Chaos was undeterred by the mess Ivory Ridge had fallen apart into as soon as he'd announced Raba was gone. He'd expected something of the sort, and hey, the two members who were actually left in the pack lands (himself and Kassander) had the basics pretty well covered between hunting, fighting, healing, and crafting, so he could float things through until he could recruit more. And oh was he determined to recruit hard. His Crew would not die because of lack of enthusiastic bodies, no. So he'd left the nervous Kassander back at the Maw with his companions and he'd set off for the battlefield with his companions flying scout for him. Sgili swooped down to snatch at his scruff playfully, and Chaos craned his head up to give her a tooth grin and snap at her tail feathers.

Slowing to a stop, the owls circling overhead, he threw back his muzzle and sent out a call that was half-challenge, half-welcome, and all laughter, inviting any curious loners to join him and learn more about his pack.

OOC: any loners who might be interested in joining Crew are invited to post here.

ooc: I know she won't be a "member" until she's a year old but shadowed said she could run off so if you're willing I'd like to throw her at the crew. Memphis knew she was still a child, but since her dad had pretty much gone and the pack dissolved she flew off her rails. Next seasons he'd be a year old and she had only had one measly training lesson from Jaelle. Which was probably to her knowledge her fathers new crush. Not that she minded, and she had left her sister but there were greater things for memphis out there. Dangerous enough as it was to be out here she was nearly at her full height anyway. She knew what was going on and what she was doing so when she stumbled upon this.... gem she couldn't resist herself. Memphis of course probably couldn't lie about her age - her scent would give that way. She knew that she could get rejected and chewed out easily but hell if she'd let that happen. "Hey there! I know that I might be young - but I'd love to join your pack and train to be a warrior. My name is Memphis." she grinned, a little bit more mischievously this time. She was but a kid - but she was ready to begin her own life style. To think this was the only way to do it anyway. "Talk" "You" Think

Artemis should not have been surprised to hear a howl like that in lands like these, but somehow she was. The ground stunk of old blood and she occasionally had come across bits of bone or other evidence of violence. This was not a terribly welcoming place, but she supposed every land served its own purpose. She gravitated towards the source of the call, undeniably curious. Someone was forming a new pack, hmm? Memories of Argead flooded back to her, but as usual, she shoved them down. There was no use dwelling on the past, right? So fuck it. She drew in a breath, and clenched her jaw, and kept going. When she came upon the gathering, you couldn't really call it much. There was a youngling and a brute who looked at least a bit older than her, but his age was hardly what she focused her attention on. Apart from a compelling pattern to his coat and two mismatched eyes, he also bore fangs unlike any wolf she had ever seen. The sabers emerging from his top jaw were fearsome, and Artemis found herself... intrigued, and impressed. "I heard your call," she began, tone light and amicable, and lacking any hint of the formality one might expect in a scenario such as this one. "My name is Artemis Aeris." She gave a nod to the male and took a quick look at the pup. "What kind of pack is this supposed to be?" After all, she wasn't going to just swear herself to anyone, and she would be just as happy turning around and pretending she'd never heard the male's howl in the first place. "Talk" "You" Think

SHE'S CROSSING MUDDY WATERS

Valdís lingered on the southern edge of the north, mind focused purely on day-to-day survival and she was quite sick of it. Wolves weren't meant to be loners, or at least she wasn't. Maybe there were some that had trained for this sort of thing but she was getting sick of small game and picking away at scraps. Although, she grinned, she had managed to persuade a few loners to join in the profit of a joint hunt. For that she was quite pleased, even in times where her body failed her her mind managed to pick up the slack.

She had skirted the borders of various packs but was wary of joining an of them. Just as Valdís was lost in thought a call rang out, an invitation to the start of a new pack. She grinned. Well, if that wasn't fate calling then she didn't know the meaning of the word destiny. Val loped swiftly down into the battlefield, slowing a little ways in. It was possible that this was some sort of trap. It wasn't out of the question for a band of brigands to call in hopeful loners and then jump them and sell them.

As she neared she scented the air, eyes searching for any areas of cover that might hide unseen foes and then her eyes fell on the man that had made the call and she blinked for a moment as she stared at him. He was oddly, beautifully marked, with fangs that were far longer than they should have been. The fangs curved down over his lower lip and her thoughts were torn between wonder at their deformity and wondering what impressive wounds those fangs could leave if he was even able to bite appropriately.

However, her wonder could not be held by the man as she turned to the nearby woman and took a few steps back, fur standing on end. What on earth was she! She was stunningly beautiful, cloaked in the rich hues of a vibrant sea. The highlights of her fur looked like sunlight rippling through the curve of a wave. She was struck dumb for one of the first times in her life. Valdís took a deep breath and tore her eyes from the striking woman and back to the man. She subconsciously noticed the pup but paid him little heed. He didn't strike her as any sort of threat for one and her senses were already drowning in the other two oddities. Where she came from she was considered oddly marked.

"My apologies. For a moment I thought I was dreaming. Did you make the call for recruitment?" She withheld her name for the moment, just to make sure what she was seeing was actually happening and that she hadn't eaten something she shouldn't have.

"Speech"

He settled down to wait after he sent up his call, lounging on his haunches lazily, until a sound caught his attention. Even then his head merely swiveled to follow the progress of an older pup as she approached, his relaxed attitude not changing despite the appraising look in his half-lidded eyes. The appraising morphed into amusement as the youth spoke up boldly. She had the barely-there, faded scent that said she'd been part of a pack but hadn't been there for some time. A runaway, or had the pack dissolved? There was something about the scent that tickled at his memory, but it was too faint for him to quite grasp it. Oh well. There was something faintly familiar about her appearance, too. His muzzle curved in a lopsided grin as he tilted his head down to study the youth. Oh sure, at her age she was nearly her adult height, but even that full height would have been considerably shorter than Chaos and she was certainly not near the full weight and muscle of an adult, so it was with great amusement that he viewed her bold approach. "You wanna be a fighter in my crew, shrimp?" he teased her, though not with malice. He'd be the last wolf alive to judge someone for impulsive behavior as a pup, and while he didn't have any immediate objections to taking in the kid since they weren't far off from being a yearling anyway, he didn't want someone showing up on his Crew's doorstep later claiming he'd kidnapped their kid or anything either. He'd need to make sure the kid wouldn't cause more trouble than she was worth. "You think maybe your parents might have a problem with that?" It did occur to him as the words spilled out that uhm... maybe this kid didn't have parents and shit she wasn't going to burst into tears if he mentioned possibly dead parents would she? Crocodile tears he had plenty of experience with thanks to his older sister and her drama-queen tendencies, but actual real sad tears he just didn't know what he'd do. And kids cried a lot, didn't they? Well, it did seem a little unlikely she would, but he still eyed her warily for a second, as though eyeing a ticking bomb. He didn't really have a lot of experience with kids, after all.

Sweet, sweet distraction came in the form of a gorgeous nebulous form that had him sitting up straight with interest. Chaos felt his brows rise before his eyes narrowed in appreciation. Daaaamn, girl. Chaos had to swipe his tongue across his lips just to make sure he wasn't drooling.

A beat ticked by in silence before another voice broke it, another bold young female bearing a less chaotically delicious coat than the second - Artemis, she'd called herself. Yummy. He turned his eyes from the sight with faint reluctance but the grin he sent to the third wolf to appear was in no way abated. "Chaos Saxe," he told all three smoothly, as though he hadn't just been struck dumb for a moment. "You heard right. New pack," well, new enough anyway - "so we don't have a whole lot of members. Plenty of room to make a name for yourself if that's what you're after. If you're hoping for a pack with a lot of structure my Crew's probably not going to be the pack for you. I'm not really the... structure type. Not a whole lot of rules past the basics. You know, don't rape anyone or smack little kids around for fun, that sort of thing. I'm more the free-spirit type. Life's not worth living if you aren't having fun so why should anyone be stuck in a pack they can't have fun in?" He shrugged expressively, then, stretching, got to his feet.

"What about you guys? You interested in having fun and shaking Ardent out of its boring old status quo? Fuck the rules and fuck stodgy out dated regulations?" He grinned toothily. "Interested in something new and different? Well, that's my Crew."

""

She smiled at Chaos. He was sort of.... cool. Was the only way she could describe it. "I'll be a year in autumn I'm old enough to make my own decisions." she answered truthfully. As long as she was okay Memphis wasn't sure that her dad would care that she was going off to live her life. It was better than mourning over her snot nosed mother that was or certain. As she stood tall, she knew she certainly didn't look the part but all she needed was a bit of training! She looked at the others to appear... potential teachers and members all the like. "Just give me a teacher and I'll be a member worth having in no time Chaos." Memphis made sure not to back down. There was a sort of youthly fire in her eyes. She wasn't going to let anyone hold her back. After all this was her own destiny and she wouldn't just stand around doing nothing. "Talk" "You" Think

He followed the howl and reached its crier just in time to hear his proposal. He hung back at first, wary of how his scarred visage would be perceived. He had been on the continent for some time but had hidden away, far too self-conscious about his appearance to make himself known. Still, a man had to eat and being the gangly awkward mess that he was, hunting was not his forte. Ruthgar had never known life outside of a pack and in many ways, did not know how to fend for himself. When he heard the cry, one for the birth of a pack he had followed hoping that if they saw him when the pack was being formed they would accept him. He burst from the tall grass of the plains and onto a rock, loping to the top and standing proudly. “Oy!” He barked, his head raised, tail at level with his body. “Got 'ny room fer one more?” Talk

Artemis was used to drawing glances, it was something she'd long ago grown accustomed to. Wolves similar to her in hue and intensity were rare enough in these lands that most wolves at least lifted a brow. In Chaos' case, it was paired with an appreciative once over. A smile curled onto her lips. Well, hello yourself, she thought.  She let the name Chaos Saxe turn over in her mind. He was an impressive specimen in his own right, after all. To the pup, introduced as Memphis, she gave a polite nod. She liked the youngling's sense of determination, and in her experience it was rare to find one her age with anything between their ears but dandelion fluff. Maybe she'd pull her aside in the coming days and she if she might like to scout the nearby lands together, find out what she can do. To the pale fae who followed Artemis' arrival, she gave a slight smile and a somewhat deeper nod. This one was still younger than her by the looks of things, but she gave every appearance of being healthy and capable. As far as packmates went, Artemis knew you could ask for worse. As Chaos began to answer her question, her smile grew. She only stumbled over his lisp every now and then, but the message was clear, and it sounded perfect. Her smile grew as he went, her tail giving a few good thumps against the ground. "Count me in," she said with a toothy grin. "I can hunt, I can fight." She sent Memphis a wink. "I can teach the young'uns a thing or two, too." Artemis looked sideways as another wolf came to join them. He has a grizzled look to him, and one eye seemed affected by wounds sustained some time ago. She gave him a nod as well, appreciate of any wolf who's past and experience was so visible. They looked like a rag-tag bunch, but she felt more excited than she had in a long time. She had been alone for too long, and this felt like a breath of fresh air. A new beginning. "Talk" "You" Think

ooc: sorry it's short I'm so low on muse…

SHE'S CROSSING MUDDY WATERS

Valdís listened quietly, soaking in the man's words. Her heart rate was starting to quicken, excitement bubbling in her stomach. Now this was the kind of pack she felt she could get behind. Packs structured with law and order had only ever failed her in the past, sooner or later some thread would get pulled that would unravel the whole thing. She kept to herself though as she watched the others, carefully mulling over what she wanted to say. They were joined but another man, older and scarred and she listened as the others offered their talents to the curiously named man. Chaos. If his pack description was anything to go by he was aptly named. Perhaps he'd been a hellion as a child? It seemed a curious name for a mother to bestow upon her child.

"I am Valdís Thyre. I may be young yet but I'm a good fighter. It's my best skill. I've been gaining skills in hunting and team-work with other loners and I'm interested in learning more of strategy and planning. I just need the opportunity to apply such skills and maybe… a teacher?"

"Speech"

Chaos nodded acceptingly at the kid's firm rejoinder. "Fair enough," he allowed. He'd just have to wait and see if, at the sticking point, she proved herself. He wouldn't be too hard on her if she changed her mind though. After all, she was a bit young for her ability to make good decisions to kick in yet. He grinned inwardly. Hell, his hadn't even kicked in yet.

Faint irritation bloomed as he was hailed with a loud 'oy'. His head twisted to regard the scarred male posing on a rock. "Oy yourself," he replied with a faint edge to his voice, though his face remained smoothly friendly. A warning that he might be relaxed, but not so relaxed he'd be willing to put up with someone trying to act dominate to him so he'd best cool it. "There's always room for someone who's willing to pull their own weight. You game? What can you bring to the Crew? Could always use a wolf with experience, and gotta say you look like you've seen some things."

His expression noticeably changed as his attention shifted back to the nebulously marked female. Artemis. Well of course it would, wouldn't it? He was a healthy young male and she was an attractive bitch. But hers wasn't just a pretty face (though if one were honest it could be admitted that he would have let her in on that merit alone) it seemed, trained as she was to hunt and to fight. Useful skills for a small young pack. "So, Artemis," he said casually, savoring the taste of her name despite his inability to properly pronounce it, "Which would you want to specialize in then? Fighting or hunting? I mean we'll all be doing a lot of both, probably, so it's really just a rank to brag about to wolves who aren't lucky enough to be part of the Crew." He winked and grinned.

"Training can definitely be arranged for everyone who wants it," he continued, shifting his gaze to include all of them, even the grizzled older male. "In fact I very strongly encourage it. None of us knows what the others are capable yet so I'm going to just stick with yearlings and under going to apprentices and full adults ranking in whatever direction they want to go. If you suck though, I am going to send you back to school. All unofficial-like, no assigned mentors or anything unless we end up needing to. I'd rather we all learn from each other and have a variety of experience to learn from instead of getting stuck in a rut listening to just one wolf. So what do you guys say? You all coming home with me or what?" He grinned again, and though he sent a searching gaze across the land he doubted he'd get any more bites this time. Might as well get this lot back to the territory and settled in if they were all serious.

""

”Some experience.” He thought with a bitter note, remembering the mountain lion that had marred his face, the one that lived, the one that was probably still alive and laughing about it to this day. He wouldn’t correct him out of fear that it would mean losing his tough persona but his expression changed to a grimace, as though he had just eaten something bitter. He climbed down from the rock as the man spoke, the long hairs on his back spilling over his shoulders like a horse’s mane as he settled close to the edge of where the others had gathered. “Aye, ye’ve got me.” He said quickly, hoping no one would notice his accent, although there was very little chance of that. “A keen fight ‘n a keen navigate.” He said, once again trying to hurry through his words. “A’m Ruthgar Allentide.” He said with a short introductory tip of his head. In truth he hadn’t fought in over a year, and had always been considerably better at finding his way. Hopefully what he knew was still in him, or better yet, maybe he wouldn’t have to fight at all. talk

ooc: sorry for short reply >< just wanted to get it done before I forget

SHE'S CROSSING MUDDY WATERS

As Chaos continued to speak this pack sounded more and more like the one for her. It has the basics. It would give her a chance to train and hone her skills in battle without having to worry about where her next meal would come from. In addition the pack sounded more like… well a family than just a regular pack. The idea of training indiscriminately with her fellows appealed to her rather than being saddled with one mentor that she might or might not get along with. A variety was good in battle training. If she got too used to fighting one wolf in particular it would dull her battle senses all together.

She nodded sharply. "You bet I am! Let's do this!"

"Speech"