Arrow Lake — disappearances, after all, have explanations. usually.

Days after the departure.
Participants @Vercingetorix @Blodreina @Takiyok @Tashkent @Isleña @Stigmata

Stigmata would know the sound of her herald; Aure’s peal was made wisping on the spring winds, and was sent up regardless of whether Diaspore sentinels had sighted them or not. In the meantime, she wove her way among the company — rousing those to attention. But it was when the familiar spires of Stigmata’s claim were in sight that the little she-wolf strode her way to the front lines.

Her face set itself into bleak diligence, her womb weighing her steps but never a grievance. No, the life murmuring within her belly had her settling at the forefront, as the ever-sprightly Vonnaruil sculpted himself at her flank. 

This time, Aure did not linger in silence, as she had when Stigmata had first regarded her; rising from a mild obeisance, she set haggard silver eyes on whomever had attended her call. ”We have come from ze northern cliffs, from Drageda. We have dispersed, driven by ze instigations of our enemy. Diaspora was our first, final decision, and—“ When her breath stuttered, plight stolen by a sharp ruckus in her heavy womb, her twin was there.

”Numbers are what we are — what you need,” Vonn continued, glimpsed upon those behind Aure, and then to their hosts with an imploring look. His tone, though jovial, remained unassuming, even, ”You do need them, do you not? With children on the way, Diaspora must want many, and more.” And hopefully, this cliff-company. If the sense of perseverance, of prevalence hadn’t already been felt by the Diaspore, then the Crow wasn’t sure if he’d felt anything before this moment.

Neither twin begged forgiveness for their words; all that they said held true. The she-silver prayed that this brusque, reasoning manner would appease to the hardy nomads. Her resolve waned with each passing moment, even with Vonn at her shoulder and the remaining kru at her back. On the notion of her impending delivery, she kept her tongue. For now.

blodreina feels the journey in a way she would not have before, despite that she is not as far along as aure is. she feels the weight of tiredness press upon her limbs and the weight of her fissuring heart in her chest. the decision to leave behind all she'd ever known, the pack she'd stood behind so fiercely and so loyally hadn't been easy and there are moments of doubt. she could have easily fled to sangeda but the threat of war still looms even for them. without a commander they are lost. perhaps they'd found atajar. perhaps there was a heda to keep the other branches at bay. perhaps blodreina doesn't wish to live in the shadow of her parents, love them though she does. the truth was that she didn't want to see drageda fall, not when she only remembered it as being strong and she didn't want to leave the teekon wilds. it's the only place she's ever lived and it's where she wants to raise her children. she thinks that when they tell gyda about her departure from drageda that the viking queen will understand.

still, she goes back and forth, only to steel her resolve the closer they draw to pack lands. to appear uncertain ( when it is already too late ) would make her appear weak, flighty even. is she not blodreina? the great wanlida? in spirit, perhaps, for she would never bear the rank again.

aure and her twin speak for their ragtag kru and when they finish blodreina — never one to let others speak for her ( or at least, do all the talking ) — steps forth with a respectful bow of her head ( realizing that the last time she'd done this was for heda ), we come armed with skills to offer your ranks, too. at least, she knows for sure that verx, aure and herself have trades. the other two women and aure's twin she doesn't know but beyond names but that is of little consequence at the moment. regardless, blodreina doesn't want to be just a number. she wants them to know that they're more than capable of pulling their own weight especially because she fears just being a number may not be enough especially as they plea for diaspora to take in not one but two pregnant women; and beyond that she wants to put her skills to use ...at least until she is unable to ( and she thought the morning sickness was bad, ha. ). the life growing within her own womb is at risk and blodreina finds that fact bolstering her fierce determination to ensure she has a place to safely deliver and raise said life.

one post cameo - any diasporan, please feel free to PP him. i just figured he would not miss a giant party arriving at diaspora's doorstep!

little happens in diaspora without thorn's notice; the troupe that made its way towards their borders was impossible to miss, given they moved along not so different from a band of travelers. from their condition, thorn did not believe them to be loners - a suspicion augmented into fact when he caught the lingering scent of the coast that still clung to their pelts.

mahler and stigmata would be here soon. thorn quietly made his presence known by flanking them, standing as stern vigil until more diasporans arrived.

She can be skipped at any point if I take too long!

She recognised the call, she remembered the woman who had visited for a while, the woman who had also been at Elysium's gathering. When she got closer she realised there were many scents upon the wind, not just the familiar woman's. She heard the words that were spoken as she arrived on scene, glancing at Thorn and giving him a nod. She held no negative feelings for the victor of her challenge. She focused her ember eyes upon the potential joiners and gave a low hum. "More numbers means a better hold on the mountains. Your enemy won't start trouble with us upon your joining will they?" she asked, voicing her opinion freely. She did not believe she would be told to quiet down for asking such a question.

She recognized the call from the borders and trotted towards the sound as quickly as her large, swaying abdomen would allow. She arrived to find not only Aurewen, but a group of wolves all smelling like they had come from the same place. She heard the exchange of words as she neared the group gathered near the edge of their claim, first from Aurewen and her assumed packmate, then from Kazimir. More numbers would be helpful, but it was then that she noticed the similar roundness morphing Aurwen's pale form, and Taki wondered if more numbers were worth sacrificing resources that were supposed to be for her own children; they were her number one concern, especially now that she could tell their arrival was imminent. 

She came to stand on Thorn's other side, recognition flickering briefly on her otherwise impassive face as she noticed Vercingetorix among the group of sea wolves. She had many questions, some lining up with Kazimir's concerns that they would bring their trouble to Diaspora should they be allowed to stay. She kept them to herself for now, deciding that Stigmata and @Mahler would be here soon enough to dole out the right questions. Instead, she raised a curt eyebrow at the group as her fiery gaze scrutinized each newcomer, suspicion tinting her eyes as they moved from wolf to wolf.

He wasn't pregnant, but he was just several days removed from being totally fucked up, so the journey was just as arduous for Verx. Add that to the weight on his heart, the guilt, and well. . .yeah, not the world's best trip to the mountains. He watched Aure as she howled, then straight ahead, waiting for others to come. And they came, one by one.

Mostly faces he didn't know, save for Takiyok. Vercingetorix gave her a reserved nod--quite different from when they'd first met--before turning his gaze to the other woman. They'd better not, he rasped in response, lips lifting in a brief snarl before falling back over his teeth again.

Aure and Vonn made a good case for them, as did Blodreina (he was surprised she had come, honestly), so it was all up to whomever was in charge here, now. He shifted his weight a little, the thin air around them quiet and hollow. He could hear every beat of his heart.

tashkent is loath to continue to follow the drageda crew, especially as they begin their ascent up into the mountains. little things here and there pull at her—not only familial presence scented quite recently, but just wanderlust in general. let's explore! let's run away! it screams at her with every step, and it takes all of her to stay with the pack, at least for a little bit longer.

but then she catches sight of that big black hunk of meat she'll sooner or later find out is named thorn, and she suddenly doesn't feel so reluctant anymore.

the luk makes eyes at him, all the while flicking an ear to catch the conversation traveling back and forth between the wolves she sort of knows and the wolves she does not know at all. it's not her place to speak, here, but she stands prim and steadfast, hoping to look like a good little warrior. her eyes cut over to her cousin, imploring her to do the same.

like thorn, mahler kept a close eye on the trajectory of the group who approached their borders: six hale wolves. lavender stare fastened to their meeting with the diasporans who moved to greet the newcomers, and when takiyok strode proudly among them, the gargoyle descended. 
as he had not with the insipid melonii, this time the proud flag of his plume rode high overtop his hips, a standard he would rather not carry. but perhaps in these days it was necessary. moving alongside @Thorn, he listened impassively as the tessarius leant toward him and murmured what had been said in the moments before, then trained his gaze upon each of the strangers in turn.
scarred twins, one heavily pregnant; a male with a vicious wound upon his throat. a loam-toned wolfess who might also carry young, from a flick of mahler's briefly appraising eyes. and another pair of seemingly related she-wolves, one whom the gargoyle knew well. isleña was granted a minutely warmer nod before the musiker's attention belonged solely to the pale woman who had first spoken.
"you vill forgive my questioning," he began after a moment's tick. "the last band who claimed to seek shelter here vere insolent and threatening upon meet. therefore, the promise of your numbers is perhaps less important to diaspora than the promise of your loyalty, your pledge to follow our vays."
"three things: the manner of strife you have fled, vill it follow you here? how many among you carry young? and vhat skills do you bring to us?" his tone, while firm, was not unkind. diaspora would thrive with more numbers, and children were the lifeblood of any pack. but he was not so quick to admit them upon their breadth of band alone. care was necessary here, something mahler practiced in every moment.

slithering into the fold, and maintaining a deceptively lank posture, stigmata came to stand beside kazimir; giving her an approving rumble as she voiced a valid concern. it made him proud to know his own wolves knew the right questions to ask, and it reaffirmed his trust in them. reservedly, the general listened to the proceedings before him, all the while fixing each potential joiner with an arbiter's stare: half-lidded, unimpressed, and intense.

aside from the obvious stresses of dispersal, none of them seemed unwell, or unfit to him, but two of them were carrying, and one had a grave looking wound across his throat - oh, and he carried with him an unpleasant recollection of meeting that one before. he remembered those oddly colored eyes; and he looked mainly to this male for any challenge from among the strangers.

the basilisk went on to flick his challenging gaze towards the rest of them in turn - a silent and crucial preliminary - and if they would show deference, or at least avert their gazes out of respect, then stigmata would have no personal protest to their arrival. and though he did not look at her, his mind fled briefly towards takiyok, who he thought to offer the final say in this. because if she, the mother of his own children, did not agree with this, then he would have no choice but to deny them.

A faint, insolent nick curled Vonn’s lips at the sight of the basilisk, but for all of the coy amusement, he followed his sister’s suite. Oh, loyalty — his would not be ill-placed, here, and for a heartbeat Vonn thought himself a fool to have ever made away from Stigmata in the first place. The hood of his dark lashes drew lazy, languishing over his own eyes. But they pranced away, congealed from melted silver to tempered sterling as Aurëwen addressed Mahler: ”Those who sought to further harm us will not follow, I assure you. They still crow at their own claim — outnumbering us, as it were. I can see no reason for them to follow this entire way.” Her scarred face, drawn like steel, only whet itself further at the verbal myriads.

It was out of thought and, of course, deference which her pale eyes flickered from Stigmata’s. It gave her the chance to pause, to say ”Another and I are with child,” to nod to Blodreina, and wait for any input from those behind her; their thoughts were appreciated, cherished to her. So far, Blodreina, at least, had come forth with what hadn’t crossed Aure’s mind: trades. If remarks from her voyagers were given, she listened with consideration, but would need to continue herself at some point.

”As for my own practice, I am a herbalist. A healer. Weeks prior to our departure, I had been fortifying my stores in hopes of beginning an apothecary of my own.” With Rusalka’s final instigation, she had felt her hard work in gathering those reserves had gone to waste. ”I am, however, familiar with enough flora along ze Spires. As you are nomadic, foraging will not be a trouble for me.” Her voice was edged in some misery at this, despite Mahler’s congeniality; but there was no pride, either. Only the knowledge that she was well at mending, finding, and could speak with some grit.

How her stores had been depleted, though — she lifted her eyes to Mahler’s at that — had not been in vain. Always humble to the point of shyness, Aurëwen would never admit to her workings on Vercingetorix; she had always credited Dacio or Reina for their immense help, for that was just as true. It wasn’t in her to boast of Verx’s near-death as she’d boasted of the heavens to Stigmata, once upon a night. It was her beloved’s choice to tell of such a personal trial.

But she felt this craft seemed much more immediate to represent, and so she kept all of her star-gazing hushed in the meantime. Vonnaruil, though, felt he should put his own words out there once more, humming, ”I roam, as you well know, but have quite liked guarding, lately. Should you need a sentinel or scout, my services are yours.”

blodreina takes stock of the five wolves that have come to greet them — five to five — and she tries to stifle the fact that it makes her feel like she's being boxed in. she's never tried to join another pack before — hadn't honestly though she'd ever have the need to — and being on the other side of a greeting party threatens to overwhelm her. their small ragtag kru is easily outnumbered even before you consider that aure was in no state to fight should this turn away from their favor. the wolves of this pack are cautious and blodreina understands their caution. her distrust of strangers had made her hostile more times than she could count over the years.

the one that speaks up asks how many are with child and she glimpses at aure — who of the two of them is the most obvious. blodreina is just grateful that her body hadn't decided to birth them during their travel though the ex-wanlida suspects the pale woman is close to giving birth any day now. blodreina gives a nod of confirmation when the pale woman nods to her; but thinks to herself that if she and her babes are not welcome here then she will have no issue continuing on. loathe as she is to leave the small kru there is something in her that tells her that the life within her womb is special and that, maternal or not, she should do everything in her power to see them birthed in safety that she is confident in.

i am a mercenary, it has been such a long time that blodreina has to constantly remind herself to speak in common ( she doesn't like it but assumes that they would not understand her native tongue ) specifically a warrior and tactician. she states off her own trade and specialties, keeping her gave averted feeling a rise of anxiety within her for what the verdict would be over anything else.

She takes a backseat to the conversation as soon as Mahler shows up and when Stigmata arrives beside her and quietly rumbles his approval, well, she was satisfied enough by that alone. She nodded once, lowering her chin to her leader and then focusing her eyes on their five potential members. The heavily pregnant one spoke, sounding very forthcoming and honest. She seemed to have nothing to hide and this soothed Kazimir's doubts. However the knowledge that two of them bore pups was concerning to Kazimir, especially when Takiyok already carried young. It would be cold to turn them away but if they wouldn't be loyal, it would be done right?

Her eyes move away from the soon to be mother and fell upon the man at her side. He was staring at her..no Stigmata, with a strange sort of smirk on his face. Her eyes narrowed as she studied the way he seemed to almost be... mocking her leader? No...not quite. He was cute though, very much so and it bothered her. She huffed a small sigh and looked at the last woman to speak, one who spoke in a fierce manner and offered Mercenary skills. She was immediately interested and tucked the information away inside her brain just in case they ended up joining.

Last one here. Skip me unless Kazimir is spoken to!

She couldn't deny that their skills would be helpful in the coming months, especially if there were going to more than just her children needing protection should they be allowed to stay. It made her nervous that not only was the pale wolf in front of her carrying young, but also another among them. That would be a lot of children to provide for, but with their pregnant members, they also brought more able bodies that would be able to help. Where she once would have been more objective, she found herself sympathizing somewhat with the traveling mothers, a mixture of hormones and empathy making her see more than just what was in it for her and her pack. Aurëwen's assurance that their trouble would not follow them here further swayed the northerner to allow them to stay, although she didn't think anyone could say for sure that their enemies wouldn't seek them out, Taki was willing to take them at their word for now. Options weighed and decision made, she nodded her acceptance to Stigmata and Mahler. Hopefully, it wouldn't prove to be the wrong choice.

PPing Tashkent bc lazy so @Mahler you can skip her

A dark man came, and then--oh, ha, fuck. It was the man he'd sparred with, at least verbally and briefly, that one day. Their eyes met, and Verx raised his brows, but said nothing. It was best to just keep his mouth shut, at this point, and let the twins do the talking for them. Really.

And they did a good job. His niece put in her two cents, and then he supposed it was his turn. He cleared his throat. I look like shit right now, yeah, but I'm a pretty good warrior, he managed, pitching his voice loud enough to be heard. If our enemies follow us here, they won't be around for long, trust me. The bravado in his voice was unmistakable, but so too was the note of sincerity that rang in every word.

The two Luks, like twin cats, blinked at the leaders of this mountain pack. We are warriors and scouts, fleet of foot, Tashkent spoke for them both. We can travel a lot of ground in search of prey. Undoubtedly they would be accepted alongside the Dragedan warriors, right?

​

stigmata prowled forward, and mahler was pleased to see that the joining band showed his kill-brother the proper respect. this assured him before their words did, though he was contented to know that diaspora would be gaining a great number of skills, as well as children, in their admission of these wolves.
like the ironstar, mahler too would leave the final choice to takiyok. lavender stare flicked at her silent nod; the three were in agreement then. "i too am a healer, frau," the gargoyle murmured to the gravid moon whose scarring did not detract from her fierce beauty. "vhat is mine is now yours. velcome to diaspora, all of you."
in time they would be given their roles and tasks, but for now, it was important that the six settled and prepared for impending birth. he had not missed the tension between the wounded man and stigmata; perhaps there had been bad blood before, and mahler determined to himself that he would keep an eye upon that one until it became clear he truly would submit to diasporan rule. 
he looked to the winterwhite and his kill-brother now, wondering if either of them would speak again.

all of them seemed to come bearing willing bodies and hopeful hearts, personal skills aside, and though stigmata was not inclined to turn aurëwen away - not in this state - he felt that they could all be trusted for now at least. and still, suspicion crawled through him like a cold poison. he had questions based only on paranoia and sheer fantasy, and he worried intensely that once they were recovered, their supposed gratitude would melt like the frost.

he could only find peace with this intrusion by turning his eyes on mahler and takiyok, respectively. neither of them seemed daunted, and rather than trying to persuade them that this should be more concerning, he knew it would be best to roll with the majority and simply keep an eye on things as they progressed. he licked his chops, and nodded with finality. "all of you, come. the lake is not far inland, and our caches there should sate you. we will take up the matter of a den afterward," he looked pointedly at the ballooned starsprite, and unintentionally glanced at her celestial twin, vonnaruil, as he turned to lead the troupe into diaspora's unending realm.

Will go ahead and fade here <3