Thou Shalt Not Kill

[Rappu]

{desc=Pacifist wher shenanigans. [Raven]}“Come on, Ksesk! There it is!”

Ksenna pointed at a tunnelsnake, running after it and beckoning her cyan wher to catch the nasty creature. It skittered next to the rocky wall and hissed at Ksenna before turning and dashing past the girl towards Ksesk. “Yes! Now we’ve got it!”

Ksesk yawned and watched as it ran past her, disappearing in the shadows.

Killing innocent thing? Never!

Her tail twitched and coiled around thin cyan legs. She had seen other whers hunt for tunnelsnakes, but it was just too distasteful. Biting, scratching, tearing and smashing were all things she disliked. She also disliked the knives Ksenna had, and the lessons where their Wherlingmaster tried to teach them to do things that made Ksesk shudder.

Ksenna scowled. “You’re a wher, Ksesk! It’s your job to eat tunnelsnakes! They’re food, right? You eat food.”

But don’t want to hurt! If bite get hurt.

Ksesk’s tone was whiny, and her yellow-orange eyes contrasted against her bright cyan hide. Ksenna sighed and walked to her wher, putting an arm around the narrow shoulders.
“We’ve been through this many times, remember? ‘It’s okay to catch an’ eat animals that make meat’ and tunnelsnakes are meat. Tasty meat. You’ve eaten tunnelsnake before.”

Ksesk made a motion like rolling her eyes.

Not same thing! Never kill living thing, she proclaimed to the whole cavern.

[RavenSong]

Ksesk stupid and useless, Narask opined as he stepped out of the shadows, the tunnelsnake in his mouth. It was absolutely limp, killed expertly by the cold blue. He stalked forward, eyeing his pacifist sister with a calculating gaze as he dropped the dead tunnelsnake in front of her.

Ksesk show Narask bite, he instructed, sitting down. Ksesk's useless. Narask teach Ksesk be proper wher. First lesson, bite. Ksesk bite tunnelsnake at head. Quick die. Maybe not feel pain, maybe feel pain, not Narask worry. Not Ksesk worry either. Tunnelsnake prey. Prey die. Find quick way, do in seconds. Prey never see die coming. Narask's mouth opened in what looked like a sly, feral grin. Narask kill Ksesk before Ksesk know Narask there. Bite to neck, end Ksesk. Bye Ksesk.

As the blue spoke, a pale brown stepped into view, his handler at his side. Naras was at that point nowhere to be seen, though he was rarely very far from his icy blue. The brown was physically perfect, save for his stubby little wings, a dragon in miniature. He could be none other than Mengsk. Mengsk sat down to regard the younger wherets. Mengir smiled faintly at Ksenna.

"Hello, Ksenna," she said softly. "Umm... is there anything Mengsk or I can help you with?"

Ksesk. Narask, Mengsk greeted formally. He seemed to be puzzled by Ksesk's proclamation. Ksesk, Mengsk desire knowledge. Why Ksesk decide not kill living thing? Wher protocol include kill invader. Definition of invader being miscreant human, wild wher, tunnelsnake, other invader defined by handler. Wher protocol explained by Lyrsk and Lyrnn, affirmative?

Yes, Narask said, turning his calculating gaze to Mengsk. Mengir smiled at Ksenna.

"I-If you want me to explain what Mengsk is saying, I can. He... um... he likes to use big words. I-I don't always understand, but we're learning together."

[Rappu]

Narask nooooo. Violence bad! Killing bad! Ksesk not so low. Ksesk pacifist. Violence not solve problem.

Ksesk raised her head haughtily and gave her brother a disapproving look. She sniffed the dead tunnelsnake and snorted indignantly, shaking her head. It had only wanted to run away! Stupid Narask! The bite marks on the tunnelsnake's neck were disgusting and made her shudder. She left the blue's threats alone; it was clear he was trying to make her mad but she was above that.

Not above insults, though.

Narask stupid bloodmouth. Not understand delicate.

"Hey! Ksesk, be nice!" Ksenna eyed the two whers, hands crossed. "You can be delicate an' hunt tunnelsnakes, and that was one neat kill. That tunnelsnake didn't even notice being killed," she continued and picked the carcass up to wiggle it. It was limp and cooling and kind of disgusting to touch.
"Look, it didn't suffer at all!"

Violence wrong! Bad! Don't want to bite!

Mengsk and Mengir walked in on the cyan wheret's little tantrum. She rolled and trashed on the floor, waving her legs towards all directions, whining like a stuck pig.

"Uh, hey there, Mengir... Yeah, Ksesk refuses to hunt." Ksenna scratched the back of her head. "I've never heard of a wher that didn't wanna hunt, but I guess anything's possible with these new colours. She's real clever though," she added defensively. Ksesk was a little darling whenever she wasn't expected to hunt or fight.

Lyrsk wrong! Lyrsk's wrong! Should live in harmony. No killing. Ksesk no kill! No bite! Ksesk tell invader go away. Ksesk protocol talking. Mengsk try talking.

The cyan head lifted off the floor and she looked at Mengsk as if she had played the biggest trump card ever. Ksenna's mouth twitched at the wheret's expression. "Yeah, Ksesk likes to solve conflicts with a nice chat. She does that during lessons, too," the girl said. "At least she'll eat meat! I hear there's a dragon here who'd prefer to eat like a herdbeast instead of eating them."