Crazy Eights [Plot Thread; Jr. Weyrlings]

[Requiem]

So slow you are moving, old creaky Mine, the dragons from Between above soon will be. Blame the Fort rat and his early drills. I'm not fond of this hiding. Especially when it involved practically diving into bushes to avoid one of those Legend whatevers so they didn't sound the alarm. Hostages were easy once you had them, but it was the getting them that proved tricky. Soon enough the hiding will be over, old one. Yessss. But now make quicker steps. They are anxiousss. Anxious bronzes make my heads hurt. Heads? As the last of his men slipped by into the tunnels just outside the barracks, he added, Loose the devils. Loosing, Despotaeth replied with undeniable glee.

Dragon liked chaos, he did. It was fun to observe.

They emerged from Between with the rest of the dragons, their jumps much shorter than the others, and from this distance you couldn't even tell they came without riders. Despotaeth circled above the drumheights and landed there with the others, leaving dragons with riders to close down the skies. They could sit and look menacing, yes. Despotaeth far preferred to observe.

"Take them all. Check the Weyrlingmaster's quarters to be sure it's empty. If one of the hatchlings attacks, kill the brat. All we need is one. They're expendable. Go." They broke, streaming into the barracks. A man grabbed each weyrling, yanking them from their beds. There was never more or less than was needed for each room and the lot of them had knives to throats or their air almost completely cut off in a headlock. In less than thirty seconds, a cluster of all the junior weyrlings was gathered in the common room of the barracks, still held. There would be no letting go until everything was settled. Ur'h walked through the corridor and into the common room, two men left at the entrance to bar it while two flanked him.

Baby dragons, don't leave your rooms. Stick out a snout and your riders will die. Quiieeett, it will be over soon, if your dam loves you. Hope she does. Ur'h didn't waste time on words, either, the wolfish, aging figure leaning against the back of a chair. "Fight and you die." He settled in to wait.

Millieeeeettthhhh. We have your babieeees, Despotaeth sing-songed to her, including all of the invaders in the words.

:: Okay, pretty simple here. Junior weyrlings - and possibly a Weyrlingmaster, your choice - only. Feel free to react, squirm, cry, shout, insult, whatever. If you want to off a character let them fight. I will consider any fighting as permission to kill your character. ^^ Okie dokie.

[rii]

Get up.

"Make me," Jenna muttered into her pillow, laying face down in her bed with hand and foot fallen over the side. Her green nudged at her upper arm, attempting to rouse her. Reflexively Jenna swatted at Versaith's head as if she were little more than a dog. No doubt whining to be put out, or be fed. "Go'way."

There are many in the hall, they smell wrong. I want them gone. Versaith complained, bounding over to the closed door to sniff at the bottom gap, then nervously returned to Jenna's bedside. Her tail twitched irritable at the lack of response. The green was just about to knock the bed over when the door opened. Despite the way the green instantly shrank away, head lowering to the ground, the growl in her throat and the quickening whirl in her eyes was a far cry from being submissive. Who are you?

The demanding question wasn't answered, and Versaith actually yelped when the two men seized Jenna and their room mate and dragged the girls from the room. Versaith pounced, grabbing for Jenna's shirt but to pull her back inside – only the fabric tore away under her teeth. Let go! What are you doing!?

Jenna twisted. having the awkwardness of being dragged from bed finally registering. She kicked, as was expected, but the man didn't yield. "The hell do you think you're doing!?" Jenna attempted to stand awkwardly up on one leg with little success, finding herself knocked down into.. a group of her fellow weyrlings. Jenna straightened her ripped shirt, looking around at the various expressions around her, trying to take it all in.

Versaith had already been outside the room, following after the man dragging her rider when the older dragon warned them to stay inside of their rooms. The green shuffled awkwardly on her feet, whining in distress before darting into the nearest room. Not hers, but her slender snout found the side of one of her siblings, shaking in distress as she wrapped herself around the other dragon for comfort.

[ooc: The sibling that Versaith is with can be anyone interested in the spot ~ ]

[Lotty]

"MMMMMMmmmmmmmmRRRrrrrrp" the sound of a hand coming right down on a surprised and started Raebeli. A gentle creature who enjoyed her sleep if only for the chance to dream, she was not at all used to being awoken in such a brutish manner. Helllooooo! We are civilized people here! Since when did we ever have to resort to these kinds of wake up calls? Her eyes flickering open and expecting someone like the odd raccoon eyed Syrene hovering over her body (and thereby confirming her suspicions that the girl was a little ill in the head) she instead was surprised by the sight of a man and the whining of her little green as she tugged unsuccessfully at Rae's arm.

Quixoth was in a tug - o - war with the intruder. Her rider was the unfortunate rope. That...that MAN will not get the best of me! Quiiiii!!!!! You're tearing me apart! Which could only be contained in the mind so long before the mindhealer was yelling and squalling and every other kind of noise that could be humanly conceived, "EEEEEEEE!" The little dragon flinched at the sight of very accidentally drawing blood on her own rider and promptly let go leaving the young woman to fall off of the cot with a thunk and be dragged off into the common room.

Raelove! The dragon whimpered, but dared to challenge the authority of the intruders and marched right up to the threshold of the open door and waited. She might not take the risk of letting a limb cross that imaginary line but the young Quixoth would not be intimidated by the booming voice of a brown know it all male dragon. Show him she would, and as her rider drifted away she kept a constant mental contact. Communication after all, was key, and she had great doubts that the intruders could stop thoughts. I'm with you still...promise.

Her head throbbing - falling hurts she discovered - and pins falling out of her bed-time coif, she deigned not even to move as she was herded around the room. The Fort born healer had gotten awfully good at these sort of hostage situations. How long ago was it now that she was holed up in the infirmary by another weyr's fighters? There was something of a slight difference though...then she was neutral. She was just the weyr's mindhealer, there on assignment like a victim of circumstance, but now she was Bonded, irrevocably tied to Selenitas and no longer quite the innocent.

She eyed the ringleader curiously, and as typical for her started to wonder what kind of horrible relationship he had with his mother...that all these rider's had with their mothers, that led to this situation.

[heisokufire9]

Mine! Mine wake up! There are strange people about. Auwanath prodded Y'kiro. The blonde teen moaned softly and started to sit up when Auwanath suddenly knocked him off the cot.

"What the...Hey! Lemme go!" the half-awake teen exclaimed as someone grabbed him and drug him out into the hall but fell silent as he felt cold steel against his throat. Even half-asleep the teen was aware that his captor had the advantage of surprise. But that didn't mean Y'kiro couldn't be pissed, becaue frankly nothing was going to stop that. Auwanath growled furiously, starting to stalk after the man with his rider, until the voice of the older dragon reached him. Not that Auwanath was scared of another brown though and a now it all at that.

Mine! What is going on? Auwanath asked, trembling slightly. He was tempted to follow but he wasn't about to get his rider killed or injured.

I don't know yet. Stay calm buddy. the teen replied as he tried to figure out what the shards was going on. They were being held hostage that much was for certain. Anger and fear were rolling through the bond from his brown in equal parts.

Auwanath, calm down please. Y'kiro pleaded his head begining to hurt. The feelings lessened slightly and the teen breathed a soft sigh of relief as he was dragged into the common room with the other weyrlings. He was glad that they didn't look injured, just mostly confused and scared. Not that he blamed them. He could only hope his brother was alright.

[Tashe]

Mine. Mine! Oi, GET UP.

Itha practically leapt out of her furs. W-what! Why are you being so loud this early in the morning? Good little kits like you should be sleeping. Ith. I smell the food that is wrong. What? Food? How do I explain. Say all of Selenitas people smell like the food they cook here. I smell people who have eaten strange foods. They smell more vaguely like you. Like her? Oh shit, like her. That meant Northerners. About to roll out of bed when two men burst through their door, one heading for her roommate and the other for her. Iwyrth snarled and launched herself at the man when he grabbed her Rider from her bed, she fell drastically short when Her's painfully forced her back. No Iwyrth! If you die, I die. You stay! Stay with your sister here in our room. She had unfortunately been one of the Weyrlings who got stuck with a guy who had a knife, she couldn't struggle much despite desperately wanting to. But it didn't stop her from cursing.

"You cottonmouthed, dimwitted twit! Starry eyed deadbrain! Runnerkicked Bastard!" The further she was dragged from her room the more colorful her language evolved. By the time she reached the other Jr. Weyrlings, her cant had now fallen primarily into her favorite and most dirty Northern born curses. Shoved toward the others, she twisted to make sure she didn't fall onto Jenna or Rae. Wincing as she hit the ground, Ithanna turned over and growled at the receding man's back. "I hope you get attacked by felines only to survive and fall into a pit of flesh eating spiders. I bet your mother never loved you." She maneuvered herself into a sitting position and looked at her fellow Weyrlings before grabbing Rae's sleeve (she was the closest). The Greenweyrling despite her bravado, was nearly on the verge of crying.

--

She whined loudly as her's was taken away. She wanted to follow but the voice of the adult dragon scared her into staying. Broadcasting to her fellow Weyrling dragons, Iwyrth curled up in a ball. Aye, the haggis is in the fire for sure. But stickin together is the best thing, ne?

[Shiny]

Shuffle, shuffle, turn. Syrene shifted under her furs in a state of semi-consciousness. Never one to sleep normally, the raccoon-eyed girl had only gone to bed a few hours earlier, and was attempting to finally get some good shut-eye.

That was, until Wridelth shot a sharp prickling sensation of foreshadowing through her mind. I sense that the amount of humans in this building has far exceeded its capacity. Their smell signatures are foreign.[/i] The next moment happened in a blur. Syrene's eyes immediately flew open as Wridelth began to growl, and she shot up only to be greeted with a hand to the face. Do not dare touch Mine! [/i]the pale blue hatchling snarled, leaping forward to try and forcefully remove the hands that held the black-haired girl. Syrene struggled, the screams of her roommate only adding to the chaos as she was literally ripped from her bed, the forcefulness of the motion knocking her young Blue away.

The hand that had clasped around her mouth recoiled as her teeth sunk defiantly into the flesh. "Wridelth!" she screamed over her shoulder, struggling as hard as she could to get to the Blue. "Let me go, you hairy Bendenite! I swear to Faranth if you don't let me go RIGHT NOW, I'll rip your guts out and eat them for breakfast! I'll puncture your jugular so you become a fountain! I'll rip your spine out and drink your disk-fluid! I'll-" Roughly, the frail girl was bent, and a muscled arm wrapped around her neck in a headlock, almost completely choking her. Panic for her safety flooded the bond between her and the Blue. Her attempts were useless; her captor was strong and built, and could easily stop her movements with little effort. She was practically hauled from the room after Raebeli with her feet hardly skimming the ground, clawing at the arm suffocating her. Collapsing to her knees after being dropped in the common room with the other Weyrlings, she gasped to regain her breath for a moment. She momentarily collected her thoughts as if to set Wridelth's racing mind at ease. They've taken me to the common room with all of the other Weyrlings. Looks like a hostage situation. They're going to pay...

Wridelth got back up as Syrene was hauled from the dorm, white eyes reflecting in the dark. His wings flared in response to the adrenaline pumping through his system. He did not see logic behind what had happened and knew discussing it verbally would get him nowhere. Wridelth's growling only grew stronger at Despotaeth's words, but knew he could do nothing. Instead, he turned his attention to something he could actually help with. Quixoth. Clutchsister, have you sustained injuries? He quickly made his way to the Green's side. He didn't normally get so close to others, but he knew Quixoth would need support. Didn't they all?

Syrene got to her feet, make-up-less eyes glaring daggers at her captor's back as he walked away. How dare they break in? Especially in the middle of the night! What did they want? The world was spinning, Selenitas was minding their own business. Why were they getting Selenitas caught up in their shit? And who the hell were they? Had they killed people yet? What about Cr'oph? And T'san? Were they okay? This was definitely not okay. Silent as an assassin, the girl reached into a pocket of her nightwear and retracted a knife. A Fortian such as herself never slept without their weapons on them. No, Syrene - do not throw-[/i]

She'd just coiled back her arm to throw it when a heavy object collided with her side, knocking her down and sending the weapon spinning out of reach. "Argh! What're you-" She'd HAD him! The weight readjusted to pin her down completely. Looking over her shoulder, she glared at Ithanna. The Greenrider spoke. "Idiot girl! What are you thinking?! Do you want Wridelth to die? If we fight, they will kill them."

Syrene just glared - it was all she could do, with the Greenweyrling pinning her down - knowing that she had acted illogically. But he'd deserved it, and maybe if they all started shit, they'd actually have a chance! "Get. Off. Of. Me." She growled, knowing full-well that Ithanna, who was now looking fearfully at the intruding Riders, would not listen.

((Tashe-kun gave me permission to put Ithanna in the post in such a manner ;o; just FYI~))

[Ember]

Ae'on was roughly woken up by...strangers. His first instinct was to try and get up and run but the blade at his throat effectively quelled that thought. He glared at the man hovering over him to hide his fear. He was pulled out of his bed and marched towards the common room. As selfish as the thought was, at least he wasn't alone in being pulled out of his bed. Y'kiro and the other weyrlings were too, if the shouts were anything to go by. "What do you dungfaces want with us? What are you doing?" He yelled.

A dangerous hiss made Ae'on pause and then stumble when his captor didn't stop. "Sfelyth, no. If you listen to me only once -" They have you, what could I possibly do? The blue asked him sharply. Just before he was fully dragegd out of his room Ae'on caught the faint thread of worry in the blue's eyes. The lost tone of mindvoice wasn't lost on him either. I'm allowed to be unhappy about it, though, Sfelyth said. That time it was more confident and angry.

Sfelyth stalked towards the door and sat just inside of it, eyes reflecting nothing of his inner turmoil. Don't do anything stupid, Mine. Ae'on growled slightly. Where did the blue get off telling him to be careful? Sfelyth was a bloody trouble magnet! If anyone should be worried it should be...wait. Wait, he was worried. Despite all his griping and grumpiness...he actually liked the annoying blue? Tch.

Sfelyth sought out the mind of the dragon that addressed them earlier and said, I should hope you are smart enough not to hurt Mine. He is a Healer and far better than others. If Sfelyth had chosen him than he was definitely better than all others. Ae'on, meanwhile, was shoved into the other weyrlings and he fell. Too bad he wasn't wearing his knots or they might have treated him better. Healers were always needed...right?

Ae'on's eyes widened in alarm at Syrene's actions. Thankfully Ithanna was smarter than the other girl. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He hissed, not really expecting anyone to hear him. The sound of keening dragons let Ae'on know that no one was joking around. He moved slightly towards the man that had spoken tentatively. No one else had bothered to ask. All were busy...being scared. He was scared too, but he would prefer to understand the situation than cursing the men who had captured them. "What's going on?" Now to hope he wasn't killed for asking.

[Requiem]

Well they certainly were loud, now weren't they? Shrieks, curses, screams. At least most of it stopped once they were dragged into the room, the riders forming around them at a distance at a loose circle. Ur'h didn't have a particular fondness for noise. He took to counting keens, keeping a mental log of the dead. It was much like a pan of kettle corn, really...the kernels had erupted all at once and now were slacking off with the occasional pop. Thinking of kettle corn made him randomly hungry. First stop after getting this Weyr under control and reporting? Kitchens. Then the baths, he thought. Yes. He was a few shades darker under all this dirt. There's a healer amongst the whelplings, Mine of the Mind Wandering. Oh? came the mild reply, Ur'h's eyes having focused with some interest on the little scuffle that ended with a knife skittering across the floor. He stepped on the hilt, nodding toward the two girls as he crouched to pick it up. Not a bad make. Ur'h slipped it into his belt. Never could have too few blades. We'll just have to kill the healer last then, if it comes to that.

As riders pulled Ithanna and Syrene from the group - they all knew Ur'h well enough to need no more direction than the nod - the older man cocked his head to one side, eyes flicking briefly toward the hall beyond. That was quick. Good. "Be thorough, please," was his only comment to the riders. Ur'h preferred to end a campaign with as many holes as he started with, as a rule. 'Thorough' equated to stripping the girls roughly with no regard for the crowd of men and weyrlings, but these were Ur'h's men and Ur'h was a queer sort for a Benden rider; the searches were strictly clinical and brusque. Ur'h had a habit of removing offending body parts when they strayed to inappropriate places on his time, whether they be fingers or more - valued - parts. Once satisfied, clothes were thrust back at the girls, who were then pushed back toward the knot of classmates. Ur'h drummed his fingers on the chair idly.

After Millieth's broadcast to the Selenitas dragons to stand down, relaying the information that the weyrlings would be killed if fighting continued, Despotaeth brushed the minds of the hatchling dragons. Ah. See? Soon over. Once everything has been settled you may have Yours back. You are scared, I know, but this is best, you see. Much less dying this way. Less death is good, don't you agree? There was a soothing quality to the male's mindvoice. His, however, was back on sweetsand and what fruits and greens this rich land might have to offer, and didn't say a word until the boy's question got his attention. Ur'h raised a brow. Oh? Did he forget to tell them? Such an oversight, hn.

"Selenitas is undergoing a change in leadership," he said, raising his voice enough to be heard over any lingering hysterics. "Your Weyrwoman and her Queen have surrendered. Millieth has commanded the dragons not to fight. As long as their riders are obedient, you will be unharmed. Apart from metallics and that wing your former Weyrsecond leads, only those who resist will be killed. You will have a new Weyrlingmaster. You will be taught correctly. Selenitas will be part of the war. No more hiding. Your new Weyrleader is Ja'kin, his bronze, Demotaeth. We intend to take Benden back and you will help us. Are there any other questions?"

[rii]

::Okay, Versaith was in two places, now none. Tashe had to edit, not you heisoku, =/ ::

Versaith back pedaled to the door when her sibling didn't seem interest in comforting. Well fine. She didn't need them. Any of them. The green's tail snapped angrily as she swiveled around to peer hatefully into the hallway at the invaders. The once fearful yellows giving way to deep crimsons, shaped into slits as she watched them move. One of them just dare to venture near this door. She wouldn't put a snout out, but a swipe of claws wasn't a snout.

The dark green glued herself to the inside wall next to the door way, head hovering just above the stone floor as she waited patiently for one of the men to near.

Jenna drew her legs in to her body, hands falling down to wrap around bare feet. She held them there mostly to let them see that her hands had started to shake. The holdbred girl never imagined that her rebellious whim to join the weyr would end up quite like this. Still, she had to resolve to be strong, because breaking down into tears would only prove her mother's disdainful words right. Versaith's shift to vehemence helped the girl to steel her emotions.

It worked until Syrene moved to throw something at their captors. Jenna hissed something harsh under her breath, eyes narrowing to match that of her dragon's loathing gaze. She didn't have time to formulate the appropriate curse to fling at the dark girl, Ur'h's men took the two away. The anger faded, giving way to a blink and widened eyes of worry.

"She's just stupid!" Jenna blurted, rising to her feet as if the words would somehow stall the men from - stripping them. "What are you doing! Stop it!" Down the hall Versaith shrieked. Jenna turned and bumped up alongside Ae'on to address Ur'h. "Is that really necessary! She's just - just stupid!"

[Ember]

Ae'on was also surprised by the sudden decision to strip search Syrene and Ithanna. He was also thoroughly pissed that because of her kindness she had to suffer the same fate as Syrene. Stupid girl. While he still wasn't sure about Ithanna he did know that she deserved better than to be dragged into a strip search. He was about to speak up when another person did it for him. He turned his gaze to Jenna as she stood up. He was actually ready to back her up when she bumped up against him and he growled.

Physical contact was not his favourite thing in the world. He valued his personal space. He eyed her more critically when he stumbled a step or two away from her. Was she? She was. Why? He tried to make sense of what he saw in his growing anger. "Wait a minute," he said, a hint of command in his voice. He didn't even notice when the two girls returned. It didn't matter in the face of his discovery. He turned fully towards Jenna with narrowed eyes.

"Are you wearing my shirt?" He half-yelled. His voice raised even higher and he completely disregarded the brownrider's answer to his question. "And on top of that it's ripped!" Yeah, so he should have been paying attention to Ur'h but when he was angry he had a rather inconvenient tunnel-vision outlook on things. His shirt was coming first. Sfelyth, however, was listening to the brown dragon. The sooner he could get to His the happier he'd be so his only comment was, No dying at all is best.

[Lotty]

And now things were moving entirely too fast. Raebeli felt Ithanna cling to the sleeve of the loose shirt the mindhealer had been sleeping in, and couldn't help but look over at the girl like a worried hen. Approaching the ripe old age of twenty two, she was the oldest of the class wasn't she? Ugh, free spirits were not meant to have any responsibilities or worries. Rae had been so used to having the troubles of candidates and weyrlings leave her as soon as they had rounded the corner and left through the infirmary door. She wanted to snake her hand over and cling to the other greenweyrling for moral support but...

She had made a move and with surprised eyes the young woman caught a flash of light gleaming off silver surfaces before then the audio hit; a clatter against the ground as the blade skidded across the floor and implicated the entire class as being insolent. This was not good. A fact that was only confirmed when the men dragged away Syrene and Ithanna and striped away their clothes right then and there. A piteous look welled up in her eyes and sensing the distress her bonded moaned from her spot inside their little room. How potentially embarrassing and traumatic would this whole experience get? It was like a mindhealer's worst nightmare.

It was only made worse by the fact that they were all yabbering....and she was still scratched up and dizzy from the initial scuffle moments earlier. But did they not hear?! Really!? They were all going to become tools...they were going to be brainwashed! Emotionally crippled! Made into weapons for false causes! Yet here they all were...Ae'on snipping at Jenna over a shirt of all things and the woman despite being of a generally cheerful disposition was not unknown to succumb to mounting pressure. A chastising glare was cast his way, accompanied by his named mouthed angrily. She couldn't guarantee that he would see it, but at least should he look her way the message would get across: now was not the time....brat.

Quixoth turned worried eyes on her dearest clutchbrother. Oh Wridelth! At least she would have him, and cooed in response, hiding behind gentle words how alarmed she really was Injuries? I think not clutchbrother...though I did make mine leak just a little. She was remorseful, and hung her head slightly before perking it back up at the sound of the brown's mindvoice again. Hmmmph. She didn't care for his words...so so....she poked around Raebeli's mind for the right expression...condescending! Yes! Did he think her dumb? She wouldn't just take what the brown was saying at face value, oh no...Wridelth...do you believe him? Of course he knew what she meant by him.

[Tashe]

"Nnnaah!" Pulled off of Syrene, Ithanna wiggled only slightly in distress. Currently she was hoping that the Blue Weyrling wasn't going to be killed for doing something stupid. The Beastcrafter had expected reprocussions but being stripped threw her entirely off kilter. It took everything not to take a swing at the guy who had her, a blush tinging her cheeks pink. The more she resisted the worse it would be for her, she only hoped that Syrene would understand that as well. You know, despite very much wanting to strangle the other girl's neck. Ithanna's unshed tears returned when she was thrust back toward her classmates. Stepping into her sleeping trousers and buttoning her shirt with out a word, the blond scrubbed at her eyes with a sleeve before focusing her eyes on Ae'on and Jenna.

"Guys! Bickering won't do nothin'. Sit back down already. And you, Ae'on! Enough about your shirts! No one cares right now!" Sitting down heavily next to Raebeli again, she pulled her legs up to her chest and laid her head on her knees. Ithanna had heard what Ur'h said about their plans for them and right now, she really didn't care about anything but her Dragon's safety. She lowered her voice to a whisper so only Rae (or the Weyrling on her other side) could just barely hear her. "This isn't good. Na good at all. I don't want to fight their stupid war for them. We can't get tricked into believin' their slick coated words. Trained correctly he says. By whose standards?" The tears began to fall and she buried her head in her arms. "Like a stallion on the way to bein' broke..."

She had a headache. This of course, was one of the reasons she hadn't wanted to be a Rider in the first place. Living at Ruatha had taught her enough about the troubles of War. She thought at least here she wouldn't have to be part of the Northern struggle if she did happen to impress. But no, look at them now. A massive surprise attack, people fleeing, complete surrender. If only Selenitas had been left out of the war completely, everything would have been fine. Why did the Northern Weyrs even look down here to this continent!? Scrubbing her face with her hands, she tucked the loose strands of hair not tied back by her nubby runner's-tail behind her ear. She sighed, her trembling was not violent but perceptible. Questions? Yeah she had a question... why? Why them? Why should they believe anything the Brownrider said? But suddenly something else came up and it bothered her. She directed her curiosities at U'rh, albiet a bit nervously.

"Wait... Ja'kin? Ja'kin of Demotaeth?... I thought he was already Junior Weyrleader at Benden. Why is he tryin' to take over Benden when his Dragon has as good a chance as any Bronze ta win the Senior Gold there an' take the Weyrleadership from J'lorin?" She was thoroughly confused.

~~~

Iwyrth, meanwhile, had been eavesdropping and took offense to the comment about Selenitas not training their Weyrling correctly. Mad he is! Loony as an coocoo dimglow! What does he mean by that, eh?! Not bein' trained correctly!? Why I oughta bite his bum for saying that! Selenitas trains Weyrlings tha best out of the whole lot of them! Let me at him and I'll show him what a Selenitas Weyrling can do. Broadcasting solely to her clutchmates she lashed her tail against the ground angrily. No one insulted her Weyr! Insult the people in it sure, but the Weyr itself? Never.

[Shiny]

Syrene's growling only grew louder in volume as Ithanna was yanked off of her. Being such a small, light person was not a good thing in this case. Squirming and growling rabidly, she was hauled from the ground and dragged over to where Ithanna had been taken, and struggled with all her might. If she was going to be killed, she wasn't going down without a fight.

"Leave her out of this!" she yelled angrily, throwing her worst glare at Ur'h. Although her eyes were not rimmed with their usual thick outlines of kohl, the look still managed to be intense - which goes to show that Syrene's glares were genuinely hateful, straight from the heart. Or lack thereof. "She did nothing! She just saved your man's ass from being skewered, and this is how you repay her?!"

Angry cries escaped her as she thrashed and tried to get at another of her weapons. It was impossible to overpower her captor though, and she was forced out of her clothes. "Don't touch me," she hissed dangerously, now trying to recoil from the rough touches instead of trying to hurt him. Her skin was crawling; she hated being touched. Syrene mine, please calm down. Resisting them is futile presently. You cannot win; they will kill you for your violence. You are useless dead, mine. I also prefer to live.[/i] Syrene grit her teeth, knowing that Wridelth was right. He was always right. Even if she didn't like it.

She grabbed the clothes that were thrust back at her as she was pushed back into the group, face red with embarrassment. No eyeliner AND no clothes... How much worse could this get? At least Cr'oph hadn't been there to see it. She would have never lived it down. Having dressed faster than she ever had before, Syrene's eyes hardened even more (if that was possible) at the mention of metallics being killed. Wasn't Red a metallic?

But what did she care, anyway?

A hateful glare was shot at Ae'on. And he'd called her an idiot? Nasty words were replaced with a scowl; Ithanna said exactly what she would have said, except nicer. Plus, Ae'on wasn't worth wasting her words on. (How she'd gotten to dislike the boy so much was a mystery.)

Now she had no weapons, no chance of escaping. She sunk down silently next to Ithanna, not having moved from her side (more like not having anyone else to go to), and simply side-glanced at her. Gently, she placed a hand on the side of the girl's back as she burried her head into her arms. The touch was so light that the Greenrider might have not felt it at all. Not that her fellow Weyrling's tears really affected her or anything. Seriously. It didn't. At all.

Ah, so these people were Bendenites. She snorted in disgust. If they had been Fortian, would she have helped them..? A strange feeling of confusion filled her. She didn't think she'd be as keen to help destroy Selenitas as she originally was... She hadn't specifically left Fort to escape the war, but - and she hated to admit it - life was much better without it. She did not want to join it again.

Your good health is a calming factor amidst this chaos,[/i] Wridelth said, his eerily fluid, monotonous voice sliding into Quixoth's mind. His white-reflecting eyes scanned over the Green again and again, as if to make sure she was telling the truth. At her question, his tail began to silently flick against the floor in a calculating manner. We cannot do anything even if he is lying, clutchsistermine. After such recent events, trusting them is illogical and superfluous. Currently we have no power. Our only option is waiting.[/i]