Dangerous beasts (Chim!)

[Maggie]

{desc=Lirmox said he wanted advice...}The grumbling anger in the back of her mind was worse than usual. Talin slapped her hand down on Task's scarred nose, a gesture the thick-skinned beast barely even noticed. "Stop that. We promised we'd go speak to them. You don't have to actually say anything. Besides, that wheret's big enough that if she sasses you too much, you can whack her around a bit." She paused, giving him a sly smile. "Besides I thought you liked mouthy evil greens."

Task gave her a non-plussed look, his eyes still his usual flat yellow. He didn't bother saying anything, but that was par for the course, with him. The fact that he had actually had an almost complete phrase for Rayna had been nothing short of a miracle. Talin could go whole days without a real word from him, only a few vague feelings and images. It didn't bother her, though. If she wanted to chat, she had other people in her life to talk to.

Lisk. How Task knew exactly who Lisk was when he hadn't even formally met her was a mystery, but Talin had figured out long ago that Task made up for being a dull murderbeast by having a remarkably good memory. If Gennesk had given him a good mental description, he wouldn't have forgotten it. Lisk and Lisk's talk Tal-mine he growled in the young green's mind. He didn't approach them, however, preferring to go to a corner of the room to lurk in a shadow, guarding... something. He wasn't too sure what himself, but he was guarding it.

Talin grinned as she spotted the wherling, probably headed towards his room after dinner. "You're Lisk's Lirmox, aren't you?" she asked, although she knew Task wouldn't have gotten that wrong. "Little Mousie's cousin. I'm bluehandler Talin. Genner said that I should speak to you. Something about understanding what you were going through." She waved abstractly towards Task. "Do you have a moment to chat?"

[Chimera]

Supper was delicious. For once Lirmox could sit down at the table and dig into nice food without worrying about Jafari and Jafask, because the meal today was just that good. He could have sworn it was connected to the group of Holdless siblings that had arrived not too long before the double hatching - Joshu was a greenhandler wherling as well, so Lirmox did see him and his stick-thin wheret sometimes. He did remember that Joshu made some pretty fine food, and he probably left his culinary mark on the Daliborian kitchens before Impressing and being busy with his wher. No matter who the chef was, the soup Lirmox had eaten was divine - it was as rich as a broth-based soup could be, full of warm autumn vegetables. Lisk was a carnivore, but even she had enjoyed the bit of soup she had gotten.

She was no tiny facehugging wheret now - Lirmox was still trying to train Lisk out of lying down and sleeping on his face when it was bedtime, because a growing wheret bigger than his face was not someone he wanted on it. But the green was stubborn. He'd just have to be more stubborn.

Now they were heading back, and Lisk yawned. She seemed so calm and such a well-behaved wher when she wasn't in the close proximity of either that certain iron or that certain black...

...And now a handler and her wher were in front of them and the handler introduced herself.

Lirmox blinked. And grinned back, half in surprise, half in a carefully practiced manner.

"Why, yes, I'm wherling Lirmox, and this is green Lisk, and Mouse is my cousin. It's nice to meet you, bluehandler Talin, and your wher." So she was a friend of Genner's...little did the wherling know her relationship with the grumpy man was much more complicated than that. "Of course I have a moment to..chat, especially when Genner recommended it. Understanding what I'm going through..." He looked pointedly at his wher, who turned away to observe the scarred blue that was Task.

"...Where should I start...Lisk is one of Ausk's hatchlings, and she was terrifying at her hatching, and while she's better behaved now, we still have issues. Gennesk had, unfortunately, declared her and black Saosk of my friend, Saowyn, 'babies for stomp' when the two wherets met back in Spring, the season she hatched in, and - "

Shut UP. Lisk say before, too many word.

"...yeah. You can see how 'good' of a wherling pair we are." Lirmox groaned. "What is your wher like?" He looked at the blue respectfully, though Lisk did not seem to have any strong opinion of him as shown by her greenish flat eyes. "Again, I...started rambling there, I hope you don't mind, apologies." Lisk sniffed at Task, before she emitted a grunt of approval. She liked him. Gennesk was dumb and she didn't like the brown.

Humans, she grumbled to the others - the two-legged species mentioned included.

[Maggie]

Talin sat down, watching Lisk absently as she approached Task. Task knew better than to randomly charge whers entering his guarding space, but sometimes he forgot his manners. He wasn't guarding anything specific, though, so he just watched the little green silently. He did not really approve of her walking around aimlessly, which Talin could tell from the grumbling in her head, but he didn't approve of much, so it wasn't unusual. The only person she had recently seen him accept without question was Rayna, who he now seemed to have some kind of odd affection for. Talin wasn't sure what to think of that.

She nodded when Lirmox described Lisk. "He's probably only described her as stompable because he's worried about Mouse. Gennesk would have made a fabulous clutching female and he's very protective. I wouldn't worry about it too much. He and Task are clutchmates, so he's more than used to how to deal with violent whers." She held up her hand that was missing a finger, scars trailing up it and into her sleeve. "I don't remember my Impression much. He nearly killed me. I remember being very, very angry. I forgot most of my Candidate lessons and hit him back several times. Then I heard his voice in my head and next thing I know I'm bonded to this pit-sized monster who's trying to kill the healers who want to get me off the sands... Genner remembers it better than I do, it's Gennesk who made sure that Task stopped charging. It's the one thing Gennesk is really good at, it's making Task see the bigger picture. Irritates the shards out of Task, but it's good for him and he knows it." She grinned as she got another wave of irritation from her blue.

"Task lives up to his name," she explained to Lirmox. "He's very focused on what he thinks is his job and his job is guarding his territory. He'll attack anything and anyone who he thinks is an intruder or a threat. Living in a Weyr makes him miserable. We're only here because we were concerned about the potential threat on my son, with the poisoners not having been foud yet." A brief shadow crossed her face and Task growled loudly from his corner. He would find them. He would find them and make a meal out of them. See how they liked being food when they made other food dangerous. "He's always angry, kind of like Ausk, from what I gather. He hasn't randomly attacked people for at least a decade now, though, so that's progress, but I let him go terrify people now and then, which keeps him happy." She got a brief burst of approval from Task. He did like going to worry stupid traders when they were being stupid. He also liked chasing stupid children away from places that were his and not theirs.

"I've found it works best not to work against him. I'm in charge and I decide when we get to be monsters and that's how things are." She shrugged. "If you were exxpecting me to tell you that they get less violent with time, they don't, but you reach an understanding, at a certain point and for me and Task, the main point of the understanding is that in this bond I am in charge and I make the decisions about attacking people and I let him be a monster as long as he respects my limits about it. If someone comes into his territory without permission, he's allowed to chase them out and snap and scratch. If Gennesk tries to nip me, he's completely allowed to maul Gennesk. It's happened." She grinned, remembering the look of shock on the brown's face. "Lisk already seems to listen fairly well. She hasn't tried to bite me or Task, she's not even growling or getting angry eyes."

Task ignored this comment. Of course Lisk hadn't attacked either of them, that would have been stupid and she knew it. He was still bigger than her. Lisk was not stupid. He did agree with her that humans, as a species, were stupid. His Tal-mine was good. His Tal-mine understood the importance of guarding and of keeping intruders out and she let him go chase wild whers out of his territory, but most humans were very stupid indeed, not understanding the importance of guarding and territory. There was that nice queen, now, the one who wanted them to be important and protect... Her he liked. And Audren, mainly because he strongly approved of Ausk even though he wasn't sure he was pleased about working in a Pride again. But other humans... No. They were stupid.

[Chimera]

"Yep. Gennesk's a very caring wher, and that's a good thing...Lisk's my wher and Mouse's my cousin and both are very important to me, but sometimes I have to choose Lisk over Mouse - she liked her from the start, but then you have the problem with Saosk - he's Mouse's friend too, and he and Lisk hated each other the first time they met, and haven't changed since. The only thing they agree on is proving themselves to be better than stompable and working together to protect Mouse...kind of...they barely agreed to a truce."

Saosk STILL for stomp. Lisk declared, making sure Talin and Task could hear too.

"No he's not, Lisk."

Lirmox listened to Talin talk about her Impression, quite fascinated by what had gone down. He cringed a little when the bluehandler showed the space where a finger once was. Lisk stared at Talin's missing finger as well, jaws gaping open. She slowly opened and closed them, imagining that she had done the same thing, ruthlessly mauling a bad, bad person, imagining there was flesh between her sharp teeth. She'd never do that to Lirmox or anyone, though - the green had been trained since the point of being a vicious baby who knew no bounds. Still, she admired Task.

"I didn't know Task was brothers with Gennesk. He does seem, much much better now, than what you described him as a hatchling. I wouldn't want to get on any wher's bad side though, but especially his. Lisk is similar to Task in some ways for sure - one is she likes guarding things too...which I guess is a good use of her possessiveness. What you told me about Task's hatching somewhat reminds me of this last one with Callistath's and Kalesk's clutch. One of the two new brownhandlers, the one with the destructive dark brown some thought was a red at first - I'm not sure if you were at the hatching, but if you were you saw him - punched his angry wheret back. To be fair, the guy's chest looked like Thread had eaten it - rather than his own brown, but it was crazy, the whole hatching. Lisk's was scary too, but it was quiet. A wheret died there, though. 'Twas a shame. But I could prattle on about hatchings for too long."

The wherling nodded at what Talin said. He could feel a short wave of a feeling akin to "I-told-you-so" from Lisk. She was smug. She'd always get to have some level of doing what she wanted.

"That's true. Even Ausk, who's horrendously terrifying, is kept under control by Alphahandler Audren. Lisk is better and more cooperative than she was at first, but she still has yet to learn how to - "

RRRAGKGHJLKSJGKH! SSTOP. Stop. Rude rude RUDE, how dare Lisk's talk this Lisk HEAR WHAT SAY! HEAR WHAT SAY! SAY BAD THINGS! LISK KILL, BEST LISK, KILL BAD! ALWAYS GOOD LISK! She jumped at Lirmox, butting his leg with her blunt, wrinkly snout and clacking her jaws, eyes instantly reddening.

" - hey, hey! Stop it!" At last, the young green was calmed down, reassured everything was fine, even if she only half-listened to the calming, wordless mindspeak Lirmox sent through their bond. Her eyes whirled back to orange, then to a green as full of yellow as her hide.

" - not fly into a rage every time she doesn't like something. You've yet to see how she gets grumbly and mad when my friend's black wher, Saosk, encounters her. Ironically, another friend of mine, who I tend to clash with for s...some reason, he got an iron wheret at the last hatching, and I honestly like him less than Saowyn. But hey, still friends right? And Lisk isn't that mad around his iron. It's strange, but I guess that's who she's more comfortable around."

Lisk had lied down near Task, covering her pale green face with her paws. She was livid - how dare Lirmox say these things about her! It was embarrassing. At least Talin and Task were not that annoying. She had a slight...soft spot for them. Task was good. She'd gladly take him as her honorary sire, over annoying Cilisk. Ausk was annoying too. Ugh. Lisk had seen her red mother at the big hatching recently, and did not take kindly to her. And could you believe it - the red wher barely noticed her! How dare. How dare. Lisk was the best wher ever! Even better than smarty-paws Jossk, who Lisk was planning to give a piece of her mind - not that the lighter green always knew how to use it.

TOO MANY WORD. She told Task. Lisk's MINE ALWAYS, best human, but TOO MANY WORD.

"So, if I may ask, out of curiosity, what is your son's name? Is he a fellow handler? Rider, mayhaps? Mouse has been adopted by Genner and Gennesk, and now I'm part of this big family, and its friends too - after all, you were a wherling with Genner." Lirmox stated with a somewhat nervous tone, hoping to change the topic for a little. Oh, Lisk...

[Maggie]

Talin watched Lirmox calm Lisk down, giving the angry green wher a fond smile. Wherets were so cute when angry and murderous. "See, you have very good control. See how you managed to calm her like that? That's just what you have to do. And sometimes, if it's attacking and killing things she likes, you have to let her find things to hunt and kill and praise her for it. I've heard some letting their whers actually plot hunts and killing things with them in mind-speak and actively participating in those plans. Maybe it helps. Task isn't much of a planner, though, so I wouldn't know. Genner says his mother used to do that with her wher, though. She was a green like Lisk." She beamed down at the wheret fondly.

"Of course she hasn't challenged your friend's wherlet," she said, knowing imediately who he was referring to. "He's a murderous iron, she's a green. She's a huntress and killer, your little one, not stupid. Same reason she didn't even think about snapping at Task. It'll be why she'll let Gennesk boss her around until she's big enough to do real damage. She knows what's good for her and what could kill her before she killed it. I heard about that iron. Gennesk wouldn't stop ranting about how Delicious is not for scratch." She rolled her eyes, but she was grinning. "And my niece is in that whering class. She's got a handful of a little creature too. A cyan. Tamarisk. I do wish I could have been at the hatching, but we agreed to cover Genner and Gennesk's patrol. Task likes that better. I haven't been able to get to a hatching in Turns, out at the Hold as we are." She shook her head. "Someone usually dies. It's a shame, but it does happen. Whers aren't for the faint of heart. I always try and remember them. I was nearly one of them." She turned to give Task a soft smile. He ignored her, glaring at the empty corridor just in case someone tried to steal the corner he was guarding. "All of us don't have a silly dancing brown to make sure that no one dies. That's how Gennesk did it, I was told. He and Task still do the Dance of Greet whenever they see each other after a long time. I would have Task show you sometime, but Gennesk's the only one who can bully him into it." That got a growl from the blue. He didn't like doing silly things like Gennesk seemed to.

She beamed at the mention of her son. She hadn't really seen him, since he had moved away from the Hold, but he would still always be her little baby boy that she had raised. "You might know him, if you're friends with Gennesk and Genner," she told him. "He's a rider here. His blue is the almost wher-sized one who likes to dress up like a person. G'lin and blue Anablimyth. Task was so smug when he heard that G'lin had Impressed a blue like him. And tiny, too, like a wher."

Human many word. Ignore, Task told List wisely. His Tal'mine always, always chattered like Gennesk. The only human he had met who didn't, really, was Genner. He had spent many nights with Genner, quietly watching in disapproval as Talin and Gennesk chattered away. Ignoring them was the best thing. And when the expected silence, they weren't always watching when sneaky, sneaky whers disappeared to go hunt tunnelsnakes and other killable things.

[Chimera]

"Very good control? Oh...do I? Well that's good. Sometimes, yes, I do have the ability to mediate Lisk and calm her down - she calms down as quickly as she gets mad in those cases - but too often she loses control. Right now there's just me, you, and Task - not the three she seems to get mad around. It's a good thing Lisk certainly seems to like you and your wher, ma'am. As far as letting her hunt and kill things she's allowed to, I do take Lisk out in the Bowl sometimes. We go explore. Though when we go outside I make sure Lisk doesn't interrupt any patrols going on, of course - not too far from where the Wherling Barracks are. Before I Impressed, in fact allll the way before I even went to Dalibor, my flit and feline liked going hunting together. Despite getting a good scare out of them at first, Lisk seems to have gotten into their little adventuring group." He chuckled.

Yes. Hunt with almost-snacks for snacks. And respect Talin, Talin's Task, because make sense. GOOD SENSE. Lisk-sense. Lisk stared rather quietly at Talin when she smiled down at her. If the green wher could smile back, she still wouldn't - but the bluehandler was someone she could respect. And she did, the most respect any acquaintance had gotten - or friend, even.

"Oh, well, yes. He is a king." Lisk sat up straight and proud when she heard Talin call her a huntress and killer. True, that. "I was with Mouse and Gennesk in the Stands at Callistath's and Kalesk's hatching - he was very angry, yes. Lisk did see iron Jafask and meet him shortly, but then she went back to Mouse and Gennesk after the hatching was over and we were all going out. I'm not sure what to think - Mouse does seem interested in seeing Jafask, but it's not safe. I was worried how Lisk would react to her when she just hatched. I think the people on Lisk's good side are either 'no-eat tasties for protect' or 'for respect'. As long as she even likes somebody...After the hatching was strange enough what with meeting Jafask, but the event itself - crazy. Crazy, crazy. Whers are definitely not for the faint of heart - the blue wheret who, well, killed that poor candidate, I don't think he was even vicious. Even the scarier ones looked confused. I mean, they always are, but...I don't know. At least all except one of the wherets found their bonded. And there were only two deaths. Could've been more, I guess. Doesn't make it any better. I don't even want to go close to the unrest going on the Weyr now, but it's pretty much everywhere."

He widened his eyes when Talin told she was the mother of G'lin. So that meant she had...some relationship with Genner going on. Well, he had thought so, but yeah, Talin had been mentioned, and...yeah...that explained it. He'd been silly.

"Oh, yes, G'lin. I've seen him before. Haven't talked to him as much as I'd have liked to..."

Haha. G'lin's bigwingbutt...not bigwing. Smallwing. Tiny. Wher. Whers better than bigwing, so bigwing like wher better than bigwing like bigwing.

"I think that's some sort of compliment. There's a lot of nice dragons too, Lisk, don't be rude though." He turned to his wher as he addressed her.

But...so hard ignore when say annoy-words! How Task do it, so...so...cool? Lisk proudly used a word Lirmox had that she hadn't spoken before. She admittedly liked words. They made her feel powerful. And the more ones she used, the better she felt...Lisk's primal mindset conflicted with that other part of her that originated after her bond with the wordy former Holdless boy. Part wanted to be sophisticated, the other wanted to kill and destroy.

It was simply a matter of those two conflicting mindsets within the green wher's mind working together.

((ooc: MAGGIE I FOUND LISK AND TASK'S ALTERNATE UNIVERSE SELVES[/url]

[Maggie]

Talin chuckled. "Oh I agree with her. And you'll find a lot of older handlers will too. Dalibor is a good place to be, as a handler. Not all Weyrs are and some riders are particularly nasty to handlers as if we were uncivilised lowlifes who lurk in dark corners. We know how to deal with those, don't we Task?" Task's eyes whirled a very pleased green. It had been a long time, but he still remembered playing lurk-and-scare with some of the less enlightened riders back at High Reaches. He still did it sometimes at the Hold when he was very bored and one of the other guardwhers was on duty. "Genner says that G'lin couldn't quite choose between dragons and whers so he got a wher-sized dragon. Ana is adorable, if a little odd. I swear that boy gets all his odd bondmate genes from his father. My Task is completely normal. Gennesk dances. What wher in his right mind dances, tell me." She laughed.

Not eat word, not kill, ignore, Task told her simply. He had decided early in life that if he couldn't kill it or eat it, it was not worth paying attention to, unless it was something he was guarding.

"Do keep Mouse away from Jafask for a while," Talin counseled. "At least until his handler has him on a tight leash. It isn't safe. Task is surprisingly good with little children, but I didn't leave him unsupervised with G'lin until G'lin was older than Mouse is now, even if it was just flittish supervision." She shook her head. "Wherets are rarely deliberately vicious. They're all instinct. That one was plotting and that's not reassuring. My niece's little Tamarisk is a violent one, but at least she's not all that smart, from what I've seen. A face only a handler could love, too. She reminds me a bit of Task when he was a wheret, but she's louder. I'm so glad I don't have a wher who thinks that screaming is the only acceptable way of communication. I'd have a constant headache."

She paused, nodding in encouragement. It was true that the unrest affected all of them. She had even felt compelled to leave Southern Boll because of it. She still missed her lover and her fellow guards and her familiar quarters... But it was worth it, if they could make a difference. "You're a wherling. Just keep your head down and focus on Lisk. Let others deal with the unrest. She should be your whole world right now. Sometimes it's best to narrow our focus down to just one thing and we're lucky that we have someone that can be our everything. I know that no matter what happens, Task will always be there in the back of my mind, unhappy about something." She walked over to the scarred blue, going to scratch his eyeridges. He rumbled happily. She looked down at Lisk. "Do you like scratches too, miss Lisk?"

[Chimera]

"I think so. Dalibor's certainly a progressive Weyr - and a controversial one. I think a lot of other individuals, not whole Weyrs, on Pern, are just scared of the unknown really. Or some are just plain wherrybrains - I don't see what's so unknown about whers. Not as if they popped up yesterday." He sighed. "And handlers are definitely not uncivilised lowlifes. I've gotten odd looks from random Weyrfolk straggling around the Weyr at night as a wherling, and before that as a Candidate. Doesn't help one bit that I used to be Holdless anyways."

Lisk hacked out an amused sound similar to a growl when Talin mentioned what Task's reaction was to those stupid bigwing-humans.

Serves right.

Lirmox also chuckled at what Talin said next, but he had the ability of a normal, if squeaky, human laugh.

"Well, Gennesk is...quirky, yes. Odd bondmate genes might be an accurate way to describe it. He's still a powerful wher in a pinch, though."

Wher-size dragon...rrgh....don't know. Obsess with human clothes. That funny. No harm, even stupid for Lisk. She blinked at Task. Try ignore. Hard, but try. Wher-dragon Ana...Ana-thing one of too-many-word speakers. So ignore. Already ignore Ana-thing, actually. Ana-thing like too many word. Ignore. Good. She couldn't resist adding on a last part, privately, to Lirmox. Will talk Ana-thing later, still. Tell Ana-thing wher-dragon cloth no need. Give Lisk chew. Have need grow wher-teeth.

Good luck with that.

"I don't think Jafask's handler has him on a tight leash yet." There there, Jafari, oh you poor little kinghandler. Got an iron - an evil one. Lisk may have had...anger issues, and Saosk - but at least they weren't corrupt at their core. Jafask was, Lirmox was certain of it. "That's for sure. Lisk's all instinct, pretty much, she luckily doesn't plot. I saw Tamarisk, the bulky cyan one, at the hatching. Cyans are interesting. Even the dragons are new, and they came first - cyan whers and flits are still quite rare." Only a handler could love that face...Lirmox had heard someone mutter that when he and Lisk had passed by. "Even Lisk's dam...Audren has her on a tight leash, but when Ausk does speak it's pretty scary. And loud. Lisk only screams like that sometimes."

"I know, and Lisk is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I just wish there was some way to get rid of that constant, nagging feeling of unrest..I've always wanted everything to get along. I haven't ever told this to anyone except my wher, but the whole reason I decided to come here was to try and 'infiltrate' the Weyr and see its viewpoint, because obviously a certain bunch of outcasts wasn't too happy about the Weyr nearby. That way, I planned that I could help ease the conflict...but most of the Holdless at least from my group ended up here anyways. I think my family's here too. Probably. And if so, doing a damn well job of hiding. But anyways, besides rambling about my past life, yeah. It's not easy to stop worrying about something like that. But Lisk will always be grumping about something in my mind, and that's reassuring."

Lisk tensed a bit when Talin looked at her.

Scratches? No. NO SCRATCH. Only...scritchies. Different. Like silly word "ears" used for ACTUAL WORD, "hear-knobs."

"Wher vocabulary apparently differs. Scritchies are definitely not another word for scratches." Lirmox winked jokingly.

No, no listen Lisk's...wait no, Lisk's lies sound Lisk lies. No. How say. Lir-mocks. Lirmox. Lirmox lies, no listen. Scritchies. Take you human paw, put on face of best wher Lisk. Scritchies eyeridge. That how scritchies. Lisk nodded. Truly, she was good at explaining thing.

[Maggie]

"He is. Before G'lin was born when we were still at High Reaches, we used to patrol together, Genner and I. I've seen Gennesk in a fight and I've seen him fight thread. He's a lot stronger than he lets on by being that silly. It makes it that much more surprising when he does actually get angry. I hear he's been picking fights with a wild iron, recently? He was trying to convince Task to get in on this. Still not sure Task thinks it's a bad idea." She gave her wher a suspicious look. Task gave her a flat stare, the closest thing he had to an innocent expression.

Mini-Ana almost-wher. Blue. Task win, Task told her, very pleased that they were talking about his Tal-mine's hatchling's weird dragon. He was weird like Gennesk, but he was blue, so Task considered that he had very much won. He did agree with chewing on and destroying the clothes, though. Wearing clothes was just weird. He tolerated goggles because they were practical, but that was it.

Talin blinked when Lirmox mentioned his family. She hadn't realised that there would be more holdless sneaking around Dalibor that hadn't joined or that they were angry at the Weyr. Task also tensed. Dalibor was his territory and this sounded like something he needed to guard against! "Did you tell Audren about your family?" she asked with a small frown. "If they're hiding around Dalibor when they aren't supposed to and a patrol stumbles on them, they could get hurt. You know how whers are."

She shrugged about the unease. "You get used to that feeling," she reassured him. "You know I complain about Task's grumbling, but I think that if he ever wasn't grumbling in my head, I would panic. After over thirty turns of it, it's almost reassuring and a source of strength. And if I'm having a bad day, I know that he'll always volunteer to kill whatever's making me upset." She patted Task's nose before reaching out to scratch Lisk's eyeridges.

"Scritchies, then. Do you like scritchies, Lisk? Task says I give good ones and you have been a very good girl listening to your Lirmox, so you deserve them," she cooed. She grinned at him. "Scritchies, hear-knobs... I learned to speak Gennesk, I can learn to speak Lisk. They all have their own little dialect, don't they? Well except Task. Getting a sentence out of him is almost a miracle."

[Chimera]

"Patrol together, huh...I've seen Gennesk angry once and it was pretty scary. Just like a wher should be - after all, they're guards. Gennesk and Task definitely are different besides that fact, though." He blinked when Talin mentioned the wild iron. "Irons...Well, that's not a good idea for sure, picking a fight with a wild. I hope he won't encroach on Dalibor's territory too much."

Yes. Better big-wing, ggg, dragon be is almost-wher. Make up for cloth. Only gaggle-goggles need. No get humans wear, even - soft squishy are. Lisk mused.

"Welll...they're probably not, knowing Dad. My flit does send letters from and to them sometimes...Once they joked about it, though, a long time ago. I don't even know what to think - they're better off without me anyways - wouldn't want to get involved with the cowardly middle child again anyways. Or something. It's more my irrational worrying than anything, though - that and Dad dislikes moving anywhere. Here I go again, babbling, I need to stop." Lirmox laughed halfheartedly.

"Being bonded, even if there's grumbles and growls..." Lirmox smiled at Lisk, who cocked her thick head to the side as she stared back, her eyes turning a pleased Task-shade blue. "It's still strange, but Lisk and I are going to be a strong handler pair."

Lisk whuffled dramatically, batting a paw at the air in front of her to express how unimpressed she was.

Train Lisk human made progress. He say 'OHHH, PROBABLY, MAYBE, SOMEWHAT, BAHAWWW SO SAD' only bit less. Good. Also why can get, want get scritchies now. Yes Task's, please for scritchies.

"I am not sure how, but Lisk seems to have inherited the lovely gift of sarcasm. Now she can be sarcastic to her prey."

Congratulations, my dear face-hugger.

[Maggie]

Talin made a mental note to talk to Audren or Rayna or both about the holdless Lirmox mentioned. She didn't judge those who had come to the Weyr, but those who hadn't, if they were still angry at Dalibor, they could easily have had a hand in the poisonings, especially if those like Lirmox were naively sending them letters which could contain information about patrols and such. "Oh he doesn't, I don't think. He's chased a few of the females during runs, though, which is where Gennesk squabbles with him most of the time. Not the brightest, Gennesk. And neither are you, flitt-brain, for wanting to help him. We don't fight irons, they're much too big," she warned Task. Task did not agree, but he said nothing. He and Gennesk would sneak away to harass Slosk later, when Talin and Genner weren't looking.

"You will be. You already have a good bond. She listens to you very well. It took me longer than that to make Task listen. I used to have to wrestle him to the ground, sometimes. That only worked until he was about six months or so. Kept me in great shape, though. After that I had to get sneakier about it. I was afraid of failing Weyrling Training because it took us a long, long time to understand what was acceptable behaviour. And by we I mostly mean that monster. Took me a while to figure out how to make him acceptable in public." Task rumbled happily. He had liked wrestling with his Tal-mine. Now he always won, though and he liked that too, even though he would never hurt his Tal-mine again. She was irreplaceble.

"Now lots of scritchies for the very good little Lisk," she cooed happily at the little green. "You know you have to train your handler too, right? Make him a very good handler. Sometimes that means cooperating and negotiating instead of clawing." She laughed at Lirmox`s quip about sarcasm. "And you can snark at him in his head when he's being silly, since you're so good at snarking as well as hunting."

[Chimera]

Lirmox did get a bit nervous. Here he was again, blabbering too much...His family was always passive - even his parents had never been too on board with Kyrene's father's plan - and Lirmox had never heard anything about poisoning. All the letters he'd sent mainly spoke about Lisk...He didn't want to stir the melting pot of politics any further, not unless he would be asked to for some reason. Still, Lirmox's family could be hiding something from him...no matter their opinions he hoped they weren't doing anything bad or dangerous.

"Yes, irons are much too big indeed. Of course, Lisk will only be squabbling in Runs with her suitors - hopefully if any wilds will be chasing her when she has her first Run, they won't be the nastier ones. Lisk would put them in their places, though, I'm sure. By the by, has Task ever fathered any clutches?"

He did smile at what Talin said.

"Lisk has been listening well as of late because she definitely has a competitive streak - she wants to be better than Saosk, and Jafask too. She was a monster at first, too - attacked a canine before she Impressed, but thank Faranth it was okay."

What you talk. What canine.

At your hatching, dummy.

Oh. SO?

I...ugh, it's the past now. Forget it.

Already did. Lisk smugly responded.

"Sometimes - well, frequently, Lisk is still hard to control, though we're getting there. Gets really angry, and if I don't calm her down quickly like I did just a few candlemarks ago then she gets really hard to stop. She was in a good mood right now, even before we started this conversation - obviously. She ate a bit of soup, which apparently works wonders for sneaky green whers. Does Task have any favorite foods besides the usual meat whers eat?"

Lisk pressed her head against Talin's hand, very happy.

Mine. You no allow give scritchies. Only TALIN give. BEST SCRITCHIES ALWAYS. All mine Lisk scritchies.

"Oh nooo. Don't say that." Lirmox said, mock-frowning at Lisk and what Talin said about human-handling.

No. Lisk BEST humanhandler. Learn from Task how handle human. Learn from Mine how be 'snark' because snark Lisk-sense.

Lirmox grinned again. When she wasn't overridden by her feral instincts, Lisk was quite a sensible, if a bit silly, wher.

Then, just like that, she retreated from Talin, crouching in a dark corner of the room, bile-green tail bobbing up and down as she started sniffing around from her standpoint for any potential danger. Her eyes settled from a blue into a muddied mix of blue and its complementary color, orange. Lisk did not have a directly aggressive poise - rather one of a vigilant old Terran gargoyle that was crouching rather than sitting, but she was one that could actually strike if needed.

"About my family...they're not that dumb to go sneaking into the Weyr, actually - but they might have something to hide, I don't know. All they tell me in their letters back is replying to me, saying how the family is doing, how life is, what mum's cooking, how my sibs are - I just hope they're alright. They are my family, after all, and...They could still lie, though. Nothing really I can do about it, though." Lirmox sighed. It was a sudden topic change, but he wanted to get it off his mind.