The Grounds: After Dark

[redwerecat]

((Because certain characters seem to be only active at night. Like...wherlings. If you need me to fix anything here, just say so. But uh...yeah. Trinsk totally has heatvision.))

It was cool, now, with a damp-smelling breeze gusting in over the weyrbowl. A woman made her way across the edge of the bowl, wrapping her heavy sweater closer around her thin shoulders. A large creature walked beside her, gait strange and somewhat off the norm for a dragon.

Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be a young watch-wher, lumbering amicably alongside his bonded. The blue of his hide shone with a healthy tint, and he seemed to be quite fascinated by his surroundings, often stopping to sniff at something, or inspect another. He never seemed to be able to dwell long, though, as the woman would turn and snap at him irratably if he dawdled too long.

Trinity snarled a command once again, trying to cach the dammned beast's attention once more.
"Wher! Would you hurry up? it's going to rain, and I have no desire to freeze to death while you look at some flower." Her patience was wearing thin, and they'd taken nearly forty-five minutes to simply reach the feeding grounds.
Trinsk pulled his head away from a holly bush, crooning softly in apology as he shuffled to catch up. He watched hisprettyoneTrinity's warm glow as she angrily paced away from him, and he scuffed one foreclaw along the ground. Trying to make her see that he was sorry, he sent her wordless flashes of emotion; sorrow, love, and shame, and pictures of her pretty red-yellow-white heat signature, never far ahead, indicating that he was keeping up just fine. He didn't understand when she shuddered and began to walk faster. He just bobbed his head in agitation and followed.

Trinty tried to block the blue menace from her head, but he always seemed to be able to edge his way in somehow. She cast her thoughts elsewhere, finding the colorful mental signature of Hama, who was right now curled up in their den. She was almost releived by the muted dreams coming from the tiny gold, but the queen woke when she felt Trinity's mind. Hama sent her worried images of the blue wher, tinted with an almost frantic worry for the little one. Trinity scowled, and grumbled to herself, but assured the firelizard Trinsk was indeed just fine.
(Sharding flitter. Ever since the defected blue had hatched, all she'd done was worry over it. Didn't Hama realize it was just some creature? Hardly even worth the attention of a senile runnerbeast.)

Trinsk brushed past her suddenly, pausing to nudge Trinity's hip with his muzzle to inform her tha he was going to feed now, and to wait for him, and scurried across the little distance left to the feeding grounds. With a pleased growl, he stalked around the pens for a bit, finally pausing and selecting a large turkey to feed on for the night. He had no fear that he was not allowed to feed here; the bigones had told him he was welcome to the food, and that he didn't need to wait for hisprettyshinyTrinity to bring him his meals in this new place. He ate happily, burying his muzzle in warm meat and feathers.

Trinity glared at him, sneering slightly as her charge touched her. She resisted the urge to wipe at the spot where his gnarled form had brushed against her, instead just taking the excess of her skirt in hand and climbing onto the railing of one of the pens to wait for the beast to finish. And the sooner the better; she could nearly smell the rain, and she most definitely didn't welcome the prospect of getting drenched if the stupid wher couldn't finish fast enough. At least at this time of night there were hardly any dragons out; that was at least one luxury. She didn't know if she could bear the sight of them right now- even these dragons, the ones deemed as unworthy of Pernese Weyrs, were still alive, still given a chance, still adored by their human counterparts.

And here she was stuck with a creature not even the holders respected. She clenched her fists into the material of her skirt, wrinkling the fabric and twisting it angrily between her fingers. At least dragons were respected, looked up to, feared- even the ones like that white Ruth. Not whers, not ever. She glanced over at Trinsk, his muzzle shining with the blood of the wherry-like fowl, and fought back a wave of revulsion. Idiot creature.
Couldn't the monster just finish so they could leave before they were notcied?

[yaoiwafflez]

((Redkitteh, K'ryn makes a triumphant entrance with the sole purpose of aggravating the hell out of your Trinity. So...the normal.
Also, feel free to kill me for the history I'm filling in. You sort of implied it earlier about them, but I can change this.))

K'ryn grinned as he held on for dear life. Synth had nearly thrown him off three or four times already in her eagerness to stretch her wings, and K'ryn, being the absolute genius he was, had opted to do without the flight harness for the short trip to the feeding grounds.

That had been a mistake on his part.

Synth banked a hard left, and K'ryn made a startled noise and shifted to keep his balance.
"Pretty one, maybe it would be wise if you tried your death-defying acrobatics when I wasn't in danger of plummeting to my death..." He shouted.
Coward! The sun has kept me in the darkness of my weyr until now, and this night, my wings finally do not tear from my illness! Synth sounded almost pleading, and, just to be contrary, she angled out into a steep dive towards the feeding grounds.

K'ryn sighed, and stretched along her neck, letting her have her fun. He couldn't say no to her on a good day, and she was right- the medicine the doctors had been treating her with had finally taken the pain from her wings, and she'd been nearly mad with the urge to fly again since the early morning. Synth rumbled happily and leveled out just above the lake, speeding along it with her tail just grazing the surface, sending up a spray of water in her wake.
Thank you, beloved. I do not care even if it rains, I am simply happy to fly once more without pain.

She arced up once more, but with the feeding grounds coming up close, she simply shifted to an altitude just high enough to not batter anyone who may have been present with the wind from her wings. She landed still going at a fairly decent clip, transitioning into a gentle trot as she hit the ground.
Oh. My darling, there is another here...I do not know if she is a rider...[/i] The pale green glanced around the feeding grounds as K'ryn slid down her foreleg to the ground.
I see now. She is the new-arrived wherhandler. There is a blue by the fowl pens. As you were. I shall feed now. Enjoy yourself- she is very pretty.[/i]
K'ryn blew raspberries at her as she left.
You know, I DO have standards.
That is a lie, and we both know this. [/i]

Ignoring his dragon's affectionate ribbing, he walked over to the woman perched on the fence. Synth was right- she was pretty. He smiled, then quickly hid the expression. His green certainly knew his taste, didn't she? Though a little rumpled, he decided. Perhaps it was just an adjustment to the nocturnal shcedule of where... She seemed angry, if the scowl on her face was any evidence. He almost debated not disturbing her.
Almost. Good judgement was hardly his forte.

"Greetings. It certainly seems like a nice night, doesn't it?" He said kindly, leaning on the rail she was sitting on a rather safe distance away; enough to keep her comfortable, but close enough to be slightly more than merely friendly. He tilted his head to one side and glanced at her again, now that he was closer. She was definitely unhappy with something. He frowned.
"Are you..."

This was the point where he paused. Something about her was setting of alarms in his memory. Blonde, long hair, skinny...no, he couldn't quite remember a name, nor anything past the fact that he felt he recognized her from somewhere...
He glanced over at the pens, watching as Synth fed on one of the fluffy, wooly, caprines...sheep. Right. That's what they were called here...at least the fluffy ones.

Wait. White fur...he stood up striaght, recognition dawning on him. He looked back at the wherhandler woman, and his eyes went wide. Put her in black hide with a fur-trimmed jacket and...
Oh dear.

"You're one of Fort's dragonhealers..." He said, looking a combination of stunned and thrilled. She'd been ...a bluerider. He'd practically been her stalker when he'd first been a weyrling at Fort. She had just...exuded this confidence...and with his own personality, he seemed to remember a good number of conversations, and even a certain incident after her blue had failed to catch one time...and when her blue had caught Synth...OH.

Her blue...K'ryn remebered it all much more clearly now. That day when Gomascth and L'mae had gone between. And the blue that had been killed...that had been hers. He looked over at the woman, trying his best not to stare.
"Trinity? I thought you...I mean. You were- that is...here?"

[redwerecat]

(('S all good, waffles. And...damn. Trinity's such a dramallama. And a witch. Oh, I probably shouldn't enjoy torturing her this much.))

Trinity flinched visibly at the sight of the ghostly green overhead. Shards. ShardsshardsSHARDS! She'd been happier alone. A pang of longing shot through her, as she watched the green play in the air. She could remember a time when ...
She pulled in a sharp breath, closing her eyes against the world. Breathing deeply, she calmed herself, forcing the pain away as she'd learned to do over the years.

Trinsk yowled as he felt her anguish, lifting his head from his meal and looking at his prettylove. His round, orblike eyes shimmered with orange-yellow as he worried about his beloved, and he sent her tentative thoughts, trying to ease her pain.
Sad? He sent, alongside vivid images of her crying, and a wave of deep grey and blue colors vaguely shaped like a dragon. Lonely. He finally figured out, as he saw the green dragon soar into the feeding grounds, making the connection with the memories of the great blue that caused her to hurt sometimes. He sent images of himself to her, and them together. Then he matched that with the image of her crying, and one of her he had to fabricate of Trinity with her arms around the wher's neck...she'd never touched him that much, ever. She barely even made contact when she oiled him.
In his own way, he was trying to tell her he was there for her, but he could feel the distance she put between them before he could even begin. He crooned mournfully and went back to his meal, bobbing his head every so often as he watched the green dragon out of his peripheral vision. She made him nervous. He awkwardly shuffled his feet, staring down at the ground and backing up with a whimper. The big green did not greet him, but no dragons did. But he was afriad she would try, and he did not want that. He didn't like the feeling.

Trinity hissed softly and shoved Trinsk's thoughts away, disgusted by the fact that she couldn't even hide her emotions from that idiot beast. And how had he known what she was thinking of? She made a mental note to keep her thoughts more veiled if that monster was going to be eavesdropping like that.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the greenrider slide to the ground, and silently, stoically ignored as he seemed to look her over. Pig. But weren't all greenriders like that? She snorted audibly in derision and stared straight ahead. Though she didn't mean to, she examined the green dragon. What was wrong with her? She seemed...so pale. And her wings...had she been attacked or something?

When the man finally reached her, she dreaded what would come next. She could almost predict it by this point; for some reason, her being out here with that sharding wher seemed to invite conversation. Didn't these people know how to enjoy silence? Why did they always have to crowd the air with words, stupid, inane, words that did nothing but aggravate her? She didn't want to talk, obviously, or she'd have said something first. People here were so blasted cheerful all the time.

Oh, and he was flirting, it seemed. She was perfectly aware he was closer than was generally formal, but she didn't grace his presence with a response. Nice night? Hardly. it bas freezing, and going to rain, and the present company was hardly making it better. He seemed to trail off, and she half hoped the imbecilic young man had picked up on her disintrest.
Apparently not.
He was Fortian? Blasted man. Now he'd start asking questions. YES, she'd been a dragonhealer, could he shut up? ..had been what she'd intended to say. But he cut her off.

He knew her name. He knew her NAME. HE KNEW HER NAME.
She snapped her head around to glare at him, her eyes wide with a mixture of panic and anger. Trinsk, in the pens, whined again, unsure if he should go to her side.

"You know me? Congradulations. Lots of riders at Fort did. Am I supposed to know you?"
She made a show of looking him up and down, sneering slightly.
"I think I'd remember. Those braids make you look like a fool. But..." She frowned, and glanced over at his green. Darken the skin some...make him a little younger...she growled softly. Oh, she remembered him. Foolhardy, impetuous, and so full of life. She'd been almost infatuated with him for a little while there, and she remembered waking up with him on more than one occasion after a flight. But why in the name of the first queen was he here?

"K'ryn, was it? Yes, here. I could ask the same of you, if you'd stop stammering like a brain-damaged wherry." She said, her voice icy. "Or are you just surprised to see me still functioning? I rather expect you'd have thought me reduced to a blithering mess after..." She couldn't finish the sentence, not even to spit her rage at the greenrider. Her voice dropped to a strained whisper, with the heaviness that implied tears that were being held back.
"What do you want?"

[yaoiwafflez]

K'ryn stared at her, now unsure wether he was doing so because he was still stunned at seeing her or bowled over by her abject animosity.
"Uh." Was all he managed, rather eloquently.

Synth cast her gaze back at K'rynworried momentarily, but a mental shove let her know he was just confused, not in any danger. Returning to the matter at hand- dinner- she eyed some of the animals still grazing at this hour with interest- she'd had little more than some scraps (by her standards) and that one small sheep was hardly enough. That silly runner-like one...no, she'd been forbidden from eating those. They were apparently used like runners, but seemed to have more of an emotional effect on their handlers. Horses? That seemed about right.

That herdbeast was too big...and no more caprines out tonight. With a low huff of distaste, she regarded the two-limbed, two-winged wherries in their pen. While they certainly looked tasty (albeit smaller than the wherries on Pern) she was turned off by the blue wher feeding in the area.

She wasn't biased, really. But NO dragon was particularly fond of their imperfect cousins. And this one was wierd anyway. It kept making strange sounds. Did they normally do that? She couldn't remember the other watchwher being so...obnoxious. With a haughty growl, she snapped a bird's neck in her jaws and pulled it back to the relative sanctity of the empty pasture she rested in. No need to get close.

K'ryn listened with a mixture of awe and horror as Trinity spoke. So she DID remember him...and not fondly, it seemed. Ouch. And here he'd been thinking his hair looked good. What in the skies was making her this nasty? Teasing, and definitely infuriating (but wasn't that the way with all women?) but not this...mean. And then...

Minelove, remember. Would you be happy if I were gone?[/i] Even just the mention of something that...unimagineable made Synth's thoughts dim with sandness. What if he was happy with her gone?
K'ryn was quick to reassure her. NO! Don't EVER think that. I could never... His mind went blank as he realized he was being an absolute idiot. Here he was about to tell Synth he'd never want to live without her, and he had the nerve to wonder what had changed trinity's personality?

Of course. He watched her a moment longer, closing his eyes and resting his head on his forearms on the rail as her sentence abruptly cut off. It didn't take a harper to catch the inflection in her voice. He wondered vaguely if he should say something, do something, but he ultimately decided it would do little good. When she asked him what he wanted, he took a while to reply.

"...I don't want anything. I was just...trying to make conversation, I guess. Sorry." His voice was muffled by his arms, but it was clear enough to carry the tone of mixed sympathy and insult to the woman.
"I didn't mean to insult you. I was just surprised to see you. I mean...I hadn't heard anything about you after...that. To find you here is almost impossibly unlikely."

[redwerecat]

Trinsk watched the palegreenone with not a small amount of worry. When she approached the turkey pen he cried out softly and backed away, tucking his chin into his chest and shuffling away from her. What if she was to try and challenge him? He was still only half-finished with his meal, but he wasn't about to dare challenge a dragon like her.

He was relieved when she only growled at him and selected her own bird. He was even more relieved when she seemed to regard him with some displeasure and retreat back to the goat pen. That meant she wouldn't try to bother him. After watching her carefully for a few minutes, he crawled back over to his food- yes, crawled. It hardly seemed possible for the little blue to get closer to the ground than he was naturally, but he managed it, slinking along with his belly scraping the dirt.

Sending a flurry of confused and unhappy images back to hislovelyonehe'dchosen he continued eating, every so often whimpering out loud and scooting further from the green dragon he still seemed unsure of.

Trinity watched coldly as Trinsk had one of his panics, and chose to ignore him mentally.
"Wher, finish up quickly. The damn dragon won't do anything. Just eat." She called out to him, her voice flat and tinged only with annoyance. She was trying to ignore the man nearby, and failing. Why the hell was he still talking? Hadn't he gotten the point yet? Apparently not.

Oh. She noticed (not that she was watching him, but she happened to notice, out of the corner of her eye) the way he seemed to flicker between emotions. She noticed the rather particular look in his eyes and guessed he was talking with the green who her sharding charge seemed to petrified of. It wasn't difficult to assume, and his silence and expression were almost disgustingly obvious, if you knew what to look for.

Blast. He'd laid his head down and shut his eyes. Maybe the dragon had had a modicum of common sense and told him to shut up. Or perhaps Trinity had just insulted him. She rather hoped it wasn't the latter. She certainly had no intention of apologizing, anyway. The he opened his mouth again. DAMNIT.

"...Impossible...yes. I suppose if life were at all fair, I'd still be one of Fort's dragonhealers. Unfortunately, since life seems quite satisfied NOT being at all forgiving, I'm stuck here with a mentally disabled idiot of a beast who seems quite unwilling to leave me alone." She sighed and tugged absently at a strand of hair that had fallen across her face, then sighed. Trinsk glanced over his shoulder and crooned quitely at her, but she again ignored him.
"Why are you here, then? Something wrong with Synth, I assume?"

Bugger. She hadn't meant to do that- start a conversation. But since the blue monstrosity seemed to have little concept of time and hurrying, she may as well find out what had brought K'ryn to Rocky Weyr. For curiousity's sake, mind you.

[FaizahPandora]

Lakeen and Lakeesk were heading to the feeding grounds, since the bronze demanded the taste of flesh and warm blood. Lakeen cringed from the emotion he had sent her again. She did not need to know that blood tasted good...
Maria was somewhere else, which was good because Lakeen didn't want the Wher to try and eat her again. Much as she didn't want the little lizard, Lakeen had become rather fond of the forgetful green. As she and Lakeesk approached she noticed a large and pale green dragon. Lakeen was confused for a moment, then forgot about it. Faizah and Nakia had said that only dragons that were deemed unworthy for Pern came here. So why couldn't there be a dragon that came out only at night?
Lakeesk hurried forward towards the livestock there. She heard him snarl at something, and she immediately took control and forced him to ignore whatever it was while she continued to walk up. She could see two people at the fence, and took one to be the dragon's rider. The other Lakeen didn't know why was there. Upon reaching the fence herself Lakeen saw another wher, this one blue.
Is that what you snarled at? She asked Lakeesk.
He sent her an affirmative feeling before taking down his own food, which was a lone calf. He ate voraciously, leaving Lakeen some time to talk. She caught the woman asking what had brought someone to Rocky. She still couldn't tell which was her fellow wherling or which was her better and the rider.
"Hello. I am Lakeen. The bronze is my Lakeesk. You are?" She asked as she looked at both awkwardly.

[yaoiwafflez]

"Trinity, my dear." K'ryn sighed, watching her with an expression of confusion. "What is it with you and your utter despisement of Whers? I mean, no, they're hardly handsome, but you seem to have a vicious hate of them that far surpasses nearly anyone I've seen. It hardly becomes you." He muttered darkly, somewhat put off by the venom in her voice when she spoke of her wher partner.

K'ryn nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the snarl that had come from out of the darkness. Whirling around abruptly, he let out a long sigh as he saw it was just a young woman and what he assumed was her wher. Oh. So she was the other wherhandler, then.
He relaxed some, and gestured to the fence before going back to leaning on it as he had been before.

"My pleasure, Lady Lakeen. Call me K'ryn." He said, somewhat relieved to have other company than the terminally-grumpy Trinity. (Though just a moment before the young blonde woman had approached, he could have sworn he'd sensed a change in his elder's tone. And she'd asked about Synth, so perhaps she'd gotten past the whole hating-his-guts thing she'd had going for her previously.)

"Oh, and to reply to your question, Trinity...Synth-" He paused and smiled at Lakeen, then proudly pointed at the dragon. "She's my green, over there. The really pale one- she was fine, for a long time. Nothing strange at all. Then a while back, she started complaining about being itchy, and how her eyes hurt a lot." He shrugged, remembering. "We didn't think much of it, but when her hide started going all pale and her wings began to ...well, dissolve, really... we were sent here. None of the healers at Fort could figure out what was going on, so they shipped us over to Rocky."

Synth looked up at the approach of the wherhandler and her bronze. Watching the second wher carefully, she re-settled herself, stretching along her side in the cool grass on her side, where she was able to watch the whers with minimal effort. She still didn't trust them.

Dear one, another wher approaches. I am starting to see the drawbacks of my new nocturnal life. She snorted haughtily, baring her teeth at the bronze wher as a preemptive warning should her try to speak to her. And he smelled angry, too, she decided.

K'ryn frowned at Synth, and made a disgruntled noise. "Sorry if you heard that. She's not fond of whers, really." He snorted, and let out a sharp mirthless laugh. "I guess she's like you, then." He said to Trinity, though he spoke softly enough that she might not hear him. He still wasn't sure how to act around her.

"Anyway. Lakeen. Nice enough to meet you."

[redwerecat]

Trinity was in the process of preparing a scathing remark and storming away after K'ryn's comment, but the sound of another approaching halted her thoughts. Oh, shards. Was there nowhere to get a bit of peace and quiet around here?

"Boy, you best watch your smart remarks lest I take offense and do something drastic. And if i wish to hate something, I can't see how it's any of your business." She hissed softly before turning to gaze at the newcomer.
A young woman, blonde, rather pretty on her own. Though she was accompanied by a hulking bronze wher. Trinity raised her upper lip slightly in a sneer, though in the dark it was hardly visible. She didn't bother with responding to the wherhandler, seeing no reason to speak at the moment.
Let that bubbly airhead of a greenrider talk to her. At least she now had an answer to her question; and wasn't that ironic? His dragon had basically become a bloody wher. nocturnal, then...sharding faranth's egg's shards. She was going to be seeing a lot of him then.

Trinity flinched as a wave of emotion struck her, and she closed her eyes to focus on it's source. She wasn't usually prone to panic attacks, so what the hell was this? Was Hama hurt? A quick check on the flit showed the little queen sleeping peacefully; odd. Normally Hama would be spazzing about the sudden emotions...
She let out a low growl of disgust as she realized; Trinsk. And he hadn't bothered speaking with Hama, so of course Trinity was the only one feeling anything.

The little blue wher had spotted the bronze wherling and her companion. Not a fan of social interaction on the best of days, he'd settled for shuffling to one side and looking pointedly down at his foreclaws, trying to avoid having them see him. But when the bronze snarled at him, Trinsk had let out a soft cry of unease, scooting even further away.

He hadn't been too badly scared, not by the bronze, who seemed content to ignore him for the time being, but when the dragon bared her teeth, he'd panicked. Whether it was some sort of odd reaction to the green seeming to threaten him, or just an innate reaction to the fact that, for as long as he'd been alive, Trinityhispretty had impressed on him the higher status of dragons over whers (and actually, she'd never stated this in clear terms, but he'd picked up on the implications), either way, the ghostly green had terrified him.

He keened pitifully and crawled back over to Trinity, bobbing his head nervously and scootching over to press his head against her leg for comfort. He sent her little scared images of the dragon, with horribly skewed perceptions of her teeth and claws, and of him a small scared blue smudge in the foreground of the pictures. The next few images showed trinity in a very long and elegant sort of stylization, standing in front of the blue smudge, with the terrible dragon fleeing from her mighty presence.
Trinsk was asking her to make the dragon go away. He was asking her to protect him.

Trinity had been about to scold him again, but when she looked down, she could see he was actually trembling. The little moron was actually bloody terrified of the dragon. Trinity hissed in annoyance, and she pushed the wher away from her with one foot, but it was a gentler shove than usual.
"Oh, shut up." She snapped, though her tone had none of the usual venom to it. "K'ryn, tell your green to ignore Trinsk- he's scared of her. He thinks she's going to attack him. If she pays him no mind, he'll calm down. But I'm worried he'll throw a fit if he keeps stressing like this, and he's impossible when he's like that
."
She sighed. Damn. She'd spoken. Now it would just be horribly rude to not at least greet the newcomer. She never quite bothered to look at the wherhandler, but her next statement was clearly directed to the woman as she continued to stare absently off across the grounds from her perch on the fence.
"My name is Trinity. This blithering idiot of a whatchwher would be the thorn in my side so affectionately called Trinsk. He's an idiot, don't pay him any mind." He tone was dull, and it was hard to tell what of that which she had said was serious and what had been intended as jest. However, a last quiet word from the man next to her made her stiffen up and shoot a look of pure death at K'ryn.

Trinsk made a sad noise as Trinity broke the brief physical contact, but when she didn't yell at him, he took that to mean it was okay to stay by her side. He ignored the lady and the nasty greenone's rider, but he knew they were there. Instead, he focused on a small creature moving through the grass, shifting back and forth on his feet in a slight rocking movement. He settled down, tracking the movements of the mouse with single-minded interest, and occasionally sending Trinity little images with a glowing streak of light following the rodent's path. She would like the swirly lines, he'd decided. They would make her happy.

((Ugh. I know the autism bit is a little off right now, but he's having a good spell. His self-esteem issues and fear is all thanks to Trinity being so harsh on him all the time, though, and is mostly unrelated. Though he'll be prone to lashing out at people who try to speak to or look at him.))

[Samari]

Samari walked slowly beside her Gold wher, thinking soothing thoughts to her.


"Prettyone, Samarsk see bigflatshinyone...Bigflatshinyones usually sleep now. Why bigflatshinyone here?"[/color]


"I don't know, Samarsk. Maybe something keeps her inside during the day..She looks rather ghostly for a green.."

Samari noticed the other wherhandlers gathering around the feeding grounds, noticing a hulking bronze similar to Torsk. Samari kept her distance from them though, unsure of how they might react. She took a chance after a little bit though, walking closer to them.

"Good evening."

Samarsk whined softly as herprettySamari walked away from her, but saw her chance to dash after a loose turkey, killing it with one bite to the throat. She sucked the blood dry first, before gorging on the warm flesh.

[yaoiwafflez]

K'ryn smiled at the woman, waving a hand lazily and completely ignoring Trinity's fury at him. He was going to pay for that smart remark later, or possibly sooner as the deathglare came his way.
But, still, when she asked him directly to make Synth ease off, he complied.
"Hey, dearest, could you stop being so large and intimidating? I think your bias is scaring the little blue here."

Synth found him utterly unamusing. She growled quietly, a deep rumble in her cheat, and scooted even further from the whers.
There are many more of the watchwhers than I had thought, beloved. I do not wish them to forget their place. She replied, curt and distant. But she did move baack, turning away from the smaller creatures and lounging in a resting position with her back to the whers.
As you wish, my love.

K'ryn let out an explosive sigh and shook his head. Synth was so...independent sometimes. He wordlessly waved at the gold wherhandler aproaching, and went back to leaning against the fence.
Heh. Trinity had said her partner's name. A tiny smile crawled across his face, and he glanced back over at her. So she had a soul after all...
~~~~~~~~

A sound from the darkness alerted those ahead of the arrival of another. An older wher, a bronze, stepped from the shadows, snorting softly before pushing past the humanones to get to his dinner.

Kyesk paused by the fence, and double-checked upon hisperson. The man was asleep; Kye had been exhausted by the time they finally made it to Rocky, and Kyesk knew that being away from the safeground and in the sky on a bigone upset him. Kyesk had to agree; he hated flying as much as his bonded, and he'd be prefectly thrilled to never do it again.

Satisfied that Kye was fine, the bronze wher backed up a bit, then launched himself over the fence with agility born of years of practice. The wood creaked softly as the heavy wher clambered over it, and he just snorted. Soon he lumbered along next to the gold already eating, grumbled a polite greeting to the queen wher, and pounced on a small bird, dragging it back and digging in with gusto.

A young man and a second wher followed the older bronze wher, the boy absently running a hand through his hair and looking around curiously as the brown wher stoically padded beside him. A bellow from Kyesk hurried Risk along, the young wher content to follow the elder to food.
Riley just smiled and shooed the creature to his dinner when Risk glanced at him inquisitively.
I will eat now. Do not go. Risk said sternly, and lumbered into the pen to eat beside Kyesk and the golden wher. The hulking brown paid no mind to the timid blue, nor the bronze that was not Kyesk. He saw no reason to, and though he would not have minded asserting his superiority over the blue, he was hungry. And the otherbronze was bigger than he currently.
He almost effortlessly snagged a turkey, barely even glancing at it; he just snapped out his jaws, and caught it.

Riley stood apart from the three women, and the one young man he spotted. He wasn't sure how to approach, and his head hurt, too. He hadn't gotten used to the wher's sleep schedule quite yet, and there was something of a time difference from Lemos to Rocky. So he settled for just raising a hand politely and shivering into his long coat. It was colder here than back home...he was sort of jealous that Kye was still sleeping. Risk had wanted company, though, and Riley hadn't minded exploring, so, here he was.

[redwerecat]

Trinity caught the look from the greenrider and made a rather rude gesture she was certain he wouldn't be able to see thanks to the darkness.
The she realized he'd not said a single word. So why the hell was he laughing at her? She gave him a suspicious look and glanced over at the newcomers. A younger woman, waving. A young man, also waving.
She waited for K'ryn to say something, as he seemed chatty today, but when no direct response was made, she glowered at him. Was he hoping she'd say something?

Men. She thought with some venom. Trinsk glanced up at her, distracted from his mouse. Trinity appeared not to acknowledge him, though, so he went back to examining the rodent.

Trinity sighed loudly, clearly letting her displeasure be known, and lightly hopped off the fence, waving at the two wherlings who'd so recently arrived. However, it wasn't a friendly 'hello, how-are-you' wave, it was definitely an impatient 'Get-over-here-and-stop-acting-so-timid' wave.

"So you're the other wherhandlers, then. Wonderful. I'll rejoice when I find I'm able to give a damn." She said stiffly, folding her arms and regarding them cooly; they were young, both of them, and she almost scoffed outright. "My only request is that you keep your beasts a distance from mine. I'll not be dealing with a panicked wher twice tonight." She turned on her heel and marched back to the fence, resuming her previous position perched atop it.

"Other than that warning, greetings. I know not your names, but welcome to our inopportune and somewhat dreary conversation. My apologies in advance if I offend you with anything I say, especially if you've grown fond of these beasts." She stopped, and her eyes fell on Trinsk, who crooned softly and crawled after his prey. She called out a sharp command, ordering him to stay close, lest he wander off. She got back a distracted agreement, and the blue stalked the mouse with renewed interest- he never even paid a mind to the three new whers, as if they never even existed. He was busy with much more important matters.

Trinity sighed.
"Well? Are you going to join us?" She finally snapped, pointedly looking anywhere but at the rider by her side. Damn. She'd just...invited them to come join her. That was new. Though perhaps it would be...not so terrible to converse with others. Then her thoughts returned to the dragonrider. No, it could be so terrible. Or at least annoying. But perhaps the young woman who had appeared with the older gold wher would be more pleasant than the cocksure K'ryn. Trinity still seemed to be unable to decide whether or not she wanted to smack him or kiss him at the moment...having a familiar face was well and good, but it brought back a lot of pain...

[Samari]

Samari blinked and scooted to close the distance. She looked at the rider and decided he wasn't worth paying attention to. She knew her Wher could understand the rankings, even if she were a gold.



"Flatbluewher, You should greet me. PrettySamari, blood tastes good. Samarsk like Turkeyblood."[/color]


Samari looked at Trinity and sighed. "Is that blue yours? I hope Samarsk isn't too rude...She's been kinda moody lately..."


Then she heard the rider laughing at the girl she just spoke to.


"Oh will you shut up? Stop looking so smug like you own the place. I happen to know that Greens are the second lowest rank of the dragons and that gives you no right to be so damn cocky!"

[yaoiwafflez]

((Kersnorfle. Smarai, I lurve you. K'ryn is just getting his ass handed to him by the women around here. First the Weyrwoman slaps him, and now the gold wherhandler puts him in his place.
Methinks he's developed an aversion to being sassed, as he's not the type to START arguments, but he appears fine with them once they've begun...))

Riley looked alarmed as the woman snapped at him, then glanced at the Blue wher.
"If you insist. Risk will normally act as instructed should I impress upon him the importance of the command." He said, not sure how to respond and thusly switching to a sort of formal but weightless statement of fact. The she did it again- spoke, that is.

"Join you...if we aren't intruding, I suppose..." He glanced over at the gold wher's handler, and shrugged. No harm in being polite, he supposed. A glance into the pens showed Risk was perfectly fine, though Riley had hardly worried about the brown. He seemed perfectly capable of fending for himself.

But a loud and definitely angry exclamation from the other woman- the gold handler- made him raise and eyebrow and smirk ever so slightly. Oh, he liked her. She had a spine of steel, and a temper to match. He rather preferred that to the scantily-veiled venom coming from the blue wherhandler.
~~~~~~~
In the back pasture, a low rumble emanated from the ghostly green's chest, and Synth tightened her body into a tense coil in preparation to take to the skies.
She insulted you, minelove. Insulted us. How dare she! My color matters not when compared to that of a... wher. The last word was flung at K'ryn with all the distaste the green could muster, and her eyes shifted from a wary but relaxed yellow to a burning pale red.

K'ryn's entire pose switched from relaxed to a stiff anger, and he straightened up and turned on the wherhandler.

"Beg your pardon, handler?" he said, a confused look on his face slowly giving way to cool arrogance. "I can't quite tell if your insult was directed at me, at my partner, or at riders in general. Whichever it was, I certainly dont appreciate you taking that tone with me." He managed to catch himself before he said anything more; he'd been smacked once today already, and he didn't fancy a repeat of the incident with the bronze weyrling in the infirmary. Lesson learned? Well, maybe.

"I reserve the right to speak freely. Especially since if I didn't all someone here would do is sulk and feel sorry for herself, and never speak to anyone." A pointed look at Trinity there. "But if you want me to be quiet, fine. Be my guest with Trinity."

He stepped away from the small group of wher handlers, moving further down the fence to lean back against it and stare up at the sky.
Dammnit! Synth, stop getting so worked up, you're making me angry too.
I am not. The anger belongs to you, mylove. The green ambled over to him, avoiding the turkey pen and coming to rest her head over the fence beside her rider.
But I feel much pain for the girl.

K'ryn looked up at her. What? The one who snapped at me?
No. The blue one. She mourns still for her lost heart.
K'ryn spoke aloud again, anger dissipating. "Oh, Synth. That's oddly poetic of you." He glanced back at Trinity and the gold wherhandler who's name he'd not learned.

[Samari]

Samari blanched and backed away slightly.

"I am so sorry! I do not know what came over me.."


She thought hard for a little while before speaking again.


"It must have been Samarsk rubbing off on me. She is proddy. I apologize again for my outburst, Green rider."


Samarsk hissed softly and caught another turkey by the neck, eating the flesh first instead of blooding it. She crooned mentally.


"PrettySamari, I am so sorry. I make you all mean. I don't understand either. Tell rider sorry for me."[/color]


Samari cleared her throat and spoke to the green rider again.


"Samarsk apologizes as well. She's my wher. She's the gold one."


Samari made her way to an open fence post and sat on it. She smiled softly and thought she might as well introduce herself.


"My name is Samari. Samarsk is my wher, as you have found out."

[FaizahPandora]

Lakeen smiled at the others, politely keeping her opinion to herself before she said something stupid. She was quite surprised when the Gold handler snapped at the rider, and then she tried her hardest not to shrink at his angry response. Relationships were more than a bit stressed around Rocky, it seemed. No wonder Lakeen had been noticing signs of stress in Faizah and Kain. If they had to deal and control outburst like this daily, Lakeen would be stressed as well.

Lakeesk noticed the gold as soon as she entered the pen, and was a bit late on his introduction. Besides his mother, this was the only gold wher he'd ever seen, and for once he was not violent. At least not until he saw the older bronze and the new brown there. Rivals...
Hello, prettygoldwher. I am Lakeesk, strongbronzewher.

Lakeen giggled slightly as she caught her wher's thoughts to the gold. He was flirting, despite his young age, and she found it quite funny.

[redwerecat]

Trinity sucked in a breath of air, trying her hardest not to physically assault the man.
"Have I mentioned how much I loathe you?" She snarled, and shoved away from the fence. It took her a moment to calm herself, especially after she caught the tail end of a rather nice apology.
"Trinsk..." She said suddenly, her demeanor changing from a furious woman to that of a scared child in an instant. She was lucky she hadn't been on the fence as she fell abruptly to one side, catching herself just before she hit the ground. "S-stop. Listen to me. Listen!"

The blue wher had shrieked unhappily when the gold had addressed him,backing away and rubbing his muzzle obsessive against one front leg and keening in distress.
No. No. No. No. Gold bad. GOLD STAY AWAY! Trinsk flashed rapid-fire pictures like child's drawings- imaginative and clear, but skewed and primitive. The gold blob in his pictures towered over the blue one; then another with a crazed swirl of color and emotion that was all mental scream of chaos. It was impossible to tell where Trinsk's mind was, but anyone who was caught in the mental outburst would feel...afraid. There was no way to comprehend the images as the fell into absolute discord, the mental scream continuing ceaselessly.

He hissed, and glanced around him, suddenly unsure of where he was. The only anchor he had was his beautiful beloved, and he clung to her with every fiber of his being. Trinsk overwhelmed her, and she began to get lost in the chaos of color and light and sound and confusion he was throwing out in anger, and she let out a soft whimper.

"LISTEN TO ME!" She shouted, her voice cutting through the tantrum like a knife. Abruptly, Trinsk cut himself off from everyone again, huddling with his head and muzzle pressed firmly against his left foreleg, rubbing the skin on the inside of his leg.
Yell. NO. No. Trinity yell. Bad? Trinsk sounded petrified, his mood all over the board tonight. He shuffled over to Trinity as she tried to stand, shoving his head into her chest and trying to crawl into her lap. He sent her sad pictures, more of the child's drawings, all of sorrow and grief that he'd hurt her.
Sorry.

Trinity sighed, and waited to stand until she could convince the heavy blue beast to back away. He did so only grudgingly, slinking back to the pen and staying off to one side, rocking back and forth slowly while eying the other whers suspiciously.
Gold Samarsk. Lakeesk. Trinsk. He finally growled out, speaking distantly while avoiding her eyes.

Trinity made her way back to the fence, and leaned heavily against it.
"Trinsk has some mental hangup called Autism, the doctors say. He...doesn't like to speak, or be spoken to. And...sometimes, he has fits. I can't tell if he's afraid, or if he's like a child throwing a tantrum, but I'm the one he latches on to. I...sometimes wonder if he's got something else wrong too." She spoke softly, almost panting; even her skin was pale and washed-out. "I can't stand it...I'm sorry. I hate him for it." She bit her lip and inhaled shakily; she almost seemed about to cry. "It isn't his fault. But he just shoves inside me, into my mind, like he has some right. He tears me down into the broken parts of him, like he thinks I can help."

She shook her head abruptly. "Fine. Nevermind, forget I said anything. I don't want to rant. But..." She paused, and glanced over at K'ryn once more, embarrassed he saw her like that. Embarrassed ANYone saw her like that. "Don't mind him. He's calm now. Just...don't let the others get near him. He's not strong, but he throws his tantrums with his mind; he'll be stock still, but you can almost drown in his terror."

A tendril of warmth and love and worry crept into Trinity's mind as Hama was jolted awake. The gold chittered angrily as she sprang from [between to land on the woman's shoulder, rubbing her tiny head against Trinity's cheek soothingly. The blonde woman ran her thumb along the gold's neck reassuringly. "He's okay now, Hama dearest." When she spoke to the flit her attitude changed entirely- of course. This wasn't a reject, a throwback. It was a dragon wrought tiny. "Go back to sleep. I shall make sure I keep you blue ward safe, alright?"

Hama's eyes whirled anxiously, but she patted Trinity's cheek with one little foreclaw and relaxed. But she made it clear she had no intention of leaving. Hama loved Trinity, and she loved the lumpyblueone, but she knew she had to keep order between her charges.
She sat like a guardian on Trinity's shoulder, and chirped questioningly at the other humanones, demanding someone answer for disturbing her bluesparkymindedone.

[Samari]

Samari snarled loudly as her own wher lost control. She fought with waves of rage and disgust as Samarsk turned on Trinsk.


"Blue wher know not who he screeches at! I am Gold! I outrank silly screechy blue! Silence now before hurt be coming your way!"[/b][/color]



Samari turned on her Gold wher and mentally forced her to stop.


"No! Samarsk cease this at once!"


The golden wher turned and cowered under the might of her bonded. She didn't want to upset herprettySamari.


"Samarsk sorry! Blue wher was being naughty and Samarsk wanted to set right. Please don't hurt Samarsk, LovelyprettyshinySamari."[/color]


Samari sighed and turned to Trinity. She bowed once.


"Sorry. Samarsk likes to take advantage of her coloring sometimes. Its kinda hard for her though. Her depth perception has been lost due to strabismus. Her eyes are crossed."


Orn betweened and landed on Samari's head, cooing to the pretty gold he spotted. Urging from Samari prevented him from being his normal, pesky self.

[FaizahPandora]

Lakeesk snarled as the blue began screeching, putting himself between the pesky blue and theprettygoldone. Lakeen kept herself from sharing his mind. At the same time she tried to calm him enough to keep from attacking the blue. Lakeesk had a habit of attacking, and killing, what annoyed him more than usual. Lakeen looked over to the other handlers. "I'm sorry about my bronze. He has a rage problem and a bad habit of attacking or killing anything."

[yaoiwafflez]

((Please don't mind the awfulpost.))

K'ryn looked startled at the blue wher's outburst, taking a step back. But he almost immediately ran over to Trinity after she dropped to her knees, but he refrained from getting to close. Either way, Synth growled and seemed worried.
What is wrong?

"She's...I don't know. Wait a bit, alright?" He snapped at the dragon. Synth looked unamused.
K'ryn waited while the blonde woman explained, his expression growing darker by the second.
"You shouldn't hate him for what he is, Trinity." He said quietly. He watched the tiny gold flit as she demanded something from him, but, not speaking draconic, he could only spread his hands and shrug. It looked like Trinity's bias was right alongside most peoples. Whers are bad. He scoffed angrily and went back to Synth, though he kept an eye on Trinity.

When the screamingblueone began to thrash, Kyesk was immediately on guard. The heavy bronze growled, but managed to recognize the panic and confusion. Risk was a different matter entirely.
Bad! Not scream! The hulking brown growled, backing away and heading towards the blue. The screeching was making his head hurt, and he wanted it to stop.
Of course, he got about a foot away before a heavy pair of jaws clamped around the back of his neck, dragging him back with a disapproving snarl. Kyesk snorted in disapproval, and scolded the brown soundly.
No. Risk not yell at small blue. Risk big. Risk could hurt blue Trinsk. Understand?

Riley's eyes widend as his brown demurely obeyed the older wher's command, and he laughed weakly in surprise.
"Way to go Kyesk, I guess." Risk grunted and glared back at his human handler, seeming displeased. Riley just laughed and made a shooing motion with his hands. "Stuff it, you."
Rileyman is mean. Rileyman sides with Kyesk. Not fair.

Riley rolled his eyes and watched the women somewhat awkwardly.
"Stra...bi..huh?" He said, then immediately shut his mouth to try to avoid looking like a fool. Instead he just looked uncomfortable and watched the strange change in emotion running through the Blue wherling. It was...discomforting.

Kyesk glanced between Lakeesk and Lakeen for a few seconds, making sure the somewhat younger bronze wouldn't try anything. Appearing satisfied, he went back to his meal, occasionally looking at the other whers.
Blue Trinsk is sick. He said abruptly. No wher hurt sick little one. Whers will be good. Help him. Listen to Samarsk. Queen tell you what to do. If you not listen to her, I yell. This little announcement said, he seemed content to be silent once more.

[Samari]

Samari relaxed as the older bronze handled things. She was quite impressed. She didn't see his handler around anywhere.



Samarsk saw the reasoning behind the brassy bronze's logic. She crooned softly and nuzzled him once.



"Big Bronze Kyesk smart. Samarsk like smart. I like way you think."[/color]



Samari looked at the man trying to pronounce her wher's defect.


"Just say cross-eyed. Its easier."


Samarsk decided to express her right as a gold once more.


"No wher shall harm sick Blue Trinsk. No matter how screechy Trinsk get, whers be good to small sick blue. I hurt if you disobey."[/b][/color]

[redwerecat]

((Trinity, why can't you be polite for FIVE MINUTES? You bitch. And stop with the love/hate for poor K'ryn, lol.))

Trinity's face slowly went for disbelief to shock to utter disgust. So they were going to defend each other? She scoffed, and relayed this information to the spotty gold flit on her shoulder.
"See? They're protecting Trinsk. Are you satisfied now?" She snapped loftily, back to her old wher-loathing self again. As long as Trinsk wasn't having a tantrum, she could deal. Just one day at a time, one incident at a time.

Hama screeched and hissed at her, then sulkily betweened back to the weyr, pausing to nuzzle Trinsk's nose affectionately and give her person a distinctly dirty look before she truly left.

Trinsk just whined again, an apology to the other whers. The shinygoldone was not bad. She was kind, even. And the metalbronze big one was protective. And he was brave too. The metalbronze had no lovely like Trinity to protect him. And he had scolded the fireybronze and the thickbrownone.

Trinsk crooned softly and nipped at his own foreleg, but he began to watch the other whers with some interest. Trinitybeloved had been angry with him...but she had friends now? Trinityhisbeauty should make friends with the wherhandlers, Trinsk suggested, accompanying his light mental push with images of happy things; mostly sweet apples, and the night sky, and Trinity; those were what soothed him.

Trinity groaned at the thoughts being sent her way.
"Not a chance, you beast." She snarled. Trinsk just let out a sigh and went back to searching for the shiny light-pattern of the heat signature of the mouse he;d been playing with earlier.

Then glanced up at the brown wherhandler and the dragonrider.
"Vocabulary isn't your thing, is it, boy?" She sneered as the brownhandler stumbled over his words.

The green rider got an even more scathing remark. "I'll hate him for what he is, for what's wrong with him, and for anything I please, you half-witted excuse for a rider. Don't you DARE try to tell me otherwise, do you understand?" She growled.