Straddle the Line [CalKal Double Hatching!]

[Kiran]

Quellyn couldn't see what was coming, but he could certainly hear it. His eyes looked over to his left, trying to figure out what was happening as more eggs hatched and things happened. He was too young to really be able to see over the others here against Inrahim's side, too scared to want to try now. There was a commotion in front of him. It looked like another wheret had hatched and was as bloody-minded as his sister. The boy's stomach twisted in nervousness. Bad things were already happening on the other side of the candidates, it sounded like, really bad things.

He grasped Inrahim's hand tighter. The noises of pain and brief flurries of chaos left quickly enough. Quellyn breathed a sigh of relief, then let go. He smiled up at the man to let him know that he was okay. Then his sandles slid over sand as he moved a bit closer to where he had been. They wouldn't come back this way, would they? Quellyn didn't think so, but there were still more eggs and whers to watch out for.

That was a poorly made assumption. Before he knew it, the commotion was coming back towards him. Quellyn turned to look, eyes wide, as other Candidates were slashed near him. His gaze scanned the ground and saw... He took a step back, but it wasn't enough to get out of the reach of the black wheret. It's claws dug into him as it climbed his body, leaving little gouges and bleeding scratches in various places and patterns. Thankfully, it missed Quellyn's vital points and was too small to do much damage, but it stung and it was on top of him and the cyan dragon and really dangerous one were coming towards him now!

Hs heart leapt into his throat, and Quellyn was petrified with fear. Was he going to be munched on now, forced off the sands and out to dragon candidacy? Maybe even killed? A small moan escaped as he felt the wheret's body tense up, the cyan dragon searching out the first wheret, the first wheret right there, and then....

Quellyn felt no end of relief as the wher on his head spring boarded off, though the consequences of it landing on the dragonet weren't known. His immediate thought was to stumble back towards Inrahim and take protection from him once more. Shaking, the boy watched as a cyan wheret Impressed and the chaos move away once more. The scratches he got didn't bleed much more, but he didn't want to leave the man's side again. No, not him!

Tag: Inrahim

[kireon]

OOC: Tags for Mairhi, Pyrus, Mith, Ciali and K'oa!

Shock could be a very scary thing, and she was kind of glad that it was taking the form of babbling, rather than tears, screams or other hysterics that she'd seen in the past. She continued smiling, keeping herself and her thoughts calm and pleasant as she kept an eye on injuries, on the sands around them, making sure her patient was kept protected as best they could without jostling him and making his injuries worse. "Yup! Your name's like ours, means you're part of the cool kids club!" She informed him cheerily, ever the optimist that he'd come out of this completely and totally fine. Might be having a gnarly injury and awful scar, but he'd be alive and that's what mattered.

A giggle answered his questions, an impish look sent to Mairhi. "Yup! Born not that far apart. She's my best friend, you know, tell me about your best friend. Do you have one?" Keeping him talking was a good thing, a very good thing. The comment about the ex-girlfriend made her pause and actually take a closer look at him. He was pale, very pale. Ashen almost. Pupils were... maybe they were blown, maybe, she needed a better light source to tell. In either case, she needed to get him to the Healers, and fast. "Aww, don't say that, might not be the end for you two yet!" Kairhi was, if anything, able to roll with almost anything life threw at her.

His comment on the wher made her frown momentarily, and beam at him seconds later. "If your buddy's out there, he or she'll know where to find you, promise! They're super smart that way! No one's ever failed to find their person, even if they have to go hunt them down in the healer's area!"

There were other things going on, things Kai didn't realize until a weight not her sister's or her own suddenly made itself apparent, and jaws clamped down on the back of her neck. Everything in her went deathly still, heart double-beating for several moments as she scarcely dared to breathe. If the whatever it was on her back and neck was gonna go for her patient, she'd have to cover him and fast. As it was, brown eyes locked with Mairhi's, subtle movements of face and eye their own communication form as she signaled, and recognized when Mairhi realized something was definitely wrong. Mama didn't raise any wherry-livered girls, even Rhikail's got lots of battle scars, I'm brave too! She couldn't help but think of her fellow Candidate's throat, of the ruin the other wheret'd made of it and wondered if she too would face the same consequences.

Fangs penetrated alarmingly slow, and there was a punch of adrenaline and pained heat as they popped through skin and as deep as needle-like teeth could go. She shuddered involuntarily, biting her lip in the telltale habit she'd had as a child when she was upset, ready to cry, or had injured herself but was being entirely too stubborn to be honest about it. The instant the jaws let go, Kairhi's hand clamped down firmly over the bleeding fang marks, pressing down to get some pressure on them as small rivulets oozed down in tiny streams. Not deep enough to sever or touch an artery, but close enough to the tender, thin flesh that it was going to certainly make her bleed like a stuck herdbeast for a while. Her eyes flashed, a display of temper as she. for lack of anything better to do, growled softly at the wheret as he inserted one of those wicked claws into her sister's side. How dare he? That was her baby sister, he could just come march right back over here and bite her again if he wanted to shred someone el-

Kalesk's bellow sent him running, and for good reason. The gold was on the move and she felt sorry for anyone getting in her way. "You guys okay? Mai, put pressure on the injury and tell me how deep it went and if it tore one way or another." She was still in Healer mode, mad as she was and still fighting to keep her thoughts pleasant.

They needed a Healer team to come and get him- soon. Someone, please, give permission to come over and pick up Pyrus before it's too late.

--

Jaed remained stock still as a stature carved from stone. Immoveable, still and hopefully not obviously a sore thumb sticking out as chaos hit the candidates. Even Kalesk's roar did little to get a jump out of him, though there was a distinct eye widening when the gold hauled forward after her murderous child. By the shells and sea, they're fast when they wanna. His gut sank a little at that, watching some form of rather colorful ugly-cute-powerful looking wheret hatch and go tearing off as well like it knew what to do. Cyan? Maybe, looked glossier than a blue or green for sure. He swallowed hard and watched her catch the black, discuss things and go about her way. Hopefully her, he didn't know what all those colors meant yet. Maybe the one cyan would talk sense into the other cyan and things would be okay- and the dragonet would quit laying waste to people.

Maybe, just maybe, standing mighta been a bit of a mistake?

His eyes found Mith again, and something in his chest fluttered at the sight of the pale tan paling around with others, what he assumed to be tans and a bright golden something there. Too small for a queen, unless she was still growing. Always possible.

Nah, he was there where he needed to be. Maybe he'd find a Mith of his own, and that'd give him something other than diving, spear fishing, and pearl harvesting to talk about. ...if he could manage to string enough words together to make a conversation.

--

No. Cilia simply told Cilisk as more Candidates suffered beneath the brutal tempers of he and Kalesk's children. Her hand remained firm, the contact between them a tether none but a wher-handler could possibly understand- and not for the first time, she found herself grateful to Lyrnn for all of his efforts and training in control; either of oneself or the partner. She understood; Cilisk's pain was loud and clear within her, tearing her heart apart, but she knew her way was correct- and the emergence of a rather familiar muscular form erupting on to the stands to take charge allowed the bronzehandler to smile for the first time in the whole hatching.

"That one's his alright, look at 'er." She quietly pointed the bulky hatchling out to her sister. Personality and everything was matching right up to Cilisk, and she wasn't sorry about that in the least- especially when she tore right after the misbehaving little bastards in the first place.

Cilisk continued his low, steady rumble, only offering more of the thunderclap that was his roar to Kalesk's when the gold raised her voice, his approval loud and clear as the Queen decided to go after the one responsible for killing its clutchmate and savaging others.

--

There was a very, very long pause of consideration as Wenth pondered over exactly what she could say to Mith's question. She had a point, Weslieth was certainly a very, very bright cloud- but was he bright enough to be a sun the way the Queens always were? Wenth's head dipped back to Mith, nibbling a little on the smaller tan in an absently affectionate manner, her eyes going from the pale tan to the more in the middle tan that was Naireth. ...yes, I think so... yes, I do... he is a sun... but who is a moon if we are clouds, Halventh is the stars, Weslieth is the sun, and who is Naireth? Is she a cloud or a moon?

Aylina's expression turned funny for a moment, her face screwing up as the corner of her left eye twitched, just a little. Tan conversations. So confusing.

--

If she stayed, there'd be further repeats of injuries, of severe damage done like that poor Candidate whose hand was going missing, the ruin of another's throat had her eyes the size of serving plates and her skin going ashen. Her hands trembled, gripping as they were in her skirts. Someone might actually die, they might actually end up dead before too long and she couldn't, she-

But the alternative to leave would mean being alone with another person, with someone other than Niddath who knew what she'd done, what the price of failure and her low caliber of being one of the important members of a wing had cost another person, to say nothing about the weyr proper itself. He's not mad, Willow, he's just worried like everybody else. Trust me on this one, okay?[/i] Niddath pleaded with her, desperate to keep her out of a weyr that was filled with nothing but pain and sorrow. He could bear it, could deal with it after this, but not any time before- he needed something else to feel, to sense and be plagued with for just a few candlemarks.

Which was the wrong thing to think to a particularly sensitive bonded, and he felt her shoulders jerk forward as if she'd been stung by a pebble or her face'd been slapped. Wait a minute, that came out wrong. Willow, that's not what I-![/i] The dragon jerked back in surprise, rearing up on his oversized hindquarters with a startled warble as the walls came slamming down between himself and Willow. Sure, the bond was still there, but there was absolute radio silence between them- and he could barely feel her, much less hear anything she was thinking or sense what she was feeling.

His eyes shaded the orange of alarm and turned to the much calmer, cooler Geth, wounded expression much like a hatchling's once again. Geeeeeeth, I screwed up again! It wasn't quite a wail, but the frustration was enough that the dragon himself seemed pretty close to what could pass for dragon tears anyway.

Willow's gaze had remained on her lap during the entire time, the fall of hair not bound within the braid obscuring her expression until her head lifted. Her eyes were suspiciously overbright and there was the slightest quivering of her lower lip as she swallowed hard. "I'm sorry," she replied quietly, sincerely and whole-heartedly. There was a lot to apologize for, and no number of apologies could ever mend what she had broken.

At his inquiry, she shook her head very slightly, forcing her eyes to the sands as Kalesk tore across in a gleaming metallic blur to hunt her own children down. One Impressed, thought not without a punishing bite to another not her bonded. "I will stay." She tried a wane smile that felt heavier than trying to lift a Waroth sized dragon. "Please, sit and enjoy the hatching." One of them should, one of them needed to be filled with something other than a burdensome, heavy guilt and sorrow.

I didn't mean it that way![/i] Niddath's anguished cry echoed hollowly, distantly in the girl's mind. [/size]

[Maggie]

Tamarisk grunted as she was shoved aside, falling to her knees again. Her bad leg was screaming in agony, now as if she was still caught under a pile of rubble. She cursed a blue streak under her breath as she struggled up again, giving Joni an apologetic smile as she leaned on her fellow Candidate a bit.

She paused, stunned as a loud voice ripped through her mind. ATTENTION MY TAMRI. TAMARISK THINK WOULD BE GOOD IDEA IF IN CHARGE NOW The other words seemed to blur into a world of simple loudness as the fact that she was now a wherling sunk in. She blinked, staring at the beautiful, hulking monster of a cyan, a smile stealing over her face.

Suddenly, the smile vanished as Tamarisk turned to take a chunk out of Kazynn for no apparent reason. Her eyes narrowed. "Tamarisk! You will not do that!" she ordered. "Yes, we are going for food and then we are going to see the healers because my legs sharding hurt. Your mama is in charge here and we're going to let her murder that little monster, is that understood?

SIR YES SIR! Tamarisk snapped reflexively before suddenly realising something. Her eyes whirled a very angry red. MY TAMRI UNFIT FOR DUTY! WHO DID THIS? WHO DID THIS! She whirled around, bristling angrily as she tried to find the rampaging wher who had had the audacity to hurt HER Tamri.

Tamarine reached out, putting a quelling hand on her wher's back for the first and most certainly not the last time. She had seen her aunt do it with her murderous Task more than once. "Tamarisk, food. We need to get off the sands now, you need to eat and I need medical attention."

Tamarisk gave her new handler a long look, then nodded, circling Tamarine like a vicious guard dog as her handler hobbled off the sands towards the feeding area.

***

Gennesk was unsure how to feel. On the one hand, Tamarisk's was related to his Mini-Mine and Task's Scary-small, so she was kind of inderectly his concern. On the other hand, he didn't like her much because she punched him when he nipped and it seemed like she had Impressed another screamy baby. Seriously, weren't whers born with manners anymore? What was happening to this Weyr. Mini-Mouse not is be sad. Whers is be kill, is be bite, is be hunt. Is be whers. If is be bad, Kalesk is be crunch. Mini-Mouse is be safe. Gennesk had never been overly concerned by wherling deaths, even though they were sad. Wherlings always died, it was just a fact of life. Is still be many babies. Even screamy-babies. Later Tamarisk is for meet. Is not be for Saosk meet. Too much screamy, he declared.

***

Idra did fall to her knees as the wheret bashed into her. There was too much momentum not to. She immediately assumed a defensive position, her hands and arms raised to protect her chest and throat. She could spare a hand or an arm more than she could afford to leave those vital areas uncovered. She struggled to her feet as quickly as possible. She wasn't going to fall victim to one of those disgusting monsters, she wasn't! Her eyes sought out Davalla a few Candidates down and she cursed, a rare show of emotion for her. She should never have left her sister alone, never! They were all each other had in the world, they should not be standing alone.

[lee]

Braele watched in silence to the side as Joni and Tamarine went down, ready to help if it was needed, but both girls were upright again in a flash, and she quietly turned her attention forwards once again. It didn’t stay there for long, but how could it? She tracked the dark wher’s progress with a bland, shuttered expression, but it was lost behind her quickly enough, and she couldn’t see through the white robes and unsteady limbs of her fellow candidates to track the damage it caused. Uneasily, she once again turned her attention forward, though her ears were attuned to the sounds behind her, in case it returned. Each shout, each cry...Braele’s hands slowly lifted from her sides to lock fingers behind her back, needing the simple contact to keep herself from turning resolutely and whalloping a wher what-for. Had she been able to see the ruckus behind her, been able to see that it was Niorun, who was so young, she might have despite herself, not out of any righteous passion to the desire, simple a wish to restore the order and balance of the things. But she stayed put, calm and quiet.

Her eyes fell on the sweet little green who had been killed, and she wanted to look away--not out of disgust, but to prevent negative thoughts--but she forced her gaze to stay a moment longer, remembering the dragons mourning the lost dragonets at her first hatching, and feeling that the cheerful little wher deserved something of tribute, even if all Braele could feel as a vague sort of regret for the loss. She wasn’t particularly good at such things, so she just held her thoughts to remember the little wher and tilted her head in silent approval as Kalesk charged the Sands to avenge the green. Vaguely, Braele recognized that wher retribution would probably mean the dark wher’s death, and the solemn realization made her feel old and tired.

Not that there was much time to linger on it. Another wher was stalking its way directly towards her. Braele raised a wary brow but didn’t move. Despite her general detachment from the rest of the world, Braele had enough empathy to have been Searched, and though it was the coolly logical, disassociated sort, there was enough of it to get the sense that this wher wasn’t coming towards her to become hers and she his. She kept her expression neutrally pleasant as she debated side-stepping to avoid the claws she knew were coming, but decided against it. With a not-quite-sigh of resignation, she stood her ground, feeling that these darn hatchlings--dragons and all, and she spared an exasperated moment to glance at the rampaging cyan up to the newly hatched subkings--just wouldn’t be satisfied until every last person on the Sands was bleeding.

It was quick, and, if not painless, than at least not so bad that Braele couldn’t bite back the hiss of pain. Her leg buckled, but she shifted her weight and remained upright, glancing down to assess the damage. Breathing slowly and quietly, Braele shifted again, locking the injured leg against her other, in as unobtrusive a manner of putting pressure on the punctures as possible. She managed a flash of a grin at the first Impression as Tamarine scolded Tamarisk, and her eyes flicked up to the sky in wry, gallows-humor amusement, though they lowered quickly because it wouldn't do to let her attention wander in this hatching. One Impression and only three quarters of the candidates injured to get it done.

Yup.

This was going well.

--

A small screech of horror escaped Eithne as Pyrus went down under the cyan and she...Eithne choked back the rest of the sound, remembering the strict admonition of their lessons. Silence. They had to remain in silence. But her feet were already moving, trying to close the distance between herself and the fallen candidate, but Mairhi and Kairhi were there first and Eithne had only gone two steps. She froze, small hands still over her mouth though they lowered slowly. She swallowed, and watched critically before deciding they had it well in hand, and any more assistance would only bring unwanted attention. She watched Niorun’s rescue with quiet relief.

What was going on?

Dragons were saviors. Noble creatures, brave and kind. But that little cyan had just taken a boy’s hand off, and by all appearances, intentionally so. It was heartbreaking in a way, and Eithne’s eyes dropped to the sand in front of her small, booted feet. It wasn’t, she supposed, the first time she’s had an illusion stripped away. She should have known better, but it stung nevertheless, and Eithne shifted from foot to foot, processing this change in data with a forlorn expression. Her eyes closed once, and she inhaled. Exhaled. There. New information accepted. Life, people, even dragons. Counting on them to be what you imagined was silliness. They were living creatures, and it wasn’t that they were flawed precisely, it was just that perfection was an unfair qualification to force as an expectation on anyone but yourself.

As for the whers…Eithne had only the word of the Weyr that they would ever be anything but vicious once bonded. She had only ever encountered the wild sort, and so far, the hatchlings, with their calculated brutality that spoke of great intelligence, were even more frightening. She had met watchwhers too, an d they had not been unkind, but she was way even of them, and they had been older. She was quietly grateful to have some distance between herself and the blacks stalking the sands, and the unhatched eggs still, though she suspected that wouldn’t spare her , for all that she was, for the mere moment, unscathed. Forcing herself to look away from them, she glanced at the purple and brown dragonet that had hatched. Silly beasties, they needed to go on and get with the Impression already, and get some of these poor souls off the Sands before there was no one left at all for them to choose from!

[Rii]

Sora was doing her best not to panic. She was doing a pretty good job of it, too, gripping her emotions ruthlessly and burying them. She’d done it for eight Turns. She could do it for one more day, no matter how high the stakes were, right? Just don’t take your eyes off of it, Sora. Be ready to move-

The dark wher lunged at her, and she started a fresh step to the side. No, it was dodging around her - trying to get at her back? - and Sora twisted, trying to follow it. Mistake. That was a mistake, and she knew it in the half-heartbeat that followed the motion, but it was too late to fix it. She felt the cyan connect with her back, smashing her aside impatiently and taking her completely off of her feet. Sora hit the sand hard, the breath rushing out of her lungs. Oh shards- She flung her arms up instinctively to protect her head and neck with the leather guards she wore and clenched her eyes shut.

Maybe she didn’t want to die so much after all.

For something that happened so fast, it sure felt incredibly slow, with her pulse thundering in her ears and adrenaline racing through her veins. She felt a line of pain down her left hand, where it rested unprotected near her shoulderblade, followed by cloth tearing - in the midst of her anticipation of pain all she could think was no one’s going to be able to wear this candidate robe again. And then. Then, the odd sensation/sound of claws skidding down the armor that covered her back. The wheret’s claws couldn’t get the same purchase against tough leather as soft skin.

Thank you, Jyderin.

The pressure against her back vanished, telling her that the danger had moved on - for now, at least. Dragging a breath back into her lungs, Sora pushed herself up and got back to her feet, taking a look at her clawed hand. Eh. A scratch. Probably wouldn’t even need stitches. She took out her knife and hacked a rough strip off of the hem of her robe, wrapping it around the cut and tying it off as best she could with one hand and her teeth. Alright. Good to go for whatever came next. Getting the shakes could come later.

***

It wasn’t getting any better.

In fact, she was fairly sure that it was getting worse. Norilana peeked around Ranthian, her eyes wide. That cyan had completely collided with that boy, claws and all! And she didn’t seem to care at all. The young candidate gulped. And the baby wher had climbed right up someone’s back, just a few people away. She could see the places where blood was soaking through his clothes.

Nori wasn’t a stranger to blood. She’d watched Lanorun hack Joshu’s leg clean off, to save the rest of him from the burrow of Thread he’d fallen into. She’d been there to see Ranthian fight tooth and nail to keep him from dying to blood loss and infection. Somehow, though, it didn’t make it any less scary to catch the glimpses of the chaos in the candidate ranks. What if she was next? Would she be stoic like the people around her, or would she scream, if claws met flesh?

No. She wouldn’t - couldn’t - mustn’t think of it. Ranthian and Lanorun would keep her safe. They always had. She pressed her lips together tightly, firming her jaw in a stubborn look. Positive thoughts, right? Well, here was a positive thought for them. We’re going to Impress. And it’ll be okay.

[Reky]

Risny, instinctively, half-lept, half-stumbled away from the path of the cyan dragonet as she went for Aelynn. It was a graceless step, and she nearly bumped into Orkia to her right, and sighed heavily in relief that she didn't. The relief she got from not being attacked, though, was not real relief. She felt nervous no matter what happened. She felt like she'd get it eventually - and when the dark wher passed between her and Aelynn next, she thought that it must be it, the end, the moment of truth, but she was passed by. She felt like she was racking up points. She felt like something very bad was going to happen, because it was happening to everyone else, and why was she any luckier? She wanted to be luckier, but had a sinking feeling she wasn't.

---

Inrahim was reluctant to let Quellyn go. It grounded him to have someone to protect; standing by himself he felt selfish, survivalist. But Quellyn had smiled, and who was Inrahim to frown and refuse? So his charge left him, and Inrahim straightened out in the line, head forward once again. There, instead of the blood from the fellow candidates, he saw the bodies of the green sisters, one broken and one melted. Neither view made him feel better than the other.

Then, the trio of new-hatched children came to Quellyn and Inrahim felt panic rise hot in his stomach. It stitched his throat shut. The few steps between him and Quellyn seemed to take an age. The black had perched itself, gargoyle-like, on the boys head; the dark beast was coming, the cyan as well. Then, the black sprang away, and Inrahim did not follow it with his eyes. He only looked at Quellyn's intact head, and as the boy stumbled back to him, looked down at the pinprick clawmarks the nightmarish wher had left. He grasped Quellyn's hand tightly, but was silent save for a long, measured intact of air.

---

In the stands, Qaelis let out a little gurgle and kicked his feet at his father's voice. Then he reached up a tiny hand for Q'sis pointing finger. At only a few months old, he had no real idea what was going on down on the Sands. What was 'blood?' What were the noises? His eyes would widen and he would look over sometimes, because the screams and roars were strange to him, but he didn't seem particularly distraught. In between, he was happy to look at his parents instead.

"Q'sis!" Samael scoffed at his laugh, but she was partly amused. She stroked Qael's little soft head. "Don't listen to your daddy, he's terrible," but Qaelis, for now, just wanted his dad's hand.

Tags: Quellyn, Orkia, Q

[/blockquote]

[phantomofthewolves]

There. Was. Chaos. From the moment the first egg hatched, the air grew thick with the sounds of screams, both human and draconic. Toreld covered his ears, hoping to drown out the sounds that rocked his eardrums. He couldn't help looking at all the wounded candidates and the dead wher baby, killed by her chaotic sister. Tears welled up in his eyes as he stared at the green corpse. She had so much potential, only to be slaughtered by her sibling too early. He looked away, only to see a wheret charge straight for him.

It clambered onto his back, claws scraping his pale skin. He gave a small cry as his nerves alerted his brain to pain in his back too soon after the initial attack. Then the wheret was off again, slashin more innocent victims. He was bleeding, but thankfully it wasn't too severe. He turned his attention to the dragon's clutch. This was a good reason why he liked to be a dragonrider over a handler: too much chaos and disharmony.

[Digitalis]

Phaenna managed to look away from the gore, and focused on the dragons. That was why she was here, after all. She'd almost forgotten. She tried to put the bad images aside in her mind and think welcoming thoughts, but it was difficult. The boy in front of her was getting help now, at least, so that was good, but there was so...much blood. Phaenna felt faint for a moment, but she stayed upright and refocused all her attention on the eggs. That cyan hatchling was little better than the wher, savaging candidates like that; she fervently hoped that neither the red-brown wher or the cyan dragonet took a second look at her. However, the purple and brown had been reasonably calm and sedate types so far, and there were bound to be others in the clutch like them. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that Phaenna could Impress. She certainly wasn't enjoying spectating, anymore.

A black blur arrived--a second black wherlet, by its looks, and it sunk its teeth into one of the girls helping Pyrus, clearly enjoying the looks of pain and fear it was receiving from those around it. There was a thunderous roar from Kalesk, and the black was off again. Phaenna was left unharmed, but she knew the black had drawn blood from several other candidates as he left, eventually coming face to face with the other two troublemakers.

After a brief scuffle, the black disappeared again, but another egg from Kalesk's clutch was cracking open. It was one of the larger eggs, and despite her dark, mottled hide and burly size, the hatchling was clearly a cyan. Phaenna breathed a sigh of relief, as the cyan was focused on her black sibling and not on the candidates. In fact, she turned out to be the first one to bond, prowling over to one of the girls, Tamarine. That was one pair off the sands, at least. She didn't envy whoever would end up with the cyan dragon or the brown-red wher, if they chose to Impress, but she hoped they did it soon.

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

Despite Tamren's attempts to aim good thoughts at the largest dragon egg and the two hatched sub-kings, it was difficult to ignore what the whers were doing, especially when they decided to do it right beside him. He kept well out of the wher's way--as much as he was able to, within the crush of the candidate crowd. His bruised side still stung, and he didn't want any more injuries. The peculiar reddish-toned creature was still running around among the candidates and causing more injuries, and it was not the only one. Tamren gave a sympathetic wince when a newly-hatched black chewed on Dardranel's ankle; she was one of the few candidates on the sands he actually knew. The same black threatened Carissa and a younger boy as well, though they at least were left unharmed.

Tamren's roommate Quellyn was not so lucky. The two of them weren't really close, but it was not pleasant watching him be caught in the middle of the whers' and dragon's battle. He might have helped if there was anything he could have done, but anything he did would've just drawn their attention to him and probably caused even more damage.

He didn't really notice the hatching of the cyan wher; he just saw a hulking beast of a wherlet approach and subdue the black wher while the cyan dragonet was busy chasing the other wher. He was glad when the newest wher successfully Impressed. Now if only the dragons would start doing the same. Hopefully Kalesk would put down the brownish red wher soon, as well. It had already caused enough damage.

[Nia]

In the Stands, Emiya was fighting the urge to scream again, her eyes seeking out the form of her long-time friend in the darkness. She almost didn't want to ask Noctulith what had happened and if he was okay, afraid of the answer she might get. Her dragon picked up on these thoughts, however. By my calculations... ah....

[/i] he hunted through his and Emiya's brain for a comforting thought or factoid he could give her, but nothing came up and he fumbled, There! He's alive, Emiya! By Faranth....[/i] the Black let out a sigh of relief as he noticed Pyrus' arm wave. Emiya was still on her feet in the Stands, struggling to make out anything in the darkness below, and willing herself not to start crying. "He'll b'fine," she muttered to herself, "Don' you dare die, you," she added, her knuckles white.

Down on the Sands, the Cyan was incredibly frustrated, her attempts at justice being thwarted at every turn. The huge monster of a wher kept getting away from her only because it was smaller than she was, but she was utterly determined to catch up with it. That wher had broken the law! It had murdered an innocent, and that was unforgiveable. She chased him through the Candidates only to end up near the front again, where she was distracted. No one had learned. They were all trying to obstruct the law, and they were all guilty! She was not going to let them get away from her....

A large, bulky Wher-Cyan had hatched as well, interesting the split-colored Cyan and even proving hersef quite useful as she caught the Black that had obstructed her and made her lose sight of the bigger, murder-Wher. For a moment, she was content to pace near the Black and the Cyan whers to discuss what to do with the troublesome Black, but in the end, the wher-Cyan proved right. They could not kill a child in front of its mother, no matter how much he'd obstructed justice and let his sibling escape their clutches. He was not at fault. He needed a punishment, but he had not deserved a sentence of death. She reluctantly agreed to let him go, and had a rather calm discussion with the like-minded wher.

The wher went off to Impress and it planted an idea in the Cyan's head. If she had a human, she would be free to punish wrongs without being obstructed. A human partner for her would be useful in that regard, if only because the Cyan resolved she could use them as bait or a distraction. That did seem to be her problem. All these whers were working together, but her siblings were useless fools sitting up by their eggs. She needed a worthy parter, and she set out to go find one.

Shoving her way back into the throng of Candidates, the Cyan knocked through Newt and Ryiah, with Newt in particular getting a rather aggressive shove. His brain felt weird, like there was a strong injustice that had happened to him, but had never been resolved. She didn't like that. She continued through the Candidates, hitting Imber with her wings as she walked past, and weaving around Carissa. She was calmer now, though not any less focused on the law. This was just another step, and it was an important one. The growing hunger in her belly meant nothing. She circled Lilianai, sniffing the girl and separating her from Seidon to get a closer look, but there was nothing she found interesting about the girl. With a dismissive snort, the Cyan shoved Lilianai over with her foot, the girl only charged with wasting her time.

The Cyan stopped by Pyrus' body and the two similar-looking girls helping him. One was bleeding. She'd been hurt. That Black wher... the Cyan growled, low and menacing, but it wasn't meant for the girls. He'd done this. He'd hurt someone. Someone that... the Cyan felt oddly strong for. She locked eyes with one of the twins, feeling a surge of emotions and pain, mixing with her strong desire to carry out justice. The Cyan seemed almost confused as her eyes whirled rainbow, and she didn't say anything to her new lifemate for a moment, allowing their emotions and thoughts to mix.

My Kairhi,[/i] she started, testing the link between them, You are hurt. It harmed you.[/i] "It" referring to the Black wher this time, who had disappeared into the darkness, We need to catch it, Kairhi. It has to pay. Come with your Atenath.[/i] She moved her gaze towards Pyrus, and then Mairhi, Leave them. We have more important things to take care of.[/i] The pain and emotions that Kairhi felt for her sister and even for Pyrus were lost on the Cyan, though in some part of her brain she registered them enough to send a small tinge of sympathy towards her new rider.

SPOILER: Click to show

Cyan Atenath
Personality:
Atenath is impartial. She will never take a side, she will only look over and judge from her position above them. Not that she's arrogant or thinks she's better, but she has set herself up as a "judge" of sorts. Atenath loves to judge, she loves to decide who is right and who is wrong, all from her position of impartiality above them. She's very analytical and will think over an idea in her head for days, only occassionally asking Kairhi for input. People are her favorite thing to analyze, and she finds it fascinating to come up with unique punishments for them and their unlawful ways. Other dragons are alright, but she's more interested in their riders than her siblings. Humans are just... so fascinating. She wants to study them, starting with Kairhi.

For a dragon so intent on deciding between right and wrong, Atenath is very cold. She doesn't have a strong range of emotions, and tends to depend on Kairhi when certain emotions come up that she doesn't understand. Warmth, happiness, even love, they're all rather foreign to her. It's not that she can't feel them, because she certainly can and does, but she just doesn't understand them and tends to just toss them aside. Anger is perhaps the only emotion she really knows what to do with, but she always manages to justify herself. Attacking and biting off a hand was justified, because he'd obstructed her. It was his fault. Her anger had nothing to do with it, she was merely dispensing justice.

As cold as she is, Atenath tends to keep an emotional distance from everyone around her. Even Kairhi will be kept at a distance at first, though it is possible to develop a closer relationship with her. Atenath believes that in order to be impartial, she must keep everyone at an emotional distance so she can judge easier. She doesn't want emotions to cloud her brain, with how prone to frustration and anger she is, and if it were possible she would chose to remove all of her emotions completely. But she does have them, despite how she might try to suppress them.

Appearance:
Atenath's base color is a dark teal, saturated a bit more than her clutchsibling's. However, her hide is split between that and a darker teal, and a much brighter cyan. Her back end is sketched with the brighter cyan color, cross-hatching into the darker teal, which then fades to an even darker teal by her upper neck and head. Her feet are touched with a bit of color as well, and her wings follow the pattern of her hide. She is quite a bit glossy as well, as Cyans tend to be.

She's a bit heavily built, with very tough front legs. Her muscles are very toned and strong, but she's not exactly bulky. Atenath is built for speed and agility rather than pure bulk, with her large wings and her long tail adding to her agility. She's on the large side, and will grow to be about 31 feet.

Back up with the Brown and the Purple, the Purple appeared to be chatting his brother's ear off, and the Brown did not look very amused. Well... the Brown didn't look much of anything, simply glancing occassionally around at the chaos that they'd been born into. He suddenly looked a bit stunned and then annoyed, lifting his paw to smack the Purple around the head, causing him to fumble forward and bump into the brown egg that had been laying next to the Brown's. The brown egg rolled down the sand and collided with one of the eggs in the front, causing both eggs to crack and splinter, though only the brown egg actually ended up revealing a dragonet.

Another Cyan, darker shaded than her already darkly colored sister sat in the sands, looking very disoriented from her tumble in the egg. Her hide, while a bit of a dull color, was very glossy and shiney, reflecting even in the low light of the cavern. She quickly righted herself and lifted a wing, checking to make sure nothing had been hurt before she turned around to start yelling at the Purple for causing her very undignified entrance. She stomped towards him, even pointing at him with her claws as she ranted at him for making her look bad. This did seem to amuse the Brown, and the Purple helplessly looked around as if calling for help. He didn't do anything! He'd just stumbled! Sheesh, why are you so mad?!

The Cyan gave a dignified little huff and turned around. She was elegant even as a hatching, resembling her mother, with her very nice proportions and long, elegant tail. Even her lighter markings looked as though she were wearing a jeweled crown or some sort of helmet. The Cyan walked forward with perfect poise and posture, to the delight of her mother, and began weaving her way through the Candidates, making sure to keep far away from the whers and their mayhem.

The Purple, meanwhile, looked very affronted and embarrassed. The Brown still seemed amused, and pushed at the Purple, nudging his head towards the Candidates. Their sister had gone off. He needed to go as well. But the Purple wasn't having it. Not unless you go too, he seemed to gesture. The Brown twitched his tail impatiently, and the two seemed to set down into a very heated argument over who would go over to the Candidates first.

Meanwhile, the pink egg in front of them and the purple and green mottled egg off to the very right of the clutch began to crack and shake more rigorously. Both of them ended up hatching at the same time, revealing two Greens. One of the Greens was darker colored than the other one, who had a bright, vibrant hide with almost yellow markings against it. The brighter Green ignored her two male siblings, who had stopped their arguing to watch her, and pranced her way over to her Green sibling. She said something and the Greens both turned back to their sub-King siblings, appearing to almost laugh at them as they both darted quickly away.

The darker Green was a bit more conscious of her surroundings than her bright sister, and as they walked close to their mother she noticed the body of the dead wher on the Sands. However, she was quite a bit more squeamish than her sibling and jumped in surprise, darting forward out of panic. She didn't really like blood, and the big golden thing was really weird and scary. The lighter Green chased after her sister and eventually managed to catch up to her in time for both of them to stumble into one of the eggs in Kalesk's neat little nest, collapsing unceremoniously on top of it. However, there was a bit of movement other than the two dragons that proved that the wher inside hadn't been too harmed by the two Greens.

Over with the Brown and the Purple, the Purple had gone back to talking his brother's ears off. He began gesturing around wildly and almost appeared to be laughing to himself, looking over at the Brown for some approval. However, his brother looked a bit more agitated than he had been before. Unknown to everyone else, of course, the Purple had been making very dark jokes about the Hatching going on around them, and the Brown did not approve of his words or his silly actions. They'd been born into a world of nightmare and destruction, could he at least try to take it seriously?

The Purple, however, got irritated by the Brown's insistance on seriousness. He'd just been trying to cheer everyone up by being a little silly! Who cares if it was completely against the atmosphere and kind of offensive, as long as he made someone laugh... that made it fine, right? The Brown clearly did not agree. He remained with the eggs while the Purple stomped off towards the Candidates, leaving his no-fun brother behind to watch over the nest.

He went all the way around the Candidates, skimming the edge of them, with no desire to get any closer to the whers inside. He appeared to scrunch up his nose in disgust as he caught sight of the reddish-brown menace inside the throng of Candidates, pausing at a particular male Candidate in an attempt to use him as a barrier to watch. The Purple ended up locking eyes with this boy, looking a bit startled, but then laughing inside his chosen's head.

Now just stay like that, Ri'cardMine,[/i] he said, his mindvoice sounding as though he were about to burst out laughing at any second, but like he was trying his hardest to sound serious, Okay....[/i] He paused, looking around for any sight of the whers, Your Mountebath has surveyed the area! No whers detected![/i] He openly laughed now, nudging His, That means we're safe,[/i] He added, as though His wouldn't get the joke otherwise.

SPOILER: Click to show

Purple Mountebath
Personality:
Mountebath doesn't know how to take anything seriously. To him, life is a joke, and he's here to enjoy it. He can find a way to make any situation funny, for himself at least. He laughs at his own jokes, regardless of if they make anyone else laugh or not. He has no idea how to read an atmosphere and will say extremely tactless things very often. He also has no idea how to control himself or his mayhem, and he tends to make fun of things that people are actually sensitive about. Mountebath refuses to take blame for hurting anyone's feelings, either. It was just a joke! Lighten up! He doesn't take anything seriously, so why should they?

For all his bumbling social tact, Mountebath does legitimately care about those he considers friends. He's loyal to a fault and will follow people he likes around like a little lost puppy. Under all his jokes and fun-loving attitude, Mountebath just really wants to be liked. He wants friends, he doesn't want to be alone, and he wants to be popular. He desperately strives to be popular and well-liked, though he's so tactless that his attempts usually misfire. Making friends is difficult, so he normally depends on Ri'card to do that for him, so he can tag along. He just wants to be in the position where he can crack jokes and not have to worry about hurting anyone's feelings. A gentle nudge from Ri'card in the right direction is really what he needs, especially when he starts to say very uncouth things.

Mountebath is there to play the sort of "best friend" role in a movie or a game. He's the fall guy, the lacky, but never the protagonist. He's the assistance and the comic relief, and he's somewhat resigned to his role. He sees himself as just the side-kick, and he doesn't mind too much. Ri'card can be his protagonist, and he'll be there to help in whatever he's needed for. He doesn't need to be in the spot-light exactly, he just wants to be liked. But at the end of the day, as long as Ri'card likes him, then that's good enough.

Appearance:
Mountebath is a very bright, in-your-face Purple. He's not quite in the neon range, more in the deeper side of the spectrum, but he is defintitely a Purple. His hide has very light, almost scale-like markings along the back of his neck and his upper shoulder areas. They're definitely not scales, as Pernese dragons don't have scales, but they're swirled in a way that almost makes it look similar to scales. Though perhaps it could be taken more as bubbles. The back of his backlegs, the tip of his tail and the edge of his wings are gradiented with a lighter purple as well, the same color his swirled markings are. Other than that, his hide is a very uniform, deep purple.

This Purple's legs are quite long and thin, making him look somewhat awkward in the air but perfectly fine on land. His wings are also somewhat small, making him a bit more prone to fumbling around and crashing than other dragons might be. He is a bit thinner than average, and also has a very long, thin tail. He will grow to be 39 feet.

[/blockquote][/size]

[Rappu]

[OOC tw gore]
Kerke grinned and sat, relaxed, on the bench. This was going to be a huge hatching and a huge hatching feast, with all kinds of possibilities. Kersk sent him an image of rolling eyes. Yeah, yeah, things hadn't gone so smoothly with Nadya. But dammit, there were others in the Weyr and at least he'd have a dance or three. He turned his eyes on the Sands. This was definitely going to be interesting. He circled his shoulders a few times and stretched his legs. He'd be ready if they needed someone to spring to the Sands and back. Over sixty Candidates and two large clutches... So many new bonds tonight.

Dalahirath cranes her neck down from her high ledge, cyan eyes eagerly monitoring everything that was going on. She added in her own, clumsy commentary and broadcast 'the show' freely around her so that those not present could see it too.
Oh no, what's this? The brown wheret is tearing through the candidates! There, wow, what a slash! It's very slashy, and red, and ooaaawww there he goes again!
Analucia sat quietly in the audience and watched. So many Holdless in the ranks. Would the dragonets and wherets choose those people? She found it hard to believe, but then again, there were a lot of eggs on the Sands, and she had seen that having a dragon could at least somewhat civilize an ex-Holdless. Somewhat.

Ksenna screamed. And fell. The wher's jaws bloody hurt, and it wasn't about to let go. The damned creature hung onto her knee like a rabid canine, like a clamp on her flesh. Tears sprang into her eyes, but she wasn't going to call it quits. No way, not at her first Hatching. The wher gnawed at the bone and cartilage. It felt like her leg was on fire. But with pain came also the calmness of shock. Eventually, the wheret let go, and only the thrumming pain was left. Blood flowed down her shin, colouring her robe red. She scrambled up, her face pale, and grinned unsteadily. She was gonna be all right! It was just a scratch from a teeny weeny wheret, right? She could go to the Healer right after impressing someone.

In the shadows of the Stands, a man stared furiously at the Sands. His little girl, hurt! He had been right. They had come to take the Holdless just to feed them to their terrifying beasts. He had tried to warn Ksenna! Why did that girl have to take after her mum so much?

Barahath watched the spectacle for M'dag. The rider sat in the Stands, hands covering his eyes. He couldn't watch, even if he wanted to be present for Draolor. The boy had waved him from the Sands and he had waved back, trying to give him a confident smile. Dragons and egress on the sands! Whers were terrifying creatures, and the hatching was bound to be chaotic with so many candidates.
He'll be all right. He's our son, after all.
Barahath's words didn't especially calm M'dag, but it was still nice to hear and feel his dragon's complete faith in him and Draolor. Nurmi on his lap, he kept not daring to peek.

Wow, Pyrus is a brave candidate! His hand was torn off like a limb, but he will stay on the Sands! We should all follow his example of strangth and willpower.

Whoah! A creature bumped into Draolor in a flash, and the boy tumbled down on the hot sand. "Owowowow!" He blinked and rubbed sand away from his face with a pudgy hand, and quickly got back on his feet. He wasn't sure if it had been the cyan wher, but she had already gone and bonded. Maal had been the other one to fall.
"Hey, are you all right? This is kinda wild, right?"
He edged slightly towards the left. A bruise was forming on his leg and his knees had burned on the Sand, but he was still all right and game. He hoped the mean wher wouldn't come any closer. No way he'd want to bond with someone that killed his own sister just like that! That wher should have been happy to have a sister.

[Kiran]

Imber's reaction to the shenanigans was markedly calm. She had seen or been her death so many times that this didn't seem like such a terrible thing. Sad because of the deaths, yes, but at the same time it was what it was. People got hurt. People died. It was the same with whers and dragons as well. She wondered if any of them would die today as well. She wondered if they wouldn't die, but kill her instead. Was she ready to die? Se didn't know, but from the sounds coming from within the ranks of candidates it seemed that there might be a few candidates that might.

Or at least would come close.

It seemed like this hatching was taking forever, the commotion that the dark wher was causing making the wait agonizing. When would the next eggs hatch? When would Impressions be made? Who would come out of it unscathed... And who would be the worst off? She tempered the bits of impatience that ran through her by clasping her hands together and studying the eggs, trying to guess which would hatch next. It didn't matter for a few moments as she was sent sprawling by the cyan dragonet, the one so determined on hunting down the wher killer.

Imber stood up again quickly, knowing that she would be bruised from it. But that was what it was! in the meantime two more eggs had hatched.She guessed wrong, of course. Two greens popped out and tumbled to the wher eggs. Her eyebrows raised a bit in surprise. Would they be okay over the? Or would another vicious wher decide that they were a tasty snack? It all waited to be seen...

[Dragonwher]

Randiel alternately watched with interest then winced at each new egg breaking. He was unable to really track what had hatched out this time, so he just kept up happy thoughts and his eyes scanning about to make sure he wasn't caught unaware by a violent hatching from either nest now. Or alternatively a too excited one if they decided he was their bonded and glomped him or something. As a result of his somewhat tense yet relaxed scanning he almost missed the newest whers hatching, happening to look right where a black one had tried to seriously hurt someone only to get in a sense doubleteamed by that cyan dragonet and then pounced by the biggest Cyan wheret he'd ever seen. For a breath he almost idly wondered if the bigger wheret was about to end the black but ended up backing off due to Kalesk.

Kalesk, who seemed to be trying to order some girls to scoot in order to finally get at the confusing colored Wheret that might be a brown or a red. But when she skulked off around the candidates it would appear the beastly one had skittered away again. This thought made Randi look over his shoulder a good bit more, he thought he saw one wheret clamp down on someone's neck from behind once already. He really wanted to avoid that sort of attack, he'd rather have scarred up arms than risk spinal damage. Mostly because that Red? Brown? was more than big enough in his thoughts to be capable of that sort of damage. Not to mention he had a feeling Mira would do something spectacularly foolish if he was hurt like that.

Little would he know Malinoth was doing everything possible to avoid his Rider seeing anything that might well trigger a fool's move. Though he gave a polite mental cheer for the ones finally chosen, it didn't matter that out of the ones picked one was going to be a subkingrider and the other a Cyanhandler. They were both lucky to be chosen and hopefully that meant good things would finally start happening. Like thoughts of his sister though the Impressions made helped him foster positive thoughts more easily.

~~~

Meanwhile in the Stands Mir and Andel were on a rollercoaster of reactions. That finally settled on happy for those Chosen, even though they worried yet for the mauled candidates. Small joy though it was that Randiel was yet unhurt, though Andel felt it was only a matter of time before something happened to him. Thus he stuck with the hope that Randiel would be able to keep standing in spite of anything that happened if Randiel didn't Impress this time either.

Still hidden in the thrumming tent Malinoth had made of himself Mira was much calmer than before. Though she wondered what had happened now outside the attempted quiet space Mali had made. A thought he finally answered with images of hatchlings chasing the dangerous wher then ending those on the mother trying to get to the problem child. Followed up by the happier thoughts of Impressions made and speaking Still nothing approaches Randiel for good or ill. Though I think he accepted the fact we're likely here he's nowhere as tense as he was before. But he is keeping an eye out for that large dangerous wher that the gold Kalesk is attempting to find and likely end if it doesn't settle and Impress.

Mira mumbled a "thanks Mali" as she gently hugged her still humming flits to her. She wasn't really stressed now. More like she just felt like thanking her flits for helping her calm down. Then she smiled at Asher "Asher, think you could peek out and see if you can spot mother and father? show me if you see the backs of their heads or anything". The black gave an affirmative cheep then moved to do as asked. If not for Mali's head and neck slowly swivelling above the shadowy spot Asher's comparatively tiny head and neck rose out of Asher might have looked like a funny sort of periscope rising from a black rock of a sort.

It wasn't till the goofus realized he had to look down into the stands below that he understood why he hadn't seen his person's clutchfather or clutchmother. When he did sort that out however it took him one and a half candlemarks it seemed to Mira for Asher to send the image of where her parents were. Malinoth almost asked why Mira wanted to seek her parents with Asher's help but Mira intercepted him with an answer. She smiled in the process of responding, joy in her bond I just wanted to make sure they were here Malinoth, I wasn't sure if K'var had been able to ferry them here again or if he'd asked someone else thats all. Mali gave a mental nod Ok then Mine, you'll want to sit with them during the Feast later right?, so you three can meet Randi if he Impresses?. That made Mira grin "yes Mali, and you mean when Randi impresses right?; since he didn't last hatching like I didn't but you found me my second time Standing, so he has to be found by his partner this time around".

[Kila]

It was a pleasant change to be able to walk to the Hatching Sands instead of hurriedly preparing and flying there. The Weyr knew that the hatching was imminent, so when Callistath’s voice rang out and Perbiath began to hum, D’lios was ready. The Lord Holder Weyrleader’s lips curved into a smile and he went at once to his wardrobe, donning a fine outfit and making his was quickly to the sands. It irked him to find that O’sho was already there, welcoming people in his customary place at the entrance to the cavern. Instead of taking his place, D’lios approached and clapped him on the shoulder. ”Thank you for welcoming my guests,” he crowed, polite as could be. The BronzeRider was not amused but nodded his head almost graciously. ”Certainly. They are no less welcome than they were before. Don’t you worry about that. Please, go enjoy the hatching. It is a great honor to have your lifemate be the sire.” An honor you shall never have again, the old man thought. Prayed. ”I shall,” D’lios said, smoothing back his hair. ”Be sure that you watch as well.”

Perbiath did not wait for His, letting D’lios stop and chat with the notables as he wished. Are children are ready to be free, he crooned to Callistath, immensely proud. It was almost unbelievable that he had contributed in making the beautiful eggs that were now rocking on the sands, about to hatch. He paid little attention to the Wher clutch that what shivering nearby- eyes only for his offspring and his beautiful queen. D’lios sat on one of the first tier bleachers, close to Avalle, the Crescent Holders, and the other Weyrleadership. He greeted each one jovially winked at the Weyrwoman when she made eye contact with him. It was a large clutch, a healthy one, and the entire thing smacked of success. Their disapproval and complaints grew more hollow by the minute. The cherry on top of it all was when a large Brown was the first to emerge, promising good luck. Well done, Perbaith.

Eccolath touched down and Sol hurried in just before the first egg broke. ”Hurry, Harri!” she said breathlessly, pulling him along by Hand. When they had last met she had convinced him to let her pick him up to watch the dual hatching. At the first sign of movement she had leapt astride her Cyan and they had retrieved the man from the wilderness. There were so many people crammed into the cavern that no one would think her bringing a stranger as anything amiss. Picking out a spot in the middle of the bleachers, she held on and guided them safely to their seats. ”There,” she said relieved to have made it in time. She turned to him and smiled, all excitement. She knew he had never been to a Weyr, so she was eager to see his reaction to the crazed fanfare of the massive hatching. ”Isn’t it amazing? Look at the eggs rock.” She leaned close to him and pointed so he could follow her finger to the eggs in question. ”They’ll crack any minute now. Those ones are the dragon eggs, Callistath’s, and the others are Kalesk’s, the wher eggs.” Her two firelizards appeared, attracted by all the activity. Hally cheeped weakly and disappeared into her hair, terrified. Lulz sprawled out in her lap, sticking her pale pink belly into the air and garbling. She eyed Harri with interest, but didn’t smell any food on him and went back to rolling around in her bonded’s lap.

[Serah]

So much was happening around Aelynn. Eggs were hatching and going into the Candidates. There was a Cyan wher and now a Purple and a Cyan dragonet. The Cyan dragonet bumped into her rather hard. Though she supposed it was only looking for her person. Though she fell onto the hot Sands, quickly getting herself back into a standing position.

She saw the Cyan wher Impress as well as the Cyan dragon. She barely noticed the two Greens hatch, but she saw them. The next thing she knew, a Purple dragon was Impressed. To her, it seemed as though this hatching was flying by. Though with everything going on, she wondered if that would be a good or bad thing.

Ryiah was focused intently on the Hatching. More so the wherets that were already hatched than the dragon eggs. Though she should have been paying attention to them as well. Then she may have noticed the Cyan dragon before she got bumped into. She stumbled back into her spot, look at Newt who had gotten a bit of a worse bump from the Cyan.

As each Impression was made, she gave a clap. The new Wherling and Weyrlings were not people she knew by name, but she did hope they would be happy. She turned back to the eggs and the dragonets/wherets that were already hatched. She counted the unhatched eggs and hoped one would be meant for her.

[mopsy93]

The two tone Cyan was the next to Impress after losing sight of the redish brown terror of a wheret once again upon seeing Tamarisk Impress. Carissa was not all too happy with the fact that the Cyan shoved past her after knocking into Ryiah and poor Newtollan as well as hitting Imber, though at least it was a calmer more deliberate movement than the mad dash earlier. The Cyan paused at Lilianai but ultimately shoved her aside as well before coming back to Pyrus who was still being helped by the identical twin sister Candidates Kairhi and Mairhi the former who was still bleeding from the second black’s attack. The Cyan ultimately decided Kairhi leaving Mairhi to help Pyrus until the Healers could get a look at him.

Carissa was admittedly worried about her fellow Candidates, especially ones like Pyrus who were badly injured. It was pretty hard to keep a straight face with the newest Dragon hatchlings though, almost as if they decided to hatch that very moment to lighten up the general mood of the Hatching Cavern even if for a little while. The Brown and the Purple Dragonet hatchlings helped a bit, intentionally or not, to do so as well before the Purple Dragonet went off to Impress. Besides being knocked into the second Cyan Dragonet’s egg by the Brown, the Purple Dragonet’s Impression went without much drama Impressing Ri’card.

[Ondine]

Maihri was grateful for the extra supplies that people were dropping, but she still stripped out of her candidate's robe in order to help Pyrus out, happy that her sister was here to help out. She might have learned plenty from her, but it was still nice to have Kaihri here! Well it was always good to have Kaihri here, she did love her twin so very much. Soon enough they'd have Pyrus back on his feet and out to the healers, since the guard trainee was pretty sure that losing a hand removed you from both wher and dragon candidacy.

She didn't like the way that he was babbling though, it made her think of bloodloss and the confusion that came before death. At least, that was what she had read. She gave her twin another look, he needed to get off of the sands, whether he wanted to or not, or he was going to die. That would be horrible, and the ever optimistic Maihri would never give up until it was absolutely impossible! Working on his arm and binding it so that it would stay straight when he was carried out, she didn't notice the way that her twin had gone still for a moment...

And then she noticed with those subtle movements that something was wrong. She looked up, and her heart seized in her chest at the sight of a black wher with his jaws seizing her sister's neck. No, no, no, he couldn't do that. Her heart was loud in her chest, the icy surge of adrenaline as blood came out around the tiny fangs that had sunk into her twin's skin. Then it jumped to her, and she froze as she waited to see what it would do. Would it try to kill her? She would throw it off, she was not dying to this black, there was so much more to live for. She could, and would, take pain, so if all he was going to do was pick through her armor, and sink a talon into her side until she was bleeding and furiously thinking happy thoughts as a bulwark against the searing agony, then she'd take that.

Until he was gone, and she gasped in reflexive relief. It had hurt less than watching her twin threatened, and she quickly pressed against a hand in against the wound. “No, it's not deep. He just poked me is all, didn't even rip out in any direction. Maybe, ah, half an inch?” She blinked and looked down at Pyrus, knowing that he was in far worse condition than either her or her twin. “Pyrus, if we move you to the healers they can take care of you, and if any of the whers are going to impress, they'll find you there. I mean, why else would stands impressions happen? Come on, let's get you patched up.”

But then the Cyan was back, and it was staring at them both...until it looked at Kaihri, and Maihri watched in amazement as rainbows swirled in her eyes. Had, had her twin just impressed? Ohmygosh this was the best thing ever! “Kaihri!” That was all she said and needed to say, staring at her twin for a moment before she grinned madly, eyes shining. “Go on, I'll take over here and be right behind you.”

------

Wow there was a lot going on here! Maal watched with horror and excitement as people were torn up, wishing that maybe they could be okay and better, but there were a lot of people getting cut up here and that just wasn't a good thing. Niorun had gotten up and staggered away with a shredded throat, and that just wasn't good. But if she was on her feet, then she could survive and impress another day! Or maybe her dragon would find her over in the healer's corner, that was also possible. He'd heard of that happening after all.

He wasn't totally ignoring what was happening in the candidates, but he was mostly watching the dragons and whers that were hatching. And there were a few! A brown, and a purple, a cyan wher, and so many more eggs! That lack of attention bit him, somewhat literally, when the black wher that was running around causing havoc raked him, and the cyan dragonet bowled him over into the sands almost before he could even react. Landing hard, he breathed for a moment as the world spun in confusion. Alright, this was hardly the first time that he'd ever been in pain, but what had he done to the hatching?! Well, nothing, so clearly it was just lashing out, since there should be no reason at all to cut him up. Rolling away from the dragonet just in case, he got up off the burning sands before he could develop burns.

The purple crushed a wher egg, and Maal frowned. Now why would it do that? Well at least it didn't seem to mean it, but it was still a mean thing to do. Shortly though there were three impressions, which was always awesome! Three people who could leave the sands was more room for them here, and three people who couldn't get harmed anymore. And, if he were honest with himself, it was the second that was truly important right now. With luck, the violent ones would impress shortly too and calm would reign over the sands again. Well, maybe not calm, but no bloodshed? Yeah that'd be good, if only for his fellow candidates and soon-to-be wherlings and weyrlings.

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

Ondine watched as Niorun broke out of the pack of candidates, but before the young journeywoman could move to get her, Tesla and Tessk were gone, and a little blossom of happiness radiated from her heart. Tesla had come so far, and was doing so much, even when she wasn't really comfortable with it. She couldn't see much of what was going on in the pack, so she called for Ruem, sending him precise coordinates. She'd had this done to her once before, during Kalith's hatching when she impressed Dilath, so hopefully neither of the clutchmothers took offense, or noticed. In a moment, the blue popped out of Between over the candidates, looked down for a few short moments, and then popped again to emerge over Ondine's head.

The image he sent her was nothing short of horrible. Pyrus had effectively lost his hand. No matter what, he could not stand for a dragon now. The healer turned to Loki even as Niorun was being brought back by Tessk, “Loki, Pyrus has nearly lost his hand. It's holding on by a scrap, but will need to be totally severed. I also believe his leg is broken. Do we still wait for him to try to come out, or shall we get him out when we have a chance?” Now, if anything, might be the best chance they had. All of the babies seemed to be distracted and away from the back, and two healers could get in, get Pyrus, and get out in less than a minute. But if it all went to Thread, they'd be in a horrible spot.

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

Ciali smiled a little bit at her sister. “Oh really, just take credit for all of those good genes huh?” She teased the big bronze, but it was barely even a needling. No matter how much Cilia was a rival to her, attacking her sister through her wher was unforgivable. Besides, blood on the sands from candidates was never something to joke about. Blood could be shed on people who could fight back, but never the defenseless, and candidates were required to sit there and take it. She gritted her teeth, and was momentarily happy that her own wher wasn't chomping at the wherry to get down there and save them. But that was also something she was ashamed about, and she just gritted her teeth.

Someone needed to establish dominance with a punch to the snout.

[Azhdarchid]

[ Unath ]

Unath's attention fell on one thing only. Of all the happenings, the twistings, the deformings, just one captivated her.

The purple.

The purple that had spoken to them.

To her.

The dark tan's eyes, normally quite dull, flushed with the luminescence of fresh glowbaskets as Shobhaith tossed a couple casual compliments to her and her brethren. Her thick head and snub snout leaned out of the brownish throng and turned a laser-like green stare upon the interjector.

With a rumble, her head sank back out of view, only to come around back. Oozing across Naireth's folded wing, then propelled along the back of the ledge by steps of regal daintiness. Slithering across the backsides of her kin, she arrived before Shobhaith, and plunked down on her hindquarters before him.

Her nostrils flexed, smelling mostly blood and scream-sweat despite the fact that Shobhaith appeared neither bloody nor nervous (yet). The discrepancy of scent did not register. Unath stared at him full-eyed for a minute, the twin pokes of her brilliant blue tongue finally starting to protrude from the end of her jaws when they suddenly opened wide. This was a game she had often played with her first and only mate, Poseith. Bobbing her open maw at the purple, she fluttered the first couple spars of her wings open, stamping her front paws in excitement.

But no matter whether Poseith played or not, whether he opened his skinny purple jaws to try and match hers, he would be found wanting. And so her short head would jab forward, blue tongue flush to his chin before Unath grabbed hold of his longer, thinner head. Wasting little time, she would turn and return to her place between Wenth and Naireth, only dragging the trinket along with her. And a single ripple of her muscular neck would flip him onto his back, lined along the toes of the ledge tans, belly-up. She'd let go of his head then, and place one paw on his chest with a grunt to indicate that she had found him. Not that she wouldn't share with her beloved fellow mini-queens.

The moon is a cloud, she revealed to Wenth. That was the only solution, if she was the moon but also did not want to be the moon and was a cloud instead.

Of course, were Shobhaith savvy enough to dodge the head-grab of destiny...

...lucky him. Though she would just try again.

***

"Awwwwwwwwwwwww," came a whine behind K'ius, a couple arms trying to wrangle around the purplerider's neck. Ghols would set the point of her chin on his shoulder if given half a chance, the rest of her bent over behind him. There wasn't really any space for another spectator on this part of the Stands.

Ghols made space. Winking one dusky eye at her perch, she summoned the kind of sudden volume gained only from long months calling out at sea. "Hey 'Sandr! Maybe if you hadn't been so busy looking at that other Candidate's butt you wouldn't have gotten bowled over like a clumsy wherry!" Quite pleased with herself, Ghols set up an acidic grin of laziness.

Clumsiness is the very height of disaster, her pink quipped from the ledge she had perched upon. Though Arcuth did not quite say it directly to 'Sandr, he might almost feel it, even in the mosh pit called the Hatching Sands. Arcuth perched on her toes on a ledge somewhat distant from most of the other dragons, all of whom appeared rather suspect.

"So I'm late," Ghols explained to K'ius. And that was the extent of it: no reason, no excuse. Just tardiness. "What's going on?" She was no longer looking at him while she asked- though her tone was demanding all the same. She was glancing sidelong at the nearby at the deeply black-haired tower of a man with rough, dark skin. The pinkrider bit down on the corner of her lip, then blinked back at K'ius and wrinkled her nose. "Well?"

[ Tags: tanparty (depending on Sho's reaction too though), Shobhaith, K'ius, Sandr...N'tharon? XD ]

[Boo]

As the healer saw Niorun making a move towards the healers, he nodded but Tesla had already run out to grab the young woman.
“The last few hatchings have been as violent… Callistath’s last had been quite pleasant for the most part.”
Shortly after he heard the cries of candidates, watching as the cyan dragonet tore a young man to pieces but the man didn’t seem to want to leave the sands. Tedaon’s brow furrowed. Without waiting, as the Cyan impressed, Tedaon made his choice.

“Some candidates are helping him, I'm going.”
Tedaon rushed out onto the sands, not sure if anyone followed but either way he would not see someone die this time. There was only a small window for them and he was certain that the young man had either passed out from the pain as he did not seem to be moving but as he approached, he heard the words from the two girls as well as the injured candidate. He did not seem keen on leaving. Quickly, he had to change tact. Instead of dragging the candidate of the sands, he staunched the bleeding as best he could. The two girls who had been harmed did not have terrible injuries given the size of the black where but all the same he worked quickly to assist in stopping the blood flow but the girl who had been helping had just Impressed to the cyan.
"Congratulations," he stated quickly before looking around as somewhere in front of them and slightly to the right, a candidate fell, tried to stand and then fell again.

“There, take him off the sands," he pretty much said to himself.
With the cyan now Impressed, it was safe to move closer and he dashed forward, stabilising the injuries as best he could and then moving to pull the candidate, Otto, from the sands, staying low to the ground. A brawny candidate moved out of line to assist him for which he was a little thankful but also aware that there were still hatchlings around. They were near the back now and therefore, hopefully, safe enough.

Tag: Otto, Pyrus, Kai, Mai, Hirman, healers

[/blockquote]

[turkoizdog]

Zynn faced front upon realizing that the cyan was probably about to kill that poor boy. His prejudices had been confirmed firsthand: dragons were violent killers. The wher may have smashed open an egg, but she was a dud to begin with. This dragon was attempting murder, ironically, in the pursuit of one she called a murderer.

Luckily, Pyrus and his severed hand were rows behind him, and though he heard the screams and whispers, he did not see blood. He decided instead to keep track of who had hatched. As far as whers were concerned, there was the redbrown, a black, a cyan... he watched as the cyan marched up his row, and stood straight. She bit down on his leg, and hard... okay, so whers had the capacity for violence, but it was obvious this one had no murderous intent. She just sought to impress, from the looks of it.

Zynn flinched, his weight shifting a bit to compensate for his injury, and bit down on his lip to compensate for an otherwise lack of reaction to the bite. He had dealt with scratches and bites before, and though it hurt, he put all his effort into maintaining his poker face, on the off chance that she would impress him.

But instead, he saw the cyan approach the girl next to him (Tama-something) and impress her instead. He got a bite mark, she got a wher. No matter. His was still out there.

****************************************************

Pyrus's ramblings came to a halt when he noticed the black wher, jaws around Kai's neck. "Kai... it just... appeared..." He hadn't even noticed the black on the sands before, though it was possible he had hatched while Pyrus was busy being ripped apart. The black then jumped onto Mai's back, waited... then moved on. Well, he thought, now people would be able to tell them apart, right?

The two girls continued to patch him up, and Pyrus found himself lost in his thoughts once more, trying to register all that had happened, and all that was still happening. And before he could fully register anything, the cyan had returned.

"She's back." he said. He turned to Mai. "Back... for my hand..." He then turned to Kai only to see the swirls in her eyes. Such a shame. He had really liked her, and she had impressed his almost-murderer. She had saved the life her dragon had tried to take away. But she had impressed. He wasn't sure what to think or feel about that.

He was shaken out of his fear by the presence of a healer. Finally, a man who could make everything better. Now that he was here to help, the girls could continue standing. Hopefully Mai wouldn't impress someone quite so murderous.

There, take him off the sands


"Off? No." Pyrus spoke to the healer man. "I need to stand... for my Pysk... Pyrsk... Pyrusk... my wher." This healer was obviously just a crafter, so he couldn't understand how imperative it was for him to not abandon a bonded. "I can't abandon..." his voice faded. Sure he didn't want to abandon. But he also didn't want to die.

[Cathaline]

At long last, the black at the front of the pack began to move. It turned out he was not as nondescript as previously expected. He had a short, thick tail, bizarrely so; from certain angles and in shadow, when he remained eerily still, it was difficult to tell which end of him was the head. To those a few rows back who could still see his form, he might seem to be walking backwards. He moved swiftly and silently to the end of the row of candidates, and peered up at Tius for several seconds, examining the mind he found. He did not react outwardly; Jafari received the same treatment, then Garna, then Dardranel.

In the meantime, the two green dragons had effectively crushed the large yellow egg. The wheret inside gave a startled shriek and floundered out, but once he realised that he had been freed by two very lovely ladies, he settled right down and flirted with them. Sure, they weren't the right species for him, but they were still ladies, right? He was a blue, brightly colored and marked like a dangerously hot flame, his hide a smear of azure.

Both of the annoying cyans safely Impressed. This left the tinted, evil black free to do whatever he pleased. Just in case, he waited until Tamarine and Tamarisk took themselves off to eat, settling into the space vacated by them and glancing between Kazynn and Joni. Which one, which one...

Coiling himself to spring, he leapt at Joni and swarmed up her body, going for her eyes.

And she screamed.

The blue wheret's head snapped up immediately. Was that a lady? Was that a damsel in distress?! Begging the pardon of the green dragons, he rushed headlong out of the nest and into the pack; he didn't especially care what he did or did not do to men, so he barreled directly through Jafari's legs, badly bruising them and perhaps knocking the young candidate down, and his tail gave Tius's shins a good lash in passing too. If that vicious little monster thought he could hurt Joni, he had another thing coming, and that thing blazed past Kazynn - again whipping his tail around on accident, and this time catching with a sting right on the cuts Tamarisk had so recently opened - and barked a challenge and warning up at the tinted black. They would have to duel now. The tinted black could not escape this fate!

He just laughed down at his brother, and gently dragged a single claw down Joni's cheek, narrowly missing her eye.

The dark wher, meanwhile, noting that its mother appeared to have headed for the back of the group, slipped up to the front. Giving the new cyan dragon a wide berth, it assaulted Kahrie first, raking its claws down the back of her leg, deep and vicious. She wasn't so bad, though; the shape of her mind, not that the dark wher was thinking much about the shape of the minds around it, was fairly pleasing, so it left it at that rather than hamstringing her. Weaving past Ranthian, Norilana, and Lanorun without pause or injury, the dark wher swept up the row of candidates.

Then it spotted Newt.

The boy's mind was a mess, a roiling cloud of tension, memory, fear, excitement...shame, because people could be dying, and he only kept craning his neck to try to catch a glimpse of the monstrously beautiful creature causing all this. The dark wher snarled. He wanted to see, did he? He'd see something, all right.

The dark wher swarmed up Ryiah's side, clawing marks along her leg, hip, side, and from there jumped onto Newt's shoulder. If there was one person on these sands who was not a threat, it was the wher groupie, who went stiff as a board, heart pounding. The dark wher wrapped around his neck, its back paw carving a satisfyingly deep and painful set of lines down a mostly-bare part of Newt's bare arm, and it hissed, then licked his cheek.

Its tongue wrapped around the arm of his glasses.

"Hey - " Newt gasped, his voice thick with pain. The dark wher jumped, landed on the ground in what might have been termed a feline manner were it not as bulky as it was. Spitting the glasses out, it glared up at the wherless boy. These objects were an affront. They were offensive and a little crooked, and, deliberately, the dark wher put a paw on them and smashed them.

Newt flinched, much harder than he had at the physical assault, at the snap of metal and the crunch of glass. "No - " he said feebly, and the dark wher snarled again, then pushed past him, circling along the second and third row of candidates in search of the next victim of its attentions.

The strange black wher continued his perusal. Ryiah was next, and then - Newt. The boy bent down to pick up what remained of his glasses, gingerly, and found himself nose to nose with a black. His whole body went rigid, and the black wher stared at him longer than he had at anyone else, so far. The reality of the situation was, Newt did not belong on these sands. A kinder wher might have tried to nudge him in the direction of escape, to physical and psychological safety; this wher was not kind, and also not stupid. The last thing the boy needed was to be touched by a wheret right now.

So he simply moved on, to stare up at Letorin.

In the second row, the tinted black taunted the blue from on top of Joni's head, and the blue circled him. How could he get the little nightmare down without injuring her further? To add insult to injury, the tinted black took a flying leap from Joni's head to Braele's, from Braele to Imber, then to Lanorun's shoulder to get closer to Norilana -

The blue wher struck instantly. He knocked Lanorun to the ground in a rush, and the tinted black gave a startled squeak, fluttering to the ground, where he collided with his like-colored brother. In a tangle of limbs, the two flailed; the tinted black raked his claws viciously along the other black's flank, down his thick tail. The injured black didn't scream, though he was dripping a lot of ichor when they parted.

The blue attacked the tinted black, who fought back despite his smaller stature. The blue had certainly thrown the gauntlet, and this was a life or death struggle. They rolled, a cloud of whipping tails and scrabbling claws and gaping maws, along the bare sands; the tinted black, evilly clever, made a break for it, and the blue had to stop what he was doing as the tinted black darted behind Garna's legs, made a face at him - haha, can't get him behind a girl, can you, you chivalrous chauvinist - and then bit her leg hard, just for the fun of it.

The blue shrieked in anger, and the black slithered over one to twine around Dardranel's legs. He hadn't lost the taste of her, no, not even a little. Dardrask here,[/i] he taunted the blue, letting his new handler hear his words. He needed say no more; the blue could not lay a paw on him now without severely harming the girl he had chosen. The blue bugled in frustration and brushed past them, ruffled, to gingerly cuddle Joni's legs, and Dardrask peered up at Dardranel. Yes...she was hot where he ran cold, but they were both fast. Together they would be something amazing. The Weyr would come to rue this day.

Black DARDRASK, Impressed to DARDRANEL

SPOILER: Click to show

Dardrask rarely speaks; it’s scarier that way, and his overarching goal is to be intimidating. He thrives on tension and conflict, he loves stressing people out, and he has a whole bag of tricks for how to torment others, ranging from “stare at them until they flip a table” to “push them off a cliff.” Fortunately he is too small to enact the latter plan...probably. Happiness is the enemy. Happiness is boring, and above all, Dardrask despises boredom. He is, perhaps, too smart for his own good; he has a sharp, analytical mind, especially for a wher, and it’s a shame he can’t easily be convinced to use it for anything but being a huge jerk. He has a vivid imagination and he enjoys alarming people by telling them horror stories he swears are true, like how a man made entirely of scissors is stalking the halls. He should probably not be allowed anywhere near children or the extremely gullible. Dardrask is much more subtle than his handler in many ways - he lurks in shadows, and he plots. Where Dardranel may be happy to wait until the last minute to do things, Dardrask prefers to get his work out of the way so he may fixate on his extracurricular activities; where Dardranel may rush headlong into danger, Dardrask...well, he is the danger, if there’s any justice in the world, right? Although he is terrifying and creepy, he’s not usually violent unless hungry or provoked...but do not provoke him, as he moves very fast, his body working as quickly as his mind.

Among the largest black whers on Pern, Dardrask’s slender form is the stuff of nightmares. His hide is very slightly shaded toward blue, and this coloring (along with hints of red) is more apparent on his wings. He has a surprisingly large wingspan for his species, and his tail is long and snakelike, tending to lash about. (0C0C15)

In the meantime, the injured wher picked himself up and moved on. Lanorun was next for his now-limping examination. Norilana, Ranthian, Kahrie, Aleksandr, Toreld - the whole front row. Then he started for the back, subjecting Tamren, Sora, Sunita and her sisters, Artolan, and Talubara to his searing gaze before he wandered directly into the feeding pen. Seph received a brief look-over, and then the black wher turned to Hirman.

He did not speak. He didn't have to; he had left a long trail of ichor on his measured walk to the one person here most qualified to help him. It was quite obvious what he wanted, though a bit unusual, to say the very least.

Over in Callistath's nest, the purple and red egg on the far right wiggled and broke open, and a black dragon stepped onto the sands. He was sleek, handsomely-built and jet black, though with wisps of dark gray along his extremities; he sat up straight, all but vibrating with barely-contained energy and joy. Today was a good day to be born - yes, even with the sands soaked in blood and ichor, it was a good day. All days were good to this black, because fate would not carry them on a truly wrong path.

Out on the sands, Dairine screamed as the dark wher, having made its way to her side, took exception to her pale hair and scrambled up her body to attempt to scalp her. Blood ran in rivulets from her head, dyeing her hair a lurid crimson, and the black dragon set off to see what was happening, unafraid. Unlike many of his siblings, the black did not push anyone aside to get to her, and stared up at the dark wher, chirping a question.

The offensive blondeness was forgotten instantly. Atenath had been acceptably vicious. In fact, most everyone the dark wher had met so far had fallen within suitable ranges of non-cowardice, apart from the hated white robes. This was not cowardice, not like the dark wher's dead sister, but it was the same flaw which had attracted its attention to her in the first place: positivity. Happiness had no place on these sands. Not today.

The dark wher jumped, landing on the black dragon's back, and raked his claws down that unmarred hide. The black dragon gave a startled shriek and bucked his shoulders to try to throw its attacker off, with little luck, and accidentally knocked into Adelaide, its substantially-greater size than the murderous wherets making it much easier to push her down, without even intending to. The dragon stepped on her hand; over the growls of the dark wher and the black dragon's panting, it might be hard to hear bones breaking, but break they did.

At least, unlike the dark wher's sister, this one would fight back. So the black dragon was left alive, and the dark wher jumped to the sands again. Seidon was here, nearby, and the dark wher instantly saw that he was broken just like that girl's hand, barely healed - and so he was shoved to the ground by the simple expedient of attacking his good leg, forcing him to put all the weight on the bad one.

The black dragon walked, a little unsteady with ichor streaming from several small gashes on his back, toward the front of the group, and gave Aelynn a gentle nudge in the hip. You waited for me,[/i] he cooed. Of course, I knew you would. It was fate that left you here for me, and fate that brought me here to you. Let's go, Aelynn, my treasure. I am Eicheleth, and I think together we will do great things - starting with supper.[/i]

Black EICHELETH, Impressed to AELYNN

SPOILER: Click to show

Like most blacks, Eicheleth is not especially talkative; he feels little need for society other than Aelynn’s, and is content to sit and listen. However, he is passionate and enthusiastic about life, with a seemingly boundless energy. An optimistic lad, he will always encourage Aelynn to try her hardest, believing that she is capable of great things. Their partnership is the most important thing in his world.

Eicheleth is never content to rest on his laurels. Every day is a new adventure, and he always wants to set out on new ventures, from the smallest desire (“today we’re going to meet a shipfish!”) to more long-term goals. A true believer in fate, he considers himself exceptionally lucky that Aelynn was still around for him to meet, and that is clearly just the start of what he thinks will be a large string of successes in life. Given his unfailing positivity, it’s quite likely that he will be mostly right.

Eicheleth is a sleek, average-sized black, handsomely built and without notable flaw. The majority of his hide is jet black, but there are wispy hints of gray at his extremities - the tip of his tail and snout, his paws, even his wingtips.

Newt tried, completely ineffectively, to put his spectacles back on with hands that shook, and not just because of the pain in his right arm. His breath was coming in short gasps, and while the wherets seemed to have momentarily cleared the scene, there would surely be more to come. He reached out blindly to lace his fingers with Letorin's, but he couldn't look at his friend, because he was afraid of what people might see on his face right now. Ordinarily a close encounter like that would have him babbling, but he didn't say a word, eerily, utterly silent.

[maruset]

Lavi had not expected to find herself next to a wher. Not where she stood. And she definitely never expected to see a dragon savage someone like she just had. Sure, she could see one accidentally stepping on someone. Had seen that a few times.

But to maul someone.... To the point that there was no way that hand was going to be saved. That was something that the girl never expected.

Thankfully, the wher who had started the bloodshed took off, and she let out a breath as the dragon left as well.

Taking a step to the side as healers finally came up, she tensed as the cyan came close again, only to impress. Okay, that was good. She was off the sands now.

There were some other Impressions, and Lavi hoped that the worst of the situation was over, though she knew that things were probably going to get even more messy.

She was able to give Valasco a nod, catching his eye as he looked her way.

***

Things were not calming down. Letorin knew there were Impressions, at least, so that was good. There was a lot of blood, he could smell it baking on the sands. It was going to stick in the back of his nose for a while, tainting everything with that scent.

He hissed as things moved too quick for him to fully keep track of, not with so many candidates on the sands and with all the movement that the whers were doing. The dragons were a bit easier to follow, though he kept glancing at the eggs still unhatched.

Then one landed on Newt, and Letorin’s attention snapped there. It marked him, and Letorin knew that he shouldn’t try to kick it, but the urge was there.

Then that wher was gone, and Letorin tried to see how Newt was. He was still tense as his friend found himself with a new wher, who only moved on to look at Letorin himself. Letorin eyed the wher back, forcing himself to take a few slow breathes. He was not going to be negative. This one had not done anything, and he could be calm.

When Newt stood, Letorin felt something relax, though he was ready to help as needed. Which was why he curled his fingers with Newt’s, a quiet show of support.

Later, he would go back over this, draw out his recollections, let that be how he settled things in his mind. Right now, Newt needed him, and there might be a dragon out there for him. So he needed to focus on now, and on things that he could affect.

A second squeeze of his fingers, letting his friend know that Letorin was there.

[Digitalis]

Phaenna stiffened when the cyan dragon that had been so violent earlier headed in her direction again. She didn't think it was looking for her, but should she try to get out of its way before it tried to attack her as well? Fortunately, that wasn't necessary; although she pushed around a few more candidates, she eventually settled in front of Pyrus and the twin girls who were helping him. After a moment, it became clear that one of the girls had Impressed her. Well, that was one dragon down.

There was still the brown and purple over by the dragon eggs, and apparently there was another egg cracking open now. From what Phaenna could tell, it was a second cyan, and she immediately started hissing angrily at her purple brother. The sub-king looked vaguely baffled at her rant. Giving up on him, the cyan stood up and started walking to the candidates, being much steadier and careful than the ones who came before.

Still at the back of the milling crowd, Phaenna saw a blur of green heading towards the wher clutch, but her attention was drawn to the male dragonets. The brown wasn't moving quite yet, but the purple had started to approach the candidates now, and she realized he'd Impressed one of the male candidates near the front.

A scream from one of the candidates jerked Phaenna's attention back to the wher side of the sands--the small and sadistic black wher had leaped at one of the girls and was clinging to her head. Phaenna winced and looked away, not wanting to see what happened next. The dark wher was also still causing chaos, though, and it was difficult for her to avoid staring at a mauling.

Phaenna wrapped her arms around herself and hunched her shoulders, staring at the ground. She didn't really want to be here anymore. She wanted this hatching to be over, and the Impression of a pair of blacks--a dragon and a wher--didn't do much to change her mind.

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

Tamren watched the cyan dragon warily until it disappeared into the crowd behind him, though apparently it managed to Impress while she was back there. That was good for her, but his attention was still on the eggs and hatchlings in front of him. The brown and purple were having an argument of some sort--about what Tamren couldn't hope to guess--but their actions were causing other eggs to hatch. A second cyan appeared, this one appearing to be much better-mannered than the first, fortunately. She strutted over to the purple and started berating him for something or other, and Tamren just shook his head.

The brown just looked unimpressed, and the purple seemed embarrassed more than anything, but finally, one of them began to go to the candidates. The brown was still hanging back, and Tamren tried to shoot him a smile of welcome, but he had his eye on the purple, as well. He barely noticed the hatching of the greens, but seeing as they were female fighters, he wouldn't have particularly cared too much anyway. The biggest egg was still rocking and the brown wasn't moving, so for the moment, his attention was locked on the purple.

Tamren stared at the sub-king hopefully as he came closer and closer to the candidates, and Tamren specifically. The dragonet stopped beside him, but he wasn't the one the purple was staring at. That would be the boy beside him, Riocard--or Ri'card now, he supposed. He sighed slightly in disappointment, but congratulated the new purplerider anyway. He quickly turned his attention back to the eggs, though. He still thought there was an iron likely to appear. Or at least a bronze.

Another egg cracked open, revealing a black dragonet, and as Tamren watched, the hatchling went off after the whers. He'd managed to pretty much avoid the latest set of maulings, and he stole an occasional glance around at the whers. He realized that the very same black wher that had bitten Dardranel earlier had now decided to Impress her--Tamren wasn't sure whether to commiserate or congratulate her on that accomplishment. And soon after that, the black dragon apparently bonded as well, to one of the female candidates.

[mopsy93]

The first and smaller black wheret finally moved though still seemed just as methodical as he was before taking his time examining the assembled Candidates one at a time. Thankfully the two Green’s antics did not seem to faze the Blue wheret that hatched from the yellow egg that they toppled over who instead proceeded to flirt with the pair despite them being different species. Carissa glad that at least six of the hatchings were not out to cause as much pain to each other or the Candidates that tried to Impress them as possible. Carissa could not say the same thing about the dark wheret or the larger Black wheret. Both of the wherets were causing more trouble including the former smashing Newtollen’s glasses the latter attacking Joni then taunting the Blue wheret who had charged in an attempt at rescuing her. After a brief struggle the larger black finally decided to Impress Dardranel and then proceeded to taunt the Blue again.

The next Dragonet to hatch was a Black Dragonet who then interrupted the dark wheret scalping his next victim Dairine, Carissa feeling a mix of disgust and relief. That was short lived with the dark wheret attacking the Dragonet, even if it was for only a brief moment before the Dragonet attacked and the dark wheret turned his attentions on Seidon. Thankfully the black Dragonet Impressed soon after to Aelynn, Carissa giving a small sigh of relief at least some knew how a Hatching should go.

[Boo]

Seidon’s eyes were closed now as though in a silent prayer. He felt someone move closer to him it was not the movement of one of the dragons. He opened his eyes and saw red all around the sands. That’s what that smell had been… He’d heard the crunch of a break behind him and only now looked over to see a candidate on the ground with a shredded hand. Just next to him stood Lilianai, one of Seph’s friends. He’d taken no care to get to know any candidates knowing that there was a high likelihood that they would impress and leave him again.

In that moment, he was grateful that the older girl was on the sands with him and he took a deep breath, also shuffling a little closer to her. He breathed in and coughed, the smell of blood filling his nostrils. He glanced over as the candidate whose hand had been shredded refused to move from where he lay. Seidon understood that feeling only too well. If he were to be harmed again this time he would not leave the sands. That black dragonet had been meant for him, he was sure of it now.

A cyan pushed him and Lili away from one another and panic briefly shot through the normally calm candidate. When she was shoved over he moved and offered a hand to help her to her feet once more but as he did so, another dragon came nearby. A black. His heart pounded in his chest as he watched but as he did so, the dragon moved. His leg was pushed out from under him and with a cry of pain he was forced to put all his weight onto his other leg. Tumbling to the ground, he closed his eyes but did nothing else.

Gritting his teeth he forced himself back onto his feet and defiantly threw out his hand again for Lili to take.
“This is my day,” He said aggressively, “They’re not going to take that away from me.”

[/blockquote]

[Raining]

ooc; if I missed anything I will edit XD

He finally caught his breath, pointedly ignoring what was going on behind him. Well he tried, it was difficult to ignore hisses of pain, especially when he was hypersensitive to them. Fears are silly things, he doesn't want to see any blood what-so ever, at least not a huge amount of it. But as much as he tried to will the small gasps of pain away... he couldn't help but hear nearly everyone of them. He probably looked uncomfortable, shoulders tense forced deep breathing etc etc. He wasn't sure if the small bit of nausea was from the fact that he heard someone's limbs break, or the fact that a dragonet bounced off his stomach.

Whichever it was, it wasn't helping him ignore anything.

That is until a voice he didn't think he'd hear pierce through his frantic thoughts. He nearly choked as he was suddenly rigid. 'Shobhaith?' he questioned stupidly inside his own head... and then he finally clicked into what was said. His head snapped around, eyes scanning the crowd at the back, desperately searching. 'KEEP HIM THERE. DON'T SHARDING LET HIM LEAVE HIS SEAT. I DON'T CARE HOW!' he'd desperately say, as he was turning back around, pointedly ignoring Sho telling him what to do. He'd better have heard him, if K'ius got himself hurt because of him... shards he didn't want to think about it.

He didn't see Kai... but Sho confirmed that he was there. Any stress he was feeling right now lessened considerably. Or at least he noticed it lessening. No it may not change what happened... but he still cared enough to be here for him. That's all he needed right now... he'll fix it after... after this stupid bloodbath.

The dragonets moved around, and he was vaguely aware of a cyan wher impressing. The purple finally moved, and ... impressed to a boy behind him somewhere. But Sandr wasn't paying attention that closely, aside from his heart hammering in his chest he tried to keep focus. Although his attention snapped to a familiar loud voice, a voice that surprised him every time... because it came from such a tiny person. Ghols. He saw her in the stands, next to K'ius...

He didn't look too long, as Sho's warning sort of echoed through his head. He needed to pay attention, or else another dragon might use his body as a trampoline.

Ghols sitting next to K'ius will ensure that he stays put. She's small but, she knows how to keep someone from doing something stupid.

He made sure he didn't stand out when an injured looking wher strolled passed. Though when it was far enough away he released a breath he didn't know he was holding.

---

Riocard was definitely getting a little edgy... but the only ones that seemed to really want to hurt the candidates were.... some of the whers and that cyan dragon-- who he lost track of when he blocked out those horrible sounds.

Though ignoring the noises... were a huuuge miscalculation on his part. If he was paying attention to every detail, every noise behind him he would have heard the cyan dragon before she crashed into him. The boy was knocked forward, and he could feel her claws score him, as she tried to untangle herself from him.

He hissed in pain, but otherwise tried to move as little as possible so she could figure out how to untangle herself all by herself. Which she did, and he was left bleeding slightly, just scratched from a quick inspection.

The boy got up slowly, a little shaken and jostled, but he was okay. He brushed some sand off, but there was a sudden unknown voice echoed in his head. Now just stay like that, Ri'cardMine. The boy was suddenly rigid, regardless of the lighthearted, near laughter in his head. Riocard... Ri'card suddenly turned slowly just in time to see the whirling rainbows he'd only read about. As ... Mountebath babbled something about.... just ridiculousness, Ri'card stared dumbfounded. Of course he missed the joke, so the nudge caused a small twitch of his lips.

"G-good." he stammered lightly, before clearing his throat, "Good. Lets... leave then." he stated simply... his brain scrambling for 'the rules', something he can focus on.

Good idea mine, a bite to eat sounds amazing! All this all this violence has made me hungry! the purple laughed light heartedly, nudging his again. This spurred the newly dubbed weyrling to lead his dragon towards the feeding pen. Mountebath nudged through the bond as well, slightly worried that Ri'card may shut him out. The boy who tried to keep everyone out was suddenly very aware of how this purple now occupied his mind with him. He pushed... but he tried not to block.

He has to adjust, has to.

---

Saosk perked to Gennesk's voice, and felt like interjecting at every interval. Because why would Saosk get along with Lisk-- FINE! For Mouse only! Only for Tiny-Mouse would he even tolerate that tiny worthless creature. "Saosk... what's got you in a huff?" she'd ask suddenly, thankful to pull her gaze away from what was happening below. Indignant the wher would whirl on her, SAOSK NO HUFF! STOMPING GENNESK NEED HELP... WITH TINY MOUSE. SAOSK WILL GO HELP GENNESK AND BILELISK PROTECT TINY MOUSE.

"He specifically asked for your help?" she asked raising a brow. SAOSK NO FILTHY SHARDING LIAR. SAOSK TOLD YOU NO LIE S-- "Go then. I'll stay, send her my love" she'd smile at her wher... who was looking for the opportunity to make up for what he did. Even if that meant putting up with Lisk. Saowyn will trust him and Gennesk was there.

The black wher moved from Saowyn's side, grumbling nonsense, until he was at Gennesk's side. He approached low, wings tight just to show Gennesk that he was here to behave. Though his eyes would redden at the sight of Lisk... but he tried his best to ignore her. Instead he focused on Mouse. SAOWYN SEND LOVE WITH SAOSK. WILL ALLOW ONE SH.. HUG. he grumped.