Arrow Lake separate the weak from the obsolete

all tags are for reference with no obligation to join -- but feel free!

He'd separated from @Caiaphas for a short time, stating his intention to hunt--and he'd hunt, all right. He was hunting for a sight of his fucking kids; he was starved even for a moment with them, to hear their babbles and cries. He knew that @Aurëwenn would be angry with him for leaving so suddenly--

Not to mention what @Stigmata and @Mahler would think, or @Blodreina, or @Ingram. . .

But also, he didn't give a fuck. All he cared about was seeing @Dragomir and Isilme again, the rest of them be damned. He stopped at the border and let out a lilting call for his kids--his kids!!--tail wagging madly. This was the moment he'd been waiting for, the scene he'd dreamed of for weeks.

All he needed was to see them. The rest could be explained after cuddles.

bc the forum bein' fucky here tagging @Isilmë

just setting scene for babies ❤️
ʀᴀɴᴋ ʀᴇᴍɪɴᴅᴇʀ: aure’s position as pionier isn’t effective ICly until june! you’re all probably aware of it, so it’s more of a “note to self” & to avoid confusion than anything. so right now, she’s still optio <3

Earlier, from scrapping with Blodreina for as long as she could endure, the herbalist had intended to retire to her now-vacated thicket. Aure wished to fade into such a dreamless, unending slumber; taxed in a myriad of manners, to rest her aches away from everyone who pried. ... But, then, Drago and Isi coaxed her from privacy with giggles made light and sweet on the late spring winds.

In what seemed like eons, Aure found herself smiling again — faint, tentative, but there. She rose without complaint, in this, and followed those heralds of her heart. It was when she went to nuzzle Isilmë that she heard it; heard him in all his raggedness. But it was him, and everything stuttered. Aure let herself linger in that shivery moment for more heartbeats than was wise — and then, hastening, she brought their children to the foothills.

When she saw him, Aure knelt, tethering them to her with soft chirrups. Far enough away (she hoped) that anyone’d be hard-pressed to get a good study of her face — of the emotion, the new scarring, the half-sight there.

Still, a smile bloomed upon her lips, and she nudged eggingly at their children’s cheeks. ”Chon ste dei de? Hm? Ste dei de... noni?” Laughed, hushed and loving and low — and whenever it seemed they were frantic with frenzy — and no Mahler currently in sight — the silver let them romp the rest of the way to their awaiting father.

As much as she longed to pursue them, Aure thought it’d be best to linger behind — for now. While Verx spent these precious moments of blissful embrace with their babies, she would keep a weather eye out for Mahler... and if he would keep to his personal verdict.

even in sleep, ingram was a man who tried his best to be aware of his surroundings. following aurewen’s spar with blodreina (in which he watched and played with praimfaya) ingram found himself drifting — only to be awoken by a howl.

the howl was not distinct enough that ingram knew immediately who it was; compelled for the safety of his family and his pack, the male was quick to his feet — nudging both praimfaya and blodreina in a kiss before he left.

it was not vercingetorix he expected; as he came upon the male his posture slackened, for who could remain defensive when prompted with the figure of an overexcited father? his tail wagged, and the male met vercingetorix with far more warmth than he gave outsiders. you’re back, he exclaimed, happy for aurewen and her whelps; it was a hard life, even with diaspora’s help, rearing cubs alone, and ingram assumed he would hear all about what had happened to “berx” shortly. for now, after a customary inspection of his packmate, ingram settled to the side — this was a moment for aurewen and her brood, not him... and he would do his best not to interrupt it.

the call that rose found mahler in a state of annoyance, for it had scared away a carefully stalked rabbit. lifting his muzzle, the gargoyle paused a moment, sussing out the giver of the cry. and when it had become swiftly apparent, a curl of his lip preceded the immediate churn of a scathing gait.
it carried him quickly to the borders, where the majestic bristle of his guard hairs and upflung tail were silhouetted only a moment against the backdrop of sky before mahler began to gallop in vercingetorix's direction. the promise of conflict was in his stance; if the scarred male did not take himself from their borders now, he would find himself enclosed in the shadowpriest's jaws.
there was nothing here for him, and while mahler intended to uphold the promise he had made aurewen, the sanctity of diaspora came first.
for now, no children were in his path; he looked for they and their mother, intending to slow his furor if he spotted the trio. but his intentions were clear; there would be no well-met meeting today.

She didn't recognize the call that went up. Not one bit. It didn't matter though, not to the Russian woman in the midst of internal conflict. She pushed herself up awkwardly onto three legs and hobbled there, a wave of annoyance going over her when she realised she was rather late. She arrived just in time to see Mahler rushing someone and she spotted Aure near them, rather close to what seemed to be almost guaranteed conflict. She hurried forward, stumbling a few times before basically saying fuck it and placing her injured leg down. She gasped and by the time she reached the woman her eyes were glazed with agony and stubborn determination. It was then she recognized the man and she felt a mix of anger and also sadness. She turned to Aure with a sympathetic gaze and said nothing though she was standing in a way that said she would intervene if she got any closer. She had no idea what was happening or what would happen but she knew if it were her lover and the father of her kids being chased away, she'd do something rash.

Vercingetorix's howl on the wind may as well have been a stranger's; Dragomir no longer recognized his father's voice, but he didn't need to. His mother did and ushered he and his sister swiftly down toward the foothills where their father awaited with a frantically wagging tail. The boy may not have recognized his sire's call, but he recognized his face. He hardly needed Aure's urging; before she had even finished, he was racing down the slope with cries of daddy! Daddy!

Had Vercingetorix been gone much longer, it was possible Dragomir would begin to feel that hint of resentment that all abandoned children felt. He might have grown old enough to understand not only that Verx was gone, but that he had chosen to leave. He might blame himself or he might blame his mother or he might blame Diaspora. He might rightly blame his father. But this didn't come to pass, for as Dragomir had believed all along, he had returned.

As he galloped down the slope, more sure-footed than Vercingetorix had ever seen him, he was heedless of Mahler and Ingram and Kazimir. He had no inkling of the tension that mounted quickly over them all. He had eyes only for the father whom he'd missed dearly, pack politics be damned. Even if he was old enough to understand them, he wouldn't care; nothing but a forceful tackle or his father's stalwart figure could stop his charge now.

A lot happened in a short period of time, which kind of was to be expected. After all, he just up and ditched them with no word save to his kids, who couldn't really spread that message effectively anyway. Ingram seemed friendly enough, and then there was Aure in the distance, and. . .oh. . .his pups!--

Drago! he exclaimed, voice cracking on the word. He stood, waiting for the boy to come to him--he was so big! so agile!--but then he noticed a much larger shadow looming up behind, like a tornado on the plains. Coming hard and fast: Mahler.

Jok, Verx muttered, before springing into action himself, taking quick steps to put himself between Dragomir and the charge of the Kapitan. Hopefully it all panned out--if Drago behaved. . . Hey, bro, could you maybe save this shit for when the kids aren't around? he asked, voice raised in wry but clearly perturbed query.

Because he supposed he understood. . .but also seriously, what the fuck?

Oh, did Mahler arrive like a maelstrom. There had been no way to convey to Verx that this would happen, whether all gathered here assumed such or not. And so, when dragostea made for the doktor, bounkola moved for balaur and belea in a harried trot. Please behave, copiii mea, oh—

But before the herbalist could get more than a few paces, though, she found her way eventually barred by none other than— ”Kazimir. Au kom ai edei.” The words might be foreign, and they might be evened, and Aure might understand why the way to her children and the males was being cut off.

But the husk of warning was still there, creeping into that adamant tone like frost. Everything tender in her from moments ago now perched as perturbation on her tongue, her teeth, in both eyes.

Did the huntress now share in Mahler’s claim, too? Did everyone here, besides herself? An ear flickered, heeding to the inscrutable words of whatever Verx was saying; with each passing flick of her pulse, he and their children went farther from her.

And then, that glazed sympathy — sympathy — in Kazimir’s eyes was enough to make Aurëwen recoil, give her ruff a reason to shiver and rise. Up until today, sympathy was what’d been doled out to her in abysmal amounts, in dreadful droves; she did not want it. She wanted her godsdamned family.

”You will not keep me from this.” Aure made not another move, contradicting herself, but she stood defiant. Glared up into Kazimir’s face with a still-seeing, bright-burning eye — which flit once more to Drago, Isi, and Verx. Rahat.

When she was alone she never would have hesitated on a challenge. She only had herself to worry about and put first. This was diaspora though and she had come to realise she wasn't alone. Mahler had given her that. And then the woman had birthed her pups amongst them and they'd met. She saw the exhaustion but utter devotion Aure had for her babies and she realised in a way she was still alone. She had met Dragomir and seen how enrapturing these small innocent wolves could be and she understood...or at least as much as she could never having felt it. She wanted it so badly, to have a family, to have children...how could she prevent Aure from having this happiness? She cringed a bit at Verx's words wishing he would have phrased it a bit better.

She had made the decision just as Aure told her to move aside and she did, she stepped away her eyes watering "I'm sorry" she said and awkwardly hobbled backwards so that she could help if something went wrong.

i think the order is boofed this round but i wanted to toss ingram's reply in before the new round started <3

ingram, it seemed, had very poor judgment. his judgment had been that vercingetorix was welcome here -- a fact that was anything but as he saw the harsh bite of mahler's furious lilac gaze.

well fuck, he thought, rising to his feet like an oaf. he had messed up, obviously, by being so lax around what was apparently an intruder. he sucked in his breath and rushed to mahler's side like a prissy brown-noser, because in this moment, that's exactly what he was -- he was not about to upset the man that so graciously allowed him and his mate and his daughter a home.. even if it came at the cost of betraying aurewen and the clearly excited puppy that was about to dash past him.

it was a bitter moment then, standing at full attention and denying vercingetorix his chance to say hello to his babies. as a freshly minted father himself, ingram's heart fell for the man.. but mahler's word was law, and ingram lifted his chin to the man and offered a warning growl. please leave, his eyes implored -- he did not want children to see their daddy die today.

for the first time in her short life, Isi hesitated. 

that was her father down there, and there was anger and tension and happiness all around like a hailstorm of emotion. but hadn't she looked for him, in the cold in wet, and thought each shadow to be him? she'd tried so hard to grow up in the hopes that he might take notice and return to her — only last week, she'd almost caught a blackbird, spit out her mouthful of feathers and looked around wildly for any sight of the man. but he had not come.

still, resentment had not built, not in earnest. only doubt. 

"dadadadad daddy!" she was shouting, and suddenly only a short distance behind her brother. but there was Mahler, in all his fury, and Ingram too, and she paused, ears splayed and gaze wide and worried on her father, knowing this to be a situation yelling and biting would not remedy. 

having spotted dragomir’s undaunted charge toward his father, the gargoyle drew up, slowing to a walk as he neared the scarred wolf and his son. whatever the other male said was lost beneath the rumble in mahler’s throat — for now, aurëwen went pointedly unnoticed.
”you are unvelcome here,” the shadowpriest intoned to the male at his borders, eyes boring into the other’s face.
”for the respect i bear aurëven, i vill not mete out the proper punishment to you. but you vill not meet the children here. you vill remove yourself to a neutral place away from  the border, and they vill come to you.” 
it was a good deal, mahler felt, but it remained to be seen whether or not verx would share his opinion.

He rushed down the slope as fast as his legs would carry him and nearly slammed into his father's breast, had Vercingetorix not sidestepped him to stand between him and Isi and... Mahler? Dragomir pressed himself close to his sire's hind leg as he peered out around the man to see a furious Mahler, and all the excitement drained out of him. The Kapitën was a constant presence in Dragomir's life, at least in the sense that he checked in on mama often enough. He liked Mahler a lot and that angry expression was enough to make him wilt. But this was his father.

Much of what was said between them went over his head. There was still very much a barrier between young Dragomir and adults that made comprehending their more complicated conversations difficult. He understood some of it, though, particularly the part where Mahler and Ingram wanted Vercingetorix gone. He pressed himself even more firmly to Verx's leg with a whined, nooo, at his pack mates as tears—both happy ones for his father's return and confused ones for the way his pack was acting—sprang to his eyes.

Had he not been overjoyed at seeing his children, at having them so near, he would have thrown Mahler's stupid offer right back in his stupid face. As it was, Verx merely nodded, businesslike. Will do, he said shortly, and then the man was completely forgotten. He nearly went to his knees, embracing Dragomir, reveling in his son's brave defense of his father.

I love you, little guy, he whispered, voice choked with sudden tears. He looked up at Isi, taking a step back (with Drago, perhaps, still clinging to his leg). C'mon, girly, he said to her, dipping his muzzle away from the lake. Come with daddy. We're gonna go play over here.

Hoping against hope that his daughter would follow--Verx was unsettled by the apprehension on her face--he began to walk away, shooting his son a grin. Before he departed for good, though, he cast Aure a long glance.

We need to talk. He didn't need to say a word for her to read it clearly written over his expression.

last w this girl <3

Had it been any other situation, Aurëwen would’ve halted and studied Kazimir with apologetic guilt; never could she remember a time where she’d displayed such... assertiveness. But at this moment, she was shouldering on by without an ounce of regret or resentment and high-stepping with her new, hitchy gait towards her family of three with little else in mind. 

She arrived just as Verx knelt to embrace their son; the flare within her gaze hadn’t lessened in the least when she brazenly fixated the two opposing males with it. Yet, the optio said nothing, and only turned her back to them in favor for nudging Isilmë along.

Striding away with the children, keeping them all on her right, her scarred countenance gentled considerably — even as it met the more ponderous, serious one of Verx’s.

Yes, the silvered eye murmured. Yes, we do.