Revival! (Night Watch)

[Requiem]

It was, ironically, not far from where the Main Hall had once stood. In fact, one of the massive shapes stood within the blackened, twisted roots of what had once been the great tree that served as the center of activity for Selenitas. The dining hall, the kitchens, the center for transfers...just a dead, ashen hulk. There was a slim possibility that this was mere coincidence, but it was Dmisk and Quintresk, two of the least exciteable and most calculating of Selenitas's whers. Possible that they didn't realize what effect the location would have. Possible, too, that the harper half-reclining on the curve of a blackened root not far from the blue wher was equally oblivious. Possible, but not, in the end, likely.

Dmisk glanced at Quintresk, his tail flicking slightly. His brown clutchbrother was no more shiny than he himself was, but Ariysk and Pidesk, but Eikask - none had stepped forward. Eight months after the next generation of whers came into their majority...the nights were still piddled away, wherhandling pairs wandering at their leisure, wholly ununited, waiting for another incident like the one that destroyed the last wher population to come their way. Useless. Forgotten they may have been, but useless...the only males without a pretty glitter dusting to their coats would not let useless happen. The dragons may forget them. None might ever acknowledge them at all. But they would unite, would come together to form the Night Watch once again, and when Eikask clutched, the new wherlings would look upon the first generation with awe and await the night anxiously that they too could come and be part of those who guarded the night here at Selenitas Weyr.

And if the gold and bronzes felt they were too good for that...their loss.

The sleek head tilted upward, a deep, rumbling bellow suited to a male of his not unsubstantial size ripping through the night. No alarm...the purpose wasn't to frighten the other whers. Though it was most definitely a call to gather, not unlike you might hear if something interesting but not dangerous had been found. He glanced at Quintresk, inviting the brown to add his voice to Dmisk's and strengthen the summons. For as long as his air held out - and that was quite long indeed - the sound rumbled through the trees and reverberated off the canyons, continuing to echo once the male himself had fallen silent.

Big meeting, Dementia commented to Hers in muted excitement, picking up on the mood from Dmisk and rubbing up against Dmitri's jaw. He absently rubbed the goosebumps from his arm with one hand. "Let me just take this moment to reiterate," the boy stated quietly to his wher, "that I am every bit as much against this now as I was at the beginning. And Yours is most definitely on my list of people to get back at, Quintresk. Where has he skittered off to now?" Not that Dmitri had ever intended on working with Quintrell; they did not get along by any stretch of the imagination. He just would have liked to leave this whole business to the thief, but because Quintrell was - as ever - absent, he had no choice. Dmitri had always known he'd be part of the Night Watch, but this was something else entirely. Dmisk leveled a patient look at His. If they didn't start it, what made him think the Night Watch would ever revive at all. Dmitri snorted. Dementia, meanwhile, had caught sight of moving shapes.

Here they come, harperlove. All the nightbeasts. Here they come, come to call. First big meeting under the moons, she whispered in the same excited hush.

[rii]

Quintresk silently padded around in the darkness to inspect the charred stump that had once been a proud behemoth tree. The dark wher had been busy, inquisitive, since his return. Prowling the perimeter and going over the areas that had suffered from Fort's attack. It seemed so much had changed in his absence. It hadn't felt like he had been gone that long, but the burned remains of the Main Hall – the spiderwebbing of burn scars down Dmisk's side – spoke differently.

It had only taken a short discussion with Dmisk (because neither wher wasted time; merely got to the point and went over the facts) before he agreed that the Night Watch needed to be brought into existence. His wasn't the most enthusiastic about the idea, but he knew that His would support the motion none the less. The red striping down Quintresk's sides caught in the moonlight, reflecting as slashes of crimson as he turned to come up alongside his clutchbrother. Long was the dark brown, and he lifted his head to add his howl to the call. A tone higher and almost musical.

Again he moved away, slipping in with the darkness to find a raised position in which to leap onto. Catlike he perched there with his long tail curling lazily over his claws. Dark blue eyes shifted to the muiscmaker. A simple questioning went to Dmisk – why did his ask questions he wanted no answer to. Arching his long (for a wher) neck up, his eyes turned to stared out at the approaching shapes.

[Kisha-Ra]

Yosk had something small, furry, and somewhat flattened, trapped between her front paws, and Yoalla for one did not feel in the slightest inclined to find out what it might have been. As the wher settled down to gnaw on her impromptu meal Yoalla settled down on the ground herself and pulled some bread and cheese from a pocket, she was far too used to the sight of Yosk munching small (or smallish) squeaky things for it to even mildly put her off her own food now. In fact Yoalla was smiling slightly, despite the bone snapping sounds that came from Yosk’s snack. The green got some kind of immense kick out of flying over her prey and dropping down to flatten it, now that she was relatively stable in flight, and that carried straight over to Yoalla, and along with the surge of triumph that still came from flying with Yosk it made for a strangely cheery mood.

A dual howl bursting through the night made Yosk cast aside the head of whatever she’d been eating with a sharp jerk and wriggle all over before she leapt to her feet and flexed her wings, making it very clear she wanted to go. Her favourite brothers were calling! And never mind that apart from Ariysk Dmisk and Quintresk were her only brothers, they had always been kind to Yosk.

Bewildered by Yosk’s sudden excitement, for her wher was now hopping up and down in place and whuffing to hurry Yoalla along, Yoalla shoved the remains of her food back into her pocket and bounded up onto her green’s back without comment.

At last! She thought Yoalla would never get herself sorted out! Yosk ran along for several feet before snapping her giant (for a wher anyway) wings open and flapping them. Yosk wasn’t going to arrive by falling on her nose this time! Oh but maybe her brothers would sad because they couldn’t fly. Yosk didn’t want to upset anyone. The wher’s uncertainty translated into a lower, slower flight until, by the time they were in sight of the other whers, the greenpair were gliding just above the ground.

Moving neatly from gliding to walking Yosk offered her brothers a light mental touch, questioning. Why did they call? Who else was coming? Yoalla meanwhile, slipped off as soon as Yosk halted and gave Dmitri, since he was the only handler she could see, a measuring look but made no comment as yet.

[Ember]

"Hnn?" The questioning moan came from the tall Harper who had been previously sleeping. The howls had excited Eikask and she had nudged him awake. There was exasperation in her thoughts. Was he done being a Harper for a while? They had things to do and he had to be with her! It wasn't nice of him to leave her alone in the night. He was Hers, first and foremost. He sighed and rolled out of his furs. Fine. The gold barked pleasantly and shuffled out of his way. She half fell, half sat on her butt as she waited for him to get dressed.

Eikane partially unshielded a small glowbasket, warning his gold beforehand. Thankfully she was from wild stock. The wild ones had gained the ability to stand more light than the average domestic wher. He dressed quickly in grey pants and a light green t-shirt. He brushed his hair and teeth before opening the door for Eikask and letting her lead the way to the outside. She had been rather annoyed with him recently since he'd been going to the Gather and plying his craft for the Gatherers. She seemed willing to put it behind her though.

She crouched for him when they got outside and he climbed on with the ease of practice. Sure she couldn't risk running full out or she'd trip herself up and send him flying but she was still a faster means of transportation than walking. She'd grown into more grace...so long as she was concentrating on her foot placement. Eikask started at a leisurely trot (at least to onlookers, she was actually concentrating very hard) before breaking out into a run in the direction the howls had come from. The faintly shimmering queen eventually saw the old main hall and paused at the edge of the river.

"Ah crud," Eikane sighed, taking off his shoes and socks so they wouldn't get wet. He also rolled up his pants as far as they would go before letting the gold continue. Eikask proceeded to swim towards the burnt husk of a tree that had been the main hall. When she got there she paused to let Hers off before moving towards a figure she had not seen for a while. She padded over towards Quintresk, tripping over her feet slightly. She crooned at him, tail curling slightly. And where had he been for so long?

The goldhandler spotted Dmitri and Yoalla in the darkness but didn't approach them. The greenhandler appeared to hate him despite the fact that he had never done anything to her and he saw Dmitri often enough that he didn't feel the need to greet the other Harper at every opportunity. That and he was still pissy from being woken up suddenly. He didn't generally get along with others for the first hour after he woke up. He just didn't want to deal with anyone during that time. Was that so strange? He didn't think so. He yawned and contented himself with watching Eikask and her pet brown.

[Tashe]

Shoving Nautsk's nose away from his face the Wherhandler yawned and rolled onto his side, putting his back between his Wher his cheek. To little avail, since the Green just circled around his cot an began prodding him again. "Whaaat Nautsky. Lea'me aloone." Shoving at her nose again, Nautic groaned. He had been having such a nice dream! Stupid, lovely, persistent Wher. Tossing his furs back he swung his legs over the side of the cot and yawned again. "What is it Nautsk?" As Nautsk filled him in about the howling and that it meant the Whers were calling for a meeting, Nautic winced as he rolled his shoulder. He had taken to sleeping in his shoulder and elbow braces, it helped support his recently damaged joints. "So you've gotten me up to take me to a meeting that a few Whers called?" The Wher passed him an image of her clutchsiblings. "Oh, Dmisk and Quintresk. That makes sooo much difference." Nautic ran a hand through his bangs before tossing them to one side of his face with a flick of his head. He didn't want to go, he had been so comfortable in his bed despite it being so warm. He picked a sleeveless shirt to pull over his head, knowing that Nautsk wouldn't wait for him to remove his braces. Tucking his sleeping pants into a pair of boots, the Greenhandler held out his hand for Nautsk. She'd lead him out of the dark until he could see, and he trusted her to not run him into anything in the process. He didn't bother combing out his hair, he was too sleepy and his Wher was almost making him sprint out the door. "Calm down, gosh." Small pin pricks on either shoulder announced the nocturnal arrival of both his pets.

It wasn't long before they reached the bank opposite the stump that was once the main hall. "Oh no. Nonono. I am not swimming over there. You go ahead, I refuse. You fill me in later." He fidgeted when she whined. "I can't swim in my brace and I'd only burden you if you carried me. Take Absinthe, she's sober tonight." He looked at the Green who perched on the tip of his shoulder. "You'll go and be my eyes and ears? And you can tell them what I think when I have something to say." Nope. No do. "Absinthe don't even think of trying to bribe wine out of me." He smiled when she growled. "Now go please. I'll think about getting you some booze IF you do a good job." Tizzy chirped in agitation. He was willing to go and do that! It wasn't fair that he always called upon her to do things like that when it was obvious she never wanted to! Absinthe tossed the wanna-be Salamandyr a rude gesture before departing with Nautsk across the river. Grabbing Tizzy so he didn't try to go after the Green, Nautic picked out a place to settle down.

Panting slightly as she climbed onto the shore, Nautsk barked happily at the group before proceeding onto her usual greeting routine. First Eikask, then Dmisk, then Yosk and Quintresk and finally all the humans. Trotting over to the roots of the tree, she plopped herself down as close to her friend as possible with Absinthe settled onto her head. I listen for Nautic mine.

[Requiem]

The blue's head swiveled toward his brown clutchbrother. He'd given up on trying to figure out why His said so many useless things ages ago. Questions that needed no answers, comments stating the obvious...humans were just wasteful like that. At the approach of the first of their clutchsisters, Dmitri brushed her mind with a mild welcome. He didn't mean to pry, but had she glided all that way? If not, she was walking so gracefully that it seemed like it. (While this might have seemed like flirting from most anyone else, it was genuine enough from Dmisk; just as he expected her to answer his question and make it clear.)

Eikask's approach was greeted with the slight dip of his head, acknowledging his golden clutchsister. He did not address her, however, given she seemed far more interested in Quintresk. Which was...predictable. Especially given the brown's long absence. Nautsk came soon after. To her, his mental touch was just that little bit warmer, though she had to be used enough to him by now to know that he was fond of her and he simply didn't show much emotion. He moved close enough to her to touch without actually doing so. His next question was directed to all present: had anyone seen the bronzes? They had important things to discuss amongst themselves, and the bronzes should be here too.

"Likely think they're too high above the rest of us to respond to you and Quintresk," Dmitri muttered under his breath. His eyes flicked over the two handlers to show with no small amount of annoyance. It was bothersome enough to be doing this without people giving him trouble. He waved Yoalla closer. "Sorry to interrupt. It's just time we all...had a discussion. Hey, old man! How are we supposed to communicate with you halfway across Pern?" Stepping past Yoalla, he strode toward Eikane, nudging the man in her direction. "If you'll excuse me for just a moment."

The boy tsked softly to himself, climbing into the boat and hoping Nautic had continued his streak of lazy and not headed back toward the barracks. He didn't even bother to tie up the boat, pulling it up high on the bank and stalking toward the small shadow. "Afraid of water all of a sudden?" Without waiting for an answer, he pulled Nautic into the boat after him, and began rowing back. "Honestly. You're sending salamandyrs, Quintrell is continuing his disappearing act, none of the bronzehandlers bothered to show at all...if we were any more fail we'd have the weyr voting to lynch us as wastes of oxygen." He got out, extending a hand to Nautic. "Come on, this is too important to send alcoholic salamandyrs as delegates."

[rii]

Quintresk watched Yosk in silent interest as she arrived. He returned her greeting, but said no more as Eikask immediately approached him. The brown gave no notice to her stumble, merely settling his dark blue eyes on her in polite attention. He wasn't distracted enough to not greet Nautsk as she came along, but it was brief and Quintresk dutifully answered Eikask's question. To her was sent the varying images of distance places, along with their smells and the restlessness his felt at being tied to the weyr. He was glad to be back, and it was good to see everyone.

The brown's head turned half-way as the musicmaker spoke. A light whuff, maybe a touch of amusement at the words. It was just fine with Quintresk if the bronzes didn't want to show up. Given their clutchbrother's demeanor it seemed more of a hindrance to include him. Let the metallic strut around in his own sense of grandeur, Quintresk felt no need to draw him out of that world. However, the two older bronze whers were well enough, why they didn't come was beyond him. Perhaps to set in how the weyr was..

A mental shrug and his gaze swept out of the few whers present. He remembered having more siblings than this. It was a bit unsettling to view that their numbers had become so small. The brown slipped off his small mound to nose at Eikask's side as he passed. She was important, aside from the respect her metallic hide demanded. She'd run soon, clutch, and then if the Night Watch went well.. the new wherlings would be raised into an environment that held purpose.

The brown moved on, nosing Nautsk and ending with a light nudge to Yosk. So nice to see his pale sister who no longer seemed to shy away from others. Brave enough to glide on her wings. Quintresk continued on, taking a seat near Dmisk. His neck curved around, glancing in the direction of the musicmaker and nautsk's. This seemed to be all their call would beckon.. no use in waiting for the ones that were not comfortable with change. So if his pale brother was ready to begin.

[Kisha-Ra]

Yosk’s muzzle dipped as Dmisk questioned her, and her eyes slowly changed colour to pink in the wher equivalent of a blush. However Yosk’s reply was full of enthuiasm, barely surpressed down to a level that she believed wouldn’t be interpreted as boasting. Yosk could fly! Not far, not particularly gracefully, the qualifiers were quickly added to the idea, but a bit, and she’d practiced soooo long.

The pale green backed up a couple of steps as her sisters arrived, Eikask had claimed Quintresk (already! How disappointing.) and Dmisk obviously belonged to Nautsk. It was right that things were thus of course, her clutchsisters were sooo pretty, so very much prettier than Yosk. Before the green could totally fold in on herself another question distracted her. Bronzes? Yosk flipped one of her wings in a sort of shrug and answered with a soft snort. No, she’d seen no bronzes.

Yoalla smiled slightly, even the presence of Eikask and her handler couldn’t irritate her when Yosk was so pleased with herself, it really made all the effort of nightly practicing, and finding isolated places for that practice (Yosk wouldn’t dream of practicing where someone might see her) worthwhile if the green was just a bit more confident.

Hello, where was Dmitri off to? She hadn’t even started teasing him yet. Yoalla’s eyes followed the bluehandler’s course down to the river with mild curiousity before she gave up, and transferred her attention to Eikane long enough to give him a curt nod of greeting before her gaze came to rest on the interaction of the whers, who were really a more interesting bunch than their handlers anyway.

[Ember]

Eikask flicked her tail pleasantly and deigned to greet Nautsk in response to her green sister's greeting. That was exactly the way her sisters should treat her. What she didn't like was that she was getting so close to her blue. Dmisk was hers, he'd been claimed, and she didn't appreciate the green trying to steal him. She watched for a moment before deciding the green was no legitimate threat. The blue had not gone to greet the green but stayed where he was until she came to him.

Besides, Quintresk chose then to answer her question and she listened with a keen interest not normally displayed for others. So little interaction between her and the bronzes and browns! It was truly regretable. She genuinely didn't care for Ariysk, he was too egotistic and his bonded was female, but she liked Quintresk and her teacher and the older bronze were okay. The scenes he sent her were interesting and she impressed that on him. She could hardly blame him for appeasing His but she hoped he'd stay around for a while this time.

Eikask turned her head in Dmisk's direction and projected that she had not seen the bronzes lately. Tsk, they were hardly doing any good hiding themselves away from the rest of them. As Quintresk nosed her she wrapped her tail around his chest as much as possible. It wasn't to impede his movement, merely a flirtatious action. She followed him over to the other whers and sat with all the grace she ought to have. She brushed his mind lightly with a light praise. Her usual contempt was underlying but that he received even that much marked him as liked.

While his wher gathered with the others Eikane was busy being concerned by the fact that Nautsk had arrived without Nautic. That was unusual and the goldhandler was beginning to worry. Various concerns crossed his mind - had he done something wrong? had one of the others done something wrong? was he hurt or sick? - but were pushed to the back of his mind when Dmitri addressed him. How bad was it that he had begun to respond to old man? At the nudge he snorted and started walking towards Yoalla. He wondered if the other harper was aware of her animosity towards him. Maybe he found it funny.

Eikane glanced behind him to see Dmitri headed towards a boat and he snorted. Well, that would be the easier way to get places across the river. He might even hijack the boat on the return trip rather than have Eikask swim him over. At Yoalla's nod he gave one of his own. He looked around for something to sit on but found all the nearby options too distasteful so he stuck to standing. Sure he might not be able to see the dirt on his clothes in the dark but knowing it would be there bothered him almost as much. He looked over at the group of whers and almost groaned. He hadn't really noticed it so much without other whers around but his gold was glowy..well, more glowy than usual. He hadn't noticed since she always seemed to have a shine to her. That explained a few things...

[Ruby]

Pidesk was deep in the jungle, stalking larger prey than usual. He was hungry these days, and small rodents and tunnel snakes weren't doing the trick. It was a feline he was after tonight, wild and full-sized, stalking something of its own. The bronze was enjoying the challenge, but he was also vaguely annoyed- he would have had the creature an hour gone, except for His and the little ones. Red he liked, but the new one was nothing but a bother. Pidesk did not approve.

Piden, meanwhile, was living a nightmare. Unsure of the reaction Red would have to the scarlet-hued Bronze, and loath to let more stress into her life when she was still recovering from her terror after the attack on the Hatching Sands, Piden had been keeping them apart as much as he could (no small feat). He had taken two small boxes from the garbage and found lids to fit, then padded them with old shirts and bedfurs. What resulted was lovely little mandyr nests where Piden could keep his charges from seeing one another. Obviously it wasn't a permanent solution (especially for Shells, who threw a dramatic fit every so often, usually when Piden wanted to sleep), but it would do for now. Someday he'd have to introduce them, he just dreaded that day.

Shells was throwing one such fit now, so Piden had stashed Red away and released the Bronze to terrorize the apartment. Bored! he snapped, flying at Piden's head. Girlssz, all I rally want is GRILLS! he snapped, frilling unhappily. Piden cringed at every flash of red, imagining his other Mandyr's reaction. He could sense Pidesk ready to pounce, but then the Bronze's head snapped up, listening. The feline got away, and as Piden opened the door to see if he could hear what Pidesk was hearing any better, Shells escaped.

Swearing, Piden chased him into the hall and up the stairs, wearing only loose sleeping pants, casual slippers, and his fuzzy tan bathrobe. Shells dissapeared when they reached the top level, his constant self-dialogue fading into the night, and Piden turned his head towards the dying wher-call. Important, you think? he asked Pidesk, and recieved an affirmative from the Bronze. Meet you there, he added, heading in the direction of the sound. Pidesk had already turned, streaking toward his kin, making good time through the forest.

It was Dmitri and Dmisk calling, along with a Brown neither Pidesk nor Piden knew well. And from the remains of the demoilshed main hall- how dramatic, Piden scoffed mentally. Well, they were here now, might as well see what was up. He waited on the shore until he felt Pidesk approaching, vaulting onto the moving Wher's back just in time for Pidesk to take a huge leap, gliding the last few feet to land in the shallows (Showing off? Not Pidesk, but the case could certainly be made for Piden). Piden swung down as soon as they reached dry land, keeping a hand on Pidesk's heaving side, totally unconcerned about the ridiculous figure he cut in the furry robe. With a wave in the direction of the assembled handlers, he and Pidesk took a place facing Dmisk, and the Handler looked vaguely around for Dmitri, as if he were actually interested in the Bluehandler's wherabouts.

[Tashe]

When Dmisk moved close to her Nautsk crooned at him, happily nosing his shoulder before pawing at the ground before her. Oh wasn't this a happy sight! Look, all of her friends were here! Well not all of them of course, seeing how Roisk was missing, but still! It was a good turn out. She responded in the negative when Dmisk asked if she had seen any of the Bronzes. She hadn't seen them since last night! She didn't know where they were right now, but they should be coming. They were probably already on their way! Nautsk, bored already with thinking of her Bronze friends, turned her attention onto her Greenclutchsister. She gave Yosk a fluting chirp. How was her pretty Greensister tonight? They had not talked in so very long of a time. They should really spend more time together! If Yosk wanted to, she could play a game of tag with her later, after the meeting of course. It wouldn't be nice to start a game in the middle of a meeting, especially one that had been called by Dmisk.

Nautsk playfully batted at Quintresk's muzzle as he nosed her. Silly Brownbrother had been gone so long! She had missed him even though she didn't know him too well. They of course, had to rectify that situation. Of course, she was all to happy to see Eikask had come to join them. Oh she was such a pretty Queen! Nautsk wanted to be the Gold's friend, but feared that the larger female would reject her because she wasn't 'good enough'. Instead, she chose to covet the nice greetings that Eikask gave her as a secret exchange of friendship. The Green rumbled at Dmisk when she noticed a flash of a familiar Brown hide. Look there! There was one of the Bronzes. See? Didn't she tell him they were on their way? She wuffed happily at Pidesk as he came to join them. She was so very happy to see her Bronzefriend! Well now that most of them were here, including Hers!, what was this meeting about anyway? It didn't seem like it had the mood of a normal gathering, even though she was trying to make everything as lighthearted as possible. She didn't want to see anyone making growly faces.

"Nnn! Gah! Demi careful! I-" Thump. He fell into the boat ungracefully as the Bluehandler started to row back to the chunk of land that once housed the main hall. Nautic was glad he hadn't been wearing a robe or something, since he was currently upside down with his appendages flailing so as to right himself. "Gah!" There, finally! Sitting up on the bottom of the boat, the Greenhandler winced and rolled his shoulder. Good the brace was still holding. It would have been a pain if one of the straps had come undone during the rather sudden landing. He merely listened to Dmitri as he spoke, choosing not to retort in favor of getting up onto one of the boat's seats while not pitching over the side. He had never really liked boats, but living at the Weyr had cured most of his animosities to them. But when they reached the shore of the island, Nautic waved his finger at Demi. "She's not drunk tonight thank you very much. I wouldn't have sent her if she had been." He used the proffered hand to jump from the side of the boat onto the bank, but he let go as soon as he was stable.

Humming quietly he trekked over to where the group of Wherhandlers were standing, angling his arrival so that he could stand between the Gold and the Greenhandler. "Hello Yoalla. Hello Eikane." He said cheerfully. "Hello Piden... and Quintresk? Where is Quintrell?" Nautic was mildly surprised to see the Brownwher after his long absence. "Its nice to see you again Quintresk!" He spied his Nautsk interacting with her clutchmates and smiled. The Blue Salalizard swooped down to perch on his shoulder and Absinthe soon after crawled up to take residence on his other. There. Now everyone was there and accounted for.

[Requiem]

Dmisk received the nuzzle of Nautsk, giving the green a light one of his own in return. Her happiness was a foreign thing for him - not so foreign in that he'd lived with her for quite a time, but still foreign in the sense that neither he nor the other two minds yolked to his tended to exude sheer enthusiasm for anything - and he soaked it up at times, perhaps just to savor the odd taste. After allowing himself that brief indulgence, his attention swiveled back to Yosk. Any flying at all was astonishing, he responded smoothly. Not very far and not very graceful, if that were so, was still way better than not at all. After hearing all the negative responses regarding bronzes, he huffed softly. Not really surprising. The male returned his full attention to Yosk. Come, Yoskling, not so far away. She was welcome next to Nautsk.

Whoops. Dmitri eyed Nautic incredulously for a moment, turning his body just enough to deflect some of the more wild limb flailing. Guess he'd moved a little too fast there, hm? The wherhandler couldn't resist a quiet snicker at the older teen. "Drunk or not, send her some other night," Dmitri responded softly, the words strangely serious for once. Though, if he'd intended to say anything more, the arrival of the bronzepair adequately captured his attention. He blinked. Did none of the wherhandlers even go out at night anymore, or was that a new uniform he wasn't aware of? Fuzzy robed guardians of win. Tch.

Dmisk had been just about ready to start, sending a wave of agreement to his brown clutchbrother, when the bronze arrived in pure dramatic fashion. Well. At least he was here. The blue lifted his head, greeting the male politely - if not altogether warmly. He glanced sidelong at his brown brother, privately commenting that their golden sister seemed rather attached. And then he offered his clutchsibling a rare thing...a touch of emotion. Amusement. If that was everyone, then? Good, His would explain, so the whers' humans could also understand. (Not that he thought any would have difficulty understanding him, but he wasn't much of a one for communicating with other people. He didn't bother to mention that however.)

Placing a hand in the small of the greenhandler's back, Dmitri herded him toward the whers, gesturing for Eikane and Yoalla to come join them too. When they were all within earshot, Dmitri commented, "Quintrell is off...somewhere. Probably trying to get into some pretty drudge's skirts. He already knows what's going on, though." The harper found his own perch on the other side of Quintresk, draping his arms loosely over his knees and leaning forward slightly.

"It's been just a few months shy of a turn since we graduated, Piden excluded of course, hasn't it?" He let the rhetorical question hang for a moment, meeting the eyes of everyone to gauge their reactions before continuing. "We still are completely unorganized, wandering around aimlessly or...not doing anything at all, some of us. Not that I don't normally fully agree with getting paid for doing nil, but there is a reason they brought whers to Selenitas. Far as I can tell from the records, there used to be a Night Watch. If anything I say is off, Piden, feel free to correct me. This Night Watch is exactly like it sounds, wherhandlers organized to guard the weyr at night and do what was needed until Selenitas could respond. Some bluerider led it. Then the bluerider goes missing, the gold wher jumps off the cliff during the Benden Siege, and no more Night Watch."

He let that sink in for a moment, eyes flicking to Piden to see if the bronzehandler had any comments. "Far as I can see it, we're mostly forgotten here. The dragonriders aren't that interested in what goes on while they sleep. Can't really blame them; I'm not much interested in most of them either. What that means to us, though, is we can't wait for them to tell us what to do. Eikask will be running soon. We'll have new wherlings...what I think should happen - actually, what Dmisk thinks should happen, cause I'd be quite content lounging around waiting for someone else to step forward and get this together - is we need to start working out the kinks now. Mapping out the surrounding area, setting up patrol grids, drilling to respond to attacks, discoveries, that sort of thing. So that when the new wherlings are ready to graduate, they'll have something to plug into, and won't be lost like we are now."

He rubbed idly at the bark next to him with a thumb, clearly considering what next to say. "So yeah, I guess this means those of us like myself who are useless in a fight are going to have to learn. Nor am I going to force anyone to be part of the Night Watch...if you don't want to, you can keep doing your own thing. So I guess what we need now is to go around, tell me if you're in or not, what skills you have that could be useful. Fighting, scouting..." He smiled at Yosk. "Flying. Recording, researching. Anything at all useful. Healing. If you know people who could help teach any of those things. And suggestions, because I'm not going to pretend that Dmisk, Quintresk and I have it all - or even most of it - figured out." He looked to all of them, waiting for someone to speak up first.

[Ruby]

Pidesk greeted Eikask first, aware now that she would expect that sort of treatment, then extended it to Nautsk and Yosk, touching the minds of the other males last. Not that he didn't like them or approve of them, he just knew the girls better. It was nice to be around all of his adopted siblings, but he was slightly uncomfortable without Roisk, who he was used to seeing at these sorts of gatherings. With a sudden uncomfortable shift, Pidesk realized he was the oldest Wher here by several years; maybe even the oldest Wher at Selenitas. That was both a scary and a tragic thought.

For his part, Piden remained standing, leaning up against Pidesk's shoulder after the bronze had lowered his haunches into a sitting position. He listened patiently to Dmitri, arms crossed, nodding in appropriate places. "Uu'n of Adith," Piden supplied when the Bluerider was brought up, not that anyone really needed to know. But he had been there, still a Wherling, the first time the Night Watch was called, and it seemed right to honor the original founder.

He waited for the Bluehandler to finish before speaking up again. 'Going around' certainly shouldn't start with Piden, as he was pretty much opposite Dmitri, but he figured he should chime in anyway with what he knew about the first Night Watch. Or, more correctly, what he didn't know. "Just to be clear, I think this is a good idea. It's one I've been kicking around myself for a while, and me and Roi discussed it a while back, but I've never been sure how to implement it. So I guess thanks to Dmitri for figuring that out.

"That said, let me warn you all: the first Night Watch only lasted one meeting, as far as I know. I was still a Wherling then, but I'm pretty sure it was mostly big talk without much following it up. Granted, I took off pretty soon after, so I never really knew if it worked out. Regardless, almost all of my class is dead, as far as I know. Whether the Night Watch caused that by existing or by failing to exist is anyone's call, but this isn't playtime. It is serious. I've got nothing to lose but Pidesk," yet, at least, he ammended mentally, thinking inadvertantly of Tira, "But if you do, I'd suggest thinking hard before you commit, because I think it should be a longterm thing. Once you decide to do it, we've got to agree to all be in it for the long haul, like Dragons in a Wing, or we'll never get anywhere."

Sooo much talking. Piden didn't want to seem like he was lecturing, but he was the closest thing they had to an expert on this stuff. Shiver. "I can fight, and Pidesk and I learned to work together quite well while we were in the North, although that was mostly defensive. Disable your attacker and dissapear kinds of things. Other than that, I'm fairly skill-less, but I did see a semi-functioning Night Watch when I was at High Reaches. They didn't have too many whers, but they patrolled in pairs. That way, if anyone was injured, the uninjured Human could watch the victim and the uninjured Wher could go for help. They rotated, but it might work better for us to create set teams of two or three, so we can get used to working closely with one another. We could change them around every once in a while to make things fresh, if we felt like it, or to absorb new Wherlings. Plus, no one's work load is too extreme that way." Teams of three pairs might be better, but Piden figured they could talk that out later - there was plenty of time.

[Kisha-Ra]

Yosk’s pink eye colour only grew stronger at the positive attention she received from Nautsk, and she gave a quiet chirp of her own in return, practically flooding Nautsk with agreement before the other green could change her mind and find someone else to play with. She would like to spend more time with her greensister, yes, but first the meeting. Yosk’s head turned to look at Dmisk curiously then looked away quickly. Well if he was sure… Maybe Dmisk could learn to fly too? It was fun to fly.

A look at the spot beside he clutchsiblings, as if she didn’t really believe she was welcome there, but if Dmisk was sure. Nautsk was nice to her, and Eikask was safely concentrating on Quintresk, so Yosk slunk across at high speed to sit with the other two whers, carefully placing herself on the opposite side of Nautsk from Dmisk. She wasn’t trying to steal, see?

Yoalla was interested in what Dmitri actually wanted, or more likely what Dmisk and Quintresk wanted, because it certainly seemed like the whers were in charge here and Dmitri was just their mouthpiece. She moved in and perched on what had probably once been part of the main hall. Her first reaction was impatience, not even concealed impatience. Stating the blindingly obvious in the form of a question did not make it any less obvious. Yoalla tried to communicate that when she caught the bluehandler’s gaze. Get to the point!

Ah, so that was the point. Yoalla smiled thinly, somehow she doubted Dmisk and Quintresk had been part of S’rei’s game plan for reforming the night watch, he was a bronzerider after all, he was probably going to give it either to Eikane, since he was a goldhandler and that was the way dragonriders did things, or to one of the older bronzehandlers, which might have been a reasonable choice since they theoretically had more experience than the younger handlers. Another thin smile, a gold running off the cliff? Shame… her eyes did happen to flick over Eikask momentarily as Dmitri reached that part of his long winded speech.

‘You’re long winded harper boy, but you raise some good points.’ Yoalla said when Dmitri and Piden were both done, privately amazed at how gruff she sounded in that moment. ‘Basic first aid and basic dirty fighting is what I can do. Short distance flying is what Yosk can do.’ She continued, reaching out for Yosk’s presence as she spoke, the green agreed, how could she do otherwise if that was what Yoalla wanted. ‘So I guess we’re in too.’ Yoalla concluded, mentally adding the qualifier barring any nasty surprises sprung upon me.

[rii]

If Eikask was showing any favoritism, Quintresk wasn't paying any mind to it. She was close to running, it was expected she would show more interest in the males she thought would be chasing her. Expected her to bounce off and flirt with the late-arriving bronze at any given moment. Curling his tail around, Quintresk half turned his head to view speaking harper. The brown wher then shifted his attention to the audience, taking in their expressions in silent observation.

The bronze handler almost sounded as if he was trying to talk people out of the nightwatch.. which was fine. If some of the whers or their handlers wanted to continue to be.. useless. Pidesk's person didn't seem too thrilled with the idea of being part of the watch, but his words were taken into consideration all the same. Quintresk's eyes narrowed as he studied the man before his attention swung to the next speaker, Yoalla. Lovely female, as His put it, and a shame there were no others. A reason, or excuse, to why His didn't care to attend the meeting; too many males.

A touch of approval went privately to Yosk, glad that his clutchsister would be joining the watch. That left Naustk and Eikask left to comment – the latter of which Quintresk would have to discuss with Dmisk. The brown briefly brushed the mind of his brother before tilted his head over to view their appointed speaker.

[ooc: yay for fail posting.. ]