Arrow Lake DIASPORA

Pack howl, everyone! This takes place New Years Day. Participation is optional and one post only. If your character wouldn't physically be present, you can post with what they might be doing at this time, but by no means are you required to! Thanks again, everyone <3

a bevy of phantoms had come to haunt the mountains.

they came trickling, and some were spread far, but the root of their forces were sufficient enough to now secure an entire territory at a time, and stigmata had his sights on the advantageous arrow lake.

the imperator - the allgemeines, as a compelling, soft-spoken german would christen him - stood on the cliffs overlooking his chosen claim, and observed the frozen lake and its greylit sheen with a rare curve of approval in his argent gaze. beneath him, beyond the labyrinth cliffside, sprawled a vast winterwood, teeming with prey and a place built for indefinite sustainability. a place superlative to begin the fostering of his pack.

he tossed back his head and howled out across the miles. he called to to his kill-brother @Mahler and to @Takiyok, his female counterpart. he sang for @Finch, to whom he yearned to show the world, and for @Redshank who he wished to help conquer it. his voice reached towards @Thorn, who had made a particular impression on the warhound, and to @Ketzia, who he felt under his fur as surely as a brand. the song made a crescendo, almost inquiring in tone, as he signaled after @Sterling, who he hoped remained, and for @Piper, who he hoped was somehow near.  

though he imagined neither @Nocturnal and her cohorts (@Damien and @Aries) nor @Vonn could not hear him, the sound was for them too, all the same. he quieted, smiling to himself, and feeling satisfied with the booming echo left trumpeting over the region, before turning to round his packmates up for a celebratory hunt.

Her mission had her moving towards the northern stretch of the mountains when the call halted her efficient steps. Taki looked back towards the lake territory, feeling a twinge of guilt for not being there to celebrate along with her new packmates. She needed some closure, though, and searching the coast for any signs of her missing family was a step towards that. Her relentless pace would ensure she was only gone a few days, and then she would return to help Stigmata protect their new claim and better learn the other wolves she would be sharing the land with. 

Lifting her muzzle to the sky, she released an answering howl, long and steady, promising her quick return as well as her continued loyalty. The sound ended in a cloud of white around her nose and after a few more seconds, Taki turned and resumed her journey, her mind eventually calming with the soothing, continuous rhythm of paws against snow as the familiar comfort of solitary travel began to temporarily ease some of her grief.

many had joined them, ever since finch followed stigmata amongst the mountains. new wolves, members, friends, family: all with their own stories, strengths, weaknesses-- coming together as one unit. a storm of ghastly shucks endlessly wandering-- claiming what they can, poaching what they can manage, hunting whatever crosses their path. there was much finch didn't know about the world, meeting stigmata ignited something in her: a desire, a desire to tap into what made her truly wild. so badly, she wanted to fuel the fire that burned inside her chest.

a song came from the distance, a song she recognized well enough. a crescendo that called to those who he had recruited. the avian, wandering the territory at the time to farmiliarize herself with this particular one, answered back after hearing one other howl in the distance. tipping her crown skywards, she calls to all that can hear her, the noise that marks the beginning of a new era.

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he called; he let the lower tones of his voice entwine with the higher silver notes of those roundabout. diaspora lived, and he answered his kill-brother and those who sang with him in his own prideful way. 
it was a new chapter that had opened within the sunspire mountains, and the newly minted leader wished to write a good many pages in it, with the years to come.

Redshank lurked just below the cliffs where Stigmata stood, stalking within the frosted underwoods. They had settled, at least for the time being, within the peaks and ranges of the Sunspire Mountains, just as Stigmata had planned. They would move again in time, but for now Redshank was content enough with their current surroundings. The lake had mostly frozen over but it was high, out of sight, and difficult to reach. The leader of the newfound pack didn't seem a fool — he had chosen this spot purposefully.

As if on cue, a howl went up, dominant and resonating. Redshank paused, ears twisting towards the sound, listening as others intertwined their own voices, before he lent his own (a rough, high-pitched sound that contrasted sharply against the lower timbres of his pack mates). It was a call to any who would listen — this was now the land of Diaspora.

Her ears would gently flicker at the calls. Stigmata lead them, and while she knew little of the iron man, she believed she could hear the pride within his song as he invited his members to sing with him. Others joined--those she would become familiar with quite soon, and as she paused only for a moment to enjoy the rising and falling symphony of her pack mates, Ketzia tilted her own slender muzzle back, her own smoky howl cascading to the heavens to join them.

Diaspora. A new home.