Welcome to Gaia! ::

Newanti waited patiently for them all to settle, one ear cocked slightly more skyward than the other, giving them all no indication at all that he was or was not what they were all waiting for. A quiet settled onto the gather as Newanti did not speak for some time. When he did, it wasn't likely anything they expected.

"So...did you folks need something?" His inquiry was polite, at least, to soften any surprise the wolves before him might utter.

The male knew exactly why they were there...why else would a group of strangers all assemble on a full moon? And, for that matter, why would Newanti be hearing jumbles of thoughts and stories that all had the same gist. They were obviously looking for him.

Quin was a little taken aback - he had expected something unusual, but not quite this. It was almost as if the older male were testing them somehow. He wasn't sure of the word 'folks' - he hadn't heard it used before, but he got the jist of it from the tone used.

He thought through it again. Why was he here? Because they believed in him - because he had been told he had something inside him, because he had been touched by the strange creatures whose powers were like the one in front of him all of his life. Because he felt... it was a journey he'd had to make - to find out.

"My life..." he said, into what seemed like a gasping black chasm of silence to his awkward self "My life has been changed more than once by... your kind and I... I was told that it was you I was to look for you - that maybe inside me was that power to..." That had been hard to word correctly, in their tongue, and he wasn't sure he'd really gotten his meaning across.

"Not just told, wanted to look for you" his look was more determined and set than it had been since he got here. He couldn't easily express yet, that he felt touched, perhaps blessed was more the right word, by the two who had saved his life - first a seer, who had spoken into his mind when he could barely comprehend what had happened to him, and then a shaman, pulling him back from the brink of death.

Something they had done to him had awoken a faint spark inside him... that was why he was here.

The pup's thoughts were easily heard by the adult; it was clear that Adam was slightly overwhelmed. Newanti gave him a soft grin.

Help huh? We all need some help sometimes, don't we? he 'spoke' to Adam, his eyes drifting away towards the adults.

"So," he started, wriggling the digits of his forepaws in the dust as he addressed Alas, "You're here to fight evil, are you?." He gave Alas pensive frown. "I've heard about this evil of yours, so I suspect the more good there is out there, the better. Though..." Newanti's brow lifted some. "Is this about power too? For you, I mean."

Newanti eyed Quin next, finding his stammering to indicate more nervousness in the black and white wolf than he expected. Hm.

"Do you think you're Seer material, Quintus?"

The pup started at the voice in his head. It had been strange enough to listen to Romulus speak through thought to him, let alone having this nonchalant stranger do so as well. Despite the grin, Adam shifted a bit from paw to paw, obviously abasing himself further. He was not one of many smiles; that had been his family's job. This utter peace kept him calm, and in a way it also made him wary. I need more than a 'little' help, the pup thought, not with his own voice in mind but that of Newanti's - a poor echo at that, but an imitation nonetheless. He had no voice with which to think, and therefore he borrowed others' instead. He hoped that wasn't considered stealing, though.

But truly this was a seer! His heart leapt when the tree-dweller called someone by name before they even introduced it! Seeing this Quintus appear just as nervous made Adam feel much better about his own doubts. But did they judge on the worthiness of cause here? The pink one spoke of combatting evil through the use of healing - it sounded loads better than "hey, I can't talk or anything, and I can barely see, but I want to find my family so I hope I can learn how to find them with some sort of magic power. Oh, and I promised an alpha to help her find her lost packmates. Yeah." He bent his ears forward, curious.

"All noble causes you have..." He let a chuckle slip, as though he didn't entirely believe them, but truth be told, he didn't care. None of them seemed to be truly evil beings. They all appeared to be worthy of being a full magicked wolf, but only individual attention would tell. "I suppose we should get this show on the road, at any rate." Another grin slipped before he grew serious. He turned to focus intently on Moghedien first, intrigued by her webbed veil. A strange glow, silver like the tree, began to develop from Newanti's bandaged eye, while his showing eye remained the emerald green it started as.

Mog would feel a sudden flushing warmth overcome her, as would every wolf as they took their turn under Newanti's gaze. Similarly, every wolf would feel their minds opening to project memories and thoughts to only Newanti as though he were browsing the library of their minds, only at extreme fast forward. This feeling would only last about three minutes or so on each wolf. A slight tightness in the chest would also be detectable during this process...the degree and the pain inflicted varied with the wolf's ability to remain calm.


For Mog, she would see images of Liriel during their first meeting, where Mog challenged the masked wolf's intentions upon entering the lands of Chernabog, evoking the feeling of trying to gain self worth in the eyes of this dark alpha. Also, images of Haemon meeting this same alpha showed, but in slower speed than the other memory, as if Newanti was especially interested in this. Again, the feeling of garnering self worth and pride were evoked. Hm, how curious that Newanti dwelled on this.

For Quintus, imagery from the playful romps between himself and Valerius when he was much younger. Such happy times until the mishap with clumsy movements and then the near drowning of his new friend. Then, images of Nadia's injuries and an extreme swelling feeling of worry, confusion, and concern. Maybe even a feeling of inadequacy.

Adam, the mute, experienced feelings of embarrassment and self disappointment as images of his youth replayed. The taunts of his siblings...the stabbing pain of teeth in his flesh...the sadness of his mother that was replaced with cautious optimism. Abruptly then, the meeting with Kalama played. More feelings of embarrassment and frustration. With these feelings, however, a strong sense of determination showed too, especially when he struggled to get Kalama to understand what he wanted to convey.

Lastly, Libenalas...Crunch appeared in her mind as did feelings of hesitation, yet determination and pride too. The meeting in the clearing where he taught her how to defend herself replayed and as it went, her feelings mutated into frustration and distaste for the violence, then extreme guilt. Alas did not revisit a new memory, however...the previously played memory replayed again, slower now, as though Newanti was keenly interested in the show.

Frustration, yes . . . he was well aware of that struggle, that fight since birth to maintain breath. The indignation that came with the taunts, suffering even the least clever of insults without the ability to defend himself - well, verbally at least. "Sticks and stones might break my bones, but words could never hurt me." The world's greatest lie. His eyes stung to his chagrin, and the tightness in his chest grew with every second of the memories. Mother had never done the best job of saving him from these stinging remarks, had in fact in a sense joined them in her denial of a name for so long.

“To name someone is to form a bond, and if the pup died, the bond would break . . .” She had suffered too, but to the degree he did? Adam felt pressure move in on his quickly beating heart, pumping blood as if readying for a fight - anxious, afraid, self-conscious, enraged, and humiliated in quick succession. Mother thought he was going to die. Mother though he was going to die! Rather than become engulfed in the furious chaos of bitter anger, the pup felt something else brim under the surface of those memories.

He had felt Tough’s teeth and claws on more than one occasion. Mother’s tearful confession of his weak health influencing the distance between mother and son. Father’s perpetual absence making the den just a little more empty. Feather’s coddling, her calling of “Simple” and “lil’ bro” because he couldn’t possibly defend her. The fire’s destruction, the subsequent separation. The wandering alone, the days of stiff fear holding him in the shadows, the night effervescent with wildlife that he fled while feeing on scraps, the times when even those could not be found. Shadowed claws grasping at his tail, fear forever tucked near his heart. But what beat did it thrum out now? Erratic, forced under the tightness, the sharp and surprising pain in his chest, a rhythm of desperation?

What lied beneath was so much more than simple resentment of his condition, or of his siblings, or of his mother and father, or of the natural disaster that tore them apart. What had Mother called it? Righteous fury. The warmth that had preceded the sudden stream of memories came back to him slowly, a gentle but solid force at first – easing the stress, the tightness upon his chest, until he felt it down from the toes of his paws to the tips of his ears. Was he mad at God that he had been born an invalid? Yes. But he was alive and well now in spite of the fire. Was this his chance to prove himself at last?

Little Adam became emboldened by the series of unfortunate and fortunate events that had come to pass in his short life, and when his vision cleared he found that beside him the pink form was sitting erect as well. Were they all being shown their own memories as well? He could only surmise. Adam took a deep breath through his mouth and slowly issued it back out through his nose, nerves calming as the warmth inside him casted away the tightness, gave him renewed confidence. Dreams, he thought clearly, slowly, are for sleeping. Memories for remembering, not mourning. Look to future. We’re here now, not stuck then.

Such promise in you all, Newanti broadcasted to them all, his 'voice' monotone. Three of you need more work than one, however.

Newanti's eye continued to glow as Newanti stood, his face serious and stony, and approached Alas. He only stopped when his nose was mere inches from her own. The stare was deep and penetrating, probably unnerving for the she-wolf even, but she didn't have time to let the feeling fester.

Brace yourself, my dear Newanti said to only her. She had only a breath or two to do so before a sharp, almost skull-splitting pain erupted in her skull. The pain lanced down her neck, her spine, to the tips of her toes, before disappearing. For as much agony as it might have caused, Alas would quickly feel a soothing calmness overwhelm the pain and, a slight surge in strength.

With this over, he didn't spare a moment to make sure she was ok. Instead, he turned to look at Mog, Adam, and Quin, his gaze moving from wolf to wolf to wolf before he made his decision.

(since she was the only Shaman applicant...might as well get her taken care of. Always pick one shaman and one seer...or just one if there are not qualified entries for both.)

((1. Mog
2. Quin
3. Adam))