Threat Assessment Zero [Cath]

[RavenSong]

{desc=Mengir/Mengsk/Newtollen}Mengir sat at a table in the Dining Hall, her wheret curled up on her lap with his eyes half closed. Mengsk was mildly bored, but unwilling to leave his Mengir's presence to explore. He had already picked up on her knowledge that there were places they couldn't go. Her fear of getting in trouble was enough for him to be deterred. He looked around, keeping an eye out for anybody approaching his handler's out-of-the-way seat. His focus was drawn several times by Spotface, though, who had coated most of herself in brown paint that evening to try and match Mengsk. She'd come pretty close. Her chosen hue was a bit darker than his.

Emulating again, Spotface? Mengsk said. His inflection indicated amusement, but Mengir didn't really feel that from him. Spotface tilted her head at him. She had a limited grasp of language and worked purely by image and emotion, so the wher's statement to her was utterly confusing. Mengir supplied the emotion for her. Spotface tilted her head the other way, then screeched. She wasn't at all sure of Mengsk, and really didn't like him. Still, the one time she'd tried to bite him, Hers had gotten MAD so she didn't try that anymore.

"Hush, Spotface," Mengir said, sighing. "Don't be stupid. He's with us. He'll get big and you can ride on his head someday. Shh. Sit pretty." Spotface stared at Mengir. "Sit pretty," Mengir repeated. The pink sat down, curling her tail elegantly around herself. She sat like an artistic little queen. Mengir smiled one of her rare smiles and have the pink a bit of meat. Spotface took it and gobbled it right down.

Mengsk has itch, left flank, near first joint, Mengsk informed Mengir. The young woman frowned and gently rubbed at the itchy spot.

"We'll get you oiled after dinner," Mengir promised, picking up the pace of her eating.

Not imperative. Mild itch. Normal intake procedure adequate. Added speed unnecessary, blockage unwanted, Mengsk responded. Rub decreased itch potency. Rub again? Testing required. Smiling at her wher, Mengir obliged. Yes. Rubs decrease itch potency to tolerable level. Normal intake procedure required, Mengir. Mengsk fine. The wher lifted his head, taking a piece of meat from Mengir's plate, fully aware he was allowed to do just that because of who he was. His eyes caught sight of an incoming visitor.

Mengir, visitor arrives. Male. Seen on Sands. Small sibling's handler, before Kask intervened. Fear protocol unnecessary. Harmless.

[Cathaline]

Ever since the first moment Newt had lain eyes on the finest specimen of wherhood in the world, he had been itching to make Mengsk's acquaintance, to touch his gleaming hide and examine his perfect anatomy and learn what sort of mind ticked inside that exquisite body. Obviously, subsequent events had put this off for a few sevendays, while he healed both mentally and physically. It didn't help that he was determinedly avoiding Kask, so he could not come upon the two of them in the usual places - lurking by the feeding pen, hanging out by the wherling barracks, anything that had a high probability of involving all the wherlings.

So when he happened to see them in the dining hall, he instantly altered course and made a beeline for them, dropping his tray across from Mengir and sliding onto the bench. She was a nervy little thing; Newt was nerve-wracking. Perfect.

"Hi," he said breathlessly, adjusting his glasses. "Hi, Mengir. Hi, Mengsk! Long time no see! I came over because I wanted - I'm just here to - you're so beautiful." This earnest declaration of love was directed at Mengsk, though of course Mengir might be forgiven if she assumed otherwise. Most people, after all, were nothing like Newt. "I know we don't know each other very well but I would really like to. How are your lessons going? What are you doing this week? Do you want to hang out sometime?"

[RavenSong]

Even with Mengsk's warning, Mengir was not in the least bit prepared for Newt. His energy and sheer excitement for everything unnerved her. Fortunately, they'd been in classes together and she knew he was like that. She didn't panic or tense up too much, or exhibit any signs of the emotions Mengsk had termed her "fear protocol." She nodded to Newt as he sat down across from her. Spotface screeched at him. How dare he ignore her for the wingless dragon! Mengir picked the brown-painted pink up and calmly stuffed her under the lower hem of her tunic. Spotface silenced herself and blinked. Well that was a fine kettle of fish. Mengir was about to greet Newt when he spoke up, gushing.

"You're so beautiful." Did she hear him correctly?

Mengir went white. Was he talking about her? No, no, he absolutely couldn't be. Not at all, no way, no how. She swallowed hard and looked down at her plate, unable to say anything. What on Pern would he want with her?

Thank you, Mengsk said to Newt. Who Newt meaning, Mengsk or Mengir? Mengir nervous.

Don't mention Kask don't mention Kask don't mention Kask Mengir pleaded mentally.

Calm, Mengsk said privately. Mengsk knows. Saw it happen. Mengsk knows distress Mengir feels. Mengsk aware. Answer Newt, please?

"Um... w-w-well... y-you know m-my name, at least... L-lessons are going w-w-well. M-Mengsk is... h-he's very smart. L-Like you. H-He likes to use words I d-don't know. I-I d-don't know wh-what we're doing this sevenday other th-than l-lessons and ch-chores. H-hang out? D-does th-that mean... share time w-with activities? I-I th-think... m-maybe, sure. I w-would like to have f-friends."

Speech pattern disruption resultant of male human presence. Not personal, Mengsk said, blinking slowly. The whole time, he hadn't budged an inch. Mengir aware threat assesment zero. Informed. He bobbed his head sharply. Mengir blushed fiercely. She didn't really like having her problems bluntly stated, but she supposed she was okay with it. It was easier from Mengsk than anyone else.

"Wh-what br-brings you over here, N-Newt? M-Mengsk?" Mengir asked. "Y-You seem... r-really smart. Y-You wouldn't w-want to talk to me otherwise. I-I d-don't know much." She glanced at Newt briefly before looking back down to her plate, embarrassed.

[Cathaline]

"Eek yourself," Newt told the shrieking firelizard, rather amiably. He didn't have anything against flits, he just didn't find them remotely interesting on their own. Occasionally one would find a group living symbiotically with a wher. That was fascinating. Spotface didn't seem like that sort of flit with Mengsk, though, but he could always ask about their relationship.

For an instant, his smile froze when Mengsk spoke to him. It wasn't the brown's fault, at all, and Newt had come over specifically in the hope that Mengsk was willing to chat with other people, but...every time something spoke to him telepathically, since the hatching, there was that brief moment, like ice doused down his back, where he remembered the one brief syllable Newsk had managed. He shook it off, mentally, and responded a bit more levelly. "I meant you," he told the brown. "No offense, Mengir! Like, you're pretty. I just don't really notice human beauty that much. Especially not girls. But you, Mengsk - you're the most perfectly-built wher I've ever seen." He had fallen in love instantly.

With most people, Newt would just talk right over them, but he really wanted to make a good impression, and he knew from candidacy that Mengir was a stutterer and a shy one. So he patiently listened until she seemed to run down, inhaled, and only then launched a conversational offensive. "Words you don't know? Are they words Audren would know? Words he picked up through his dam, perhaps? Or did you just learn them from the ether? The telepathic ability to obtain language has always been fascinating to me, and if that's true then Mengsk could be an absolutely vital part of my studies."

She definitely needed friends. Frankly, so did Newt - though more people had been offering him kindness lately, for the obvious reason. "Yeah, activities. Or, you know, talking and science. But also activities, they're being really stingy with my chores so anything I can do that isn't lying around would be amazing at this point. You don't like guys? Why not? Is it - oh, I mean, if it's that, you don't have to worry. I'm really, truly not interested. I'm not gonna, like, pretend to be your friend and secretly I want to...like, I only like guys? And anyway it would be kind of pointless when we're both subject to the same rules and likely to be so for turns on end, so. This is awkward. I'm going to stop talking."

Newt did not stop talking. "Yes! I wanted to meet him from the moment I laid eyes on him." And then his life had painfully, horrifically derailed in front of almost everybody he knew. "Well, that's not true. I like talking to humans. I don't find most humans interesting, but I like talking to them." More like at them. He was not, perhaps, the most ideal friend for Mengir. "I like to think I'm smart about whers, and things to do with candidacy, and...I don't know, not much else, but I can't see what else would be remotely relevant, anyway."

[RavenSong]

"It's... it's fine," Mengir said softly, staring at her plate. "I-I'm not very pretty. A-and you're right... Mengsk is amazing." Her stutter vanished as she addressed the wher. She swallowed hard and took a small bite of her dinner, chewing and swallowing quickly.

Thank you, Newt. Mengsk learn words in egg, Mengsk supplied so Mengir didn't have to guess. From Ausk, from Ausk's, from others around egg as Mengsk begin search. Outside egg, Mengsk listens often. Mengir says eavesdropping bad. Not care. How else learn? Not meaning being mean about listening. Is fine. Mengsk bobbed his head in an approximation of a nod, the gesture short and sharp. He'd picked it up from Mengir.

"I... I d-don't know about science," she said quietly, looking down to her lap in shame, flushing bright red. His chatter about how he liked men made Mengir hide her face in her hands and start to hyperventilate a little. "N-No, it's... it's n-n-not that, it's... I-I-I just, I-I-I don't...."

Mengir? Mengsk asked, eyes going yellow with alarm as Mengir started to tremble just a shade. Mengir closed her eyes behind her hands and took several deep breaths, calming herself, trying to avoid showing Mengsk why she feared men. Mengsk knows enough, he said calmly, bumping his head against her elbow. That gesture always seemed to calm her down.

You can tell him, Mengir said. She'd done a pretty good job of not thinking of Atulus since he hatched. It was pretty easy, after all, since she was one of Dalibor's wherlings now. She was assuredly protected, moreso than before, solely because of Mengsk.

Male human presence is speech pattern disruption due to past. Mengir hurt as... child, correct word, the wher said briefly and simply. And that was that. Fear is not personal. Not fearing -Newt-. Fearing -male-. Mengir started to gently pet Mengsk, an action the wher encouraged because it decreased the worrying feelings coming from his bonded.

"D-D-Do you w-want to oil him?" she asked softly, sending Spotface off to fetch the oil she used. "Y-Y-You're p-p-probably a l-lot smarter than me. I-I-I don't know much. I-I didn't know j-just how much I d-didn't know until I m-moved to Moon Hold." She looked deeply ashamed as she moved her hands away from her face, not looking at Newt.

Mengir intelligent, Mengsk said for both of them to hear. Much unused space in memory. Fill this, Mengir as smart as Newt. Mengir just shook her head.

"I'm not sure you're right, Mengsk."