...Am I To Believe You Were All At A Picnic? {ABAVEN}

Lark was the first wolf to come up to him, and Bass smiled softly and tipped down to nuzzle him. He was about to welcome him when he asked about his mother, panic in his voice. The man blinked back his surprise, before licking the top of his head. "She is just tucking the girls in Lark, its okay. She should be here any moment, I promise. And Lark?" he asked, leaning back slightly to get a good look at his boy, who was now taller than him. Pride shone in his eyes at his huge child, coming forward again to push his nose to his cheek. "It is good to see you again, my son. I missed you." He breathed. He turned to greet Shrike as well, just before Wren came in and tackled the boy, crying into his scruff. He chuckled slightly, nosing Lark around to point out his very emotional mother. It was a long trip back, and he had expected her to stay in the den with the girls. But here she was, clinging to one of their boys and weeping into his scruff. Ears flickered as Allen turned towards him and spoke, and he turned around to the older man and offered a tight smile. "We can talk after the meeting, just with each other." Before long the others arrived, and Bass took note of a few new faces, as well as wolves who didn't show up. Quelt said that his wife was sick, and he blinked at his friend. Wife? Well this was new...

He didn't have long to think on it as Allen addressed the pack, leaving Bass silent at his side while he spoke. He knew who showed up for training more than he did, and would know more than even Motif. Nodding along with his words, it wasn't long before Allen passed the meeting to him. Nodding his head curtly at the other, he took in a deep breath and sat silent for a moment. There was a lot that he needed to say, and wanted to make sure that his message was clear. "Abaven is nothing like I had hoped for. While we are close like family, the whole idea of my pack is not yet showing. We are all at fault for that, myself included. But I cannot lead you all to water and force you to drink, this is only for the willing. While there is some reason why some of you could not make the meeting, I expect my message to be passed on. No longer will Abaven carry around dead weights. If you do not want to work for this pack and see it to what it should be, then I would leave now. Rules are going to be expected to be followed without hesitation, and there will be punishment for those who do not follow them." He paused, sharp yellow eyes looking at those who bothered to come to the meeting at all. "I am going to put a new system in place with our fighters and healers as far as training. I will assign two fighters to each other, and they will be partnered with each other for a block of time. Each pair of fighters will have a healer assigned to them who is to be expected to heal the fighters wounds." He paused, not quite sure how long he was going to pair them up for. Perhaps a month or so? "I will call a meeting of the fighters and healers when it is time to switch partners, where the groups will be reassigned. You are expected to train with each other often, it doesn't always have to be practice fights but can also be going over defenses and such. But if there is no training at all, you will get one warning before you are docked in rank and forced to fight with the younger ones. Don't fail me, because at this point I am more than frustrated." Bass had to pause, closing his eyes a moment and taking a few deep breaths to get his anger in wraps. "Abaven is supposed to be a pack of mercenaries, of wolves for hire to help other packs. Only once have we been used for our true purpose. And I have had enough with sitting in the shadows." This all felt like deja-vu, he could have sworn that he had had a meeting like this before.

Clearing his throat, he back tracked a little bit. "Even if you hold a different rank and wish to train with the fighting pairs, please speak up and I will add you to the rotations. As for Pera's, I will leave their training up to Allen to organize, but if you wish to fight train as well you must handle both training sessions. I am going to be more strict about all of this than I have, because obviously things need to change." He growled slightly. Bass was never a hard ass like this, but times changed. He felt like it was all he could do to keep his pack together. This was not okay, and he would set things straight. "For fighters I have Motif, Quelt, Lark, Zell, Calypsei, Wren, and I think that Tinaro has asked to train in fighting as well," he said, eyeing the boy to see if he was right. Seven fighters, so Bass would have to include himself in the rotation That was, if enough didn't step up. "Anyone who would like to join please tell me now." He paused, waiting for anyone to speak up, before moving on. "For healers, I have Shaye, Nona, Starling when he returns from his trip, and Shai and Shrike if we include the Paluni in the list." Five. Uneven. Shaye was still young though, so was Starling. Maybe they could work together, each taking one wolf. Finally stopping, letting out a huff, before looking at Allen first, and then the rest of the pack. "Any questions?"

"Speech"
'thoughts'