Two weeks had come and gone, and it was time for the Glades to have another meeting. Well, technically, it was a bit more than two weeks, since Rhinestone was admittedly a bit late. He hadn't meant to be, but the last couple of weeks had been particularly eventful for him. Said events had sort of taken some of the energy out of him, and left him scrambling to make sure that he had his shit together. After all, he didn't want to jump on the meeting rock only to look as though he had just been hit by a freight train. So, once he felt as though he was settled and ready for things, the serval leaped up onto the meeting rock, claws catching against stone as he yanked his lanky body upwards. Once he was there, he turned and raised his voice to the sky, a small smile tugging at his muzzle, "All those old enough to brave the waves, gather for a Palm Glades meeting!" Although the last couple of weeks had been rough, Rhine couldn't help but be in high spirits. Sorbet had returned to them, and that was certainly something to be glad about.

Once a decently sized crowd had gathered around, Rhine immediately launched into things, not allowing his mind time to wander. Right now, his focus was solely on the first orders of business – welcomes. A small smile curled on his muzzle as he began to speak, "First things first... we had several new joiners in the last couple of weeks. So, I'd like everyone to give a big welcome to [member=15715]smokesignal[/member], [member=10687]laeglin[/member], [member=17318]magnum -[/member], and [member=590]CAESAR CIPHER.[/member] We're glad to have you all here, and we hope you become valuable members of the Glades family. We do have an optional ritual new joiners can take part in, called the Warrior's Plight. If you're curious about that, feel free to ask me or one of the other high positions about it." He was especially glad to welcome in Laeglin, considering he hoped that the other would find the Glades to be a decent place to settle down in. The other had been through so much, in such a relatively short amount of time... the legate then quickly shook his head, a soft hiss leaving him through his teeth. No time to dwell on that right now.

With welcomes out of the way, the feline then moved on, his expression momentarily falling as he spoke, "I am also sad to announce that Jaime is demoted from the gladiator position. He hasn't been seen in quite a while, so if you happen to see him... do make sure he's well, alright?" He looked the crowd over temporarily before briefly biting down on the inside of his cheek. After a moment of thought, his expression brightened slightly, and he continued onwards, "In better news... I've got several shout outs to give out. Medusa, Quasar, Foam, and Vaas... it has been good to see you all around lately. Please, keep up the good work. I'd also like to present Quasar with the title of Admirable Discens. Despite being so young, you've already accomplished so much, and I believe we should acknowledge that." He then dipped his head towards his son, wherever the brightly colored canine was in the crowd. It seemed like the right course of action, considering Quasar couldn't go much higher at the moment.

Rhinestone's black gaze then searched the crowd for another face in particular – Sorbet. The other had certainly been proving himself lately, even through the recent hardships. It was because of this that Rhine dipped his head in Sorbet's direction, speaking warmly, "In addition to those shout outs, I'd like to offer Sorbet a promotion to the position of either a centurion or a keeper – your choice. I'll also understand if you feel as though you can't accept at the moment, given recent... events." He was sure that Sorbet was at least a little bit rattled by his temporary death, and if the other wanted to take some time, Rhine certainly wasn't going to stop him. As he waited for the other's response, the legate also added, "We will also soon be having a couple of new apprentice ceremonies. Both Foamkit and Onyxkit will soon be old enough to ascend to the rank of discens, so I hope you'll all be there for the ceremony." The feline grinned in a slightly lopsided way at the both of them, one of them being his daughter and the other practically being a son to him. He was certainly excited to see where they would go in the future.

With his head still spinning with various bits of news that he needed to get across, Rhinestone decided to take a moment to catch his breath, purring out, "I have more news I'll be getting to, in just a moment..." Not only would it be a chance for him to catch his breath, but it would also give Sorbet a chance to respond, and others a chance to react to what had already been said.

The colorful mess trotted to the meeting, weaving between paws and munching on his tongue. “Welcome, welcome, you lot.” He grinned and nodded to each of the newcomers in turn, or, at least, the ones who showed for the meeting.

His fluffy ears flicked and he turned back to Rhinestonestar as he received a double wordy-wordy thingy. Shoutout and a title? Rad, pretty rad. “Thanks, Dadorito.” He shrugged, rubbed the back of a paw over his nose, and added, “For the record, I’m not interested in the primus position. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the Admirable Discens title, but I know it’s usually used in place of a promotion, when the individual is too young or some such obstacle. Yeah. I’m chill with staying centurion. Not like I could replace Medusa, anyway, who would want to follow an excellent woman like that?”

Hawthorn had been nearby and was listening to what was being said. He was use to everyone now and had taken it upon himself to scare some of the others since he had thought it was funny. Hawthorn sat near the edge of the group listening still before hearing Medusa. Hawthorn looked at her for a moment before looking back at Rhinestone.

It was a big mystery as to how he got roped into staying here while he healed up, but it was even more of a mystery to him that the leader even remembered to mention him what with how many others were in the clan besides himself. The young wolf could only give a curt nod at his brief mention and sit quietly as he considered this Warrior’s Plight with a bit of seriousness despite how odd the clan life felt and clashed with his old loner one.

Truth be told, Rhinestone wasn't really all that aggravated by being interrupted in the middle of a meeting. He had grown used to it, with how outspoken the majority of the Palm Glades happened to be. Thankfully, in this case, it didn't seem as though anyone was angry with what he had said – instead, they were just making themselves clear about their positions. Feeling a small smile come to his face, the serval dipped his head to both Quasar and Sorbet, speaking softly, "Noted, the both of you. Don't worry, Quasar, I don't intend to elect a second primus alongside Medusa unless there are some odd circumstances at play. And Sorbet... I certainly respect your decision. Just know that if you keep up your activity and you do want the position at some point, you can feel free to speak to me." That seemed reasonable enough, and he wasn't too upset by Sorbet not stepping up. The Glades was handling things fairly well at the moment, and Sorbet deserved to be comfortable with where he was at.

With that taken care of... he'd need to move on to something a bit more upsetting. A soft sigh left the legate before he hissed, dark gaze narrowing, "As some of you may know, I recently attended the monthly group meeting, alongside Quasar. For the most part, it was alright. The other leaders were surprisingly calm and friendly, and I think I gathered some valuable information. Unfortunately, the Coalition also decided to attend, and proceeded to make absolute fools of themselves at the proceedings. Truthfully, I've been considering whether we should raid them at some point, for supplies. After all, they're weakened and reeling from Stryker's death, and we may be able to get some valuable things with little pushback. However, I wouldn't make a decision like that without the opinions of the rest of you, so I will instead just present that idea to you, for you all to mull over." He dipped his head to those that were gathered before him, his jaws slightly clenched as he thought of the Coalition. It really would be perfect to attack them now, when they were at their weakest, and take what they needed to keep themselves afloat. However, the legate had pledged never to be a dictator, so he would instead let the masses decide.

Forcing himself to relax, the serval then moved on, his tail held high behind him as he smiled once again, "For recent group events... Medusa had a small bonfire, and Sorbet was showing off his gift giving skills. We also had a few visitors from The Typhoon. However, that is something I'll be going over more in the next meeting..." He trailed off momentarily, biting down lightly on the inside of his cheek in thought. He wasn't sure he wanted to mention the next thing, but... it was important, no matter how unpleasant. Sighing, he gestured off towards the forest, "We also... recently had a strange attack on one of our gladiators, Sorbet. He has luckily returned to us, but it was hardly a pleasant event. It is because of this that I ask everyone to be extremely careful while going out into the Twisted Forest. I don't want anyone else being lost to us." Sorbet's death had been a nightmare, and truthfully, they were just lucky that the other had returned.

Pushing past that – mainly for the sake of his own sanity – Rhine offered the crowd another tired smile, his tone returning to its former warmth, "I'd also like to thank everyone for your activity... as usual, it has been wonderful, and I'm proud of you all. In fact..." He paused for a moment, staring off towards the forest in thought before he continued, "...I'm thinking that we might have a little celebration, now that things have settled down. While things are still cool around here, I think it would be nice to have a little gathering, with ice skating and food, and to invite a couple of other groups. I think The Typhoon is definitely a good choice, but The Pitt may also be a good choice of invite as well, considering their leader, Gael, was quite polite to me at the monthly meeting. So... meeting dismissed, technically, but does anyone have any suggestions for any other groups to invite, or does anyone want to volunteer to deliver an invitation?" As he said that, he leaped down from the meeting rock, figuring it would be easier for him to hear from the crowd if he wasn't so high up.

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… what supplies do we need? Or, you know, what kinda valuable loot would a bunch of defeated conquerors even have? Not like we have a good idea what their new territory looks like… or what it looked like originally.” Quasar blinked. Like when Dadorito led them to the massive battle on the Typhoon’s island, he didn’t really care either way. “So. Yeah. Let’s fight ‘em, I guess, but for what, exactly?”

He flicked his yellow ears at the idea of an invite-y-invite thingy. “Yeah. Cool. I guess I could deliver an invite, since, I don’t wanna brag, but I did learn how to sorta-fly without wings.” A grin flashed on his toothy maw, and the sparkledoggo did a little dance in his seat. Clearly, Quasar was happy about finally being able to do some sort of magic intentionally, instead of fearing his electricity spazzing out and electrocuting an unlucky animal.