Week 2 Wher Bonding

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Reminder: Sign-Ups for this clutch are open until 07th June

Quote:

After a sevenday the wherlets eyes will open. Their vision is not as good as that of an adult and there will be a great deal of bumping into things and each other until their eyes adjust. Due to the extreme sensitivity of wherlet eyes means no light can be allowed into the den for the first two months. Candidates will have to feel around and try to remember what the den looked like in the dim glowlight they were allowed for the touching. Fortunately, whers are loud and it is easy to find both adults and pups by the range of click, rumbles, huffs, and snores they are making. For the first month wherlets are fed mix of ground meat. They must be fed by hand as they have no teeth and can easily choke if allowed unrestricted access to food.

From the Wherling Guide, Month 1

Rules
- Members of Fort Weyr wherpack may be present in the den.
- Handlers of the wherpack and candidates are the only humans allowed within the wher den.
- Firelizards are not allowed in the wherden.
- Candidates may now enter the den as often as they desire for as long as they desire.
- Candidates should show ample respect to Mezask as she can throw them out whenever she wants.
- The cavern is small and dim, candidates will have little space and should move with caution.
- Wher pups don't have teeth and aren't especially nimble. They can leave a bruise through biting and might manage to break the skin with their claws if there's force behind a swipe.
- Candidates are encouraged to attend to whers needs. Candidates should not squabble over hatchlings.
- Any wher not attended to by a PC will be assumed to be getting the care they need from another candidate or adult wher.
- Candidates are supplied with buckets of ground meat for the whers to consume. They may eat until they fall asleep.
- Daily prompts will be posted for three pups. Players can also have their character seek out a pup if they wish.
- Pups will not respond to posts made after 11:59pm (GMT) Sunday 31st May, after which point the Week 3 thread will begin.

The Pups
Hidden – 2'9'' long, 1'2'' at the shoulder
Hit Points: 0
Strength: 0
Stamina: 1
Speed: 0
Dexterity: 0


Music – 3'1'' long, 1'3'' at the shoulder
Hit Points: 0
Strength: 0
Stamina: 0
Speed: 1
Dexterity: 1

Water – 3'1'' long, 1'4'' at the shoulder
Hit Points: 1
Strength: 1
Stamina: 1
Speed: 0
Dexterity: 0

Grave – 3'1'' long, 1'4'' at the shoulder
Hit Points: 0
Strength: 1
Stamina: 1
Speed: 0
Dexterity: 0

Moonlight – 3'4'' long, 1'5'' at the shoulder
Hit Points: 1
Strength: 1
Stamina: 1
Speed: 0
Dexterity: 0

Blood – 3'5'' long, 1'6'' at the shoulder
Hit Points: 1
Strength: 2
Stamina: 1
Speed: 0
Dexterity: 0

Misshapen – 3'7'' long, 1'6'' at the shoulder
Hit Points: 0
Strength: 0
Stamina: 1
Speed: 0
Dexterity: 1

Ancient – 3'9'' long, 1'7'' at the shoulder
Hit Points: 1
Strength: 1
Stamina: 1
Speed: 0
Dexterity: 0

Dyad – 4'3'' long, 1'9'' at the shoulder
Hit Points: 1
Strength: 1
Stamina: 1
Speed: 0
Dexterity: 0  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Day 1 Prompts

The first pair of eyes to flicker open in the den were those of Dyad. They were ready to see. To gather this new source of information and see what they could do with it.

The opening of Grave’s eyes was a predictably slow and quiet affair. Gradually their dark green eyes could be seen looking out from the slumped pup, lazily moving around the cavern.

When exactly Hidden’s eyes opened was uncertain. It seemed as though one moment their eyes were not open, and the next there was a small, bright, pair of orange eyes glaring out of the darkness.

 

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

The whers should be opening their eyes soon. At least that was what the other wherhandlers had told her. The miner found the vagueness of the written resources about whers rather frustrating. The writings at the minercrafthall had all been straightforward. Revised over centuries of practice so that they dealt with solid facts. There were too many 'possible's and 'it is thought's in the wher texts for her liking. Hopefully there were dedicated individuals in the beastcraft who could rectify the problem for future generations. Perhaps she would endeavour to create her own treatise on mining whers specifically.

Unfortunately that all hinged on getting one of the pups to like her enough to stay with her. So far none had really leapt out at Thasne, but then so far all the wherlets had done was eat and sleep. Hopefully as they got older they would develop more personality and be more active. That should make bonding easier, or Thasne hoped so. Walking into the cavern she spotted eyes. Small eyes. Looked like the first few had opened their eyes while she wasn't here. That was disappointing. Casting her own gaze over the trio that were clearly awake Thasne weighed up her options. Dyad was too large. Hidden always seemed to be in a foul mood, even if they were a good size. That left Grave. The pup had been sluggish even by the standard of the other pups. Thasne wondered if it was actually okay. Maybe it was sick, or just lazy?

Either way it was her best bet at the moment. With her bucket of meat the candidate walked forward and knelt in front of the little lump. "Hi there," she said more than a little awkwardly. It felt odd speaking to the whers. Thasne had never really been one for animals. Speaking to non-humans was odd to her. Did the pup even understand any of what she said? "I've got some food if you want it." Placing her hand she on the pail the woman looked at the pup, hoping for some kind of response.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

The_Muffin_Puppy

Grave's eyes slowly swivelled to the newcomer. It was odd getting use to this new source of information. However, they found it interesting to now assign an appearance to the scents they knew. The images were blurry and not at all useful past a point, but as Thasne got closer Grave could make out the details of her features. Dark green orbs roamed the candidate's face for a long while. The pup not really taking any notice of the words that she was saying.

Eventually they noticed that Thasne had placed a hand on a bucket, from which they could smell the familiar food. They weren't especially hungry at this precise moment, but at least it was there for later. Allowing their eyes to drift back to Thasne's face the pup simply stared at her.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Well, that wasn't a lot to go on. The pup was just looking at her. Thasne shifted awkwardly under their gaze. It felt like they were weighing her up. That's what people tended to be doing in her experience if they stared at you for that long. There was some comfort in that Grave hadn't reacted negatively. They hadn't hissed, or cried, or called an adult to shoo her away. Thasne should try and focus on that. Maybe they could do just some pleasant company for a while. Shifting her weight the woman changed into sitting cross-legged, looking back at the pup. She tried her best to see through the gloom and make out the shape in front of her. Eyes certainly made it easier, the bright orbs giving her a reference point. That meant she could figure out which end was the front. Which meant that was a foreleg, that was probably the other one. The hind legs and tail were a bit more of a guess. There were three, and the logical guess would be the one in the middle was the tail, but you never knew when the pup might just be lying at an odd angle. For all her looking Thasne was no closer to determining what kind of adult wher this one would grow into. Big, small, strong, slight; Thasne had no way of guessing underneath all that baby pudge.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

The_Muffin_Puppy

For Grave this was a fairly pleasant experience. They got to comfortably observe someone, and expectations of them were fairly low. The pup contentedly lay where they were watching Thasne. They paid particular attention when the candidate shifted into a more comfortable position, their eyes lingering on the way that her legs twisted together. Lifting their head the pup looked at their own pudgy limbs. Slowly they lifted their forelimbs and attempted to fold them similarly to how Thasne had done her legs. It didn't work out though and they found it rather uncomfortable. Untangling their limbs Grave settled for just resting one leg over the other. This wasn't too bad. Lowering their head they rested it on their legs. Hmm, this was rather interesting as an option. It kept their head a little higher, which made seeing things a bit easier. Yes, they quite liked this position. Grave would have to remember to use it more in future. Satisfied with their discovery the wherlet resumed looking at the candidate. They wondered if she would do anything else interesting.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

With some conscious effort Thasne managed to get herself to relax. Maybe the pup was weighing her up. That was what they were supposed to do. Grave might come to a favourable conclusion about her. There was no point worrying about the situation before there was any evidence that it was a bad one.

The candidate watched with interest as the pup began to move. Her brown creased, both from the effort it took to see the wher and from confusion. What were they even doing. Grave appeared to be tangling their limbs together. Thasne watched as the pup looked from their own legs to hers. Were they trying to copy her? That was kind of sweet. The woman smiled as the pup worked to understand their own limbs. It was a little like a human baby, which made it easier for her to relate to Grave. When the little pup eventually settled again, their pudgy little legs crossed over very neatly, Thasne clapped gently. "Way to go, you did it." Maybe she should treat them more like a baby and less like an animal.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

The_Muffin_Puppy

Grave tilted their head as Thasne clapped. That was different. They didn't think they could imitate that. The wher had quickly come to realise that there were key physical differences between the candidates and the adult whers that moved in the den. When a wher moved them they tended to pick them up in their mouths, while the humans used their front feet. Which Grave was quickly coming to know as they saw more of the world, didn't touch the ground much. Maybe they were more like their wings than their feet. Without active thought the pup's stubby little wings twitched. Grave hadn't really figured out what those were for yet. Maybe they were for clapping.

The pup found their thoughts getting a little muddled as hunger started to take over. All this being awake and looking stuff was tiring. Their eyes moved to the bucket and then next to Thasne. Uncrossing their legs the pup crawled the short distance over to the candidate and opened their mouth wide. Grave was hungry, she could feed them now. After that they would have a nap. That would be nice.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Day 2 Prompts

Pale green eyes showed that Ancient had joined the ranks of pups that had started to look around. The pup pushed themselves up into a sitting position, drawing themselves up as tall as they could to look around the den.

Music seemed thrilled as their eyes flickered open. The pup gave a happy series of peeps and began to shuffle through the den. Looking at everything they could.

It seemed that Misshapen wasn't really cheered by opening their eyes. The pup looked around at their siblings, then at themselves and flopped into the sand with an unhappy huff.

 

[Earisa]

One sevenday of eating and sleeping had done the wher pups good to build up their strength, many of them moving around on wobbly legs rather then crawling and dragging themselves about. Jelric didn't exactly know how much would change for them now they were starting to open their eyes. He had put in a lot of time in hopes of getting a head start of imprinting on them so far, that they would recognize his voice and smell. There were not a lot of men around the whers, most of the Weyr's handlers were women as well as those who came as candidates so he should already stand out from the rest a little.

Today it seem Ancient finally opened it's eyes, seeming more content to look rather then explore as some of the others had. Guess there wasn't really much to explore in a small cavern like this. Sitting down beside the pup the man tried to determine exactly what the wher was looking at. "There really isn't much to look at in here..." He spoke to himself as much as the pup.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Earisa

Ancient paused their inspection of the cavern when Jelric joined them. The pup gave a pleasant hum as way of greeting, before looking around once again. When the candidate spoke the wher looked at him with a confused whirr. There was a lot to look at. The adult whers, the candidates, Ancient's siblings. The way the sand moved in response to things. The texture of the walls. Ancient was personally very intrigued by the concept of the ceiling. They hadn't really considered what was up before now. It was fascinating for the pup to look at all these things that previously they had no concept existed at all. It was like being hatched a second time. The first had let them physically experience things, now they got to visually experience them.  

[Revel1984]

Bekah had been visiting the wher's den as often as her healer duties could allow, She'd reached the den after another potential new handler, having had their pick of the whers to feed today. Bekah didn't mind, in fact one of the Wherlets she'd planned on feeding had opened it's eyes, bright orbs in the dark as well as pretty peeps.

"Hey there, i'm sorry i haven't come to feed you before" she said to Music, shuffling closer to the pup, bucket in hand.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Revel1984

Music looked up at Bekah and gave a happy peep when they were spoken to. At least she was here now. That was the important part. Even if they hadn't gotten to speak before, Bekah had seen how good they were in the end, which was what really mattered. Pushing up their chest with their forelegs the pup managed to get a good look at the candidate. This whole sight thing was great in their opinion. The pup wriggled closer to Bekah, looking at the bucket with interest. Huh, so that was what that looked like? It smelled better than it looked.  

[Revel1984]

Bekah chuckled gently at Music's attentions on her, enjoying being one of the first things Music saw, the eyes were so pretty and the trills Music made, so tuneful compared to it's siblings, not that the unmusical trills were bad sounding though.

She held the bucket towards the wherlet as it crawled forwards, letting it see what was in the bucket easier, She couldn't agree with the wherlet on it's taste, but it definitely didn't look the most appetising, at least they'd eaten enough of it first that seeing what they were eating shouldn't be much of a problem.  

[The_Muffin_Puppy]

Revel1984

Once again Music trilled, leaning forward and grabbing a mouthful of meat from the bucket. They weren't ravenous, but were certainly in a mood where they could eat. Still the pup chewed slowly, leaning their head back out of the bucket and looking around at everything in the cavern. It was an interesting new experience to look at things. Even if they couldn't see very far and things got blurry pretty quickly. Still all the new stimulus made things very interesting. Leaning back into the bucket Music took another mouthful, looking out once again, humming happily around their full mouth at all the new things.