Creep (Vivano)

[Zephyr]

Of all the flitterbrained ideas Kaius had, this had to be the worst. He had been in the jungle before, or at least, half in and half out. That blue dragonrider girl had saved him from an untimely death due to fruit. You would think that any candidate in his right mind would take that as a hint NOT to go back in the jungle. Unfortunately, Kaius wasn’t the smartest guy out there and he had an idea. If he could catch a wild wher, then he could show it to Sydney and Sena! He knew that they were excited about Eikask’s eggs hardening in the apartments, he could just imagine how pleased they’d be if he could catch a wild wher for them. Maybe they wouldn’t even need to go to the hatching.

Stupid nightbeasts sleep? King asked from his perch on the boy’s shoulder. The salamandyr had his tail wrapped around Kai’s neck and he was half hanging down. He didn’t like the idea of venturing into the jungle again, but his boy had been insistent. “That’s what I’m hoping.” Kaius said as they stood at the threshold of the jungle. Maybe we shouldn’t go in 'lone, Kaimine. Scary. The salamandyr said, remembering his first experience in the jungle.The boy sighed and bopped the salamandyr on the head. “ Whers are nocturnal, remember? That’s why we came in the afternoon. They’ll be easier to catch while they’re sleeping.” That didn’t seem right to the bronze, but he kept quiet, believing his bonded. He didn’t mention that Kaius had gotten his facts slightly skewed and that wild whers weren’t as nocturnal as domestic whers, and that the jungle is much darker with all the tree cover, certainly dark enough for a wild wher to be out and about during the day. But as stated, Kaius wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. He wasn’t stupid, not at all, he was just rash and impulsive.

King settled himself against the boy’s neck, claws dug into the boy’s shirt. Tail wound and unwound from his neck, flicking against his shoulder and back. Eyes flashed with white and orange and red, but Kaius ignored the salamandyr’s discomfort and slipped into the jungle, his rail thin body making it easy for him to move without a sign of his passing.

[Kisha-Ra]

It occurred to Vivano as he meandered through the edge of the jungle that he missed his pony a great deal more than he ever though he would. True the old mare wouldn’t have been happy at all living in the caverns that made up new Selenitas but she would have been very useful on a trip like this, her sharp senses, not to mention her ability for swift flight in the face of danger, would have allowed him to feel confident enough to venture further than the fringes of the jungle in search of useful plants. Needless to say Monster had been rejected as helpful companion and left behind, something about taking a hyperactive salamandyr with a loud voice and no sense of danger into the jungle did not appeal to Vivano in the least.

Being alone in a hostile environment certainly sharpened Vivano’s senses wonderfully, the faint sound of a human voice made him freeze, hands on the knives at his belt (no he wasn’t crazy enough to venture into the jungle alone and unarmed), then orientated himself on it when he realised it was a human voice and not the murmuring call of a strange predator. Rather curious about what business another human might have out here Vivano turned away from the plants he’d been collecting and headed towards the sound. Though it wasn’t really his intention to spy on whoever else was out here Vivano still moved quietly to avoid attracting unwanted attention from the jungle.

It seemed that the other jungle creeper was a boy from the candidate class but Vivano couldn’t remember what his name was. In any case he didn’t seem to have an obvious task that brought him out here so Vivano moved through the undergrowth and appeared more or less beside the lad and his salamandyr. ‘So… What brings you out here?’ he asked just loudly enough to be heard.

The scarred wher moved through the dim jungle even more silently than the two humans. He was... intrigued. The older human male smelled slightly of fear, sensibly in the wher’s opinion, and the little frilly lizard knew enough to be wary, but the larger and, so far as the wher could tell, younger of the humans did not seem bothered by being in territory that was not only claimed by whers but also contended for by wild felines. In addition the smaller male appeared to be a plant eater, or at least the wher assumed that was his reason for hoarding vegetation. The wher cut in front of the pair once they joined up, trusting to his mottled dark brown colouring to keep him hidden in the undergrowth the flourished this close to the edge of the jungle.

[Zephyr]

Kaius didn’t know what he had been expecting going into the jungle. The truth was, he wasn’t expecting much. He was a boy. A rash, leap-before-you-think kinda kid without any real thoughts on the consequences of his actions. Especially when girls were involved. He didn’t mind that he and Sena and Sydney were just friends. They were his friends and he took friendship very seriously. So, when he thought that catching a wher would be a good idea, he put his all into it. He wasn’t completely unprepared. He had a rope. As he crept through the dark jungle, as silent as possible for his towering frame, he kinda wished he had more than a rope. Pidesk was one big wher. He did know that the truly wild whers were smaller though…he just didn’t know by how much. And they would be sleeping, right? So there’s no need for him to have brought something sharp…right?

King, on the other hand, wasn’t as sure as his boy. He kept frilling, his black frilless spines extending and contracting in rapid succession. His claws dug deeper and deeper into his boy’s shirt, his tail wrapped more tightly around his neck. He didn’t like this, not at all. He liked to pretend he was fearless, especially in front of his twin, and other salamandyrs, but this was too much, even for him. He wasn’t so sure about Kaius’ claim that all the whers would be sleeping. It was plenty dark in here. Surely dark enough for the whers to be able to get around. Though he was frightened and wary, he knew that, once set on something, he wouldn’t be able to change his bonded’s mind, and there was no way he was going to leave him in here alone. The thought of running to get help crossed his mind, but he dismissed it almost immediately. What if his silly boy got eaten when he was off searching for help? No thanks.

The boy felt the salamandyr’s unease, the subtle tensing of his muscles, contracting of his limbs. This caused some unease to stir within him, but he ignored it, settling on tightening his grip around the rope in his hand. So, when someone suddenly appeared beside him, no matter how soft the words, Kaius started, turning in the other candidate’s direction with a whip of his head. King didn’t react as well at all to the creeper. The salamandyr jumped, almost strangling Kaius with his tail, digging his claws into the boy’s flesh, and frilling all at the same time. A soft, startled hiss came out of his mouth and eyes flashed with bright reds and orange and yellow.

Upon seeing that it was just another candidate, Kaius pressed soothing energy into the salamandyr’s mind. He didn’t need his bronze attacking people just because they decided to creep up upon him completely unannounced. Mentally trying to slow the frantic beating of his pet’s heart, Kaius faced this man. He had seen him around, but he didn’t know his name. He was one of the older candidates, would be the oldest if it weren’t for that hulking, bearded giant. Taking a deep breath, Kaius smiled, all of the unease washing away from his expression. “ Exploring.” He said at once, though after a minute, he lifted the rope in his hand, which had made a red indent in his palm from having been gripping it so tightly. “ Hunting.” He didn’t want to tell the other candidate what for. He already thought he was crazy enough for being out here, didn’t need anyone else thinking it. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound. “ For wher.”

Suddenly, King froze. Wedge shaped head turned in the direction of the dark forest, eyes flashed with an assortment of wary and fear colors. The salamandyr’s tail tightened and he didn’t let up his grip with his claws. He growled softly towards the darkness. Alarmed, Kaius queried his pet. Something…lurking. Dark. There. The salamandyr said, not bothering to hide his thoughts from Vivano. His eyes were watching where he had sensed movement a second ago, but it was gone now, and Kaius didn’t have as keen of senses. “ Are you sure?” He asked lightly, watching where King was facing. “ I don’t see anything, King.”

[Kisha-Ra]

Vivano ignored the implied threat in the bronze salamandyr’s actions; he was, after all, used to the far more erratic Monster. It was the boy’s answers that interested him, each time he opened his mouth something slightly more unwise seemed to emerge until Vivano was left staring in utter amazement at the sheer recklessness of it all.

After a lengthy pause Vivano looked up at his fellow candidate with a disbelieving look expressed primarily through the fact that his eyebrows were migrating up into his hairline. ‘So you, that is the somewhat less than muscular person front of me, are going to capture a wher, that is to say a runnerbeast sized carnivore, with just a rope?’ For a moment Vivano considered following this up with ’are you crazy?’ but the answer to that question seemed rather obvious at this point. ‘May I ask why?’ he said instead, feeling that was somewhat better and might lead to an explanation of this apparent insanity.


The brown wher lurked, tracking the conversation of the two human males with a light mental touch that allowed him to fully understand what they were saying. He was darkly amused. The younger male thought to hunt a wher? He was lucky indeed that it was a curious brown watching him and not a suspicious one. He shifted slightly to a more comfortable position, relying on the fact that the two humans were focused on each other to cover the movement.

Ah, he’d forgotten the curious little bronze. Strange little beast, did it think to scare him off? No instead it told the humans of his presence, well maybe he could frighten them a little bit, teach them that whers lurked in this jungle, teach them respect, and in the case of the younger one a little fear, the plant eating male probably had enough fear but he might be about to gain a little more anyway. The wher shifted slowly again, then leapt out his hiding place to stand out in the open before the humans, lifting his head slightly to show the scars on his face and shoulders and letting his heavy shoulder muscles ripple with the aid of some subtle tensing and relaxing. His jaws gaped, not in a menacing snarl but in a silly open mouthed grin with his tongue lolling out to one side. Silly humans…


If there was any doubting the insistence of the bronze salamandyr it was a doubt soon dispelled by sudden appearance of a wher. The brown leapt from the undergrowth and stood in front of them, apparently peaceful, or at least not overtly aggressive. There was something rather odd about him, a veritable powerhouse of wher, with claw marks on his body that were indicators of an eventful, and fairly long life in the wild and yet the beast didn’t show any signs of attacking or fleeing, a strange thing to be sure. Vivano tore his gaze from the wher to glace at his errant companion. ‘You may need a few more ropes…’

[Avu]

She’d been trying to track her babies since the earthquake.

Sort of.

In her spare time. Since, you know, they weren’t that terribly important to her anymore, and they ought to take care of themselves. She was their mother, not their two-legged babysitter. So it had been slow going; the wild queen eliminated felines in her path and coaxed wild whers to join her when she met them, and even if they didn’t condone her presence she thoroughly interrogated them anyway. But now…now that she could hear human speech, she was probably close. And another wher nearby, too. Her pace slipping into fluidity, the gold wound her way cautiously around the heat signatures, head tilted to listen in on their…strange human ways.

She nosed a few leaves out of her way, until she could eye the pair of humans. And beyond them, the wher. Not one she’d encountered yet. No matter, though; she was a queen and he was a brown, and he’d play by her rules if it came to that. The humans, though. They were a little more problematic. What were they even doing? That brown, he wasn’t one of theirs, clearly enough.

Lightly, she slipped out behind the two boys, no longer making any effort to conceal herself, brushing cold amusement across the mind of the brown. Playing with his food? Not nice, look how…her head tilted, the queen’s gaze flashing from Kaius to Vivano…look how anxious they were. Wasn’t he going to play big bad monster? The gold purred softly, eyes flashing teasing, pleasant blue; the sound was low, but if Kaius and Vivano—or that little bronze worm-thing—were paying attention, it wasn’t like she was trying to stay invisible.

No, humans meant some link to her offspring from so long ago. Keeping track of the wild ones, that was simple; these were much harder to track down for all they usually stayed in one place. Swishing her tail idly, the slender gold added a soft whuffing sound, padding closer. Wary eye kept on the one with the rope, though she didn’t anticipate he’d be too much a problem. He was hardly a feline. Her mind brushed, faintly impatient, against theirs. Wouldn’t they be so good as to introduce themselves…

[Zephyr]

Kaius put up with the man's attitude, because he recognized the fact that he did not know everything about whers. He never claimed to know everything, and he would be the first to tell you that he didn't. He did think he knew enough not to be too worried. He had met one wher in his life and while Pidesk was large, the bronze wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to bite his head off. It probably wasn't the best thing in the world to believe that all wild wheres would be as mellow as a domestic one, but then again, he hadn't really been thinking. That much was obvious by the lack of any sort of protection other than the rope. The boy figured that he was tall enough, even if he wasn't burly, to secure a wher while he wrapped a rope around it.

At the other candidate's question, Kaius shrugged. And was temped to leave it at I had nothing better to do. Figuring that would make him seem a touch crazier, he glanced into the forest. " My friends really like whers. And they like to catch things like crawlers and frogs. I thought that maybe it would be cool if I could catch them a wher." Stupid, really, but Kaius wasn't the smartest ever.

At this point, King was basically frozen in place, head perked, frilless spines fully extended. He knew something was out there and his stupid boy didn't see it...couldn't see that the jungle was dangerous. Humans were stupid, thinking they were invicible. The salamandyr would have snorted, but at that moment, the wher stepped out of the trees, coming out into the open. King hissed. He could tell that the wher was intentionally not being menacing at the moment, but it was big, and he had to protect his boy. See, see? The salamandyr spit, weaving around Kaius' neck to his other shoulder, peering out from beneath the boy's hair at the wher. Said nightbeast here. Not sleep. Kaimine not listen!

Kaius, on his end had frozen almost as soon as the massive, scarred wher stepped into the open. The rope fell limply in his grasp and he only stared, not so much scared as unsure what to do next. It was a stupid idea, and he hadn't exactly expected to come upon any whers. He thought that they would have been hiding themselves better than this. He had thought that whers were more afraid of the humans than they were of the whers. But no, here was a fully grown brown where, battlescarred and standing in front of him.

This was not good.

Blinking several times, he tried to clear his mind, as if that would make the wher disappear. Before he could really think much, King had heard something else. Slowly, dangerously, the salamandyr turned his head to track the path of the gold wher, eyes flashing white and orange and red. This was not good at all.

With a start, Kaius jumped, whirling around to face the gold. The tall boy gulped, taking a step backwards until he realized that the brown was in that direction and it resulted in a stuttered half step that nearly had him toppling to the ground, something that would really be bad in his current situation. Tensing himself up, he turned his head to keep track of the brown wher, before watching the gold warily, not knowing if he should back up or step forward. Somehow, even though he was scarred, the gold was MUCH more intimidating. There was something predatory about how she conducted herself.

Sharp. Dangerous.

Kaius blinked again...his words a soft whisper, ignoring the mind brush from the gold. " Aren't they supposed to be sleeping?" His words were to Vivano, displaying his ignorance. But hey, he was a dragon candidate. WHY would he learn much about whers?

[Kisha-Ra]

Vivano blinked a few times at the answer he received and wondered if this boy was quite bright. However the bronze salamandyr’s warning forestalled any more questions and left the immediate problem of having found a wher to deal with. The rope dropped from the boy’s hands, and despite Vivano’s longtime obsession with whers his hands started to migrate towards his knives. They’d probably be as much use as a toothpick against a wher who could apparently survive feline attacks quite handily.

The low sound behind them clued Vivano, and apparently his companions too, into the fact that there was another wher behind them. This one, though she was larger than the brown and moved in a more predatory fashion, caused a spasm of excitement as well as fear as Vivano noted the colour of her hide. Another gold! True he wouldn’t really want to steal an egg from a wild queen but maybe he could charm one out of her somehow…

Even as he thought that the wild queen provided the perfect opportunity for him in the form of a questioning thought. How he knew if came from her rather than the brown was bit of a mystery but not one that Vivano was considering at this time. ‘We’re candidates from the Weyr.’ He answered the query, barely above a whisper, turning most of his attention to the gold and leaving the male wher in his peripheral awareness for the moment though if left his skin crawling uncomfortably. ‘Everyone moved up here from Selenitas after the earthquake.’ He added feeling that some extra explanation was called for here.


The brown wher lifted his head slightly in a jerking motion that left his throat exposed for an eyeblink or two, all the submission he was currently going to give, and gave an amused little bark. Food? No these two weren’t food, prey tasted better than humans. They were entertainment; just look at how scared they were and the small one was still thinking about drawing its claws on him.

Oh look, now he was almost forgotten. The scarred brown gave a theatrically heavy sigh as the younger gold drew attention from the humans. Either they were more scared of a bigger wher or they thought they were fit to court a queen.

[Avu]

It amused her that the humans seemed more concerned about her than about the brown. Which was as it should be, of course, but still. Her gaze remained briefly on the other wher, mouth parting in a sharp mimicry of a smile at his little acknowledgment. It was all she needed—she wasn’t picky after all. She was talking to humans, wasn’t she? Soft amusement to the other wher; at least one of them wasn’t catatonic, yes? Faintly red eyes focused on Vivano, and she whuffed quietly in response to the Candidate, pacing closer until she could snag the rope Kaius had dropped with one claw, drawing it across the ground towards her and planting her weight firmly on it, another curl of mental amusement brushed across the minds of Candidates and brown both.

Look, defenseless.

The gold sat down neatly on her haunches, winding her tail around herself and blinking at the boy who’d introduced them. At least this one seemed fairly smart. Well good for all of them, she answered. Not nasty, just sort of matter-of-fact, dismissive. Flash of images of her babies—Dmisk, Eikask, Quintresk. They were the three she recalled with particular clarity, although she added, a little more vaguely, Yosk and Nautsk. (She knew Anzask and Ariysk had already died, and it was a pity, but that was past and she wasn’t one for grieving. It was natural selection, was all.) They would point her to the Weyr, the gold added.

Not that she’d necessarily go straight there or anything, because from what she remembered human contact was just unpleasant, but knowing where it was would be nice, yes?