pegboard nerds | meeting

// track + he's gonna arrive to fight, but this is to add to your post count and has no wish to lead ;^)

his first meeting back, and though it was extremely short, it was eventful. new leader, everybody demoted... shit, that's crazy. he wouldn't say anything, but aleks did make a mental note to talk to this male later, see if he could help in the rebuilding of his birth clan.

I NEVER SAID THAT I WOULD BE YOUR FRIEND — aleksander morozova — shadowveil — click/tap for tags

the faint ringing of metal slicing through air increased in volume as a silver sword had its course set on the grey wolf, firmly planting itself a few inches away from the male's paws, golden flames bursting over the weapon and blazing brightly.

"prove your worth."

oh, the news of soundcheck stepping up was quick to reach the divine. even if they no longer resided in a former clan doesn't mean they didn't keep up to date. juicy gossip to keep the archangel entertained enough to linger about ( with the exception of his children ) and come back to see if it was true. and it was. massive, feathery wings beat a few times whilst they lowered the celestial down, liquid gold eyes locking on the new ruler of the veil. the ivory canine took a step forward, gold webbing and cracks across the pale fur glowed as a lazy smile spread across alabaster lips. "the amount of time with leaders passing through will destroy the clan at this rate. of course, it would of been in a better state if two certain individuals didn't try to... unfairly slaughter their new leader who won fair and square. the petty screams and boring tantrums of a child whom was unfortunate enough to lose his parents decided to emerge after the king of hell was sent straight home. pretty promises of getting the veil on the right path, yet melts back into the darkness from whence he came. an unworthy king." shoulders shake as a soft laugh came from jeolmang, amusement ringing in his chuckles.

"fragilepast, rhaelarys, quasar, and now you. now, we all know your loyalty to anyone is iffy, as whoever in power had your favor, but this is no longer the case. you're the top dog now–quite literally. before you ask, no, i'm not here to take your throne. i'm here to challenge you, but as a test. prove that you are worthy of leading. i know you've been around more than most and i applaud you for that, but a throne taken doesn't always equate to being earned. show me your skills. your fight. that you'll stick around and not drop off the face of the earth."

sturdy paws shift as the canine of ivory and gold placed himself in a defensive stance. "no powers. only teeth and claws. true brute strength without powers. of course, if i find you're too weak, i'll kill you and find a suitable leader myself." head dipping low, a wide, crooked smile formed on the creature's lips.

"your move."

unlike rhaelarys, he wasn't trying to come back. no, he had felt the time was right and left on his own accord. of course, views could be twisted and skewed beyond their original intentions and meanings, not at all surprised if soundcheck managed to fool himself to belief something the mind made up. mingan. yes, yes. jeolmang remembered all too well about his aggression towards the female and how he didn't care who led so long as he could have his revenge. revenge was a wicked thing to do, but they were no better. if anything, he was the same as the rest of them. pity.

triangular ears swiveled forward at the mention of not getting promoted up the ranks. oh? perhaps this claim to leadership might involve the fact of him not climbing up in the world. promotions, promotions. meaningless in the end. you could work hard to get a decent spot, but as soon as you disappear for too long all the hard work is gone. sure, you can earn it back, but why not take what's rightfully yours? the divine gave himself a small shake. my, what corrupted thoughts.

lips pulled more in the already wide smile, tail waving from side to side as the other finished speaking, taking his time to plan his first move. eyes squint at the cliche attack of hopping onto someone's back. so be it. standing in place the canine allowed for the wolf to land on his back, feeling claws dig into his back, catching a glimpse of sparkling gold blood trickling down. planting one foot forward, he would aim to roll onto his back and crush soundcheck beneath his body and violently wiggle around as well in attempts to smother him or knock the wind out of his lungs. if not successful then he'd twist his body to roll them through the dirt and towards a tree, slamming them against it.

this was going to be fun.

When Calina had been a pup, she had dreamed of leading the Shadow Veil. She had seen her mother and father, then a current leader and a past one, and thought, "I can do that, and I will". She had tried to climb to the top of the amber, which had been where the Shadowkeeper hosted meetings, and she had, with the help of her brother, gotten up there. It had been awesome. At three months old, Calina had felt what it was like, for a moment, to be leader, to be looking down on everything.

And now, almost a year later, Calina still dreamed of being leader. But it was a faint dream, flickering in the back of her mind, maybe never to be accomplished. She was unmotivated and upset all the time, with hardly any energy, and she knew that she was not fit to lead a clan. Calina would watch and wait and bow to any new Shadowkeeper when they came along, if they were smart enough and strong enough for her clan. She was not going to challenge anyone unless she thought they were an idiot- like Rhaelarys, for instance, but she hadn't even tried to fight him, either. Perhaps she was a coward.

Calina had lived, for most of her life, with Sango as a leader. She had peacefully stepped down and Luca had taken over, and then he had... what, died or some shit. Before all these new leaders came along, she had only seen animals taking the position of leader calmly. The only takeover she had seen had been a failed one before all this, and so it was surprising for her to see four leaders in a row gain their position by taking over. Fragilepast, Rhaelarys, Quasar, and Soundcheck. Calina had not been around enough to say how she felt about Fragilepast. Rhaelarys had been an absolute shithead who hadn't deserved any rank, she thought, and Quasar had seemed impulsive (Calina was a hypocrite, of course) and hadn't reigned long enough for her to come out of her shell of inactivity and see how he was leading. Soundcheck... she would have to see if he would even get the position. He seemed a little strange. Focusing intently on some person named Mingan, when Calina had never even heard of her before. He had just admitted that he only came to Shadow Veil to kill Mingan anyway and, as Jeolmang said, had supported every new leader. He had shaky loyalty, and a weird fixation on someone who, as far as Calina knew, hadn't even harmed Shadow Veil. But she was getting ahead of herself- she would ask him about it if he survived his fight with Jeolmang and won.

Calina wanted Shadow Veil to thrive. She, personally, believed that the only way to truly gain leadership was by climbing the ranks and proving your dedication, wisdom, and strength, time and time over. But taking over seemed to be the new, hot thing, and if it kept Shadow Veil alive and kicking, then Calina would watch and see who won. She sat down nearby and stared at the two fighters, her sight blurry but strong enough to see their basic forms.

[ ic opinions ]

^{❝ IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE A PARIAH ❞}

^{Madrigal had come back to this? Yet another new leader, yet another change in the hierarchy.... She hadn't left, exactly, but with everything that had happened with her parents and Rhaelaerys and Quasar--eventually it all had gotten to be too much, and she'd disappeared to try and figure things out. And just when she thought she'd sorted things through in her mind, got a hold of herself and of her volatile emotions, just when she'd finally returned... a new leader was standing up there. Sure, she liked Soundcheck--he seemed nice enough, after all. But one more change was already threatening to topple her fragile base of support. How could she remain committed to her home if its figurehead kept changing? When Jeolmang approached, intent upon a challenge, she almost left. Almost. The only thing that kept her there was the fact that she'd been gone for too long, and she had to--sooner or later--face the issue head-on. She couldn't make herself feel better solely by retreating. And so the young hellion took a seat and watched, watching the pair duel.}

^{❝ YOU MIGHT AS WELL BE THEIR QUEEN ❞}

^{SUITE VEINTITRÉS AT THE CHATEAU —}

<sup>By all means, he was the worst with the idea of loyalty as there seemed to be nothing that stayed constant in his life. Hell, he couldn't even help disappearing once in every few weeks. Just the thought of being around creatures for an extended amount of time sickened him, it was cathartic to just check out for a while, maybe come back maybe not. But damn, did he come back to a dramafest. What the fuck was happening? Rhaelarys was no longer around it seemed and Soundcheck wanted the throne? Of course, he was missing the key point that Quasar had overthrown Rhae but it didn't really matter at the moment.

To say the least, Milepaw wasn't very keen on Soundcheck leading. The guy was a fucking nutjob, always talking about their sister to the point that it sounded like some fucked up incestuous fantasy. Milepaw very much liked his own sisters but he didn't talk about them in every other sentence. Though of course, the emotion Soundcheck felt for Mingan was hatred, but shit, how much could one talk about someone they hated? And hell, it already pissed him off that the dumbass was trying to make all the shadow veilers do useless work in attempting to catch Mingan. What a selfish fucking bitch of a 'leader'. But who else wanted to lead? No one, it seemed since the one dueling Soundcheck didn't seem too keen on it. But whatever, he had no stake in this place, it could fall for all he cared. Despite his dispassionate feelings about this whole ordeal, Milepaw stayed and watched. Might as well see how things ended before he left this place.</sup>

^{— WHITE LINEN WHITE ROSE}

he squirmed like a worm beneath a merciless feet as it tried its best to get away. a satisfaction of sorts. when was the last time he fought? 'too long.' allowing the thrill of the fight to pump through his veins and jerking his neck out of the way in the nick of time, the wolf rolled away, feeling soundcheck's claws graze already ripped skin and fur as he watched bits and chunks fly off. jeolmang hopped to his feet before aiming to grab the other male by his throat and squeeze it enough to be painful, but not kill. liquid gold eyes shimmered as the glimpse and flashes of lights belonging to the members here came into view, knowing full well that they were waiting to see who the victor was. the divine already knew who it would be, but why not put on a show? seemed to have gained enough attention.

smiling. jeolmang was smiling big and wide, tail waving in delight as watchful eyes observed the quick dodge, golden optics sparkling and allowed jaws to snap on thin air. feet pressing into the cool grass and claws digging into the soil, the celestial absorbed the shock of the headbutt with ease, gaze glinting with wild excitement, budging only a little bit. an ineffective move. no matter. head snapping to star down at the head now buried into his side, jaws parted and attempted to grab souncheck's scruff and forcefully slam him into the ground. "is that all you got? i'm disappointed." came the low growl, a chuckle following afterwards. not enough fight. not enough fury. sure, he could easily overpower the wolf, but, again, he had no interest in leading. those days were over unless– "if you don't give it your all i'm going to kill you instead and take over, now that i'm thinking about it. so fight." push the other to his limits. send the fear in that any of his goals to get this mingan would perish if he didn't give it his all.

^{THE IRONY HOWEVER, IS THAT I'M NOT ACTUALLY ANGRY —}

^{Well god damn. Kady just wanted a trial run on possibly a dual alliance and now this is happening? How many leaders was the Shadow Veil going to run through?}

^{Electric blue eyes flicker left and right, merely observing the dramatic situation and- hold on wait a minute. Was that MILES? This is sooo more than what she signed up for. Was she rooting for anyone in specific to win? No. She is well aware of how many leaders the Shadow Veil has been going through recently, and so whoever wins will just be added onto the list of names. All she can do is watch.}

^{— I'M TRYING TO LEARN HOW TO BE HAPPY, AND THAT IN ITSELF IS A WAR}

"you can't exile someone who already left, now can you? or did that slip your mind?" liquid gold eyes blaze and teeth dug deeper into the wolf's scruff, the taste of blood bathing their tongue. eyelids fluttered as claws sunk into his face, optics narrowing as a low rumble bubbled in the divine's chest. "no. i don't give. pity. points. i've been around for millennia after millennia, old enough to know how the world works and been through enough shit to spare little pity to others. you're gonna have to earn that if you want it." claws scratched the soil and grass below them, ripping his face away as glittery gold poured from open wounds. seems like there'd be more scars onto of scars already there. taking a step back, jeolmang cocked their head to the side. "i always fight with purpose. with justice and honor. to slay the abominations and sinners of the world." a pretty smile on plays on pale lips. "you say you can easily kill me and burn me alive, but we both know it's not true. if anything, i could incinerate you right now. so quick nobody would even realize what happened" eyes slide to justicebringer still blazing valiantly in the ground, golden flames never wavering before trailing back to soundcheck. "but i won't." massive, fluffy feathers erupted from the canine's back, spreading out to stretch them and remained in that position as they continued. "i hope you do well in your reign. just don't let your hatred for your sister blind you and get everyone killed, hm?" jeolmang cast a brief glance at those gathered once more, a lopsided grin upon his maw. "enjoy your new leader." winking at the crowd, the ivory being turned around and flapped feathered appendages once before looking at the grey wolf one last time. "oh, and next time, don't hesitate to kill a challenger. what kind of fearless shadow veil leader would be afraid to kill if it meant keeping the crown? just a little tip. ta-ta, darlings." with a powerful thrust of the wings that caused a rough and strong wind to sweep over everyone, the celestial launched into the sky and soared away from the veil, going who knows where.

// outtie c; next it'll have to be that anime thread i promised

Calina's ears twitched at the arrival of Madrigal, Milehigh, and Kady- it was a sure sign that she had noticed them, but her blurry gaze did not tear away from Jeolmang and Soundcheck. The fight was not so brutal, nobody dead in the end, which Jeolmang pointed out. Calina had thought that someone might die. After all, Fragilepast had been murdered, and so had Finch, when she had challenged Sango. But it ended with Jeolmang flying off into the air, leaving Soundcheck to rule Shadow Veil. Great, they had the sister-obsessed, seemingly inexperienced dude as their leader. She honestly didn't know who she would have preferred- Soundcheck wasn't great, but Jeolmang seemed pompous as hell, but it didn't matter either way. They were stuck with who they were stuck with.

Calina rose to her paws after Soundcheck dismissed the meeting, taking a few steps toward him. "I don't know about any healin', sorry." She shrugged her broad shoulders, staring down at the injured wolf. "You look like shit right now, but I wanna ask you 'bout stuff, so when you've gotten patched up, tell me." With that, Calina turned and left. She wanted to get the scoop on what the hell was up with his obsession with his sister, and what his plans for the clan were, but not when he was injured. Even she was reasonable enough to not chat with him while he was bleeding from the neck.