiet through the entire thing, expressions of confusion, anger, and annoyance passed by every once in a while.

She greets her sister quietly and then, Mordecai has her attention. What he goes on to speak of does chill her and curl a ball of nervousness in the bit of her stomach all at once. More cougar attacks, strengthen the borders, don't do it alone, the northern edge... all news with that same ominous undertone that made her plenty uncomfortable. But, she nodded anyway, for she does understand and will do her part.

It seems it's high time she get better acquainted with the other (both official and aspiring) defenders of the pack.

Then, the news of the missing Beta is an unexpected addition. Jazz knew very little about him and realized that he must have been gone for a while now for her to have no idea what he even looked like. She personally didn't have a good feeling about his fate with all this cat drama now upon them as intensely as it was. If he'd gotten lost while already injured, the rotten thing may have come to finish him off. This made her skin prickle at the thought.

Ishi had been hoping that the Alpha Pups might make an appearance, but he supposed they were too young at this point. Ah well. He wasn't planning on running off any time soon, so he hoped to have a sniff and a play with them in the near future. And in the meantime, there were plenty of adults to socialise with, though he didn't recognise the vast majority of them. That was a bit embarrassing.

He had only just started looking around for Ilya when Mordecai spoke of her condition. What? No! he gasped out of turn, shocked to his core that his friend had been hurt by... a cougar of all things! Ilya... he muttered sadly. But then he quickly realised his interruption, and flattened his ears apologetically, lowering himself close to the ground. He didn't even hear the stuff about the Beta. Poor Ilya...

The only reason Haven knew of the horrid cat circling the hollow was because of Ilya. Her poor friend, mangled and broken. She growled at the thought of the cat, thinking of how she would hurt it less she saw it. Haven nodded at Mordecai's words, wondering who here would do the rounds with her. All of the wolves here seemed pretty nice, she made a mental note to actually meet them later. Tail swishing across the ground, she looked back to her alpha, she was sure that he wasn't done speaking.

The beta's missing?! She thought, golden eyes flickering with worry. It seemed this cougar was a bigger problem than she'd thought. Was it picking them all off one by one? She had met a cat before, it had used a coyote pup as bait. Could it be the same wretched creature that had wounded her? Well that only made the feisty young woman want to kill it even more. Poor Ilya and, whoever this Luke guy was. She heard the puffball wolf next to her mumble something about Ilya. It was nice to know that her pack mates too worried about the female. She only hoped Ilya could get better soon. Real soon. She had so much to tell her and she was hella impatient.

Root hadn't much left the territory except when she met her fluffy companion, glancing to him quickly when he speaks up. It takes her a few seconds to realize Ilya isn't around when Mordecai talks about it and a shiver runs down her spine. She's met the woman once before and she hadn't seen her since she returned from being attacked. Even the elusive beta hadn't crossed her paths and she supposed she hadn't been too active lately and without good reason so her cheeks burn a little at the thought.

She sighs and nudges her shoulder into her sister, taking note of everything they've been told. Hunting for large came might become limited if she can't go out of the territory and even with someone to accompany her gives her a little shiver. Root tries to shake it off, glancing to Lagon on her right, and frowns before she swings her attention back to Mordecai.

sorry sorry hellish week