Inception [Handler party!]

[Ruby]

Saying that Piden had worked hard on this was a bit of an overstatement. The impromptu hatching celebration-to-be was more along the lines of his long-ago 'party' where he'd left a tray of pastries out and waited to see who showed up than some of the more formal affairs that followed dragon hatchings, but as far as he knew it was the first ever hatching feast for a wher hatching, so there was that. Not that it was actually after the hatching - a few days had passed, enough for the Wherlings to get settled and those injured ones to get out of the infirmary. Piden was an open opportunity party giver.

There were no decorations or anything, but he had tidied up the Handlers' common space a bit and set out a motley assortment of food, desserts, and beverages (of both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic sort) that he'd 'borrowed' from the kitchens. It was a bit more motley than he'd hoped - Mae was not in the sort of food-giving mood she was usually in, and it seemed to have to do with Whers somehow - but it was something. The common room looked cheerful, if nothing else.

It was already most of the way through the night, so the hatchlings would all be fed and bedded down (babies slept more than usual, after all). It was best to start adjusting to a nocturnal lifestyle as soon as possible, so just in case any of the new Wherlings were having trouble staying awake, Piden was happy to keep them up by feeding and entertaining them. With only an hour or two left before the sky started to lighten, most of the adult handlers would be finishing up work, so they'd be available too.

With that in mind, Piden retrieved a glass of wine, took a seat, and gave Pidesk a mental nudge. Invite all the Handlers out to the common room, would you? New and old. Don't wake the babies, though. And make sure they know it's meant to be a handler meet and greet, kind of a get to know your new family thing. Day-people need not apply. Pidesk snorted and passed the message on, leaving out the bit about the day people. They could attend if a handler invited them, the Bronze figured. After that was done, the Bronze nudged his human in the shoulder, then headed away up the ramps to the surface. If all the humans were busy, someone had to keep an eye out for threats. The other Whers were welcome to join him, of course.

((Everyone is welcome, ignore Piden (although if you're a day-person you'll need an invite from a Handler, Pidesk didn't call anyone not bonded to a wher). No need to wait for me to post, but please make sure there are at least 3 posts in between each of yours, and do your best to keep all your chars in one post if possible. Enjoy!))

[Zephyr]

Well. This was different.

The feeling of the wher in his mind was almost overpowering, much different from the bond he had with King. Not any more or less significant…just different, stronger. Speaking of, King hadn’t left him alone since the hatching. The bronze salamandyr was currently flattened to his neck, bright orange and yellow eyes peeking out from beneath the boy’s dark hair. Hair that was currently slightly unkempt. His wounds had been treated and dressed, and had a few days of healing behind them. Still, he hadn’t felt like getting up when Pidesk’s invitation came to him. Though Kaius had given himself over to the idea of having impressed Kaiusk, he was less inclined adopt the nocturnal lifestyle that handlers had to adapt to.

Unfortunately for him, there was a Sena prodding at him, and a Sydney was standing over him supporting Sena. Obviously the girl wanted to go to the party. Kaius just groaned and covered his face with a fur. At length though, the tall boy pulled himself from the bed, careful not to wake Kaiusk. The wher hadn’t left his side, even going so far as to take her meals right in their room. At least she was being less clingy than Sensk. Sena had trouble keeping him from laying all over her, which might injure the poor girl further. He was amazed that she was able to get away from him without him going crazy, but sleeping baby whers with full stomachs were a bit dead to the world. The way the little gold didn’t even stir as he stepped around her proved this fact. He glanced over to see Sensk and Sydsk similarly passed out.

Leaning on each other, with a reluctant Sydney leading the way, Sena and Kaius made their way to the common room, half supporting, half limping. The boy didn’t have much time to get himself fit for a party, but at least he wasn’t dirty, and he combed through his hair with his fingers. He blinked a few times as he and Sena entered the bright common room, gaze falling on Piden holding the wine glass.

“ Mind sharing?” Kaius asked with a lilt to his voice. He didn’t drink often, but something to take the edge off of all the emotions running through his head, all the confusion and what had happened in the past few days was more than welcome.

[Aftershock]

Cainith started as the message from Pidesk entered his mine, waking up from sleep. Grunting a bit, he realized there was a heavy weight on his chest, and looked down his chin to find that Cainisk was sleeping on him. Wrapping his arms around his new mindmate, Cainith heaved himself slowly sitting upright on his bed, then carefully placed Cainisk down on the bed where he was just lying, eliciting only a quiet croon from the baby wher. Standing up carefully from the bed, Cainith stretched and grunted as his back popped a few times, and carefully began to get dressed.

Luckily for Cainith, the conversion to wherhandler schedule was pretty fast. The evening of the hatching, the giant man had to move his possessions from the Candidate barracks to his new room in the wherhandler apartments, which didn't take long... but then he had to take his custom bed from the barracks, and break it down in order to properly expand and reinforce the regular-sized bed provided for him in his new apartment. By the time he had finished, he had been up all night sawing and hammering, and he quickly collapsed into his freshly-built bed as dawn rose. Sleeping all day, he woke up that evening, finding that he had coincidentally gotten himself on a handler schedule completely on accident.

Looking down at the feline skull on his nightstand, Cainith saw that Rollhead had yet to adapt fully to his new schedule, and was sleeping soundly. Sneaking out of his apartment, Cainith moved down the hallways of the Weyr until he reached the Candidate barracks. Sneaking more quietly than you'd think a man of his size could, he made his way slowly into the female barracks, glad that apparently his night vision was already improving as he looked over the sleeping female forms, finally spotting Ivy, who was luckily in the bottom bunk of her own bed slightly separated from the other girls. He carefully woke her up, then asked her if she was interested in coming to the wherling feast with him. She groggily seemed to agree, so he left the barracks and waited outside until she got up and got dressed to join him.

Finally reaching the Handler common room with Ivy in tow, he walked in and looked at the somewhat meager offerings. "Well," he thought, "It does always seem like whers are treated like secondary thoughts around the Weyr, if the severe lack of ceremony at the hatching was any indication, so I suppose I should be glad there's anything at all." Looking about, he saw Piden and Pidesk, along with fellow new wherlings Kaius, Sena, and Sydney. Grabbing a couple glasses, he poured one of the bottles of wine into both of them, handing one glass to Ivy as he raised his glass to the other members of the new wherling class, saying, "Congratulations to us, eh? One step up the social ladder."

---

Max received the message from Pidesk as he was riding through the tunnels of the Weyr on one of his normal evening patrols. He pondered for a moment as Maximisk continued to carry him along his route, then finally leaned forward and said, "All right, Maximisk, change of plans. We're gonna go mingle with the new wherlings for a bit, see what we're dealing with, then back to patrol, all right?" Maximisk snorted, not really happy with the thought of being around a bunch of new people who might see his faults and judge him for them, but he wasn't about to argue with his bonded, so he took a turn at the next tunnel and made his way with Max to the wherhandler common room.

Max dismounted as they approached the door, and walked in with Maximisk right behind him. Looking around the room, he saw four that he recognized as seeing formerly wearing Candidate knots, along with Piden/Pidesk and Yoalla/Yosk. Not one to refuse free drinks, he walked over to the table and poured himself a glass of wine, then walked over to Cainith, Kaius, Sena, and Sydney, saying, "Greetings. You four must be four of the newest wherlings. Congratulations on joining our happy little family. I'm Maximillian, and that over there is Maximisk... you can call me Max, though. I prefer it, honestly. Seems silly for someone my size to have such a large name, you know?" he added, grinning up at the group.

Maximisk, for his part, strolled over to where Yosk and Pidesk were, giving them quiet croons of greeting before hunkering down near the wall shyly, watching Max mingle.

[Kisha-Ra]

Vivano reacted to Pidesk’s contact with a slight groan and wondered if it was really essential to attend, parties were not really his thing, and the extreme lack of light the whers needed meant that there probably weren’t even going to be any pot plants for him to hide behind. On a secondary note, he was tired, dammit. Vivano had expected to be able to adjust to being a night person with relative ease, he was used to having odd sleeping patterns, and in truth he didn’t need much sleep. The problem however was the way his new roommate, the giant sized Cainith, had spent the entire night after the hatching taking apart his bed and putting a giant sized one in its place, not a bad idea in theory but when you added in the fact that Vivano would have really preferred to follow Vivask’s example and sleep it became something of a problem, a problem like a full day and night without sleep. So Vivano had fallen asleep like a rock, woken in the mid afternoon with a pounding headache, and never quite been able to sort out his sleeping pattern since.

Stumbling out into the main room of their shared apartment Vivano gave Cainith’s back a dirty look, and when it had no effect except making him close the door on his way out turned the glare on the happily snoozing Cainsk in lieu of his human counterpart. The blue wher was also unmoved.

From his position in the middle of the couch it seemed the whers, even though there were two of them, would never grow into Vivask grumbled and lifted his head, turning it so his good eye fixed on his handler. If Vivano would be so good, Vivask was trying to sleep, very hard to do with a grumbling handler in his mind. Go elsewhere or cease. The bronze was rather more blunt than usual

Well, looked like he was stuck for a party then, hopefully they’d have some klah around. A few minutes later with a washed face and clean shirt Vivano made his way down to the common room with somewhat less than perfect grace and looked around. Not much of a turnout so far, in people or refreshments, that was. Vivano sloped his way over to the drinks without much hope that there was if not any klah then at least some fruit juice, wine would only make him fall asleep in a corner and snore.


Yoalla outright rolled her eyes at Pidesk’s announcement. Alright so Eikask had managed to pop out another queen to bully Yosk, and a bronze too. Wonderful! Someone explain exactly why she should go to one of Piden’s non parties about it? Yes, Yoalla did reserve a certain despite for all creatures with shiny hides, a few had redeemed themselves, but most still got the cold shoulder after Yosk’s most self absorbed bronze brother had spent the entire time the two handlers were forced to spend their wherling time together by dint of being the only female handlers. Yoalla remained convinced that it was nearly all Ariysk’s fault that Yosk was such a nervous wreck most of the time.

Yosk snorted in alarm at Yoalla’s negative reaction to Pideak’s contact. When had her handler managed to fight with Pidesk and his?! Why, oh why would Yoalla be upset with Yosk’s friends? She didn’t have many friends and she needed all of them because without them she’d be alone. Alone with no one to play with or hunt with, probably no one would even want to work with Yosk anymore, and Pidesk was soooo kind being nice to Yosk when he had a beautiful mate to spend his time with… Gradually, as she worked herself up into a positively hysterical bag of nerves, it dawned on Yosk that there was a blank feeling of Yoalla waiting to get a thought in edgeways on the other end of her bond.

Yoalla gave a snort of her own, Pidesk was still in favour, Piden and his alleged parties, not so much. The hander was so closely bonded to her wher by now that she rarely bothered to speak aloud to her, it might not be the sharp mindspeech of dragons but it worked for them. If Piden had amassed the same kind of snacks that he had when he tried this “happy families” lark on the whers and handler of Yosk’s clutch then a trip to the kitchens might be in order, or maybe a visit to the storage rooms might be more fruitful…

Not long afterwards Yoalla, Yosk, and a couple of purloined bags of food arrived at the mentioned party and wove their way through the growing group of people to add the fruits of their pilfering, which included some “borrowed” utensils and crockery, to Piden’s offerings. Nothing compared what celebrated the hatching of dragons of course but it looked fairly respectable. Giving her wher a light slap on the shoulder Yoalla finally smiled and spoke. ‘Why don’t you go and find Pidesk? Since you were so worried about him still liking you.’

Yosk gave a soft whuff and turned away with infinite care so that she could escape the humans without clumsily treading on anyone. Pidesk was very easy the track, he hadn’t made an effort to hide himself, so Yosk bounded off up the ramps after him.

[Avu]

Sena was dozing when the notice of the party came, sprawled ungracefully across her bed with a pillow trapped halfway between her cheek and the wall. It was really hard adjusting to the night schedule; before she’d instinctively risen to the sun and this was weird. Didn’t help that she was in perpetual, if slight, discomfort; the slashes on her legs were stitched and wrapped but they were itchy and very not conducive to walking, and she spent more time wallowing in frustration than sleeping during the day, and then couldn’t stay awake at night, ad infinitum. It was not a good cycle, made worse because Sensk being pretty much passed out exacerbated Sena’s exhaustion, too.

But she was trying to stay awake. Really.

Which was why Pidesk’s invitation had her jerking awake with a distinctly undignified “hnnh?” sound, blinking rapidly in alarm as she rubbed the heel of her hand against her eyes and sat up, running her fingers through her hair, half-squashed by her position and half-frizzy. Sensk was still sleeping, fortunately, so either he was too far gone even for Pidesk to wake him up or Pidesk hadn’t even tried. Either way, “Oh party…” she said, blankly. To Sydney, since Kaius looked like he was still sleeping, “We gonna go? ‘s for us, ain’t it?”

And they couldn’t exactly leave the new goldhandler passed out, particularly since Kaius had been delegated to being her human crutch again until further notice.

It occurred to her halfway to the common room that arriving at a party looking entirely sleep-rumpled wasn’t actually a good way to go about meeting the people she was presumably going to live with for pretty much forever. Her clothing looked decent, if wrinkled, and she wrestled her hair into a ponytail and made an effort not to obviously limp and/or yawn once they got to the doorway, peering around Kaius and Sydney to see who else had gotten there. Which amounted to…Piden, pretty much.

“Oh,” she commented, half-bewildered (they’d taken long enough, after all), “Guess we beat the rush.” A tentative smile at Piden as she hip-checked Kaius playfully to keep them moving out of the doorway; she let him go when they came within range of a couch and plopped herself down, peering curiously at the people as they came. Cainith she knew pretty much as “that huge guy,” and apparently he brought one of the other girls with him. A Candidate, but not one Sena had been familiar with. And then the other one, Viva-something, and then…well, she supposed the next was already a Handler, since she seemed prepared for the party.

She blinked, still sleepy, offering Cainith a tentative smile at his toast, and then, since Viva—just Viv, she decided—was already on the way to get drinks, twisted around to prop her elbows up on the back of the couch, offering him a bright smile, “Could I maybe bother you into grabbin’ me something, ‘m not picky? Can’t make a toast without somethin’ to toast with.”

Max’s arrival and his comment to all of them—breaking the ice, Sena thought absently; she figured that ought to happen at meet-n-greet parties, but it just hadn’t occurred to her to do anything about it—earned him a smile, and Sena raised her hand to wave at him in recognition. She made no response to the introduction; seemed pointless when she already knew him and vice versa. Leave it for the people who didn’t. Instead, she hooked one elbow over the back of the couch, setting in a curled position on the end. “So I know, like, four people’s names for sure right now, can we fix that? I’m Sena, hi.”

[Tashe]

White tassels flicked to and fro as the ends of a pink scarf swayed with the movement of their wearer as he walked. "I can't believe I missed the haaaatchiinggg." The Watch Cadre had been whining about missing the hatching to Zemaren, a fellow handler, ever since they'd unfortunately met in the hall. Naturally, the Greenhandler was practically hanging on the other man wallowing in self pity. "Why does fate hate me." Translation: Why had he scheduled himself for watch duty at that particular time. On the other hand... well... actually, Nautsk was pretty much sulking as bad as her handler was. She'd not missed a hatching yet! Eikask must haaaate her for not being there! After all she always helped guard the clutch... There had even been a baby Queen! Her head could not drop any lower than it already was, and Zemask's croons were just not enough to cheer her up.

"Nautic you really need to stop hanging on me. I'm not Eikane..." I'm not even really one of your friends... though that doesn't seem to mind you at all. He sighed and practically picked the smaller man up and set him about a foot away. "Listen, they've started the party. Cheer up or the new Wherlings will think you're a terrible crybaby and not respect you at all." Zemaren watched as the Senior handler collected himself with startling speed. That was Nautic for you... he could do an emotional 180 in a few seconds if prodded right. "Lets go yeah?"

Fixing his bangs, then his clothing, the Greenhandler nodded and stepped a little less gloomily toward the entrance of the apartment common area. Looking around he smiled and raised up the bundle he'd managed to completely crush by swinging it around. "I brought cookies!" C'mon Nautsk. Go play, look its Yosk. That of course, immediately made the Green a little happier. She loved her Greensister she did! Whuffing, she trundled happily over to the already gathered Whers, licking and nuzzling them all until she'd greeted all of them. Though she chose to flop down next to Yosk. (Zemask on the other hand wondered off to visit Maximisk.)

Putting the cookies down on the table he waved to Yoalla, Max and spared Piden one, before pulling himself over to the present Wherlings. "Cainith! Oh you impressed I'm so happy for you. Hello Ivy and Sena and everyone else." He remembered teaching the former two about Whers with Zemaren, and he'd managed to arrive in time to hear the other speak. "I'm Watch Cadre Nautic and that's Nautsk over there. I can't believe I missed the hatching! But duty calls right?" He took a breath. "How did the hatching go? Who impressed who?"

Zemaren skirted around the Wherlings to go say hello to the wine, and Piden he supposed. "Hey." Was his greeting to the older handler and the two new Wherlings, temporarily not interested in any of them till he had a glass in his hand. Which didn't take long, though he decided to pass it to Kiaus before pouring one for himself. "Be careful of this one, kid." He jerked a thumb at Piden as he settled himself against the table. "He's into sharing." The Brownhandler gave the other man a teasing sort of smile before sipping at some of his wine. "I wasn't able to make it to the hatching... but I hear you're the new Goldie. I'm Zemaren of Zemask." The Harper motioned to his huge Brown. "He's that Brown behemoth over there." To Vivano he said, "Who'd you impress?"

[Ember]

He should go. He wanted to go, really. But then again...there hadn't been any parties with his wherlings before and sure Ximera had ended up his friend in the end but...he hadn't really been friends with his students before and should that change now? Eikask huffed at her handler and dryly informed him that Nautsk's was there. Hnn. "Fine, fine. I get it. You want to go and be all impressive gold wher on their asses. Let's go then. Ah, but. Wait a bit, Eikask," he said, equally dry as the gold. He stripped off any signifiers of his rank(s): councilman, whermaster, wherlingmaster. So what if he did end up friends with his students before they graduated for once.

He also snatched his guitar up on the way out, other hand finding Eikask's shoulder when she drifted out of their apartment after him. By the time he got there he noticed a few there already. Piden, of course, Maximillian, Yoalla, Nautic, and Zemaren of the older handlers. Then Kaius, Sena, Sydney (He already mentally called them The Trio in his head) Cainith, and Vivano. Not bad at all, five out of the bunch still awake - or, potentially, awake again - and getting to know the people they'd be spending the night with.

Eikask broke their silent entrance by crooning surpisingly pleasantly at the gathered people and wher. Then again, she was known for doing whatever it took to get attention and if that meant pretending to like them all for a few moments...and well they'd just Impressed her babies so she certainly didn't dislike the wherlings. Yet. She was all set to take up post in the middle of the room but Eikane ushered her off to the side to go mingle with her own kind. Surely they want to ask you all about your babies. Go on.

Eikane smiled at the people present (and silently prayed no one made too much of a mess). "Well, I haven't seen a gathering like this in a while," he commented cheerfully to himself, drifting over to where Nautic was conversing with some wherlings. "Don't let the hyperactive greenie bother you. He's just always like this," he interjected pleasantly. He shot Nautic a bit of a grin and nodded to the newly Impressed gaggle. "I'd like to know names as well? I don't know all of them yet I'm afraid."

[Ruby]

Ohhh look, it was the new goldie, already with two girls in tow. New Bluehandler and new Greenhandler, unless Piden was mistaken. All attractive enough… and all probably five turns younger than he was, with the exception of the Greenhandler, who Piden was naturally more interested in anyway. The other two were not out of the question, especially since Piden looked pretty young, but still. When had they gotten so little? Pidesk, want to invite Saphor for me? She can bring Phai if she wants. Pidesk snorted at His – typical Piden, hedging his bets – and declined to pass the message. It was the middle of the day-people’s sleep time, after all. Fine.

When Kaius asked for wine, though, Piden pulled his eyebrows together, then glanced around. “Don’t you guys listen at all?” he asked, with the sort of twinkle in his eye that said Piden didn’t listen either, and it didn’t bother him in the slightest. Getting gracefully to his feet, he plucked the glasses out of Cainith and Ivy’s hands, returning them to the table. “No alcohol rule goes for Wherlings, too. Unless you all want, like, fetal alcohol syndrome whers or something. Leave the booze for the full handlers, we’re the ones that actually need it,” he quipped, sliding in next to Sydney because it was convenient, not because he was going to try and hit on her later or anything (certainly not). “There’s juice and klah on the other table… I highly recommend the klah.” That said, Piden wasn’t going to actually enforce, which he communicated with a wink in Ivy and Cainith’s direction. The glasses were there if they wanted him, it was just Pidesk being all parental that made him do these things.

By then, though, people had started to filter in. Pidesk was already cuddling up with Yosk and Nautsk, so as the group he was standing with started chatting, Piden quietly excused himself and – well, he had intended to drift over to Yoalla, but Zemaren was handing Kaius wine, now. Sigh. “And you would know I like to share because….?” He asked archly, then dropped the offended act and elbowed Zemaren in the side with a companionable smile. “My door is open any time, Zem. Drop on by. Same goes for you,” he added in Kaius’ direction with a slightly confused look. Female. Not green. Another one he’d be required to chase. Quiet, Desk.

Ah well, now was the time to escape if there ever was one. Leaving the knot of people forming in the center of the room, he finally did make it over to Yoalla’s side, casting around to see if there was anyone else hovering on the outskirts and offering them a friendly smile if there was anyone. “Thanks for the extra food,” he said, leaning in to her shoulder. “I can only carry so much. Know anything about the new Wherlings yet? Any good gossip?”

[Ivy]

Ivy had groggily agreed to go with Cainith to wherever it was he wanted her to go. She'd been sleeping so the where had been missed when he asked her out. Crawling out of bed quietly she managed to find something in the chest at the end of her bunk to wear. Pulling it on she ran her fingers through her hair then snuck out of the barracks as quiet as she could. She was breaking curfew (again), and while she doubted whatever punishment M'kai had for delinquent Candidates was as bad as something the previous Candidatemaster would have forced upon her, she wasn't wanting to deal with it. Quickly catching up with Cainith she followed him to the Wherhandler living area - what were they doing there?

She figured he was sneaking her into his new room, wanting to show it off or something - then they came to the common room where a 'party' was being put together. This was... quaint. And there were whers. She did her best not to make a face at the creatures as she saw them, knowing that Cainith was now bonded to one. Yawning a bit since she was not a wherling or handler and thus had been sleeping, she looked around and took the glass of wine offered to her. Just as she went to sip from her glass she found it plucked from her hand by Piden. A glare was shot at him when he spoke, "I am not a wherling, so I'll take that wine back thank-you-very-much." Wake her up in the middle of the night and then deny her alcohol? That definitely led to a cranky young woman.

Another yawn and she stretched a bit, finally taking notice of what it was she'd pulled on in the dark Candidate barracks. The shirt was low cut - though most everything she wore was - and clung to her curves. The skirt she'd managed to tug on was black, thankfully since otherwise it may not have gone well with the dark green top. She looked well put together, or as well put together as someone who dressed in the dark while half asleep could be. Straightening out her skirt she tugged her shirt a bit to make it sit right on her torso. That done she looked up at Cainith and gave him a bright smile, "Congratulations. How is the little one?"

------------------------------------------

Late. Late for what? We're not scheduled to do anything tonight except make sure the new wherlings are doing alright. Pidesk's party. Piden would throw a party, wouldn't he? Probably wanting to "get to know" the new wherlings better... Swithin replied dryly. He wasn't a huge fan of Piden - or really any bronzers. Might have something to do with the fact his brother had been chosen by a bronze wher over him. Not that he didn't appreciate Swisk, he did. Sometimes he just felt it wasn't fair is all.

Turning down the next hallway the pair made quick work to the common room. Swisk slipped into the room ahead of Swithin and found Yosk, crooning to her tenderly. Beautiful. Swithin hung to the outside edge of the room as he walked further in, eyeing the crowd of new wherlings and a few handlers he knew. "Congratulations." He offered to Kaius, Sena, Cainith, Sydney, and Vivano. He then made a bee-line to one of the tables to grab up a piece of fruit and a glass of wine. He wasn't on watch or guard so if he drank a little there would be no harm in it, right?

Beautiful, you look lovely tonight. Swisk crooned again to Yosk as he creeped closer to where she was lounging with Pidesk and Nautsk - after giving a greeting to Eikask of course. He had given the wher version of a nod to Maximisk and Darmosk as he passed by them on his way to Yosk, and a friendly rumble to the new wherlings. Now his eyes were on the green beauty before him as his tail gave a little waggle behind him.

[Aftershock]

Cainith scowled when Piden stole the wine glasses from himself and Ivy, and his irritation wasn't quelled much by the wink afterward. "I'm a fully-grown man, thank you very much. Not to mention it would take a full bottle and a half before I felt anything, anyway," Cainith said to Piden before he retreated, quickly snatching the glasses back up and handing Ivy's back to her.

Draining his glass in a quick gulp, he refilled it, then smiled down at Ivy as she asked about Cainisk. "He's doing well so far. He seems to have quite a sharp mind, for such a young thing. He and Rollhead have been slowly learning to share me," he finished with a chuckle. Cainith nodded a quick thanks to Zemaren at his congratulations, as well as Max.

Taking a swig from his glass, he leaned down to Ivy and said, quieter, "Thank you, again, for coming to this with me. I haven't exactly gotten close to anyone else, and I don't know any of the other handlers yet, so this would have been pretty lonely without you." Giving Ivy a warm smile, he put his hand on her cheek, rubbing a thumb over her cheekbone as he added, "Don't you worry, I'll do whatever's necessary to be there for the next dragon hatching to see you Impress, and the celebration afterwards, come hell or high water."

---

Max grinned at Sena, and said to her, "It's good to see you Impressed, Sena. I told you you'd be on your feet in time for the hatching, didn't I?" Adding a wink, he said, "Nice to know there's some more eye candy around the apartments, I must say." Smiling, he listened to Sena's question, and after nodding a greeting to Zemaran when he arrived to the group, he pointed around the room, indicating the other handlers one by one.

"That's Yoalla, and the green there is her Yosk. Piden you likely know, along with Pidesk. That's my Maximisk right there, the blue with the long tail, being his normal antisocial self, and over there, though I'm sure you guys met during the hatching, is Eikane and your new wher's mommy, Eikask." Finishing his circuit of the currently present handlers, he said, "So, I know Sena, obviously. How about the rest of you? Let's get to know you, since we'll all be working together now."

Maximisk, for his part, crooned a quiet greeting to Darmosk as he approached, but remained sitting near the wall, hoping no one would really pay attention to him and see him possibly screw something up.

[Kisha-Ra]

Vivano stifled a yawn as Sena caught his attention, he stated at her blankly for a moment while the meaning of her question dripped slowly through his consciousness, then nodded, privately thinking that she looked like she needed something to wake her up almost as much as he did. He would say it was due to being one of the oldest people here, but Canith seemed positively bouncy or as close to as the huge guy got, though his companion seemed less so.

Regardless of how cheerfully alert anyone else did or did not seem Vivano headed resolutely in the direction of klah and poured a cup for himself and another for Sena, he wasn’t certain it was appropriate for a toast but if she felt anything like he did she’d need it. Avoiding Nautic, his enthusiasm, and his cookies for a moment Vivano turned away from the assortment of food laid out for the moment, it wasn’t as if he had a free hand anyway. Encountering Zemaren on his return journey was met with another of those “I’m not really awake, I’m just going through the motions” type looks before he replied. ‘Vivask, he’s the devilishly handsome and charming bronze.’ Vivano said that with a hint of a smile to show it had been a joke, he knew not everyone was as in love with Vivask as he was. With that he moved along a little to hand off one of the mugs to Sena and make himself comfortable by propping himself up against a convenient wall while sipping at his own drink in an effort to wake himself up enough to recall everyone’s name. For now he was content to let conversation run by him until he had something worth saying.


Yoalla flinched slightly as Nautic approached the table; there was something slightly scary about just how much enthusiasm the other greenhandler had for things. Nevertheless his cheerful pronouncement of having brought cookies, as well as the fact that Yosk was obviously delighted to see her sister brought a tolerant smile and an answering wave from Yoalla. Nautic was gone and chattering to the new wherlings almost as soon as he’d come but Yoalla helped herself to a slightly battered cookie anyway, nibbling it slightly helped her to deal with Eikask by giving her something other than the gold to focus on.

Well, there was also Piden playing ‘daddy’ for the dubiously happy family and trying to take wine off of people to watch for entertainment. That was mildly amusing, and surely prompted by Pidesk because as far as Yoalla was aware Piden wouldn’t know a rule if it slapped him upside the head. When the bronzehandler seemed to have had enough of interfering with people’s drinking he drifted over Yoalla’s way and even managed to draw another smile out of her. ‘I do recall your last alledged party Piden.’ She replied with a spark of amusement in her dark green eyes. ‘Stolen pies do not a party make, you need more stolen food for that, and I think we’d better keep out of Mae’s way for a few days, or a month.’

‘Why yes, I do believe I heard that they’re all totally depraved delinquents, that his mother is a small tray of redfruit tarts and that her father was an amusingly shaped vegetable.’ Yoalla waved her hand vaguely at no one in particular. ‘I’ll leave the gossiping to you. On the whole I’m dreadful at making things up and pretty bad at hearing them too.’ The deliberately flippant responsewas followed up with a lighter tone. ‘Or are you going to be too busy playing ‘father’ in this family you seem hell bent on making us into?’

Yosk gave a soft whuff as Nautsk approached and returned her sister’s nuzzling with a little of her own. Nautsk was her favourite sister! Yosk was so very pleased to see her. The green almost instantly felt guilty over that thought as Eikask arrived and announced herself, as well as feeling guilty about being so close to Pidesk. Yosk shrank down behind Nautsk as much as she could and sent a timid but cautiously cheerful greeting to her golden sister.

Swisk effortlessly stole the attention that should have been Eikask’s and Yosk’s posture straightened again as she shuffled up to make some space for the blue. So happy to see Swisk here as well, he should come out more often! Yosk crooned an affectionate greeting to Swisk and lifted her head to nuzzle at his bony shoulder, wouldn’t he join them?