Can you feel him at all?

He wouldn't hide from both of us. Which means he must be in a dungeon - we should start searching for doors.

[The Colonel's own tone is very matter-of-fact, practical.]

If you're talking about the normal doors, I certainly don't. But a dungeon will be simple enough - we'll know.

I hardly think we're to the point of needing to decide anything like that just yet.

[The older man's tone is chiding - he's aware of the need to plan ahead, but they've only just gotten back. Dungeon doors can take days, sometimes weeks to appear, and he doesn't want to give up hope quite so quickly. The logical part of him knows that deciding on a new alpha isn't necessarily giving up, but it feels like it to him just now.]

Are you volunteering? [Tick-Tock asks archly.] I think we're stable enough to last a ruddy week. We can decide then, if he's not back.

[It's quite likely the Colonel may simply take over, if there are no serious objections - he isn't a particularly big believer in democracy and he has the kind of self confidence (or ego) to assume it's something he should do. It wouldn't be forever, anyway.]

Right. [And if they're separated during the Jaunt, either because some of them are sewhere or some are infiltrated, it will be important to make sure the bonds are strong beforehand. But this is only a small consideration in the back of Tick- Tock's mind. He's much more focused on finding Lyall's door, if it's here to find.]

Now let's get on to the real business at hand. Hajime mentioned something about turning into a child near the ground here, do you know anything about that? Perhaps it won't affect a wolf form ...

Right, then let's get to it. [briskly - Tick-Tock likes having a plan in place, a direction to move forward] I'll meet you near the bottom, the last tier of beams.

[Tick-Tock arrives in his human shape, mostly because he finds it easier to negotiate the sunbeams with hands available, should he need to swing down from one level to another. Once he reaches Laughs, though, he slips out of the simple trousers and shirt he'd been wearing and puts them away in hammerspace, so he can transform into a lean grey wolf, bigger than Lyall or Laughs, but not particularly bulky.]

We should find a place it will be easier for you to climb back up if you need to.

Jolly good. [Tick-Tock's tone is pleased, and he looks around at the paths, finding the most direct route possible, though it will take them a bit.] Have you seen anything other than human-ish children down there?

[And it's something the older man will keep up over the next weeks, until they're all separated again - while he may not really get the need to keep connected intellectually, it's something he apparently understands on an emotional level. Perhaps because Lyall has been an anchoring force for himself.

He's relatively quiet as they make their way to the jumping off point, and once they get there he sniffs around for a bit, checks out the slope, judges the grade and how hard it might be for a wolf cub to jump back up.]

If you do revert to a pup, will using the network frighten you? I've had experience communicating with all of you without words, but not a child.

Hm, might try without first, then. [Though let's be real, Tick-Tock will probably just go with whatever seems right in the moment.] All right, are you ready?

[Tick-Tock makes a gentle bark, drawing the cub's attention upward, his body language relaxed and friendly, ears and tail up. ... Bob is amazingly cute like this, though.]