and he’s floating in the river + joining

[toboggan]

//not gonna lie, haven’t roleplayed in about 6 months. i know the quality is bad, but it will improve, i promise.

The defilement in this niche’s environment was indescribable, and the disappointment that followed was overwhelming.

In his entire life, he had never seen anything so savage. He had been a part of a rotten empire spanning businesses and communities, he had observed the fools attempting to live a normal life in valleys and buildings, and he had even seen the hoodlums surviving in rank alleyways. For all that, none of those added up to the level of depravity of this place. The mutt knew that a group, nay, a “clan” lived inside of this swamp, though he somewhat expected it to not be as harrowing. The marshes’ stench alone was enough to drive someone to madness, as well as its’ appearance resembling that out of a horror flick.

In the case that he was given a choice to stay or leave, Leroy would instantaneously choose the latter. He would gladly return to his elaborate loft, continuing a longevity of infamy and luxury.

That was not option anymore.

Now a household joke instead of a household name, the wolfhound was in dire need of a place to where he could start over, somewhere where his antics were unheard of. A while back, someone told him that he knew a guy who knew a guy that knew a guy living in some clan, a group of cave-people living in these archaic territories, who followed weird traditions and shit. It sounded like it was fiction. Why, in an age of skyscrapers and condominiums, would you prefer staying in an out-of-the-way forest instead? However, that information was all he had presently, and to his reluctance, Tanglewood was in fact a real place.

The his shaggy coat blew alongside the wind, as Leroy sighed. This was kinda poetic, actually, everything leading up to this; climbing up the stages of society using any means necessary until superiority, holding an iron fist over everyone else, until some random-ass guy comes in and steals your spot. Furthermore, it was all going to happen again, (excluding that last bit about being beaten).

Tanglewood was the soil, and Leroy was the seed, the seed which would grow into the hound’s own playground. That is, if all were to go to plan.

Standing uneasily on the brim of the mire, thoughts about how futile this was started stirring up in his mind. In no way was he going in there! The vicinity was probably filled from bottom to top in traps. The fact that he wasn’t seeing a lot of activity was also a playing factor in this surge of pessimism. Was a clan actually living here? It didn’t seem like it. Had he travelled all the way over here for nothing? Oh, he could really use a couple heads to knock together right now.

The impatient mongrel loudly cleared his throat in a last attempt to gain attention, to which, if it were to fail, he’d turn tail and try the next-best sounding group.

[ANIMA B.]

[align=center][div style="text-align:justify;width:55%;font-size:8pt;font-family:verdana"][b]"Careful now, there's monsters in these parts." Anima was admittedly very new to Tanglewood but her story would likely mirror Leroy's. Pitifully so, down to working her way up through a organisation through bloodshed and grim tasks that people preferred to avoid and then, of course, her inevitable downfall. Rather than being forced out, the scales fell from the feline's eyes and she saw what she was - a monster. Poetically enough, she used to hunt monsters and she does now. But still, the notion of monsters is all great until Anima remembers that she was, is and will always be one too.

[b]"Welcome to Tanglewood, what can I do for ya? By the way, relax! Nothing's come to kill you yet." She offers jokingly, waiting for the stranger's response. Hopefully, this wouldn't take too long.

[toboggan]

To his delight, Leroy was quickly greeted by a friendly face. The only problem was that this friendly face was in the face of a dragon, prompting a startled shiver to slither down his spleen. As he came from a more urban area, he had never seen a dragon before. Leroy knew they existed, yes, it’s just that he did not prepare his mentality to see one. If there’s dragons flyin’ ‘round here, he thought, then there’s probably a lot more kookier things in that there forest.

"Sorry about that," he’d apologize, his moment of fright not disguised, ”ya caught me off guard.” First impressions are everything, especially in remarks to the business he plans on getting up to.

”So this is the Tanglewood I’ve heard about, then? I gotta question: is the entire place, y’know, like this?”

[madster]

malphas had never thought he could take over tanglewood. he knew he was unfit to be leader- even someone with his ego could see that. he was rude, abrasive, and absolutely stubborn, and plus he had locked himself into the medical field on a whim. the damn person who had inspired him to become a medic had fucking died, so here he was, living on for her. fuck you, nayru. i'll be the next sawbone and when i inspire people i won't fucking die on them. was that his way of closure?

malphas was next to approach, after the self-proclaimed monster hunting. "yeah. it's all like that. i'm the monster," he said dryly. malphas was a small manx cat with large, babyish eyes- clearly not intimidating. still, there was a fierce look in his eyes, malice running deep within his little body. "the name's malphas. i'm the medic here, so if you're hurt, come see me or whatever. this is tanglewood, alright." he paused. "it's a shithole, but... it's my shithole, so don't try anything funny. what are you here for?"

[toboggan]

After another one of Tanglewood’s inhabitants arrived and feistily spoke, Leroy experience what he believed to be something new: another person tried to frighten him. Or at least, that’s what it sounded like, because only a fool try to daunt someone that is about a foot and a half taller than them. Still, the runt got the message across that this place was indeed a shithole.

"The name’s Leroy, pal," he’d say in response to the medic-cat, ”and I was thinkin’ about joinin’ your guys’ ranks here at Tanglewood. I heard about how stuff runs here, and it sounds pretty killer diller. Ya guys mind if I come aboard?”

[Morgan]

Morgan appeared next, following Malphas more out of worry than out of duty. It seemed that it was just a newcomer in their territory, so he waited for the Medic to speak first. After the stranger responded, the samoyed finally spoke up. "It's nice to meet you, Leroy. I'm Morgan, Tanglewood's Deputy. Please feel free to join us - we can lead you to town."

The dog threw a spike of ice to his left, striking a hidden bear trap that snapped closed upon contact. "We've got traps scattered everywhere in the wilderness, so you should follow us if you don't want to get caught in one." He smiled beneath his mask and added, "Any more questions?"[/b]

[aya]

[div style="margin: 0 auto; width: 55%; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"]Now this looked like an interesting mutt. The tortoiseshell would always either emerge from the swamp or hop from a tree, and today it was the former.

The murky shape of the girl emerged quickly, only her bright yellow eyes indicating that she was, in fact, a cat. "Hi, mutt." She greeted with a friendly lilt to her voice. "If you fall asleep somewhere you shouldn't, don't be upset when you wake up missing an organ, okay?" She almost said it like a joke, and there was a smile on her maw, but her eyes were totally serious. Still, she was mostly submerged in the swamp, so the mutt probably wouldn't even be able to tell exactly what she was.

[toboggan]

Just when he though it was over and done with, two more voices had spoken, and he could only see where one of them was coming from. The first one was Morgan, as he introduced himself. Well, if he wasn’t the fluffy one. By far the friendliest one, it seemed that Morgan was no stranger to joiners (in a figurative way); he was polite, offered help, and even set off a trap for Leroy’s safety. That was awfully nice. "I’m good for questions, bud, don’tcha worry ‘bout it" the wolfhound cooed.

”Ya must be real scary ‘f you gotta hide in muck” he quipped, shifting his attention to that blob in the mud. ”If you fall asleep somewhere you shouldn’t, don’t be upset if you wake up missing an organ, okay?” Was it her place to threaten newcomers? If it was, Aya really wasn’t doing good at the threatening part. Maybe some people are intimidated by lumps in a mire, but not him.