This isn't going to be mandatory, but it would be nice if everyone could show up. No posting order, so feel free to respond after anybody! [html]
Pilot had gone to the pack den which had served as the temporary shelter for the pack when the avalanche had devastated the northeastern region of their lands. Now that everyone had mostly gone back to their own dens, the cavern was still a central meeting place for all of the Storm members. It was hear where Pilot stood, and it was right outside the cave’s entrance where he called out the other members of Storm to meet him. He had important news regarding Phoenix and himself.
Once the call was issued, Pilot ducked into the den and began to pace. It wasn’t a usual habit for him, but he was anxious to see the rest of the pack’s reaction. Would they be surprised? Would they agree with the decision to place Pilot in such a position? He hesitated, tail swinging silently behind him, before he decided to shift to two legs. Once completed, Pilot pushed the stray fur from his eyes and leaned against the entrance of the cave to wait for the rest of Storm to arrive.
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Cool, I was wondering when I'd get to participate in a Storm pack thread again =)
Skoll's remaining ear twitched at the sound of Pilot's voice, and he turned from his vigil over Storm toward the caller's position. Shifted to his full eight feet, usual for him, the scarred warrior made his way with some haste to the cave. His war gear bounced on his hip as he jogged to his destination, wishing that his stomach wound would go ahead and heal. Since it hadn't already, he knew it would probably never go away entirely, but he thought on some days that it must be getting better, albeit slowly.
The very fact that Pilot was the one who'd called together the meeting meant that something was going on. He didn't let himself worry too soon, but something was definitely up. Reaching the clearing, Skoll slowed to a halt, and faced the shifted white form of Pilot Haddon. Skoll was by far the larger of the two, but he respected his diminutive packmate no less for it. Size mattered in a fight, but in the land of Bleeding Souls, battle and rank were completely independent of one another, and in many ways this was superior to the traditional methods of determination he had seen elsewhere. Pilot had the trust of not only his pack mates, but also of their leader, Phoenix. Skoll was happy to work under him in any sense provided he was given the freedom to defend the border as he felt was his duty in any pack. Violence was his forte, and his major contribution, always had been. He may not be a wahrer or even a spaher anymore, but he would continue watching over the Storm territory in the event that anyone needed his assistance.
Standing before the higher ranking wolf, Skoll stood at attention, waiting for the rest of the pack to appear to hear what it was that Pilot had to say. He nodded in acknowledgement to the white wolf, but that was all. The others would be arriving shortly, and he was likely getting ready for a speech or announcement of some sort, no call to bother him prematurely.
~The lyrics are from the best song ever written.
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I Speak this, I
dream this, and I 'think'
this.
You "said this"
ic
Anderung hurried toward the Storm caves. She was very, very late she was probably going to be the last one there. ’Great, the moment they decide to actually give the pack any news I have to be off someplace hunting.’ Meer had an early groundhog in her jaws, albeit a rather thin one. That was not surprising though, seeing as it was the wrong season for them. This one must have been drawn out by the sunny weather they had been having recently, even though it wasn’t all that much warmer than it had been.
The amber pelted wolf came to the pack caves and slowed her pace. She was breathing pretty hard through her nose, as it was difficult to pant with the brown creature in her mouth. She moved forward and entered the collective pack den. Anderung saw that the only other wolves here so far were Skoll and Pilot. She was glad that she already knew the two of them, and moved forward. Her violet eyes glanced up at the two of them as she placed the hog at Pilots feet.
She turned first to the largest Luperci, the battle-scared Skoll. Meer flashed him a smile. ”Greetings, Skoll. Glad to see you again.” Somehow, after thinking, she was much less intimidated then when she had first met him. Anderung wasn’t sure why, though. The female then turned to Pilot, a look of confusion on her face. ”Where’s Phoenix, sir?” Anderung had been far enough away not to be able to clearly distinguish the calling as Pilot’s and not Phoenix’s. Then again, she hadn’t been there all that long, and hadn’t ever heard either of them howl, so it wasn’t like she had anything to go off of.
"Turned out long x-x."
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Thank you both for being so speedy with your replies! Lets go ahead and continue posting, though any other Storm members are still welcome to join in!
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When only two of Storm’s members had shown up, Pilot frowned a little, but still greeted their welcome with anticipation. He retreated a bit into the cave, deciding that he would divulge the news to these two, and could repeat his story if anyone else arrived a bit later. Phoenix was sick and resting, so he didn’t expect him to arrive. But the others? He had hoped to maybe see the Lehrlings and his own mate.
"Good morning Skoll and Anderung." He found a place to sit and crossed one leg over the other to rest on his knee. He motioned with his hand, before adding, "Feel free to sit down if you’d like. I just wanted to update you on Storm’s leadership." For some reason he was finding it hard to believe that this position had fallen on his shoulders. Storm seemed to be an awkward gang, but he still loved it nonetheless. "Phoenix, Anderung, is still sick. He hasn’t fully recovered from the pneumonia and we think he’s having some sort of a relapse. In that case, he’s taking time away from being the leader of Storm to ensure his full recovery. In the mean time, he has passed the duties of leading Storm to me. Temporarily, until he feels he can once again take on the responsibilities." He wondered how they would react to the news.
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Ten four.
The bronze wolf nodded to Anderung as she came, acknowledging her words with a slight smile. He was surprised when no one else showed up, he had expected the bulk of the pack, and while he hadn't met the majority of the wolves here (he kept to himself and was usually content with guarding the border alone), he knew by smell that many had not arrived. Scenting the wind, he decided that there was a good chance no more would come. Anderung and he both had taken some time in getting here, if no one else was around, it was likely that they were outside the packlands, or perhaps still caught in sleep, though he had never known sleep to be a problem for this sort of meeting before. He certainly hoped they were out...anything else could be perceived as an insult to their second-in-command. Pilot made the same observation at about the same time, and began to share his announcement with the two Stormwolves that actually had arrived. Skoll took a seat in cave nearby the other two.
At Pilot's next words, Skoll felt a pang of guilt. He didn't let any of it show on his face, but he felt it nonetheless. If Phoenix hadn't had to come bail him out of that situation, the one created by his carelessness alone, he wouldn't have had to exert himself fighting Glaesring. The dappled wolf had been a scrappy opponent even for Skoll, and had likely been an even greater challenge for his large friend. The fight hadn't lasted long, but a wolf as big as Phoenix tired faster, and Skoll hadn't known at the time of his bout of pneumonia or his recent recovery from it. Guess I'm going to have to hope he lives, and defend him and his loved ones in the meantime. Not really any different from what was going on before, though this is concerning. Skoll couldn't help but feel a sudden pang of condescension, but banished it quickly. In his native land, it was very unsightly for an alpha to become sick, and a sickly alpha was completely impossible. Phoenix definitely wasn't sickly, but Skoll still revoked those thoughts as quickly as they came. Besides, Phoenix did the same thing that his father would have done: hand the leadership to someone else while the illness persisted, and then a battle for leadership--or simply concession at the cost of some of the stand-in alpha's honor--could commence for the reinstatement of the old leader.
"That is troubling," Skoll said aloud after a moment. "Besides his leadership duties, he is valuable to the pack's defense. No one wants to cross a pack led by such a robust wolf." He took a moment to consider his own words. "Then again, we are far from Inferni, the only truly hostile presence in this valley, so I doubt they will target us either way. Still, I will make due with my own capabilities and with any Spahers we have in the event of a crisis." He knew that--no longer being a spaher or the pack's wahrer--it wasn't his responsibility to watch the borders. Since he still intended to defend them provided someone other than a joiner or a visitor arrived, he thought it best to make it known that he was still dependable.
~The lyrics are from the best song ever written.
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I Speak this, I
dream this, and I 'think'
this.
You "said this"
ic
Anderung was glad that Skoll had responded to her greeting. He seemed a rather quiet wolf, from what she gathered, though with all of those scars he probably wasn’t a very peaceful one. Then again, maybe he just had made enemies. She shrugged it off, sat down, and looked behind her, frowning slightly. ’Well, where is everyone?’ Meer couldn’t imagine not coming to a pack meeting. When things were happening in the pack, you need to know about them. She wiggled her nose a bit before turning back to Pilot.
The amber wolf frowned at Pilot’s words. Leadership? Somehow, the first thing that came to her mind was a violent takeover by Pilot, that the wolf had killed the former alpha. She gave herself a mental slap in the face. ’Come-on, Pilot wouldn’t do that. I don’t think.’ At the white male’s next words, however, a look of shock and concern spread across her face. For a moment she was lost for words and her mouth hung agape slightly.
She turned at Skoll’s words. Meer nodded gently, agreeing with what he was saying. Somehow, she suddenly felt very overwhelmed to have received this news while others were still out there. A moment after Skoll had finished, she took that it was her ‘turn’ to speak. ”I agree. I think we should make sure that none of the other packs know about this, just to be safe, sirs. Word can travel faster than wildfire and reach the Inferni. Ever if we are rather far away from them I don’t believe that would stop them from attacking Storm if we seemed an easy target.”
"Oreossss!"
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If either of your characters has anything else they might want to talk about, let's go ahead and put it out there. If not, then we can probably go ahead and close this after a couple more posts.
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Pilot had to try and disguise his frown. After all, their words did make him feel slightly incapable of running the pack. He knew what they were getting at and both of them had the best intentions for Storm, that was clear enough. It was just, he felt almost as if they didn’t think he would be able to protect them. That’s the one thing Pilot wanted most – for everyone in Storm to feel safe. Though, he felt confident knowing that Skoll was there. Even though Pilot had been young and naïve when he had first come across the scarred warrior, he knew that he was vital to the pack’s protection. He felt slightly at ease knowing there was someone there to aid in keeping Storm’s lands secure.
"You both make good points. Storm is suffering in terms of members and protection. With Phoenix sick and our numbers so few, we’re all going to have to pull together to make sure everything runs smoothly. We don’t need anything going wrong while our respected leader is hoping for an easy recovery." In the back of his mind, Pilot silently hoped that Phoenix would recover soon enough. He wasn’t sure if he was the right person to end up leading Storm. Sure, temporary leadership was one thing. But if Phoenix didn’t pull through? "Anyways, that’s all that I called you here for – I just wanted to let you know about Phoenix’s current condition. Thanks for coming, both of you. Hmm, in the meantime, is there anything else you want to discuss?" This wasn’t really a formal pack meeting, so he felt a bit more comfortable keeping their discussion colloquial. "Might as well throw a few things out there while we’re gathered here."
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The eight-foot were simply shook his head at Pilot's question. There wasn't anything that he was particularly keen to ask or discuss at present. His job was unaltered from what it had been before, though in the event of a crisis, he wouldn't be able to count on the massive alpha to come in as back up. Phoenix wasn't exactly a natural born fighter as far as his mentality, but his sheer girth was enough to intimidate others, and it gave him an edge in any confrontation. Skoll was large himself, but he would rely more on experience and his training under Gronnor if things got dicey.
"I have nothing further to add. I will follow your orders in Phoenix's stead until he is in his strength again. If you need me, I keep watch on the same hill from before I left. Give me a howl and I'll come running." That was about all. He would be doubly sure to carry his weapons with him everywhere now that Phoenix was under the weather. Sometimes he felt at ease to walk on four legs around Storm, or more often to leave his weapons at home. That would have to change, at least at present.
Looking from Pilot to Anderung, he wondered if she herself had any further concerns. He would wait a few moments longer before turning back to his duties at the territory's edge. After all, he didn't get to meet with his packmates all that often, and he wouldn't begrudge himself a few extra moments in their company. He did the lone wolf thing alright, but it was still more interesting with other people around.
~The lyrics are from the best song ever written.
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out of character::black engulfs the dying
light
Sorry for jumping into this so late, didn't see it until yesterday. Hope it's alright?
we launch ourselves into the bright::in character
She was late, she knew, as she approached the mouth of the den, head bowed, leg pulling at her attention painfully. Nocht had been near the border when the cry rang out, limping awkwardly back into Storm territory and she was slow approaching. She hoped she wasn't too late, knowing she would probably be faster on four legs, but remaining in her were form lest the shift pull at the slowly healing wound on her thigh. It was barely scabbed over and she was reluctant to cause it to start bleeding again. It looked worse than it was really, shallow enough to glance at the muscle, without tearing down through it. It was painful however and gory looking, despite the fact that no permanent damage had been done. She hoped. It didn't help that it was in an area of high movement either, flexing with every step she took, the end of the jagged slash coming right up onto her arse. It was more than slightly embarrassing really. She'd cleaned it and was taking as good care of it as she could with her limited medical knowledge, and hoped fervently that not too many questions would be asked.
The slender, grey furred bowed her head in apology as she finally entered the cave, hoping her injury would excuse her from too harsh a reprimand. She was curious and mildly surprised to see only Pilot, with Phoenix nowhere in sight, when she glanced up. She had been absent from the pack lands for a while now, perusing the neutral lands, meeting new wolves and, she thought darkly, getting herself into scrapes. Her brief jaunts into Storm had been perfunctory and, obviously, far too brief. The last time she had spent any significant amount of time in Storm was after the avalanche. It hadn't occurred to her that so much time had passed already. She barely knew Pilot as it was, recognising him vaguely from their previous gathering in the den, dredging his name up from the depths of her memory, as murmured by another. She'd never had reason to speak with him personally until now. Two others also shared the space with them, sitting, having obviously arrived well before her. She felt her face warm under her fur and wondered worriedly how late she was. She recognized neither of them, noticing idly the other female in her four legged form. She was one of the few Nocht had seen so far choosing to remain in her wolf form. She pushed this line of thought aside and turned to Pilot, cringing and inclining her head. "Sorry I'm late, there were..." She trailed off, wondering how to surmise the events of the previous days, turning the words mitigating circumstances over in her head, before deciding on something different entirely. "I'd a spot a bother." She said instead, wrinkling her nose and gesturing at her leg vaguely. "Took me outta commission for a bit. Sorry." She apologised again, hanging her head and dropping dark blue eyes to stare at the floor of the cave and feeling like a complete tool. She could feel bile at the back of her throat, hating walking into anything late, with an audience especially when she had that itching, creeping feeling that she'd walked into the middle of something, where everyone else knew what was going on and she was at a loss. She bit her lip nervously and raised her head to see Pilot clearly, brow furrowed in a frown caught somewhere between curious and concerned. “S’Phoenix alright?”
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