Throwing Tradition out the Window.

[Shekru]

Night had fallen heavily on Caspian, the dark stretches of dusk's blanket going so far as to extinguish the fires of the suns on the horizon. The air was cool, but not cold. Perfect, in fact, for what was going to take place outside the hold. The grasses whispered to one another as winds carried themselves on through. The light from the moon was half full, and cast a blue sheen upon the flat stone they stood atop. Fyg, beside Fygwesk, staring out over the expanse of their new home.

We teach tonight? He asked, turning his head to peer at his handler. He went so far as to lean toward her, nose bumping her arm until she turned to look at him. Hands swooped down beneath his chin and she lowered her head to nuzzle the front of his maw.

"Yes, love. We're gonna show 'em what they've been missin'." She said aloud, softly. Talking out loud was unnecessary, but still, sometimes it beat the silence around them.

A moment passed with the two of them staring out at the night-strewn surround before Fyg clapped her hands together. "Right. Let's get y'set up." Pulling the strange system of straps upward, Fygwesk obliged his handler's non-verbal instruction and stepped into the harness with a practiced ease. Rolling his shoulders to put the straps in place, Fygwesk remained still while the woman moved about to tighten the binds and buckles. The process took no more than a few short minutes, and then Fyg tugged the straps, and hauled herself over the big brown's neck. Though not a small woman by any measure, she was light enough that the added weight hardly mattered to the brown, who was more than used to carrying his beloved cargo.

"Arright, love, give 'em a holler. Tell 'em to get their lazy arses out 'ere, eh?" Fyg said with a grin, patting the brown's neck affectionately.

As bidden, the brown lifted his head and opened jaws wide. The sound was far greater than the creature it came out of, and it echoed around the Hold with tremendous reverb. What Fygwesk lacked in appearance, he certainly made up for in presence. The sound was like a deep bell, rich and warm, tolling out over the hillside of some far away village to shepherd folk to it. In this case, it was sent out to Danask and Aldesk, along with a clear picture of his and Fyg's location. They were waiting. It was time.

Time for something new.

[panther]

((ooc: Reply obviously pending on previous topic but, I wrote it, and wanna post it - got a feeling it'll be right anyways ))

A noise rang through her sleep, and into her dream, a dream where she was back at Azvon. The noise came through like the noise of a bell, yet, she knew of no bells in Azvon.

Then realisation came as another mind tugged and her conscious.
The light is gone. Fygwesk calls. Enough sleep had. coherent enough, calls from her gold. She stirred more. Stretching out slightly, and becoming still again – she hated waking, her cot was so warm and cosy when she woke.but, resting her head back to where it had been – eyes not open yet – she felt her pillow rise and fall with slow motions, that accompanied the soft noise of breathing.

Breathing…

---

Admin's Note:[/hr]

She looked to her side with caution. Danask hadn’t run… so why was there a body beside her…

---

Admin's Note:[/hr]

Scorch it. She rolled over the opposite way and curse vehemently into the pillows before she removed herself sharpishly form the bed, and cursed the fact that the bathing pool for these rooms was not separate – sure she had a screen up, but did she really trust Alder that much? Ducking behind the screen, pulling a few bits of clothing from her chest, she splashed water over her face, and cleaned her teeth haphazardly enough to make her gums bleed a little, but she didn’t think on it for long. Changing out of the creased clothes from sleep, she pulled herself into a fresh pair of hide trousers, and a top, the bottoms a faded, yet still dark brown, the top a fairly royal blue that made her hair brighter by contrast. She hurriedly brushed her hair and pulled it back into a runner’s tail, fixing her fringe aside.

Danae sighed, looked back at Alder. Part of her really regretted what she’d done, the other didn’t. Not in the slightest. Yet she’d still act and go on as though they were just friends and nothing had happened. She refused to make much out of this. Thoughts slowly came back from the previous night. Yes. She had to be right, Alder was a cad, and a womaniser, surely he would realise that kiss was simply a kiss, and nothing more. So she’d slept in his arms, curled quite comfortably against him. But, again, that meant nothing, did it? She looked at her reflection in the silvered glass, deeming herself fit, despite the dark circles under her eyes. She stifled a yawn – too late to bed again. But at least she looked presentable.

Outside Danask stirred. The Golden wher standing, and pacing about the Dig without much of a thought, stretching out her un-proportionate wings. Danask called to her bonded, echoing the images shown to her by Fygwesk.
Should be woken?[/i] The gold asked, her told cool and yet full of judgement.
Aldesk will likely wake him dear one.
Wake him. There was no tone of a question to her words. Danae grimaced, knowing the gold was right. She sighed, approaching the sleeping man in her cot. But keeping her distance for now.

“Alder.” She said, standing beside him. No affect.
“Alder.” A little louder, still no affect.
“Shard it…” She muttered to herself, leaning down and shaking him gently, “Alder? Wake up.” She tried to sound a little stern, trying to counteract the ginger-ness of her touch. She was not feeling to comfortable being quite so close to him at this moment. For explicable reasons. She hated having quite such an extensive personal bubble at times.

[Xennai]

Alder had slept deep and peacefully throughout the hours. He’d fallen asleep next to Danae, supporting her and curling in about her warmth and softness. He should have been in his own Dig, sleeping with his bronze just a few feet way. He shouldn’t be a room over, in the couch of a beautiful woman, let alone the senior Queen handler of his new home.

The bronze handler hadn’t worried about that though. He’d worried more about the sleep he needed, about making sure Aldesk would be comfortable during their stay, about making sure he got what he needed. There were many concerns. What had happened with he and Danae fell rather far down the list, though it was on it.

He was dreaming pleasantly as he slept about a curvaceous brunette with pool-like green eyes and a soft, utterly female body. She bore a resemblance to a female he’d known a few Turns gone, a girl by the name of Hera. She’d ensnared Alder tighter than many other women had, tight enough he’d almost admitted to loving her. She’d been the last to come close…No matter that though, in his dream, the new female sidled along him, smiling, her eyes mysterious. They sank into a kiss that spun on and on. The next moment, in one of those strange time jumps dreams often had, he was ranged over her, moving with her, tasting her sweet lips as he drove into her, claiming her, making her his, his and only his at least for then. A bell tolled, warm and rich. It sounded just as she came, moan and bell melding into one.

“Alder.” Alder groaned, plunging into the woman again, fierce and hard, claiming her, taking her, racing to his own end. He panted, chest heaving, taking her again. Harder. Faster. “Alder.” The woman beneath him moaned his name, twisting, writhing with the pleasure he’d given her. Alder panted harder, taking her with only one thought in mind. His fingers dug into her hips. He was so close, so close…

“Alder. Wake up.” He was shaken and abruptly awoke, eyes snapping open. His chest heaved and the denied climax stung, hard, as reality set in. Just dreaming. Eyes were irrationally hard and angry when he sat up, dragging a hand through dark hair. He focused on Danae, angry color high in his cheeks.

“What?” he muttered. He hated that he sounded like a petulant child, but really? Did she have to wake him up right then? He sighed, glancing down at the furs pooled about his waist. A hand pressed to his forehead and he yawned. Aldesk? He searched for his wher muzzily, groping for the connection.

Here.
Alder rubbed his hands over his eyes, the dream fading. He couldn’t really remember what had happened. All he could remember was a woman, sex and green eyes. Could have been anything. He sighed.
We’ll be seeing Fyg and her brown soon.
They called us.
Head bobbed, sleep still present enough for the bronze handler to not comprehend that he should ask exactly how. He looked up at Danae and smiled sleepily, reaching out to grip her wrist.

“Mmm. Hello there.” He smiled, hair tousled, his eyes sleepy and soft. “I’m guessing that Fyg has called us?” He rotated her wrist, pressing a kiss to her palm. A womanizer even when half asleep. “I’m sorry, dear heart. You awoke me from a very pleasant dream. I was angry, but only for a moment.”

He dropped her hand, arms stretching above his head and yawned. He ran a hand through his hair again and then slipped out of the bed, standing. His shoulders rolled and he ran a hand over his face, feeling more awake. He walked round the couch to her side and stood a few feet away, head cocked. “You all right?”

[panther]

She stood, brow quirked as he dreamed, then as he woke, a grumbled agitated “what?” came, and he sounded quite irate. But as he came too, he obviously searched for Aldesk, he was awake, clearly, but not exactly present. But eventually he rejoined her in the present and the place. Words soft, and lips smiling.

“Whatever, and aye, Fyg has called, so we need to move.” She said, as he dropped her hand, she scratched her palm idly where he had placed the kiss, expressions and emotions kept carefully in check. She pulled a few things from her chest, flicking the lid back down with a harsh clack, she winced a little as the sound assaulted her. But then his question came, asking her if she was all right. She looked up at him from the side as she turned to go for the door. “Never better Alde,r now Come on we can’t leave Fyg waiting.“

Coolly, she turned, waltzed out of the door to her privy quarters, and approached Danask, who stood near enough just the otherside of the door. Thick lensed eyes almost watching the body heat. Whirring with pleasant blues and greens, despite the darkness in the hold, Danae could tell, also, the eyes of a wher were bright, catching any light and multiplying it. She stroked the face of the wher, hand petting the hide of the gold, she cooed softly, tenderly to the creature. The wher looked large next to her, abnormally so, but then she was short, and the gold wher wasn’t for her kind.

She scooted under the gold’s neck, Danask following her as her handler walked towards the main doors. Danae grabbing a pair of hide gloves from the side before the curtain behind which was the door.

“If you have something to do first, we’ll meet you there? Or will you collect Aldesk on the way?” Danae’s words still cool. Trying to remain as distant as possible, so as to try and set some sort of tone.

[Xennai]

Alder frowned; sensing something was off with Danae, no matter that the woman herself denied it. Usually, when that happened, it really did mean something wrong. Or there wasn’t anything wrong and he was reading too much into this. But her face was so carefully composed, much too composed, and her eyes, eyes which he felt he could sink into, seemed hard and barren. Uninviting.

It seemed that everything that had happened had dissolved into nothingness whilst sleep had overcome the both of them. Alder felt out of place, unbalanced, and wasn’t sure whether he liked the turn of events or not.

He trailed after her, staying well outside of Danask’s sleeping quarters, not wanting to alarm the gold. He definitely would not enjoy being bitten or mauled in any other way by the gold. It would be very, very painful.

He tried to puzzle out what was going on and could come up with nothing. They’d had two little kisses and that was all. He knew he hadn’t gone any farther. Was she freaked out because he’d slept beside her? That was nothing. Absolutely nothing. So, two people couldn’t sleep with one another anymore? Alder growled at himself internally, telling his mind to shut up and stop playing scenes of himself and Danae doing the other kind of sleeping together.

“No,” Alder said shortly, still puzzling it all out. “I’m getting Aldesk on the way.” He reached out, grabbing the gold handler’s wrist, and wheeling her around. His face looked like a thundercloud, dark brows lowered and green eyes snapping lightning. “Look at me. And tell me what the shells is wrong with you!”

[panther]

Danae bristled to his touch, wheeling around as he intended. Danask’s claws tightened down into the ground. Head lowered and a deep growl emitted form the gold, a Warning, and she wouldn’t give a second.

“Danask.” Danae called to her gold. “Leave it be, Alder was just trying to get my attention.” She tugged her wrist from his hand, looking up at him boldly. Addressing him now,“Nothing is wrong Alder.” She shook her head, her voice and features softening, a quirk given half heartedly to her lips, “I’m just not a morning person.” She explained – lying, but she was good at it. There was a certain amount of deceit one had to master to be a queen handler.

Aldesk’s had enough of your attention.
quite[/i]

Silent conversation was quickly dealt with before she returned to Pern and the moment at hand, “C’mon, we’re making Fyg wait. I’m looking forward to this, don’t sour it eh?” She said, smile forced onto her lips. She jut wanted to get out into the nights air. She reached through the hide curtain, and swung the door open. She breathed a sigh of relief as her element came back to her, cool night Air.

Danask moved first, wandering past Alder and Danae, purposefully hitting Alder with a rather heavy hit of her tail in the back of his calves. She continued on her way outside, pushing through the curtain and letting it trail over her body as she too returned to the world outside, where the light of the moon was gentler upon her eyes. She creeled out to Fygwesk, letting the brown know she was on her way. It would be her first time meeting the brown and the bronze physically.

Danae walked forward, pushing the curtain from her path as she walked out to the night, greeting her with the blissfully cool slightly damp air that she adored. It was so fresh in comparison to the hours of light. She left the door open behind her, Alder in her digs behind the closed curtain. Danae ran her hand over the Wher’s hide, starting up the incline of her tail, and resting on the shoulder that roughly level with her head. And like that, they waited for Alder to come out. Hopefully it would bring him out of his strop too.

[Xennai]

She tensed against his touch. Alder felt it and it immediately confirmed his suspicions. Something was indeed wrong and she was trying to cover it up. He wasn’t going to pursue it now. He’d grabbed Danae out of frustration and had completely forgotten about Danask. A very bad thing to do.

Gaze switched from handler to wher. He almost growled. Danae called the gold off, thankfully, and shook off his fingers. He watched her with careful, suspicious eyes, his hands crossing over his chest. Though her explanation made sense—Faranth knew he never liked waking up—something still niggled in the back of his head, saying that she was lying, that in the time she’d been awake before him something in her mind had shifted.

Shard it.

Alder watched the woman and her wher leave, the suspiciousness fading, but not into inexistence. It still resided there, hiding, lurking, ready to make a reappearance when the need arose. Her comment stung, but what stung even more was Danask’s heavy tail whacking him in the back of the legs. Alder glared after her, but didn’t make a complaint. To do so would be dangerous.

Alder followed out after, slipping down the corridor to his own Dig. He inhaled once he was inside, smelling the familiar scent of Aldesk, of their belongings, of their home. He sighed, eyes closing, leaning against the door, letting anger and frustration fade. He wanted to enjoy what Fyg was going to teach them tonight.

“Aldesk?” he called, using voice instead of mind. He only talked to the wher through their mind link when others were around. He walked into the wher’s sleeping place and sighed, hands on hips, exasperation clear on his face. “Come on, you lazy lump! Get up! We’re doing something interesting! Let’s go.”

The bronze roused himself, his dark hide twitching as he rose, rolling shoulders and spreading stunted wings. A soft, loving smile shone on his handler’s face. This was the one “person” that Alder trusted explicitly, that he loved without holding back. He patted the bronze, leading him out, outside to the open air and the courtyard beyond. Both breathed deep of soft, untainted air. It had a slight chill but it was delicious. They walked on and then stopped at the sight of a dark form.

Alder was surprised to see that it was Danae and Danask and they were waiting for them. Aldesk’s lips twisted to one side, foul emotions stirring, before he settled them down.

“You waited,” he murmured. Soft. Calm. He wasn’t going to be angry with Danae, not now, not tonight. That would wait for later. When she answered his questions.

[panther]

She was completely in her own little world when Alder returned, She smiled, calm as a placid lake, and cool as one in autumn. “Aye, of course we did.” Danae looked over at the bronze, assessing him, he was a fine strong creature, any clutchmother would be proud to have clutched, and any wher would be happy to be chased by. She wasn’t bad – surely not – for assessing the blood stock of her keepings? No, that was regular.

Aldesk fine bronze.

Mmm,[/i] Danae’s tone approved.

But there was no way they could hide the fact that they were assessing his wher, “Besides, Danask and I were curious to what Aldesk looked like. Having met his Handler, we wanted to meet the more handsome bonded that he kept.” She smirked. The night air, and the moments alone with Danask were like a mystical medicine that cured all ailments, mentally at least. “Come now you pair, we’re going to the other side of the pens, Fyg’s waiting for us there.” Danae had obviously interpreted the images Fygwesk had sent via Danask a lot easier than Alder likely would have.

She strode along, Danask dawdling almost alongside her bond. Danae lead to the northern side of the courtyard, a large arch that lead out to the feeding pens. Disgruntled noises echoed through the pens as the whers approached. Herdbeasts perturbed from their sleep by the oncoming predators.
“more for your reference than Aldesks,” For the wher would have sniffed out his prey without Alder’s guidance, “Feeding pens are through here, opposite, the southern exit from the courtyard, is the entry to the Hatching Den. The Western entry – as you know – leads onto the corridors, and the East is the exit to the hold.” She informed as she kept walking, Out of the Hold boundaries now. She passed through the pens.

Danask hopped over the fence with a peculiar awkward grace, she wasn;t hungry, she jut liked to see the creatures flee from her presence. Danask never took a creature simply form the pens, that was too easy. It was much nicer to lt Danae ‘allow’ one to escape so the Gold could chase it down. Much more sporting. But this was amusing, their white eyes terror was enough to make the gold feel sadistically important.

“Don’t mind her, she likes their fear,” She smiled, walking a few steps backwards, so she could address Alder properly. Not far now.

“Ah Fyg.” She smiled warmly, Danask hopping back over the other side of the fencing, rejoining her handler, “I apologise for the delays, It appears I was more Tired than I thought.” She smiled, omitting the fact that Alder had stayed in her Digs, and had kept her far too awake for too long. “Good evening to you Fygwesk also,” She addressed them both, still in awe at how one wher could look quite so awkward in it’s own hide. “So, Uhm, before we begin,” she waved her hands around, “I’ve got something I want to ask you both, do not feel obliged, but, we have all been invited to the Hatching feast at the Weyr that occurs in a few nights. Again I stress, it is completely up to you if you want to join me or not, but, I am to meet Weyrwoman Christae, and I would be grateful of a friendly face, who’s not a complete Turfsider or Airrider.” She smirked, terms she had picked up from the previous wher hold, referring to regular holder/weyr folk, and dragonmen respectively.

[Shekru]

Atop Fygwesk's harness, Fyg waited. The woman had let her long hair down, and the wind licked the waist-length strands up in loose tendrils, taking them back away from her face while combing through. The bright-eyed woman breathed deeply of the outside air, Fygwesk's own nostrils flared to take in the scents of the outside.

What takes 'em? They busy flirtin' still? Fyg asked quietly of her bond. In a deep rumble that rolled and dipped like the waves, Fygwesk chuckled, as best he knew how.

Matters why? He questioned, turning his head to nudge against his rider's shin. Her hand stretched forward and gently patted the uneven ridge running down his spine.

"Doesn't. They're late, n'that's annoyin'. Give 'em another holler." Fyg said, arms crossing over her chest. Fygwesk's tail lashed in an amused manner behind him.

They come. I hear. He responded. Fyg pouted. She rather enjoyed the booming sounds her brown could make, and to be denied that chance by the arrival for those they waited for almost took the joy out of being grumpy.

Turning him with a gentle nudge to his shoulder, Fyg faced the oncoming pair, smile wide and slightly evil. "Well well! Good mornin', lovebirds, you ready t'let your hair down an' have some fun?" Two separate pairs of leather harnesses are dragged and flung from Fygwesk's back, landing in clattering heaps between herself and where they stood. "Just like how runner harnesses work, but mind the cross in front, should go at the chest, like this." She reached down, Fygwesk lowered his hind end and raised his upper body to show the underside, where the three-strap cross sat against his chest, held together by a single metal ring.

"They'll letcha know when things're too tight, but y'don't want 'em loose either. We're not gonna be on even terrain an' there's no sense in fallin' off an' crackin' yer head on somethin'."

Her attention then diverted to Danae, head tilted. "Feast, huh? Count me in." Where there is food, there is Fyg.

[Xennai]

They stood in the darkened light, accustomed to it, drawn to it even. Whereas other people were flowers that bloomed by day, the two humans, as well as their whers, were the blooming night flowers, the most beautiful and enchanting of all. Alder shook off such thoughts, examining Danask again in better lighting.

Better in the moonlight, aye, brother?
Yes. Prettier. I like.
Alder laughed softly in his head. Yes, I do agree.

The man turned to the gold handler, nodding. Lips quirked but the humor wasn’t in him. His good mood had been diminished. Though the red emotions were gone, he wasn’t as happy or mellow. “Yes, he is good looking,” he murmured. “Strong too. A good bronze, eh, brother?” Aldesk snorted in agreement, sidling against his handler, watching the female and her bonded with opalescent eyes.

He followed the woman with nary a word, noticing the feeding pens and the beasts within. He nodded, just wanting to see Fyg now and see what this adventure was all about. Curiosity was burning, replacing another desire that had infiltrated him. Aldesk sniffed about the pen, curious but uninterested. He was picking up on his handler’s emotions. They followed again.

Alder listened to the gold handler without really paying attention. He snapped to when he heard about the hatching, but then Fyg spoke and threw a harness at his feet. Alder knelt and picked the contraption up, glancing at the two women as he fitted it over Aldesk, the bronze helping where he could. In place, he tightened the straps until the wher complained and then loosened them. He glanced up and spoke to Fyg.

“Does this look good enough? I’d really rather Aldesk wasn’t in pain and I don’t want to fall off either, to be honest.” He shifted, checking the straps again, and then looked over his bronze’s back to the gold handler. “I’ll be at the Feast as well. It sounds like great fun.”

[panther]

Part of her mind cursed at Alder attending the feast, likely he’d make a fool of her, himself, or even worse, both of them. She blushed slightly as Fyg said something of lovebirds. But she didn’t give a verbal reaction.

She caught the leather tack from the pile, looking at it, all confused as to the number of loops and twists. She wasn’t seeing how that quite connected to how Fygwesk was set up. She examined Fygwesk, looked over at Danask. She approached the Wher with the leathers, Danask put her head down, sniffed at them tentatively. Then blew hard on them, Danae could feel the dislike for this, whatever it was that was coming forward.

Danae found the cross, the chest piece, she encouraged Danask to work with her, and eventually – with a lot of disagreements with her wher finally got the contraption on. She was familiar with runner tack, and slipped a hand in under the straps, deciding they were a tad too loose, she searched to tighten it, pulled the straps only to have Danask creel at her from discomfort and pain, dancing between her two toed feet. Her handler blushed fiercely, and loosened it quickly. She went about it making sure it resembled Fygwesks, then nodded to herself.

“I think I’m right?” she questioned, feeling a fool, and like she was back in training.

“and I’m glad you’ll both join me, we’ll leave a few nights from now,“ she informed them, “Though, please I implore you, good behaviour? We’re odd in comparison to Rider’s I know, but don’t cause problems, I’m meeting the Weyrwoman for the first time, and I’m nervous, so, just that one favour?” She asked tentatively, a faint smile present on her features.

[Shekru]

Fyg threw a leg over her Brown's neck and slide down, moving to Danask first, slowly, and giving only a visual checkover. "That one strap there outta be a bit more snug, but otherwise yer good t'go." In response to the behavior comment, Fyg grinned, yellow eyes sparking with mischief. "Provided our friend the Ladies' Man doesn't do somethin' stupid, y'won't hear a peep out of me. 'Sides, I'll likely be with Fygwesk for the most part."

Having given Danask the okay, Fyg moves over to Alder and Aldesk. Her eyes skip the man entirely and settle on the Wher. "Well, aren' you a sight." She says in a sweet, almost sultry coo. To.. Aldesk. The Wher. Alder got ignored. She looked over the straps and then said, in her normal tone. "Yah, should be good. Just mind that y'don' squeeze 'im too tight with yer knees if the straps are too lose, they tend not t'like that much. Ever been bitten why a Wher in the tender parts of your thighs?" Eyes skimmed from Aldesk's straps to Alder's face, grin there, still relatively evil. "Ain't pretty, and I'll tell ya, I may have only slightly more danglin' down that away than you do, but it doesn't tickle either way." ...what.

Fyg moved away from Alder and his bronze then, gripping onto the straps along Fygwesk's neck and hauled herself up. "Arright. Wher ridin' basics. Use th'straps for grip, don't go grabbin' on them. S'why you want the harness good'n snug. Second, mind your heels, they're gonna be right in th'joints of their wings, an' that don' feel good when y'kick it." Fygwesk raised both useless wings as if to provide example, Fyg's heels sat just beneath the joint that connected his wings to his shoulder. "Lastly, hoot'n an' hollerin' are acceptable, smiles are required, an' any grumpy-looks will end up with Fygwesk showin' your bonds how t'toss y'off."

Fyg clapped her hands once, then looked between them with grins. "Any questions? Mount up b'fore y'ask, might take a few tries."

[Xennai]

Women, Alder thought, were wherryheaded dimglows and unless you were having certain kinds of fun with them, they were, in every other way, basically useless. Oh, how noble the bronze handler was. But in his mind, he was angry for a reason and so he could think so.

He watched as Fyg checked over Danae and her gold and then glanced away. He just wanted to get up and go. Curiosity was burning, but his irritation was rising as well. Nice behavior? He’d been going to behave nicely, quite nicely, but wasn’t thinking about doing so now. He was going to do what he shells well pleased and if Danae didn’t like it? Too bad. That was her problem. She didn’t behave so nicely herself either.

But Alder knew himself too well to think that he’d actually openly sow his craft just to piss of the gold handler. He wouldn’t, if only for the fact that it would cast a bad light of the handlers, and they had enough bad press as it was. So he would be on his best behavior, though it wouldn’t be for her.

The handler waited impatiently as Fyg checked over his bronze. His mouth thinned to a miniscule line at the brown handler’s prodding. Was it not enough that he was already angry? Now Fyg had to add to it? Even if she’d just admitted to being a man—and quite a man, too. Alder would have been amused, but as it was, he was too vexed to do so.

He just listened and when she indicated they could “mount up”, he swung up. But she was right, it took him two or three times to get up. When he did, he shifted, not sure he was liking this. Aldesk shifted too, accustoming himself to the additional weight now on him. Alder was mindful of the straps and his heels before he looked up at Fyg, one dark brow cocked. “And now?”

[Shekru]

Of COURSE Fyg had to add to it. She would not be the Queen of Irritants if she did not. She watched the pair as they worked on getting up into the makeshift saddles. She did not laugh, nor did she smile at their failed attempts, but she watched, as a parent would do with children attempting something new and slightly dangerous. When Alder reached the top of his Bronze's shoulders, she nodded simply. "Good work, now find a hold on the front strap. Should be a handle built in. One or two hands's fine, might take a while to get used to th'lumberin' run. This ain' all that similar to Runners once yer aboard."

She nudged Fygwesk gently with her knee and the brown turned around, moving to one side of the flat terrain that Fyg had prepared. He walked slowly, giving example to his wher brethren of how to move with the additional weight. Despite being somewhat hideous, even for a wher, Fygwesk was /strong/ and more than capable of adjusting to Fyg's weight. After a walking pass, he sped it up to provide example of a jog. And then a run. And then he did something really bizarre.

A rather steep incline rose over to the east and he ran toward it at top speed before leaping upward and going nearly vertical on the wall. Wings came out and the wrist joints were used as extra 'hands' as he pulled himself up. Once atop the rise, he took a running start and leaped, wings held outward to slow his descent into a manageable glide. He hit the ground running and slowed before getting to the others. "They'll know what t'do for th'most part. Try walkin' 'em b'fore anythin', let 'em get used to ya on their backs."

[panther]

Danae, awkward as a feline in water, finally managed to get up into the straps and on the back of her golden Danask.
You do not fit there.[/i] blunt as ever, the words made Danae fidget.
Is it unfomcfortable? I can get off…

---

Admin's Note:[/hr]
No uncomfort. Stay. Just odd. I now like Runner-lunch-creature.[/i] Danae had to laugh at the analogy.
You could never be one of those foolish creatures, you are far too beautiful. Even the boys think so A grumble of consent came from deep within the gold’s chest. Danae smiled, Danask began to walk. The motion was odd, she could feel all the movements and motions of Danae’s legs, all the shifts in the back beneath her.

It felt unlike a runner. Different, yet similar. Whers were strangely fluent, in comparison, Danask increased her pace, looping about the other two handlers, The gold loped her pace up, graceful, kicking up some dirt behind her. Danae caught the rhythm and eased herself into the ride, keeping with the pace as opposed to jarring around. The ride became palatable, not comfortable, and she’d have sore thighs tomorrow, but, she was getting the hang of it.
“I think I’ve got it…” She drew it out, but she sounded happy.

And the best part? You didn’t have to guide a wher with reigns like you do a Runner, you can just enjoy the ride and feel where to go.

[Xennai]

Alder nodded at Fyg’s instructions, searching until she’d found the handle she had mentioned. He grabbed hold of it. Eyes rose to look at Fyg and her brown and he nearly gaped. He didn’t think he’d ever want to do that, not really. What the brown pair did had to have taken practice, so much practice. He wasn’t going to be trying that, at least the last bit, for a long while.

But the walking, the running, looked fun. Lots of fun. Alder sat, watching Danae as she decided to try it. He felt lips rise into a smile and didn’t try to stop it. Irritation was fading now, replaced by the wonder of this new novelty.

Slowly, Alder and Aldesk began to move, simply walking, feeling the motion. Alder concentrated, settling into the feeling, rocking to it. He felt the muscles shift under him, felt the wher’s heart beating, felt everything. And this certainly was going to fun.

“Come on, brother,” he murmured. “Let’s show ‘em how it’s done.” Aldesk kicked up into a trot, gradually increasing to an all out run. He moved fast, smoothly, and the slow increasing of speed gave him time to adjust himself so that he didn’t go flying off when his wher was running, running as fast as he could.

This feels not good.
I would agree.
But good too. It feels good to have you with me.

[Shekru]

Like a proud parent watching her children walk for the first time, Fyg and her brown stayed off to the side, giving the metallic pair more than enough room to stretch their fledgling legs. Hands stroked down the big brown's neck as they watched, and Fyg's smile was bold and unchecked. There was joy in it, enough to stuff a Runner and then some, and then she laughed. Not wickedly, nor cruelly, but happily. Her joy was being shared, and there was depth in that. "I'll say y'got it! If yer rump gets sore, hug tighter with your knees and lift a bit, it'll soften th'landing some." Easy for Fyg to say, she likely had a rump like a stone.

They watched, hawk like and smiling as the gold and bronze pair earned their learners' permits, and soon they moved as well. Giving them more leeway, the brown pair rode on the outskirts of the dirt path they had provided. Fyg's face was still plastered with the grin, her teeth - with their too-long canines - were pale in the light and visible.

See them well, love. Do you remember these days of ours? Fyg cooed into her brown's thoughts, joy and love and peace curled in along with her tone.

They bad at it. Fygwesk rumbled in reply, sharing the feelings whole-heartedly as he joked with his bonded. Like small hoof-creature when born. Learning legs. They get better, but look funny first.

Fyg's amusement came bubbling out in rich laughter. Arms rose above her head and stretched to the sky while the brown began to join in the rolling lopes taken on by his new holdmates. Fyg's laughter rose into a long, joyous howl akin to the canines wild in the deep forests. When the howl had ended, Fyg's arms lowered and she dug into one of the broad pouches on the side of Fygwesk's harness. She withdrew a large ball, stitched together of leather and twine and called out, "Alder! Catch!" With that short warning, Fyg whirled the ball off toward the man atop the bronze. "Time t'learn how t'play, children!"

[Xennai]

Alder wasn’t watching the two women as they rode around him. He merely concentrated on Aldesk and what was going on with his bronze rather than pay attention to the two female handlers as they did the same as he, and rode their whers around the area Fyg seemed to have chosen.

The muscles shifting under him was a strange feeling, one he wasn’t used to. Oh, he was used to being on top—ha ha for the joke—but this was strange, different. Even riding a runner, while vaguely similar, wasn’t the same. There were different muscles, Aldesk’s legs moved differently, he shifted his weight differently.

All in all, it was very strange.

But as Aldesk had pointed out earlier, it did feel odd, but in a good way. He enjoyed being this close with his wher, he enjoyed feeling like they were connected even more than they already were.

Danask look good. Aldesk’s tone was soft, musing. Alder exhaled a gusty breath of air, shooting the gold pair a scathing look.
Shut up, you. She’s just a pretty female and we’ve seen plenty of those, haven’t we?
Aldesk galloped around for a few moments before replying, sounding careful, a little wary.
You talk not of Danask. You talk of your females. Alder snickered at the images that were transmitted his way and patted at the bronze’s neck.
Brother, I talk of all females. They are pretty, very pretty, and have their wiles and their ways. But, in the end, they’re just another female. Another female who just wasn’t right…
Your right, my right different, Aldesk murmured smugly. Alder was set reply, preparing a blistering retort for his wher when he heard his name.

Dark head immediately snapped up. Only quick reflexes stopped the ball from smacking him right in the middle of his face. A hand shot up, grabbing the ball. He rolled it around in his hand, frowning, and glanced up at the brown handler, a dark brow cocking. “Play?” he asked.

[panther]

ooc|| Sorry for the edit Xen – Aldesk had ended up two shades of pink x.x so I decided to let him be bronze xD

Danae was smiling, smiling through her concentration, finding rhythm and moving with it. She’d let alder go his pace faster. She would take her sweet time about this. She wanted to do it Right
no worry, we out run them soon
Aye, gold’s are guilt for running aren’t they? Danae grinned, an immense amount of satisfaction seeping in through both bond and Wher at this point, both of them knowing that it would take little to naught for them to outstrip the two handlers either side of them. After all Danask was seasoned to the Run. Riding with Danae wouldn’t be much harder, Danask was comparatively larger than both Whers, and Danae, was comparatively smaller that both handlers. Which gave them a good advantage of handler to Wher ratios. Danask kicked it up a notch again, her strides lengthening. Danae had to hold back a squeal of surprise, but managed it, though she felt a flush creep up her neck. Amber brown eyes focused on the neck of her bond, Danask could see better in the dark than she, and she trusted her wher implicitly.

Fyg called to them, laughter first, then a howl, Danae’s brows quirked, the woman was like she was a member of the wilderness. Danask began to slow, coming to a halt, looking at Fyg and her brown. The handlers brows furrowed, what did she mean? Play? And the ball? What sort of use would that be? She could only imagine quite vicious competitions between whers that could count as ”sport” And she had no intentions of letting Danask in for that.

[Shekru]

Fygwesk rolled a shoulder and wheeled around the moment he saw the ball in play. His tail lashed with excitement, eyes whirling blue-green brightly in the dimness. There was a tautness in Fygwesk's body that had been missing prior to that moment. He was waiting, ready. Patient.

"..." Fyg stared at Alder for a moment as he asked his single-syllabled question. "Uh.. Toss it." She said, still grinning. Like the brown beneath her, Fyg, too, was poised for movement. There was an almost feral, feline grace in the woman's posture, and brass eyes watched the ball. After a moment she looked down to Fygwesk and said, "Arright, looks like we're gonna have t'show them this part. Y'ready?" RUMBLE!

Another ball was withdrawn from a pack at the Wher's side, and Fyg tossed it high and far. Before the thing ball got very far, Fygwesk was already in motion. Claws raked grooves in the dirt as the brown wher shot after it. Without the ball hitting the ground, the Wher leaped and plucked it out of the air with his teeth and tossed his head high and back to fling it again. This time, Fyg caught it with a laugh and looked to Alder. "It's a game! He and I made it up, b'now we got more players." The ball in her hands, this time, was tossed toward Danae. A lighter throw than her toss to Alder had been.