Neverwinter Forest through the dark of night

attn: @Mal

 

She had left the mountains then, and made her way to the pack where she felt most comfortable being herself. Huā curved around the lower edge of the forest where she'd met Atausiq, and shooed the memory away, this time being sure to lap down the fur on her chest and make herself look pretty and presentable. It was then that she called for @Mal , and all the while her heart thumped in her chest, and she reminded herself over and over that this was serious business.

He put on a good face for the wolves in the pack. He'd pretend to be positive, without conflict, because that was what he believed they needed. He didn't truly feel it though. Cupid's reaction followed by whatever had happened to him had been too soul-crushing for that. But he tried.

Hua's howl split his emotions even farther -- he wanted to see her, but he didn't want to hurt her, but he probably would if he told the truth... And Mal wasn't big on lying, at least not over things so important. He better figure out what the hell to say and quick. How did he manage to dig his own grave this time?

He spotted her ahead, which further twisted his insides. Mal trotted over quickly, Hua! He was happy to see her, but so conflicted. He was still afraid that she'd start yelling at him too, but so far Hua had always been nice. He was totally going to ruin it. She was going to hate him too. Maybe it would have been better if he'd never gone back to Yuelong, if she'd forgotten him too. He tried to let just the happiness show, but a lot had happened in the last week or so, it wasn't as carefree or pure as before, but his tail still wagged and his expression was warm. He stopped at a comfortably amiable distance -- had it been some other time he might have gone up to greet her more directly, maybe with a nose to her cheek or something but again he could only see Cupid's fury, and he felt like that would be too much knowing what he did. But he wasn't jumping right into that, no. I just sent Simmik out to go to your pack -- did you run into her? She wasn't coming from the most direct path from Yuelong, so maybe she hadn't.

And there he came, calling out her name, and... stopping awkwardly a few feet away. Okay. That was fine. She wasn't here to romance him, (that could come later,) and oh-? Simmik? Her ears perked forward curiously and she shook her head, slightly ashamed that they had gone out of their way to send a scout to a pack where the leader was presently absent. No, I did not. Sorry, She apologized, ears flattening bashfully to her head.

I not mean to in-incon-inconvenience you, but I must get many thing done quickly. I have been spreading some news for nearby pack, She admitted, gesturing lightly in the direction of the flatlands before turning her gaze back to him. Kaistleoki, Reneian Empire, Seelie Court, I already tell them all, you and Moonspear next. It must be obvious to him now that this was big, either that or the siren was totally overreacting- but Huā believed it was better to be safe than sorry, and so she would inform as many nearby packs as she could... and perhaps in the days after this, gather a mish-mash team to put plans in motion, in order to remove these pests from their edge of the woods. She would not let criminals go unchecked, especially when they were violent kidnappers, and a little too close to her, and Mal's, children.

Okay, that'd be kind of awkward if Simmik went and delivered his whole message to some rando at Yuelong. Uhhh. Well, hopefully that didn't cause drama, but he expected he'd bring it up to Hua once whatever it was she was bringing up now was done.

Blink. Okay, not what he was expecting at all. He was thinking it'd be maybe be something personal. Probably part of the reason he was trying to keep a little distant. But this was not that. He sort of shook his head a little to try to refocus, jumping to an obvious conclusion as his ears pricked forward, Is it about those three crazy people? Did someone find them? That was all he could think of. What else would bring together that many packs? The only other drama that Mal knew of was stuff within his own pack -- stuff of his own creation. But really, between newborn pups and Cupid, he hadn't been adventuring out into the outside world very much.

Probably a good thing that Huā had missed her. Who knows how she might've reacted if Mal had delivered a super personal message through a super impersonal means?

Three crazy people? She was puzzled for a moment, but quickly recalled them- Merrick, the dark woman, and the blackhead. Another shake of her head. Sadly, no. There are new bad people. They are wanting to settle in a forest near my island where trees leak a red sap. A man, and a woman, but maybe more. Already they hurt a lot of people and causing trouble. I wanted to talk to you about these people. Then Huā paused, so that Mal might take in the information before she continued, and also so that the thread wouldn't be over too quickly.

Nah, even Mal wasn't that dumb, he had sent Simmik with a different message, but it still would be kind of awkward potentially. Oh well, will have to see how things go!

His ears tipped back a little. Different ones. Just what the world needed. It seemed like every time the world had calmed down, something else happened that ruined that peace. He just wanted a nice quiet world! And people to not hate him, don't forget that part. That.. Isn't all that far. I don't think they've bugged any of us as of late -- but most of us have been staying here. Maybe Simmik has run into them. What do you know about them? Look, he had to keep his disaster of a family safe, no matter how spread out or how much the other parents hated him.

So he knew the place. That was a good first step. The man is wolfdog who has kidnap a woman, and try to kill Aiolos when he help rescue her, we save him but... and, the woman, she come and bother sea lions, I ask her to leave, and she threaten the pregnant women with me, call us sluts, we fight her off. Huā huffed with annoyance in recalling. I also meet a girl call Praimfaya, they try to kill her when she want to pass through their territory peaceful, only marked by two wolf She turned seaglass gaze back to Mal almost pleadingly. I do not think it safe to have them near. Especially not near our kids.

Unreal. This crazy dude went and did all that? And that woman? What the hell. He frowned. It wasn't his place really to come to Hua's defense at every turn, but she definitely was far better a person than whoever the brown chick was, just by default. If he'd been there, it'd have been a whole different thing.

Either way, mash it all together and he didn't like what he was hearing. Okay yeah, if anyone like that had come anywhere near here, we would have known. Or so he assumed. Seriously, anyone that bad was great at pissing off everyone. The only thing was he didn't know that for some reason his pack had been purposely spared. It wasn't like it took much convincing to make Mal be willing to come to Hua's defense -- okay, and his pack here and all the other kids he had here that he needed to keep safe, It's probably just been luck. And I know I'm not a very lucky guy. Are you trying to get everyone together to get a group together to tell them to move on? Or at least, that's what he was assuming. She'd mentioned enough other packs that it seemed like it'd be easy to do.

Mal was lucky not to face them, Huā thought. Didn't seem familiar to him at all, and she was glad- Neverwinter was likely Yuèlóng's closest ally, and she did not wish to see them come in harm's way. But she didn't want to risk a future bad outcome either... because once they got sick of tormenting Yuèlóng, who knew where they might go next? At his question, she nodded. Yes, something like that. Lumiya- um, queen from new pack up north- tell me she also think we should force them out, if we can. If I gather some people, maybe we go with defense and ask them take their evil somewhere else. She shrugged at the end, like don't trust me though. Huā wasn't a battle planner, a warlord, or anything of the sort- and had no idea what it would take to get these people moving.

He thought about the early days. Nobody had really tried to force Mal from his home. They'd disrespected him and dismissed him, yeah, but that was about it. But then again, Mal wasn't out to cause trouble, he wasn't trying to piss anyone off or hurt anyone -- he just wanted to be left alone to build a life for himself and the wolves he trusted. He wondered briefly if that still made him a hypocrite. Probably not, since again, he didn't cause trouble. If you call, I'll be there with you, he decided after a moment. We could at least say we know they're there and we all won't tolerate bad behavior, maybe. Because Mal knew he wasn't exactly the top fighter either.. But he would stand with Hua.

And of course, it wasn't all about their nearness. It was no wonder Mal had not been forced out, because, well, he was a nice dude. These people were just straight evil, and they had to go. At his decision that he would show if she called, her tail wagged slightly, and a smile slipped onto her face. Okay. Thank you. Seem like a good plan, I will call you... in a day or two, maybe? Something like this. She decided. She wanted to pull him into sort of a thank-you hug, but she recalled that she had to maintain some kind of serious appearance. Ira was serious, Reiko too, and Lumiya at times, and of course Hydra. Was she supposed to act all cold like them? She wasn't sure what the proper farewell was, but dipped her head to him in a bow. I- I should probably go now, unless you need more information.

When he was focused, Mal could be serious. He could act like stuff was normal because he was out to protect his pack and family and all that. He could box up how distressed he might feel about things and just go on because he had to. Okay. That sounds good. A nod.

The real issue was that now she was leaving. Or might be at least. Business was done, sort of, but there were still other things that hung in the air. The focus broke and he was back to being the slightly weird way he had been at the beginning, emotionally muddled but trying to not let it color his words. He didn't want her to go, but he also didn't want her to get angry at him if he did spill the beans, so he mentally flailed around a little, Not about that. But um, I do need to talk to you about some things. It's important, but it's not gonna make anyone live or die if you would rather focus on getting Donovan and whoever to go away first. It can wait a little. Besides, he still wasn't sure how to explain it all. Every starting point he could think of was confusing and awful. How could he make it okay, so that nobody ended up hurt? And honestly, some sort of physical good bye was on his mind too, but he'd feel worse if he did that knowing what he did while thinking she'd end up hating him once he stopped talking.

There just wasn't a win here.

She was ready to turn and go when he spoke up, saying he needed to talk to her about some things. Was it about seeing the children again? Or maybe a confession of feelings? Huā's heart was curious, but her brain said go go go, and she wasn't sure which to listen to. The old her would've immediately asked to hear, but after being a leader for a few months, her feelings had changed slightly, and she understood that sometimes duty came before feelings. Oh, um, okay- I can come back, after this all over? Or... or... um, are you sure you okay with waiting? She questioned gently, clearly still indecisive.

In all honesty, he didn't like waiting and he didn't like going through it now. Again, no winning solution. But if she had a reaction like Cupid, he didn't want that lingering above her head when there was important stuff to do. So he'd take the discomfort himself and nodded, Yeah. It'll keep.

He shifted from foot to foot for a moment before giving in and going forward and touching his nose to her cheek, Be safe, okay? Mal hadn't planned to, but she'd always been so nice to him -- he just couldn't act cool and distant to her. But he hoped that even if she did end up angry later, he hoped it wouldn't be too drastic of a gesture. He did care, after all, dammit.

He decided to leave it for another time after all, and she nodded agreeably. The touch was unexpected after the awkwardness that hung between them, but she welcomed it, leaning slightly into him as they touched, electricity spiraling from the point of contact. O-okay, She mumbled awkwardly, feeling her heart in her chest. Best to leave before she became more awkward than before- You too, Mal. D-don't get hurt. I see you again soon. She hummed as she pulled reluctantly away, tail waving a farewell as she exited.

He gave her a smile before she turned, but he didn't have anything else he could say unless he wanted to risk saying something pretty dumb. Mal watched her go, pining for a much more boring time where he could take each one of the problems he'd managed to accumulate and sort them out individually. He didn't have the answers... But at least sorting out the New Crazy People sounded much more straightforward than dealing with feelings. Maybe he could focus and just get that one thing out of the way. 

And he'd successfully said nothing he'd meant to. Maybe for another guy that would be absolutely great. But that guilt settled into his chest, feeling like he was being strangled. Hell. Was he really supposed to feel like this?