ooc: This will be liquid timed to be set a couple of weeks after the Natalya x Catalya DM. Just be a little vague if need be. Natalya should be dead by this point either way, but ya know, whateves. FIRST POST DUE BY 2/26! She was hanging on to Pantheon by a thread. She knew that. She wasn't sure how much the other members realized this fact, but she had realized it long ago. However, when she awoke that morning she felt determined to get Pantheon back on the road to being the kingdom she knew it could be. She knew there wouldn't be many here to train... but that didn't meant that those that were here should miss out on these important training sessions. After all, her daughters were among those few. When she was their age she had already begun her rigorous training in battle. She knew she was soft on them, but before long they would have to begin choosing their specialties and she didn't want them to make uneducated decisions on them. If she was honest with herself she hoped Desponia might lean more toward healing, but it was hard to say at this age. Padding toward the center of the Estuary, she ended up settling on her haunches on one of the larger pieces of solid ground there before lifting her muzzle to let out a howl. She would call together the few members of her small, but proud, pack and they would hone their skills. They were small and ill prepared for any sort of war or attack. It was high time for them to begin changing that. Her call faded into an ego and she lowered her head, her silver gaze glancing around her to watch for any of her approaching pack mates while she made a mental list of every one of them. Helios, Timaeus, Hercules, Hera, Desponia, Thantanos, and Conan. She hoped they would all show themselves. She would hate to have to punish any of them. "Talk" "You" Think

Hercules wouldn't hesitate to rise to his paws and head toward his aunt's call. He had shoved all of the emotions around his mother and the recent happenings in the pack to the back of his mind. It wasn't something he wanted to think about or address. In fact, he hoped no one would bring it up or even look at him with sympathy today because of it. He only wanted to focus on this training and work on making himself stronger. He wanted to protect his family and right now he wasn't positive he could do that. It didn't matter that he was pretty big and muscled for his age, if he didn't have the skills to use it then what good was it? He came toward his aunt and settled on his haunches near her, giving her a small, only slightly forced smile. "Hello, aunt Phoebe." "Talk" "You" Think

Only slightly late this time, the cinnamon shaded Mneme skittered onto the scene. Her face held a wide, toothy grin and her warm sunset eyes shined in anticipation of what was to come - even though she didn't really understand why her aunt had called them here (she'd been much happier chasing the territory's resident ducklings). Her movements were quick and restless as she bounced around her older brother's seated form and took up a spot beside him; she was not resting of course, she was on her feet, squirming and fidgety as she waited for her litter mates and father to catch up with her and make their way here.

The child's tail continued to wag as her head shook in every which way, her patience waning with every second that went by. She looked just as joyful and eager as she did every day, her mother's memory filling her with feelings such as confusion and curiosity rather than sadness; the thoughts of Natalya were not gone from the girl, but were very slight and fading fast. Depression and gloom were unheard of in the mind of Mnemosyne and she understood little on the topic of her mother's illness - no one had the heart to explain it yet either, and even if they did Mneme would be affected little, it was hard to miss someone you knew little of.

"What're we doing, Auntie?" came the pup's chipper question. It seemed that the summer's scalding temperatures only made Mneme more wriggly than usual, but it also made her, well, hot. It was quite apparent that she'd be enjoying a dip in the tadpole infested waters of the estuary, had she not been here, by the way her maw opened, and her tongue fell free, to allow for a noisy panting.

His aunt had said that soon she would hold a fight training, though, with the passing of his mother, and all the ordeals at the death match, things had been hard. Thanatos had no regrets -- he stood for what he had believed to be right, even if he carried the battle with him. Thanatos had never felt so alive, so full of energy and the will to fight. The scent of blood excited him, dancing with death lurking on the battlefield. It had been a sensation unlike any other, though he refused to let that thrill cloud his judgement, his state of being. The young man would make his way to where Phoebe had called from, his tail flicking slowly, lazily, back and forth, as he found himself caught in his head. When he arrived he would find Hercules there. He had interacted with the other a bit as a pup, though he wouldn't call them extremely close. There was also one of Natalya's youngest already present. Mneme. Thany would come close to her, giving a small nod to Phoebe before sitting down beside the little one. "Hello there... Mnemosyne." The boy would speak in his usual slow tones, though his words were kind to the young femme. "Listen to me talk," 'but read my thoughts.'

Table by:: Lolaf

Hera heard her mother's howl and her ears would perk up with curiosity. She remembered her mother mentioning something about training and stuff a few nights ago when they were all laying in the den one night, but Hera had thought nothing of it. She hadn't found a motivation to do anything besides explore and play, but if her momma wanted her to learn this stuff then she guessed she would! She hopped up and trotted over toward where her mother had called them and when she arrived she saw that there were just a few there already, all of them her cousins. Hercules and Thanatos were older than her, Menem younger. She trotted up to her mother and reached up to kiss her cheek before turning to go over and sit between Hercules and Thanatos. She wondered where her sister could be, but she was sure she would show up eventually. Speech Others Thinking

The girl had no idea what was going on, only that her sister had strayed away from her. She could only figure that Mneme was answering the call of their aunt. She was too little to understand what the howl was for but the young child knew that it was important. But what the girl did know was that she desperately needed to be close to her siblings even more than before. Or just a family member in general. When she had woken from her dosing to find herself alone she was in a near panicked state. The loss of her mother had turned Philotes into a desperately clingy child... especially to her mudball of a sister who seemed to tolerate her company a bit better than their brother.

Philly would come tumbling into the meeting, nearly crashing into Mnemosyne as she arrived. Mind wasn't even focused on Phoebe or any of the others there. She would press up to Mneme's side, wincing some at her coat getting dirty. But she needed contact. She would give a soft whine, almost pitiful. "You left me..."

"Speech"
'thoughts'

Art by Evelyn

As they all began to file in she looked around and realized with a disheartening sigh that almost all of them were children. Yes, she acknowledged the fact that a few of them were at least yearlings, like Hercules and Thanatos, but to her they were all children. After all, she was five years older than the oldest one here. She also realized that there were several members not in attendance. In fact, not a single older member, like her brother, husband, and brother-in-law, decided to show. Her ear flicked in irritation, but she tried her best to hide this from the kids as they gathered. After she had given her nephew, Hercules, a smile and a nod at his greeting she looked to one of Natalya's youngest, Menemosyne, when the girl asked what they would be doing. "We're going to be training, darling," she told the girl with a smile. A few more filed in, including one of her daughters, who came over to give her mother a kiss before going to sit down. Phoebe smiled and cast a loving look toward Hera before looking to Thanatos and Philotes. She waited several more minutes, but it seemed no one else would be coming. With a sigh, she cleared her voice and spoke up to give them all instructions for today. "Thank you for coming. We are going to train to fight today. This isn't something you can learn in one day and one spar will barely scratch the surface, but it will be a start! I mainly wait all of you to pay attention to your defenses and work on watching your opponent. The more prepared you can be for their attack the better off you'll be." She looked around and tried to figure out a way to pair them all off. Of course, there was only five of them here... "Hercules and Thanatos, why don't you spar together and I'll work with Hera, Philotes, and Menemosyne on some defenses and moves so the next time we train they'll be ready to spar as well." She smiled and looked to the younger members. Besides maybe Hera they were really too young to be expected to go into a full on fight awayway. OOC note: I will start a separate pup training thread for Phil, Mnem, and Hera. There can be a separate thread for the Herc x Thany spar as well. ooc note for myself: Helios, Timeaus, Desponia, Conan, Aether. "Talk" "You" Think