Players on a Stage [Minerva's Hatching]

[turkoizdog]

Pyrus found himself being nudged along by an excited Fez one afternoon, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why. It seemed Fez wanted him to go outside, but what was there for him in the bowl? No wildlife to observe, no flora to discover, it was barren of anything interesting to Pyrus. He found since his arrival that he largely preferred to stay inside and read -- something he wasn't able to do as much when he was Holdless.

As Pyrus found himself being guided toward the lake, he saw a group gathering. Something was going on at the lake? Ahh of course, he had heard of an Amber pillie laying eggs, and of course, this had to be her hatching. Pyrus hadn't known very much about pillies before his arrival, but once he reached Dalibor, he read as much about them as he could. There, they were kept as pets, as they could impress to people just as firelizards, dragons, and whers did. And oh boy, did Pyrus ever want one.

Pyrus approached in time to watch the second round of pillies hatch. Why hadn't Fez just communicated properly to him that there was a hatching? Of course, Fez just seemed far too excited at the prospect of having someone else to 'worship' him. Not to mention the fact that Fez loved surprising Pyrus, and a surprise hatching seemed right down his alley.

Once the last lonely green bonded, Pyrus looked around. Quite a few pillies had already hatched, though all the hatched pillies had already impressed. He looked to the eggs, trying to count them, but stopping when he found there were too many. Yes, chances were good that he would go home with a new friend tonight, another to add to his clan.

[Zephyr]

Well, that was expected.

K'ius knew that Sandr wasn't a big fan of bugs. He'd always known what his best friend had thought of pilles, but even with not having ever known any personally, Kai was sure that the little things weren't as bad as his friend was making them out to be...not when so many people had them as pets. Pilles seemed to be generally beloved at Dalibor, and he thought that it was about time that Sandr saw how awesome they could be.

He didn't think he'd have to work to keep the guy there. As soon as he laid eyes on the pilles, Sandr was backing up quickly, fingers buried in K'ius' coat, half dragging the other boy back with him. The weyrling didn't stop his friend's backwards trajectory, instead just using the fact that Sandr was backing up right into one of Shobhaith's massive forelegs. The purple, amused at the boys reaction, lowered his head to snuffle amusedly in the boy's hair. You should tell your boy that giant dragons are scarier than little bugs. He huffed cheekily in Sandr's hair, blowing it out into his hair playfully.

The dragon lifts his head at his father's summons. My boy doesn't need anymore pets. He already has five. Sho chuckled into Hemetath's mind before leaving his father alone to converse with his other siblings who'd attended the hatching...none of which had paid any attention to Shobhaith at all. It might have hurt him a little, but the purple was nothing if not good at putting on a cool exterior.

Unaware of this exchange, K'ius laughed at Sandr, wrapping a comforting hand around his best friend's arm in an attempt to coax him back towards the hatching. "I promise that nothing bad will happen, okay man?" His comforting words were sort of ruined by the shell eating grin on his face that he wasn't even trying to hide...but that didn't mean his words were any less genuine. "I won't let anything hurt you. You trust me, right?" He knows Sandr trusts him...he just needs to know if his best friend can look past his fear enough to see it.

---

With her newly bonded pille sitting heroicly on the girl's shoulder, Mouse glanced in the direction Avna motioned, fingers buried in the woman's clothing while she peeked shyly at the red dragon. Though she looked shy, Mouse was brimming with excitement, wanting to rush up and greet the gorgeous dragon. Red was definitely her favorite color of dragon. This one was almost a pretty pink! Oh she was pretty, wasn't she? The pille, obviously, didn't agree. He was too busy waving his feelers in a threatening manner towards Herath, an are you besmirching my honor?, in the tone of his creeling Crrwaa!

She's distracted by the appearance of Saowyn, who she immediately lets go of Avna to greet. The little girl's eyes light up at the sight of the older girl, whom she had been close to before, but hadn't seen since she'd impressed. Mouse wrapped her arms around Sao's neck and hugged her tightly, wanting to say so much to her, but not being able to communicate to the other girl properly. This frustrated the little girl and she wrinkled her nose in irritation, giving a little huff and burying her face in Saowyn's hair. The blue pille was obviously distressed by his girl's irritation and frustration and crawled onto Saowyn's head, tapping at her skull and hair aggressively with his feelers. How dare you!

Peeking out at Avna as the woman speaked, Mouse pouted a little, tugging on Saowyn's coat and wishing once more she could communicate properly. She looked at Herath, wondering if she could convey a message to the woman through her dragon...but she'd said she should ask before talking to someone's dragon...and she couldn't ask! How was she ever supposed to talk to a dragon?

Mouse was ready to throw a fit at her lack of being able to speak when Lirmox approached them too, and finally explained to Avna what Mouse herself had wanted to say. The child calmed considerably then, still clinging like a little leech to Saowyn. She finally relaxed enough to beam up at Avna. You're my new best friend! She grabbed the redrider's hand just in time for the pille explosion and backed up towards Avna just as a brass pille and a grey pille attacked her friends.

Excitement colored her bond with the blue pille and he rapidly climbed down Saowyn's body, hooking his legs in her clothes long enough to jab his feelers at his brass brother. Crrwaa, crrwaa! Couldn't he see he was upsetting his girl? Stop that!

Mouse wasn't upset. On the contrary, she was incredibly excited for her friends and tugged enthusiastically on Avna's hand. Look at all the pilles! Just then, yet another pille joined the quartet, this time disappearing beneath Avna's jacket. Mouse looked at it curiously and poked at the pille sized lump there, her grin growing exponentially.

This was just the most exciting day ever, wasn't it?

[Digitalis]

Tamren watched the second round of pillies hatch and Impress with mingled revulsion and relief. Revulsion because shards, pillies were still creepy, even when they were small, and he wasn't quite willing to admit that their behavior was kind of cute once you got past the beady eyes and too many legs, even if he was stuck with the brown now. Relief because none of the newer wave of hatchlings seemed to be interested in him, which, as far as Tamren was concerned, was the best thing that could happen. One pillie was bad enough. He intended to spend the rest of the hatching hiding behind the people who actually wanted the bugs, and trying to ignore the presence of the one on his shoulder.

The only reason he was still here at all was because the brown kicked up a fuss whenever he tried to leave. The brown pillie (Tamren was already starting to think of him as Bugbear privately, but he hadn't officially named the hatchling yet) was intent on watching the rest of the hatching. Tamren didn't care to draw any more negative attention to himself than he already had, and had eventually given up. He watched a few of his fellow spectators, glad to see there was at least one other person who seemed reluctant to be here.

[Raining]

In his desperation to get away his arm had hooked K'ius'. He thought there would have been more resistance so his recoil away went a little smoother than he expected. Oh good that means he'll be able to leave without fighting Kai. Hah Hah he saw the bugs, really really funny but now its time to leave before more hatch.

But that initial relief that K'ius was going to be nice left when he backed right into Shobhiath's leg, boots skidding accidentally on the dragons foot causing him to stumble. After a second to regain his balance, and using Kai for leverage he tossed a glare in said friend's direction as the dragon leaned to huff into his hair... He was pretty sure if dragons could grin, he would be wearing the same sharding cheeky grin K'ius was wearing right now. "Sorry, Sho." he apologized half heartedly, sighing. Not that he was heavy enough to hurt him, but its the thought that counts right? "But I won't be if you keep huffing at me like that," amusingly enough if his voice hadn't hitched an octave he would have sounded serious.

Naturally didn't fall for the soft nature of his "friend's" words. The comforting hand around arm, felt not so comforting as he was slowly coaxing Sandr back towards the hatching. The second wave of pillies had Aleksandr all tensed up, but he allowed Kai to coax him back to where they were. He knew he couldn't say anything about this, because it was totally his fault Kai had impressed to all four of his fire lizards. Both times he had held K'ius against his will. Although flits weren't creepy... "I know they won't hurt me." he argued before making a face, "its just... look at them"

"After this.." he started to say, watching people with an 'why are they letting the bugs touch them' face to a couple of people. "we're even, okay?" he huffed childishly. After the second wave of pillies impressed Sandr kept his eyes on everything but the bright colored aquatic insects. He relaxed some, but it was hard to get over this when his skin was practically crawling. He couldn't understand how people could have them as pets. He hoped to never actually find out first hand... but there was this odd curiosity that attempted to push itself to the forefront of his mind. Sandr appreciated Kai at his side, but he knew he was silently laughing at him.

---

The little girl hugged her back tightly, and Saowyn just didn't want to let go. She wasn't lying when she said she missed Mouse, she was just... well she was practically family, or as close to family as Saowyn can manage. "Faranth you've gotten big!" she'd praise, when really the little girl probably didn't grow all that much in the months they've been there.

Just then a Mouse's pillie climbled atop of her, and tapped her head, "aww sorry! I didn't mean to upset your new friend." she'd laugh, "Mouse he looks like a fish." She didn't get a perfect look at the pillie but what she did see... well he looked like he had scales! The smile on her face faltered some when Avna spoke, and she was about to speak up when another fellow holdless came to her rescue! (Not before a good hug). "I'm not bad! Saosk forced me out of bed when he heard there was a hatching." she smiled rolling her eyes.

Those light eyes focused back on Avna, Mouse seemed to like her well enough so she didn't let what the Dragon Rider say bother her too much. "Apart from her caretakers... well we're her family," she explained politely... well and then plus Jafari (who she was hoping to see, but she understands not all wher candidates and handlers will be making it out now).

Another wave of pillies piled out, and well she didn't notice the light brass guy until something poked at her leg with a WooOOOooOO?. She glanced down to see him looking up at her, looking like he wanted to be picked up. Mouse's blue didn't waste anytime to tell the brass how he felt! The brass looked offended, he didn't do anything! Instead he circled around to her other leg and poked at her again. Saowyn giggled and picked up the brass so he could finally complete his bond to her cupping the blue incase he fell. WooOo...?. Unlike Saosk, he wasn't a demanding presence in her mind, which was rather refreshing.

Unfortunately from here, she couldn't connect to Saosk so she couldn't tell him who she bonded too. She was sure he would be pleased bonding to a potentially large pillie! He insisted that Saowyn was meant for great things because she is his, or something.

[Birdy]

Herath snorted angrily at the pillie, who did this bug think he was? She flexed her claws and puffed out her chest but made no move to get up. This tiny bug could not hurt her or Hers. She was a red and he was the size of a rock. I have teeth larger than him, I could swallow him whole, the red told her rider. Her words had a slightly defensive tone to them and Avna quieted her. Herath you need not worry about him. You will always be bigger, surely your attention could be focused on something more important, it wasn't a question and the red rumbled an agreement, returning her gaze to the pillies hatching from the sand.

Avna blinked as the Candidate who had appeared quite suddenly spoke, quickly thinking over this new information. With the groups of Holdless milling around the Weyr the redrider supposed there would be some children roaming the halls of Dalibor. It had never occurred to her though that they might not have a true family to return to. She composed herself and looked down at the weyrbrat. "My apologies, Mouse," Avna offered, her stern face softening just slightly. Surely the weyrbrat had not known that speaking with dragons was something one should ask permission to do.

In an attempt to remedy her wrong the redrider glanced first at Herath and then back at Mouse. "If you would forgive me, I am sure Herath would not mind speaking with you, Mouse," the brunette said carefully keeping a watchful eye on the red as the dragons eyes whirled orange with outrage. Why should I speak with this tiny one? She is not Mine, Herath growled. She had rarely spoken to anyone other than Hers. Why should she when Hers could pass along the message.

She is growing up in this Weyr, Herath. Therefore she is part of it. If she has no true family then the Weyr is her family. You are her family. You will let her speak to you and you will respondin a civil manner, Avna said sharply and Herath snorted but said nothing. This logic had pleased her and her familial instinct was going full speed.

In all of this conversation Avna had nearly forgotten about the true reason she had ventured out into the cold. Mouse tugging on her hand jerked her back into the hatching. She managed a half smile at the weyrbrat but it disappeared when a pillie, black and paranoid, scuttled under her jacket and clung to her chest. The redrider stared down at the lump feeling quite triumphant. She'd done it, she'd gotten a pillie. Nyetatis was more doubtful and chirped warily at the bug whose antenna were poking out of the collar of Avna's jacket.

Inside his Bonded's jacket the black froze as something poked his back. [color=
2f2d2d]Wakakakakakakaka!

[/color] the pillie wailed frantically. He had been right, there was someone out to get him! Avna placed a hand on the pillie beneath the jacket. "You're fine… You need a name though," she paused for a moment and thought. "Idelo." she declared finally.
[/size][/blockquote]

[Ondine]

It may have been daytime, but Shino was having difficulty sleeping and was awake when the dragon's call came. Not that she could hear it. She had just thrown clothing on for a daytime walk, maybe check in on Atenna again and Dizzy. Peixes was a large copper blur as she sped around the room, growling at how any true servant to her would have been prepared already. This sheer laziness was absolutely unacceptable from her brilliant bonded, and she beat on the girl as she got dressed and ready. Stupid dark-only brown lump not coming, Shino no excuse to not read be.

After a few minutes, the copper resumed her preening on the dresser. If her human wasn't going to pay attention, the bronze would! But he was asleep, since he was adapted to Shino's night and day cycle like a good King should. She hissed, but he remained silent. So she waited instead, grumbling and angry, for he would rue the day when he ignored the Queen! When Shino was finally ready doing things, like making sure that Shinsk was comfortable, the two left the wherling quarters. The copper was haughtily glad, how dare her girl take so long to take her on a daytime trip? Just because Shinsk was nocturnal didn't mean that he had to force Shino that way. What an absolute wherrybutt. Peixes chittered and chattered, randomly swiping just over someone's head as they passed them in the tunnels when the poor person didn't pay enough attention to her. Yes, her! Peixes was here! Look at her you useless two-legged things!

However, all of that changed when they reached the bowl, for the large throng of activity was quite obvious. Of course, during the day it was unlikely that any wherling or wher handler would know, especially if the call only went to dragons...but Peixes hissed. Over there! That was where they went. Shouldn't such a large crowd serve to praise her? How dare they. The cause of this affront to the Queen would need to be dealt with.

And so they went. Only, once they got close enough to see what was going on, her tune changed. Get in there, stupid Shino! Most of the babies are all gone, and it was time for Peixes to start her fair. They were strange and non-flying, but they would still serve as a fair. She perched herself on Shino, front paws on her shoulder, and stared at all of the baby pillies that were going to other people. How dare they! Peixes was here! They should come to her.

[Chimera]

Thank you, Malinoth. I hope you will get one too. Hemetath's His has many of them...the pillow bugs - no, pillies. The green corrected herself, lying down and stretching like a feline as she watched the hatching, not taking her multifaceted eyes off for one moment. Perhaps after the hatching she would go for a quick swim in the icy lake, which didn't much affect Ainoth's tough dragon hide. And of course Pebble would come along too.

Speaking of that matchmaking pillie, the brown was as deep in thought as a bug could be. Now, what was the one true match for Malinoth? Ah, yes! He knew!

Maree! Maree! Practically leaping off of Ainoth's round, seal-like snout, Pebble scuttled off through the crowd, before trying to look up. Ah, he knew! As loud as he could, Pebble assaulted Malikot with a series of pleading Mareeees to come down. Confused, the pink nosedived down to the little brown bug, landing gracefully. What did he want? Did he want to help pull a prank with her? No! Pebble responded in his conversation with the pillie. He wanted to help true loves find each other...Malikot rubbed her hands like a vtol as she plotted something, before returning her gaze to Pebble.

She had...a proposition. She'd meet up with the big black Malinothflitthing if Pebble helped pull a prank.

And that led to the very first time R'lan would find a pillie on his face.

But definitely not the last time.

Malikot, meanwhile, was attempting to talk to Malinoth, chirping and cheeping as she invaded the Weyrling black's mind with firelizard chatter, about how the brown bugthing had said they were...true loves or something? She did not quite get what that exactly was. Maybe he knew?

And that is a pink Mine owns. She's friendly...I think?

***

Happy that everyone was so...well, happy and getting along, even the redrider (no work for the star negotiator!), Lirmox kept switching between the group and the pillie hatching. The pillies were rather strange, but seemed to be about as intelligent as firelizards. Maybe even useful in a fight, if the big queen pillie was any example.

"Glad to hear it, Saowyn." Lirmox chuckled at Mouse's pillie's attempt to "attack" Saowyn. "He does look a lot like a fish with those scale markings! 'Grats, Mouse!" He nodded when Saowyn continued on their explanation to Avna.

He then tuned back to the hatching as another wave of pillies hatched. Saowyn got a brass, whose particularly shiny, metallic carapace suggested he might be the pillie equivalent of a king. Might be - Lirmox wasn't quite sure how these bugs worked.

Vrrrrrim.

"Oh! Look at you!" Lirmox's voice wavered into a high-pitched one for a moment, reminiscent of the kind crecheworkers used to speak to the especially little ones. The boy shut himself up faster than he ever thought he could, hoping no one really heard it.

Had she made the right choice? Perhaps this minion simply needed to be conditioned. He could be her right-leg man if taught right. The gray studied Lirmox critically, before coloring their bond with fuzzy images, feelings, of...ruling?

"What the - " The blond boy decided to turn away for a moment. " - congratulations!" He grinned to Avna. The as-of-yet unnamed gray quietly Vrrimed to herself. So her black brother had bonded too, and the useless brass...Their bondeds might prove useful in her global conquest yet.

"Well, suppose I should name you." Lirmox smiled at the gray. "How about Regina?"

Vrrrim. It was a fitting name for a ruler like her, yes. She was not well versed in the ways of the big soft two-legged - choosing one had been a wise decision. Vrrrim.... They would discuss plans later.

[Dragonwher]

Mira happily watched the other new bondeds as more pillies hatched and chose their people, giggling a bit as she sidestepped the babies scuttling for their chosen humans. Malinoth was also politely keeping to himself, though he did hum happily as the babies found their people. Nymeria meanwhile peeped confusedly at the new babies after a bit, wondering what they were; not quite remembering the bluething on Mira was like them. Though Perrin; via scuttling onto Malinoth's back after getting on a wing nearest Mira, served to remind the pink of this. Though he did it gently as he tried to tap her with his antenna, a soft Mmhmm? issuing forth. Nymeria of course peeped in startlement at first; but soon settled as her tail tapped Perrin's carapace.

Malinoth for his part sort of rumbling chuckled at Ainoth as he thought maybe I will...Mira's Perrin likes me and her equally...so maybe the next one will want me more?. He didn't get very far into his chatter with Ainoth before he was left with whirling confusion due to Malikot. It took him some time to sort out the message but he did finally snort softly Ainoth, its nice she's friendly but...why does the pink Yours looks to think we are...true loves?. Any thought to congratulate the new pillie parents left Mira with a muffled chortle as she picked up on Malinoth's thoughts.

Then had to explain to her elder sibling "a flit thinks Malinoth is her true love...but doesn't quite get the idea...". Malinoth meanwhile prodded His on the shoulder in silent 'oh hush this isn't funny!' type temper before thinking toward...of all Dragons Shobhaith. Shobhaith...Brother...do you have any idea why a pillie convinced Ainoth's Pinkflit friend she and I are...true loves? Malinoth thinking, if anyone knew how girls thought it was likely to be Sho if Ainoth couldn't tell him. 'Hearing Mali's query a second time of course set off another series of muffled giggles in Mira. Despite the confused and aggrieved look her partner levelled upon her. Perrin for his part, was quietly watching the goings on...if the flitthing really did like Malinoth friend...who was he to separate em?. Nymeria and Asher meanwhile were suffering from the same giggles that Mira had.

~~~~

Randiel, once he learned why his sister was giggling and being eyed almost balefully by her own partner; couldn't help but facepalm. Aela for her part was half confused, half amused as she trilled at Malikot, sending images and thoughts along the lines of 'why are you trying to mate with a bigflit?'. Which of course triggered a glower from Randi "now don't you make that older flit come over here in a tizzy on me". Which earned Randi a chittered reproach; how could he think his Aela wouldn't defend him if the pink harlot got mad at her?, besides she wasn't insulting the pink to her snout...just asking why she thought she had a chance with a young bigflit.

Randiel for his part sighed and let his pink chatter away at him as he looked around "who owns the pink flit that's flirting with my sister's Weyrling dragon? I en't annoyed just wondering". While he waited for a response the boy ignored his sister's 'I can handle it' looks and focused on the clutch of pillies still getting ready to hatch. Internally he knew the girl could deal; but well...she didn't call him 'mother wherry' for nothing...

[RavenSong]

P'ryt smiled warmly at Ziphera.

"Ahhh, like a queen, okay. Hemetath insisted on trying to get another pillie for his little herd of them. He loves pillies, you see. He's got four in the weyr, so I think this is a bit of a long shot."

Hemetath leaned down to nuzzle Ainoth, cooing as he showed her affection. He didn't know if she was his offspring or not, he didn't care. All the Rainracers were his as far as the iron was concerned. He didn't at all approve of Nymeria, though, his dislike of flits clear as he spoke simply to Malinoth. I see. Shobhaith got mental laughter from the Iron. Pillies. Always more. It was clear he really loved pillies.

He perked up as a bright green pillie made her way to P'ryt and circled him. P'ryt raised an eyebrow, wondering exactly what the green was doing, but deciding not to ask. Pillies were weird, after all. Weaver, Q, Hidden, and Tracker had all taught him that. He chuckled when he felt her fuzzy little feelings at the very edge of his consciousness.

"Well okay then," he said, picking the witchy green up. She clung to his hand, bonding with him as she stuck to him. She wiggled her antennae at him, telling him of all the things she'd seen in her cauldron. He became aware of her desire for a bigger cauldron.

Drrble, she said, looking at P'ryt with beady eyes. Yes, a cauldron, and a place to live too. Brrble brrble trrble drrble.

"Hmm... what to name you... Double, I think."

No, Hemetath interjected, turning his head away from his children to just stare at his rider.

"Bubble?"

No.

"Trouble."

NO. Elphaba.

"What kind of a name is Elphaba?" P'ryt demanded.

Better name. Double. Bubble. Trouble. Hemetath snorted derisively, shaking his massive head. Horrible names. Elphaba.

"That name doesn't even fit with the names I've given your other pillies."

I know. Yours? Suck shell. Elphaba.

"But--"

ELPHABA!

"Okay. You win. Her name is Elphaba." Hemetath, looking smug, turned back to his offspring.

Handle riders, he said sagely.

[Kestrel]

The hatching of the eggs seemed to have fallen into a lull, but unseen to most, another baby pillie was steadily working his way to the surface. A pair of brown antennae popped at last from the gooey broken eggshells, and his body soon followed, rolling out onto the sand before popping back up to his many feet. His shell was an auburn, reddish brown, with markings on his shell that made him look a bit like a crinkled leaf. He stepped forward, peering at the gathered people with not a trace of fear. Krekrekre,[/color] he chittered to them, antennae waving. Kre, krekre kre. Krekreke.[/color] Apparently satisfied with whatever he had said, he backed away, skittering around to watch from behind the egg pile as two more pillies broke through almost simultaneously.

It was a pink and a blue—both quite rich and lovely in color, and in a strange likeness, they both bore imprints on their shells not unlike the wings of a flying insect. The pink peered about at the world, her tiny carapace full of wonder, but the blue ignored the onlookers entirely. He stared at his pink sibling for a long moment, then furiously turned his attention to brushing sand from his shell. With all the solemn dignity he could muster, he strode toward her, merely standing silently beside her until she turned and noticed him. Trrrill? Trrill?[/color] she chirped, tapping him with a long, wispy antenna. The blue straightened his posture as well as a pillie could.

Kooooo-looloo, loooooloo-koo, koo loo loo loooooo…[/color] The strange sounds he made almost resembled…singing, though in Ziphera’s mind, he could do with quite a bit of instruction. Still, whatever he was trying to accomplish, he certainly was going at it with gusto. The pink looked a little confused for a moment, but then bounced slightly in joy. Trrrriill![/color] She walked tight circles around him, patting her antennae along his shell as she did so, and the blue stopped singing. If a pillie could look pleased with himself, he certainly would.

But the attention she lavished on him lasted but a few minutes. A second brown clumsily pulled himself up to the surface, looking a little dazed as he teetered out onto the sand. With an excited chirp, the pink pillie promptly abandoned the blue to rush to the brown’s side. The blue was nice, but she had already said hello to him. Others needed her love now!

The brown—a mottled creature with a strangely-marked darker head—blinked, surprised by this sudden shower of affection. He stood up straighter, swelling with pride. An audience! If she was paying such good attention to him, surely she must be expecting him to do something great. A performance, perhaps? Yes, a performance would mark the occasion perfectly! Baw ba-haw. Baw. Ba-haw, ba-haw, he began to recite in his best dramatic voice. A good start, he decided, but there was a problem with his play already—it needed more characters! He certainly couldn’t trust anyone else to play them—no, he was the very best. He abruptly skittered around to face where he had just been standing, and attempted to squawk in a different pitch. Baw! Ba-haw! Bawbaw![/color]

The blue pillie watched this bizarre spectacle from a distance, stunned, his righteous anger mounting. Clearly his sister had rejected him! But why? Obviously he was perfect. He could tell that he was the most beautiful color of all, and surely, nothing else could possibly be a similar shade! To reassure himself of this fact, he looked out at the people gathered there—a poor decision. Several other pillies, both adults and fellow newly-hatched, were also blue, but the worst offender by far was that thing up above them all. How dare so much blue exist in the world! He was supposed to be unique, shardit! Someone had to do something about this.

He certainly wasn’t going to ask the younger brown pillie, who was still putting on his terrible one-pillie-play. But who was that, lurking in the back? Loo![/color] he demanded, and the first brown pillie to hatch scuttled over. The blue pillie indignantly waved his antennae, almost seeming to gesture toward the pink and brown and then back to himself. Apparently he got his point across, because the brown skittered away toward them. The blue had been well to seek his services! He was a pillie of strange and magical talents, and he did not mind putting them to service for his blue brother.

Unbeknownst to the blue pillie, another egg had split while he had been fuming, spilling an awkwardly long-legged green out into the world. Mokk?[/color] she said softly, calling out uncertainly as she got to her feet, but no one seemed to notice her. Dejected, her antennae drooped to the ground, and she looked fearfully around, backing up closer to the eggs she had come from. But then she saw him—oh, he was perfect and so beautiful! She moved shyly toward the blue pillie, finally working up the courage to chirp hello. He twitched an antenna in her direction—couldn’t she see he was busy? He was clearly focusing intently on the brown pillie waving his feelers at the pink. He didn’t have time for anyone else.

Mokk…[/color] Her antennae drooped yet again, but she just couldn’t leave his side. She was pretty sure he was rejecting her, but he was just so pretty! Maybe if she just stayed by his side long enough, he would give up on the pink, and notice her. He moved closer to the two browns and the pink, and the green followed along behind him.

The auburn brown, for his part, had been working his magic. His antennae waved about whimsically as he circled the other brown (who, despite being quite annoyed at his disruption to his show, valiantly continued performing, as any great actor should) and chanted a long series of krekrekres, and at last, he backed away, satisfied. He chirped to the pink, explaining to the mystified pillie that he had just transformed the other brown into a runnerbeast. Surprised, she moved closer, peering at her acting brother’s face. It was true! Undeniably, despite looking no different, her brother had been totally transformed into a runner. She trilled in excitement at her auburn brother’s prowess. She had been enjoying the brown’s performance, but now that he was a runner, she simply had to go. She knew nothing about runners, after all, and she had pillie siblings to greet.

Specifically, her fellow pink sister who was currently fighting her way out of her egg in a frantic waving of legs. Trrrill![/color] she said to her sister, still half-embedded in her egg, apparently oblivious to the other pink’s struggle. WREEEEH!![/color] The older pink blinked, a bit taken aback by the sudden explosion of noise from her sibling. But the other pink didn’t care. It should be obvious to anyone with half a brain that she was a little busy with a life or death struggle at the moment! That other pink better just mind her own business if she knew what was good for her, because as soon as she was out of her shell she was taking absolutely no herdbeast dung from anyone. The older pink, unfortunately, was apparently not very impressed by such declarations, because she simply took a step back and watched her sister struggle to hatch, waiting patiently for when she could finally say hello properly.

The reddish brown pillie watched the two pinks interact with dissatisfaction. On the one hand, he had successfully gotten her away from the other brown—who was still valiantly performing, having not noticed that he had lost his audience—but she had not returned to the blue as he had wanted. Nor did she seem likely to do so anytime soon. He looked back to the blue, and spotted, for the first time, the green trailing behind him. Aha! He let out more of his odd, cackling noises as a new plan occurred to him, and he raced over to the green, chanting again and dancing around her in his skittery way. The blue turned to watch, confused, but after a moment, the brown was happy to explain. See? Look! He had transformed this rather ordinary green pillie into the most perfect and beautiful pillie ever shelled! Why should he want the company of that other pink anyway? This was clearly the pillie for him!

For the first time, the blue actually looked intently at the green behind him, who was standing perfectly still, unnerved by the brown’s strange actions and not sure what to expect. The blue blinked in surprise—it was true! Like the brown, she had almost leafy patterns on her shell, and many shades of green melded demurely across her legs and carapace. Certainly she was much, much better than the pink—and besides, evidently she knew who the other best pillie around was, by sticking so close to him the whole time. Raising his antennae proudly, he began attempting to sing once more, serenading the green.

Unfortunately, she was far from pleased. Mokk! Mokk![/color] she cried. She couldn’t understand how he could change his demeanor toward her so abruptly. He must be making fun of her! Well, she had had quite enough. The green ran crying into the crowd, directionless save for her desire to get away from the blue who had been so mean to her. She was not, however, paying very good attention to where she was going, and soon she found herself running smack into the leg of a certain very small person. She peered up fearfully, but something about the girl reassured her, and the green pillie climbed up Kidanyr’s leg, bonding to her. Mokk![/color] she said. She needed someone to comfort her, and she needed it now!

SPOILER: Click to show

Green (56DB7A) – Bonded to Kidanyr
Loose inspiration: Helena, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
This pillie, it is quickly evident, is very, very sensitive. She is a romantic, and very quickly plan to devote herself to her latest destined romance—but unfortunately the things she so falls for are things that cannot possibly return her love, such as felines, random people about the weyr, or even rocks. She can perceive most anything to be a slight, becoming convinced that others are being mean to her, and when she gets upset, the only thing that can calm her down is the comfort of her chosen human. As such, she tends to be needy, clingy, and sticks close to Kidanyr, and enjoys nothing more than being held and pampered.
Mokk

The other pink finally broke free of her egg, tumbling out onto the sand. There! Not the best entrance, maybe, but it would just have to do. She blinked up at her fellow pink sister, not at all pleased by the attention suddenly being showered on her. Though the two were both pinks, it was evident that the younger was smaller than the other one—and, in fact, was the smallest pillie that had hatched yet, despite most of her siblings being of similar size. She peered around at her surroundings, rage mounting. Why was everything so sharding big? WrreeeEEEEEHHH?![/color] It was an outrage! No one would ever take her seriously like this! Something would just have to be done.

Ignoring her pink sister entirely, she ran to the blue pillie, scrambling up to balance somewhat awkwardly atop his shell. There! Wreeh![/color] She commanded, pointing forward with an antenna. Onward, steed! She had things to accomplish! People to boss around! Like that other pink, actually. Now that the smaller pink could look down on her, she would make a great target.

Fortunately, he did walk back over to the other pink, though it had little to do with the smaller one perched on his shell. He hadn’t a clue what she was babbling on about. But since the green had left, he might as well give serenading the other pink one more try. She chirped, looking up as he waddled awkwardly toward her, the other pink squawking orders from atop his shell. Loooooo-loo, koo loo-looooo,[/color] he began, singing what he was certain was a most beautiful song, and the pink listened attentively. When he had finished, however, she merely patted him with her antenna, chirping to him. That was certainly a lovely song—but she just couldn’t spend all her time with him when there were other people to meet, people who needed her much more than he did! He could do little more than watch sadly as she turned and ran into the crowd of humans.

The pink dipped artfully around legs, weaving about and trilling greetings to those she passed as she looked for just the perfect person. And soon enough, she was scuttling up Imber’s leg, eager to be the girl’s new best friend.

SPOILER: Click to show

Pink (D23FBF) – Bonded to Imber
Loose inspiration: Titania, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
This pillie is a dreamer at heart. She often seems a bit lost in the clouds, drifting about aimlessly, but if there is one thing that will always catch her attention, it’s people. Or pillies. Or anything she thinks might be fun to talk to, really. She is playful, and loves absolutely everyone—but she is determined to spread her love to the world, and thus she can’t possibly spend all her time with any one person. Only Imber gets a consistent stream of her affections, as she will always be happy to cuddle up to her and tell her all about her latest dreams.
Trrill trrrill

The blue pillie looked around in dismay. The only ones remaining now were the two browns and the irritating pink on his shell. She stomped a foot impatiently, gesturing with her antenna for him to march toward the auburn brown so she could give him some new orders, but he instead started trodding dutifully out toward the humans. If his sisters were happy out there with the strange tall creatures, perhaps he should go find one for himself. One of them was sure to appreciate his beautiful music.

The pink had finally had enough of her disobedient steed, and jumped down, crawling off in search of a person of her own. Someone much taller than the blue. The very tallest person of all! She stopped her search at Pyrus’s feet, looking way up at his face. Okay, she couldn’t exactly tell from down there if he was the tallest or not—but she didn’t have time to keep looking, so if he wasn’t the tallest, he would just have to start growing. Wreeeeh![/color] she cried, digging the tiny hooks of her legs into his clothes and hauling her way up.

SPOILER: Click to show

Pink (F5B4D7) – Bonded to Pyrus
Loose inspiration: Hermia, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
This pillie has plans. She isn’t always sure what those plans are, exactly, but for them she’s going to need some people to do her bidding, and she has no time or patience to deal with distractions. She is bossy and usually on the cusp of an all-out-rage—though fortunately it is a particularly tiny rage, since she is small for a pink and will remain so. She is very annoyed at her size, and must always have the top spot in a room to make up for it, as she thinks no one will take her seriously if she isn’t up high enough.
Wreeeh

The blue, for his part, also found a new perfect, fine lady in the crowd. He climbed atop Shino’s shoe to get her attention, and began serenading once more. This one, he was sure, would not reject him!

SPOILER: Click to show

Blue (405ECD) – Bonded to Shino
Loose inspiration: Oberon, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
This pillie is a diehard romantic, in his own way. He becomes infatuated easily, and likes to serenade anything or anyone he has fallen for, and tries very hard to be charming. Unfortunately, he also tends to get extremely jealous, and will resort to any amount of petty scheming to attempt to get things to go his way. He tends to blame all of his problems on the fact that he is not unique in being the most wonderful color blue, and if he gets in one of his moods, is liable to attempt to destroy or cover up anything blue he finds.
Koo-looloo

The performing brown, at long last, reached the dramatic ending to his play. It was a masterpiece! Surely it would be remembered by his siblings forever, memories passed down to future generations—he couldn’t wait to see the looks on his audience’s faces now that he was done. But as the brown looked around, confused, he realized at last that his audience was nowhere to be found. Baw?[/color] How strange. He could only assume that his acting had been so moving, so amazing, that the others must have run off to tell the world how great it was. Oh well—all that good acting had made him a little hungry, and he wanted someone to tell him how great he was. One of those funny two-legged things ought to do, so he scuttled toward them, climbing up Letorin’s leg. Surely he must be someone who knew something about the fine arts!

SPOILER: Click to show

Brown (85462D) – Bonded to Letorin
Loose inspiration: Bottom, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
It is quite clear that this pillie thinks he is the most amazing actor ever to hit Pern. Pompous and serious, he spontaneously attempts to enact plays in which he plays all the roles—because no one else is good enough, of course. Usually his plays are grand tragedies, not that most people would be able to figure that out. He doesn’t seem to notice if no one is paying attention or taking him seriously—which is fortunate, because usually no one is.
Baw ba-haw

The drama finally having passed, the first brown of the group crept back out from where he had been observing behind the eggshells. He faced those watching, sweeping an antenna forward in something almost like a bow as he left them with a few parting words. Krekre! Kre, krekrekre, krekre. Krekrekre.[/color] He waved his antennae in a way he was sure was mysterious, and then promptly darted out into the crowd, right to the person he knew was just right for him. He scurried up to Randiel’s shoulder, chirping to him. He would make all his problems go away, because he was special, okay?

SPOILER: Click to show

Brown (9E5F27) – Bonded to Randiel
Loose inspiration: Puck, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
An unapologetic schemer, this pillie is completely convinced of his abilities of transformation. At merely his will and a few whimsical waves of his antennae, he can turn a pillie into a runnerbeast, a rock into a firelizard, or convince someone they have only been dreaming. Well, at least, he is good at convincing other pillies and perhaps firelizards that he can make these miracles occur. Though his motives are sometimes hard to discern, he does like to put himself to work trying to solve problems for those he cares about—even if the ‘problems’ didn’t really exist in the first place.
Krekrekrekre

[Dragonwher]

Mira smiled happily as new babies hatched in a wave of cute; then giggled at their interactions with each other. She's seen a brown that looked a good deal like sun-baked tan clay to her eyes. But he'd disappeared not long after he apparently tried to do...something to one of his siblings. Meanwhile Malinoth was stuck still eyeing Malikot with much confusion as he waited for a response from Sho. Though he did 'hear' the Iron's comment on handling his Rider and privately thought back Thankfully it seems Mira-mine is agreeable enough not to argue much...Elphaba is a very...inventive name for a pillie by the way; Hemetath. Then he sort of quietly chuckled at how Hemetath had convinced his Rider that Elphaba was a good name prior to the 'advice'.

In response Mira quietly thought don't you DARE think I'll let you bully me just by making my brain ring Malinoth. This statement momentarily jarred Malinoth's focus from Malikot and he stared in exaggerated shock at her Now why would I ever do that mine? where did you even get that idea?. Clearly the ditz of a black didn't realize he hadn't blocked Mira from his end of the chat with his Iron father as Mira spoke again hmm, it could be someone forgot to block me out of your lil scheming with Hemetath?. This would cause the young black to sort of huff and look away, yet again not looking toward Malikot. Though he did respond finally I have no idea what you are talking about Mine; I can't believe you'd suddenly think I was planning to coerce you into anything.

Mira would have continued the 'argument' if not for Perrin thwapping her with an antenna to make her look in Randiel's direction. "ack!? what the shells Perri-oh my!". Unfazed Perrin Mmhmm'd a greeting to Randiel's new friend. At about the same time Asher and Nymeria; once the pink was focused on the newbug rather than his twitchy antenna, joined Asher in cheeping a welcome to the family.

~~~~

Randiel had been so focused on the eggs hatching as he waited to learn who owned the pinkflit, that it took all Mira's pets greeting it to make him realize something. That 'something' being one of the bugs he'd just watch hatch had picked him. As Aela chirped a welcome at the baby brown bug and Randiel felt the fuzzy emotions through their growing connection he gently petted the pillie "guess I'll have to get used to having a bucket in my room eh Aela?". As she chittered in response the returned Krekrekrekre made the pink blink at the baby in confusion for a moment before she tried to imitate the sound. Which made the bug seem to sit up more on his spot and wave his antenna indignantly. He'd show her for mocking him!, as with a kre...krekrekre...KRE! the little critter had lightly popped Aela on the snoot. Then informed her with a series of 'kres' that he'd turned her into a little pink trundlebug for mocking the great and mighty Archmage!.

Of course neither the bug nor anyone on Pern had a clue what the shells an 'Archmage' was. But the nameless brown felt it fit his "abilities" such as they were. Aela for her part broadcast confusion to Randiel as she looked herself over; she didn't THINK she was a bug...those were food. Which caused Randiel to facepalm and look at Aela "shells Aela the lil bug didn't turn you into anything he just thwapped you...as for you lil one...you need a name...how about Majere?". The newly named brown stilled and twitched his antenna in contemplation. Majere...it held merit as a good name for a mighty one such as he!. With that he gave a decisive Kre! for the name. Randiel chuckled as he looked at his sister "well now you have Perrin and I have Majere I suppose".

[Gray]

This was a rather... curious hatching. So different than Quintin's had been! Kida's eyes widened as each pillie popped from their shells and greeted the world. The gray just waggled her antennae at those that passed. Hello! How are you? A fine day for hatching! She didn't really behave terrotorially. No, her sole claim over Kidanyr had shattered when Quince impressed.

The green, how ever, would have none of it. Half tangling herself in the girl's scarf, he set to honking at any pillie that neared.
“Quince, shhhh. You'll frighten them and upset people!” Picking the green up, Kidanyr smoothed a hand over the upset flit's back, earning a hard nip in response.
“Ah!” She quickly pulled her hand away and shook it a bit, as if that would stop the pain. Instantly, Quince's eyes cleared. The green hand't meant it.
“Just watch, it's not like another pillie would replace you or Quintin.” She murmured, once again running her fingers over the Green's back.

And they did just that. They watched the little drama unfold before them. Quince quickly decided this was good, and honked encouragingly at the pillies. Yes! Find yours! Find yours and stay away from mine! But one did not listen. In fact, it flat out climbed up her human's leg! She was about to unleash another torrent of unhappiness when Kida reached down to scoop up the little pillie.

“Hello there. No need to be sad. I'm... not quite sure what happened. But you don't need to be upset!” She crouched near the ground, cradling the pillie in her hands.
“I'm Kida, and this is Quince and Quintin. Quince, you be nice to her, see, she's green like you.” The firelizard was, for a moment, aghast. She had to be nice? But, she did notice the similarities between herself and the leafy pillie. Obviously, by being green, they were soul sisters, and soul sisters protected each other! In fact, that Blue made her sister sad! Taking to the air, Quince honked at the blue and his new bonded.

Kida just laughed and shook her head. Her little family was getting to be quite chaotic.
“What should we name you?” She cooed. Quintin came over and delicately tapped the smaller pillie, doing her best to assure the newbie that they were not all like Quince.
“How about... Quinzel? Yes. Quinzel sounds nice.”

The green, Quinzel, thought of the words. Of the name. Then with a soft 'Mokk' accepted it. Yes, she was Quinzel, and did Kidanyr see what happened to her? The shame! There horror! Her antennae drooped again as she started to pour her small pillie heart out. She had been scandalized and mocked!

[Digitalis]

When there seemed to be a bit of a lull in the hatching, Tamren tried again to walk away. He was stopped by a sad yet piercing kuluuun! from the brown, and trying not to roll his eyes, he turned around to rejoin the crowd. Sure enough, there was another batch of pillies hatching and running around. The candidate stood back and watched these newest pillies bond, thankful each time the bugs picked out someone who was not him.

As Tamren stared at the beach and the people around them and generally tried not to look at the baby bugs, the brown pillie on his shoulder cooed and kuluuned happily at the appearance of more and more siblings. More friends and siblings was a good thing, surely. Maybe one of the eggs yet to hatch would decided to be friends with him and his. That would be nice, even if he had to sit on Tamren's head until he was okay with it as well.

[A]

It took the rumors some time to reach Talubara. The rumors that there was a hatching by the lake, of some distinctly Western thing called pillies. Talubara had seen pillies around and thought they looked more like trundle bugs than something that should accompany a future dragon rider. But, he had never seen a pillie hatch and he was mildly curious how the whole Impression process would go. Did the bugs even have telepathy? It would be something to write home about, at any rate, something uniquely Western. He ought take full advantage while he was here, even if what he was taking advantage of felt mildly ridiculous.

Besides which, Talubara had been in the middle of a run around the lake, when someone had come up to him babbling about the thing, and it was in the middle of his route. A mass of people, kneeling and smiling and giggling over...something. Talubara slowed to a walk, peeking cautiously through a gap around the edges.

Yes, pillies. Those would be the pillies then. He took a glance around, judging from the sight of a few excited faces that the Hatching was already underway. The trilling seemed to have stopped for the moment, which Talubara took as a sign there were currently no unattached babies present. He listened in for a moment on his heartbeat. Steady, but quick. A break in his rhythm was acceptable at this stage. He could add on another half-candlemark at the end to compensate.

[Kestrel]

To those listening closely, a soft, muffled chirp came from the egg pile, and moments later, a pair of wobbling antennae preceded the arrival of another green. Slime brought an extra shine to the pillie’s shell, which was prettily speckled with an almost golden tone. She shook her head, needing only a moment to regain her energy before she was frolicking across the sand in happy bursts, taking in all there was to see. Roo ti-yoo, roo ti-yoo[/color] she chirped to herself in her sing-song manner. She could entertain herself well enough, but she couldn’t help but think it would be nice if some of the sleepy-heads in the other eggs would wake up already so she had someone to explore with.

She got her wish—a pair of beady eyes peered out cautiously from beneath the broken eggs, set below the white flash of a sandy crown. The nearly hidden brass was difficult to make out clearly, as he was apparently having very definite second thoughts about this whole hatching thing. He wasn’t sure about that world out there—it looked awful suspicious. Probably full of…choices. Difficult, difficult choices. Like the one presented to him now—should he go out at all, or would it be better to try to find the pieces of his egg and see if he couldn’t wiggle back in there? He could probably fit if he tried—but then again, that would probably be hard too…

The green spotted the slight movement amongst the broken eggs, and scuttled closer with an inquiring chirp. He blinked at the green face suddenly appearing before his own, wiggling shyly further down in the sand. She was here to pressure him! Couldn’t she see that he was deep in thought? Roo! Roo ti-yoo.[/color] She moved forward, bumping his face with her own. He froze for a moment, but then, somewhat reluctantly, climbed out. At least he knew there were some decent people (well, and pillies) out there. Visually, he wasn’t the most striking of pillies—his shell was a pleasant, dark brass—but drawn out in the center of his shell were two large spots and two faint stripes that looked unsettlingly like the eye and nose sockets of a human skull. His face bore similar markings in a creamy shade, and skeletal stripes ran down his legs. Finally free of the eggs, he carefully stretched each of his tiny legs one at a time, then planted them underneath him to stand as regally as he could. He remained still as the green started to skitter away again, despite her attempts to call for him to come with her. He couldn’t simply up and go running off somewhere! He had to think about it first. Carefully.

Her patience only went so far, so soon he found himself to be alone again. It was short-lived, however—a blue and a pink came bursting out of the eggs at nearly the same time, and their first mutual action upon rolling to their feet and getting their bearings was to move with excitement toward the brass. The blue—a darker-shelled pillie with many tiny, squiggly stripes intersecting over his body—cried out happily and began to circle his brass brother, who—quite petrified by the sudden burst of attention—could only lean away, not having worked up the resolve yet to actually move. The blue, apparently, didn’t notice that he was a bit less than welcome. He had found his leader! He had a crown, so surely he must be his true and rightful prince. The blue was honor-bound to serve him forever, and lowered his front half in an awkward bow, swearing his allegiance.

The pink, for her part, was not entirely sure her dear blue brother felt that having a leader to serve was so important, but what he was doing seemed fun, so she might as well join in. Ded! Ded-dee-ded ded![/color] she chittered, bouncing around the brass. She would serve him, too, whatever that meant! She was sure they were all going to become great friends. The brass, though still uncomfortable with all the attention he was getting, did like the idea of friends. He chirped a quiet hello, solemnly promising that he would do his best to be a good prince.

But if anything had proven true in this hatching, it was that the happy scene of four contented pillies could hardly go on for long. Something—someone, more like—had to come along to disrupt it all—and the black pillie that crawled out of the eggs was more than happy to oblige. He eyed the four of them with dismay—it was terrible! No conflict! No drama! How endlessly boring. Things could hardly be allowed to continue like that, not if he had anything to say about it—this scene needed a villain! And if no one else was willing to do the job, well, for the good of Pern, he would do it himself.

The black was a spindly creature, with muddy purplish lines weaving across his shell. He peered around at his four siblings, trying to work out which to target for maximum effect. That green! She was obviously much too happy, skipping about and singing like that. Something just had to be done. He skittered to the water’s edge, dipping one long front leg in, and then made a bee-line for the green, who paused, turning around to watch him approach and chirping her greeting. He was walking funny, trying to run without the use of his one dripping front leg. Was he hurt?

She squealed in surprise as he finally caught up to her and began poking the pointed end of his leg quite vigorously against the side of her head. Kwakaka![/color] he crowed in triumph. At least he thought he was triumphant—truthfully he wasn’t quite sure. The most sensible way to kill someone seemed to be dripping poison into those little holes creatures used to hear things, he thought—but in practice it proved a little more difficult. Still, he had poked ‘poison’ onto her head quite a few times, so he was pretty sure she was dead now, and told her so. Kwaaa![/color] he announced it to the others as well, for good measure. Look on his works and be afraid! He had killed once, and could do it again—he would be the leader now! That seemed quite sufficient for his goals of bringing some conflict into this boring scene, so he scooted back, eager to watch the consequences unfold.

The green pillie stared as incredulously as a pillie could at her brother. What was he on about? Couldn’t everyone see she was just fine? The blue pillie, seeing his opportunity to be useful to his lord, sprang forward, running toward the green. If there was any doubt over whether she was dead or not, he would sort it out, and report back promptly, as any good messenger should! He slowed as he got closer to the green, keeping a good distance, in case death was contagious. Mss? Mss?[/color] he inquired, and she waved her antennae in what she hoped was a vibrant display of life. Roo! Rooo![/color]

The blue backed away, aghast. She was most likely, in his opinion, no less than 98% dead—and yet she was attempting to talk, which made her 100% crazy! Dead pillies didn’t move or talk! He ran back to the brass as fast as his legs could carry him, declaring his findings. Mssmssmssmssmssmss![/color] The pink pillie, also listening, blinked. Dead? It was true? Ded-dee-ded! Ded! Ded-dee-dee-dee-ded! This was terrible! They were all going to die! There was only one way to be safe—if she could convince the black that she was already dead, maybe he would spare her!

She stumbled sideways, as if struck on the side of her shell. She wailed, teetering in circles, antennae waving languidly. The pink rolled over onto her shell—or tried to, as she found it a bit more difficult to tip herself over than she had anticipated, and it took a few tries—and once upside down, she wiggled all eight legs feebly. Deeeeeee…[/color] She stiffened suddenly, then went limp, closing her eyes, and gave one last twitch of one antenna for good measure. There! If that didn’t fool him, nothing would!

She certainly fooled the brass—he stared sadly out toward her, and looked back to the green. Two of his siblings dead! One had been killed by the black, but what had killed the pink? It must have been the blue, since she hadn’t died until he had come back! The blue shrank at this accusation. Him, a murderer? He was just the messenger! A loyal servant! He had done no such thing! The brass, however, was not convinced, and worse, everyone was watching him, waiting for his reaction. For his decision. He was the leader—but what to do?

He seemed to swell slightly, as if taking a very big breath, and the other pillies all kept still, spellbound by the anticipation. And then the brass’s antennae twitched, his mouthparts opened, and—ABEE…ononnabee? Beeononna, nonna nonnabee. Abeenonna, onon abeeabee. Abeeononnabee anonna o beeonon? Abee! Nonnabee! Abeeononna beeononna bee! Beeononna…[/color]

The others continued to watch as he went on, talking—quite loudly and exuberantly—to no one but himself. His antennae thrashed, he took stumbling steps from side to side, he reared up and waved his front legs—and went on and on and on. The other pillies began to glance at the others, the pink and blue tilting their heads and chirping in confusion to each other. Evidently, this was going to take a while. The green pillie trudged over to the brass, determined to do something to help him and put an end to this silly soliloquizing, but once he got going he couldn’t be stopped, and didn’t even seemed to notice her. She was dead, after all, and crazy to boot. He had more important things to deal with! Deep, existential crises to succumb to!

She waved her antennae, deciding she had had quite enough of them all. The green turned and marched away, scouting around for someone sensible who would know she was most certainly neither dead nor crazy. And she found just the perfect person for that. The green climbed up Avna’s leg, ignoring her black sibling as she made her way to the woman’s shoulder. Roo tiyoo,[/color] she said politely, forming fuzzy images of upside-down ovines in Avna’s head as well as an emotion of feeling…orange. It was the only proper greeting, of course.

SPOILER: Click to show

Green (549415) – Bonded to Avna
Loose inspiration: Ophelia, from Hamlet
Though curious and playful, this pillie is—unlike most of her siblings—usually quite sensible. She is clear-headed and seeks to put a stop to conflict, looking out for the well-being of all. Unfortunately, many would never know it. Perhaps she has an odd way of communicating, or something simply gets lost in translation, but this pillie never seems to make sense, and even pillies typically fail to understand her. Perhaps unfortunately, she is very friendly and talkative, meaning Avna will likely find herself bombarded by this pillie’s strange imagery quite often.
Roo tiyoo

The blue and pink pillies exchanged another sad look, and the pink pillie rolled upright. The two reunited, running their antennae over each others’ shells before the blue cast the babbling brass one last look, and then the two trudged toward the black. Their leader had failed them, and was clearly incapacitated—unfortunately, this left them with no choice but to serve the black instead. The black stood taller on his spindly legs, chirping with delight. Minions! Excellent! He was certain he could make great drama with the two of them at his side. But what to do to start with…he turned in circles, thinking, while his sad but dutiful servants watched. Aha! He pointed an antenna toward them, his first task decided. The two of them had way too great of a bromance deal going on. They needed conflict! Drama! To strain the bonds of their friendship! Which they would do…by whacking each other viciously with their antennae! A glorious fight!

The two looked at him, then back at each other. Even to the pink, this sounded rather stupid, but the blue was committed, and she would respect his choices. Slowly, and without much enthusiasm, the two began slapping each other with their stringy antennae, trading off dull blows against each others’ shells.

The brass, at long last, stopped his blabbering. He looked at the pink and the blue, his dear friends—what was the black making them do? The monster! First he had killed the green, and now he was making them fight? It…it could not be stood for! Probably! Right? Fueled by the red-hot fire of indecisive rage, the brass charged at the black. BEEEEEEEEEEEEE![/color] The black watched in excitement as the brass approached—now this was a good scene! Such passion! Such drama!—and was promptly barreled into by his sibling before he realized that as the Master Villain, he was probably supposed to be fighting back, if this story was to have a proper climax. So he waved his tiny legs and poked with all his strength, and the two went tumbling across the sands, embroiled in their skirmish.

The blue watched in amazement, chirping encouragement to the brass, his true prince, before he realized—what if his prince needed help! Who would bring the cavalry if no messenger went off to boldly procure reinforcements? He sprang off into the crowd, dodging around shoes until he reached Talubara. He galliantly climbed up the candidate’s leg, all the way up to his chest, where he clung desperately with all eight legs hooked into his shirt. He had intended to get to his shoulder, or perhaps even his head, but he had gone and worn himself out racing around so quickly, and could only peer hopefully up at Talubara’s giant face. Mssmssmss![/color] His lord needed help! He needed…wait. The blue pillie turned, looking back out toward where the black and brass had been fighting, only to see the two lying languidly on the sand. Well…nevermind! It seemed the battle had ended before he could quite get the message out. Well, that made this a bit awkward. But nevermind! Talubara seemed like a worthy prince himself, actually—a fine lord to serve! The blue pillie would be a great servant, he would see!

SPOILER: Click to show

Blue (2B4DA0) – Bonded to Talubara
Loose inspiration: Guildenstern, from Hamlet
Gallant, noble, and utterly devoted, this pillie loves nothing more than being a perfect vassal for a leader he judges to be honorable and good. And that leader is Talubara, whether he likes it or not. Though brave in his own way, this pillie generally prefers to stay out of any real conflict or action, looking to his ‘lord’ to protect him—but he has a deep and abiding love of acting as a messenger, and will likely take ‘messages’ about Talubara and his situation to most anyone nearby if he deems there is a crisis—and he always seems to think there is a crisis. Despite his enjoyment of playing the messenger, he isn’t a very good one, as his messages always seem to come after the crisis has been settled, and no help is needed (if it ever was to begin with).
Mss

The pink pillie had found herself to be the lone spectator of the fight, as the blue had run off and she had been too caught up watching to notice, but now that both the black and the brass had apparently given up fighting, having worn themselves out, she looked around for her friend. Well, that was strange—and the black and the brass were probably dead, too. Maybe not as dead as the green had been, but definitely at least 51% dead. Hanging around all these dead people was really starting to be a drag, so she abandoned them in favor of the crowd. Maybe she would find the blue pillie, or maybe some new adventure would come up. She hadn’t gone far when she came to someone’s shoe, and she stopped. She had no idea why, but she was certain that this person smelled good. Really good. She climbed up the shoe, up the strange trunk attached to it, all the way up to Sandr’s shoulder, where she stopped at last to take a break. Wow, there was a great view from up there! Ded,[/color] she chirped to the strange, not very pillie-like face now not far from her own. Didn’t he think the view was nice too? It must be nice being up so very high all the time. Maybe she would just ride on his shoulder forever. That sounded like a pretty good idea.

SPOILER: Click to show

Pink (E86A8A) – Bonded to Aleksandr
Loose inspiration: Rosencrantz, from Hamlet
Not the brightest of pillies, this pink tends to go with the flow. She likes having other people’s ideas to latch onto and give her guidance, since left to her own devices, she tends to be rather spacey. She’s certainly upbeat, though, and will happily join in on anything others are doing that seems interesting—even if it is totally inappropriate for her to do so or if she has no idea what’s going on. However, if faced with any conflict or anything she perceives to be a potential dilemma, she has an odd defense mechanism—a ridiculously elaborate pantomimed ‘death’. Even she isn’t sure why this seems like a good idea—she’s just convinced it is.
Ded dee-ded

The two tired combatants, finding themselves abandoned by their siblings, slowly rolled back to their feet. The black looked around, disdainful. What, had they left already? Without seeing the denouement? Clearly they had no appreciation for proper storytelling! He saw little point in continuing the story if no one was going to watch it, so he strode out into the crowd in search of someone who would truly understand. Someone like. K’ius! He climbed right up to K’ius’s neck and onward up the side of his face. Aha! Humans, unlike pillies, had very large and convenient ears, perfect for poisoning. K’ius didn’t mind if the black pillie ‘poisoned’ him, right? In the name of drama and action!

SPOILER: Click to show

Black (232323) – Bonded to K’ius
Loose inspiration: Claudius, from Hamlet
This pillie seems quite devious, a dastardly villain if ever there was one. He seems to strive for chaos and bedlam wherever he can, just so he can sit back and soak up the mayhem he has created. What most don’t know is that he actually isn’t malicious—he truly means no harm, and in his own way, thinks what he is doing is right. Because the world is just far too boring—how ever will there be good stories if everything goes smoothly all the time? He wants to see drama, tragedy, and triumph, and he wants it now, shardit! He also has an odd habit of trying to ‘poison’ people with water, which means that K’ius is unfortunately likely to wake up with the pillie hovering over him dribbling water in his ears in the middle of the night.
Kwakaka

The brass pillie, now all alone, looked up at the faces looking down at him. These tall things—there were so many of them! And apparently his siblings had all chosen one, which probably meant that he should too. But how was he supposed to choose? It was such a monumental decision! He’d probably be stuck to this person for the rest of his life! What if they turned out to be a jerk? He couldn’t take this kind of pressure! The brass pillie wandered through the crowd, pausing beside one person after another, and even starting to climb a few shoes before jumping off and skittering off another way. No, no, no… It was no good! Maybe if he got up higher, he’d have a better view of the sharding things, and could better make up his mind. The brass climbed up Day’ar, perching beside his neck and looking out. Oh, it was just too hard! Abee,[/color] he lamented to Day’ar. He was never going to be able to choose at this rate. Unbeknownst to him was the fact that he had already made his goo-bond. He was just too busy trying to make up his mind to notice!

SPOILER: Click to show

Brass (492E10) – Bonded to Day’ar
Loose inspiration: Hamlet, from Hamlet
Almost criminally indecisive, this pillie can’t seem to make up his mind about anything. Ever. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t have a habit of launching into monologue at the slightest dilemma, as even mere thoughts of what he wants to eat for breakfast could have him babbling to himself for half an hour. Nearly everything seems to prompt a deep existential crisis and self-exploration—though for some reason he never seems to make any progress or actually develop despite all his soul searching. Or if he does, it’s just a very slow process. He’s just a bit of a drama queen. If you can get past his theatrics, he actually does have a good heart—though he may seem a little standoffish and reserved, he’s mostly just shy and worried about others judging him. He can be quite sweet to those who actually manage to befriend him, and he cares about these people greatly.
Abeeononnabee

[A]

Talubara froze as he felt something scuttling up his leg. He'd been watching the pillies fight, fascinated in spite of himself, and now there was something climbing up his leg. Fast. Talubara glanced down. It was...a pillie. A pillie that seemed to have stopped somewhere on his chest. Talubara reached to remove it, gently, of course, but it clung. Was that...goo? Well, that was the end of this shirt.

Mssmss! The thing made one of those odd noises pillies made and Talubara looked at in confusion. Yes, the blue thought. This one will make a fine lord indeed! He attempted to bow to his new, most glorious master, but it came out as more of an awkward wiggle.

"Uh...okay. Mssmss?" Talubara offered. Maybe that was the key to getting this thing off him. He had a run to get back to. He had seen enough. He'd only wanted to watch, not touch a pillie. What if it was diseased? "Want to get off me now? Go on your merry way and do whatever it is you do?"

To the pillie, Talubara's words were just noise. He was quite, quite happy where he was, where he could gaze upon and adore his new master. He reached for his lord's mind, to offer his reverence.

"Oh no. Oh no you don't," Talubara tugged harder on the pillie, but it was well and truly stuck, "You are not bonding to me now. I'm a Northerner. We don't do pillies."

This was just his luck. Six turns of failed hatchings and the first thing that looked twice at him was a glorified Western insect. The pillie crooned at him again, sending more affection his way. Tal checked the sun. It was getting late. He had a run to finish. Fine, the mutant, degenerate Western trundlebug could come. He could sanitize the thing later. It'd get bored and run off on its own soon enough.

"Fine," he grumbled, "Hope you like running." The pillie gave a particularly energetic Mss in response. Talubara shrugged. The critter was light, no skin off his back if it wanted to come along. So long as it was gone by dinner, "Alright then, blue. Deal."

He supposed he should give it a temporary name. He had no particular desire to personify it, but he needed something to tell the gossips. He couldn't just call the thing blue, "Cerulean. You can be Cerulean. 'Kay? We good? Yeah, good."

[maruset]

It was fun to watch the hatching, though Letorin had to admit that he was swallowing down some laughter at some of the expressions of people who ended up with one. A few obviously looked highly uncomfortable with pillies, rather like D'nari was. Though why they had come to a pillie -hatching-, he had no idea. But it was fun to watch as the bugs found people to bond with.

Though he should have expected it when he got his own. "You were quite the active one," he told the brown, running fingers over the shell, other hand digging out a treat. He always carried them around anymore, given his fair. Offering it to the pillie. The brown seized on it and began to eat, antenna waving around wildly. He projected a sense of waiting and expectation.

"You gave quite a show out there." What sort of show, Letorin was't quite sure. But it was very enthusiastically done.

That seemed to please the brown, who was quite happy. Yes, accolades and gifts. This was a fine audience he had selected. Very discerning with fine arts. Baw. Ba-haw baw, he gave his new audience a small bow, and went back to eating, already planning greater and more expansive plays.


Letorin just chuckled again, and continued to pet his new friend, mind already turning over ideas. "I think may I should name you Agere. It seems to fit you far too well."

((ooc: so sorry it took me so long to reply))

[Digitalis]

He never would have dared to say so aloud, but in his mind, Tamren had to wonder: did all pillies act this insanely, or was it just this particular clutch of them that had an extra touch of madness? Being as generally unfamiliar with Dalibor's bugs as he was, one option seemed just as likely to the candidate as another. His thoughts were staying in his head where they belonged, though, and outwardly, he was silent. He was still well aware of the large amber clutchmother, and since he had not been around pillies for long, he wasn't quite sure just how much they were capable of understanding. He wasn't taking any chances.

He grimaced in distaste as the next group of hatchlings emerged, a brass and a black among them. Paying little attention to the people around him, Tamren backed away warily as the pillies began to approach the spectators to make their bonds. He recognized a few of the newest pillie-owners; a fellow candidate, a rider or two, but others were completely unfamiliar to him, though the one who got the blue seemed less than happy about it, and that, at least, Tamren could certainly relate to.

[Serah]

There was nothing more she could do but wait. Wait and watch. She still wanted to watch the rest of the Hatching. This time, she really didn't think any more Impressions would be made to her. Not with how many people there were here. With Rose and Adue on each of her shoulders, she watched as many more of the Pillies hatched. Each seemed to be quite the interesting little bug.

She began to wonder just how many more eggs there were. The only thing Aelynn really understood about the pillie hierarchy was that Ambers were like the Golds and Coppers of the Pillies. Queens normally laid quite a bit of eggs. She didn't know just how many eggs the Amber Pilllies could lay, but she knew there would be a lot just because Ambers were the highest rank.

She looked around the lake to see just how many people there were. There were quite a few, many people she didn't know and some she did. There were other people, people she vaguely recognized as Candidates. But she did not really know them, so she stayed where she was and continued watching the area where Minerva had laid her eggs.

[Maggie]

Heel! Heeelheelheelheeeeeeeeeeel! Paks scuttled in front of her owner excitedly, clicking her mandibles to encourage her person to go faster. Tamarine laughed, following the excited pink pillie who occasionally circled to herd her like a dog would herd ovines.

"I know, I know Paks. It's ok, I'm following. Calm down." She laughed as the pillie waved her front legs at her, demanding to be picked up so she could see above the crowd. Paks did love babies. They were quite adorable and tiny and needed to be defended and protected. "Do you want a sibling?" Tamarine asked her, amused. She did like the pillie quite a bit. Paks was smart and she learned fast. Tamri had been training her to do searches and was hoping to train her or water rescue, one day. Maybe with two, that dream could actually happen. She stroked the pink's carapace, getting a pleased Heeeeeeel!



"Flare! Flare come back!" Kaydian raced after his white-striped black yet again. Flare was ignoring his owner's calls, humming as if there was a flitt clutch hatching. Pretty rode on her owner's shoulder, her tail wrapped around his neck like a pink necklace. She scolded loudly, telling her little brother off in flittish. Flare landed far enough from the clutch to not insult Minerva, humming as loudly as he could. Kaydian stopped short, his hand flying up to scratch Pretty's eyeridges. She glared at Flare, who just gave her a fittish grin. Kaydian eyed the pillies worriedly. They were creepy little things. But they were only babies, it wasn't their fault... He backed off slightly, worried.

[Kestrel]

Life stirred in the pile of fractured shells yet again, as a slender gray antenna swept from side to side, apparently trying to clear the eggs from the oncoming pillie’s way. The wispy appendage couldn’t do much more than bump into them, though, leaving the gray to have to plow through her messy siblings’ leftovers with her face. Nevertheless, she soldiered on, determined to get free, and at last, her legs met sand. She looked around expectantly—after slogging through so many shells, surely she must have a great number of siblings waiting to welcome her, right? But…where was everybody?

She could see a few very large pillies out in the crowd, but they were much too big to be her siblings. And then, of course, there were all the strange, distinctly-not-pillie-looking creatures as well, but she regarded them only with suspicion. They had no business being so tall. It made them rather intimidating, and she was quite sure that no one could be intimidating on accident. The world was turning out to be more scary than she had hoped…but she supposed she would just have to be brave. She could do that, right?

Fortunately, in the time it took her to perfect her best ‘brave’ pose, a green pillie came racing out of the pile of eggs in a glorious shower of sand, and bowled right into the gray. Srrrrr![/color] The gray thrashed, trying to simultaneously get to her feet again and figure out what exactly had hit her. The green left little doubt of that, though, as she deftly flipped back upright and scuttled right up into the gray’s face. The gray took a few awkward steps back, trying and failing to regain her personal space from the advancing green—until the green abruptly moved away again, and started to walk in almost dance-like circles around the gray.

Nonni nonni nonni![/color] she said to her gray sister. The other pillie was obviously taking everything way too seriously—but the green pillie had the cure. And the cure was fun! The gray pillie couldn’t help but feel a bit insulted by the green, who had had the audacity to knock her over and then tell her she needed to lighten up—but she certainly didn’t like being alone either, and the games the green was inviting her into did seem a bit appealing. So after a moment’s hesitation, the gray chased after her sister, and the two started up what seemed to be a strange, baby pillie version of leap frog.

The two became so wrapped up in their game that they completely ignored the emergence of yet another pillie from the eggs—something of an accomplishment, really, since it was a rather loud emergence. Hath hathhathhath hath![/color] he creeled, desperately pawing at his eyes. Sand! Only just born, and he already had sand in his eyes! Oh, it was a cruel world—the sand would surely never come out, and he would be blind forever, he was sure! He hated sand, now and forever—he would proclaim, right at that moment, that he would never touch sand again if he could help it!

Not that anyone was listening to him to care what he ‘proclaimed’ anyway. But the gray pillie did stop mid-game (causing the green to bump into her again, though at least the green only seemed to find this funny) as not one, but two more siblings clawed their way up to the surface, stepping out into the world at the exact same moment. They could almost be twins, too—one brown and one brass—but the patterns on their shells were different, as one wore bold spots and the other muted stripes, and the brass was darker and less red-tinged than his brother. Huh. Now that she thought about it, the gray wasn’t sure how she had ever thought the two were all that similar in the first place.

The brass, though roughly the same size as his siblings for the time being, nevertheless seemed to have a majestic, leaderly aura about him, drawing the curious attention of the green, the gray, and the black as well. The black had finally succeeded in finding a rock to stand on to get away from the sand, and from it he peered at the brass with his newly-cleared eyes. Why, that—that—was a leader, it was plain to see! The black swelled with excitement. Yes, this was a worthy companion for him to accompany, now and forever! Sand-issues promptly forgotten, he jumped right back down to the sand and scuttled over to the brass as fast as his legs could carry him, waving his antennae. The brass was pleased to see that he had a follower already, and stood quietly for a moment, thinking up just the perfect way to commemorate the occasion. Ah, that was it—a fine brawl was in order! He promptly tackled the surprised black, and the two began to scuffle, rolling and chasing each other across the sand.

Though the black fought back initially, he soon decided that fighting might not be quite so glorious as he had thought at first—and it didn’t help that he had no idea what they were fighting about anyway. He turned and ran, managing to hide from the brass by doing a fine imitation of a piece of dead seaweed. He kept up the imitation until the gray broke away from the green to stride toward him, deciding to do what was probably her duty and poke him with an outstretched foreleg. The black slowly rolled over, staring into the face of this new sibling—and then he got to his feet as fast as he could. Yes, yes, this was the perfect companion for him! Nevermind what he had said about the brass. The gray was far better, and he would stay by her side forever!

The brown, meanwhile, had initially made his entrance into the world with just as much confidence as the brass, but despite patiently waiting in his best gallant pose, the others had not flocked to him as he had expected them to. In fact, they were downright ignoring him! No one seemed to care in the least whether he was there or not. Dejected, he stomped his many pointed legs, grinding the sand down beneath him. It just wasn’t fair! It was the brass’s fault, he was sure. If the brass hadn’t gone and hatched at the same time as him, they would have noticed! Clearly he needed to get their attention back, but how?

The brown was seized with inspiration as he saw a nearby puddle of water in a slight depression nearby. He ran toward it and promptly hurled himself into the thin film of water, which barely reached his underbelly. Mff! Mff![/color] He flailed pathetically in the puddle, trying without much luck to splash in it for extra dramatic effect. He was in trouble, couldn’t they see? They couldn’t possibly ignore him now!

The green was the first to take notice of him, though by the giddy noises she made she only seemed to be laughing at him. How stupid he must be, if he thought everyone was going to race to save a pillie from less than an inch of water! Well, it may not have been working on everyone, but the brown’s effort wasn’t totally in vain—the gray charged toward him, the black forgotten. Someone needed her help! Well, she was born to be a hero, and she wasn’t about to let him get hurt!

She took off so suddenly, though, that the black was caught off-guard, and managed to scoop yet more sand into his eyes in his delayed haste to catch up with her. He cried out, rubbing the grains once again out of his face, and turned to look for his perfect companion—but where was she? The gray was actually only a few feet away from the black, and the black peered at her, thinking—but no, he wasn’t sure that was the same gray who had just been next to him. In fact, come to think of it, had she even been gray? He just couldn’t remember! But then his eyes fell on the green, and he let out a delighted chirp before racing toward her. Oh, there she was! Well, probably! But she was perfect even if she wasn’t who he had originally been looking for, though he was still pretty sure she was.

The green pillie, however, far from welcoming him, proceeded to treat him to a barrage of teasing that he could possibly confuse her with a gray—and for apparently being completely incapable of sticking to his ideals and commitments no matter how fervently he proclaimed them. The black bristled—well, he never! The green was just so...rude! And yet strangely intriguing. He was just about to proclaim her as his new chosen companion when the brass (who had somehow managed to go charging through the shallows of the lake for a while, still in search of the black) plowed right into the two of them, waving his front-most legs and mouthparts at each of them. He wouldn’t allow them to fight! They were to put a stop to that at once, and to make sure they weren’t going to fight anymore, the brass pillie would fight them both himself! Yes, he was sure that was a most agreeable solution. The black and the green exchanged the briefest of confused looks before they were tackled, and the three way scuffle began.

The gray, meanwhile, had ‘helped’ the brown by all but shoving him out of the puddle, despite his best efforts to stay in it in hopes that others might come join in. At last he gave up, marching angrily toward the humans. One of them would pay attention to him! He climbed right up to Toreld’s shoulder, butting him impatiently with his head as he secreted the goo that sealed their bond.

SPOILER: Click to show

Brown (502E1C) – Bonded to Toreld
Loose inspiration: Don John, from Much Ado About Nothing
It would be fair to say that this pillie is rather…sensitive. Not that he thinks so—he is quite confident and convinced that he is the best and most magnificent pillie of his clutch, of course. But when others don’t see him that way, it is very easy for him to get upset and feel like no one notices him. He has a tendency to get intensely jealous of anyone or anything he perceives to be receiving more attention than he is, and he will try most any tactics to garner more attention for himself.
Mff mff

The gray initially made to follow the brown, uncertain of what exactly a hero was supposed to do next—but she looked around in dismay to find that she had entirely lost sight of him amongst all these sharding humans. Oh well, she supposed that couldn’t really be helped. Though come to think of it, perhaps one of these humans could use her particular lackluster brand of heroics. Someone like…Tamren. She began climbing him, chirping a polite greeting to the brown already clinging to him. He could tell her apart from the other pillies, couldn’t he? She didn’t want to be as forgettable as her interaction with the black had led her to think.

SPOILER: Click to show

Gray (D1D5D5) – Bonded to Tamren
Loose inspiration: Hero, from Much Ado About Nothing
It might be her not-very-colorful color, or perhaps the not-incredibly-distinctive mottling of her shell, but this pillie tends not to stand out, or make any great impressions. She doesn’t like this very much, and it is part of her motivation to be a great hero—surely if she does many courageous deeds, others will have to remember and recognize her, right? At heart, she is certainly gallant and brave, but she isn’t always sure what to actually do to help others, though she tries nonetheless. Her general demeanor tends to be very quiet and methodical.
Srrr

The three-pillie brawl had broken up at last, as the green and the black both lay on their shells, feebly wiggling their legs in a half-hearted attempt to get up. The brass pillie teetered from side to side, dazed from a solid knock on the head from the green. Well, that had been fun! And most importantly, he hoped they had learned their lesson—they were most definitely not supposed to fight. Content that he had accomplished what he had set out to do, the brass went teetering into the crowd, looking for someone else who needed a lesson taught to them. And that person turned out to be Mira—he gathered his remaining strength and rammed himself into her shoe a couple times before climbing over it and starting up her leg. Praa![/color] he announced as he fought his way up to her shoulder. That other pillie she had with her better be ready for a new leader! Even if it was bigger than him.

SPOILER: Click to show

Brass (513016) – Bonded to Mira
Loose inspiration: Don Pedro, from Much Ado About Nothing
This pillie is a warrior to the core, and he doesn’t mind if everyone knows it. In fact, he’d prefer it that way. However, unlike some of his siblings, he isn’t overly concerned with his image or pride—he just really likes to fight. Unfortunately, he seems to have no idea when to stop fighting. He is liable to break out into a brawl in entirely inappropriate times and places, for any reason. He even seems to show his affection for something he likes by attacking it—not because he wants to hurt it, but simply because he thinks such things are fun. Other people fighting, though, is Different, and he will frequently attempt to act as a peacekeeper—though how effective he is is another story. Still, though brash, he is chivalrous, and usually means well.
Praa

The black and the green, finding themselves alone and, apparently, no longer about to be besieged by their strange brother should they attempt to move, finally righted themselves. The black, seized by a moment of romanticism, began chattering to the green—they didn’t need humans! They could just be each others’ companions, together forever! The green, however, merely flicked an antenna at him. She might consider it only because he would certainly keep her entertained with his sheer stupidity, but no. She was intrigued by these humans, and what games they might be able to play. Hers would be a life of fun, and she had to find just the right person to share it with. After nearly skipping between various pairs of tall, rigid legs, she began climbing up Shino’s, chirping cheerfully to her chosen human. She didn’t mind that Shino had a few other pets already with her as well—the more the merrier, as far as she was concerned!

SPOILER: Click to show

Green (A2D741) – Bonded to Shino
Loose inspiration: Beatrice, from Much Ado About Nothing
This pillie, with her playful demeanor, may seem at first to be unintelligent—but this couldn’t be further from the truth. She is about as witty as it is possible for a pillie to be, and one of her favorite pastimes is lavishing insults on just about everyone. Of course, to a human, these insults might be a bit difficult to comprehend (of just seem flat-out bizarre), but rest assured, any pillie would be properly affronted by them. Fun is the chief goal of her life, and she both seeks it herself through playing games as well as tries to bring it into the lives of those around her, as she thinks that surely everyone would be better off with a bit more fun in their lives. Despite her love of insults, she is generally warm and cheerful, and while not intentionally uncooperative, she values her independence and is not always the easiest to command.
Nonni nonni

The black had sworn to the green that he would never seek a human companion. No, it was only pillies for him, he was sure of that! And if his siblings had turned him down, well, he would just have to go find more pillies elsewhere. Like…past all those annoying humans, for example. He set a course marching straight through the crowd, eager to get to what was doubtless a myriad of pillies waiting for him just beyond—but he suddenly stopped at someone’s shoes. Wait! He climbed up Aelynn, past her shoulders and attempted to suction onto the side of her face. Yes, he was sure of it! She was definitely his truly destined companion—for real this time!

SPOILER: Click to show

Black (3A3F45) – Bonded to Aelynn
Loose inspiration: Benedick, from Much Ado About Nothing
This pillie is, to put it lightly, a bit of a drama queen. He seems to see everything in extremes, sorting everything into the very worst and the very best, and gets very easily worked up about either. He’ll probably be sharing his feelings with Aelynn quite often, whether she likes it or not and no matter how inconvenient a time it might be. He tends to make up his mind on a matter very quickly, only to later conveniently forget his previous decision as he latches onto a new idea.
Hath hath

[phantomofthewolves]

Toreld had been waiting patiently for a pillie. He watched as other lucky people got their pillies and wondered if one would bond with him. Then he felt a butting sensation near his head. He looked to find a brown pillie impatiently butting his head and secreting a goo on his shoulder. Mff! MFF! it cried and Toreld gave a small smile. He took the brown off his shoulder and held it like an infant.

"My, my. You're quite the impatient one, aren't you?" Toreld said, as the brown pillie wiggled in his arms. So... this is what it felt like to Impress... he thought and the brown pillie gave another Mff! Toreld wondered what to name his new friend. Toreld Jr? No. Treld? Nope. He pondered and pondered until one name entered his mind: Sitka. He smiled and said to his pillie: "I'll call you Sitka. Would you like that?" Sitka gave a happy Mff! and with that, the two left the other impatient people waiting for their pillie, together until the end.

[Digitalis]

Tamren shifted uncomfortably on his feet as the sand shifted to reveal another gray pillie. He could feel the brown pillie's legs digging into his shoulder to stay in place, and he suppressed a shudder. By this time, there were quite a lot of the small, shifty bugs running around, and the sight of all of them at once was creeping him out. He hoped the hatching was coming to an end soon.

The brown pillie gave a curious and welcoming kuluun to the newest batch of pillie hatchlings, drawing Tamren's attention as well. In addition to the gray, there were now green, black, brown, and brass pillies running around as well. Tamren was still hanging around at the back of the crowd, but he stepped back a few paces all the same, just to be safe. The brown waved his antennae cheerily at his siblings.

A few of the pillies were coming dangerously close to the humans now. Tamren watched warily as the newest brown hatchling made his choice, and he breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't him. He almost didn't notice the gray until she was practically beside him. He sputtered and flailed for a bit, but the gray was undeterred--she was also faster than he expected, and before he could really protest, she was climbing up his arm and bonding the same way the brown had done. In fact, she chirped a greeting to her fellow pillie, and the two of them touched antennae and exchanging kulunns and srrrs happily as Tamren despaired. How'd he manage to end up with two pillies?

[Dragonwher]

Mira had nodded smiling at her brother's comments, but a light touch from Perrin and nosing from Asher let her know more had hatched in almost a double wave. She smiled at the babies as they hatched and interacted, then made like her brother and side shuffled out of the way of a few. As she meant to speak up to her brother to tell him to stow it about the flit however; she felt something nudge her boot then climb her person. At the praa! however she nearly jolted out of her skin for a second. But the calming Mmhmm from Perrin settled her down.

He didn't mind the younger brass' antics as he lightly moved so he would appear to be hugging her side opposite the yet nameless newcomer. The brass made Mira chuckle "now what to name you...would you like the name Caramon?". As she spoke she looked at the baby brass on her shoulder as he clicked his mandibles in thought. He wasn't terribly sure of the name but when the blue pillie settled a calming antennae tap to his carapace. Then sent him thoughts along the lines of that name sounding brave; he was decided.

So as he praa!'d his approval of the name Nymeria meeped and chittered at him. Which led to the bug praaing at her as if asking huffily if she was picking a fight. As Mira looked to her brother again she lightly tapped Caramon "no Caramon; you are not fighting Nymeria she's still a baby, though I'm glad you like the name". Then she giggled at Randiel "and now I have Perrin and Caramon". Meanwhile Malinoth finally took pity on Randiel's confusion with Malikot and sent to Mira Miramine I think you should tell your brother the little pink pestering me looks to Ainoth's rider R'lan; just so he'll settle down. As Asher chirped his own greeting to Caramon who thankfully didn't see it as fight-picking as he chittered back. In the midst of her pets chatter she giggled at Mali's suggestion and looked at Randi "and sorry for not saying sooner but the pink you were wondering about is R'lan's little one, thats all".

As his rider relayed his message Malinoth looked toward Ainoth Look Ainoth, Miramine and her brother have new pillie-friends now!...and I think this one Mira called Caramon is going to be a big one. It appeared not to be in Malinoth to be sad the pillie didn't want him specifically though.

~~~

Randiel chuckled as another baby wandered toward where they were and chose his sister "shells Mira, if this keeps up by the time you and Mali are in a proper weyr as graduated Weyrlings. Then you won't have an empty place to walk from all the pets yer getting". Majere Krekre'd a greeting to his brother on Mira's shoulder. But he didn't seem spectacularly...thrilled that his brass sibling wanted someone his person would interact with often. Even if he couldn't discern why for the time being.

Aela and farkas on the other hand greeted the baby brass warmly enough that he didn't think they were wanting to fight either. Though Randiel ended up chuckling as his lil sis popped him on the shoulder for his joking jibe about how quickly she was accumulating pets. Up till the baby on her shoulder tried to get her to stop thumping Randi, by scuttling to her neck and nipping her ear. Which had the effect of making her yelp, her brother laugh and all the pets aside from Caramon express amusement in their own way. As well as Malinoth's eyes whirling happily. Soon enough though Randiel chuckled to his sister "well it was fun watching the hatching with you Sister-mine; but I am headed back to my room to sleep a bit more before I'm needed for chores and before another pillie decides it wants me".

With that, Randi left; walking back to his dormitory and telling Majere what all he usually did for work around here.

~~~

Still rubbing her ear, she looked at Caramon after waving to her brother "now why the shards did you bite me?". His response to her query was an annoyed praa! followed by feelings of the fighting being 'bad'. Which caused a flat stare at the brass before she looked half-annoyed at a rumbling Malinoth "and whats so funny to you now?". Her dragon partner's response was a bit slow in coming due to a draconic fit of the giggles but he finally thought to her How can you not see the humour in this?, that new pillie is clearly not following his own feelings if he likes to fight as he showed before you noticed him; but he stopped you from thumping your sibling. How can I not find that funny?.

This got him an eyeroll before Mira turned toward the weyrling barracks "we should probably follow my brother's example and scoot back to our rooms to get all these pets settled in case A'bar thinks we need another lesson today". She resolutely ignored Mali's next thought of you sure you aren't just trying to avoid being swarmed with new little friends?.

[Serah]

Of course, her thinking that she would not Impress a second pillie was completely off. It was at the end of the round of Impressions this time that a second pillie wandered her way. The other pillies of this round were each very pretty. There was a Brown that was very interesting looking to her. With all of the different colors of brown, he was cute.

Then there was a Gray. It was nice looking as well. It was a light Gray with darker gray speckles all over the body. The Brass held little interest for her, though he was pretty in his own right. The Green that had hatched also did not really interest her, she noted just how the Green looked. But it was the Black that really caught her attention, even before he Impressed to her.

The Black went even further than his Pink sister, who gave a slightly confused O romoo before the Black settled on her cheek. Letting out a slight sigh, Aelynn began to think of a name for the Black. It took a few moments, but she did finally think of a good (or at least decent) name for the black. "Eyon." She said simply, the Black seemed to realize that this would be his name, and he let out an excited Hath hath!