GET A JOB + MEETING

[toboggan]

The recent fortnight saw its plethora of events, ranging from commendable to contemptible. The flow of joiners was lush, as per usual, though quite the bulk of ex-Tanglers made their returns as well. Indie. Vathmos. Kaito. Sam. For an individual of his ranking, playing favourites was seen by some as morally questionable. Leroy, however, did not give a shit. Undeterred by the issues the two had faced throughout their days together, the general acknowledged Sam as a dependable friend, and greatly anticipated seeing her once more. In other news, the mask vigil sat just beyond the horizon. Bringing back such an iconic tradition brewed sentiments of poise within the canine's system. The others who'd shown up after last year's summer likely didn't know the slightest thing about masks and their relevance to the tribe, thus reinstating a vital component of Tanglewood culture made the hound feel... well, it made him feel important. Just over a month had passed into his reign, and honestly, not a lot had been done on his part. So this was going to be his substantial act, and he swore that he'd do it well. Also returning would be the weekly tasks. December existed as the tribe's month off for 2019. Later today, Leroy saw to it that he'd host a weekly task gathering and get everyone back into the work groove. And lastly, he'd go over some shit pertaining to the Pitt. It was necessary, but god, did he hate that grody bunch.

"Come'ere, it's meetin' time!" Leroy hollers, standing by the town's emblematic statue. 'Tanglewood - the sanctuary for wayward souls' is what the rusted nameplate read, which rested soundly at the statue's base. Wayward they were indeed, though not powerless.

"First things first. Dallas, Adelaide, and Johnny, welcome to Tanglewood!" The newcomers, none of which the general had the pleasure of meeting. Very rarely did he partake in border patrols these days, for much more important matters remained for him in the territory's other areas. Most recently he had to assess the graveyard, checking and making sure of its suitability for the upcoming mask vigil. Still, he missed the sensation of perceiving fresh faces on the border, and promised that he'd get back into the habit of safeguarding the territory's boundary soon enough. "Heh, I think we got more returners than joiners, actually," he announces with an elated grin. "Welcome back Sam, Vathmos, Kaito, and Indie. I missed ya guys a whole lot, so it's fuckin' awesome to have ya back." The male's chocolate gaze combs his audience, making an effort to locate a few of the names he'd voiced.

"Wha's next- oh, yeah, I got some promotions to list." Only promotions today. Luckily for the sawbones, he would not see his demotion, for his activity rebounded recently. "I'd like to ask Abathur, Snarl, and Miller to assume the role of chaser. The bunch of ya have been doin' exceptionally well around here, and I think ya got a lot of potential. Chaser is only a stepping stone role, so yain't too special yet, but keep it up and maybe another promotion'll come your way." If Piers was older, then he'd get promoted as well. However, two months is too young an age for a chaser, in his opinion, so the small feline would have to wait.

The male clears his voice, and darkens his expression. The next bout of news wasn't the good type. "Very recently, Kydobi of the Pitt, along with one of his cronies, appeared on our border. Why isn't important; what's important is that he ignored our warnings of attack. We drove 'em off, but not without that stupid jaguar threatenin' Aurum for followin' the rules." The male then begins to pace, as he always did when on edge. Not everyone in Tanglewood understood that the Pittians were their enemies. Why that was the case, he could not comprehend. But because it was the case, it potentially made Leroy's impending words controversial. "Them Pittians," he begins, "they ain't our friends. I don't care if 'there's good people there' - until we get an official apology for the Tanglers they've slaughtered, tortured, and slaved, they must be treated for what they are: a murderous pack of bastards. And, even though folks like Stryker, Ninazu, and Jervis ain't there no more, it don't make 'em automatically redeemed for their group's actions. And, if a high-rankin' individual like Kydobi can't respect somethin' as simple as our border rules, I don't think we'll ever see the day of their redemption."

"That does remind me though," he exclaims, a sudden burst of excitement surging through his person, "Jervis is gettin' the axe. And the best part is we're all invited to watch. See to it that a Tangler (I don't care who, figure it out yourselves) brings some snacks. Beef jerky, popcorn, any of that jazz."

"But goin' back to internal affairs for a brief moment, I wanna discuss masks. When Tanglewood was founded, masks were like the trademark thing. The Typhoon had its pirate-ness, Snowbound had its snow, The Ascendants had its boner for justice, and Tanglewood had masks. As of late, we sorta lost that aspect, but not anymore. Sometime this month, there's gonna be a mask vigil, and if ya wanna take part in this historical tradition, you'll be attendin'." He takes a brief moment to pause and catch his breath. "The rules are easy to remember. If ya don't got a mask, then ya have to enter the graveyard on the night of the mask vigil with a thing o' cloth tied around your midsection. If ya still got the cloth on ya come morning time, then congrats, ya get a mask. The hook is that the members with masks are tryna beat the unmasked people up and take their cloth and make 'em lose. Needless to say, it ain't for the faint-hearted."

"Weekly tasks are comin' back, too," he says in a quick closing announcement, "so if ya wanna carry your weight 'round here, make sure you're attendin'. And if nobody else has somethin' to say, that means this meetin' is over."


TL;DR
- Adelaide, Johnny, and Dallas, welcome to Tanglewood! Sam, Vathmos, Kaito, and Indie, welcome back!
- [member=1431]ABATHUR .[/member] [member=4524]K. MILLER[/member] [member=8853]Snarl[/member] are asked to step up and assume the role of chaser!
- Kydobi and Astiar ignored Tanglewood's border rules, and got attacked as a result. Leroy uses this as a reminder that the Pittians are not any friends of Tanglewood.
- Jervis is getting executed, and everyone has been invited to watch!
- The mask vigil is returning very soon. Weekly tasks are seeing a return as well.

[wormwood.]

i was born, on the highway, in a train wreck

with a heart, that was beating, out of my chest

Huh, a meeting. Aurum didn't think that it had been that long since the last one, but perhaps he had just become used to the very sparse schedule of meetings over Crow's last few months of leadership. The lion certainly wasn't complaining, though. He liked the feeling of having a leader who paid close attention to what was going on and wanted to communicate often with them, even if sometimes it felt like Leroy was watching from the shadows more than anything – although that wasn't entirely the hound's fault, since quite a few people still seemed distrusting of going straight to Leroy, a fact that aggravated Aurum even if he knew how to handle things. Wandering over near the statue, the lion sat back on his haunches as he watched Leroy handle the various announcements that needed to be said, nodding his head a little with each of them. He had seen pretty much all of the new joiners and returners, with the exception of Dallas and Johnny. He smiled faintly at the promotions, his voice coming out in a low rumble as he called out, "Congratulations, you three." His happy smile, however, was soon replaced with a scowl. He couldn't believe some people still didn't fucking believe that the Pitt was their enemy. Digging his claws into the ground beneath him, he took a deep breath and nodded mutely, his tail lashing behind him. Aurum had nothing himself to add onto the meeting, so he just nodded and rumbled softly, "Noted. Thanks, Leroy." The mask vigil was nice and exciting, not to mention the weekly tasks. Although he was a bit disappointed about the weekly tasks. He would happily go and see what he was assigned, but his chest wound made it so that he couldn't do too many things at the moment.

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[THEM]

[align=center][div style="text-align:justify;width:55%;font-family:verdana;"]Well, shit. Kaz was a real, decorated Tangler now, and he'd only been here for, what - three weeks? Four? He didn't think this sort of thing would come so soon, but he wasn't complaining. He appreciated having Snarl at his side, too, if only because he knew her workflow and found it easy to keep up, and to work alongside her. The spider wasn't so bad either, once you got past appearances. "Ah, thank you, sir."

Then, the Pitt - he didn't need to be reminded. His ribs still ached from the impact. As Leroy winds back down with a discussion of clan traditions, Kaz's ears prick as he gives an interested hum; the mask vigil sounded a bit more like capture the flag, with the added fun of claws and teeth. It would do well to show him who, exactly, made a formidable opponent - nobody seemed particularly interested in fighting when he'd asked them to spar, so perhaps they needed the vigil's incentive. (Disappointing, the fact that they needed a reward - Kaz would work that out of them, eventually.)

OP was running out of muse, because they just woke up and could barely keep their eyes open. Waking up at seven in the morning was a little jarring when they'd spent the entire break prattling about 'til noon. They needed some coffee, stat. In spite of the narrative lapse, Kaz adds, "If you're taking offers, I'd like to handle tasks for the coming week."

He'd light a fire under all their asses, as soon as Leroy gave the go-ahead.

[ABATHUR .]

Another meeting, Abathur mused to himself, scuttling over to the statue. Interestingly, the whole thing had already become sort of routine, even though this was only his second one. There was a strange indescribable atmosphere surrounding it, which he supposed made sense. They were called "meetings" after all, inspiring an image of a bored workplace talking about how the business was doing every month or so, instead of something more befitting their status as a cryptid clan settled next to a swamp and a radioactive hole in the ground.

Patiently, the spider listened, not expecting much. He didn't say anything for the joiners, knowing that the time for words would come later when he met them, if he hadn't already. Truly, he was blindsided when his name was mentioned alongside Snarl and Miller for the promotion to chaser. Really? Him? He hadn't really done anything, besides a medical procedure or two, he just... existed. It was weird, being shifted to a higher position, even if that higher position wasn't "too special," as Leroy put it, especially with the possibility of future promotions. "Promotion appreciated," he said in his stilted manner, feeling a bit awkward about the whole thing, which truly was a strange feeling for him. His eyes panned from the blurry form of Leroy to search for Kaz and Snarl, his two new partners. He didn't really know either of them very well, besides being standoffish, but - well, perhaps he should start now.

The rest of the meeting wasn't of much interest to him. Kydobi's appearance was something he missed, thankfully, though he took the words "them Pittians ain't our friends" somewhat to heart. The only thing that interested him, beyond the mention of "weekly tasks" - whatever those were - was the mention of the mask vigil. Leroy had talked about it last meeting, if his memory wasn't as faulty as his eyes, which meant he was very serious about it happening. The description of it was very odd. It sounded more like a game than anything else, especially not a ritual of entry into Tanglewood, though that only piqued his curiosity more. He could not wait to see how it happened - metaphorically, of course.

tags - "speech"

[selby roux !]

[align=center][div style="width: 51%; text-align: justify; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -1px; font-family: georgia;"]Another meeting. Selby was still unused to them being held on a regular basis like this. He approached and sat down to listen to the news, unsurprised by anything he heard.

Jervis was being executed. Huh. Though the thought of him finally getting what was coming to him was not unpleasant, he found that he had no will to attend. The former ardent had murdered his sister. He had seen all that he had ever wished to see of him, even in death. He would stay behind.

[dallas.]

A... meeting. Huh, Dallas was unused to anything like this. Back in the little family like gang he had previously resided within, the closest they came to meetings like this were "family meetings," and they certainly weren't as big or important as this whole thing was. This seemed super official, and while Dal hadn't actually met Leroy yet, the authority in the other's voice drew him over at the call, the shepherd's paws carrying him swiftly over to the edge of the crowd, head tilting to one side. After the initial words to gather everyone together, Dallas was startled to hear his own name being called out, along with Johnny and Adelaide's. It was an odd feeling, being welcome so warmly into somewhere, but the canine found himself barking anyways, "Er... thanks f'the welcome." After that was just a jumble of information he mostly didn't understand. He didn't recognize the names of any of the returnees, nor did he recognize any of those promoted, but that could just be written off as him having not been here long. He didn't know who the hell Jervis was, but evidently he had been quite the dick if so many people were eager to see him executed. The Pitt stuff made sense to him, since he had been warned about them since he had first stepped into Tanglewood territory, but the whole mask vigil thing sounded... weird. That didn't mean he wouldn't participate, though. As Leroy began to wrap up the meeting with talks about weekly tasks making a comeback, Dallas made his way through the crowd over to Johnny, knowing the tiny rabbit would be lingering near the very edge of the crowd to avoid being trampled. Nudging the other gently with his uninjured side, he gave the pygmy rabbit a crooked smile, barking, "This 's pretty cool, huh? Gettin' welcomed 'n' shit? I feel all special." He kept his voice low as he settled back down beside the other, just in case Leroy remembered anything he had forgotten.

[Blazic]

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Meetings became more and more regular, as time went on. If Leroy had done anything in his time as leader, this was one of the smaller things the hyena appreciated. More information. Most of it, granted, she knew already, but it was at least useful confirmation.
She sat down firmly, felt cold mud seep into her fur. Didn't care much - comes with the territory. Flicked her ear, as he listed joiners, and returners. She was only here for a few, admittedly, but that wasn't her job. It was fine. Adelaide, that bubbly maned wolf, too bright, yet still triggering the hyena's memory relentlessly. Dallas, she'd seen only vaguely. Some wolfish canine. A kid, but someone she wouldn't mind inviting to a fire or two.
And Vathmos. A great spotted, who reeked with the stench of hyena and fellowship despite her claim she was from 'nowhere'. Nearly wrinkled her nose again, just thinking about it, but saved face. Snarl made an effort to stay away - she still hadn't left.

Listened to Leroy move on, prepared herself to make note of inevitable demotions.
Or, apparently, not-so-inevitable demotions. Only promotions. Selby had come through, after all, to help Aurum. That musta been worth something. Alright. Waited to find out who would climb the ranks in this king-of-the-hill. Abathur, she supposed, fit. They'd been active enough, and assisted with Aurum, even if they were the quiet ty-

The hyena nearly sputtered when she heard her name called. Excuse her - Snarl? She's sure she didn't hear that right. Snarl has done exactly fuckall. She... what. Had a fire, once? (She'd had a lot of fires, but that was that one had the biggest turnout.)  Bit some asshole in the arm? She was just doing what anyone would do.
... Alright. Well, they'd seemed short on hands before. This only served to prove it more. Regardless, she's not one to deny gained authority.
At the last moment, the hyena morphed that beginning of a vocalization into a clearing of her throat. Still let her eyebrows lay raised. Gave a small hum of confirmation, nodded her head, in acknowledgement of Leroy's words.
"Can do that, sure."

Along with her and Abathur, came Miller. He was a cool dude, she'd decided. Lameto, but well enough to hang out with. She worked well with the cheetah, and he was always up for a fight. Less of a hardass than he seemed. He'd tried to whip Tanglewood into shape within moments of joining, had a taste for bossing deep inside himself. He'd do well.

After that, Leroy whipped into a speech about The Pitt - Snarl already knew they were an enemy, it didn't much apply to her. And as with the execution of Jervis, their leader, she didn't care much. Blood sport was one thing, sure, but this was a simple execution, terribly boring. She had no personal taste for the fox's blood, and if there was no excitement in going, she'd gladly leave seats to those who did.

The Mask Vigil. She'd heard of it - now that sounded like fun. The hyena grinned - she had a plan in mind. Had a few she could, with hope, team up with. That'd be great. This will be exciting.

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[beatae]

  indie quietly came forward with brynn, sitting down with a soft tired sigh. she remained standing tall, gently correcting her child's posture. "your spine will curve quicker than a question mark, peach." she nudged the scarf up higher around brynn's neck, smiling. "can't have you catching a cold, either. if you see your brother, go get him for me okay?" she couldn't find him on their way to the meeting and, as much as she wanted to trust him, she had a bad feeling whenever he left her sight.

her focus turned back to leroy and frowned at the mention of kydobi, another sigh unable to contain itself. that dumb brute... if he wanted anything he should have just asked her to give a heads up maybe. she wondered if this may effect their visiting days.

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tags

[guts]

The maned wolf skips over at the call of their leader--she assumed that's who he was--and plopped down next to Dallas and Johnny. She listens with her typical smile, brightening slightly when she heard her name, along with those of the two next to her. "Thank you very much, mister!"

To be honest, she had no idea how ranks worked around here, nor did she know the names of any of them. She was pretty much blind to most of the group's culture and traditions, but she could at least grasp the basics. Everything else was just filler that went in one ear and came out the other. Like most things with her.

Adelaide's lively face drops slightly at the mention of the incident at the border, eyes dropping down towards the ground. She didn't know a whole lot about the group, and maybe she was a little too optimistic, but she did think there were good people there, or at least ones that weren't beyond saving. There had to be. No one was truly all bad or all good, all black or all white.

But she, of course, held her tongue. This wasn't her place to speak, she recognized, so she stayed silent. It was hard to hide a surprised expression at the mention of someone 'getting the axe.' She had seen many dark things in her life, being involved with war and the military, but she had never seen someone being executed. And frankly? She wasn't about to change that.

Now she just felt quite somber. She had hoped to hear some good news and then be on her merry way, just as cheerful as she had come, but that apparently wasn't going to happen. Not until she heard about the mask vigil.

Ade had never heard of any of the other groups he mentioned, only zeroing in on the fact that there was gonna be a fun event to attend. How fun! She would certainly be going to this mask vigil.