Wherling Lessons, round two!

[Kaemi]

Who: Toven/Tovsk and the wherlings
What: Lessons
When: midnight ("afternoon") second class of the day
Where: outside

--

The second class was almost always worse than the first class. Firstly, the wherlings were actually awake now, and between Mira and Dastan about to rip each other's clothing off, Meta being masculine, Naoko being... well... Naoko, and the others- well, all of them awake and alert could be exhausting on a good day. The whers, thankfully, were all developing well, and no official wherling rules were being broken; a good sign, Toven guessed. Actually, the whers were developing better than he would have guessed, although some, such as Misk, seemed to have retained early, hatchling-like behavioral traits that she was unlikely to grow out of. Oh, well.

"Alright, Tovsk, go ahead and call them back. I'm sure they won't mind to get away from Chores, even if it means lessons." The brown took great pleasure in going and finding all of the 'kiddies'. Really, most of them should be making their way back here without his help, as they had eyes and could judge time, since they were unlikely to be caught up in their chores... which weren't all that exciting... but Tovsk enjoyed it, so Toven would let him have his fun rounding up the wherlings.

Today could actually be a rather interesting lesson. Hopefully it wasn't. The wherpairs would be shadowing him tonight for a candlemark or two as he did his Nightwatch rounds. Part of this was practical: most of them would be on the watch after graduation, and they needed to gain a general idea of what that might entail. The other part was that the watch was sadly understocked and, with it being mid-spring and all of the jungle creatures coming to life. It had been awhile since the creature had attacked a night guard, but with the upstart in activity... well, every little bit helps.

Not that he actually expected the wherlings to be much of a help tonight, but it would give them a good idea of what to expect. Waiting outside for them all to arrive, Toven tapped his hand against his leg in a non-existent beat.

Wherlings attended:
Dastan
Mira
Meta
Naoko
NPC1
NPC2

[Mango]

Ugh...changing glows was soooo boring. Luckily, though, Meta had been assigned to the wher locations so Metask was right on her heels. The brown was growing quickly. Meta loved the big ugly thing. And he loved her. Right now, he was trying to imitate the sound of the fire crackling as they walked. It was an amusing feat and the brown had really made some developments since the had woken up that "morning".

They were to have a break from the monotony though. The sire of Metask soon found them to inform them of a lesson. "Let's go!" Meta grinned, hurrying to the location they were supposed to meet Toven. Glow basket abandoned, the two lopped quickly to the Weyrling Master. "Afternoon," Meta said, grinning. Metask gave a nice grunt, matching Meta's pitch, but not quite able to iitate the vocalpronunciations quite yet. He would work on it.

[Rouxy]

Naosk was nearly growing too fast for his handler to keep up with! The blue now stood waist high at his shoulder, his head nearly even with Naoko's when he stretched! His colors were coming in ever stronger, brilliant shades of sapphire along his body lines and wings. The bluepair were practicing in an alcove off the main handler's quarters. Naoko was a little frustrated, but it was still early. Naosk had yet to show any signs of the telekinetic abilities his handler was sure hid within the whers as a whole, but he was young. Even dragons didn't show signs before they mastered flight, and the similarities between the dragon and wher aging process were clear.

Flopping into a chair, Naoko gave a sigh, but smiled at the blue who slithered over with his particular serpentine gait and nuzzled into her shoulder. She gave a thorough scratch of his eyeridges. "Ah love, it's alright. We'll get it eventually. I know you've got it in you." A rumble sounded from the doorway opening, and a brown form lumbered past. Glancing at Naosk, the wher sent an affirmation to her mental question. "Right, time for class again."

The bluepair cleaned up the area, and made their way to the designated class location side by side. Glad she wasn't first for once, Naoko smiled both at Meta and Toven, giving the latter a respectful nod. She leaned easily back against Naosk, the blue shifting to accept her weight as if it were a normal thing. His stout legs had no problem with the handler's slight form, and it was likely the pair might attempt riding with another month or so of growth. That thought brought to mind the pondering of when they'd be training to go between, but all in good time. The astronomer was as eager as a fist time weyrling to move on with training, but her commonsense stayed any notions of trying before either of them were ready.

[Thorney]

It was a boring chore, to be working in the infirmary, but there was little the wherling could do about it. Thankfully, it was the night shift this time, a little more in tune with his schedule, and there wasn’t much going on. However, Dastan was currently wrinkling his nose at the task assigned to him, washing out vials that were used to hold the infirmary’s medicines. Each container smelled absolutely foul, and there was no doubt in his mind that each had held something far more disgusting than mere numbweed or redwort. The one perk was the ability to have his wher at his side, the blue curled up and watching him with curious eyes. Dassk’s bright hide fairly glowed in the darkness, lying in corner a bit away from the glow his bonded had unbanked. Sighing, wishing that Mira was here, the bluehandler blinked in surprise as Tovsk appeared from the hall, giving a vocal call.

Arching a brow, Dastan glanced over at his wher to find the blue gazing back at his father, then quickly getting to his feet and stretching. A sudden mental prod from Dassk told the boy all he needed to know, and the Igen sat his tools down and gratefully washed his hands, scrubbing for several moments to get that infernal smell off his skin. It wouldn’t do to put off such a stench when Mira would be near. Um. No.

The bluepair quickly left the infirmary, the boy planning on returning to his quarters quickly before meeting up with the others. Dassk paused then, unfurling his rather large wings and gazing mischievously at his bonded. Grinning, Dastan shook his head for a moment, but nevertheless sent his wher a mental acquiescence. Letting out a bark, the blue bounded over to the cliff wall and, quick as a flash, leapt off the ground, claws sinking into small niches in the rock. The wherling couldn’t help but gaze in wonder at Dassk, watching him scale straight up the cliff without any difficulties. Then, he broke himself out of his reverie and dashed up the steps, long, strong legs making quick work of it. In his room, the boy changed into something far more suited to tonight’s lesson, a tough outfit for nightwatch.

As he changed, Aeris awoke from her nap and alighted on his shoulder, wrapping her tail around his arm and licking his cheek affectionately. Her lovely, sweet voice trilled in the air, and Dassk answered with his own croon, though his was far deeper. Together, the three of them approached the others, and Dastan greeted them. “Wherling Master.” He said respectfully, and Dassk barked lowly in greeting to the other whers.

[Kira]

Mira was still humming gently, petting the hair of the little head that rested on her shoulder. The last of the little ones had finally drifted off a bit ago, but she sat there still, turning the page in the storybook propped in her lap. Misk was awake, certainly, but oddly calm as Hers hummed and the little ones slept. She'd taken to them very well, surprisingly, even if it had taken a little while to establish to the children that she didn't like them touching her if she didn't nudge them first. She thankfully wasn't the type to lash out, which was the only reason that Mira had felt okay bringing her here. After all, these were the folk they were protecting - it would do well to familiarize with them, right?

Misk was curled up on the floor in the middle of a few piles of furs (the children hadn't wanted to sleep in their beds if they could get closer to the odd creature), carefully playing with the beads on a braid in one of the little girls' hair. Mira grinned as she noted that the clicking of the beads mimicked the beat of her tune. They'd actually had a relatively tiring evening, with Misk going one-on-twelve with the little kids in a happy little game of tossing some balls back and forth - her lithe form easily bouncing and darting back and forth. Mira had kept close watch to make sure neither side got hurt, even as some of the girls (and a couple of the boys) had gotten her to put a couple little braids in their hair to match hers. They were a good lot, overall - annoying at times, but that was children for ya.

When Tovsk came to fetch them, Mira smiled at his gentle croon. Misk quickly informed her of what he had wanted, and Mira gave a nod - knowing the wher would see it in the dim light. Carefully, she set about disentangling herself from the several tiny forms that had curled up on or against her, expertly crawling and stepping over them to get to the edge of the bed. She hopped down on a small bit of rug to hide the slap of her feet, then made her way silently to the door. Misk unwound her tiny form and set about winding her way between the furs around her, carefully stepping over the sprawled limbs. Mira had been working with her to use that natural agility to move both sinuously and quietly. Mira smiled brightly at her and leaned down to press a sweet kiss to the top of Misk's blunt little head, a loving scratch letting the wher know just how proud she was of her. Misk preened under the attention, but kept her croon quiet so as not to wake the smallones.

Mira waved to the nanny in charge for the night as she left, the woman still eying Misk warily. Once out in the hall, she rolled her eyes and exchanged a look with the wher that made them both snort in amusement. Misk made an unhappy sound, closing her eyes against the brighter light of the hall. "Just follow the sounds of my steps, sweetling. I'll tell you if there's something else to be aware of," Mira crooned back at her. The wher might not enjoy even the glowlight, but it was unfortunately necessary for the other occupants of the Weyr. Taking off with her feet tapping the ground as she walked, Mira took off back toward the apartments with Misk following. Aside from a few pauses to signal a doorway or stairs, they finally made it out into the dark of the night. It was Misk's turn to lead then, as Mira's eyes adjusted, and they hastily made their way to their shared apartment.

Mira donned the rare pair of loose, thick pants and a pair of thin, soft boots for the evening. She was certain that once she and Misk could patrol on their own that she could wear her normal garb, but for now they'd have to follow along with Toven. It was entirely possible that the lanky man would take a much different path through the same foliage than Mira would have opted for. Adding several extra daggers (she kept only the bare minimum around the kiddies), she finally deemed herself ready and sauntered off to the area Misk indicated the others were. "Hullo, Master Toven," she greeted with a playful grin and an oppositely respectful nod. If the fact that she called him Master at all didn't convey the fact that she actually respected the man, then she'd help along the sentiment. She greeted her two fellow greenhandlers, then gave Meta a wink and Naoko a waggle of her fingers. Sidling up next to Dastan, she gently knocked his shoulder with hers and smiled at him, reaching up to give a little scritch of attention to his flit. Learning about Misk and her care was good fun, really, but being able to be near her favorite bluehandler made it all the better. She felt Misk lean against her from behind, peering out shyly toward Dassk and the other male whers. It made Mira laugh with the sheer cuteness.

[Kaemi]

It wasn't long before the first wherling arrived, trotting into the room with wher in tow. Near literally- Meta was obviously eager to be there (or to have a valid reason to be away from chores, whichever one prefers). “Meta, Metask,” he greeted with a nod. Those two should do well tonight, if they kept on focus and didn't make too much noise. She was likely to work well, and he would be determined to protect her- that should keep those two alright. So long as the brown didn't start experimenting with noises in the middle of watch. Next was Naoko and her blue who would, of course, be fine. He returned the nod, glad that there was at least one wherpair present that he could trust to themselves. Sure, they still needed direction, but Naoko did her research well.

“Dastan,” he greeted as the next bluepair approached. He would do well, too. So long as he and Mira didn't get distracted by one another... which was unlikely. Oh, look, there she was. “Greetings, Mira.” Separately, they were both good prospective handlers, with strong bonds to their whers and dedication to the craft. But they were a tad too enamored with one another to truly focus; he wouldn't put it passed them to be held back simply for breaking the rules of inappropriate contact before the wherlings grew more. The only thing that may stop them would be fear of damaging the whers but... only time would tell.

Of no matter, currently. The last two wherlings arrived, followed by Tovsk. Everyone seemed to be dressed appropriately, and so Toven began gaining the attention of the group.

“Alright, wherlings. You're going to be members of the NightWatch tonight, as you know. It will give you an idea of what to expect, if you stay on as part of the Watch. It will inspire teamwork between you, your wher, and your classmates. It will encourage everyone to learn and understand how to follow instructions, even the natural leaders among you... because if you don't follow instructions, then you and your wher will go back to the apartments and you and your wher will be punished accordingly. I'm sure we won't need that though, right?” The brownhandler doubted that the threat was necessary, but it was out there as a warning, just in case.

“We'll be going out as a group, following my lead. Patrolling the perimeter of the Weyr to be sure that nothing gets in that shouldn't, and that all is well and calm. That is our job, as wherhandlers- to guard and protect at night those that protect us during the day.” Pause, to regard the wherlings. “Follow me, do as I say, talking only when necessary, and keep your eyes open. Any questions?” It would be interesting to see everyone in the dead of night – the whers especially, doing what they were made to do. To see how wher and handler communicated, how the different people interacted in a real situation. It would, at the very least, let Toven know what they needed to work out.