Mercy was the first to make her interest known. He expected nothing less from her. When her attention was diverted to young Lykos Valentine's gaze darted across those gathered in search of the next to offer an opinion. It quickly returned to her as soon as it became clear she was speaking to him again. For a moment he didn't understand what she was talking about. He was so focused on raids and getting opinions on raids that the switch back to mentors went over his head briefly. After a beat it clicked. Oh. Her students. ”That's fine. Do you have any target suggestions?”

Next was Avalon. She seconded  Mercy's enthusiasm and threw out Celestial as a suggestion. His ears pricked forward at the mention of the Plains. There was a pack on Cataleya's old stomping ground? His tail flicked in agitation. Paying that pack a visit was very appealing. He'd chased one idiot off that land and should this new leader prove to be as incompetent then he'd have no problem doing it again. The King nodded, but he wasn't ready to part with an opinion yet. He still wanted to hear what more of the pack had to say.

Esti was next. She also shared the enthusiasm for raiding and her response brought a faint smile to his lips. ”When do we start?” Good question. ”I would like to raid this season, so if we can reach an answer today, perhaps in the next couple days.” Valentine's gaze drifted to Felix as he spoke. The brute started out strong, offering an opinion that countered the ones before it, which was fine, he'd been hoping for a debate, but very quickly Valentine became aware of an undercurrent of something in Felix's tone that wasn't appropriate for a meeting. While it was fine to share an opposing view, doing so rudely was not and Felix's tone and expressions bordered on unacceptable. While Valentine was scrutinizing Felix, Cascade spoke up. He cast her an amused, sidelong look before nodding slowly. The King mused quietly, ”He has, hasn't he?”

”Pleaaaase...” Valentine's head snapped around so he could lay eyes on Ashmedai, whose tone definitely was not acceptable. He held his kids to a higher standard, so while most might not have found the way he delivered his words offensive, Valentine found it downright repugnant. His kids knew how to behave in meetings. From day one he'd made it clear how important respect was among peers. Out among rogues and rivals? Fine, he could go hog wild and fling insults and be snippy until his heart was content. But among packmates, even rude ones? Unacceptable.

The needling wasn't enough to warrant calling the disrupters out by name, but Valentine recognized that the situation needed to be handled in its infancy before it had the chance to grow into something he would have a hard time stomping out. ”I would like to remind everyone that this is open to all opinions regarding raids. It's this way because I trust that each member here is capable of handling opposing views rationally and with professional maturity.” So speak to one another like grown ups, dammit.

Birna gave him a detailed answer, one he appreciated greatly. He nodded along as she spoke; clearly she'd put some thought into it. She got one detail wrong that he needed to correct lest members think they would be facing terrible odds. ”A defending party can have as many as ten wolves and no more, same as the raiders.” So the packs suggested by name thus far were Celestial,  Abaven, Donostrea and Fiori.

Atreides spoke up next, casting his vote for Celestial. Upon hearing his reason - and Dragon's – Valentine frowned. What had Dragon been doing so far from home? It was a good thing Atreides and Integra had been there. Who knew if those threats could have morphed into something more sinister had not the two warriors been there. Even though it hadn't, Angelus was right. There was a lack of respect that needed to be addressed.

"Can I raid with you guyth, Dad?" Lisp and all those words were music to his ears. He grinned at Chaos before parting with the words, "We'll decide who goes after we pick a target." A few more members confirmed their desire to join in, and once it became clear that no more suggestions were being made Valentine finally threw his two cents in. "I'm not particularly keen on starting nearby and working out, although if the majority are in agreement in regards to doing raids that way I'll agree to it. My reason is this: not every pack needs to be raided, nor should it be. What I suggest is a respect thing as much as a training thing. Currently we need nothing. We have prey, water, shelter, herbs." Alright, maybe the pot behind the barn didn't really count... "Which of course could change at any point, and should it, of course we should reevaluate our priorities, but until then the spoils are, as Angelus said, not a top priority." Valentine paused for a moment, his gaze briefly rolling heavenward. "I agree that Borealis should be out of the running this round." He paused to think. "I would also like to take Abaven out of the running this round for political reasons; we might be getting together with them sometime soon for joint training." Trouncing them in training could be just as good as raiding without having to burn that bridge to the ground. And Bass still owned him a favor. "So that leaves Celestial, Donostrea and Fiori. I myself am partial to Celestial. Thoughts?"

OOC: Long post is long. If I've forgotten to respond to a post let me know and I'll edit if necessary. Next round is due 3/14. Those who don't wish to participate in the raid are now free to leave, and no exit post is required. Because Revenge, Rhythm, Illume, Seraphim and Rhyme didn't post again they don't get the option of joining the raiding party.

His brother's and father's eyes snapped to him and Ashmedai was suddenly wide-eyed, licking his maw nervously before looking to the ground. He had overstepped his bounds a taaaad bit, hadn't he? Licking his maw once more, the brute flicked his eyes to his father, then Felix, "Sorry, I got too excited..." he mumbled, realizing his mistake. He still thought Felix was being a big ol' dumb, but then again, he responded by being an equally big dumb. "Professional maturity," Ash nearly whispered, mulling over the words. He needed to be professional? Why couldn't he just bite things that made him mad and leave it be? He knew he couldn't handle things like that, but he still wished he could. Damn it, being an adult and saying the right words at the right time with the right tone was hard and... dumb.

Sneaking another apologetic glance at his father, Ashmedai flumped his tail quietly, his ears flicking back in another apology. He didn't want to be bad. He wasn't trying to be bad. It was all Felix's fault, right? No... Fine, ugh. As much as the boy hated to admit it, he had to start acting like an adult even if others weren't gonna. That's what it meant to be better than others, to be an Alpha's kid, to be an Imperialis. He had to get it together.

His dad said that the spoils wasn't a priority, which meant winning was. If they didn't need spoils then they could go wherever. The thought of fighting just to show how strong they were was exciting, but, with quivering lips, Ashmedai tried to keep the stupid grin off his face. His father suggested three other packs, excluding Borealis- whatever- and Abaven- what? Ashmedai was a little surprised, but he heard his father's reasoning and agreed with it. Training with Abaven could be fun! Maybe Sparrow would join to fight! Yeah, why fight them for real when you could just fight them and training and beat them anyway with less severe injuries?

Valentine asked for thoughts and Ashmedai fumbled. He was gonna make up for earlier, "Yea- uh- yup- yes sir, Celestial sounds good to me too." Nailed it.

When Valentine asked her opinion, she was about to give it when everyone else spoke up first. Her elongated tail lashed behind her and she sent a glance over to Avalon, but allowed everyone to say their piece. She herself wanted to suggest Abaven as well, eyes shimmering when Cascade said they were growing comfortable with them. Mercy licked her lips at the thought of being able to run into Raba and show her who was boss. But when Valentine spoke again, he ruled out Abaven. Ears fell back to her skull and she huffed, but nodded her head regardless. Honestly she was fine with wherever she went -- as long as she could go with them. "Sounds good to me," she piped up, eyeing Ash out of the corner of her eye. He had been told pretty good by Valen, and it amused her slightly. The idea of a joint training with Abaven brought her excitement levels back, at least there she would have a chance to fight the wench.

"Speech"
'thoughts'

Avalon

Despite the rudeness in what's his faces tone, Avalon had chosen to ignore him. She wasn't going to waste her time and energy on a Childish male, one who she hardly saw around at that. Who was he to talk like that anyway? Tch, rude people these days. She remained quiet, listening to other suggestions and nodding in agreement. It seemed others also agreed on raiding on celestial, and her fur tingled with excitement. She felt a little bad because Creed was there, but he was the only one she knew and actually liked. The others? She could care less. They weren't true family. Let alone true Adravendi's. Creed was an Ancora, and so was she. He was true family. She would listen to valentine's own opinions about who to raid, taking borealis and abaven off of the list. Borealis...things had collapsed around them since she had left. Last she passed that way she had scented only a few members. Definitely not worth their raiding time. Abaven? Joint training might be interesting. It would be her first joint training. And finally, when Valentine mentioned his vote for celestial, her eyes burned with determination and fire. "I am in agreement with this. While I do apologize for my son's little...adventure...that big red eyesore had no right in treating them the way he did." She huffed, her tail tip twitching mildly at the memories of what her son had told her. She had taught him a lesson after that, but she wanted to teach a lesson to Celestial for thinking they had the rights to try and walk all over others who meant them no harm.

Esti didn't pay any mind to Felix. What he said didn't matter, she had already suggested places. Ashmedai seemed bothered though and Esti gave him a questioning look. Why was he so upset when he should be happy about raids. It didn't matter what one dumb pack mate or another said. If Esti cared that much about what her pack mates thought, she would have fought Mercy ages ago.

Ashmedai did make one good point; there was a pack in the Willows now. Esti's ears shot up. That was her old home. She couldn't say she blamed them, but it did kind of make her want to smash their faces into the ground. She didn't want revenge, she didn't feel like they had done anything wrong, but she had the urge to fight them just for the fun of it. An amused smile broke onto her face, "Ooooh, Yeah- actually, that pack in the Willows. It's been a while since I've been there. If we're traveling as a pack, it would be nice to stop by." Esti commented, not saying they should raid it because she used to live there, but rather that it would be nice to fight in her old home, "Unless there's another reason, it would be nice to fight in the shade as the season heats up." Esti threw a wink at Valentine at the mention of fighting in the shade, "It would be like a pack date; nice weather, shade, fighting..." she tailed off, letting her smile linger, "Really, though, anywhere is good for me."

The discussion would continue with Valentine stepping in to stop the arguments from growing to childish. Birna remained silent. She really had no strong opinions on who to raid whereas her packmates seemed to have some preferences. Her ears perked at the mention of joint training with Abaven. The remaining targets would be Celestial, Donostrea and Fiori with the Rex's preference leaning toward Celestial. Birna nodded. "Celestial works for me." It was a shame Integra was feeling under the weather but as long as they had one wolf with healing knowledge attend the raid they'd be able to gather up some herbs. Birna was willing to try her paw at gathering some of the items she'd watched Integra gather but it was not a task she was terribly comfortable with. Maybe they'd grab food instead. There could never be enough meat in such a large pack.

Chaos refrained from wiggling - barely - when his father said they'd decide who went when they decided where. Which was great because he hadn't said no right so he could maybe go along! That meant that he'd get to fight, too, because they wouldn't let him go along just to watch, right? His fangy smile turned positively bloodthirsty at the thought of actually getting to be able to fight and not worry about holding back so he didn't end up hurting a packmate with his... unusual dental structure. He was indifferent to the idea of badly hurting a complete stranger - if it was wrong, his mom and dad wouldn't have taught him how to do it, and they wouldn't go to war. "Yeah, Thelethtial thoundth good t' me!" he piped up, scowling with the effort of attempting so many sibilants at once, but eager to just go along with the most popular idea so that it could be decided sooner. Plus Dad had said he preferred that one, so of course it was the best idea. "Talk" "You" Think

Cas shrugged neutrally when Valen said he wanted to take Abaven out of the runnings for a raid. Seemed like out of all the packs who needed to learn to fear Imperium, Abaven would certainly be foremost... but then again it was Valentine who'd decided to allow the Destructions free access to the pack lands to visit Rhythm's kids in the first place so he must judge it worth it somehow. As far as the three packs remaining in the runnings, she supposed that attempting to scare the daylights out of a pup dumb enough to wander to their borders was as good a reason as any to raid someone, even if she privately thought Avalon was the one at fault there more so than this Celestial's heir. "Sure," she said aloud genially enough, "Celestial seems like a good bet. If they took Vericona Plains it sounds like they benefited more than most from us taking out Hellstrom, and not even a single solitary 'thank you' do we hear." She modulated her tone into a mockingly sad voice, making sad-eyes and a patently false quivering chin to complete the look, then grinned up at Valen. "Sure, they owe us then, don't they?"

Integra focused on her breathing, willing her headache to pass. What the hell had she picked up from the little brat? One magenta eye opened as she glanced in Dagmær's direction and snorted. "You're to young squirt and you've only just recovered. And yea, yea I know you're strong, your dad trained you from your first breath, blah, blah and blah. You're staying put. Sharpen your skills and focus on your recovery and maybe you can join the next one when you're a yearling." Integra's face suddenly contorted. Hold on… since when was she a mother? Nope, nope, nope… she needed to wash her paws of this little annoyance and fast. Pulling her attention back to the meeting it seemed a target was chosen. Integra coughed suddenly and shook her head. "With all due respect Valentine I'm going to retire to my den. I'm afraid I'm next to useless right now. I wish everyone luck in the raid."

-exit-

Dagmær's ears flattened as she gave Integra the stink eye. Inty was not her mother but she did think of the older girl as something of a big sister and secretly she knew the other was right. She still didn't like it though. Sitting with a huff she sighed for a moment before suddenly springing to her feet and turning to Rhys. "Rhys! Rhys! Bring me back a souvenir!" She would stay and train and then maybe she and the princess could spar a bit if she wasn't to injured. Pfft! Like anyone could touch the warrior princess of Imperium! She grinned at her idol, tag wagging lightly.