With the nearly unbearable heat of the day, Bass waited until the sun went down until he made his way to the rapids. The spray from the fast moving waters felt nice against his pale coat, making the man push out a relieved sigh. After the rough winter, he had been hoping for a nice summer but this was a little too much. It went from too cold to too hot, pushing down on him and making him feel like he was carrying another wolf on his shoulders. But honestly, he was a happier wolf than he had been a few seasons ago. Taking care of Storm's children had given him more energy and another task to focus his mind on. It was hard when he just constantly patrolled the area, nut the little ones made sure that there was always something for him to do. Licking at his lips, he hoped that his own children didn't mind. They were full grown now, but would they be jealous that he was spending his time with pups that were not his own? He hoped not, he was only doing what he thought best. Not only was Storm on her own, but she was blind and Abaven lands were not exactly the safest place. Between the rapids and the snakes in Serpent Plains, there were a lot of dangers to learn about. That and they didn't have a male role model, which was something that was very important. Bass hated that he didn't look for that with his kids, for them to have another woman to look up to and feel like they could talk to. It hadn't even crossed his mind, he was mourning over the fact that his mate had left him all by himself. Shaking his head, Bass rested with his back to the rapids and looked out over the land. It was odd to not call the meeting on top of his stone den, but it was a lot cooler here. He thought that his pack would appreciate this a lot more. There were a few things to speak about, but it was pretty clear that the Primo was in a better mood than he had been a few seasons ago. Tipping up his head he called out for the pack, a soft and sweet song. Bass called his family to him, a strong and proud look on his face as he lowered his head. Gone were the days of feeling sorry for himself, he wasn't going to spend the rest of his life in a terrible mood. Even though there were a few wolves missing, at least he had mostly happy news to discuss. ooc;// Yay meeting time! Attendance is mandatory, first round due by March 31st! "Talk" "You" Think

A song summoned the pack on the wind. It was the first trepid howl she had heard and she perked up instantly. Bass! She recognized his intonation; although a foreign medium, it was the same baritone voice. The heat had been oppressive today and she was almost glad that it was getting colder... Except that meant giving up the evening trips she loved to take; when it would be too cold to go far. The sun liked to seep right through her ebon pelt and she often complained, jealous of Corentine and Cloudburst, and sometimes even of Derecho for their lighter pelts. Her chestnut eyes were full of energy as she bounded towards Bass. "Bass!" She greeted with a yip, circling him. "What's going on?!"


OOC: Sorry its short, and for my recent slowness! I'm still around <3

Tyranis He bumbled toward the meeting spot. He didn’t want to wait for his family because he knew they definitely wouldn’t wait for him and yet when he arrived his sister, arguably the worst of the three was already there. He narrowed his eyes on her but wouldn’t say or do anything malicious while in the presence of Bass, especially when his mother most likely wasn’t too far behind. He moved past his sister without a word and took a seat in front of her, waiting for Bass to speak and hopefully for him to meet the rest of his would-be family. He was excited, but wouldn’t show it under his calm seriousness. Jumping around and yapping was for babies like Aella and Corentine, but not him. He was going to be a leader some day, and such childish behavior simply wouldn’t do. He watched Bass expectantly, a small smile on his lips as he waited for the alpha to address his people. text Speech

Lark was determined not to be late for the next pack meeting, especially after how he'd showed up to the previous one. He still didn't feel that interested in discussing his and Lillianna's relationship, and if he had even a sliver of chance to know when the next meeting would be called he would gladly avoid her that day. Lark found himself feeling grateful when he heard his father's call that he hadn't been with her this time, and thus wouldn't be late. Without hesitation, he headed in the direction of the call, ambling there gladly. He was glad to hear that his father's call had an air of positivity to it that he hadn't heard in quite some time, and when he approached the small group that had begun to gather he swore Bass looked younger than when he'd seen him last. An easy smile played at Lark's features as he settled down near his father, enjoying the lack of dread he felt -- pack meetings always seemed to bring drama and tension, no matter what, and he hoped this one would be different.

Sparrow thought two things were odd: her father's call was wrong in both place and tone. She came anyway. The heat nearly killed her, she thought. With her dense, fluffy coat, it felt like she was constantly dying in this weather. She made a point to soak herself the best she could before heading to the meeting, but now she was just hot AND wet and not in the good way.

Coming into the meeting, she realized she was still pretty early. There were two pups and Lark. Her heart tugged briefly- just barely- at the sight of pups. She used to get so excited at the sight of pups. What happened? Sparrow tried to shake the feeling and went up to Lark, leaning into him with her soppy coat.

"It's too hot. Per favore uccidimi."

Derecho makes her way to the origin point of Bass's call, head tilting to the side. Wildly curious as she moved, following scent and sound to a place she hadn't yet ventured. Holy crap. It was pretty neat down here, she had to admit. Pretty frickin neat. She's a little clumsy, but confident. Echo will own it. The rolling thunder sweeps in, eyes on the group. Bass was at their head, as she expected he would be. There was no use standing beside her siblings. She knew her siblings, and this was a chance to know people who weren't. Fireflies seemed to dance around her head, and she was more than happy to trollop her way beneath them. It's to the strangers, much larger than she, that she moves. She sits among them, tail thumping once. There is no look to Tyranis, sitting in front of Aella, pretending he's better. There is no look to Aella as she barks. No, but Derecho's eyes are shimmering slightly, glimmering with mischief and fluttering with firefly light. The rolling thunder is interested in what Bass has to say, sure, but she's more curious about the others around her. To Sparrow and Lark she looks, smiling softly, hopefully. What a nice night. heroes get remembered DERECHO WRECKAGE bad bitches never die

She had been hiding out in her den for most of the day to avoid the extra hot heat of the day, but when she heard her father's howl she knew she'd have to face at least a little bit of it. At least it was a little later now so it would be cooler than it would have been at noon. She was sure that was on purpose. Her daddy was thoughtful like that. She immediately made the short trip from her den to her father's, but she quickly realized that he wasn't there this time around. It took a moment to catch his scent on the breeze and turned around to hurry toward the rapids so she wouldn't be late! She spotted two of her older siblings and a trio of pups she didn't recognize. No sign of her littermate just yet, but perhaps she was earlier to the meeting than she thought she was. She smiled at her family members and looked at the pups curiously as she settled down on her haunches, her tail wagging softly behind her. She could tell her dad was happier than he had been recently and of course that made her happy as well and hopeful that this meeting might be more fun than they had been in the past. Now they just had to wait for everyone else to appear! "Talk" "You" Think

He wasn't sure where his mom had gone off to, but the alpha was calling everyone together and he was hesitant. He wanted to wait for his mother, but then if they came too late Bass probably wouldn't be happy...whining, he took a few long moments to think, and in the end decided to go on his own. He walked quietly towards the river, not really thinking about why the meeting was over this way. It was his first meeting after all, and he wasn't sure what to expect. Bi-colored eyes would spot a small gathering of wolves around Bass, most of his siblings included. He eyed Tyranis, Aella, and Derecho, though noticed that Corentine was not there yet. That was fine, less annoyance. Would Derecho and Aella be barking their heads off again? It was always so annoying when they did that...with pursed lips and not a single word, he sat towards the edge of the group off to the left, ears semi-flattened as he sat on his own, eyes half directed towards Bass and half directed at the ground. "Speak"

Well, it was finally happening. He was getting old, and still he was a single pringle. It was something that he had been weighed down with for some time, more so after Abaven's most recent batch of pups. It left him feeling like something was missing in his life. Something huge, and he wasn't sure if he would ever get to experience that. He had a mild crush on someone in the pack, but he knew better than to let it show. More for the sake that he knew that those feelings probably wouldn't be returned on account of her being a wolf, and he, a fox.

He sighed as he peered over the rocks that he was laying on, watching the tiny minnows darting around. "Even they're luckier than me..." He frowned, his forepaw slipping down until one claw was barely touching the water. It seemed not even fishing could cheer him up lately...as his eyes began to slowly drift closed, Bass' howl suddenly caught his attention. For once, he wasn't too keen on going to a meeting. He was feeling too depressed, and he wasn't sure if he would have a hard time trying to hide it. Then again, nobody would probably notice anyway.

Picking himself up off the rocks, he slowly made his way down the river until the gathering came into view. Not mant had shown, and he was pretty sure there were alot more members than he was seeing. Crimson gaze spotted Bass at the head of the group, and right away Dart forced himself to look like he usually did, and found a place to sit. Everything was just...fine.

She was back near the herb den helping her mother move around and organize her herbs, it was boring, but the girl liked to help out her mother so she did it without fuss. Her job was to help carry mouthful of herbs to different spots in the den where ever mom told her to put them. It wasn't a difficult task and the pup found she was able to complete what was asked with ease. It took most of the morning, but it was nice and cool underground in the herb den. She was exiting the den behind her mother when the howl rang through the pack territories. Her head perked as she looked towards the direction of the call. She recognized the voice as Bass, but didn't know what that howl meant. Looking up to her mother the girl waited for her to tell her what to do. "Come child the Primo has called the pack for a meeting," her mother's words were soft, but authoritative. She fallowed at her mother's side keeping up with her mother with ease since her mother went slower on purpose. It didn't take them long to reach the gathering spot, with the rapids behind Bass who was at the head of the group. Her siblings were scattered and she was confused as to where to go, so she tried to go in the middle sitting close to Aella, behind Tyranis, and somewhat close to Cloud. Echo was further away. She flopped down looking to Bass and wagging her tail. "Talk" & 'Think"

She was glad she had found one of her pups to help her out. It was much quicker to get those herbs moved when she had a helper. Corentine was a trooper the whole time and Storm was proud of her, glad that she had not fussed. She supposed she should start finding out what her kids wanted to do, if any of them wanted to heal she would easily be able to teach them. They were a little young yet, but Bass may still want them to get started with mentors. The only thing she wished was for her kids to all get along, but kids were kids. Moving from the den the hot sun hit her pelt and she flinched. It was a hot day and it almost made her want to crawl back into the cool herb den and spend the rest of the day. Bass' howl traveled through the territory and hit her ears. She perked them forward listening to the howl, it was calling the pack for a meeting. Flicking her tail the women flicked her ears. "Come child the Primo has called the pack for a meeting," her voice was soft yet firm as she spoke. She moved forward as a pace that her daughter could easily fallow. When they reached the meeting her daughter bounded ahead and Storm fallowed behind, catching the scents of her other children. Three of them were close to Corentine and Echo was off in the crowd which pleased Storm to see her so outgoing. She gently nuzzled Cloud, Aella, and then Ty (since he was at the vary front) before settling beside Cloud and waited for the meeting to start. "Talk" & 'Think"

He grunted as he lifted himself off the ground, his movements somewhat slow and a little stiff as he stretched out his bones. "I probably shouldn't take such long naps in one position..." He yawned, trying to shake off the drowsiness as he stretched out each leg one by one before arching his back. "Are you okay, Uncle?" "Hm?" Crimson gaze looked down to see his niece peering at him from just outside the den. She seemed to be doing okay, even after having found out about the death of her father. He still wasn't sure what to think about it. Whether or not it was a good thing or not that Quelt had passed away. He supposed he was alright with it, after all...he and his brother had grown pretty distant, and even more so after their last confrontation about Quake. "Lead the way, Midnight. I'm right behind ya." He lazily smiled as he nudged her, the girl turning around to lead the way to the meeting. He waited a few moments before deciding to follow, his pace slower and lackadaisical. He wasn't in a rush to get anywhere, he usually wasn't. It was always a habit of his, and he didn't plan on changing that anytime soon. It seemed the meeting place would not be in the usual spot this time, but rather it would be close to the river. The scents of a few members reached him, all familiar yet still strangers in a sense. He didn't really know anyone personally, but he was somewhat able to put a face to a name if he needed to. His gaze roved around until he spotted the blind healer, Storm if he recalled, and went over to her. "Hello." He sat down opposite of her child, shoulders rolling slightly as he looked down and smiled at the pair before looking up at the sky. And so came the daydreaming as he waited for things to start. "Speech"

She'd been out in the plains today, studying the snakes that inhabited the lands. Kakashi had taught her how to tell apart the poisonous ones and the ones that weren't poisonous, though she wondered sometimes if snake venom could be used for...medicinal purposes. How would she even get close enough to one in the first place to test it? She peered over a ledge, spotting a small black snake, but her brows furrowed in dismay when she noticed it was just a plain old garter snake. As she pressed on to the next spot, Bass' howl pierced the air and she listened until it faded away. She noted that it held a different note than usual, and for once it didn't sound so...angry. Was something good happening? She only wondered. She quickly trotted towards her uncles den, making it just in time to see him waking up from another nap. "Are you okay, Uncle?" "Hm?" She looked up at him as he nodded. She knew he had heard the howl, that was the only reason he had gotten up, right? "Lead the way, Midnight. I'm right behind ya." She smiled as he nudged her, the girl turning around to lead the way towards the river. It wasn't the usual meeting place, but at this point in the day she didn't mind. It was cooler near the water, and maybe she might even be able to sit in the shallows to try and hide her heat scent. Oh gods...she almost forgot about that...crap! How embarrassing! She inwardly groaned as her good mood quickly disappeared the moment she remembered she was in heat. Her ears flattened to her skull, and as they got closer, the more shy and embarrassed she got. Her uncle drifted off to sit next to her mentor, and she slunk off to the very edge to quietly sit in the very shallows of the water, and hoped to the stars that nobody noticed anything... "Speak"

She both wanted to play with the pups, and didn't want to play with the pups. Wanted to, because they were simply so... amazing. Didn't want to, because it just brought desires that could not be satisfied. And thus, she, so far, has spent naught time with the pups. In fact, she hadn't seen them since their birth, though she alwas found their scent plastered over by Storm's den. Along with Bass's. That caused a weird conflict of feelings, though she generally just dismissed that negative one, not fully getting it - not that it was anything more than fleeting, anyway, so she just mainly noticed the... good one. Which was, of course, happiness. The pups were drawing Bass out of his shell... which was beyond good, really.

As Vali headed towards the call, she smiled slightly to herself. Yes, it was definitely good, she thought. And it only showed as she showed up to the meeting and Bass was standing, looking... not defeated. Looking the way he should. Her slight smile widened to a grin as she sought to make eye contact with him, before she threw herself down next to Storm. "How are you doing?" she asked the other healer quietly. It'd been a bit since the birth, and it looked like all pups were good - but she still wanted to ask.

Oh, whoops, a call, what? Okay, so she might not want to arrive late this time. Nope, nada, never. She refused a repeat of last time, so when she heard that call, she spun back around and scuttled her ass straight back onto pack lands from where she was aimlessly wandering with her companion. Okay, yep, definitely a good thing that she was not with Lark with this meeting being called. Yeahh...

Snorting to herself, she hurried to the meeting. Not the first to arrive - even Lark beat her, and she spotted Sparrow sitting next to him - but also not the last. She scurried up to where the siblings sat, dipping her head somewhat respectfully to Sparrow in greeting before sitting down on the other side of Lark and focusing her attention on Bass. She still didn't like Sparrow - the wolf just seriously rubbed her the wrong way, but eh, whatever; it made no difference in the long run. It'd been so long since the two even spoke, it wasn't even worth holding on to the animosity and pissiness.

Crap crap crap, she was so late. Panting, she raced back towards Abaven territory as fast as her legs could carry her. She had been out wandering when her father called, pretty far out. She was lucky that she had even heard his howl, her ears straining to pick it up. Panicking, she had taken off and completely forgot to tell Civetta that they were leaving. Her paws ate up the ground under her, and by the time she ran into pack lands she noticed that they weren't in the plains. Blinking, she tried to catch her breath as she looked around. Did she... imagine it? No, she couldn't have. Spinning around, she started to sniff around and noticed that everyone's scent was leading into rapids. Oh, okay. Finally she arrived, sheepishly grinning at her father as she flopped on her belly beside Vali. Lark looked a little surrounded at the moment, and that wasn't something she felt like getting tangled into. Her pale blue eyes peeked around, noticing that while her father was in a better mood, much of the pack wasn't here. Hopefully it wouldn't dampen Bass' brighter spirits. --

NOTE FROM EVE: Because of my absence and the fact that a lot of wolves are missing still, I won't be posting Bass until tomorrow.

It really wasn't at all unusual for Merlin to be running dreadfully, incredibly late for meetings, so him barreling in long after nearly everyone else was there was hardly unexpected. What might have been unexpected was the fact that for once he was not covered in mud, and he was proudly flipping a hare in the air and catching it as he bounced in. Luckily (???) for the hare, it had been dead before he'd started his game of catch, so it was in no shape to protest the rough treatment. Prancing up he dropped his catch (a little the worse for wear) at Finch's paws and slathered her with wet kisses. "Hey, Finch! I caught you a bunny!" Well, he hadn't caught it specifically FOR Finch, but she was here and he was here and it was here, so why not! Like Finch, he flopped on his belly, and then sought to drape one forepaw over her shoulders and snuggle into his smaller sister's shoulder.

From her graceful walk, one might have been hard pressed to guess that each step was somewhat hesitant, halting, from stiff and painful joints. Her serene visage gave no hint of it, certainly, nor her carefully groomed, soft pelt. Still, she was rarely so late as this when Bass called meetings, and it was with a faint chagrin that she realized that even her ne'er-do-well nephew Merlin had beaten her to the group. Moving carefully, she settled down beside her brother and pressed into his shoulder, smiling at the yipping pup who bounced around him. Goodness, she had missed a great deal. They certainly weren't Bass' pups - the Destructions tended to be a rather distinctive lot, Merlin aside - but it was good to see pups in the pack again regardless. She had long ago given up hope for pups of her own - she could not in good conscience risk passing her disorder on to pups - but there were still her nieces' and nephews' pups to look forward to, someday. Perhaps.

Late.

Pyrrhus wanted to tell herself that it was with a reason that she lagged in getting to Abaven’s meeting. But what excuse could there be? She was sad that Renhettt had left? Pathetic. She’d barely known the woman. Then was it something else? Something on a deeper level? A sense of abandonment perhaps? Maybe that was it. Pyrr shook her head, desperately fighting the fog that had started to claim her mind. She couldn’t live her life like this. Wolves came and went. Wolves were birthed. Wolves died. That was just how things were.

Her ears were lowered as Pyrr slunk into the meeting, perhaps the last member to arrive before Bass spoke. She hardly looked at him, her heart clenching in her chest. Right now she didn’t want to be around others, but for the sake of not being demoted she had still showed. Pyrrhus wasn’t sure what could bring her out of her current funk. Even the thought of battle seemed to make the woman have a heavy heart. Somewhere in her conscious she was wondering what the point of things were. What she was really fighting for.

…she’d found a home… but then felt displaced. The female shook her head back and forth, doing her best to dismiss the feelings within her body. Perhaps she could make a patrol after the meeting… maybe that, or some company, might improve her downcast mood.

Asha hadn't spent much time in Abaven lately and one could tell from the way her unkempt fur was sticking up in all directions. She had some dirt on her legs and it was obvious she hadn't cared about bathing too much. Why bathe when she was just going to get dirty again? She traipsed back into one of Abaven's lands, perhaps a bit too far away when Bass called, and stopped in her tracks. She'd arrived just in time for a meeting it seemed, but she was dirtier than the equivalent of two children and it didn't seem as though she had time to clean herself up. She managed to shove a few clumps of fur down before she raced towards the meeting, but was surprised to see it wasn't in the usual location. Needless to say she was pretty late when she arrived, but just in time enough to notice that Bass hadn't started speaking yet so that was a good sign. She glanced around for a moment, taking note of all the new puppies, before she spied Pyrrhus and padded over to her and sat down with a grin. "What's up chicken wing." She greeted the large woman in a friendly and joking manner, considering they'd met when the red woman had caught what they later learned was a chicken. The nickname seemed fitting. Walk, "Talk" Think