What do we do now? (Piden/Yoalla)

[Rowana]

Roivao was having a very hard time comprehending what was happening. This was like his worst nightmare come true. The only good thing about it was that none of the wherhandlers had been hurt so far. He couldn't say as much for the riders and Roisk hadn't been able to find Kaaoloth. Roi could only pray that his oldest friend was still alive somewhere. At least all his bondeds were safe. Even gloomy Puddleglum had thankfully been sleeping in his room and not out alone when the attack came.

He certainly had more than enough to think about. The wastelanders had wasted no time in letting him know that his services would no longer be needed. It was just as well that the current Wherlings were old enough to graduate anyway. He may not have been very good at his job, but he wasn't sure how he felt about handing them over to some stranger. Somehow, Roi decided, they had to keep the handlers working together despite everything. If they fell to another attack now, what would those that had escaped have to come home to?

Roisk padded softly up to his handler. Roi had set up a makeshift meeting room in one of the unused apartments. He curled around the man, purring for comfort. Roi rubbed his head. "I'm alright," he tried to assure the wher. Roisk knew he was lying, though, Roi couldn't hide the truth from him. Yosk and Pidesk were coming, he relayed thoughtfully. It seemed they wanted to talk. "Good," Roi answered with a sigh. He wasn't sure what any of them could do, but they couldn't do it alone and meeting all together would be suspicious. Two was a good start.

[Ruby]

"No."

No go! No go? No, no!

"No! I mean, you can stay, I need to go. I don't care what you do. Who owns you, anyway?"

The big blue mandyr held up ten claws, which was the only answer he would give no matter how Piden phrased the question. He'd never really held with the idea that Salamandyrs got stupider as they got lower on the color spectrum, but this one seemed to prove him wrong, wrong, wrong. He only seemed to know about three words, one of which was Grip, which appeared to be the creature's name. When asked to describe his owner, he just whistled like a flit trying to complement a pretty green.

With a sigh, Piden shook his head and held a hand out to the Blue, trying to start over. "I don't know who you are, or where you came from. You can stay here until I figure it out. I'll get you banded and everything, ok?"

Nooooo, the mandyr whined, dashing up Piden's arm to curl around his bicep, his tail nearly tight enough to cut off ciirculation. "I can see why they call you Grip," Piden sighed, rubbing a hand across his forehead before checking his person for his other mandyrs. Yes, Red was under his collar, and Three was nestled in his shirt's v-neck, clinging to the fabric to she could stare balefully out at the world. She was not at all pleased by Grip's addition to the family. Tying his red Watch Cadre band around his other bicep - Wastelander rules be damned - he headed for the empty apartment the Handlers sometimes used as a Sentinel Headquarters.

Really, Piden was glad Roi had asked for this meeting. He couldn't care less who ran his Weyr, and some of them even seemed interesting. Nice change of pace. But the new wing rosters hadn't included Tira's name, and Red had made a chilling pronouncement: Dead. Discussing new Wherlings, mostly likely for the Watch, would keep his mind off... that, and it would mean they were more likely to get their choices when the Wastelanders inevitably took over.

He slipped into the room without knocking, letting Pidesk follow him in. "Hey Roi, Roisk. No Yoalla yet?"

[Kisha-Ra]

Yoalla looked down at herself as she tugged her shirt straight, or at least tried to, it was slightly hard to tug a garment with two firelizards and one salamandyr hanging on to it very straight. Whatever it did to her clothing however, Yoalla had already decided she wasn’t leaving any of her remaining pets behind for as long as the wastelanders occupied Selenitas, however long that would be, not since Zai managed to get herself killed in the initial confrontations. If only no one had mentioned avians the silly green might still be in the land of the living.

Lao gave a comforting chirp and attempted to preen Yoalla’s hair from his favoured perch on her left shoulder, only to be thwarted by the fact that it had been tied back into a businesslike braid. The bronze looked at Denial, who was on the opposite shoulder, and attempted to look at The Devil with less success because the salamandyr was hidden inside Yoalla’s breastband. Theirs was sad, couldn’t they, her remaining faithful greens, do something? The bronze didn’t get any response from the two greens so he turned his gaze imploringly to Yosk, who flicked her wings and made a soft whining sound at him.

Whether Yosk’s comment satisfied Lao or not it did break Yoalla out of her thoughts with a start. ‘Sorry Yosk, woolgathering again. You coming?’ Yoalla gave up on her shirt and looked back at her wher, at least Yosk was big enough to look after herself, the wastelanders didn’t seem to have their own whers and a dragon had no chance of fitting into the wher quarters. However the green rose and gave a short bark. Of course she was attending, Yoalla needed watching, Lao told her so. ‘Lao worries too much sometimes.’ Yoalla responded, evoking a silent objection from the bronze and the wher as the party left the room.

Yoalla pushed open the door of the temporary office, knocking was something that happened to other people, and in any case the bronzehandlers were expecting her. ‘I’m behind you Piden.’ The greenhandler announced flatly as Yosk slipped around the door in her don’t-look-at-me pose and found somewhere to lie down.

[Rowana]

Good, Roivao thought, they had both come. Between the three of them, he was sure they could get word to all the other handlers as well. It was slower, working like this, but at least no one could take it the wrong way. The wastelanders had brought no handlers of their own, so they were still mostly on their own. They couldn't try anything without risking too many lives, but the Night Watch had to stay. They could worry about wherlings when Eikask ran again, or if the wild queen returned.

"Thank you for coming," Roi started slowly. He rubbed his neck, betraying his nerves. Roisk pushed him gently, trying to give him confidence to move forward. "I know I'm not Wherling Master anymore," he went on. "Faranth knows they may even be a good thing." Roisk snorted at him. His was so self deprecating sometimes. Just because he had a low opinion of his skills didn't mean he'd been all that bad a teacher. He just needed more confidence. Roi patted him with a small smile. "But I thought we should do something to keep us working together. The Night Watch at least. I don't like the situation, but I don't think we can just ignore our responsibilities because of it." He waved vaguely, hoping they might have some useful input.

[Ruby]

Piden slid sideways in surprise, his movement lithe even though he was only paying attention to Yoalla. Turning the momentary flash of shock to his standard seductive smile, Piden stretched out a hand, inviting Yoalla to take the chair in front of the Roi, while Piden himself moved to perch on the edge of the desk. Trust the Wastelanders not to give them enough chairs to hold a proper meeting. "Yoalla, Yosk," he purred, as Pidesk very tentatively reached out to nuzzle the Green. He'd never show such affection towards the other Bronze, but Roisk was given a very respectful bob of the head. Roisk would understand.

Roivao's momentary lack of self-confidence had Piden snorting quietly. "No one's anything anymore, Roi. You were Werylingmaster, that's what counts." It probably wouldn't help anything, but Piden wasn't exactly one to keep his thoughts to himself unless it benefitted him directly. After that, though, he shut up, listening to the rest of what Roi had to say. If that was partially influenced by Pidesk, who was to know?

Once he was done, though, Piden nodded, somewhat thoughtful. "I agree. I hardly know the Wherlings, beyond my Mentee, and if we're gonna get through this, we've got to work as a unit. And I'm not really taking sides, here, but if the group that escaped Selenitas is planning on contacting the Weyr, we're the most logical choice. No Wastelanders awake at night, and Whers can't really tattle." Leaning back on his hands, Piden consulted briefly with Pidesk, then nodded and went on, "Pidesk thinks the best thing to do is to assign the Wherlings to branches - probably Domestic and Watch first, Guards are going to have to be careful in the new regime. Any immediate nominations?" he asked, including Yoalla in his glance. If she had any choices for who she wanted on Watch, she could take her pick.

[Kisha-Ra]

A hint of satisfaction flashed through Yoalla’s eyes in the moment that she saw surprise in Piden’s expression, then as the bronzehandler’s face was graced with the usual smile Yoalla returned it with a frank gaze and a half amile of her own before she swayed past Piden, folded into the proffered chair, and gave Roivao a much more serious nod in greeting.

Yosk looked around guiltily, looking for Eikask or Nautsk, since she saw neither of her sisters in the room the green felt free to give Pidesk a quiet croon of acknowledgment. Roisk she didn’t know well, and with her typical uncertainty Yosk made no move to greet the larger bronze. She did however give an irritated huff as Denial fluttered over to flop on the back of her head. See what poor Yosk had to suffer?

Yoalla ignored Denial, certain the green wouldn’t try and make a snack of anyone’s salamandyr while there were three humans in the room with her, and remained silent, and thoughtful, as Roi and Piden said their pieces. ‘Not a bad thought, since they’ve no handlers of their own they’re likeliest to just slap a few guards on us and make some death threats if we seem to be a working organisation.’ Yoalla also ignored Yosk’s distress at the cavalier attitude towards whatever the invaders had in mind for them as she bulled her way onward. ‘Sadly I only really know Darmosk and Tekivisk. I do have a slight idea though, what about splitting them into groups and rotating them until we find out what they’re best suited to? I have a feeling some of them might even surprise us.’ Stupid. Stupid stupid, idea stupid. Of course The Devil had to get her opinion in too, and unsurprisingly Yoalla also chose to ignore her.

[Rowana]

Roivao offered Piden a grateful smile. At least someone didn't think he'd been all that terrible. It was true that now it hardly matter so long as they all stuck together. The Wastelanders were bound to have a harder time watching them, but that didn't mean they could just run amok. It was a fine line they walked now. As the humans talked, Roisk moved over to sit with Pidesk and Yosk. His was fine now and he was glad of their company. He offered them a deep purr of greeting and settled down to listen.

Roi nodded. Piden's suggestion made sense. They could always shift assignments around later if they didn't work out, like Yoalla said. "I wish I could say I know them better." He thought about the five remaining wherlings in turn; Darmori, Ximera, Kostya, Marsayis, and Tekivix. It was sad that two had been lost that year. Roi blamed himself for that, though Roisk was constantly telling him not to. "I think rotating is a good idea. They might even have suggestions of their own after that." They were capable young people, after all.

"As long as all we appear to do is the Night Watch, I don't think they'll bother us." If the exiles did contact them, he was sure they could manage that discretely. If whers could do one thing, it was keep secrets. Roi supposed they should think themselves lucky. The riders had to deal with Wastelanders as their leaders everyday now. At least wherhandlers were still mostly their own unit.

[Ruby]

"Hmm, I like that. That'll make it less obvious, too, that we're trying to pick new members. There's, what? Me and Yoalla for Watch Cadre, Nautic for Mining, you and Eikane for Domestic... sucks to leave out Dmitri and Trell, but maybe we can absorb them into the Watch for now? Pair em' up with me and Yoalla so they can get an idea of the new kids..." Piden paused, counting briefly on his fingers (math had never been his strong suit). "If they pair up with us, that's five rotations, one for each Wherling."

Man, it felt good to be doing something. Piden shifted, getting more comfortable on the desk, mirroring Pidesk's gentle settling next to Roisk. His movement disturbed Red, who peeked the corner of one eye out of his collar, eying The Devil. She liked the green, just about as much as it was possible for Red to like anyone. Now, however, she had to disagree. Her tone was far more gentle than normal, but she still said No. With a slight snicker for his mandyr's poor judgement, he turned his attention back to the humans. "I really only know Kostya and Konstask, but I'd be happy to take the rest of them for a spin sometime. Pidesk is big enough to spook any Wastelander who tries to mess with us, even if he'll deny it to his grave."

Pidesk didn't like this talk of graves, and he ducked his head in embarassment when His claimed he could spook. He had made such progress with Yosk, and now His was saying he was scary. Way to go, Piden. In an attempt to prove his Handler wrong, Pidesk nudged at Denial, sniffing the green before sticking out his tounge in an attempt to taste the flit. What was it? His certainly didn't have any of those

[Kisha-Ra]

Yoalla remained quiet, considering what each of the bronzehandlers had to say, as Roivao and Piden spoke. She had to admit that when it came to the new handlers, she really hadn’t had all that much to do with them aside from the two she’d mentioned, and as for the younger whers, well Yosk was Yosk, and as awkwardly shy as ever.

A slight nod greeted Piden’s suggestion. ‘If we could persuade them to pair up with us for a while that would work. They should be able to get idea of what the other pairs are like from that. Frankly I doubt our new masters-‘ here Yoalla’s mouth twisted as if she’d tasted something rotten ‘-could even tell the difference between guards and watchers, all they see is us going off into the jungle.’ The green handler paused for consideration, examining Lao for a moment. ‘Unless some nosy bugger decides to follow us around anyway, maybe we should start reporting voluntarily to whatever poor insignificant person they decide to put in charge of us.’ That might be a step in the right direction, or misdirection if you wanted, particularly if the wherhandlers wanted to stay a separate unit, which Yoalla rather assumed was the point.

No? The Devil inquired as Yoalla spoke, sliding more of her body out into the open so she could get a better look at Red, if there was ever a salamandyr to confuse The Devil, it was Red. No stupid? No why? The green inquired, a not unusual confused tone winding through her tone. Of course her stupid was stupid, and any idea stupids had that didn’t relate directly to The Devil’s wellbeing was clearly stupid.

Ignoring the salamandyr with the ease of long practice Yoalla gave Pidesk a look over, he was smaller than Roisk it had to be said, but the pair of them made Yosk look rather small. ‘I don’t doubt he could.’ Yoalla commented with a grin. ‘I’m sure he could be a true terror if he wanted to.’

Yosk blinked at Roisk, forgetting herself and opening her eyes properly rather than keeping them half shut, and offered a tentative grumbling sound in greeting. Oh don’t do that! Yosk pulled her head back sharply so that Pidesk’s tongue didn’t come near Denial, while the serpentine firelizard hissed a protest and snapped her jaws on empty air instead of the bronze wher’s tongue. Denial tried to eat everything, especially The Devil, Yosk warned, her muzzle dropping deferentially now that Pidesk wasn’t in immediate danger of having his tongue become a firelizard snack. Tongues, it seemed, looked very much like The Devil. If Pidesk wanted to investigate a firelizard, he should try Lao. On the whole though Yosk rather thought Pidesk’s should avoid firelizards, they could be big trouble.

[Rowana]

Roivao listened carefully to what each of them had to say. One of the things he thought they needed to fix was the fact that so many of them didn't know each other. He was as much to blame as anyone, not socialize much beyond classes. Hopefully this switching around would help with that. It would be harder for them to work together if they didn't even trust each other.

He nodded solemnly. "It's true," he agreed. "I'm not sure what they have planned, but they don't seem to have much in mind for us. I think it's a good idea to be as agreeable as possible." They didn't have to submit completely, but behaving in that way might at least avoid confrontations. "We'll need to talk to the other senior wherhandlers about this as well." If anyone had other ideas, it would be best to hear them. It was a pity a larger meeting would be suspicious. It would have been much easier than all this message running.

Roisk was more than capable of scary off unwanted people as well, but it wasn't something he took pride in. The big bronze much preferred to work things out instead of fighting. That didn't mean he wouldn't when it came to it though. Roisk gave a wher chuckle at Pidesk attempt to lick the fire lizard and offered Yosk a purr. He wasn't scary, surely?

[Ruby]

"As long as they aren't doing something idiotic, like beating the snot out of each other every night, or practicing with weapons," Piden qualified when Yoalla mentioned the Guard Whers. "Not sure I'd put it past them. I dunno about sucking up though... if we all do it all at once, won't it look suspicious?" Paranoia, thy name is Piden. "Some of us could start, though, and those who seem less likely to acquiesce - Trell, for instance, maybe Dmitri and Yoalla, some of the Weyrlings - can eventually start doing it grudgingly. More elaborate, but it makes more sense, yeah?" Also, Piden was a strategy genius. Just in case you were wondering.

Captain Incredible wasn't done yet, though. Roi was next, and a little bit of sarcasm entered Piden's tone, although that's kind of just normally how he spoke. "Man, if only we had tiny little creatures that could sneak under door and deliver... oh that's right! Not that I'd trust paper to Shells, but if I can detach Red and Three, they might be capable. Grip... maybe. They never actually come down here, they only check in with us when we leave, so if flits and mandyrs are delivering messages they'll never know. No need for us to get up. Shards, we could do it right now. Or if we want to meet in person, each of us could see one or two people who aren't here - there's five, so one or two each - then report back. Easy." Red shrunk down into Piden's shirt at the mention of message delivering, terrified to leave Hers. From a safe crevice, she whispered a single word to The Devil: Progress.

It was true, they were making progress. Progress at anything was good, right now. But Piden had another question for the group, one that Pidesk reminded him of. "What about everyone that left, though? Old Selenitas? Do we want to try to contact them, or help them out, if we even can? We would be the logical choice, but do we want to risk it?" It might surprise Roi and Yoalla that Piden even suggested it. After all, when had he grown morals? There had to be an ulterior motive... but what?

Pidesk jerked his tongue back in when Yosk moved away, more surprised than anything. Yosk thought biting was trouble, he asked? She should spend some time with Shells in her head. He hardly ever bit, but he had to be about a million times worse than Denial. Cocking his head at the other Bronze, Pidesk added, Roisk's had one of each, right? What did he think of the Denial-like ones?

[Kisha-Ra]

‘Much as I trust Dmitri and Quintrell to do something stupid like that on their own I do actually trust their whers to stop them, or at least make them do it somewhere sensible. Lets face it, when it comes to sensible you can’t really do better than those two.’ Yoalla was determined to stick up for the guard whers, although she did take something of a backhanded approach. However she did mean what she said about Quintresk and Dmisk, this whole night watch business had really been their idea anyway and Yoalla couldn’t imagine the pair of them letting their handlers do anything that could really screw it up.

‘You know I was suggesting a normal level of cooperation, Piden, don’t try and get clever, it really doesn’t suit you.’ Yoalla gave the strategy genius a sniff of distain. ‘I don’t think the time has quite come to buckle under, get down on our knees and really lick boot. Although if you want to you can.’ In Yoalla’s opinion that time would never come, the greenhandler didn’t bend at the knees very easily.

‘I’m sure Roisk could manage to pass a few messages for you as well.’ Yoalla added onto Piden’s suggestion. ‘It might have to be in general terms though. If it’s message carrying you want though Lao is your green.’ Yoalla had long since given up referring to Lao as a bronze, if he believed he was a green after siring two clutches nothing was going to change his mind. ‘He can be trusted to do as you ask.’ The greenhandler’s finger’s reached up to scratch at the firelizard’s chin, making the previously still bronze stretch his neck out and list to one side.

Progress? The Devil repeated incredulously, as if progress with this group was impossible, which it might well be, sliding her body out into the open as she spoke until the pale green was hanging down from the neckline of Yoalla’s shirt by her prehensile tail with her head tilted up toward the other green. Progress no?

Yoalla gave Piden a look as incredulous as The Devil’s question had been. Piden, suggesting that? Then the look became rather cynical, was there something in it for the bronzehandler? Some treasured bedmate maybe? It was true Yoalla had a low opinion of other people’s motives. However aside from her expression she didn’t comment.

Well, The Devil was hardly articulate for a salamandyr. Yosk commented with a flick of her tail toward the hanging salamandyr. Therefore she was less annoying, although she also bit, just not as often.