Neverwinter Forest Chianti
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All Welcome 
@Mal - but anyone else from the pack is welcome too. Reference to this thread - https://wolf-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=37179

Wraen was surprised to realize that it had been almost a year, since she had last roamed these lands. Time had flown so quickly by and she had had grown so settled in her routine at the Firebirds, that now being here felt almost impossible. On the whole the landscape had not changed much, how she remembered it to be, some packs were gone, some had established anew.

However, the Neverwinter forest sparked a particular interest in her, because not only she recognized the scent that dominated on the borders, she could tie it to a face too (and this was remarkable, because lately she had had difficulties of remembering most wolves that she had crossed paths with). A young, odd-coloured wolf, who at the time had settled here with a group of few wolves and had had trouble with Moonspear and some other pack. She had liked the ambitious fellow and they had parted their ways, while on mutually good terms. Turned out that despite the odds, he still lived here and from the bits and pieces of evidence she could gather, ran strong. 

When done inspecting the borders, Wraen stepped back and settled on neutral grounds, tipped her head back and howled for a representative of the pack to come and greet.
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He didn't recognize the howl, mostly because yeah, it had been a while. A ridiculously long time, in fact. But hey, here Mal was taking a bit of a detour on his patrol to loop back to investigate, nothing abnormal there. He was in.. An okay mood considering everything that had happened over the last month or so, so he was preparing to greet the person who stood a ways off in a reasonable amiable way...

And then it clicked. Wraen, was it? Now he was both curious and amused, a wag of his tail as he came to a halt, Well now, it's been a while. Definitely that, What brought you out here? Or is it more you go adventuring each year around this time? If she wanted an update of how life had been here, how would he even begin? The obvious was Mal had finished growing into his skin to a sense -- he'd sort of learned how to smile in the meantime, then lost it again and was only starting to rediscover it again now. But he was an alpha and he had a pack and a weird little big family and everything.
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Mal had grown considerably during the year they had not met. Wraen still recognized the ambitious yearling in the proud and confident man that was standing before her, and seeing him made her wonder, how much she had changed on the outside. Whether he took notice of that too. 

"Well, I thought that the pack I ran with... which I ran, in fact, for a year would be the one, where I live out the rest of my life, but apparently "happily ever after" was not in the plans of fate," she replied, taking up the playful note she thought she had caught in Mal's question. 

"I am travelling now with my sister and two family friends. No set plans in mind until we decide... or do not, what to do next. Surviving the winter is the most important task, naturally," she added. "But look at you - here you were a year ago with almost nothing, but a grand idea and determination, and here you are now, running your own pack.

Not that I ever doubted your ability to achieve this, but how did it happen? 'cause I recall that at the time many people had abandoned your cause."
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Sorry if it's disjointed a little!

Time could do a pretty good job at warping things, including his own memory. If she'd outright asked if she'd changed, Mal wouldn't be able to say
I think it all just came together because I'm just particularly stubborn, and put a smirk there. But I found the right people who were worth keeping around and things have sort of worked out since. So now they're all my family in one way or another. Some more literally than not. But it wasn't all sunshine and flowers, We've had a tough time, too. Seems like it comes in waves. But eventually things calm down a little. I hope it'll stay that way. We need a bit of a break now. Doom, death, destruction. Yeah. It was enough.

And I guess if you end up not wanting to travel and get desperate, I guess you know where we are at least. I'm at least planning to be here through the spring. Couple his knowing self-deprecating humor with a bit of a wink. He wouldn't necessarily expect her to take the offer or anything. But before he said anything else that might be revealing about his own troubles, he did ask, Have you guys heard about some of the other troublesome sorts that have been lingering around here again? Saints, the psycho, etc.
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"Well, stubborness has truly paid off for you," Wraen said, admiring Mal for sticking around so long and achieving his goal despite the odds. At that time Moonspear had been giving him troubles and, if that pack had not intimidated him to be out and far, far away, then he probably stood very good chances of being here for a very long time to come still. 

"Thank you for your offer! It is nice to know that I have good acquaintances around here," she dipped her muzzle politely to show her gratitude. Then smiled at him broadly. "Well, we stayed in sentinels for a month or so and aside from a group of young wolves that wished to establish home there, I did not meet anyone that would give me trouble," she thought a bit more on the subject, but up until now... no, nothing of importance. 

"Are there gangs to watch out for around here? I have not been in the flatlands for a while, understandably situation may have changed in my absence," she asked.
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He dipped his head thankfully. Stuff could be better, of course, especially with everything that had gone on in the last handful of months, but he'd keep his sense of humor, At least it's good for something other than annoying people.

After she gave a brief recount of her travels, he did ask, Didn't happen to see a boy go by who looked an awful lot like me while you were out there, did you? It wasn't a particularly excited or uber-hopeful question. Long shot, and his scouts would be going out soon too, so that seemed like a far more likely way to find him.

Ooh boy, where did he start? Yeah. There's a group and an individual you should look out for. The one guy is from one of the packs in the mountains -- big guy, white with tan on his nose, probably has a kinda messed up face. He attacked women and children. Don't try to have a conversation if you see him, just leave. Though hopefully they'd get to kill the guy soon and it would be a nonissue for the future. There's a pack called Saints of the Dying Light which is also in the mountains somewhere. Their leader goes by either Donovan or Kynareth, but he's a big weird looking dude with a curly tail and stripes, he's kidnapped people, attacked others, trespassed, the whole nine yards of bad things you can think of. But he'll try to act all nice and innocent to some people. His packmates are pretty unhinged too from what we've experienced. They've pretty much pissed off every pack in the general vicinity, so you'll hear the same warning from others. A second pause, Yeah. It's been fun.
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"I am very sorry, I did not," Wraen replied, feeling sympathetic to Mal, who - she assumed - had lost his own child or someone closely related to him. "But I can keep a look-out just in case," she offered, though she knew that it was highly unlikely that she would ever happen to meet the kid. "What's the name and how long has he or she been gone?" she inquired. 

The problem with descriptions of an individual wolf was that... wolves looked similar to one another and no matter, how creative and colourful you were in drawing a mental picture of, what the assaulter looked like, there was a high probability that you would come across ten other wolves, who fit that image too. Therefore Wraen nodded, as she memorized the bits and pieces of information she was given and hoped that she would never cross paths with that creep at all. 

"Wow, much has changed, since I was last here. Here I thought that I could camp out in the mountains during the next phase of my travels. I once helped form and lead a pack there," she told about Sunspire and now decided to change the course of her journey. It was not worth it, if there was a den of criminals roaming there. She did not wish to risk anyone's life. 
"What about Moonspear - has this pack been giving you any trouble lately?" Wraen asked.
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Asmoses. He looks roughly like me, with spots and stuff, but more evenly colored all the way across -- like mostly grey. He's been gone.. Maybe coming up on two months soon -- we've been looking, but he's just gone. He'd keep looking, or making sure his son would be be looked for, at least even if he wasn't doing it himself.

On the other hand, at least Mal had maybe prevented another incident with the Saints. I'm glad I caught you before you did, then. I'm not sure what everyone's planning to get rid of them, but I definitely don't want anyone getting hurt in the meantime. Could he find some way to dredge some good news out of any of this? I know there's other packs in the mountains too that aren't so bad, but I can't say I know exactly where they are. I haven't been traveling much. Would that pack still be out there? Maybe it might inspire him to go be a bit more diplomatic -- he'd been a homebody for months, aside from his search for Cupid. Or I'd offer to help you think up a different route if you needed one, but.. I dunno, stuff may have changed since I settled here. He'd try if she wanted though.

But about Moonspear, he shook his head, Not recently. They've sort of backed off, and can't say I mind. They're not my favorite neighbors though, still.
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Wraen nodded, when Mal had finished describing his missing son. She would keep an eye out for him and, since not many wolves sported the same unusual coat color, she felt more optimistic about recognizing the boy, if she ever came across him.

"No, that pack is long since gone," she shook her head in response. "Our group is not that big to take our chances travelling an unknown terrain," she said. "But I am all ears for any alternative routes you have in mind. At present we have no set destination planned."

"I imagine they are hardly anyone's favourite neighbours, unless you happen to be related to them. At other places they make alliances by marriage. I can't say that all Moonspear women are attractive - but that might have changed over time," 
Wraen grinned.
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He did his best to sort of map the area in his head, stick a few little danger symbols where wolves had trouble.. Really it only left one route. Honestly going around the coast is probably the safest, up along the western edge. I think all the issues we had were more towards the eastern part of the mountains. I don't think any of my packmates have gone to where it ends in the east, but the Saints seem to be more that way, as is the white guy, so... Yeah. West around the flatter areas seems best. Just hopefully you're not trying to get to an eastern bit on the other side of them. But with no real destination, hopefully that wouldn't be the case. I took that route first time over here, at least, just in reverse.

It was nice to not have to worry about offending Moonspear in present company. Well I certainly haven't gone out of my way to find out -- and no offers of marriage either. But just the same, I wouldn't be surprised if they still wouldn't mind if we left. Too bad for them I'm not bowing to pressure that easy. But maybe he would in time, given other happenings. Too early to tell, and that was too far into the future from here. Now I'm curious what I'd gotta do to make them try to offer an alliance that way though... I'll take some ideas? Cheeky smirk there -- it wasn't like he'd accept (most likely) but it'd be good fun if they were feeling that desperate. Just amusing and keen to waste their time.
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Wraen had also figured, that if she and her group were to travel further East, taking a route along the coast would probably be the easiest one. She remembered that at Sunspire - her former home - there too was a pass through the mountains that connected the two valleys, if you knew, how to find it, but with the possible danger lurking in the mountains, she scratched that idea. Weeks later, when she would be with Maia at Redhawk caldera - the least likely place she would have intended to end up - Wraen would recall Mal's warning about dangers down there too. Unfortunately - too late to be of any use to anyone. 

"In my humble opinion it is very healthy for them to have a figurative thorn in their side to remind them that they are neither almighty powerful, nor can they do, what they want," Wraen smiled, thinking also about Kaistleoki, who managed to coexist just fine and pay their ambitious and greedy neighbours no mind. "Well, it depends on, how majorly pissed they are at you for past deeds. Because with all their pragmatic approach, they have a very good memory on, who has done them wrong," she speculated. 

"But if you are truly interested in an alliance of that kind - I would just go and ask. I know that the leaders used to have at least a couple of unmarried siblings. And they probably have had children already - daughters in particular - too," she told. "But that's just a fancy theory, I have not proven it myself. They just might not be interested in such a thing - or I think it is better to keep one's independence as long as it is possible."
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Oop! Didn't realize it had been this long! We could probably wrap up in the next round or so if you want though.

He tilted his heat thoughtfully, I'm not sure that we're really making that much of an imprint on them. More just we're conveniently far enough away it's a little more effort to cross paths. Time'll tell in the winter, I bet. Was there gonna be another famine? Hopefully not. But their behavior last year had been pretty awful. Mal wouldn't put it past them to decide that there were too many wolves here or something and try to chase them off no matter what. Maybe it was a good idea to just keep an eye out on their movements once snow started locking things down...

But would he ask them about marriage? Naahh. I enjoy heckling grumpy people as much as the next wolf but that's asking a little much just for a joke... But man, that just seems like a bizarre thing for someone to do.  He shrugged, Seems weird enough to me that they might do it. Then again, there's probably a lot of weird stuff I could think up that I'd believe they might do. He flashed a cheeky grin. Yeah, Moonspear was weird as heck, unpredictable, and they and Mal just didn't see eye to eye.
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Let's wrap up. Thanks for the thread and it would be nice for the two to meet each other again. :)

"Oh... the bizarre things intelligent minds come up with these days..." Wraen shook her head and sighed. Arranged marriage was the least evil of them all. Well, maybe not from the perspective of being the one to be married off against their will. But then - if you were raised form childhood with a very concrete belief on, how relationships and marriage worked - maybe it was not as bad as it sounded. Just pray that there does not come a day, when their eyes open to a shocking different reality. Arcturus was a prime example of that. 

"Very well, I was happy to chat with you, my friend," she told him, not wishing to deter him any longer from any important business he as a leader might be on to doing. "May the winter treat you and your comrades well and I will check up on you in spring. See, what new great things you've achieved by then," there was no mocking in her voice, when she said this. She was curious as, where to Mal's road would lead him next.
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And Mal? Well, it wasn't like he was really one to give relationships much thought beyond the basics. For a majority of things in his life, he just did stuff and would find out what happened later. He'd grown up with a pretty blank slate about a lot of adult things. Figuring it out by trial and error wasn't exactly the ideal way to go, but he'd managed. I hope for once when we meet again I'll just have good news. It'd be a nice change of pace.

And so, things seemed to be wrapping. You know where to find us if you guys need any help out there, he said with a smile. He was always willing to help those out there who were good people, and Wraen did seem to be among that number. We'll be around.