“So he’s not coming back?”
“As far as I am aware, no.”
Kass was struggling to explain the situation to his team mates around their team’s kitchen area. Vel sat curled up in his chair, Kohgrah was angry and Abius was naked as usual.
“Gath has left us to deal with everything ourselves?” Kohgrah snapped.
“Considering that I’ve been running the show for a month now, I don’t know why this is bothering you so much. Now that the arenas are back in action, we can finally make some money again!”
Vel tutted. “It will not be easy without Gath’s guidance.”
“No, it won’t be!” Kass quickly countered. “In fact, considering that the Banikans are getting more official teams and there’s rumours that there will be a full Thraki Thanatian team come December, I want to get us up, moving and at the top of the leader board as fast as physically possible. Without getting anyone killed.”
Again, Vel tutted. “You do not have the strategic prowess that Gath has. We will be torn apart swiftly. Metaphorically at least.”
Kass was starting to get agitated with Vel’s constant pessimism. He slammed down a fewsheets of paper in anger. “The reason we started losing matches lately is because of Gath’s one weakness. When he’s not in the field himself, he makes bad calls. No offense, Abius, but had Gath been in your place and seen things from our point of view, we would be winning far more!”
“We do have plenty of room for improvement though!” Abius added. “Also, none taken.”
Kass nodded in agreement and picked up the paper he had thrown. “Of course. There is ALWAYS room for improvement! We’ve been neglecting our practice sessions during the city clean-up, and we need to get back into a regular schedule, which is partly why I wanted to have this meeting. It’s going to be really hard getting back into the swing of things, especially with us having to coach ourselves, but I think bringing our calls back into the arenas will really help.”
“What does this mean for me?” Abius asked. “Am I still subbing for the team while Gath is away doing… whatever it is that Gath is doing?”
“Better than that!” Kass’s eyes lit up. “You’re an official starting member of the team now. Beginning of next month, you’ll start getting a new salary for being a team member. Anything we make on top of our living salary, we get to keep 10% of. Rest of it goes to the normal place.”
“10%? That’s pretty damn good! Fucking amazing even!” Abius seemed excited. “I was getting 2% at my old job…”
Kass checked the many sheets of paper scattered around the table, but their optimism was once again interrupted by Vel.
“Why isn’t Gath coming back? Why is he leaving us? You didn’t explain that earlier.”
“Because… I don’t know. He said something about new responsibilities yet wouldn’t tell me anything else. Retvik is definitely involved but I’m not sure how. Part of me wants to say “kids” but Gath’s always had problems there…”
Vel shrugged uneasily. “I guess we shall find out at some point.”
“I’m sure he’s fine!” Abius beamed. “Gath is a big, strong Ethran-type, he can look after himself. But back to all this, when do we start?”
“Right now, I guess…”