Fishin' at midnight... {Open}

[S'yal]

Today was one of the rare days that Z was off... and NOT drunk out of his mind. Well, he had a bottle of ever present whiskey beside him, leaning against his hip and occasionally snatched up to take a swig out of, but he wasn't drunk. Hardly even buzzed, really. What he was up to... was fishing. His kitten, Cally, was curled up on his lap and purring happily while Alina cuddled against his head... and he was determined to catch some fish for them and his dear Zalmask.

The big, brutish Gold herself was having much more lucky at fishing then her handler. While Z was cursing up a storm at the fishing rod, the Gold had already struck a fish out of the water and gulped it down whole. She was now perched by the waters edge, her tail dripping into the water and flicking lazily to hopefully entice fish so she could smack them out of the water. She gave Z a smug look, and he growled back at her.

"Yeah, yeah. Look smug all you want... i'll throw Cally at you, you big brute." He stuck his tongue out at the Wher, and she splashed him with water and left him spluttering. "Zalmask!" He leaped up, dumping Cally onto the ground much to the kittens displeasure. Alina retreated to go soothe Cally with grooming while her bonded lunged at his wher.

Zalmask moved to the side in a fluid motion, only to be caught around the neck in a headlock as Z decided he should wrestle with her to make up for being splashed. She was much bigger and stronger then him, and could have crushed him... but this was a game she enjoyed, so she wrestled him right back, eventually pinning him to the ground and sitting on his legs. He squirmed and struggled underneath her, feeling as if his legs would be crushed. Bah, he didn't have the heart to say she was hurting him... but he would complain. Loudly.

"Ack! Move it, fatso!" He received a snort for his efforts, and a baleful glare. "I said move it! You're crushing my legs! No, don't lick me! Shard it, i'm the wherleader and you WILL listen to me!" The wher just gave him a look of ultimate amusement. Meanwhile, she directed a silent command to Alina... who obediently rolled Z's whiskey into the river. "Hey! That was my last bottle!" The wher looked like she could honestly care less, and bended her head down to lick his face clear of dirt. "Pfft! Gerroff!"

[Zen]

It didn’t take much to wake Tanyrion. He was a very light sleeper and even the slightest movements from bunkmates made him wake with such uncertainty that he nearly fumbled out of bed more than once. Only Bit’s strange self kept him at a nearly sane level of intelligence at night. The firelizard, though a very strange being, knew exactly what to do when Tany awoke in a fit of fear. In fact, Bitmap just sat on his head, or kneaded him with his claws in perhaps as much love as Bitmap could give him. Bitmap was, of course, a strange firelizard.

Tonight was just like those nights when he feared irrationally for his life because some imaginary prisoner had escaped and was going to kill him in his sleep. This time Bitmap flumped his dark blue self onto Tany’s head, causing the man to freak for about a second or two before realizing it was just his firelizard who was trying to help him. He pulled Bit from his head before pulling in a gasping breath and glaring at the firelizard. Bit just huffed and laid down.

With a sigh, Tanyrion slipped his hand through his hair as he checked where Pern’s two moons were in the sky and assumed that it was midnight, or around there. With a sigh, the blue-eyed man laid back down but found it almost impossible to get back to sleep. Grunting, the guard sat back up and pulled on his boots and a jacket before stuffing his hands into the jacket and exiting the guard’s barracks as quickly as he could. No need to wake the others up unnecessarily.

He shrugged his jacket farther up his neck as the cool night air nipped him cruelly. Bitmap was a little angry that His wasn’t coming back to bed and so quickly followed His out into the cool air. With a small chirp, the little flitter alighted onto Tany’s shoulders and promptly wrapped his tail neatly around Tany’s neck. Tanyrion just kept walking, headed toward the river. What he saw when he arrived at the river was a sight he was sure he would rarely see any other time. A wher, more specifically a Gold wher, sitting on a person.

“Are you in need of some help?” Tanyrion asked, his fingers absently reaching for the knife he kept in his belt, but realized quickly that his belt was not on his body. “I don’t exactly know what I could do to help you from a Gold Wher attack…” He continued, looking at the hulking Gold, “She is a pretty, but I do believe I can’t help.” Contradicting his own previous statement, how funny was he! Okay, not really, even Bitmap decided he wasn’t.

[S'yal]

Z arched an eyebrow at spotting some man, and was about to say something... when Alina saw that Blue. And oh man, did she see him. Had this been an anime, her eyes would have turned into hearts and the background around her turn pink. She chirped excitedly at a confused Cally, and then Zalmask, trying to show just how dreamy she thought the blue was. His markings caught her attention, and he was just SOOO dreeeamy! She let out a sigh not unlike a schoolgirl. She shyly hid behind her wings, peeking out at the blue over them.

Z did the wise, sane thing and ignored his firelizard and her sudden crush. He shoved at the Wher, who got off of him to go investigate this new man. Being nearly seven feet tall meant it was quite easy for her to waltz up and try to push him over so she could give him a toe to forehead sniff, decide he was safe, and start sniffing after his firelizard.

"Er... I think your mere presence has helped. I'm Z, Wherleader of this joint, and that's Zalmask. She likes to be called Mama" 'Mama' flicked her tail, having decided this man wasn't a threat. "You look familiar. You one of the guards? Probably, not one of my Wherhandlers and the dragonriders are too sharding good to talk to a wherhandler." He stuck his tongue out, before looking around. "Couldn't sleep? You can hang out with us for a bit." He winked, trying to think up a good nickname for this guy. He'd listen to him talk before deciding.

"Oh, the fluffball is Cally, and the... what are you sharding doing, Alina?" The crippled firelizard had snuck over to Tanyrion's foot, where she sat crooning in an attempt to serenade the object of her affections. She completely ignored the human that he was Impressed to, judging him no obstacle in the path of TRUE LOVE. "Uh... yeah. Just ignore her..."

[Zen]

Well, at least the Gold got up. And at least the Gold seemed in no mood to sit on him. At nearly seven feet, Tany was pretty sure that she’d crush him under her bulk. Her handler—at least Tany assumed the guy was her handler—seemed to be fine with it but he might have his bones broken. Fun times. Anyway, she sniffed him over and apparently wasn’t going to eat him, as she then just left him alone. Curiouser and curiouser.

“Nice to meet you, Wherleader Z.” Tanyrion said, absently running his hands through his hair in an effort to quell the nerves he felt so close to the wher that seemed still about to eat him. “Yes, sir, I am a guard, but a daytime one, and no, I’m not a dragonrider. My name is Tanyrion, but most people call me Tany. My firelizard’s name is Bitmap.” Bitmap merely glanced at the Gold, not caring for her much. In fact, he didn’t care for her at all, not even moving his head when she sniffed him.

He didn’t even care about the Green who looked like she’d been through better times. He didn’t even look down at her, and the only thing he did that made Tany know he actually saw her was tighten his tail across His’ neck. The Blue was determined to not look down at her, and his determination was not exactly one he had to work hard on. He tilted his head to one side and stared at the water, churning and black in the moonlight. Tanyrion scratched the back of his head self-consciously with one hand.

“What exactly do wherhandlers do when they’ve got days off?” Tany asked, and then quickly rephrased his question, “Nights off. I suppose it’s night’s off, am I right?” His eyes, light blue during the day but now they shone silver, as if he didn’t have pupils almost.

[S'yal]

Z arched an eyebrow at the guard, having now found who he was. "You one of the candidates, too?" He snorted at the thought, grinning. "What, you scared of a Wher? Don't worry, jumpy, she's the sharding friendliest Wher you'll find in a place like this." He stood and stretched, and Zalmask returned to his side and rubbed against him in hopes for having her headknobs scratched. He reached up to do this, turning attention back to the one he'd dubbed Jumpy. One of his less creative nicknames, but it was also probably the least insulting one. His fishing rod had been forgotten.

The dejected Alina let out one last sad little chirp, before retreating to Z's shoulder. He smiled and rubbed her head with one finger, receiving multiple sad little croons from the firelizard. Oh! Rejected! Cally, meanwhile, had climbed up Zalmask and was resting on her back, occasionally pawing at one of her ridges.

"What do we do on our days off? Depends. One day is used for training our Whers and drilling... not really a day off, but I make sure everyone does it" He grinned, scratching the crooning Zalmask's chin. "Could you imagine if the Whers around here were left untrained? You gotta refresh their training and their memories of the prisoners every week, or they start to forget. The other day is up to the wherhandler and Wher. I prefer to fish or get drunk..." Zalmask snorted, disapproving of him speaking of his alcoholism in front of someone. Zalmask's not speak of that. The wher scolded, and he merely grinned affectionately at her.

"We have it a lot easier then the dragonriders, though. It isn't a punishment to be sent here, so we're actually proud of the stuff we do." He winked at the guard, shaking his head. "Tell ya what, Jumpy. When you're proud and happy to be doing your job, it's much easier. The Whers are always happy about it too, since they can stretch their legs.... So, what do guards do on their days off?"

[Zen]

Bitmap was a curiosity of a firelizard. He did not take notice of many things, including other firelizards. The only thing he really liked was shiny things, and even then Tany was hard pressed to get the firelizard to truly like anything. He was so different, so other that Tany was hard-pressed to think anything other than Bit being otherworldly. So while it was Bit’s fault for making Alina so rejected, it wasn’t really his fault. Or Alina’s fault. Or Tany’s fault. In a strange turn of events, it was no one’s fault that Bitmap was like this. It was like he arrived here on a star or something and couldn’t find his place in the world.

Hearing what Z and his Gold did on their days off made Tanyrion think that this Weyr really was as boring as he knew it was. Fishing and getting drunk—if that was the best a Gold wherhandler could do, then this Weyr really needed a change of pace. Perhaps games or something. When the wherhandler wanted to know what Tanyrion and his guards did on their days off, Tany took a minute to formulate his reply.

Jumpy? What, was this guy serious? It had taken Tany a little bit to realize that that was his nickname. Had the guy seriously given him a nickname? Nevertheless…

“Sometimes the guard leaders declare that rest days are for training.” Tany said, and Bitmap flapped his wings almost indignantly, but really he was just resituating himself. “On those days that we’re not training, we usually play cards or dice. I’d like to get a game going one of these days, but not many want to listen. Especially not with new prisoners making a scene for themselves almost every other day.”

[S'yal]

Z nodded, grimacing. "The watches must really suck without a Wher to talk to. Though I suppose it's easier for you, with your Firelizard and all." Zalmask nudged against him, not having missed the hint that Z wouldn't be able to get through his patrols without her. He needed the big fatso with him, or he'd probably go insane. He scratched her wing, turning attention back to the man who was his current conversational partner.

"They won't play cards with you, Jumpy? That's a shame. Maybe i'll swing around and play sometime. Sharding better then getting bossed around by these girls" He gestured at his cat, firelizard and Wher. Cally meowed back as innocently as she could manage. "You're sharding lucky you have a Blue. Not as stuck up as the Bronzes and Golds and not as... er... promiscuous as Greens. Don't even get me stared on a Gold Wher." Zalmask let out an offended noise, glaring at him. "Yeah. Pray that if you Impress a dragon, you get a Blue or a Brown." He snickered before grimacing at Zalmask who had sent him an image of Z throwing himself off a cliff.

"Sucks that they won't play with you, though. You ought to march up to them and go 'Hey! We're playing some sharding dice, Dimglows!' Or play with the prisoners. Not all of them are bad guys and all that yadda yadda." He shrugged, shaking his head. "Just made some idiotic mistakes. But some of them are decent guys..."

[Zen]

Tanyrion actually laughed. It was a gentle laugh, “No, I’ve made friends with quite a few of the prisoners. Some of them got in for horrible misconceptions, others actually deserve to be here. But at least they’re here, safe in this Weyr rather than somewhere else. In fact, I rather like that they’re here; I’ve heard horror stories from some of the prisoners about how they were mistreated in the Hold Weyrs.”

“I was thinking about a good old game of ball, you know?” Tany said, continuing on with the line of thought he’d left off on. “But prisoners and guards can’t play like that, and most guards are too stuck up to play ball. It’s hard to stay unstressed here, especially with never-ending guard duties, but if we just played something.”

After a moment of silence, Tany scratched the back of his head and felt Bit’s tail curl around his throat a bit more than usual. “Wishful thinking, I guess.” He shrugged, and Bitmap looked at a fish as it swam by, its scales suddenly illuminated in the light of Pern’s two moons. For a moment, he was interested in that, but then his attention was drawn elsewhere. Again.

“Oh, why do you say that I should pray for a Blue or Brown?” Tany asked, suddenly piqued; “Greens are fine, and Bronzes, too. Though, if you ask me, I wouldn’t want to Impress to a Green or a Blue, Greens because they’re too flighty and Blues because most of the ones I’ve met are too lax. Browns seem to be a very nice middle, and they’re wonderful dragons.”

[S'yal]

Z paused, before nodding. "Sometimes... some of the people seem like they're safer here. There are some real horror stories. Little kids that got addicted to dust because their parents wanted another customer, people forced into prostitution that turned to it to get away." He scowled at the thought, before realizing that his temporary companion might not want to hear that kind of thing. "Ach, sorry about that. I really shouldn't prattle on about subjects like that." He grumbled, kicking at the ground as Mama regarded the river. She would like to swim.

"Who says you can't play like that?" Z asked, puffing up with righteous indignation. "The other guards? You should play with them anyway. It's fun. I know nothing stops me from hanging out with prisoners." He turned to regard Zalmask thoughtfully. "That might be because I have a huge gold Wher to back me up, though." He allowed hesitantly, before laughing. Z is an odd, odd man.

"Blues can be lazy. Some of them are real workhorses, though." He shrugged, reaching up to pat Zalmask's tail as she went by him to wade into the river. Alina squeaked and followed her, her heartbreak completely forgotten in favor of splashing in the water with the big Gold. For Cally's part, she looked offended and bored. Lovely little group of girls, Z's got. "Like I said. Bronzes and Golds... well, just look outside this Weyr and at the others. I gotta say I like this place. Less... judgmental of women and the smaller colors. Browns are nice. Great middle, not arrogant."

[Zen]

Tanyrion nodded,”I guess I could play games with the prisoners; I mean, it hasn’t stopped me before, but I guessed that perhaps the guards might want to perhaps play.” He shrugged, and looked at the man, his blue eyes shining. “I would like a wher for company. Perhaps if I don’t Impress, you’ll let me stand at a wher hatching?” He asked.

The talk of dragons had grown to be too much for him, and Tanyrion turned away from the topic. He nudged the blue on his arm, “Why don’t you go down there and swim?” But Bit did not move. In fact, he did not at all even twitch. He watched the water calmly but did not budge, not even to reshuffle his feet around. He did growl softly into Tany’s ear, and Tany looked at him with amusement.

“Just once I wish he were a normal firelizard.” Tanyrion didn’t exactly complain so much as wonder, “I wonder what made him become this way. Something in his egg, I’m guessing.” He shrugged again. Suddenly it was a little hard to communicate with the Gold wherhandler. He scratched the back of his head and sighed. “I mean, he just doesn’t do things. He’s like a kid, always sticking to me. Yet he’s wholly different in that he’s just… different.”

[S'yal]

Z paused at the suggestion of this man standing for a Wher, arching an eyebrow as he thought it over. "Sure. I think Zalmask will be running shortly after the touching, so you won't have to wait long if you don't Impress." He ran his hand over Cally's back, earning a purr from the calico cat as she rolled onto her back so that her owner would rub her stomach. "If you don't Impress, i'll reserve an egg for you." The thing about Whers was that they Impressed to whoever their egg was given to, which was nice. Very nice. With Whers, one didn't have to think that maybe they weren't good enough.

It was nice, to know that one of the huge beasts would love you and want you even if you were a bipolar, traumatized hunchback.

"A normal Blue?" He arched an eyebrow, barking out laughter. "There's no such thing as a normal firelizard, kid. They're all crazy spazzes, or weirdos." He shrugged, before tilting his head to one side. "That could be useful, you know. I wish Alina acted more like him" He sniffed disdainfully "You know, so I'd find less forgotten clutches in my shoes. I guess that's too much to hope for with a Green, huh?" He was undeniably fond of the little cripple, and it showed in his voice even as he scratched Cally's chest.