For We Have Sin {Alizadehth's Hatching}

You can stay afraid,
Alone in the dark,
But at least I’m out here,
In the light.

The pioneering egg hatched with a splat. It slipped on its side on the sands and broke apart into several jigsaw-like pieces. It took several moments for the large dragonet within to wiggle his way free. He was no brown, and a King would have been odd to hope for with his clutchmother and father, but he was a big blue. His limbs and tail were stocky for his young body, and gave him plenty of the usual hatchling awkwardness. It took him several attempts to drag himself onto his feet, where he wobbled, after he slithered on the hot ground away from his prison. It wasn't from a lack of effort and passion. He wanted to get moving. He was hungry! His faceted eyes swirled red, mixed with distant tinges of yellow and green. He wanted food! Being the first to hatch was just the right type of work to give him an appetite. Food, food, food, food for him!

Against the back splash of his orange mother and the tan sands, he was a dark figure. His hide was a deep blue. It was dark shade, reminiscent of blue pigments made from iron. It was a military and navy and bull-like color that made him look all the stockier in design. He steadied himself, and eyed the squishy looking figures that circled around him across the sands as he could focus on them. He took a snorting, loud sniff, scenting the air. They would have his food! He was sure of it. He just knew it, and he didn't care how he knew. It didn't matter him if it was instinct, or logic, or hope. No matter what, they were going to have food for him! At a sort of waddle, his legs ill-designed for walking even for a dragon and only a couple of moments of experience with them, he headed towards the candidates, a unique bit of eagerness about him.

As the blue left his six kin behind, another of the eggs began to fragment apart. It splintered, cracking tendrils ever growing across its surface as whatever was inside forced its way out. It would not be left in the dark. The creature within turned out to be a black, as it sent bits of its eggs flying and fell into the world in the remnants egg innards and bits. He was the basic shade that most of his kind were, lustrously monochromatic. He was a tiny, shrimpy creature, likeliest to be the littlest of the group. His wings hung about his body, damp and useless in his fledgeling state, and he seemed quite happy to hold them out about him as if he were twice as big as he was while he circled the spot he had hatched at, as though he were looking for an item or examining everything. The candidates seemed to hold far less interest to him than they did to his brother.

Hunkering down, using his uncomfortably extended wings to shield the space around him from being easily view, he began to scamper about and pick up all the egg shards he could find from his and his blue sibling's eggs. He ducked low and tried to make it seem as if the pile he was making of them was by pure accident. He didn't want anyone else to take them! They were his! All his! He had a pick of trouble trying to drag the large, jagged pieces from his brother's shell. He squawked quietly to himself as he almost caught one of his wings under one, releasing it from the grip with his teeth he'd been using to pull it. He hurriedly tried to fold the delicate appendage that had gotten in the way, but found some trouble with it. He ended up with both wings closed oddly against his back. It didn't matter to him. He went back to collecting his preciouses.

The blue had found himself some interesting food once he'd passed by a couple of the candidates. He had decided to sit back on his haunches, stretch out his head, and gnaw on the top of one of their heads. It was done very lovingly, for a depraved creature bent on getting something in his belly. It did little more than get a lot of dragon saliva, mixed with egg guts, all over the poor candidate's hair and head. His teeth were still young, and his mouth was small. He couldn't really fit it over the entirety of what he was trying to chew on, so he had to suffice to constantly trying chomping on different angles. He did it gently and softly, and was nice enough to avoid doing it at all on the human's face. That didn't keep his tongue from getting a few licks over the cheeks and nose of the head he was enjoying, and plenty of spit from dripping down.

N'talMine, your Gulath is so very, very hungry; the blue told his new rider pitifully, the imagine of pathetic in his youthful mental voice. Your head is quite tasty . . . he mentioned casually, still gnawing on it. This actions were not so pitiful. But I suppose you need it . . . he sheepishly added. He stopped his chewing, releasing the newly Impressed soul, and took a step back, looking a bit abashed. Perhaps a leg? He looked down towards the limbs he understood were less important than heads. The question was no joke. He was very, very hungry, and entirely sure that his chewy would be willing to give up a bit of himself to feed his starving dragon. He wasn't sure that his chewy's leg would be enough to fill up the gaping hole in him, as he was fairly certain he would be eating a great deal, but he would settle for what he could get. He just wanted food!



So there’s not a problem,
With the way I was raised,
There’s not a problem,
You shouldn’t be afraid.

This Hatching was not going to be normal. Caelin repeated that mantra over and over in his mind, trying to prepare himself for anything strange that might happen. This was a Renegade Hatching on Dalibor soil, they weren't even Dalibor eggs! But that wouldn't make them any different because dragons were dragons and he was lucky that he'd been "Searched" in the first place. Caelin had noticed Vraellin next to him right away, though it seemed natural for the other boy to be at his shoulder. He felt like a kind of protector, which essentially he was, with the way Vrae was refusing to leave him even for a moment. Not that Caelin minded. He was just glad that the other boy had decided to come to the Hatching or Caelin probably would have hightailed it out of there the moment he saw the light colored Iron sitting in the Stands....

With those new, positive thoughts in his mind, Caelin watched as what he assumed were Renegade "Searchriders" bring in some more Candidates. No one he recognized, so they must not have gone to Crescent. Maybe... he hadn't really known a lot of people there, being the "oh, you" kind of person that most people just looked over. Funny, he lived two good years at that Hold and he still managed to fade into the background. The blond just hoped he wasn't going to fade into the background now, because that would be terrible and he wouldn't Impress and then he'd be too old and then he'd just live as a pathetic loser for the-- no, he glanced at Vraellin with a slightly nervous smile, as he couldn't be completely bold at a scary Hatching like this, but enough to hopefully give the even-more-scarred boy a bit of encouragement maybe?

Er, anyway, the eggs were beginning to hatch, so he figured he should try and blank his mind and watch. Shake... shake... shake.... All Caelin focused on were the eggs shaking out of rhythm with one another, and idly Caelin wondered that if noticing that meant he was developing some sort of OCD. The first egg finally began to crack in rather oddly-shaped pieces as the dragonet inside wormed it's way out. It was easy to tell what color he was when he emerged... the dragon was Blue. He looked rather large for a Blue, though, and Caelin figured that must be the highest rank they could probably hope from this Clutch... not that he cared about rank or anything. And was it just him, or were that Blue's eyes swirling more fiercely than usual?

The next egg began to break off in fragmenty pieces, in tendrils that looked like someone had taken a hammer and lightly tapped it until it cracked open. ... which was essentially what was happening on the inside of the egg, really. Caelin watched, (though he kept track of where the Blue was off too, just in case...) curious about the dragonet inside. A... Black? Maybe? He sure was a tiny thing. He was also dragging pieces of his brother's egg towards himself, as if claiming it. Caelin stared blankly, blinking a few times in confusion. Uh... were dragons... supposed to do this? Maybe it was some sort of weird mental quirk... there seemed to be a lot of that around lately.

But Caelin was rather rudely interupted in his analysis of the Black's mental state because the Blue had just tried to eat a Candidate. Not wanting to believe what his peripheral vision had seen, Caelin turned his head ever so slightly to the side, glancing down the small line of boys to see a boy he had never seen before being chewed on by the Blue. That... probably wasn't how Hatchings were supposed to go, Renegade or not. But it had Impressed... maybe... uh... Caelin was starting to get rather unsure about this whole thing. Sure, he'd known Hatchings weren't the most safe things around but this was just... too much. Judging by Vrae's reactions, he could tell the quiet boy was feeling the same way, and took a page out of the other boy's book and watched the Black gather shells instead.

Is on the bus-ride that meanders up,
These valleys of green and grey,
I get to think about what might have been,
And what may yet come true.

A third egg exploded quite unexpectedly. Pieces of it went flying everywhere as the flaying dragonet within shrieked in anger at the very concept of another moment's confinement, despite no sign of any effort on her part to get out before. She was a green. Like her first brother to hatch, the blue, she was large creature, though still small in her youth and incapable of matching him in size due to the constraints of her color. She did not quite have his bulk, but she also seemed to have a much greater control of her tense motions, which made up for her in danger. Despite that, it was doubtful she would have been pleased to see one of her siblings being bigger than she. As it was, there was only the black, who had hit the deck by his shard collection when his sister had hatched, so it was of a limited concern. Her teeth were just barred in a snarl at the world.

The black had gathered up his courage and risen from where he'd flattened himself against the sands. Ever so carefully and quietly, he went and fetched the farthest pieces of his sister's egg. As she gazed about in all her aggression, he worked his way closer and closer to her to pick up all the pieces. Hers were the prettiest! They were the prettiest to him despite the fact they looked much the same as their brother's and his. He was careful to make sure to always stay behind her, out of the way of her intense vision. It wasn't because he knew to fear the temper that seemed to permeate from her. It was because he didn't want her to see and try to take away his precious egg shards. He careful made sure his growing stack was safe, and not going to fall, and then skittered to fetch the pieces in her shadow. She heard him then.

Eyes a nasty shade of red that had nothing to do with hunger, her head snapped around and she stared at him, with a piece of her egg in his mouth. He froze, staring back at her with orange-yellow eyes slowly picking up speed and intensity. There was one second that hung between them like all of eternity. Then the green made a lunge for him. He let out a scream of terror and scrambled out of a range. He tore across the sands, leading her in an awkward chase amongst the remaining eggs. Eventually, she managed to pin him for a moment, claws gripping into his legs. However, before she could do more damage than a couple of scratches that didn't even bleed, he was free of her hold. He had speed on her, and a strong need for self preservation. The green wheeled around and charged after him. He tried to run a little faster. She crouched to lunge . . .

The angry dragonet missed her mark. She collided with another of the eggs. It fell over, and cracked right in two. She took a step back to see her brother within tumble out, apathetic to the fact he'd been born even though he seemed entirely healthy. He was another blue. Where his brother of the same color had been bulky and big, he was small and wiry, about as big as his sister who had unintentionally born him into the world. He might have been grateful to her. He didn't seem like he was, lying pitifully on the ground without doing anything. He was lightly colored, a very pale blue that looked a bit gray and purple. It was a pretty periwinkle shade, for the most part, though it swirled on his body, like a cloud of whispering blue. He regarded his sister with eyes of a faint green-blue that matched his body that just barely swirled with life.

The green was not pleased by her brother's lack of anything. She let out a squeaky shriek (her inability to produce the sound properly only irritated her more) and swiped her claws at him. With more agility and speed than even his well-coordinated sister, amazing agility and speed for a dragonet, he was on his feet. Her attack missed up a good foot. He had the good sense to keep on running, and enough instinct to survive to motivate himself to do it. He fled, with her chasing him in his wake, towards the candidates. He collided with one with a great deal of force, and sprawled across the top of the boy he had knocked down. Seeing the blue partially twined around the fallen form of the human, the green stopped, eying them carefully. There was something manner as she turned away that suggested that she was only leaving him for later.

V'linMine. Feed Socordiath. The boy had been the first candidate he had seen, the one he'd ended up sitting on by pure accident. However, for him, that was entirely perfect. Tinging the edges of the few words he spoke, there was some intelligence that flickered in the back of his mind. He had some greater knowledge or understanding of everything that was going on, hidden deep within him, that was odd for one just out of the shell and went unacknowledged by him. He simply didn't care about anything, except possibly his new rider. He was impassive and indifferent to the world. He was an amazing little creature, from all that was somewhere deep inside of him and his flawless abilities with his body, but all he wanted to do was snuggle up on the boy he had just Impressed. He fully expected that the weyrling might carry him.

As soon as the green had found something to new to be enraged at, the black had slithered away and put Socordiath between himself and her. He was fine if his brother took a few wounds, as long as he was left alone. Once he felt he was safe again, he began to turn away . . . only to see the poor squashed and wrecked remains of his hoard of glittery egg shells. His eyes turned brilliantly yellow. All of his preciouses! All of his things were destroyed! What was he going to do? He was lost! He was drifting! He might as well have . . . Hey, his blue brother hadn't been killed by his green sister and had found one of those tan, standing people over there. He wanted one. He wanted them all. With those thoughts clear in his mind, and his grief forgotten, he slipped towards the candidates. He carefully avoided going near the green.

Not that he needed to worry, for his sister had found a new thing to take her anger out after leaving the blue in peace. She paced along the semicircles of candidates. For the most part, none of them drew her attention to them. They were mostly unobtrusive and pathetic. That was a good thing. She'd worked out most of her anger about pathetic beings at that time. She still had plenty of other sorts of beings she could still be angry at, and she was certainly in no good mood yet by that point. It was the poor renegade candidates that drew her rage. They stood out. The one who her first blue brother had Impressed was lucky to be gone. The first one, who she sensed was older than the rest from how he looked and stood, was lucky to be left alone. It was one of the poor boys that black renegade had brought in that she mauled.



And tomorrow brings another train,
Another young brave steals away,
But you're the one I remember,
From these valleys of green and the grey.

Suffers who suffer all,
Can swim upon the desert,
Where avarice have ravaged all,
In spite of good intentions.

The sound of cracking from the fourth egg, which had been right near the middle of the half hatched group, was so quiet it was nigh impossible to hear over the humming. The dragonet within silently broke her shell, and then made her entrance. Chipping away bits of the egg, she slipped free, and loftily strode forward so that the entire world could behold her. She was a lovely, elegant little green. Like the first blue had been very big and the second had been much smaller, she was tiny compared to her aggressive sister, though still well larger than her black brother. She was finely built, all of her features well proportioned even in her youth and her design elegant and long. She was distinctly feminine, and could definitely be called pretty, or cute, given her age, in a draconic fashion. Her hide was a calm, unobtrusive, hunter or forest green.

As she began to survey all that lay before her, it only took a moment for all her attention to fix on the black dragonet. He was so handsome, just walking as he was! Bored with showing herself and being pretty to the world, she sidled towards him, though he didn't seem to notice her at all. She moved in his wake, several dragonet lengths behind him. She appeared to be much enamored, her eyes a happy pink-violet touched with red. None of the rest of the world matters, and all she did was make sure he didn't fall from his sights. She walked in a dainty, adorable fashion, tailing flicking about behind her. Perhaps he would look at her, though he didn't have appeared to even noticed she'd come into the world. His entire obliviousness did not seem to stop her single-minded determination to stalk him as he stealthily moved to the candidates.

Meanwhile, the larger green dragonet had been put in a worse mood by the arrival of her frivolous sister. She had decided that mauling one of the candidates with the robes that didn't quite match wasn't enough. The first boy had only been left with a couple rakes of her claws, broken but fixable. She chose the boy's friend with a snarl, slashing out just once at him with vengeful accuracy. She was kind. Both of them were alive. Perhaps, in her youth, she still had some innocence, but, once she was grown, it was doubtful that she wouldn't be a killer on some level. She stalked several steps away, leaving her young victims to nurse their wounds, and eyed the world around her. For that moment, her anger seemed tempered. She leaned her neck down, and licked blood off her claws, staining her teeth with the red liquid. She was hungry. Where was Hers?

Mostly oblivious to his two sisters as it did not suit him to pay them any mind, the black shuffled about the candidates. He moved laterally, trying to size them up as he went one way and then the other, indecisive about which he wanted. He wanted them all, but try as he might, staring fixedly at them all, he couldn't! He had to pick one. Only one of them was right for him. Only one of them was best for him. Only one of them would satisfy him enough. He became dimly aware that there was someone behind him, though he did not stop to realize that it was just his second green sister watching him for some weird reason he wouldn't understand, and he began to hurry himself. He wanted one of the boys! Because boys were better than girls! But which one? The blues had already taken two! Those should have been his! No, he got the best . . .

Avartiath claims you, A'traMine. No one else will have you; he informed the pale boy. He was rather obvious about his Impression. His body twined possessively around his new rider, claws hooking into the cloth of his robe. Of course, he was careful to make sure that he didn't hurt any flesh within. He couldn't have his rider in anything but mint condition! His head turned all around, as if he were just waiting for someone to try to snatch the boy away. He wouldn't let them. His was going to be his most important precious! Could you possibly feed me soon, too? Before Socordiath and Gulath take it all. It should be mine; he added, grumbling and sounding hateful towards his two brothers. It wasn't that he didn't like them. He didn't have any feelings towards them. He just didn't like people take things that should have been his.



Meanwhile, the larger green was making her own way through the candidates. She had made some various leering motions towards the males that her brother had favored, but her preference lay amongst the females. That didn't keep her from snapping and snarling at them, and making other threatening motions to make sure they stayed in line. She was harmless, as long as none of them crossed her. She obviously had a nasty temper, but she could be a patient creature when she wished to be. She took her time about making her way amongst them. In the end, she'd already known which one she had wanted, even if she hadn't quite realized it before in her white hot fury. In the end, it wasn't hard for her to just pick the one that she wanted. There was no other that could garner her respect and not give her the kill urge at the same time.

For one moment, she sized up the girl before her. They well complimented each other in being entirely opposite. That was her decision about the gangly, golden girl in front of her. That was best for her. TeslanaMine, feed your Irath; she growled crisply. She obviously didn't expect to be argued with, the way she carried her large, though youthful, body being generally somewhat threatening during every single second of her barely beginning existence. She stood before her young rider, every muscle tense, and regarded her with loving defiance. Her head, stretched out on her neck, was level with the girl's face, so her eyes, briefly tinged with green and blue over their seemingly continuous red, were locked with the candidate's green eyes. She was happy, in her mean-spirited, vicious sort of way. At least she hadn't eaten any of the candidates.

The little green had tried to follow the black as he had Impressed, but, deep down, she knew she had to let him go. She made several steps to follow him, but then paused. She could see the other forms, of the blues, who were also handsome, and she knew she could not follow them. It made her sad, and then she snapped, and she was just a little bit mean herself. She pulled back, away from the candidates who could not hold her interests as she failed to hold the interests of the handsome ones. She looked frustrated and bitter, twining, with her head held low, back amongst the only two remaining eggs. Both of them were rocking or twitching, so she was careful not to get to close. She moved like a little ballerina, gliding and prancing slightly even in her ruined mood. She had none to love, and she felt lost! She felt she was missing something.



Anger kills the human soul,
With butter tales of lust,
While pavlov's dogs keep chewin',
On the legs they never trust.