Morgan stepped up onto the old statue with his head held high. The reception for the previous meeting was nowhere near as negative as he had expected; he hoped that this week would be no different. He dropped a small satchel in front of him, then waited for the crowd around him to grow. "Thank you all for coming."
The samoyed quickly scanned over the crowd, then raised his voice to speak. "Welcome to our meeting this week, Tanglers! I have lots of announcements to make, but not as many as last time. This shouldn't take too long, I hope." He smiled and closed his eyes, taking a quick breath to prepare himself. "First, I want to welcome our newcomers this week: Axle, Hector, and Kazumi."
"Next, I'd like to announce a promotion as well as some demotions. Ophelia is now a Chaser. Congratulations! Mirabella has stepped down from her Medic position, and I'll be demoting Delphinium and Talia. I also have not seen Anima or Malkyn in a while, so they would be demoted too - I think they may have actually left Tanglewood." He was not entirely certain, but he hadn't sensed them anywhere in territory in some time.
"I have three shout-outs next: one for Abathur, one for Delilah, and one for Leroy. Keep up the good work - we all appreciate it." He tried looking for them in the crowd to give them a grin of approval. "I have two more major announcements, so I'll start with..." He opened up the satchel and pulled out a long grey cloth, pulling it around his neck. "... These. Malphas - one of our Medics - worked very hard on these scarves during this week."
"For a long time now we've had titles that we gave out to Tanglers on occasion, but I thought it would be nice to give these awards a physical form. That's where these scarves and badges come in. The first time you earn a title, which we will now just be calling a 'badge'..." Morgan motioned toward the spindly scarf. "... I will give you a scarf like this one along with your first badge attached. Note how there is a badge on this scarf already." Indeed, a small star-shaped pin was attached to a corner of the garment. "These little badges don't just signify the awards you've received, but they're also useful to keep the scarf on properly without needing to tie it." He winked, then demonstrated by attaching one corner to another. He learned forward and opened up his bag wide enough to pull out four more scarves, each containing one badge.
"So, now it's time to award this first set of badges. The first one - the Gatorbait Badge - is for those Tanglers who have been particularly active and loyal to Tanglewood. This week I will be giving one each to Arrow and Stocking. Thank you so much for your contributions to our group." The canine pulled some small drops of water from his bracers and attached them to two scarves, then hovered them over to their recipients. Each scarf held one badge shaped like a grey skull.
"Next is the Host Badge, which is for those Tanglers who have always been on the prowl for newcomers and help welcome them to the group. I will be giving one to Aya... and one to Malphas. Thank you both, and Malphas - thank you for giving us these beautiful scarves." Sure, the scarves were not exactly of the highest quality, but Morgan had to appreciate the effort the feline put into them anyway. He used a the same method as before to float over the next two scarves, which each had a pink heart-shaped pin attached.
"Finally, the Good Noodle Badge. This badge is one given to Tanglers who have helped us time and time again by hosting or completing weekly tasks. I don't think this will come as a surprise to any of you, but I'll be giving this badge to my good Captain Vigenere." He unpinned his scarf and took it off, floating it to his boyfriend with the widest smile he'd given so far. He hoped his scent hadn't permeated the fabric too much since he had been wearing it for a while already, but figured the Captain wouldn't mind either way. Once that was done, he barked, "Congratulations to everyone who's received a badge. Make sure to bring your scarf to every meeting after this one in case you receive more badges in the future."
"Now, for my final announcement. As I'm sure you all have realized, making those badges and scarves was not easy. However, it was made a lot easier by machinery that Malphas and I had found in the Junkyard." He looked toward the Junkyard in the distance, his tail wagging in excitement. "As you know, I've been wanting Tanglewood to grow into a beautiful place. If it wasn't clear already, we'll all be taking on a new task every week or so to try improving our home. This week, I'll be bringing you to our Junkyard for the purpose of salvaging more tools and machines like the ones we used to make these items. Like I mentioned last week, I think using those things will be the key to improving Tanglewood permanently. Just follow me that way after this meeting, and we can get started."
"One last thing - I want to thank everyone who came to help me at the Shore last week. We'll be doing more work there soon enough, but for now I can proudly say that the beach is all cleaned up!" Morgan looked around the crowd one last time, then exclaimed, "That's all for this week. Let's keep doing our best, everyone!" He picked up his satchel and put it around his neck, then jumped down from the statue.
TL;DR
- Welcome to our newcomers - Axle, Hector, and Kazumi!
- Ophelia is now a Chaser.
- Mirabella has stepped down from Medic; Anima, Delphinium, Malkyn, and Talia are all demoted or have left.
- Shout-outs to Abathur, Delilah, and Leroy! Keep it up!
- Titles are now represented by badges; grey scarves are given to Tanglers when they receive their first badge so that they can attach future badges to them as well. Check the guide for more information on badges.
- Arrow and Stocking both receive the Gatorbait Badge. Congrats!
- Aya and Malphas receive the Host Badge. Keep it up!
- Vigenere receives the Good Noodle Badge. Thanks for your help!
- The next chapter in our modernization is to scavenge for machines and tools in the Junkyard in this thread. Join in the event if you can - any help is appreciated!
- The beach cleanup event here will remain active until the next meeting.
I'll be updating the guide with these changes as soon as possible.