thrown to the lions -- ANNOUNCEMENT

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    BLURRED REFLECTION OF STANDSTILL POND !


    He was a good man, but he had a broken heart —


    This was a trick. A fleeting shadow in the light. This was Moonstar's doing; he was so, so sure of it. And yet? The stark white coat of the long-dead matriarch had been thrown into oblivion and it was there in which it would stay. This turn of events was not meant for him- not with such cruel intent. A laugh echoed from his past reign. Why did it sound like his mind was trying to convince him otherwise? That, somehow and someway, this was exactly intended for his climb away from torment? Green fingers of psychosis were unrelenting and twined into each other inside the confines of his mind.


    He could not break. With eyes and breaths halted before him, he could not break. He was more than that sandcastle Moonstar had crafted from the abyss of death. He could stand here once more- if not the same physical place then the same mental place. Shadow Veil, gather!" Although sound manipulation was a nicety, his voice projected enough to call those closest to the cathedral's gloomy leer. Soon after his words pounded through the air, the sound of the bell rolled after it with its usual melancholy tone. How adept. Faces began to gather below, unsure Veilians peering at the Nightwatcher with puzzled curiosity. Why was guilt such a hard thing to swallow? It was not him to be up here. This podium was reserved for other paws. Other paws that were absent, had been for a short while. More Veilians trickled into the cathedral, the murmurs between them beginning to prod at the clouded leopard. Prods that simply rose his head higher. It was his duty to be the stronghold, always had been. He knew nothing else.


    "Soundcheck's disappeared." Blunt words stabbed through the air, the murmurs of the NPCs growing into a behemoth before Standstill. He could only stare the beast down. "One of the last times he was seen was during an verbal bust-up with a Thunderlander. Loveletters, I believe." This he knew from his investigation into Soundcheck's placement. Yet, the only viable lead he had gained was the potential kidnap by their evident enemy. "Whilst we don't know whether he was captured by the Thunderlands, it's currently our strongest lead." He was avoiding what he knew had to be said. The words were in his lungs, willing to be breathed out and take flight on low tones. Not yet. "This Loveletters, however, was here for a reason Soundcheck has already said he would not condone. The torture of a child. With Soundcheck gone, I can assure this will not stand under my leadership, either." The words seemed to explode before his paws. Exclamations from the NPCs drowned out his thoughts, only word punching through the blur. 'Guilty'. He wanted only to hold this clan as best he could. 'Guilty.'


    Yet, his stance strengthened. Shoulders taut, chest pushed out to repel the shock. And his face? A softness gave it stark contrast to his form. The position was nothing but tactical. "Yes, with Soundcheck's absence I hope to guide this clan as your leader. Yet, it'd be nice to have the cooperation of my clanmates. Perhaps the claim is untrue, perhaps it was not a Shadow Veiler that tortured the Thunderlands child. If it was? Step up now and your punishment may be kinder for it. If no one stakes a claim to the accusation, I will personally see to its investigation and I can promise, if a Shadow Veiler did commit the crime, your punishment will not be kind in the least. Enemy or not, children play no part in our politics." By the rain on earth, he hoped it was not one of their own. How could he step into leadership with such dark shadows blanketing him? The saccharine tone in his voice steered his eyes to search for Feliks. The wolf would leopard had intentions to chat to the wolf. Yet, now was certainly not the time.


    "I don't want to end this on a dull note, though. With the way the Veil is going at the moment, yeah it's been quiet but it's also been nicely steady and your beautiful mugs make me proud to be apart of it." There was finicky issues and labours to deal with yet, he had made it his home against all the odds. This was not a place he thought he belonged, though here his paws stood- covered by the abraded rock silt of the porcelain cathedral walls. "And I don't doubt we'll get things going again soon, once the quiet period is over and done with. Any questions?"


    — That'll take even the best of them down


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    Seeing the clouded leopard on the pedestal which Soundcheck so frequently put himself on came as a surprise to the Eurasian canine, and certainly raised some suspicion in the form of deja vu. The last time such a thing had happened, and a high position had stepped up where the leader was supposed to be, said leader had almost been killed by the greedy underling. He remembered it vividly, for the craven had fled here when discovered, so to say that the Veil had a history of deception would be an understatement. As if approaching a bomb the fallow male kept slow and steady, ears perked forwards as he tried to absorb as much information as possible without missing a single tick of it. It was an almost identical tale - an enemy had something to do with the disappearance of a leader. Yet, instead of claiming it to be somewhere like the Blackheart Rogues, or the Exiles, blame was hinted towards his old clan, the clan he'd been unlawfully exiled from. Shuffling to the front of the meeting place so poor eyes weren't strained, the male's face was woefully neutral. Soundcheck had had a lot to learn about leadership, but for a first timer he had not acted too unorthodox for his own good.


    It was a shame, really, but with history in mind the lupine could not be fully convinced by Standstill's story. If it was a lie, it was one he'd play along with, if a leader was undeserving he knew how trigger happy they could get at the sign of an uprising. Normally such a thing was not a bother to the Duskguard, but his options for homes were getting thinner by the day. Doing nothing seemed to be worse then being what everybody wanted him to be, he could not be the author of his own story and control what was truth and what was a farce and it was difficult to change the ink once it'd been engraved on history's pages. Histories always written by the victors, it was a shame that all of these clans were blind to the fact that if it wasn't for Feliks, they may not have been alive. They took the credit off of him and scattered it among themselves like thieves, like thieves to thrones that may not have belonged to them. Eyes closed and a heavy breath came from a pondering cynic. He's telling the truth. 'No' screamed the other thought bubbles, but as Feliks reset himself and straightened his neck, he had no choice but to believe the angel on his shoulder if he wanted to sleep at night.


    "A suggestion, if I may," he called, flicking his tattered ear habitually. "If you're gonna talk to the Thunderlands about Soundcheck going missing, perhaps mention the child-torturer to them. Getting the details off of them can't hurt,". Feliks would swear innocence on his friend's grave. In his blackouts his teeth didn't discriminate between ages and he had been quite antsy recently but the wolf remembered everything he'd done the past couple of days, and none of it involved getting revenge on the Thunderlands for being horrendous to him. Mentioning it now, it did seem extremely shady and he did seem like a culprit, but this time there was genuinely no involvement from the Duskguard. "And uh, just a quick question, don't share the answer here if you don't want to but just keep it in mind. What is gonna be going on with us and the Thunderlands? The fact that they haven't reacted to their Deputy's death is extremely shady, and with the recent kiddie capturing allegations I can't imagine they're gonna be stepping stones forever,"


    GWYNBLEIDD GERALT WILSON

    Geralt tottered along behind Feliks as they joined the meeting and he settled himself down beside his father, his unusual eyes focusing on Standstill as the news came. Shock descended over his features as he learned that Soundcheck had gone missing and now they were blaming the Thunderlands. And what was this about child-torturers? The adult world of politics and changes was admittedly a scary thing and he found himself instinctively moving to press against Feliks as he searched for reassurance.


    Standstill was their leader now though, but what would that mean for their future? He swallowed nervously and tried to tune in the best he could, but he did learn one thing today; he hated politics.


    I WANT YOU TO FEAR HOW MUCH YOU LOVE ME


    Character Data

    LIKE A FINE MERLOT, AND WHITE PILLS CUT ON GLASS AND LIPS OF DOLLS !

    male - 12 moons - single - warrior - the shadow veil - tags


    Oh, it seemed his deeds were caught. Well, as far as they knew they were someone else and he would keep it this way. So, he settled back and watched calmly. Eyes on the other and ears perking slightly. He was going to enjoy this as long as he could.


    thinking | “speaking”


    DELICATE IN EVERY WAY BUT ONE


    soundcheck had disappeared.


    glassjaws stiffened, and a flash of ivory incisors was visible for all but a split-second as the hellhound bared his teeth. the stranger who had taken him in as his own son - perhaps as an heir, he had hoped at more wishful times. but that stranger - his father - was gone, captured by the enemy. he really had been left twice, by two different parental figures. just my luck.


    "loveletters?" glassjaws echoed, his voice a rasp as if forcibly dragged from his throat. his pupils became blacker still - a starless, moonless, lightless night in the form of two slits within the depths that were his white-hot pupils. "it was him." the boy knew no more than standstill did - considerably less, he'd wager - but he did not care in that moment.


    soundcheck was gone.


    GOD KNOWS WE LIKE ARCHAIC KINDS OF FUN

    ❝ IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE A PARIAH ❞

    Madrigal shook her head fiercely, but still the scene before her remained unchanged. Soundcheck was missing, and Standstill was planning on taking his place. This was, what, the fifth or sixth leader the Veil had gone through now? Was there some sort of curse on the leadership position? She sighed, tired of all this change. So... maybe the Thunderlands had taken Soundcheck, then. Maddy hadn't heard of any new prisoners, and surely the leader of the Shadow Veil being captured would create quite a commotion. Still, though, she ought to head over there straightaway and do some investigating of her own. That was her duty as a spy, anyways, wasn't it?

       

    ❝ YOU MIGHT AS WELL BE THEIR QUEEN ❞

    ❝ I WAS A CHILD WHO ONLY WANTED TO HEAL THINGS ❞ Lyon feels numb. Soundcheck can't be gone, he can't. She's just got a father, she's just got a family again, it can't all dissolve instantly. She's no fighter, it's evident to see from herself but she still has a mind to storm over to the Thunderlands and demand they return her father. But Glassjaws is, isn't he? She stands next to her brother, who is angry whereas she just feels lost.


    "Are you going to go after Loveletters?" She asks Glass in a whisper, hoping that he'll say yes and she can go along with him. She can get her revenge, or she can discuss it with the Thunderlanders. She can at least try to do something to hep the situation.


    BLURRED REFLECTION OF STANDSTILL POND !


    He was a good man, but he had a broken heart —


    [ooc] sorry for the crappy post- just had two days of three hour exams and have another tomorrow so zombie orca is trying her best to function c;


    [ic]

    In truth, there was a questioning deliberating his thoughts. He deemed himself a creature of respute and trust and tried to make it evident to the exterior of his mind yet, these Veilians did not truly know him. They could not attest to his obnoxious persistence to withhold his word. They did not know how he clawed his way to the label of goodness and respect so that he may gain those few fleeting smiles. Yet, despite the dismissal of leeway of his leadership, there was not single suspicious accusation. Not one that may think him guilty for Soundcheck's disappearance. Was it for his lead of the Thunderlands or were the Veilians simply tired of attesting new leaders? A blue heaviness settled in his chest. He was not the cause for Soundcheck's disappearance yet neither would he be the next fleeting leader to take a podium. Claws sifting through the pebbled ash from the eroded cathedral ceiling, Standstill seemed to have come to a steadfast decision. Shadow Veil was his home, his charge and his companion. He would not abandon it willingly. Not when he had been a nightwatcher and not now.


    "Yes," As the swirl of pensive pondering twirled away from his radius, Standstill proceeded with the duties he had come to claim for the second time in his life. A curt response to Feliks, Standstill paused before he continued on. "I was planning on killing two birds with one stone." If he had plans to bring up one issue with the Thunderlands, it was pointless to make another trip for another issue. As for their current ticking time bomb, Standstill could only sense an inevitable boiling over. "It's looking like a waiting game, at the moment. They're waiting on our asses and we're waiting on theirs." In truth, the Veil's status as an anticlan was laughable for they should not have to wait for an attack only to defend. Yet, Standstill knew they were far from ready. He was not an idiot; the Thunderlands were a large group were the Veil was dwindling. It would be idiocy to attack. "I am planning on something to get us fit and ready for our anticlan title, again." That he was. Sparring was only fun up to a point, after all.


    Another voice, a smaller tone, pierced through the hushed quiet. Standstill drew his eyes upon Glassjaws- one of Soundcheck's. How irate that the paternal string in his chest pull so adamantly. The children should not have been left without a father. It was but another reason to find out where their past leader had gone. Something that would, of course, be made more reachable should they manage to veer away the hot tendrils of dramatic vengeance. "Truth is, we don't know who took Soundcheck. But, since it's the Thunderlands he's got history with, it's an avenue we can explore. If you wanna accompany me, kid, that's all well and good but don't think your taking yourself over their all your lonesome." A soft warning, if anything, but with their relationships strained as they were, Standstill did not think it could take a single misplaced wrong word.


    — That'll take even the best of them down


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    DELICATE IN EVERY WAY BUT ONE


    glassjaws did not immediately answer lyonesse, but his black pupils paled to the murky grey of storm clouds at the quiet cadences of her voice. "no," the hellhound forced himself to hiss through gritted white teeth, his tail whipping behind him like an angered snake. "i... can't. i'm not... strong enough." physically... or mentally? snarked a voice, and he had to clamp his jaws shut not to change his mind right there and then about not confronting loveletters.


    "i'm gonna," the hellhound said at once, crystalline claws working the earth beneath him, scraping and scoring the dark dirt. "i'm gonna come with you, and we're gonna make whoever took soundcheck pay." his pupils shifted into obsidian once more, but there was an almost calm contemplation in their darkness now. he was thinking.


    GOD KNOWS WE LIKE ARCHAIC KINDS OF FUN


    BLURRED REFLECTION OF STANDSTILL POND !


    He was a good man, but he had a broken heart —


    Standstill gave a simple nod in response. It was understandable the child would want to strip the mystery of their father's disappearance. Of course, there was always the possibility that Soundcheck had simply left them all. But was that in the bull-headed former Shadowkeeper's nature? Soundcheck was anything but not dedicated, he certainly would not leave his clan, let alone his children. "Alright kid, but don't step a paw wrong." Standstill did not think the Veil was in fit enough shape, as of yet, to withstand a war by the Thunderlands. Not yet. But he raised the tribe from silence and he would be sure to instill some noise into the Veil, too. "If that's the last of the questions, you're all dismissed. I'll stick around if you need something."


    //edit: GLASSJAWS I'll tag you in the thread c:


    — That'll take even the best of them down


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