Straddle the Line [CalKal Double Hatching!]

[Maggie]

Tamarisk heard the order from the imperious iron dragon and bristled, her eyes whriling red. Tamarine hissed and slapped her ligthly to remind her that digging her claws into Tamarine's legs was a horrible way to express her displeasure. TAMARISK NOT TAKE ORDERS OF DRAGON! TAMARISK IS WHER! DRAGON IS NOT KNOW CHAIN OF COMMAND! she barked at him in annoyance. How dare he tell her that she and her Tamri weren't passing muster! How dare he!

**

G'lin nodded to Iola. "He's so sure that Letorin would be the best handler ever and that Deliciousk would be his best friend..." He shook his head.

G'lin! G'lin our Candidate is leaving the sands! Anablimyth told him in alarm. G'lin paused, looking down at the sands again. Ana was right. He could see Yusk carrying an injured Matilda off to the healers.

Most people don't Impress their first time on the Sands, Ana. Besides, with how this hatching is going, she's much safer where she is now,[/color] he comforted his dragon. Matilda being with the Healers didn't bar her from Impressing anyway, but G'lin was glad that she had been smart enough to remove herself from danger.

***

Idra shifted uneasily. With so many Candidates either injured or Impressed, there were far less of them on the Sands. With less targets for the angry wherets and dragonets to choose from, the risk of injury among the remaining Candidates was high. She glanced around, trying to calculate the risks and weighing it against the chance of impression. No, she decided, she couldn't leave. Not now. Not with so much at stake.

***

K'ian smiled shyly at K'var. "Yeah, he's a boy like Weslieth. He's really happy about everything too." He grabbed a bucket to start feeding the dragon, who nodded in approval

It's very nice to meet you, Argotath's K'var! Thank you for being our Weyrlingmaster, we'll work very hard! K'ian is a very hard worker, he's going to make an amazing drargonrider! He paused, tilting his head a bit. With your permission, because you do know what's best for us and I know it, can we go and see Yusk after this is all over? My K'ian is very worried about his mama-wher and I would like to help cheer her up!

His three flitts arrived, Pretty and Precious taking their respective shoulders and trilling at him happily. Flare fluttered down in front of Kamikith, extending a claw to shake and introducing himself properly before landing on the yellow's back. Kamikith's eyes whirled a delighted blue as he took in his new family.

***

Mini-Mouse say is be come if Saosk and Lisk is be come, Gennesk told his handler.

Gennner nodded, motioning for his wher to lie down. He picked Mouse up easily, placing her on Gennesk's back so he could give her a ride back up into the stands. "There you go. Hold on tight to his wings so you don't fall," he told her. He turned to the two smaller whers, sizing them up. "Let's go find your handlers, we can all watch the end of the hatching together." Lirmox and Saowyn got along, at least, so he wasn't worried about them being all together. Besides, it would do them good to see their whers behaving so well.

((Tags to J'dyn (Kireon), Iola (Maruset), K'var (Raven) and Mouse, Saosk and Lisk (Zephyr, Raining and Chimerakid)))

[Cathaline]

The gray was quite pleased with Imperiuth's prompt attention to the situation at hand, dealing with the attempted obstructor of justice. This just proved his theory that humans desperately needed people to show them the appropriate way to behave. Clearly whatever rules they were operating under did not work in a crisis situation. They needed a new law. Perhaps he and Imperiuth together, wher and dragon, could be the ones to give it.

Fortunately, he also got through to Michiath. At least, this was the way he chose to perceive it - not that Michiath had already been trying to escape the struggle when the gray came upon them, but that the dragonet knew who to listen to. So he focused on his sister, trying to convince her that really, the miscreant had had enough, it was time to turn him over to the proper authorities -

Something moved, in their nest. Was it a flash of pale cyan hide as their sister whisked away? Was it something else? Either way, the green entirely forgot about what she was doing and went haring off back to where she'd come from, while the gray jumped to the ground and doggedly followed the black dragonet through the crowd to ensure he got up to no more mischief. When he Impressed, the gray gave a serene nod, beginning to cool down. Yes, yes. This was good. This was all his doing, and frankly, he was quite proud of himself. And - ah, yes. Imperiuth was heading off the sands as well.

Time to exit, stage left.

Feeling self-congratulatory, he zeroed in. Honestly, after walking all the way after Noirath on his teeny legs, he was a bit tired, but though he considered, he would not be like those siblings and crawl all over people, accidentally cutting them with his claws. He sat down directly in front of Tius. Made order,[/i] he said. Now Tisk eat. Is The Law.[/i]

Gray TISK, Impressed to TIUS

SPOILER: Click to show

Tisk believes in The Law. There is a right way to do things and a wrong way, and he’s here to make sure everything is in proper order. He is extremely responsible and grim, and he has zero interest in making friends or socializing. He just wants to be seen as the arbiter of Justice, and that means holding himself aloof from nonsense. The only thing keeping him from being a total buzzkill is that he doesn’t see the world entirely in black and white; he is clever and attentive, and a quick-thinking victim of his attentions can probably blurt out their side of the story and earn themselves a pardon, so long as they don’t do it again. Being a rather gruff and temperamental creature himself, though never impulsive, Tisk looks up to and admires his calm handler, who is obviously the left hand of The Law. No, that wasn’t a joke. Tisk does not make jokes. How dare you. Despite being absolutely tiny, Tisk is unafraid of a fight and does not back down when he chooses to intercede. He is realistic about his own options, mind, but running away is anathema to him. A real sheriff does not flee the scene of the crime.

A gentle, dovelike shade of gray, Tisk is distinctly uniform, lacking a single distinguishing mark. His tiny size and slender appearance make it easy to mistake him, in the dark, for a canine rather than a wher. (AAAAAA)

In Kalesk's nest, the large black egg had a crack down the middle; it was this, its rocking, which the green had spotted. Horrified, she lowered her head and charged, ramming directly into it. The egg broke open easily, and she reeled back from the blow and sat down on her rump, blinking slowly and dazedly at the large iron now sitting where the egg had been.

After a moment, she asked where he had come from.

Back in the darkness, the cyan wher warily eyed the burgundy dragonet. But she accepted his reassurances on the subject of his pacifism, and allowed him to stay. Blood was horrid, wasn't it? She was not going anywhere until somebody cleaned up this mess.

Leaving the bewildered green wher behind, the iron wheret strolled forward to survey the scene, and gave a dark chuckle. It appeared some chaos had been happening without him. Mostly, he approved of this, for it meant that the candidates were shaken and distraught, just the way he liked them. There were a few flickers in the psychic atmosphere of unrelenting hope and optimism, but in a way, they only made the cocktail all the sweeter, didn't they? Tisk and Tius were headed off the sands, and the iron watched them go before turning away. This was the first, but by far not the last, glimpse the candidates would have of him; he was dark in color, with a paler cape settling over his shoulders, and powerfully muscled - though not anywhere near the extent of his green sister.

He gave a nod to his dam, and went to join the burgundy and the cyan. Instantly, the cyan started to inch away, uncomfortable with his presence. The iron had little time to spare for her, focusing on the anxious burgundy and asking him several questions about what had happened out there, and who had been committing these amazing crimes. He listened with interest to an outpour of conspiracy theories, his eyes gleaming in the shadows. The white-and-red robes had done it, you say? That definitely made them...interesting.

Then he turned and purposefully strode back toward them, and the cyan wheret saw everything coming a mile away.

Ksenna! No come back.[/i] She offered the suggestion in a distinctly passive-aggressive way, broadcasting to the mind she could feel glowing all the way across the sands. Stay. Send somebody carry Ksesk.[/i]

The orange egg in Callistath's nest broke open next, and spilled a pale green dragonet to the sands. Uuuuuccccchhhhhh. She was sooooooo boooooooored. There was never anything to do in that egg and she'd been trapped in there for yeeeeeears. In a fit of decorative melancholy, she sprawled there, individually testing each limb.

The iron wheret strolled along the front row, taking a moment to eye Newt and Letorin in a distinctly upsetting way. But he left them untouched, swinging into the bare, empty zone around the site of Orkia's death. Deliberately, he walked through the drying blood, and when he arrived at Inanna's feet, he pushed her over and stepped on her stomach, leaving a small pawprint made of blood that was not her own. Slowly he pressed down, moving her from discomfort into pain and breathlessness, and then at last he moved on.

Here was Eithne, not far behind, deliberately out of step with the rest of her row. The iron coiled around her ankles like a snake, and gave a feral laugh. Yes, she was appreciated, and he licked the side of her leg to prove it. Then he turned to Caszli and sprang at her, clawing his way up her body, and with unusual and terrible violence, ripped his claws down the back of her scalp and neck to make the blood flow.

Behind her was Lavi, untouched. But not for much longer. The wheret leapt from Caszli's head to Lavi's shoulder, and swarmed down her arm. One word was clear in her flickering mind: paint. She liked to paint, did she? Holding her wrist between his front paws, anchored by the back paws and a tail that caught around her neck, the iron deliberately pierced every fingertip with his teeth. Not the most appalling injuries he could have inflicted, but deep enough punctures to make blood well and drip. Paint with that, he thought, and chuckled again. Would she understand the concept, though?

He tackled Embla in the chest, hard enough to knock her to the ground, and he kept her there by the simple expedient of dislocating her knee with a ruthless twist of his powerful, if small, paws. Then he dragged Lavi down to their level, hissing in her face, and jerked her hand toward Embla's face, forcing her to smear the blood on the girl's skin. Good. Perfect. Picture perfect.

Ksenna! Ksesk waiting![/i]

Did he hear his sister? Impossible to say, but his head jerked up, and he zeroed in on the healers. What would Ksenna have said by now? Had she sent someone to pick up the abominably lazy cyan? The iron snorted and abandoned his efforts to alarm and shock, and strolled into the healers' area. After the unassuming visit of the black who turned out to be Isk, perhaps they were lulled into a false sense of security; perhaps they were just busy with their rapidly-increasing number of patients. Either way, he walked right up to Ksenna and raised a paw to slash at her -

Delilah put her arm in the way, and he caught the blonde journeyman instead. There was a roar, a shriek of pain and anger, from the ledges - Weslieth landed on Agnith's back to prevent her from leaping into the fray, and Delilah shoved the iron with her arm in his mouth, not as afraid as the candidates to defend herself. "Not. Here," she hissed, and the iron bit down hard -

Then there was a paw on his shoulder, a set of precise claws digging in, and a voice said clearly, That MINE.[/i]

Ksesk felt a need to add, a bit snootily, No this one. See what you try do. That one mine.[/i]

The iron let go of Delilah and laughed, twining around his sister for a moment before walking away. His work here was done, and Ksesk finally curled into Ksenna, her mind roiling with perturbation and distress that she had been forced into a terrible, violent action to protect her own. Never again,[/i] she warned. Now feed.[/i]

Cyan KSESK, Impressed to KSENNA

SPOILER: Click to show

Has there ever been a wher so stalwartly opposed to any form of aggression? Ksesk is a master of zen. Nothing fazes her; nothing gets under her skin. She is completely pacifistic, and would not lift a claw even to defend herself or Ksenna...or so she claims. In reality, she is not lacking in a hunter’s instincts. She simply disapproves of them so strongly, with such quiet and ruthless force, that most people would be quite forgiven for assuming that she would practice what she preaches. Her poise and self-control are legendary, but she is not as much of a glowing example to all wherkind as she wants to be. She can be sharp and commanding. She is both aggressively passive and passive-aggressive, a snooty little princess who swans around like the second coming of Faranth. Ksesk may wish to seem like she’s above it all, but she’s no better than anyone else, and if push came to shove, of course she would rip something to shreds to survive or to save Ksenna’s life.

A gentle, pale shade of cyan, Ksesk is marked with swirling patterns that appear to ripple soothingly over her glossy hide. She is on the small side, slender and long-necked, and she tends to flutter her stumpy wings to make herself glide. (98F5FF)

The iron strolled back toward the candidates. He stared at Garund, and bared all his teeth in a terrible smile before biting him, hard, on the thigh. Then he headed for Quellyn, left all alone since Inrahim's Impression, and shoved him to his knees on the sand. It was hot, it was scalding, and he was alone and terribly scared...and the iron put his head near the boy's ear for effect and whispered, Hello. Stay.[/i]

The order came with the gentle scratch of a claw down the back of his neck, a clear hint at what he'd get if he disobeyed. The iron laughed again and sprang forward, slamming into Joni. She was bitten on the arm, and then Ryiah got a tail lashed around the ankle and was pulled, hard, until she fell. The iron walked over her like she was no more than an unfortunate coat draped over a puddle, and ended up back at the front again. He locked eyes with his mother, across the sands; there was a low growl, but as long as he didn't kill anyone, Kalesk would not step in.

Maybe later, Mom.

[Digitalis]

Seeing as he was still spending most of his time staring at the iron, Tamren knew immediately when the gray wher had had enough and began to climb off of the dragonet's head. It seemed to be talking to the burgundy still on the sands, and Tamren watched the scene, feeling a little perplexed, not knowing what was going on with them. He also stared nervously back at the green wher still at his feet. He didn't want anymore bruises from this hatching, either.

He realized that the burgundy was heading all the way to the healers' section, now, and he wondered whether it was going to Impress from the stands, as well. It didn't, though he still silently questioned its choice in riders, since the girl he picked seemed to be on the verge of death. But with another dragon safely--or sort of safely--Impressed, Tamren's gaze drifted back the iron, still not moving, and the gray, who was still looking for his rider.

That was when a commotion right beside him startled Tamren--The black hatchling startled her, and she ran past him and into a candidate behind him, before changing direction and charging into Kahrie and the black. Tamren shook his head. Oh great, more chaos. That was just what this hatching needed. At least he was left out of it, this time. The two fought to get untangled, and the black wheret went searching for his bond, and the gray was coming over to break it up. He supposed the black wher found its handler, though Tamren wasn't paying attention to it by that point.

The fight between the black dragonet and green wher was getting pretty heated, despite the gray's attempts to bark orders at them. At some point, a cyan wher appeared as well. Tamren took a step away from the whers and dragon, but he didn't want to move out of position. He was ready to dodge if one of them decided to charge him again, though.

More importantly, the iron was coming over as well, and Tamren straightened, staring at the dragon hopefully. The iron seemed to be focused on the fight, though, and when Kahrie tried to intervene, he snapped at her hand warningly. Seemingly satisfied, the iron then began to move again. Despite Tamren's hopes, the king hatchling continued right on past him, and eventually Impressed to one of the other candidates. Tamren couldn't help letting out a sigh of disappointment. That was two sub-kings and an iron that had passed him up and chosen other boys. It didn't seem likely there'd be another one hatching in this clutch. Looks like he might be waiting around until the next clutch hatched. He tried to ignore the flood of uncertainty, but he wasn't entirely successful.

The black dragon finally escaped from the green, and he dashed away from the wher, narrowly missing a candidate or two. He soon met his rider, a few candidates down, and Tamren was scarcely even interested now in the hatching of a fourth burgundy male, or the pink who hatched shortly after. She and the green who hatched next stuck around near the clutch, but the first pink to hatch decided to go find her rider, and after weaving back and forth through the rows of candidates, Impressed a girl on the very back row.

-------------------------

While the pink was showing off for the candidates, something was happening among the wher nest. The iron dragonet lowered his head, the gray wher leaped off onto the sands, and nudged the burgundy towards the candidates. They didn't precisely move through the candidates--more around them, really, skirting the crowd--but it didn't matter. Apparently, the burgundy's rider was not with the rest of the candidates anyway. Phaenna was a little worried to see him Impress one of the seriously wounded girls, but decided it was a good thing, nonetheless. The healers were doing their job, and surely, if he had decided to Impress her, that meant she was going to be alright?

The gray wher seemed ready to bond as well, but he was distracted when a fight broke out between a black dragonet and a green wher, and the gray went back through the significantly-thinned crowd of candidates to try to stop it, without any luck. There was a black wher as well, though, and while the gray wasn't going to Impress quite yet, the black did manage to Impress one of the remaining candidates. In fact, soon after that, it was the iron's turn to impress; Phaenna watched the dragon search through a few of the boys, and it was clear that he had chosen Jaedellyn.

She was glad to see that the fight was over now, too, the black having gotten away from the green wher, and he was now looking through the candidates one by one. He wasn't quite as quick to Impress as the iron, and while he was looking, another egg in Callistath's clutch began to hatch. A fourth burgundy appeared, and like his similarly-colored siblings, initially tried to hide, but without success, and then the reddish-colored male made his way over to Kalesk's nest. Phaenna smiled, not only at the burgundy's actions, but also when she realized the black had Impressed. It seemed like the worst of the hatchlings had bonded already, and she hoped the rest of the hatching would be less violent than the first half.

Phaenna watched as another egg cracked open, revealing a pink dragon inside, and although the other pink went over to greet her, the newest pink was simply interested in staying where she was. Apparently giving up on getting the other pink to pay attention to her, the older and darker pink went back to prancing in front of the candidates. She didn't seem to notice a green hatching behind her, or the way the green went over to talk to the other pink. Instead, she was starting to nudge past some of the candidates, headbutting some almost affectionately before moving on. Perhaps she was ready to find her rider now? Phaenna wished the pink luck, if that was the case.

The pink had made it through the first few rows of candidates, staring at a few people more closely than others, but she had not yet Impressed. She came to the big gap in front of Phaenna, and the girl realized she was heading towards the back row of candidates. Perhaps she was looking for someone in the stands? Or maybe the healer section--it seemed there were still a few candidates back there that had not yet Impressed...the pink didn't make it that far, however. She had already found her rider, and was bounding over straight to--it wasn't until Eveth was curling herself around Phaenna and staring up at her with rainbow eyes that she realized exactly who the dragon had chosen. Her mind was filling up with hunger and affection and above all, love, and she could scarcely believe it, that a dragon would want her, but she couldn't deny it either, not when faced with the pink's words. Eveth LOVES you, PhaennaMine. Loves you! Lots. Loves you lots. You'll pay LOTS AND LOTS OF attention to me and call me cute ALL THE TIME, right? I'LL CALL YOU CUTE TOO!

"I-I-" Phaenna blinked in shock, and Eveth just nuzzled the girl's side, curling herself even tighter around her.

You DO think I'm cute, don't you? I know there's a weird kink in my tail, but I actually kind of like it. It makes me look kind of like a heart, see? I LOVE hearts! Can we go eat now?

Phaenna tried to stifle a giggle, but there wasn't anything she would deny her dragon at the moment. "I do--you are cute, Eveth. You're perfect. And yes, we can go and get you some food. It's right over this way." Basking in the glow of Impression, Phaenna had all but forgotten the pain in her legs, but as soon as she started walking toward the feeding section, she was painfully reminded of the injuries she'd received earlier. Fortunately, the weyrling area was not that far from where she had started, and she managed to make the journey with only a little bit of wincing.

Not that Eveth didn't pick up on it anyway. Are you okay, PhaennaMine? Everyone else is getting some help from the healers, you should get one of them to help you as well.

"No, I'm--"

Hey, Healer-people! PhaennaMine has hurt her legs, she needs someone to look at her, please! Ooh! Is that food? I'm so hungry, can we eat, PhaennaMine? Before Phaenna could get the words out and say she was fine, Eveth was already talking--loudly--to every healer she could see, at least until she caught a whiff of the buckets of fish, and her mind instantly went from Phaenna to her own stomach. The pink stared lovingly at the buckets of fish until Phaenna claimed one for her and started feeding them to her starving dragon, one by one.

Everything went well for about two minutes. It was around that point when Eveth figured out that just because she was having her mouth stuffed full of fish, it didn't mean she couldn't still talk. The closest dragon to her was a black, Michiath (he was, in fact, the one who'd Impressed just before Eveth had) and the pink stared at him and his rider curiously. Awww! You look so sweet, lying together like that. You're cute. I can look cute, too, especially when I hold my tail like this. Mine thinks so too. Don't you, PhaennaMine? By the way, this is my PhaennaMine, and I LOVE her. Who are you again? Eveth said all this very fast, and also very loudly, so whether the black had been asleep or was just drowzy...well, he was almost certainly awake now.

When Phaenna heard what Eveth was saying, her face went the approximate shade of a tomato. What was she doing? What if the black and his rider got annoyed at Eveth bothering them? What if they got mad at her for not controlling her dragon fast enough. She looked like an idiot, she was sure, and her not a rider for five minutes yet. She laid a hand on Eveth's neck, trying to distract her, and was still blushing as she said, "S-sorry. She's...easily excited."

((Tag: Healers, Michiath and M'yn))

[maruset]

Smiling at Kersk, Makkoi took the bottle and carefully cleaned up the injuries on the new brownrider. "Just to be safe," he said, preferring to get that all cleaned up before going elsewhere. Once that was done, he offered the bottle back to the blue wher to hold. "Thank you, Kersk."

He gave the blue a rough rub over his head, then left the kid alone to go work on the next kid who needed patched up. The healer was used to doing this, helping bandage up people who had gotten marked up by people. There were others taking care of the more seriously injured, he was willing to work on those who had lesser injuries.


***

Tracking the iron wher, Lavi's eyes went wide as he scrambled up the candidates in front of her, then launched himself at her. She staggered back a moment when he hit her, and then the wher scrambled down her arm. Lavi hissed as he bit her fingers. Enough to draw blood, which was much better than he could have done. She had seen what a wher could do, and was happy that she still had fingers at all. She caught a glimpse of Valasco jerking and turning her way, his eye narrowed as the wher moved from Lavi to Embla. And then forced the smearing of blood.

With a grimace as the iron left, Lavi curled her fingers tight into the white robe, staining it red, but using that pressure to help slow the bleeding from her hand, offering a hand to Embla to get them both up on their feet.

"Can you stand?" she asked softly.

Her eyes continued to track the iron, watching where he went.

***

The pink had been adorable, and Letorin had grinned when she pushed her way between him and Newt. She was cute, though he didn't move from the spot where he had been nudged by her brother.

This hatching was...odd, to say the least.

When the iron went by, Letorin watched him back, not sure if he liked the way the wher was studying them. That was more than a little unnerving. Especially when the wher took off and started going after people.

Letorin was ready for this hatching to be done. It felt like it had been going on forever, especially with people hurt and bleeding all around him. If the hatching was over, everyone could go get seen by the healers, and those who didn't Impress could go rest while the others got settled in their new places with their bonded.



(Tag Randi, Embla)

[Kestrel]

Caszli continued to watch impassively as hatchlings impressed and new eggs hatched. It wasn’t in her nature to get excited any time a hatchling came her way—besides, in this hatching, that made you more likely to get mauled than impress. She wondered if any of the younger, more bright-eyed candidates could even muster up excitement anymore, or if fear had taken over for the lot of them.

It looked like the little order-loving duo had finally decided to go off-duty and impress, which, while doubtless a happy occasion for those impressed, could spell bad luck for the other candidates. The only ones who seemed to have any chance of stopping those hatchlings with a taste for blood seemed to be other hatchlings, after all—not that any of them had proven all that successful yet either. Too bad. She fixed her eyes on the largest wher egg as it split open, revealing a dark little king—would he be a force for good, or another little terror? For the moment, he was neither, as he ran off to join his mother and a few other dark shapes behind the eggs.

But not for long. She frowned as he pushed over one of the girls, stepping on her, though at least it didn’t look like he’d really done much damage. No claws yet. That was a bad sign, but maybe he was just going to turn out to be a little creep, like the blue.

No such luck. In an instant, claws were pricking through her skin, digging in to haul himself up her body one bloody paw at a time. She grimaced, mouth curving into a snarl as he ripped red rivers through her head and neck, her nerves screaming pain and alarm as her other senses went fuzzy, a dizziness that threatened to bring her crashing down to the hot sand. But she didn’t—he hadn’t done enough damage to kill her just yet, as much as it hurt. Though with his spot at her neck, positioned right over the top of her spine, he easily could.

But far more than being afraid, being terrified of the death blow he could deal to her at any moment, she was angry. Turns upon turns of honed survival instincts screamed at her to grab her knife and stab him in his shiny dark backside—or at least rake its sharp edge over his paws, until he fell. Let him taste pain, the little bastard. But it was futile—she would only have a moment, if that, to savor her revenge, before mamma Kalesk, in all her massive, golden glory, would surely kill her instead. And worse—such an action could only provoke more hostilities against the holdless candidates, perhaps enough that they might bar other holdless from standing, if even one of them proved dangerous and unpredictable toward the hatchlings.

So she just stood there, waiting and bleeding, for the final bite that could very well come—but it didn’t. He jumped away, turning his fangs on the girl behind her instead. Caszli just watched, her eyes dull, as the other girl was attacked—she had no more power to stop it than she had power to stop her own attack, after all. They could do nothing but wait and hope, if they dared, that they might be spared. Caszli lifted her hands to cover her wounds, feeling the blood oozing through her fingers as she tried to apply pressure to torn flesh and dangling, bloody curls of hair, and closed her eyes. She could feel her heart pounding more blood up into her head, making it throb with pain and pressure, and the sands seemed to be spinning beneath her, for now, she stayed on her feet. The only way she was leaving the sands was if someone else dragged her unconscious body away, and for now, she could hold on. Expressionless, she turned what she could still muster of her attention back to the remaining dragonets.

[Tigersilk]

Little still happened - at least of the violent kind - by where Annuziata and Jasjitta stood, for which they were grateful. They saw the Iron wheret pass fairly close to where they stood, before he continued back towards the Stands, where it sounded like he was attacking people like the others had. A dragon roared; at the same time a Cyan wheret came barreling past, intent on some dire mission of her own, into the Healers area where the Iron wheret had gone.

"Is it safe back there?" Jas asked her sister quietly. Meaning was Sunita and Ibith safe back where the Iron had gone.

"There's big whers back there; they'll keep any wild wheret from getting back there and doing damage," Ziata pointed out. "That's probably why they have them there, just in case." In case of a Hatching like this, she figured, wher guards for the babies just made sense.

[Minute]

The next thing she knew she was getting mauled. Well, maybe getting mauled was a bit of an exaggeration compared to what others had gone through this day. All that happened was the iron coming over and biting her hand when she reached forward to grab the iron. Kahrie let out a yelp before yanking her hand back, moving a few steps back in the process. Okay, no, there would be no grabbing of the gray then. She might not want to see the tiny wher get torn apart but her desire to keep herself in able condition was greater. Thankfully the fight managed to break up on its own though, the gray impressing to some old dude missing a hand while the black impressed to a boy she didn't know. With that she gave a small snort before turning back to look at the eggs, cradling her arm to her chest. That was what she got for trying to help.

Meanwhile Garna's eyes were still closed and she was paying absolutely no attention to what was going on on the sands. A large part of her hopes that no one would reply to her comment, especially not Yuri. She just didn't want to deal with that drama right now. The reality of what she had done might not have quite set in but it would soon. Already dread was starting to arrive, a sick feeling in her stomach. And candidatemasters weren't exactly good for sick feelings.

But of course she wouldn't be lucky enough for no one to say anything. Yuri spoke, and when he did it sounded absolutely nothing like the overly happy wherhandler that had taught her. For ages that sheer happiness and patience had disgusted her to a certain degree, but as he spoke she realized that the tone of his voice meant something bad. And for a moment she wished that he would just get back to happiness and eternal patience. But no, he was speaking in that serious tone and ordering her to be silent and keep her 'venom' held in. For a moment Garna cracked an eye open to glance at him, considering sending a sharp retort his way but deciding not to in the end. Instead she just gave a small nod before closing her eyes once again.

[turkoizdog]

As more and more eggs began to hatch, Zynn was beginning to lose track again. The gray got off the iron's nose and nudged the burgundy to the stands. Zynn wasn't sure why, but when the grey wher returned alone, he figured the burgundy must have impressed. The black, who had passed him by, impressed as well.

Ignoring the mess with the green, he looked to the eggs, to see a cyan wher hatch. Sweet as she seemed, she was scared, and ran off into the shadows. A pink and a green dragon had also hatched, but Zynn's eye was caught by the iron, who finally got up. It seemed at first like he was going to interfere with the scuffle, as the gray had, but after a quick growl at a girl who had tried to interfere herself, the iron stalked off to impress, giving each candidate a look and quickly settling on His.

Zynn looked back to see if the cyan had moved, but she hadn't. She still hid, though she had been joined by a newly hatched burgundy dragon. He found himself feeling bad for them, so afraid, they were less prepared than the candidates, who had lessons and training.

The black dragon, being chased by the green, quickly impressed someone in the row behind Zynn -- he noticed they were quick to impress when being chased -- and Zynn retuned his attention to the dancing pink, who ran right past him to impress a girl at the back. He had kind of wish she'd stay on the sands longer, since she seemed much happier than the others, and was entertaining to watch, even if he knew she'd never impress to him.

Suddenly, a lot of attention was drawn to the wher nest. The green rushed off toward it, and Zynn's eyes followed, wondering what was going on. He was so focused, he didn't even notice the tiny gray wher walk right past him and impress Tius. Zynn was busy making sure there weren't eggs or hatchlings being killed, or something.

But in fact, it was the opposite, sort of. An iron had hatched. At first, Zynn saw this as good news. Kings were not as highly regarded as queens, but Zynn saw them as almost equally important. Wherhandlers were important, for Dalibor and for the nearby holds, and there were many more wher candidates now than there had been in the past. But Dalibor was still small, and when the lady whers mated with higher ranking male whers (such as an iron) then there would be more eggs. There was a demand for wherets, and an iron could help.

Zynn had never thought much about whether or not he'd like a ranking wher, but for a brief moment, the idea appealed to him. He watched the iron approach the hiding pair, wondering if he too disapproved of the scene before him. The cyan, however, didn't seem to like him, and made a dash for the healers area, where she impressed an injured candidate.

It was now that Zynn began to wonder if this iron was nothing like the iron dragon before him. Sure they both had a somewhat regal presence, but the way this one approached the candidates, it didn't seem to be order he wanted. Zynn watched him, first just creeping around, then suddenly attacking Caszli, ripping her apart. He then attacked the previously untouched candidates in the back, disappearing for a bit, before returning to bite another candidate in the back row.

The iron was unpredictable, a stark contrast to the iron before him. But he was coming this way. Tensing a bit, Zynn was for once grateful when the iron snuck right part him, biting two girls nearby and stopping in front of the candidates, face turned to Kalesk. He found himself hoping the iron would impress already, even though there was only one wher egg left.

[Nia]

While the Iron wher hatched and went on his rampage, the lighter Pink that had flopped into the sand remained where she was, seeming to space off. She took in her surroundings as she pleased, leaving out the less desirable things so she could just deal with them later. The Iron was big, and she was a small dragon. She didn't particularly want to get in his way, so she simply remained where she was, her gaze moving around the eggs, to the wher nest, to Kalesk, Callistath, Candidates and back again. She seemed to make herself dizzy as she looked around in a circle, and the Pink shook the fuzzies from her head, trying to refocus her addled brain. Ah... there it was. Hungry. That's what that emotion was. She needed food.

The Pink lifted her hindquarters into the air first, pushing them up and them climbing to her feet. She was a bit wobbly at first, and it was lucky that her mean Green sister was too busy watching the Iron wher to pay attention to her clumsy sister. The Pink stumbled a bit as she took her first, delayed steps, eventually settling into an uneven gait as she made her way into the Candidates, nearly fumbling into Kahrie and shooting the girl a dazed, almost dizzy looking apologetic glance. She continued through the Candidates, managing to get distracted by the sights, staring intently at Inanna as she passed by, taking in the girl's appearance and registering it into her memory. It wasn't an Impression, though. She just felt that Inanna was very pretty, so she wanted to remember what she looked like.

She continued her way through the Candidates, slow as a snail as she took her time. She was in no rush, despite the hunger in her belly. Not fully watching where she was going, she accidently knocking herself into Lilianai as she did so. She knocked into the girl in what almost seemed like slow motion, not with enough force to really knock anyone over. Still, the Pink whipped her head around to apologize to Lilianai and- I'm sorry- ah...

[/i] she paused, her eyes whirling as the dreamy Pink stared into Lilianai's eyes, seeming to have accidently Impressed. She'd wanted to apologize properly, and found that their brains managed to click together in a way that felt perfectly... balanced. The Pink's posture suddenly looked a lot less wobbly as she found her balance in Lilianai's mind. Life is full of wonderful coincidences, LilianaiMine. You are your Peranzath's perfect harmony, isn't that amazing...?[/i] she looked from her chose Rider to Seidon, and paused for a little while, until she finally spoke again with a seemingly irrelevant phrase. I like that you are two.[/i] Her vague words could have been referring to her closeness to Seidon, or perhaps she was picking up on a different thought within Lilianai's mind, about another certain boy....

[/blockquote]

SPOILER: Click to show

Pink Peranzath - A02F4F
Personality:
Peranzath is all about harmony. She's very wispy and perhaps not all there at times, but she deeply cares about the harmony of the universe, and in Lilianai. She likes to pair up things together and ramble on about the reasons why she decided to put these two unrelated things next to each other, usually citing the balance of the universe and how they must all be more in touch with their spiritual sides. She enjoys pairs, and not just pairs of humans or dragons. She likes to work in twos, and hates uneven numbers. Uneven means unbalanced, and this Pink is all about balance.

She might be intelligent, but Peranzath is very prone to getting lost in her own thoughts. As such, she definitely seems like her mind is not all in one place at times, even to Lilianai. Her thoughts go off in different directions at times, and it's difficult for even her rider to follow her train of thought. She can seem to bring decision and statements out of absolutely no where, and claim that they just "came" to her. She has a very dreamy sense about her, even in the way that she speaks.

Peranzath is a very oblivious dragon. She tends to not notice what's going on around her, being so caught up in her own thoughts as she is. It takes a lot of nudging from Lilianai to get her to realize something is going on, and she has a lot of trouble focusing. Peranzath knows when to get serious, however, like during threadfighting or another serious matter that needs her attention. She can focus when necessary, it's just that she usually choses not to.

Appearance:
Peranzath's base color would be the darker pink on the underside of her wings, but her hide is cross-hatched with a lighter pink color overtop. The only part of her hide not cross-hatched is the underside of her wings, which remains a darker, solid pink. Her hide is pretty evently hatched, though it lessens down by her legs and feet.

She's a big Pink, with thick, strong front legs and springy back legs. She's also fairly thin, as is common for pinks, and her wings are about average-sized. Her tail is thin, but long enough to give her good control over herself in the air. Her neck is actually fairly thin, and her snout is pointy and feminine. She's a fairly well-proportioned dragon, and has a very cute look about her. She's on the larger side, and will grow to about 24 feet.

The Iron wher that approached him made the Burgundy shrink back, but the Iron seemed... trustworth? Perhaps. The Burgundy wasn't quite going to trust him, but the Iron seemed as though he just wanted some information, and it was information that the Burgundy was glad to give him. The dragon spouted off as many of his conspiracy theories about the things going on as his draconic brain was capable of, particularly the ones about the white-and-red robes. The Burgundy didn't like them, and he was glad to see that the Iron seemed to agree with him. They were bad, they were wrong, and something felt off about all of them. Well... except for one, that is. There was one mind in the crowd that the Burgundy found himself drawn to, but he didn't want to go into the throng of Candidates to find it.

The Cyan wher got another glance and then the Burgundy scanned the sands. Blood... she didn't want the gore around. He fidgeted, as though maybe he was, for a moment, considering helping her out. But then his paranoia got the better of him, and the Burgundy began to inch away from the Cyan. She was just trying to lure him into the center of the white-and-red robes! He could tell. She couldn't fool him. And it seemed right as soon as he'd figured out her ruse, she was gone. That was all the Burgundy needed to prove himself right, and he continued to sulk behind the wher eggs.

He shuffled towards the Candidates anyway, wanting to find that single mind in the crowd that wasn't wrong and bad. He hissed at Newt, shuffling into the throng of Candidates next to Ryiah without touching her. He slunk past Joni and gave her a growl, and the girl simply glared back at him, too busy holding her cut arm and wincing to really be afraid of him. What, did he want some of her flesh too, huh? But the Burgundy moved past her without another glance, hissing angrily at Braele, as though she'd particularly offended him. Her brain just... sort of felt there. Nothing. She was nothing, and he felt nothing. He hated feeling nothing.

The Burgundy sniffed at Szene and declared her WRONG, slashing at her and jumping at her with his claws, trying to rip the bad out of her. She was behind it all! She was! He could tell, it was in her brain and he wasn't making it up! The Burgundy growled as he dug his claws into her sides, raking them down as if trying to rip the top layer of her skin clean off. But skin doesn't work like that, and his claws simply sliced through it, drawing nothing more than blood and leaving most of her skin in tact aside from the scratches down her sides. He jumped off of her and moved to Ahburn, growling at him and headbutting him to the ground, if only because this wherybrain was in his way! He'd found it, the source of the mind that felt right, the one that wasn't wrong, or evil, even though it was a red-and-white robe.

He sidled up to Inanna, locking eyes with her and then refusing to make eye-contact. Go, InannaMine. We have to go. Obscurath senses them. Senses them and their badness. They're bad. Watching us. Judging me. Let's go, get away. Can't deal.

[/i] He spoke in disjointed, almost wher-like sentences, but his emotions were strong in her mind, his paranoia and his fear making his sentences short and choppy. When they were alone, he'd be able to formulate more complete sentences, though the paranoia would never completely go away. He wanted to get away. There were too many bad thoughts and they kept creeping into his mind. He wanted Inanna to save him from them. She was the only one who could.

[/blockquote]

SPOILER: Click to show

Burgundy Obscurath - 7D000C
Personality:
Obscurath is a conflicted dragon. He's very tense and anxious, always feeling like he's going to mess up or do something wrong. He has a severe amount of inner guilt and anxiety, and he tends to apologize for things that aren't anywhere near his fault. He always feels like he did something wrong, and as a result he tends to be extremely nervous and more prone to making mistakes. He makes up problems in his own head, and there are times where he'll get so lost in his own thoughts that he'll completely ignore the world around him. Inanna needs to be patient with him when he's like this, because Obscurath is very prone to lashing out in anger when things upset him.

Misunderstandings are very common with Obscurath. He tends to interpret things the way he wants to hear them, which is generally negative towards him. His paranoia makes him think that everyone is out to get him, well, everyone except Inanna that is. Inanna is his only friend, and only because Obscurath can actually see his rider's thoughts in order to understand that Inanna truly does love him. Obscurath doubts the motives of everyone around him and is a very closed-off dragon, it takes a long time to get him to open up.

Obscurath does have quite a big imagination, though. This can be a good thing, when it isn't affecting the way he thinks other people view him. When he has control over his imagination, Obscurath is quite a good story-teller and can come up with some very smart ideas. He's actually quite intelligent when his view isn't clouded by his paranoia, and he can be a very good friend to those he trusts.

Appearance:
Obscurath's hide is mostly a solid, dark red color. He only has a few areas where his hide is different, notably on his shoulder, his hindquarters, his eye and the back of his wings. The same on each area, he has a circular mark with pocked spots around it, looking a bit similar to the moon Belior. The way he's colored looks a bit like his hide is rotting off, but that's certainly not the case. Just an unfortunate marking.

He's a bit thin for a Burgundy, lacking a lot of muscle and tone. He's fairly thin, with a shorter, thicker tail. His proportions are about average, with nothing too out of the ordinary about him. For Burgundies, he's a bit short and small, and will hit 22 feet when he grows up.

While the Burgundy slashed through the Candidates to get to his, the Green was watching everything happen around her with a hint of jealousy. Her eyes were locked on the Iron as he caused mayhem through the Candidates, and even on her Burgundy brother as he tore them up. The Green huffed, stomping around near the eggs, and eyed them with a mischevious glint in her eye. Well, she didn't want to go copy all of them and mess up the Candidates. That would be way too boring! She slunk over towards the little egg that was hiding under Imperiuth's eggshells and happily rolled it towards the blue and red eggs near the right of the clutch, and before her mother could realize what she was doing, she kicked the egg into the other two, similar to how Earth bowling was played.

Callistath growled at her daughter and moved a paw to shove the malicious Green away from her sibling's eggs, but it was too late. The damage had been done. Well, to be fair, the damage was not all that big a deal, as all three dragonets simply ended up entangled with each other as their eggs cracked open forcefully. A Black, a Blue, and a Burgundy had all hatched, with the Burgundy looking far stronger than the other too. In fact, he looked incredibly muscular, perhaps even moreso than Imperiuth. However, the Black was the first to detangle himself, snapping his jaws at the Green before scuttling towards his mother, digging under her tail and hiding here, only peaking his head out at the Candidates. No! He wasn't ready! He hadn't been given enough time to prepare! How dare she do that to him, make him face the outside world!

The Blue and the Burgundy were far less angry at the situation, however. The Burgundy looked like he was having difficulty with his emotions, as none of them showed in his expression, and he calmly pushed his Blue brother off him, causing the Blue to flop over dramatically into the sand. He seemed to think it was some sort of great joke, which actually irritated the Green, rather than make her happy that someone had enjoyed her antics. He wasn't supposed to LAUGH! He was supposed to get mad! The Burgundy was emotionless and the Blue was laughing, but she supposed she'd still had one victory, with the Black still hissing behind their mother's tail.

Still laughing, the Blue sat up and seemed to gesture flirtatiously at the Green, who puffed up with anger and turned her back on them, stomping away towards the other eggs, only to be shoved away from them by her mother. She wasn't allowed near the eggs anymore.

He didn't seem to mind her rejection, and merely laughed it off, nudging at his Burgundy brother as though expecting the extremely calm dragon to laugh with him. He swished his tail at the words the Burgundy must have said to him, before turning his head to his melancholic Green sister, the one lighter colored than the very dark, very mean dragonet who had broken his egg. He saunted over to her and put on the moves as best as he could, and were he a human, there would have been quite a lot of eyebrow waggling.

The Burgundy glanced at the two of them and decided he definitely did not have time for them, and he made a very prompt bee-line towards the Candidate who was always meant to be his. He walked around Letorin without looking at the boy, stopping in front of Braele and looking her over, before hopping up, putting his front feet on her shoulders and pushing her down to the ground so he could promptly sit down on top of her, his muscles making him quite heavy. He looked at her for a moment before he allowed Impression to happen, seeming to be quite happy with the results, though the only real indication was that was the emotion he sent through their link, as he made no note of it in his face or body language.

Satisfactory, he informed Braele, BraeleMine is strong, but Kundalith is stronger still.

[/i] Was that a mild amount of pleasant mocking found under his very monotone speech? He got up off of her and began walking towards the food buckets, deciding that he was suddenly quite hungry, and allowed His to feel this. Keep up, or I'll leave you behind.[/i]

[/blockquote]

SPOILER: Click to show

Burgundy Kundalith - 900020
Personality:
Kundalith is strong. He's strong of mind, strong of heart and strong of body. He has a very large amount of willpower and can be very, very stubborn. He can't be budged by anyone but maybe Braele, and even then his rider will have a very difficult time convincing him to change his opinions. Once Kundalith gets an idea in his head he'll go with it until the end, no matter how many times he has been proven wrong or that perhaps another way would be easier. He has a very strong belief in himself and his motives, and utterly refuses to care about anyone else's opinion of him, except maybe Braele's.

Not much of a talker, Kundalith prefers to express himself in grunts or other noises, rather than actual words. Talking is a waste of time, and he'd much rather be doing anything else. He doesn't care much for socializing or even making friends, and he's perfectly content to stay by himself or with his rider. To Braele, he communicates a lot with thoughts and emotions rather than pictures or words. He has a very good control over himself and his emotions, and is not one to quickly snap or get angry or frustrated. It takes a lot to make him angry, but he tends to just let it build up inside him rather than express it. Unlike the usual Burgundy, he does not quite know how to handle his feelings of anger and aggression, and can resort back to a very animalistic instinct if pushed too far.

For such a stubborn, pent-up dragon, Kundalith has a lot of inner-peace. He loves the idea of tranquility and relaxing, and don't ever try to interupt his "relaxation time". It's possibly the only thing that will drive him to anger, as Kundalith can't handle being around other people or dragons for very long and he needs time to himself. Braele is the only one allowed to talk to him during his alone time, and even then he'll only sparingly allow it.

Appearance:
Kundalith is a very rich, dark red. His hide has slight tinges of pink in it, but it's not exactly noticeable unless you look very closely at his hide. His legs are darker than the rest of his body, and there are large circular markings along his neck, back legs and tail. His wings are also darker than the rest of his body. His markings along his neck, legs and tail seem to contour his body to make him look even more muscular than he already is.

Built for strength and strength alone, Kundalith is a very, very bulky dragon. His legs are thick, even his tail is thick and muscular. His wings are larger than average to support his above-average muscules. His snout is square and very masculine shaped, giving him a very manly look. A large Burgundy, Kundalith will grow to about 27 feet.

[/size]
[/spoiler]

[Tigersilk]

As raw and unmannerly as Rushera had been when she was still a little terrorbrat back at Crom Hold, even she would not have spoken like that in front of a Queen dragon, if for no other reason than the fact that Queens were large enough to squish a person underfoot and not notice it. But for a Candidate who'd had all sorts of lessons on why they shouldn't talk during Hatchings, and presumedly taught the manners to not insult the hosts of the place they were living in...."That was just plain stupid."

Her black-haired companion/rival agreed. "She's just earned herself a permanent slot in future Candidate lessons as a Horrid Example of what not to do when Standing, and why," as one of the new Burgundies, the color the idiot Candidate had just insulted, roughly shoved the offensive girl off the Sands, breaking her leg in the process.

"Think she'll be let back on the Sands after this?" Rushera asked.
No. Vayuth simply said, typical of her quiet personality. She had little sympathy for whatever had driven that outburst. Callistath will not allow it. Unless the stupid one humiliates herself by groveling in front of the Queen. commented Scikath, who acted like she'd like to witness such a spectacle herself, for her own enjoyment.

When the Green wheret and the Black dragonet started brawling, the two women perked up. "Bet you anything the dragonet wins the deathmatch," Frankie told her chesnut-haired companion/rival. Frankie had always enjoyed watching life-and-death struggles, so long as she didn't get pulled into the middle of it.

"You're on," Rushera, who had seen first-hand what whers could do during her time in Crescent Hold working its dive bars, was confident the wheret could stomp the dragonet's ass. Brawls between the miners at Crescent were fun to watch, though a pain to clean up afterwards.

Both women were disappointed when the fight broke up without a clear winner. They continued their watch, seated on the arms of their respective Cyan partners, watching the antics of the just-hatched Iron Wher, and betting on how much he was going to contribute to the night's overall bloodshed.

[Kiran]

Quellyn and Jafari could see the large wher egg split in half, revealing an iron. Jafari's heart leapt into his throat as it moved out into the crowd, past him... And immediately pushed Quellyn down into the sand and threatened him with death. Quellyn lay there, shutting his eyes tight. Play dead, that was what the candidate masters had said. He wouldn't move a muscle! He didn't even breath until the wher had moved off and away from him. He didn't even bother getting up after that, not wanting the iron to come back over and carry out his threat.

Jafari kept watch solemnly as the wher went from candidate to candidate, injuring one after another. More death, more chaos. There was no joy in his look as things went on. Eventually the iron ended up at the candidate next to him, then moved to the front of the group. The gray Impressed to the man next to him, but that was the only good part about this.
----------

Kira watched as the dragon eggs continued to hatch. A pink and two more burgundies. Her stomach twisted. Please, please, please... The pink moved towards Lili! and Kira could see the Impression. It was all she could do not to stand up and cheer for her friends. "She did it, Tauth, she did it! Her dragon was here!" The little dragonet in front of her paused while eating, amused, and nuzzled his rider.

Yes, hers was coming. She simply needed to be patient. As did she, but that didn't need to be said between them. Kira smiled wryly. Yes, she should have been more patient. Hers had been out here. Her handsome Tauth. Kira was intrigued by the blue, who was so calm and placid. Kira was already trying to figure out how to introduce him to her little fair of flits. I'll meet them in time. There is no rush. I think that a nice nap would be nice first.

Kira's face fell a bit. She knew he was tired - and his exhaustion was seeping through their bond, making her feel tired as well - but she was hoping that she could introduce him to Lili before that. But the dragonet seemed like he would do things on his own time, and that included staying up to meet Lili. Ah, well. So Kira let the blue rest his head on her lap and close his eyes, while she pulled over a bucket of meet to greet Lili with. After all, she could greet her friend and meet her lovely pink!

[Azhdarchid]

[ tags: Samael (if desired :o), Callistath, Jasmine, Kundalith ]

[ Q'sis ][ Qunath ]

Q'sis wanted to say all the wherets were strong.

But one of them had not been.

And she had been green.

But he watched the little sister, plump with muscle, charging 'round the shadowy Sands below without stop. Without need to stop. Without the collapse of heart or strength that would force her to stop. And even though after that one short jab of humor- delivered to Qaelis -he had been near-silent, he could smile now. Parts of the creature reminded him of Unath. It was hard to imagine a brain under that big, bold head for one. And parts of her were...well, green.

Callistath's showing was decidedly less impressive, even if none of her dragonets had been slaughtered. The gold's shifting leg caught his attention briefly, and he watched her adjust a current fiesty daughter- also green -a couple times over.

Do you still hold it's Touchings that make for crazed hatchlings? he inquired lazily of the queen. It was not even so pointed as to be particularly at Avalle, where she stood behind her dragon's mind. Unath did open her eyes to all-seeing slits, but failed to lift her head from her pillow when her rider spoke. Q'sis needed those eyes to see what remained of the Hatching. And what of these Candidates, stalwart and true...

"He's quiet," he said, breaking the poisonous contact to turn toward Samael and peer into her arms at the infant. Suspicious, though only of the brat himself. But Qaelis' cheeks lay rosy on his pale baby's face, skin not yet tanned or weathered like his father's. Q'sis prodded at his son's forehead, to an unimpressed result, and withdrew to oversee the Hatching once more.

***

L'xon watched a girl-Candidate scream, fall to the rebukes of the Sands' serpentine holders, and get dragged away. An unfitting parcel for the white robe.

"Foolish." He could not help that he'd had a few intrusive notions of the same kind, watching the wine-colored dragons spill over the Sands. But hearing the vile thoughts aloud had cleared his palate. "It sounds so foolish." Maybe these murmurings were for Jasmine, but she was the only other person nearby, so maybe it was just proximity that made her his conversation friend for the day. He squinted into the dark, and a breath before Kahrie made her first disastrous step, he said, "Jazz."

But the babies policed their own, which sounded like more foolishness even if he'd just watched it happen before his very eyes. His brows twitched towards each other, his heart briefly angry at the hatchlings. Angry they took adult's work for their own. Angry they took human work for their own. Angry ever-so-momentarily at Jasmine for not having acted at such speed to forestall this bizarre conclusion. L'xon could not reflect on this feeling. Before Callistath's Flight, the Gather-Day, he could not remember more than frustration at the dull world of Pern. Maybe that one brief word to his father, but that had ended with a sharper, colder memory that superseded everything else.

So why now? Why did everything upset him? Bluerider, he thought. Then another surprise: Halventh cooed from his ledge, wrapped an intangible wing over him. The same sort of procedure he used on the blue every time he had a Threadscore to patch or a post-Flight to destress. His fingers bit back uselessly into the stone of the barrier. So it seemed Halventh was now the rider and he the dragon, despite his tender human fingers and his sad, wingless body. Not just angry then, or because of the anger, losing his mind.

And all in total quiet. Still polite, properly stiff in the back and clear in the eye, respectful. His eyes flicked over Jasmine, Newtollen, the strange wheret menacing the children below, and his Candidate (he remembered now) suddenly arm-in-arm with some monster conjured from the blood on the sand. Another new competitor, the dragon part of him thought in the most detached of tones. Seeing the future, but not fearing it like he did. There were too many images. He shut his eyes to them. It could have been a very deep conversation with his dragon, but Halventh had distracted into little touches of congratulations over the wieldy young soul of Kundalith.

[RavenSong]

K'var chuckled at J'dyn, handing over a bucket of food.

"Your first Threadfall as a Wingrider will definitely make you realize it, if Weyrlinghood doesn't. What're your names?" He waited for an answer, catching J'dyn's question to his dragon in the meantime. He raised a brow at the Iron, then cleared his throat. He had no idea exactly what the Iron had said, but he could answer based on the context J'dyn had given.

"Your job right now is to eat," he said to Imperiuth, frowning just a bit. "Everyone here is doing fine."

He turned back to K'ian and nodded, then smiled warmly at Kamikith. "I think tomorrow evening will be a good idea. You'll be sleeping later. Please, excuse me, I need to check on a couple of Weyrlings." He nodded courteously to K'ian before moving toward L'nor and Norilana. He nodded to Ondine, aware of her reputation.

"How is everything over here?" he asked, concern in his voice. He was concerned for the injured, the ones who'd be under his care for the next several seasons. "Does anyone need me?"

---

N'yn smiled at Tamarine as he finished the sutures. He showed his work to Tamarisk proudly, aware that the little cyan had been supervising.

"There you go, little sister," he said. "I've fixed up your handler. See? I have good stitches. Journeyman Loki's a lot better, but he's busy. Same with Journeyman Ondine. She won't have too bad a scar. But every fighter has scars, yeah?" He looked at Tamarine again and nodded. "You're free to go. I think you should visit the infirmary in a day or so to make sure everything's okay with your leg. I'd say tomorrow, to be honest."

---

P'ryt nodded to Tareniss quietly, then focused on Rayna.

"Fort's always pleased with things that happen at Dalibor. This should prove quite interesting. Burgundy dragons... I wonder what niche they fill." He offered Rayna a brief hug, glad they worked so well together. "I wonder if Couineth and, Couineth willing, Hemetath's next clutch will produce them." He was completely unaware that he'd spoken the Weyrwoman's thoughts aloud.

---

Cambyses gave Valdis a warm, comforting smile.

"If it's any consolation, child, I myself am a bit unsettled. But... things happen, and I know Dalibor will handle it all with grace. Plus, we now have a new color to look forward to seeing hatch in the future. Hopefully the next one is less chaotic. I know I'd certainly appreciate that."

Marcus cooed soothingly at Valdis as she touched his paw, crawling into her lap. He curled up in her lap and crooned softly, nuzzling her. He was more than willing to accept petting. Cambyses sent his approval to the Purple, smiling as his loyal flit played the role of comforting pet.

---

Seph quietly waited for further instructions, staying out of the way as he waited because he really didn't feel like getting sworn at by the Healers or anyone in charge. He looked at all the dragons in the feeding area, and all the wherets over there as well. He marvelled at the Burgundy dragons, wondering what they were like. How lucky their chosen riders were, to experience something no one else on Pern had experienced before. His gaze went back out to the Sands to watch Lili and Seph. He knew several of their friends had Impressed, and he desperately hoped those two would as well.

When the Pink bumped into Lili, his breath caught in his chest. Would she...? Oh shards. The Pink's posture changed... had she Impressed? It certainly seemed she had. Part of him felt absolutely joyous on her behalf, but there was part of his mind that was both jealous and fearful of what a dragon would insist on, plus the fear that she'd Impress and he wouldn't. It would put distance between them. Seph closed his eyes a moment and pushed away the fear. No, he couldn't ruin their day like that. He had to be happy for her, and for Seidon if he Impressed as well. He smiled brightly for Lili, thinking she just had to have Impressed to that pink.

[Raining]

He had jerked his hand towards Kahrie to stop her from touching the squabbling reptiles.... but the iron seemed to have stopped her first.

The previously large group of candidates was definitely dwindling now. Whether it be because they impressed, or they were too injured to stand. All things considered, he was lucky to get by with only broken nose and a possible bruised stomach.

Aleksandr really just wanted to step back a bit, and fill in the large gaps behind him. He felt singled out here at the front with only one person beside him... who had a tendency to try and stop dragons and whers from fighting...

The green dragonet he was concerned about, and that iron wher. Though the wher passed him and Kahrie, thank Faranth. There were only a few eggs left in total to hatch, his chances didn't look too good. Though their numbers dwindled, there were still plenty of candidates left on the sands.

---

[TAG: MOUSE/GENNER&GENNESK/LISK/LIRMOX?]

Saosk watched as Genner came down to collect Tiny Mouse, his eyes whirling jealously for a moment before Mouse caught his attention then. He considered what Mouse wanted and what Genner had told them. He turned to Mouse, SAOSK COME. he told her in his harsh whispering mind voice. He stepped aside as Genner picked Mouse up, shifting further away from Lisk since he didn't need to be that close, glaring at her as he did so.

"Where are you going..."
STOMPING GENNESKS WANT YOU TO COME WITH UP HIGHER WITH TINY MOUSE. SAOSK NOT WANT LISK TO COME, CAN SAOSK SIT ON NO WORTH BILELISK? TELL HERS BIG DRAGON ATE, ALL HIS PROBLEMS GONE BETTER FOR EVERYONE.
Saowyn giggled as she twisted in her seat to find Genner, 'No just ignore her like you have been doing... You've been doing so well. I'm proud, nice to see you can be a nice wher sometimes too.'

There was a pause as Saosk stood rigid for a moment before continuing a long, SHUT YOU FACE! OR SAOSK SHUT IT FOR YOU. SAOSK HATE YOU! SAOSK POWERFUL AND MEAN, NOT CARE ABOUT STUPID PUNGENT BILELISK!

Saowyn could tell his tolerance was almost at its end, but after everything she was confident he could still behave -- plus she wanted to see this for herself. Lirmox would be happy too, she hoped.

With one worried glance at Jafari she rose from her seat to go and meet Genner.

[RhiaBlack]

Admittedly, Lili had been almost zoned out. Worried about Sora and Seidon, worried about Seph, though she was happy to see Kira finally get a Dragon of her own. Blue suited her, she was social. They'd be excellent Searchriders one day.

She still didn't know what room Kira was going to be in. She didn't know yet, K'var still had to do the assignments after all. Which meant Lili wouldn't know who was where until the end of the Hatching. Which meant she had to wait for--

Oof.

Glancing down in momentary anger - mostly at herself for allowing her mind to wander in such an important place and time - Lili prepared for battle. Here it came. Another Dragon looking to maul her or Seidon, another baby too confused to understand that they weren't -supposed- to maul people. They were supposed to--

I'm sorry- ah...

What? There was....what was this....what was she....
Life is full of wonderful coincidences, LilianaiMine. You are your Peranzath's perfect harmony, isn't that amazing...?

Lili looked confused. More than just marginally, too. What--oh. Right. Okay...

WAIT WHAT!?

I like that you are two.

Lili just stared. Part in confusion, part in unsettlement at this new voice inside her head. At how everything else just kind of fell by the wayside, and she didn't let go of Seidon. Not until Peranzath pointed it out, of course, at which point she looked down at her hand, wrapped around Seidon's arm. Almost to the point it might have cut off blood flow were it not for a tiny voice telling her she might better not do that.

She wasn't sure what to do.
So she just...let go of Seidon, and leaped onto Peranzath's frame, wrapping her arms around the Pink and crashing to the Sands with her face buried in her new bonded's warm, cross-hatched hide. Peranzath squawked in surprise, eyes wide before she crooned at Hers, and preened her head against Hers' shoulder and arm.

I am hungry, LiliMine. We should eat. The two of us, not just me. Do you have anything to eat?
"No, but I'm sure I can find something. Maybe Weyrlingmaster K'var has a sweetroll or something."
This is good. I like even things. Odd things are odd, very odd indeed, and even things are even more wonderful, don't you think, LiliMine?

Lili swallowed, and finally managed to untangle herself from Peranzath's form, peering up at Seidon.

I don't want to leave him out here alone.
He will be fine soon, LiliMine. There is only one of him, and this will not do! This will not do at all. There must be one of my brothers or sisters out here for him. There must always be harmony, and I can see that some of my brothers and sisters, and my shadow brothers and sisters, they are not so harmonious as we are. There has been lots of chaos this night.

Lili nodded quietly. This whole thinking-voice thing was going to take getting used to. Her brows furrowed, and she dusted off her robes, squeezing Seidon's arm on the way off the Sands.

"Good luck! I'll be waiting for you over with the others!"

Peranzath followed Hers off the Sands, and Lili sighed as she sat down to start feeding Peranzath small pieces of fish. She didn't want the Pink to choke, after all, but she was starving. Her stomach growled in protest, and she poked it.

"Hey. No comments from the peanut gallery."
There is a peanut gallery in your stomach, MineLove?
"No, th..." She sighed. "Forget it."

Yeah, this was definitely going to take a -lot- of getting used to.

[Reky]

Gabrith's assault had, at first, filled Inrahim's mind with doubts, but as the space in time that followed grew longer, the pain watered it all down. He felt more placid; the only thing he could focus on was gritting his teeth and keeping still. His arm began to throb and he knew it was swelling. He thought about that, instead of all of the other frets he could have been thinking about instead - but by extension, they were still there, stuck to the back of his mind.

Then,

You best, Inrahim.

Inrahim tensed and froze visibly. His heart clambered up into his throat as he look down at the tiny, dark creature before him. This was what it felt like to have his mind touched by something.

Is fact. Isk make sure. No listen Gabrith. Is wrong.

Inrahim was silent. His thoughts were guarded to himself, a knee-jerk reaction; Isk, he thought. Not Inrahisk. It wasn't Inrahisk. He found the muscle to swallow and felt, partly, worried. He wanted the lightness of Inrahisk - he had always been so happy, joking. The thing on the other end of the line was serious.

Can touch Isk mind. If want.

[/i]

Inrahim was hesitant. He looked down to Isk, and the wher's great, bulbous eyes. He realized how uncomfortable he was, having a mind linked to his while he was holding back. He had thought he would be ready for a second Impression. That's what he had told Audren, that he was ready, he had gotten over Inrahisk. It was only partly true.

Carefully, though, he reached out his mind to the black. He closed his eyes and slowly navigated the intangible connection. In Isk's mind, he found simplicity, truth, empathy. There was nothing unexpected; nothing hidden from him. Isk watched Inrahim as he did this, laying his honesty out on the table. For a moment, Inrahim had wondered if it was a dream, but Isk was very, very solidly a reality. Inrahim welcomed him into his heart and he felt comfort wash warm over his body. Even his arm seemed to numb. He came to his knees gently.

He had no words, for now, but he took his healthy arm and reached it out to Isk. His own blood was on his palm from Gabrith's bite. The man thought there was something profound, cyclical, about the blood he offered having been drawn by the burgandy, but Isk was plain about it. Blood was blood. It was offered to him, and he licked his dark tongue over the skin. His tiny baby teeth brushed around Inrahim's finger. The man shivered.

Then, slowly and carefully, the black climbed onto the hand and up the arm, and settled on Inrahim's shoulder. A more logical form of transportation; it would be a while until his tiny gait matched his man's.

We find Mister Hirman. Good heart. Good mind. Good hands for broke bones, Isk said, and careful of his 'broke bones,' Inrahim turned and left the Sands behind.

As he sat before the healer, his arm being bandaged and splinted, Isk waited on his shoulder. Inrahim ducked his head towards him; the tiny body was warm against his face. He would have worried about the fragility of the small thing, but Isk's mind presence was so solid and serious that he did not.

You know me? Inrahim asked. His eyes were closed against Isk's black skin.

Isk's answer was simple. Know Inrahim. See Inrahim.[/i] He felt the profound impact this redundant confirmation had on his man. Good heart, he explained. Best heart. Maybe broke heart.[/i] He paused for a while. A small smile was on Inrahim's face. Isk looked at him. He was hungry, but things had a logical order. When Inrahim was done with the healer, then he would eat. Best heart, is fact. Isk know truth. See truth.[/i]

(Tag: Hirman, if wanted.)[/size][/blockquote]

[Rii]

Nori wasn’t sure at first how they’d ended up quite a bit closer to the ground than before, but it hurt, and she wasn’t quite able to bite back the pained cry at the jarring stop as Ranthian hit the ground. It processed after a moment; Noirath had smacked his tail into her brother’s legs, and he’d fallen. “S’okay,” she breathed. “Won’t happen again.” Of course it wouldn’t, unless he somehow managed to fall through the ground.

You would be much more useful if you didn’t pretend to be stronger than you were, Noirath observed of Ranthian tartly. Instead you fall at the worst possible time because you were too dimglowed to sit.

Somehow, Nori could tell that he’d quite deliberately said that so everyone in the area could hear. “Noirath, don’t,” she mumbled. “S’rude.”

But true.

“Ye hit him with your tail. I saw it. Say you’re sorry.”

I’m sorry that you needed encouragement to do something you should have done on your own.

“Noirath!” The girl tried to sit upright to give a look-here-you glare at her dragon, then fell back with a moan of pain. “Please don’t,” she whispered breathlessly.

The burgundy stilled, looking at his bonded. When he spoke again, his voice had a sulky, tentative tone. Fine. I am sorry. But you really would do much better if you stopped bleeding, too. You’ll upset my Norilana if you die before she does. Having accomplished this sideways apology, he stuck his head into the bucket of fish that L’nor had brought back for him.

“Don’ eat it all at once, Noirath. Ye have to chew,” Nori muttered, trying to see if the dragonet was eating too fast.

I do not need to chew.

“Do so.” Inspiration struck her through the wooziness. “It’s the rules.”

Well, far be it from him to disobey the rules. Noirath slowed his pace of gulping fish to chew each piece before swallowing. He observed the newcomer-man sourly. Oh, splendid. Another person to crowd his Norilana uselessly. The only reason he didn’t give said person what-for now was that his rider would have to move again, and he wanted the useful-person with the cloths and the thread to finish putting Nori back together.

“S’alright,” she managed to reply to K’var - she’d had the weyrlingmaster pointed out to her, though for the life of her she couldn’t remember names right now - with a hazy, not-all-there smile. Of course they were going to be alright. Ranthian had said so. Which reminded her…

Her head turned to fix her puppy eyes on the healer treating her. “Ye’ll see ta Ranthian an’ La… L’nor too, right?”

***

Sora shook her head as yet another hatchling decided to knock her roommate down. If it wasn’t for how dangerous it was to be on the ground, she might have laughed. As it was, it drew a wry smirk to her lips as Adelaide looked up at her with a huff. Yes, yes, it wasn’t fair. Chin up, girl, life wasn’t fair. Schooling her expression back to neutrality, she offered a hand if Addy needed it to get her back onto her feet.

There weren’t so many left. A handful of dragonets and even fewer wherets. To be perfectly honest with herself, she was… fine with that. She’d had more than her fill of blood and chaos and… feelings. She just wanted…

Glancing over her shoulder, a rare grin graced her countenance. Ahaha-ha. I knew it. A pink was looking up at Lilianai with that somehow unmistakable posture. Well. Now she’d officially got the last thing she’d really hoped for out of the hatching - not her own Impression, but that of her friend. Good luck, Lili. Bet she’s the handful I predicted for you.


[Tags: Ranthian, L'nor, Ondine, K'var; Adelaide]

[Boo]

So many of his friends had been taken by dragons. So many of them had left to become something greater and it was only happening again. He just wanted what they had, a partner with whom he could share his whole life and every time she saw one of them impress, he became ever more desperate. So it was that as the pink passed them by and he saw her rainbow colours that he felt his heart sinking. Lili would be leaving him. Although he knew her because of her relationship to his brother, it was still hard to take. Seidon breathed in deeply and fixed his face with the same smile he’d held when K’ian had impressed.

The candidate tried to congratulate Lili but it came out as an odd sort of grunt as she let go of him and hugged the pink dragonet. Still the smile was on his face as he breathed in deeply and sort of jerked his head to the side of the sands in an attempt to encourage her to walk off and feed her bonded. Although she told him that she would be waiting, it did little to fill his heart with hope. Just as he had when he’d found out that Aerie had impressed here, his heart sank. With that thought, he looked around wildly for Seph and the black figure of Hasith in the stands.

Aerie had at least come along to watch him. That was some small solace. Seidon turned his eyes back to the sands as Lili made her way off the sands with her pink dragonet, on her way to a new life. He felt hollow inside though as he watched the dragonets moving about the sands. It was almost in a dreamlike state as the stench of boiled blood filled his nostrils and made him cough.

At least he could take solace in the fact that he could still stand after this unlike some of the other candidates who had been standing. This seemed empty, though, a rather horrible thought when he glanced back and spotted a candidate with ruined legs being held up by another candidate.

[/blockquote]

[Maggie]

Tamarisk glared down at N'yn uncertainly, examining his work. HEALER WORK ACCEPTABLE. DISMISSED! she declared imperiously. She could see, from her handler's mind where she had been seeking intelligence on the man, that the knots on his arm meant he was a cyanrider. Cyan was the best colour, so he had obviously been well trained. Tamarine put er back down on the ground, which made her sleepy eyes whirl a little faster. She was on the ground! She had the advantage again!

"I'll come by tomorrow. One more scar won't change anything, the damage has already been done on this leg." She patted the side of her knee. "Thank you, healer, it feels a lot better." She looked down at her wher, who was struggling to stay awake, then looked over at Lyrnn. "Tamarisk is already falling asleep," she told him quietly. She was tempted to reach down and pick the cyan up again. She had a hard time not touching the bossy little thing and she knew that the period where Tamarisk was still small enough to carry around would end soon.

***

Gennesk looked at Saosk, then at Lisk as he got up. Saosk is be walk left Gennesk, Lisk is be walk right. Guard flanks. Lisk and Saosk is be like priderunners! He was quite proud of the two angry little whers' behaviour and proud of his little Mini-Mouse for inspiring good behaviour.

[Cathaline]

The green wheret was still sitting in the center of the nest, and appeared to have zoned out and entirely forgotten where she was for quite some time. She spotted movement when her brother approached, and immediately charged at him, perceiving him as an intruder; the iron stepped neatly out of the way, and then called to her. The green paused and glanced back at him, baffled, and the iron sauntered over to her, giving her an amiable nudge in the shoulder.

See, he liked his sister. She had the kind of mind that was easy to control, easy to manipulate and exploit. She was practically empty, nothing but hunger and instinct, observing the world to detect threats. He didn't even have to try, all he had to do was shout something like, look over there! What's that guy doing?!

And thus she was goaded into making another mad, flailing assault on the candidates. She blew past Jafari, clipping him in the leg, and collided violently with Kazynn's shins, though fortunately for him, she would leave little more than bruises - nasty bruises, but bruises nevertheless. She reeled off of him and raced past the kneeling Quellyn, and ran Maal over, trampling him rather unfortunately. Valasco - he was the one! He was the guy! The weird guy! The threat! Why was he a threat? Pretty much just because the iron had pointed him out to her, really, he wasn't doing anything terrible, and he probably did not deserve to be assaulted by a tiny but muscular green, who roared a challenge as she lumbered into his legs.

Her eyes focused on Hulair, and she roared again, lowered her head, and charged him, ramming his legs. Oh, if only she were bigger. She stared up at him and challenged, HULSK SMASH![/i]

It took her several long and bewildered moments of trying to push Hulair over before she even realised that her mind had connected with his, and then she sat down on her rump and mewled in confusion. Hulsk...hulsks?[/i] she queried, and focused on his shins. She had managed to scrape him, and she lapped at the blood, her eyes whirling. Something was happening, and it was big and scary and awesome, and she got back to her feet again and declared, Hulsk HUNGRY![/i]

With that, she rushed off headlong in the direction of the food, and made it about halfway before she turned and rushed back and accidentally trampled Otto a little bit on her quest to fetch Hulair. Hulsk,[/i] she reminded him, which also served as a reminder to herself, in some ways.

Green HULSK, Impressed to HULAIR

SPOILER: Click to show

Hulsk believes that everything in the world can be dealt with physically. She’s not smart...in fact, one might call her the polar opposite of smart...though she is observant, in her particular way. Nothing interests her if it is not a potential threat or a potential food source, but she’s eagle-eyed when it comes to sussing these things out, even if she tends to put far too many things into the “threat” column, including small children, birds, and rocks. She tends to end up in “combat” multiple times a day, but her methods of battle have absolutely no finesse. If something endangers her, Hulair, or basically just looks at her funny, she will charge into it and ram it until she or the object of her ire stops moving. Sometimes she will bite or claw, but she tends to forget she has such weapons attached to her powerful body; she prefers to simply crush the enemy into submission. Her memory is extremely short, and she will often stare in confusion at situations she directly influenced or created, unaware of how they came to be. Hulair is her one constant, and she cherishes him for it: he is strong, loyal, and kind, and Hulsk will believe anything that comes out of his mouth, do anything he orders as long as she remembers to do it, and serve him well.

A darker shade of medium green than her sister, Hulsk is extremely bulky, and it’s all muscle. Do not ask how she came to be so fit while still in the egg - it’s just the way things are. (158202)

The iron watched all of this quietly and keenly from across the sands. One more empty space had just opened up, and then a few more as the dragonets Impressed. He bypassed Kundalith on his way over to Callistath's nest, where he ignored the blue and the pale green who were chatting, and zeroed in on the pouting, brooding darker green who had gone bowling with her siblings' eggs. He'd noticed that happening, and he settled in front of her, examining her mind. Oh, yes. All sorts of flaws, cracks that he could exploit...

Yes. He could use her, and, he thought, he could use her far better than he'd used his sister.

Meanwhile, the pale green began to perk up as the blue flirted with her. He was funny and sweet, maybe a little shallow as far as she could tell, but his jokes quickly dragged her out of her depression. He was right. There was so much to do and explore and enjoy, why sit here and mope about how long she'd been cooped up in that shell? She gave him a bump on the forehead with her nose - the dragon equivalent of a big smacking kiss - and hurried off to make some new friends.

But she quickly decided she did not like the ragged lines of candidates. Most of them were shellshocked and desperate for it to be over, losing hope fast as the number of opportunities to Impress dwindled away and they contemplated a lonely, achy night. Uch, that was the sort of thinking she'd just come from, she didn't need any of that, thank you very much! No, she was far more attracted to the brightness and joy of the feeding area, and she galloped right past the candidates and headed for the weyrlings.

They were achy too, but mostly euphoric with Impression. It was wonderful! It was like a party, with food and everything! She went for one of the buckets, only to be told off by an affronted Tisk, because the law said no eating until you Impressed.

How rude. She stuck her tongue out at him, deflating a bit. Was she really not allowed at the party? It wasn't fair. Apparently the candidates counted as an invitation.

Then she'd just have to go and get one for herself.

She sniffed along the line of candidates on the left side. Talubara was very serious and needed to lighten up, and she gave him an amiable nudge, but his mind wasn't quite what she was looking for. Artolan had a weird thing about vtols, uch, she gave him a shove in the hip. Jas and Ziata...both too young for her tastes, because the green was an adult, thanks, okay, and she needed an adult who was wise in the ways of the world -

There she was.

She muscled past the young girls and glomped Idra. Oh, I found you, IdraMine! I'm Copath! Hurry, they're having a party and we're invited now, because you're my invitation. And I'm your invitation. Some of them are reeeeeally boring and they definitely need us to tell them what to do. I don't think they really know how to throw a party over there, to tell you the truth. Let's go show them, shall we?[/i]

Green COPATH, Impressed to IDRA

SPOILER: Click to show

Copath is in many ways a life-loving dragon. Like most greens, she wears her emotions on her sleeve; she is highly empathetic and intuitive, and she loves to give advice. Her advice tends to run to “eat and make merry,” as she is a decidedly decadent soul, looking for any excuse to have a party or celebration. Though she will do her duty in flying Thread, she really lives for the days in the Weyr when she can swan around, having a good time and doing whatever she likes, be it swimming, eating, chatting, whatever. She doesn’t tend to make long-term goals, very focused on the now and on having fun. She’s generally extremely happy and bright.

However, there is a darker side to Copath. She is prone to fits of ennui and boredom. She is never satisfied with what she has, always searching for something more, uncertain of what it might be. Often, she becomes restless and demands to go for long flights, or to see the world. She loves change - new friends, new enemies, new events, anything that makes life less samey. Samey is booooring.

Copath is a light, springlike shade of green, her hide pleasantly splashed with darker speckles, as if someone had flicked a paintbrush at her. She is a large green with a wide wingspan, though a slightly short tail may initially make learning to fly a challenge. (7BCC70)

One egg remained in Kalesk's nest, and it was gently swaying from side to side - alive, but not yet hatching. Kalesk watched it, even more impatient than usual - the sands were too full, hot and cloying and stinking of blood and terror, and she wanted it to be over so she could mourn her dead and escape the claustrophobia. She kept an eye on the iron, of course, but though he was dangerous, he was not as dangerous as his brother. Or at least, not in quite the same ways. He was still deep in discussion with the dark green dragonet, pushing all her buttons, preparing something...

In Callistath's nest, there were two left, a purple one and a blue one. The blue egg, front and center, shivered delicately and popped open, the top lifting off and a pale pink head peeking out. With a happy squeal, the pink rocked forward, and the egg fell without shattering, allowing her to slither out. She was small, slender, wispy, with a blush-colored sunburst on her chest, and she rocketed happily to her feet, stretching like a feline. In a blissfully happy mood, she looked around.

Number one on the list of things to do on her birthday: get some presents. Yes, she needed presents. She needed things, because security depended on having all the things you could get your precious little paws on. Her egg would do nicely for a basket, she thought, and she hooked a claw into it and began to drag it across the sand. Here was half a seashell, left over from Wenth's hatching - the sands were scattered with such detritus, and she examined it in delight before putting it in the gooey shell for safekeeping. Here was a jagged rock, but she liked the crooked line of it, and into the shell it went. Here, a fragment of Seishiroth's reddish egg; she did not realise it was a souvenir of the first burgundy on Pern, she just liked it, and so it was dropped into the makeshift basket as well.

Slowly she made her way toward the back of the nest, picking things up and, invariably, dropping them into the eggshell she towed behind her - absolutely nothing was too strange or broken to catch her fancy. When she reached her mama's paw, she hopped up onto it to peek over at the lurking black, and chirped at him for awhile, trying with all sincerity and sweetness to encourage him to come out and find some stuff with her. He did not appear to be listening, and eventually she gave up and dragged her eggshell with her all the way over to where Avalle was standing.

Ooooh, Avalle was so pretty! The little pink squeaked happily up at her, and rose up on her hindlegs to touch a shiny necklace around the queenrider's neck. It was beautiful, and she asked, her words filtered through Callistath, if maybe, please, she could have it? For her collection? Then she investigated Avalle's pockets, but once again she asked if she could have anything she found there - she was not a thief, after all. And in return, she offered one of the rocks she really liked.

This exchange made, she eyed the egg. Broken in half, it was no longer big enough to serve as a home, especially stuffed full of objects. She needed somewhere to live, though! Somewhere to keep all her pretty things! So she asked Callistath to hold onto the egg and the stuff for a little while, just until she found a home, and then she turned. With a flick of her tail, she set off on a grand adventure, a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment and general adorability.

Of course, between her and the candidates was the iron wheret and the dark green dragon, and even as she started in that general direction, the iron rose with purpose, his eyes locked on the dark green. If he could have, he would have smiled. Yes, he'd known that he could get under her skin and make her do as he wished...and now...things were going to get interesting.

[Maggie]

Idra watched the green wher wreak havoc on the other side of the room. Uncivilized monsters. She barely kept the sneer off her face. She had tensed when she saw an unbonded green dragon run over to the feeding area. Davalla's cyan would keep her safe, she had to trust that, as would her newfound cousin's yellow take care of him. She turned her attention back to the rampaging wher as it seemed to choose a boy in the back row as hers. At least that stopped that nonsense.

Suddenly, the green that she had been afraid might threaten her sister was barrelling her way. She tensed, preparing for pain again. She could deal with pain, she told herself. Instead of the pain, however, she was overwhelmed with a euphoric sense of rightness. h, I found you, IdraMine! I'm Copath! Hurry, they're having a party and we're invited now, because you're my invitation. And I'm your invitation. Some of them are reeeeeally boring and they definitely need us to tell them what to do. I don't think they really know how to throw a party over there, to tell you the truth. Let's go show them, shall we?

Another rare, soft smile stole over her face as she reached out to place a hand on Copath's neck. A party? Yes. Davalla and their cousin, whatever his new name was, were over by the food. That was very much a party. She patted Copath's neck. "Yes, my beauty, let's go join the party. It will be an interesting, novel experience." She led her to the feeding area, keeping a cautious eye on the dragonets and wheret on the sands, not trusting them not to hurt her beautiful Copath.

She nodded regally to her sister as they arrived, Copath's eyes whirling with interest as sh looked around, wanting to meet everyone. There had to be someone there who wasn't boring! Oooh, and something smelled delicious. Ooooh, they have delicious food at this party, IdraMine! That is very interesting, I wish to taste it right away! So many interesting new colours and smells and tastes... This is a very good party, she decided. Idra smiled serenely at Davalla as she got a bucket of food for her little green.

"Her name is Copath," she told Davalla quietly. "Who is your beautiful cyan?"

She is your sister, IdraMine! That's perfect, Refugiath is my sister as well. That's very interesting, don't you think? I do like things that are interesting, IdraMine. Refugiath is a little boring, we will have to show her how to be interesting. She gulped down the food her new rider offered her, although it took a lot of reminding from her rider not too simply wander off to try and see everything she could at this new party.

**

My K'ian, are you alright? Kamikith looked around his rider in slight concern as he felt his rider get a little nervous. You know you don't have to worry, I'm here now and we're a team now!

K'ian shook his head, but smiled nervously at K'var. "We'll go and see Yusk tomorrow," he told him. "Thank you. I know she's worried." He gave the little yellow some more food, pausing to look over his shoulder at where his cousins were plotting.

"I... It's fine Kamikith," he murmured. "They just make me a little uneasy."

[Zephyr]

((Tags

Ranthian; Nori/Noirath/Ondine))

Ranthian blinked stupidly at the little red hatchling as it berated him. It took him a second in his half dazed state to recognize what the hatchling was saying to him. He didn’t think about the strangeness of a newly impressed hatchling voluntarily talking to someone besides their bonded…even if it was just to chew them out. And he just stared. Was the hatchling really scolding him for falling when it’d been the burgundy’s (and Ranthian wasn’t convinced the hatchling wasn’t just a very small, masculine red since he’d been a little too preoccupied to take Callistath’s words in) fault he’d fallen in the first place.

Apparently so.

Before he had a chance to tell the hatchling it had been his fault in the most immature way possible, nu uh, it was yourrr fault, Nori, bless her, rose to his defense.

Noirath’s apology, no matter how backwards, got a quick roll of Ranthian’s eyes. The kid couldn’t muster the sense to be miffed at the hungry baby and snorted at his words, a giddy, half delirious grin still on his face. “I’ll be fine.” He said to not just Noirath, but anyone who’d bother to listen…namely the healer. And wow, now that he was sure Nori was going to make it, and the adrenaline was fading, he could feel the pain in his hand and arms from the missing fingers and bone deep scratches. “Nori’s a weyrling…she’s more important now.”

His words were weary and his eyes slipped shut as he supported his sister and listened to the babies eat, but not before he uttered an amused snort in Noirath’s direction.

“You don’t deserve fish.” He said, in an ever so eloquent fit of petulant immaturity.

---

The babies were impressing, and numbers were dwindling rapidly, along with any chance Adelaide had of impressing. At this point, she didn't even care. She hurt all over, and she was sure she'd have bruises for a few weeks...and was it just her, or was her hand starting to turn purple? She stared at it, blinking, for a while before she turned her attention back to the hatching.

There was an iron wherlet, and a few hatchlings had yet to impress. There was also an egg in each of the nests and the girl sighed heavily. She was ready for the hatching to be over...long since. Addy was itching to move...to do anything but stand here. Maybe she'd go for a run after...providing her body wasn't too bruised by the rambunctious babies.

[Boo]

At this point in time, Hulair almost wanted to just leave the sands and rest so tired and sick he felt from this hatching. Ausk had been bad enough but this was a disgrace. How could they have allowed a young girl to be killed on the sands, that was what he wanted to know. Once again, he looked into the stands at his family, keeping an eye on the movements of the whers and dragonets.

A roar brought his attention closer to himself as, suddenly, a green wheret charged towards him, lowering her head. She was very small as all the whers had been but he knew each and every one of them packed a punch. Even this wher seemed larger than some of the other greens that had hatched. Her wings were rather pitiful too and suddenly she rammed his legs.

An eyebrow raised at the tiny green as she sat on the ground and then stared up at him, HULSK SMASH!
As those words entered his mind, Hulair watched a moment longer as she tried pushing him over once again before a cold, anxious fear suddenly washed through him to be replaced by feelings of hunger. Honestly, he hadn’t thought that he would actually Impress… He knew D’lios had sent him here but he’d never thought this would happen.

A horror filled Tareniss as she watched the green wher lap up her husband’s blood. If nothing else, she knew that the interest the green was showing in Hulair meant one thing. He had just Impressed. Their whole lives were changed now forever, there was no turning back. This would be their future.


Hulsk… hulsks?
Hulair stood there dumbfounded, still holding Otto up, ensuring he would not fall as the green wheret suddenly ran off towards the food. He was so hungry but he couldn’t leave Otto behind, he’d promised to protect the candidate, to help him remain on the sands. Hulsk suddenly ran back and in her haste to reach him, trampled Otto.
Hulsk.

“You will not harm him. Or anyone, unless I say.”
Hulsk seemed confused.
Hulsk SMASH PUNY!
“No.”
The green wheret paused, frustrated with this new development. How was she supposed to get anything done if she couldn’t push people or hurt them? It just didn’t make sense. What didn’t make sense again? Hulsk was having difficulty remembering but perhaps it would be easier to remember if she had some food. Yes, the blood had been good but she needed food.
Hulsk HUNGRY! she informed him again, with a little more strength behind her words.
NO THREAT!
Hulsk looked at Otto again and lowered her head but Hulair put his foot out so that rather than ram into Otto, she rammed into Hulair’s sandaled foot. She shook her head and then spoke again.
HUNGER!

“She’s Hulsk and apparently she’s hungry.”
He would have made his way off the sands then but he was confused and worried. He couldn’t abandon Otto here and let him collapse where a wayward claw could more easily get him but neither could he remain when he was so hungry. Hulsk was pawing at the sand now and then jumped, turning to look around before circling her bonded and Otto.

[/blockquote]

[birdi]

The new color hatched, and several of his brothers. Inanna wasn’t really concerned either way by the appearance of a new hide. She wasn’t going to lie, a lot of the colors seemed only superficially different to her. She watched the first burgundy cautiously, however, mostly because this hatching had been so bloody, and she was alert now for any signs of danger.

One of the candidates shouted something about how awful the new colors were, and Inanna stared in that direction, eyebrows raised. What kind of wherryhead would do something that stupid? She winced as the inevitable occurred, but averted her eyes. It wasn’t her problem. The other candidate got herself into that.

A pink squeaked as she ran into Inanna, sending them both down and entangled. Inanna grunted, trying to push the dragon off her. Eventually, they managed to separate, and Inanna let out a relieved breath that only a few scratches to join those she’d already earned from this hatching, were the only damage she’d incurred.

The blue dragonet who had been walking with her Impressed to Kira, and Inanna offered a quick congratulations.

A wher and a dragon had begun fighting—Inanna rolled her eyes, the sense of caution being overwhelmed by a feeling of exasperation. This was, had to be, the Worst Hatching. If it wasn’t, there was something seriously wrong with this weyr. It made her wonder, briefly, what she was signing herself up for by standing out here…

This thought only became more prevalent when one of the whers approached. The iron wher pushed Inanna over and pressed down and Inanna gasped as the air was pushed out of her. She grunted in pain as he moved on, hand reaching up to touch where he’d stepped. Her fingers came back sticky and red and Inanna let her head fall back on the sands as she breathed heavily. She’d seen where he had stepped…

Rolling over on her side, curling in on herself, Inanna couldn’t stop herself from retching. It was too clear, too close. She closed her eyes tightly, trying not to think of her folks in the stands, or anybody else.

Grimacing, Inanna composed herself and sat upright. She wiped her mouth with an arm and stood up, taking several deep breaths. The only way to prove she was not a weakling or a coward was to stand up, again, and ignore that this had ever happened.

A pink came by and stared at her. Bemused, Inanna stared back, but she moved on—not an Impression, then. She was curious to know what that had been about, but then again, she had a feeling half of her questions about what exactly was going on with this hatching were answered, she’d be twice as confused.

One of the new colors tried to slash into a candidate, unsuccessfully, though at this point Inanna wondered if anyone didn’t have blood on them. He made his way over to her, and Inanna readied herself, hoping she wasn’t about to be pushed over. Again.

Go, InannaMine. We have to go. Obscurath senses them. Senses them and their badness. They're bad. Watching us. Judging me. Let's go, get away. Can't deal.

Inanna briefly felt shock, before the burgundy’s emotions hit with the brief eye contact. The fear rushed in and, without having braced in expectation, she was almost swept into it. Thankfully she found an anchor in her mind. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was the sound of ocean waves and the smell of sea-salt in the air, the feel of solid wood under foot.

A deep breath, and she was not overwhelmed, though that did not mean the sudden connection didn’t have any affect. The paranoia was discomforting. ‘Them’? Who was ‘them’? The people watching—well, what was left of them? The other candidates? Healers? Whers?

Yes Obscurath agreed, helpfully.

Though she could somewhat understand not wanting to stay around and be judged.

“Alright, Obscurath,” Inanna reached out, awkwardly touched the dragonet’s neck, not sure what else to do to calm him down. She got a look from the burgundy. Not aloud. They’ll hear. His tone was clipped, nervously brushing against her arm for a brief second before moving off.

Bemused, Inanna tried it his way. It was difficult to try the whole thought-speak thing, when it wasn’t something she was familiar with. Who will hear? she thought back, as loud as she could.

Obscurath flinched. She had been too loud, then. Inanna took a breath, ready to apologize, when…

Sorry. Not here. Sorry.

Inanna frowned. His apology didn’t make sense to her, but then again she was already having trouble making sense of him. You have to calm down. There’s no reason for you to be upset over…

Red and whites, Obscurath provided, unhappily.

You mean, like the ones I’m wearing? Inanna raised a brow. They’d been more hurt by these dragons and whers, Faranth knows, than had been the other way around. Not like she was successful at persuading Obscurath of this.

Obscurath shifted uncomfortably. He disagreed, but now he had shut down entirely, which was probably not a good sign. Inanna sighed. Well, it couldn’t hurt to get away from the view of everybody in the stands. She stood up. Let’s get you some food, maybe you’ll feel better?

She was glad there were few people left standing for Obscurath would occasionally lift his hunched bulk over to give what seemed to be pre-emptive death glares. As she had access to his mind, she could tell it was because he was far more afraid of them than they were of him, but still, it would be good to get out of view so that Obscurath could relax. Hopefully.

~

The black wher brought back his new handler, who seemed slightly lost or distracted, so Hirman didn’t speak much to him initially so as not to bother him.

The burgundy that had attacked his arm had effectively broken bones, specifically the unla, one of the thin long bones that made up the forearm. He could tell this by where the arm was swelling, though he gently pressed his fingers underneath the forearm in an attempt to see if he could feel where the fracture was, exactly.

As far as dislocations, Hirman stretched out Inrahim‘s arm as carefully as possible, eyes focused on the problem areas. The shoulder moved naturally, no signs of anything problematic, and it appeared that the dragon hadn’t pulled up to dislocate anything—simply bitten down, ad Hirman had assumed.

He cleaned the areas where the dragon’s teeth had drawn blood, carefully treating this first. The rest could wait, but anything open and bleeding meant room for infection, and infection would be the most difficult to deal with.

This important area out of the way, Hirman finally addressed his patient.

“I will have to set the bone and bind the arm. It will be painful,” Hirman said, frowning. The black wher had done well with his own pain, though the healer was still concerned about how this would affect him when his bonded was suffering. “I would recommend you feed your wher first, and then come back. It does not have to be set right away.”

He would have to get the materials in place—medicated dressings, splints, around three layers of bandages and sutures to secure those, and plasters. As well as find a healer not currently occupied with helping the multitude of injured candidates, in supporting the limb in the correct way while he attempted to manipulate the bones back in place.

tag: Inrahim and Isk

[princesal]

Unfortunately, there was always a problem with being fueled by adrenaline. Eventually it wore off, and there was a crash. As Otto tried his best not to shift, being held up by Hulair, as sweat was really starting to form on his body. It wasn't like he was really doing anything strenuous, except standing, which (with his injuries) seemed almost too much to do.

Salty sweat dripped down, over, and off the bridge of his nose, and ran from his temples, dampening the hair and making the left side of his face, covered with blood, start to drip weirdly. It was getting difficult to look at the dragons and whers anymore. It was getting difficult to concentrate on them. His left eye was useless by now, the thin cut had reacted accordingly and the irritation of the cut and pain had caused a bit of subsequent swelling. Otto had no idea how many dragons were left on the sands, or how many whers for that matter.

Rubbing his face with his arm, a noise of pain made it's way in his throat, and made a small whine noise that he didn't make consciously. Swallowing, he shifted his arm that was around Hulair, and for a moment the Sands were completely sideways, and he felt like his eyes were crossing, until everything snapped back together. That left him gasping for air through his nose, now feeling like he had been running a marathon. Whatever had been keeping the pain back was leaving far too fast, and nausea was creeping up with a strange inner cold sensation.

About to say something to Hulair, that it was time for him to come off the Sands, Otto was able to focus on the new little green wher that seemed far too curious about Hulair. Seemed like it was time for both of them to get off the Sands, for entirely different reasons. "h-"

Oh, she was running away. Looking at Hulair, about to apologize, solid weight ran over him, knocking his balance over, and left him digging his fingers into the fabric of Hulair's candidate ropes, possibly ripping them a bit, accidentally. The words from Hulair confirmed what Otto was absorbing. Suddenly it didn't matter that he was sure that his vision getting dark around the edges was more about him, then the Hatching Sands. Hulair had just Impressed, and Otto's decision was cemented.

"Hello Hulsk. Don't worry, you'll get food soon." Looking back at Hulair, a big smile on his face. "Just set me down. It's time for me to come off the Sands too. I'm not feeling as good as I was." He had stayed because he figured that all he needed was to be sewn up and then he'd be fine, figuring a dragon wouldn't mind someone being temporarily hurt. "It's only my first time Standing, I'll Impress next time. Thanks for helping me, Hulsk is really lucky, congratulations."

And then he raised his arm to signal to the Healer's that it was time for him to come off the Sands. "She's just a baby, and babies need food." Some of his words were mushed together, but the message was clear. He had made his decision to get off the Sands. It wasn't like he was going to be the only candidate that didn't Impress. Otto looked pleased with his decision, or maybe it was because he was hoping some numbweed was in his future.

(Tag: Hulair (Boo), Nearby Healer (to take Otto off the Sands))

----

Enciath let D'nari know immediately what Malinoth told her, if she hadn't said anything, D'nari would have still known it was Mira when Asher suddenly perched on him. It was obvious that they were trying to help, as the images from two of the flits battled within his mind, trying to give a clear picture. The cyan was also a big distraction. As if that was a prompt, Gracey betweened and perched on her human's shoulder (her normal spot).

D'nari looked bleary eyed, confused, and like he wasn't very happy getting the attention of four firelizards. How did a group of them always manage to find him for their perches? It was better than being force fed bugs at least.

Can you look for Malinoth and Mira?
Of course, Mine, I was already doing that.

She was, using ledges and outcrops of rock to walk in areas that other dragons hadn't claimed, looking for the black with a human next to him. Actually he wasn't that difficult to find, look at what a great Search dragon she was! She could find anything! Obviously her core was aligned perfectly, and if she kept as such she'd be able to find everything. It was the world around her telling her how right she was. It was incredibly validating.

Ana's sudden words had her perk up, the distress from him made her want to scurry over to him and give comfort to the blue. He was sparkly on the inside, and she never forgot that, and wanted to scurry to his side, and wrap her tail around him and comfort. Except she couldn't excuse the comment about red. Mine has red hair. It will never go out of style. D'nariMine's clutchsister has red hair as well.

D'nari looked around and it was easy to find the small blue with the vulture cyan looming (she was magnificent at that!). Letting his eyes travel through the Stands, he finally found G'lin.

Is that alright?
It's fine with me.

With a nod, and a shake of his arms, trying to disturb the flits a bit, he started walking over to where Mira and Malinoth would be, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and covering up a yawn. It was only now that he reached up to touch his hair and found that a tumbleweed had replaced it. Making a face.

I forgot a hat.
You are very funny, D'nariMine, if you think all your hair is going to fit under a hat. Don't worry, no matter what Ana says about red, it's perfect. It looks like Rukbat on some mornings.

Chuckling to himself, he had to do a bit of climbing, but then he was popping up right next to Mira. "Hey there! Want to come down off of her? Let's go sit next to G'lin. Enciath wants to sit next to Anablimyth, the hatching is scaring him. G'lin's nice..." He looked at Mira's hair, and found himself smiling even bigger. "I can't promise he won't bite. He once told me that he likes long hair."

Grinning, he got down off the ledge, and held his arms up to help her if she needed it, or even if she would agree.

D'nariMine is bringing Malinoth's Mira over. She has long hair, Mine said that Yours likes long hair. There was amusement coloring her mental voice, and sweetness. Nudging Malinoth softly, butting her head against his side. Malinoth? Let's go sit with Anablimyth and my Nesdeth D'nariMine will take care of yours.

(tag: Mira/Malinoth (DW), Ana, Nesdeth, G'lin (Maggie))