Phoenix Maplewood Forward, the Light Brigade!

Hey guys! This is an impromptu, fast paced pack meeting spurred by IC events. It is quite important for PHX so please try to post at some point, else your character might be approached by Saena for not attending! For the sake of moving it along relatively quickly, I'm going to start by assuming the pack has already gathered; those who reply will be "accounted for" and those who do not will be assumed to have not shown up. This round will last until the evening of February 10th. @Reek @Ukko @Tavi @Spring @Laika @Esaro @Lunar Eclipse @Kael @Apollo @Desna @Val

She was once again beset by the feeling that she hardly knew her comrades, but with the fire of both ire and maturity lit under her ass, she stared out at them firmly nonetheless. She was their Alpha female, after all. She hadn't met many of them whilst healing in the confines of Reek's den and wallowing in despair, but she stood resolutely now. Her rib still ached when the weather was cold and it still had much healing to do, but it didn't pain her to stand tall.

"We have a problem growing to the southwest," she informed those gathered. Her eyes swept across the crowd. "As you know, we recently acquired neighbours to the north, in the mountains. Our agreement with them ensures that we both will have enough prey. There is another pack further to the southeast, who lay claim to all prey in their area.

Now we have a wolf attempting to found a pack to our southwest." She let that hang over them a moment, then gestured toward the glacier, from which sprung the moraine, a treacherous and near impassable cluster of broken stone and jagged ice, visible even through the wintry branches of the maplewood. "The prey we hunt can't pass safely over the moraine. That means their only route to our home is through the woods and wetlands. This pack would settle very close to that route, and the scent of them would drive the prey away from us. We would have to go far out of our way to hunt the prey from the plains." There was still prey that could come from the south, but Saena's grasp of the region was minimal, and she didn't know how far the Creek's influence reached. No, she would sooner secure the source of prey they had had for months. There were hundreds of woods Aaron could claim and none of them interfered with her pack's hunting, save for the one he had chosen.

"I have informed their prospective leader of the lack of space here, and asked that he leave the area and seek another home. He refuses." Her brow furrowed, Saena gave them all a final glance over, then bared her teeth. "He would see us struggle for food to serve his own needs. We were here long before him and this home belongs to us. We must drive him out before he has a chance to threaten us further."

Spring noticed she was bristling at the new, angered that this wolf just thought he could take away some of the Maplewood’s food source.  She curled her lip.  “I agree, they should go before they ruin some of our food source.  Plus such a arrogant wolf does not deserve to be so close to the Maplewood.  He and his followers should be chased out before it’s too late.  I would go to help drive them out.  Spring growled, agreeing with Saena.  These wolves needed to go in Spring’s opinion.

Spring cast a gaze around at the rest of the pack for a brief moment, wondering if anyone else would put some input in.  Then perked her ears and sat down.  Waiting for some other wolf to speak after her, wondering who it would be.

Lunar watched and listened as Saena paced the clearing,speaking of pack's nearby who claimed lands. When she began to speak of a new pack setting up to the southwest,efficiently cutting off their food supply she bristled. She let out a wordless snarl of agreement when she spoke of asking him to move and he refusing her. Her anger was mounting, she had known an Alpha who cared about nothing but himself and she couldn't stand bullies. "I will fight with you,if it comes to it,"she called out to the Alpha female. She meant every word. She may not speak much but when she did it was worth listening to. At the moment she was trembling with anger, her lips pulled back in an angry growl. She wanted to fight.

There had been an urgency in the call as Seana brings the wolves together, unlike Reek’s some time before he’d chosen to ignore. He hadn’t been up to a happy gathering in the face of the last few weeks, even if it might have been what he needed, but he forced himself away from the borders and headed in the direction he somehow knew to follow.  

His leader wasted no time getting to the point once everyone had showed up, Ukko looking across the faces of the other wolves. A few he didn’t recognize but it doesn’t surprise him. He’d heard their calls, intercepted by someone else, and so he noted it quietly.

Ukko doesn’t say anything, glancing to Reek for his expression, and finally he searches the crowd for Esaro’s face to see exactly how he took the information. If it came down to it, they’d fight for what had been theirs for months. The pack to the north enough of a threat, and one to their west would surely do damage. Seana sees that, why didn’t the new pack?

The Maplewood had already lost enough valuable hunting ground with the arrival of the pack inhabiting the volcano to the north. The deal between themselves and Sleeping Dragon had been born purely of necessity, not of conveniance, in order to preserve the peace between them. However, having reached his give-a-shit quota for the winter, Reek would make no more concessions.  The threat posed by another fledgling pack forming on their doorstep was far too important to ignore.

The rest of the pack, it seemed, were easy to incite and were ready to fight a war, but Reek shot his mate a reluctant glance. He had seen the horrors of war first hand; children had been slaughtered over causes that weren't worth the blood, and he himself had been displaced after the pack he called home crumbled in it's wake. With his own brood on the way in the coming spring, Reek was unwilling to take any fretful chances.  However, he was also also unwilling to let his pack - his future children - starve by letting this pack form.

Their claim over the Taiga was supreme and solely theirs.  "We should act soon," he suggested, "before they have the chance to form.  We can't fight a full-blown war... especially not now." He paused and looked directly at Saena's belly.  It was far too soon for her to show, nevertheless feel any of the signs of pregnancy, but now that her heat had passed, he knew he was going to be a father.  "I can lead a party down within the week. We need to show them how strong we are." Perhaps Aaron would call their bluff, but Reek felt it a foolish move on his behalf.

She arrives not long after Ukko, as was common for her, and takes in the abruptly given information as best she can. But the tension in the air - the hostility - pulls Tavi's energy from her. She looks to Ukko first, and notices his watching eyes upon Reek. The others that came forward, those that were present whom Tavi had yet to meet, all seemed equally perplexed. One wolf spoke after Saena, a creature that Tavi did not recognize - she thought of the pack hunt, tried to identify if this wolf had been present then - but was distracted when Reek spoke. His words caused a level of ire to rise in the girl. Not towards her leader, of course.

"I'll go," she blurted, her tone less than convincing at first. There was no great need to defend the Maplewood instilled within Tavi. She had become a part of this pack by accident, and then lingered only around the few wolves she was comfortable with; namely, Ukko, and on occasion Reek or Desna. The thought of putting her life on the line and defend the land was an intimidating one. Swallowing her thoughts, Tavi put on a brave face, glanced to Ukko to witness any change in his expression, and then zero-ed in on Reek. "How many wolves do we spare?" This thought made the girl look to Saena, since she was apparently the fountain of information. "Do you know their numbers?"

While Tavi might not have been so keen on a real fight, she couldn't pass up this chance at adventure. A part of her feared the outcome of this event, but there was something about a turf war that sent adrenaline shooting down her spine.

Laika pinned her ears flat to her cranium. This definitely needs to stop. She herself had noticed the slight lack of prey since the other packs had settled near the Maplewood borders. This cannot and will not happen. She let a deep, rumbling growl escape her maw, blue eyes narrowing to slits as she watched Saena.

She felt a sense of admiration towards her alpha female. Saena was injured but that didn't stop her. She went on like nothing happened and acted like the best of leaders during times like this. She acted like this always really. Laika suddenly found herself thankful she found this pack. 

Her head turned to Spring, sitting beside her. The female spoke up and others followed. Pride swept through her at her friends actions. She realized she should probably pipe up too, but she honestly didn't know what to say. Finally, a thought popped into her head.

"No pack knows this territory better than Phoenix Maplewood." She spoke. "If we could find the right places to hide, we can send spies out every other day to observe their behavior a weak spots. Our scent is natural to be lingering about, for we have often hunted there. Once we know enough about them, it would be easier to overpower." 

She hoped her idea would help a bit. She did not have much experience with stalking other wolves, but did remember helping her homeland pack observe the herd of buffalo when she was a pup. It would be similar, but more complicated.

Esaro listened carefully to the discussion. He had no idea there were problems building up that threaten the pack's survival. He did have the impression that everything was going fine until now. Learning about this made him uneasy. He couldn't really understand the real situation without full knowledge of the surrounding territory but if this continues it mean there will be fighting. That was the one thing he would always want to avoid.

He decided to speak out in attempt to discourage any sort of future fights. "Can't there be a more peaceful way to solve this? Every wolf is trying to survive out there. Won't going out there to attack cause even more problems later? Like, driving them out would make us look like the real enemy because we took the first hostile action." He paused for a moment before continuing.

"If the other packs think like everyone here then don't we risk them using the hostile action as an excuse to drive US all out together? I know everyone here wants to fight to protect but, I don't think that's what the other packs would see. Fighting there will just lead to more fighting later.." He said with his voice fading to a whisper at the end. He realized he was basically opposing the majority and was starting to feel a little nervous about what the others thought. It felt like everyone was ready for a fight but Esaro felt that there are better solutions. Of course without knowing details of the situation he wasn't able to figure out any sort of alternative to sort this out.

Whoops I'm good at knowing what day it is. Next round ends Feb. 15th! I will also put up a sign-up in our members only forum for those who want to go. I will likely make the thread where they "storm" the Emberwood before the meeting is finished and/or archive, but will let you all know!

The majority of the pack seemed to agree with the alpha female, who felt her chest lift with pride. Though there was no telling if she was pregnant or not, she couldn't discount the probability of it, and she wasn't willing to operate on the assumption that she wasn't. They would need every bit of meat coming in from the west, and allowing a pack to set up right along their prey route would be bad, whether or not there was decent hunting in the sound. That was their back-up plan, after all.

"I only encountered the one," Saena answered, her eyes seeking Tavi in the crowd. "But he may have gathered more by now. We will need a few to remain here, just in case, but I think we would be safe sending the majority to be safe. We don't want this guy getting any bright ideas." It was Esaro who made her pause, but if the wolf, who was being fairly reasonable, thought that his appeal would get through to the rather unreasonable Saena, he was unfortunately mistaken.

"I gave him the opportunity to leave peacefully," Saena stressed. "He refused the opportunity. What comes to him is on his head." Phoenix Maplewood wasn't known for being a very peaceful pack. There was nothing inherently about it that said it wasn't peaceful, but they had taken action in the past when they felt justified and would do so in the future. "Our neighbours to the north and to the south have never bothered us and we have never bothered them, and they are all reasonable wolves whom I believe would do the same in our position. They have no reason to become involved, nor do I think they would disagree with our actions." There was the possibility that the wolf setting up in the Emberwood would be vengeful and try to take his anger out on them, but Phoenix Maplewood had the advantage of superiority. They knew their surroundings. Taking a fight to them would be a fool's errand, so Saena believed.

"I'm sorry," she told the male, whom she didn't know, "you can remain here if you don't want to be involved, but we can't afford to sit and wait and see what happens. We can't afford to assume they won't become a problem for us. Come spring we may have puppies to tend to." She let that hang a moment, then said, "I won't see even one prey animal driven away from them and from us by strangers settling on our route. We have no choice but to act now, before they become too large for us to deal with. We must drive them out while we have the chance.

I myself will be going in a week and a half," she announced. She said this matter-of-factly, knowing full well that her mate would likely protest her involvement in the event the pregnancy had taken, and she would likely insist upon it, stubborn to a fault. "Any who wish to come with me, step forward. Any who would like to remain to guard the pack lands, step back." She would see for herself how large a force Phoenix Maplewood would send to Aaron's door.

Spring’s found herself uncertain about Esaro’s remark.  They needed to act, they couldn’t let another pack take all the good resources away from them arrogantly.  It could leave Phoenix Maplewood dead or disbanded if hunger went on for to long.  Spring’s ears perked and she felt excitement race through her when Saena mention puppies and her expressions bright.  Is it possible Saena and Reek are finally having pups?  Spring thought silently to herself curiously and sure that that had to be the case.  Her grey tail gave a happy wag.

As Saena continued through her speech and spoke about going to drive out the wolves of Emberwood, Spring found herself instantly agreeing.  The brown colored female took a step forward to symbolize that she would go and help drive out the newly forming pack before they had a big chance to play out a well lined defense.

To see the pack band together was a beautiful thing for Reek whom had always viewed the Maplewood as no less than a tight knit family. Together, they would rise as a powerful force as they had in the past, time and time again. There was a consensus toward action among the crowd, causing Reek to well with pride in the same way his mate mate had, that is, until Esaro opened his dumb mouth to speak.    

Reek seethed at his dissenting opinion, but ultimately remained silent (apart from a low warning growl) as he waited for Saena to unleash hell upon him. But, hell never came and Reek felt a tad surprised. Sure, he was rebuked, but the ragged alpha still felt it wasn't enough. He desired penance, but still, he held his tongue and listned to what his wife had to say. His opinion of Esaro, however, had been soiled and if he continued to dig himself into the pit of Reek's vindictive nature, he may never find his way out.

Saena's final revelation gave Reek rise. While there was no way to tell if his seed had taken root, he was unwilling to take any chances endagering his mate and future family.  Perhaps, if he hadn't known Saena and her headstrong nature as well as he did, he would have put his paw down and said firmly, no.  But, he knew her all too well. Once set on something, the skewbald beauty would never back down, and Reek knew she would never back down.  Now was not the time to fight or argue about it. He shot her a reluctant glance, as if to say; please don't, before stepping forward to join the war party.

Without any facts to back his own words he wouldn't be able to influence the others. Esaro remains convinced that fighting isn't the best solution. Without a doubt the Alphas had already thought this through. They say that they've already tried the peaceful solution and since that didn't work out they had to make a decision that would likely involve fighting. A this point it was too late to try to prevent a fight. He realized that it didn't matter what he said here, it would have changed nothing. Saena wasn't hesitating at all on her choice. He thought to himself, he shouldn't have tried to oppose their decision without having any kind of support but he really did just want to avoid any kind of bloodshed.

Now came the choice of staying on the defensive or go on the offensive. As unlikely it was, Esaro stepped forward. Of course he was a wolf that couldn't really fight, he was likely going to be more afraid then anything else but he was determined to try to stop or at the very least reduce the amount of fighting that would happen.

Although he wasn't too sure how he was going to stop a fight when one appears. He wasn't even sure if other pack members would actually want him to tag along onto a possible battle field.

Esaro had plenty of reasons to step forward. These reasons were linked to the massacre of half his pack by the other half. In way he wanted to change history or keep it from repeating. Preventing any lost of life is what he wanted to do. To make sure none of his newly made friends within the pack fall, he would have to join them in the struggles. It wasn't limited to just his friends, He wanted to make sure no one kills or gets killed.

After taking that step forward to show he was joining in, he was still very nervous of the whole thing. At the very worst he could be walking into a nightmare.

She wanted to ask more questions, but knew by the way that Saena responded that there was little information to go on. Then there was a dissenting voice, the sound of someone doubting their leader - and Tavi whipped her head around, wanting to know who exactly it was. Her eyes landed upon Esaro as he finished adding his two cents, and while Tavi did not agree, she wasn't angry. His voice was just as valid as everyone else's. Saena responded swiftly, to which Tavi turned an ear; but she only half listened, having already decided that she would follow the woman whenever the plan was to depart. While listening, Tavi looked around at those that were gathered. She wondered how many of them would willingly go, who would stay.

With her spirit restored, Tavi stepped towards Saena with her tail wagging, lightly bumping shoulders with her. "They won't know what hit 'em!"

Lunar had glanced at Esaro shaking her head at him in warning,she knew Reek wouldn't like it. As little time as she had been here she knew he was aggressive. She had seen it when she joined,the whole pack was aggressive as a whole. Herself included,she had never had a chance to let her anger out before seeing as she had to always be submissive. No more though,its aggression came through as her new pack was threatened. She was surprised when Reek didn't bite his head off. She grinned when she heard Saena might be pregnant. It was great for the pack,their future leaders. Plus she absolutely adored puppies. What female didn't? When it came time for wolves to step forward she was surprised to see Esaro do so. She stepped forward herself,nodding to her Alphas as she did so. She hadn't been surprised to see Reek,Saena,Spring,or Tavi step forward as they were high ranking and had a duty to their pack. She hoped no one stopped her,she might not be very fierce looking but she was a decent fighter.

Laika found herself very surprised by Esaro's comments, but turned back to Saena once her speech continued. As the alpha female spoke about only seeing one o the intruders, her gaze shifted to the smaller gray teen, wondering why she glanced at her. Either way, her attention was taken again as Saena told them to step forward if they wanted to come with the party. Her paws carried themselves forward, and she confidently went with them. If these wolves were going to try to take away their food source, she would definitely be there to take them down.

She glanced around at the other wolves who stepped forward and pride swelled deep in her chest. All the wolves here were definitely some of the best fighters around, or at last built for it. This should be an easy fight. She glanced over at Spring with a smile, ready to take these loners down.

This is the last round! Feel free to continue posting free for all or post your character leaving, but Saena will be leaving in this round! I'll archive this thread on February 20th if no one sticks around.

Her eyes combed over the crowd as they assembled themselves into two groups. Apollo and Arion took the rear, vowing to protect the maplewood as best they could. Two wolves protecting an entire claim was somewhat of a silly thing, but Saena wasn't thinking about all that and had no reason to fear an attack on their territory while they were gone. The pack in the north hadn't shown their faces, at least not to her, and Luke's pack was far enough away to cause little concern for the alpha female.

Spring, Lunar Eclipse, Laika, and Tavi stepped forward as predicted, as did Esaro, which caused a quizzical raise of her brow. Considering his speech moments prior about the worthlessness of fighting, she assumed his preference was to remain here, away from the possibility of tainting his peaceful nature. She was pleased to see that he seemed to understand the need, or at least she misinterpreted his volunteering as that. Setting her jaws into a faint smile, Saena nodded, chest swelling with pride, and said, "thank you all. We will move on Emberwood in about a week's time."

She could only hope by then that Aaron had not amassed a large collection of followers.

Spring's chest swelled with pride and anxiety coursed through her veins.  She knew she would fight to the death if she had to for her pack.

Spring thought of the battle for a moment in her mind.  Wondering how many wolves on the opposing side would have and if they really expected at all, that Phoenix Maplewood would attack.

Spring licked her chops satisfactorily.  Then glanced around to see who else had taken a step forward to join the battle.  She saw a storm grey female who she recognized from the hunt, Lunar Eclipse, Laika and... The last wolf made Springs eyes widen in surprise.  What is Esaro doing here?  Spring thought quietly to herself.  Curious.

Lunar looked around the group of wolves who would be storming the Emberwood. They were all athletic,strong wolves. So where did that leave Esaro or her? She had seen Esaro hunt and he had issues paying attention. She only hoped he didn't get in anyone's way when the fight began or that he would get hurt. He was her friend but she wasn't sure he should be on this trip. She kept her thoughts to herself though knowing they needed the numbers. It also wasn't her place to say who she thought should come. She had heard Apollo was staying behind with someone called Arion, she didn't have a clue who that was. She didn't think Apollo had attended,and glancing around she saw she was correct. She grimaced,Saena would chew him out later. She wondered why no one objected to her joining. Sure she was fast and a decent fighter but she was small. Surely when the Emberwood wolves saw her they would laugh at her being their defense.

@Saena, I know you wanted to pull out of the meeting this round, bt I don't think Reek would want to leave things just yet.

With warband assembled and meeting concluded, Reek felt a quaver in the pit of his stomach. A creeping unease washed over him, and while the other wolves shifted and some made their leave, Reek remained firmly rooted to the spot. There he waited until he could get a moment alone with his mate and co-alpha. However, after seeing that he may not get the opportunity, Reek's paws guided him forward and to his mate's side.

There he leaned in close and whispered, "Are you sure you want to lead the charge?" Their warband, he was sure would be victorious, but it did not travel without danger. This danger was not something Reek would subject his family to voluntarily. "I can't stop you," he continued, "I won't stop you, but I don't want you hurt again." Reek knew he could not make Saena's decisions for her, she was a headstrong creature at heart, but he wouldn't be doing his duty as a husband if he at least didn't try to make her reconsider.

Laika nodded towards Saena, making note in her head. She would definitely be there to fight to the death and prove herself to her alphas and pack. She was determined to do her best while defending her pack's future. She lashed her tail furiously and looked around for Spring.

"I have to," she told her mate when he expressed his concerns. Saena was no stranger to being injured—hell, it was basically a permanent state for her lately—but this time she had no intentions of wandering off alone. She would have back up and the chances of being hurt were slim to none, unless Aaron had amassed a following larger than their own. She thought that unlikely, given it had only been a handful of days since she'd discovered him, and he had been alone then.

"I will look weak if I threaten him and then don't show," she quietly pointed out, "and I most certainly am not that." With a flick of her ears she settled the conversation, but favoured Reek with a brush of her muzzle under his own and bid him to, "stop worrying so much," before padding between two trees toward the river with a silent invitation for him to join her if he wished to.

His mate's reassurance did little to quell the storm brewing in Reek's chest. She was a woman of pride. It was a part of her and Reek loved her for it, however, sometimes her stubbornness hurt him deeply. He was no stranger to these tiny heartbreaks. Every time she dissapeared, setting out alone and turning up injured to maplewood weeks later, carved another chink in Reek's emotional armor. He usually kept himeslf quiet about it, voicing his concerns only when his discomfort grew too much to bear. This had been one of those moments.

Reek accepted her touch, but his ears splayed back in defeat and he let loose a tired sigh. Worry was as much a part of Reek as pride was to Saena. There were nearly analogous. "Alright," he conceded. Ever a doormat in these situations, Reek would not set out to control his mate's life.

She withdrew and set out towards the river. Reek stood stationary for a moment, collecting himself, before following his mate away from the meeting.