Tears of the Moon (Semi-Lit Wolf Roleplay)

Art Credit: Wolvden. Link here: https://www.wolvden.com/explore
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The packs of Wolvden have been content for a number of years now. There is plentiful prey, and enough space for all the growing packs to run as far as their hearts contend. But the peace may now be disturbed by the strange dreams, perhaps visions, that wolves have started to see in their sleep. These strange lands they roam in their slumber, aptly named the Dreamlands, offer new adventures... and new dangers. Can they work together to untangle the mysteries of the Dreamlands? And are the dangers as real as they seem when all they are fighting is simply a dream?

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Rules (thus far)
Semi-Literate posts at minimum (one paragraph)
No godmoding
No powerplay
More rules to be suggested/agreed upon by the group.

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(OOC/Joining Thread: https://www.wolvden.com/chatter/topic/368267?page=1#368267  ) 

Rapid Evening Pack

Location: Riparian Woods

Leader: Druid (VileCrocodile)

Healer: Lichen (VileCrocodile)

Hunters: (Hunting Teams: Eclipse 🌒, Sundown 🌅, Morningstar 🌟)

Scouts: Yarrow (vilecrocodile), Starchaser (Adept)

Apprentinces: Jackdaw that Soars (Slant) Badger that Bites (Slant), Bone (Chaossprincess), Blood (Chaosprincess), Bianca (VileCrocodile)

Fire Opal Pack

Leader: Rue

Healer:  Smoulder (Adept)

Hunters:  (three teams: Torchwood, Sunset Blaze, Ring of Fire) Tiana (Sunset Blaze Leader, Yoko), Starchaser (Sunsetblaze Chaser,Adept)

Scouts: 

Rue || Female || Fire Opal Pack || Deciduous Forest

The forest was aglow, hauntingly beautiful and bathed in pale blue. The creatures were mystical and strange, behaving in ways that should not be possible. At first she was entranced, certain that she is dreaming yet having no desire to wake. Not at first, but the animals were not all as peaceful and whimsical as they first appeared. During her travels she encountered a Charged Bear, the fight that ensued was brutal and hard on the young leader, but she won. 

When she woke, she found her bones weary and her fur torn. Little droplets of blood dotted her bedding. “Healer?” she murmured, uncurling from her bedding. “Healer!” 

She got to her paws and limped lightly across the clearing of her pack’s camp in the dawn light. Injured by a dream? What in the world is this?

Bone || Female || (Soon to be) Rapid Evening Pack || Riparian Woods

She treads the ground on tenuous paws, her posture low and defensive. How did she get here? There was heavy rainfall and then blackness.Her legs are coated with mud, and she is still damp from dragging herself off the river bank. Her olive eyes flash in the dawn light and she flinches and bears her teeth at the slightest of sounds. 

She dislikes this place already, too many trees and unfamiliar scents. But there is a single smell that stands apart from the others. It smells reminiscent of her pack, and the vibrant sweetness of flowers from her pack’s valley. However she may have gotten here, she did not arrive alone. She makes it her singular mission to locate her packmate… before any other wolf or predator can locate them.

Bianca - Riparian Woodland:

She had heard the tales and cautions from older wolves, of rainstorms and the river overflowing its banks, but this was the first the young hunter had ever seen. Eager to stretch her legs after a long night lying huddled in the den with her siblings and packmates, Bianca sniffs along the muddy wreckage of the recent storm, half-hoping for a meal of a dead fish or drowned critter.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar scent cuts through the heavy ones of muck and water. Bianca sniffs, ears swiveling, suddenly alert and on guard. Another wolf! Nearby! And not one of her pack. A more sensible and skittish apprentice might run back to inform her elders, but Bianca is not an apprentice anymore, and she knows she wouldn't be commanding any respect acting like a frightened pup. Instead, she barks boldly, calling: "Show yourself! This is the territory of the Rapid Evening pack!"

Yarrow - Deciduous Forest:

The older scout is alert, but not overly so. These woodlands were familiar to her, not being far from her own pack's territory, and she had passed through them many a time on her way to farther and stranger lands. Normally, Yarrow wouldn't linger here much at all, were it not for her pack leader's report of odd things happening beneath the moonlight. Wolf-birds, glowing plants, and creatures charged with strange blue energy - Yarrow might have dismissed this as idle tales or a bad dream brought on by indigestion, but she'd known Druid long enough to know that she wasn't the sort of wolf given to flights of fancy. And the scratches on the pack leader's flank were all too real.

So far, Yarrow has found little evidence of the moonlit world, though perhaps that is due to the light of dawn creeping across the horizon. She sniffs the base of nearby trees, and finds markings indicating another pack's territory. Well, no matter, most packs didn't take much issue with a lone wolf wandering by. Still, she tilts her head back and vocalizes briefly to make her presence known, and to communicate that she means no harm.

Jackdaw That Soars (Jackdaw) 
Riparian Woodland 
Rapid Evening Pack

Crunching through the muck, the young apprentice seemed annoyed at her situation. The winter was something she had never liked, and being out here made her feel cold, desolate, and very irritated. Charging her way through a puddle towards the scout up ahead, the newest adolescent of the pack reached Bianca. The two adolescents, Badger and Jackdaw, had been following the wolf at a distance, eager to get some time out in the world as practice for when they were adults.

"Can we go back yet?" She asked, her pelt prickling as she shook off the snow from her pelt. "It's freezing... and it's not like you've seen anything," she pointed out, looking annoyed. "So what if there's a lone wolf around..? Nobody cares, right?"

Badger that Bites 
Riparian Woodland 
Rapid Evening Pack

Already sitting nearby, Badger that Bites, more commonly known by her packmates as Badger, watched Bianca with a very important gaze. She wanted to heal wolves when she was older, but knew she had better chances as a scout, and wanted to learn everything she could before she was pushed forward into the role as an adult. Yarrow was like her adoptive mother in the pack, somebody Bianca knew; the wolf that found her and Jackdaw when they were around six months old and took them in. It had only been a week or so since they had arrived, but Badger had settled in well, already quite close to Yarrow and her leader, Druid. Bianca was one of the wolves that she wanted to get closer to, to get advice from. She was a talented wolf.

"Jackdaw," she murmured, ears flicking towards Bianca, "Stop it... don't disturb her while she's scouting... she's trying to concentrate...! There's a lone wolf around, we have to be careful..!"

Rue || Female || Fire Opal Pack || Deciduous Forest

Rue had been content to limp her way all the way to the healer’s den when there was no chance of anyone seeing her, but the soft call alerted her to the presence of another wolf. She stopped walking entirely and straightened up. She can’t hide her ruffled fur or minor injuries unfortunately, but she can at least carry with her the dignity that a pack leader should, even one disturbed at this late an hour. 

“Who goes there?” she asks cooly, unthreatened despite her weakened state. 

Bone || Female || (Soon to be) Rapid Evening Pack || Riparian Woods

Being already tense, the apparent authority in the other wolf’s voice only drew more defensiveness from Bone. She bristled and growled quietly, bracing herself for battle. She doesn’t know where she is, but if it is an aggressive pack’s territory, she is prepared to defend herself at all costs. With any hope, her packmate will hear the fighting and come for her. She cannot see the other wolf through the underbrush, and she assumes that they cannot see her, though it’s possible they’ve scented her. She shifts on quiet paws towards a tree, a shield in case the other wolf thinks to leap through the underbrush.

Blood  || Male || (Soon to be) Rapid Evening Pack || Riparian Woods

Much like his packmate, Blood awoke in a strange location, soaked to the bone in water and his pale white markings covered in mud. He is confused, but not as fearful, and not too far from where the demand rang out. He assumes that the voice is speaking to him and freezes. Rather than getting defensive, he is relieved to be near someone who can explain what is going on.

“Don’t bite!” he calls loudly. “I don’t mean any harm. I’m coming to you!” He pushes his way through the underbrush, but instead of running into the wolf who was speaking (Bianca). He came across two wolves not looking much older than he was (Jackdaw and Badger.) “Whoa! Sorry! Wasn’t expecting to find you so quickly. You’re pack lives here?”

Yarrow - Deciduous Forest

An answer comes sooner than expected, and Yarrow pivots and makes a beeline towards the responding wolf. The scents of a pack become stronger, and she soon emerges into what is clearly a den area. A wolf with deep red fur greets her, a younger wolf, it seems, but one that carries herself with authority. Yarrow relaxes her stance as she emerges into view, and gives her tail a short, slow wag to indicate her friendliness.

"My name is Yarrow," she introduces herself. "I belong to a pack not far from here, up by the river."

She notes, in the morning light, that this other wolf seems a bit ruffled and worse for wear. Yarrow tilts her head inquisitively.

"I am here investigating, on request of my own pack leader. She claims to have been seeing...strange things, at night. Have you seen or smelled anything - out of the ordinary, perhaps?"

Bianca - Riparian Woodland

"Hush, you two!" Bianca snaps over her shoulder. "I said you could come along if you didn't get in my way! Wait here, and for moon's sake be quiet. I will be right back."

Badger and Jackdaw were barely a month younger than Bianca herself, but since being officially appointed a hunter she'd already gotten in the habit of treating them like pups. She modeled her own behavior on how her mother used to scold and instruct her and her twin brother, Blackie, on the finer points of bringing down prey. The difference was that old Basalt almost certainly knew what she was doing, whereas Bianca could only pretend.

She pushes through the underbrush, and on the other side finds a lone wolf, red-brown with stark white markings. Seeing their defensive posture, Bianca holds her head high and lifts her lip in a slight snarl. "Who are you?" she asks. "If you're looking for a meal, begone. These are our hunting grounds, and pickings are precious slim right now. Go and find yourself a dead fish, further down the river."

Jackdaw That Soars 
Riparian Woodland 
Rapid Evening Pack 

Feeling scolded, Jackdaw flattened her ears and looked at Bianca mutinously. She was well aware that the female was not much older than her, and it struck her is both annoying and infuriating that she treated them like pups barely out of the den. 

The youngster was not expecting to be confronted by a strange wolf. As an adolescent tore through the trees and practically nearly ran into her, Jackdaw peeled back her lips in a terrible snarl, her hackles puffing up to make the smaller female look big and threatening. 

"Get OUT of our territory!!" 

Badger that Bites 
Riparian Woodland 
Rapid Evening Pack

"Sorry, Bianca," she murmured, shuffling her front paws in embarrassment. Badger hated interrupting important wolves, and even if Bianca was not much older than them, Badger respected her. Feeling properly chastened, she glanced at Jackdaw, trying to signal for her to move on, and maybe for them to return to the densite. 

Instead, what Badger got was a strange adolescent that came plunging through the undergrowth. Exposing her teeth and flattening her ears with shock and slight anger, she leapt forward and bumped into Jackdaw, confronting the stranger. "You- You should go elsewhere!! We have a big wolf with us!" She snapped.

Rue || Female || Fire Opal Pack || Deciduous Forest

Rue noted the relaxed stance and friendly wag of the intruder’s tail, but she did not wag back just yet. She did not feel threatened, no, but this wolf had still come near the heart of her pack’s camp in the middle of the night. As Yarrow explained the situation, Rue granted a touch more leniency. 

“No,” she said firmly. “Not in my waking hours. I have sent my own scouts to investigate our territory for strange creatures and plants. However, they report nothing of note. I do, however, have odd dreams at night. About the forest changing somehow, glowing blue. Perhaps your leader and I should convene at some point.” 

She inhales deeply, readying herself for the hard part. “That being said. I know that my pack and many others in the forest are quite lax in our boundary divisions, but I should urge you to exercise more caution in drawing so near a camp in the dead of night. More territorial wolves may have lunged without thinking to ask your reasons.”

Bone || Female || (Soon to be) Rapid Evening Pack || Riparian Woods

Bone regards the other wolf with a snarl of her own, though she is confident enough with the tree between them that she is not so easily lunged at. It is in the midst of her bristling that she realizes that the other wolf is neither as old as she is acting, nor as authoritative. They are of similar age. She sniffs and straightens herself up a bit. 

“You are awfully rude for a pup!” she snaps back. “No one wants your nasty swamp food. I am searching for my packmate and I’m not leaving without them.”

Blood  || Male || (Soon to be) Rapid Evening Pack || Riparian Woods

Blood is startled by the reactions of the other wolves, who don’t appear to be much larger or older than he is. Coming from a territory with no bordering pack, he has little idea of how to interact with strange wolves. All he knows is that they feel threatened, and they shouldn’t be. 

“Hey, please, relax! No one is here to hurt anyone. I will gladly get out of here as soon as I know where I am. And where my packmate is as well.”

Jackdaw That Soars 
Riparian Woodland 
Rapid Evening Pack 

Jackdaw maintained her aggressive stance, her hackles bristling. She showed her teeth that were still small, clearly late in losing some of them. Her russet-brown coat prickled with aggression as she stared at the young male, trying to appear bigger and stronger. "We don't care about your packmate! Scram!"

She took a threatening step forward, growling deep in her throat. Her tail raised above her back, prickling.

Badger that Bites 
Riparian Woodland 
Rapid Evening Pack

"Wait-!" Badger glanced at her friend, eyes wide with alarm. "Don't be an idiot," she whispered to Jackdaw, trying to be soothing but failing. She looked back at the male adolescent, her tail lowering slightly. "Are you... lost? How did you get lost? That's a little suspicious... most pack wolves know how to at least stay with their packmates."

She was quite a hypocrite, and she knew it. Badger only hoped it didn't show on her face. She and Jackdaw had not been part of a pack as youngsters, not exactly - and this was their first real pack. Even they got lost sometimes. 

But this male didn't need to know that.

Yarrow - Deciduous Forest

"Dreams, huh?" Yarrow ponders this. Druid had made no mention of sleeping, but perhaps she had been too proud to admit to succumbing to weariness. "My pack leader did mention everything glowing blue. But I haven't had any such dreams myself - and dreams don't normally leave scratches on one's flank."

This wolf seems rather guarded, which is not unusual for one looking somewhat worse for wear, but Yarrow also notes the carefully worded warning - or is it a threat? - in her next words.

"Is that what happened to you?" Yarrow asks, a bit too boldly, perhaps, but curiosity has ever been her driving force. It's why she makes a good scout. "And this is your pack, you say? Perhaps you should speak with Druid - that's my pack's leader. I could bring you to her - or I could convince her to come here, I suppose." She remembers to show a bit more respect, and adds, "If that would be alright."

Bianca - Riparian Woodland

"I am not a pup," Bianca snaps, anger rising at the other's impertinent words. "And you're awfully bold for an intruder! I should warn you, I am not alone. There are others with me, and you'd hardly stand a chance three against one."

Never mind that the others are even more pup-ish than she. Bianca supposes Jackdaw's aggression would more than make up for her lack of experience. She wonders if they've actually stayed put.

Her tail swishes in irritation, but her hackles lower a bit as it seems this wolf is not about to attack. The news of a second intruder roaming the territory is a bit disturbing, though. Bianca thinks about how impressed the others might be if she handled this situation on her own.

"Well," she says, trying to calm her temper and sound in control. "If that's all, then there's no need for us to fight. I will simply help you find your packmate, and the two of you can leave. What pack are you from, anyway? What's your name?"