A gauzy layer of snow blanketed the decrepit road. Not a whole lot of it, mind you, but enough to mildly surprise the General. Even though the area saw its fair share of snowfall every winter, he figured that whatever amount snow Tanglewood attained wouldn't be able to cover the ground, due to the subtropical climate and whatnot. Nevertheless, there was cold-ass powder everywhere, despite his expectations, and he stood right in it. He could barely feel the pads on his paws. Fucking brrrr.

Leroy needed to tough it out, as today called for a meeting. The most recent one transpired on the month's first day, meaning that some few weeks had passed since then. And in those few weeks, so much shit happened. The mess hall got a complete makeover, becoming a tavern instead. In the tavern, the Gift Gala was hosted (to moderate success). There were two invitations to two separate events. A handful of new faces came around, and a good portion of the populace proved themselves worthy of promotion. The hound intended to host a meeting in the near future, but seeing how outstanding his group's affairs had been all throughout December, the male supposed that now was a better time than ever for a little get-together. Things would be less cluttered this way - the meeting to be had in the new year would be circulating around the mask vigil, and he didn't want an abundance of promotions to take away from that.

Feet planted firmly in the cold-as-fuck snow, Leroy calls for his tribemates. "Tanglers!" he hollers with an upbeat gusto to his tone, "It's meetin' time!"

A small crowd materializes in front of him, signifying his cue. "First and foremost, I'd like to wish all of ya a Merry Christmas! And if ya don't celebrate that, then Merry Hanukkah. If not that, then have a good day tomorrow." A gust of wind blows past. He glances up, noticing a few flurries plunging delicately from the heavens. The sky, however, wore a frighteningly dark visage, and if he had to make an educated guess, those few flurries - as well as the windy gust - would evolve into a full fledged storm in due time. This provided Leroy with a mixed bag of feelings. He was all for white Christmases, but come on, he just began his rhetoric. At least the looming statue provided a little shelter for him from the snowflakes; yet, the same could not be said for those consisting of the crowd.

"We got some new faces here tonight! I hope everyone gives Raymond the hearty welcome he deserves! And, uh, there's also this hyena some folk found trespassing on our lands. Dunno if she's of the free-thinkin' type, neither - could be feral for all I know. So maybe be wary of her." Raymond, Leroy met personally. He was big, powerful-looking, probably got good things in store for Tanglewood. The hyena? Well, he didn't know. Assuming she were to bite someone, then she'd find her stay here to be cut short.

"Movin' on," he continues, a satisfied smile growing, "rank changes. I'll start with the bad-ish news. Moth, I wanna see you around more. You're a talented gal, and... same with you, Selby." Warning an individual, especially someone as esteemed as Moth or Selby, felt incredibly awkward. Getting on people's asses was a favourite pastime of his, yet actually needing to do so due to his position... it wasn't anywhere close to topping his top ten list of beloved things. He sighs. "Shoutouts to Snarl, Miller, Abathur, Kiira, and Roy. I'm proud of all of ya, thanks for keepin' this place alive." Some of the names he listed only came into being this month, which was a tad too early for promotion. Assuming they all kept up their good behaviour, then perhaps the group would soon see a few new Chasers around; on the occasion that Selby's activity didn't improve, then mayhaps a new Sawbones as well. "And Aurum, I want ya to be Proxy. I gave ya December to prove that ya were worthy and - well - ya proved ya were by a fuckin' landslide. So, like... yeah. I think ya deserve the rank entirely."

"This month, we saw the ol' mess hall get a well-deserved beautification, thanks to Aurum and the lovely folks who assisted him. It's now a tavern, and, uh, he named it the Deathless Hound Tavern. Shortly after, there was the Gift Gala. There's a buncha leftover gifts from that, and we're gonna blow 'em up with propane tanks or somethin' later, and that's a promise." From that, his mood sours considerably. "We were also invited to two events - one hosted by Elysium, the other hosted by Halls of Hiraeth. In addition to inviting us, those hosting the events also made sure to invite our enemy, The Pitt." Even saying that group's name sickened him. Sure, their old ruler was out of the job, but that didn't expunge them from their status of enemy, nor did it erase their bloody past.

"Sorta gave Redvox what was comin' to him for bein' so ignorant, which made him leave in a huff... though I never declined the Halls' invitation. And I'm pretty sure Aurum accepted Elysium's invite as well. If you're to party among our foes, I must tell ya to not interact with 'em (with some exceptions)." Those exceptions namely being Kiira and her family. He couldn't prevent a kid from communicating with her kin, that'd just be plain wrong. Hopefully, there'd be a day where her folks got their heads straight and defected. "If some Pittian looks at ya funny, ignore it. If some Pittian speaks to ya funny, ignore 'em. But if they lay a single fur on ya, make 'em pay for it."

Clearing his throat, he proceeds to a better subject - allowing his tone to adjust to match. "Titles. Bet none of ya heard that word in a hot minute."

"For bein' so prominent at the not-so-recent raid on the Pitt, and so many more before it, I give Moth, Selby, and Aurum the Berserker title. And in addition to that, I give Aurum both the Revenant badge, as well as the Gatorbait badge. The Revenant is given to those who've made massive strides for their own development, and ya came a long way from bein' just the 'brother to Poetking'. The Gatorbait badge is given to those who've proven their loyalty to Tanglewood time and time again - and I think that one speaks for itself."

"We're nearin' the end, don't worry," Leroy declares, chuckling whilst he says so. "Next month is the mask vigil. It'll happen in the first week or so of January. I'll say more then, but be ready."

"I think that's all? If anyone has anything to add, now'd be the time." 

Were he a different person, a different spider, the prospect of a meeting would be a welcome return to routine, a sort of safety net of the familiar, a comforting scheduled event, as certain repeated things tended to be.

He was not that spider though, and frankly, he didn't know of any such meeting thing, having not attended the one concurrent with his arrival; so when he heard Leroy's voice yelling for the population of Tanglewood, he had nothing to go off of, except perhaps that one time Miller woke half the population up for... sparring, wasn't it? It was so recent, yet felt like so long ago. Anyways, he was prepared for the worst, crawling over to look up at the general, grumbling quietly under his breath. Instead of yelling about how Tangle was slacking, however, the general was... talking about rankings. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

He listened patiently, compressing his body and lying on the ground, desperately trying not to shiver at the cold breeze and the dusting of white powder against his hyper-sensitive hairs. Moth and Selby got warnings, only one of which he knew; apparently those with ranks had to be actively participating among the clan to keep those ranks. Interesting. Some people got shout-outs for activity, including him - he noticeably perked up upon hearing his name, wondering what he had done. He did suppose he had been around a lot, but... hm. Along the lines of activity, Aurum got promoted to Proxy (some sort of deputy rank? vice president of the swamp?), which made sense if activity was the main way to get promoted. The lion was, simply, everywhere. Truly frightening, he thought.

He grumbled a quiet "congratulations," to any who would listen, waiting for any other news, or if there was a second stage to this whole meeting thing.

tags - "speech"

Many months ago... hell, perhaps even a whole year ago at this point, Aurum had been in a very similar position to this one. Not completely similar, of course. Back in the pride, he had been hated. The focus of resentment, and ridicule, and on every wind came whispers of why is he next in line to be king? or who in their right mind would choose him to be heir? Back then, he had just been able to ignore it, despite the pain that stabbed deep into his heart with their every cruel word. He had been able to ignore it because he had the guarantee that he would be leader one day, and they would all have to listen to him... and they couldn't make him feel like garbage then. However, everything had been pulled out from under him by Judith, her cold eyes boring into him as she spoke, her words soft and mockingly kind as Poet stood nearby, "your brother will be king. What, did you really think that you would be the one to lead us?" That had been the day that Aurum had lost everything, and he had felt like he would never be worth anything again. Hell, that had been the day he had started planning his brother's murder, all in a misguided grasp for any sort of power. Of course, the main difference between then and now was that... now he finally felt like he was worth something. He finally had friends and family who loved him. He had already made a significant mark on Tanglewood, and he had every intention of defending the group until the very day he took his last breath, and none of that came just from ranks. Sure, he had certainly felt proud whenever he had been promoted, but that was mainly because it meant he was doing good in the group, and was helping others. He no longer felt like the only thing that could give him purpose was to one day get his paws on the crown, and no longer having that feeling... it was so freeing it was hard to even begin to describe. He felt lighter than air, and it had led to him smiling more, joking more, doting more, like a stressed little mother hen. His life had purpose beyond just standing around making the rules, and he couldn't be happier about that if he tried.

Aurum had certainly been working hard at his job as Captain of the Guard, and he felt incredibly proud of everything he had done, what with the tavern and all, but that hadn't really been in the pursuit of being promoted. In fact, when he heard Leroy's call echoing out for them to gather, he fully expected to receive no sort of promotion at all. He figured Leroy would wait longer to pick a proxy, or would choose someone entirely different. Who? Well, truthfully the lion wasn't sure, but whoever it was, he would've supportive. Leroy would make a good decision, he was sure of it. The large lion's heavy pawsteps carried him over to where the statue was, and he found himself settling down beside Abathur, eying the spider curiously. He couldn't see the minuscule movements in the other's hypersensitive hairs, but he could certainly tell the male was tense, and he wasn't sure why. He wasn't given too much time to dwell, however, because Leroy was already speaking, and immediately the Captain's blue eye flicked up to the canine, attention rapt. He listened carefully to what the General had to say, chuckling softly at the male's comments about Christmas and Hanukkah. He didn't have huge plans for the holidays, but he would at least be giving out small gifts, just to put smiles on the faces of his clanmates. He then nodded a bit at the mention of the newbies, trying not to dwell too much on the unsettled feeling that Raymond had caused him. He still wasn't sure what that was about... ranks. Ranks were spoken about next. Aurum immediately felt himself frown when both Moth and Selby were given warnings, his heart sinking for his sister and friend. Even he could admit they hadn't been around much, but he still felt bad that it had to be said. He then nodded approvingly at the shoutouts, his eye flicking around quickly to each of the names called. He agreed with pretty much every one of them, since they had all been very helpful and active since they had arrived. Next... what?

Aurum felt himself freezing when his own name was called, in conjunction with the word 'proxy'. Proxy? Leroy wanted him to be... proxy? Next in line for leader of the fucking group? It felt like he had just been gut punched, but like... in a good way. He could practically feel the wheeze in his voice as he raised his head, hesitating before he stammered out, "I... I-I'd be honored to be proxy, Leroy. Thank you... thank you so much." He then let his head fall back into a neutral position, staring down at the ground for a moment. He heard rumblings about the tavern and the gift gala, but he was still mostly just processing what had happened, listening coming in as a mostly secondary task. He was able to refocus again at around the point where Leroy began to talk about the events they had been invited to, and he found himself nodding almost on auto pilot. He knew of both of them, although he hadn't been around for the unfortunate Halls invitation. Shifting his paws a little bit, Aurum spoke firmly once Leroy was done, "I will definitely be going to the festival, so if anyone wants to stick by me because of the Pittians, they can feel free. And... if anybody chooses to go to the Halls dance, I will accompany them. Again... just in case." He then fell silent again, listening as Leroy moved on to titles. Aurum hadn't heard about titles... well, ever, really. So he found himself blinking in surprise, head tilted to one side. Once again, his name was called, although this time it was several times in a row. Hell, he felt vaguely embarrassed with how much praise he was receiving, his face faintly heating up beneath his thick fur. Berserker, revenant, and gatorbait... all pretty fucking important titles, all rewarded to him. It all felt so fucking surreal, and he found himself staring at his paws again before he quickly spoke up, "Ah... thank you, again. So much..." He continued nodding as Leroy moved on to the mask vigil, unable to focus on much more than the rapid slamming of his own heart against his ribcage. He was so excited and happy, but also so utterly caught off guard that he felt a little lightheaded.