Straddle the Line [CalKal Double Hatching!]

[Rii]

Sora wouldn’t have gone much more than that impulsive step forward anyway, but the hand on her arm reinforced the reminder that they weren’t supposed to move. She looked down at the hand, then up the arm to its owner. Adelaide. Of course. Drawing a slow, deep breath and doing her best to ignore the reek of blood on the air, she nodded curtly and retreated that small bit back to where she had been standing. Her roommate was right, of course. They had to focus. This Hatching wasn’t even close to over.

She could sort out the feelings about Orkia later, even if she refused to admit right now that she was even having them. For a moment, she looked at Addy with the same dull, emotionless expression that she usually presented to the world, just a faint gleam of something in her eyes putting the lie to the control she imposed upon herself. “Yeah,” she muttered, almost inaudible. “I’m sorry, too.”

***

For a moment, T’yandon thought that the other man was going to try and attack him. It really would be unfortunate if he tried; he didn’t want to have to knock the distraught fellow out. But instead he just sagged and dropped back into his seat, offering the venom of his words instead.

Their blood is on your Weyr.

That was alright, he didn’t need those feelings, it was fine to crush them beneath the burdenbeast of guilt he felt for something he couldn’t have prevented anyway. T’yandon didn’t answer, his mouth set in a thin, grim line. After a moment to make sure that the other wasn’t about to lunge out of his seat again, the bronzerider sat, turning his icy blue gaze back to the Sands, to the sad removal of a once bright young candidate, and the healers that now picked their way into the cluster.

***

Nori clung to Ranthian, trying to stifle her whimpers and be brave, because he wanted her to be strong and she could be strong, really, and make him proud. So she bit her lower lip and tried to stop sniffling, stop the trickle of tears down her face. Maybe he couldn’t save her from everything, maybe none of her brothers could, but she trusted Ranthian right now to do all that he could, her pale little face upturned to watch his expression as he murmured to her and worked. “Just… wanted’n excuse to… take y’shirt off…” she teased weakly, then gave a soft moan of pain as he pressed his hand firmly over the makeshift robe-strip bandages he’d placed over her stomach. “Sorry… m’sorry,” she breathed. Didn’t mean to cry. Sorry. I’ll be stronger.

Talk. Yes, talk helped, right? About… about dragons, and nice thoughts, and anything but the iron stink of blood in the air. “J, Jafari an’ I were talkin’ about it, once. He said I’d get a, a real adventurous cyan, a-and we’d fly ‘round having adventures.” The less-educated accent she’d had as a child was slipping out in her whispers, but who could blame her right now. Not Ranthian, surely. Not when he was holding her so close and safe. Safe as he could, anyway. Shivering, she kept her eyes fixed on his face. “And ye’ll have a brown, just like yeh. Strong, and comfort’ble, keeping everyone safe,” her eyes drifted shut, then opened again - just a blink, a long blink. “He’ll love ye like crazy, y’know? Like I do. Ye an’ Lanor’n an’ Joshu.”

That was right, she had all three of them. She had to stay. They had to stay together, and that was final, so she absolutely could not go because it just wasn’t an option, okay? Except… except maybe it was, because there were words somewhere over her head that said so. Where’d they come from? There were more hands than Ran’s on her too, one two three plus the arm wrapped around her to keep her upright, had he grown an extra hand somehow? But the words. Tears welled up in her eyes over the words. Bleeding out, like Joshu, except Joshu wasn’t like the girl behind them, he was alive and the girl was… was… something. Something… not… what?

There was a sunshiney voice in her mind, and she wanted to cling to it because it was bright and shiny and it didn’t offer the cloud-words that the other not-Ran voice did. Okay, she wanted to tell it. Okay, thank you, sunshine voice. An indeterminate time later - a candlemark or a second or so - there was another brisk voice and a pressure against the gashes on her stomach that made her jerk once and whimper, glassy brown eyes seeking what did that. There was a little blonde woman there, maybe others too but mostly it was Ranthian who was still holding her and the stranger who was making words at her. Telling her to think about other things, nice things. “Okay,” she whispered.

Um… nice things. She… she could do that, right? Nori’s lips quivered, and she grasped for the slim ray of cheer that she so often did. “Wh… what did th’ocean… say t’the… beach?” She took a shuddering breath, as deep as she could make it, then released it in a quivering exhale. “N...nothing… it just w-waved.” The sound she made after was half breathless giggle, half sob, because it was all so terrible. It hurts, oh, it hurts… just make it stop, please?


[Tags: Joshu, Adelaide, Ranthian, Kahrie, Weslieth, Delilah, whoever I'm missing that's involved]

[Raining]

ooc; im so sorry if I missed anything. Will post with Saosk after

Shobhaith heard him, and knowing that Ghols was with him eased him. He wouldn't have to worry about a certain purple rider doing something rash on his behalf. He was fine, or at least as fine as he was telling himself he was. In actuality his hypersensitive fear seemed to be taking over any sort of logic. He couldn't see anything, but he knew what was there, and that was apparently all he could think about.

The boy swallowed hard, his palms sweaty but otherwise he was doing okay. Though any yells in pain or surprise didn't help any at all. His eyes caught movement, and a blue strode over to him and the boy next to him, standing in front, directly in the middle of them. Sandr latched onto this opportunity to forget about everything else. After what it seemed to be forever the blue's eyes finally landed on the guy next to him with swirling rainbows. It was fine... but at this point he was just looking for an opportunity to get off these sands. He was no where near injured enough (at all) nor had he impressed yet. Though as these thoughts rummaged through his head, he couldn't help but feel slightly ashamed. Was he this much of a coward? His heart told him no, but his body, his mind told him that he was.

Nori's shriek snapped his attention suddenly to her, he couldn't help it. She wasn't too far away and all he saw was that demon rip at her stomach... a lot of-- oh shards. He quickly looked away, his hands suddenly trembling as his vision swam a bit. The boy swayed slightly on the spot, not in dizziness, but in a flight response. His heart was racing, he couldn't help it... but he rooted his feet focused instead on something he could feel. The heat of the sands, the probable bruising on his stomach.... and he could see and focus on the eerie glow of Callistath's hide. He needed to, or his breathing would lead to something akin to hyperventilating.

He was worried that he would have to live through another hatching like the Coui/Minanth double. But no... no this was much worse... D'ren's death... He tried to steel himself, but not even Kai's presence (so far away) could help him. He was practically alone on these sands. Positive thoughts were difficult... he wondered if his parents were right? They didn't want him doing this for a reason, but... it was his dream to be a dragon rider ever since he saw them pick other kids around Fort. His dream. Aleksandr suddenly grasped that thought, and clung to it -- this was his positive thought. He latched onto it like a lifeline. He was here, in this weyr to find his if they were to be found. He wanted to help against thread, he wanted to soar in the skies. He needed this... his parents were wrong.

His heart still raced inside his ribcage, his breathing was a little too fast and his hands still trembled. But he was here, and he wasn't going to run with his tail between his legs. That one thought kept the flight response at bay, and his feet firmly rooted.

Though in his attempt to keep himself under control, he missed the cyan shrieking at the blood she landed in... and when Yusk moved in to try and make things better. He was okay... he was fine.

---

Ri'card nodded once to Addy as he walked away, not missing her hissed congratulations. Although his expression was still fairly bewildered, before he tried to smother it desperately.

This bond, was not what he was expecting. And he tested it, suppressing his fear... suppressing the need to keep everyone out. But Mountebath's light hearted nature, as morbid and out of place as it was for all this carnage, it was needed. He could feel the purple's mind almost like it was his own. His... in more ways than just one.

This comforted him, Mountebath was his and no one had access to his thoughts but what was his. Mountebath was pleased Ri'card didn't push him away, and instead let his new rider test out their bond... just as he was himself. Mine, what is that smell? Much more tasty smelling than all that blood out there. he remarked with a sharp look from Ri'card. "Too soon." he responded simply his voice flat and a bit unsure. He understood what the dragon was doing... but he didn't at the same time. Ri'card wasn't particularly in the mood for jokes,

Relaaax Mine, everything is fiiine! Lets just get some food, kay?.

Once he was there, the weyrling master wasted no time. Ri'card was relieved to finally have some structure again. He was desperately trying to make sense of everything. He sat, a little stiff the scratches stung... but there were others that needed the healers more. So the boy focused on getting his dragon fed, carefully. Mountebath happily ate whatever he was given, his eyes swirling green and blues. Ri'card sat silently, just focusing on feeding instead of making himself seem like he wants to be there chatting with the others.

That will have to wait.

[Kiran]

Quellyn had gone still and pale. There was death happening everywhere. That of another candidate, the severe maulings of even more. Already several had been taken off of the sands. He swallowed hard. Had it been right for him to ask to be Searched . Was it okay for him to be on the Sands? Suddenly he felt way too young to be out here in the middle of all... This. And not a single dragon or wher seemed like it was for him. Maybe he should just leave? But there were still a whole lot of eggs left, and... And...

He was scared. His second hatching, and Quellyn never wanted to be on the Sands again. Tears started leaking rom his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away. The way things were going, if another nasty wher - or even a nasty dragon - hatched, it might make him a target, this sign of weakness. He couldn't be weak.

The boy next to him edged over, trying to distract him. Quellyn just stared at him, hollow-eyed. He knew what was happening, wasn't going to be distracted from it. Couldn't be distracted from it. But he just wanted to help... "Blue," he said quietly. An attempt to play along. He wondered if it would work.

Tag: Inrahim
--------
Kira watched the yellow come by and brush his tail against her. It was only so much solace, but appreciated. The sunny thing went on by... And impressed. Not to her or Lili, for which she felt badly. But Lili's had to be out here. Kira's didn't. She had turns left on her. She gave a soft sigh and watched as a cyan came forward.

Her eyes widened as the little dragonet fell into the blood. Oh! Oh, it was clear that the darling didn't want anyone to look at her, but Kira hesitated. She wanted to go over and help her up, but that wasn't going to be appreciated, she didn't think. She had started to put her foot forward to go and help, but slipped it back underneath her robes. No. She would wait and see what happened.

[Digitalis]

The pair of greens were looking over the candidates now. Tamren mostly ignored them, dismissing them both, at least at first. Then they started heading his way, and he started to get nervous. Not about getting struck again--the greens had been reasonably well-behaved so far--but that one of them might try to Impress him. He didn't want that, not when there was a brown still on the sands and a king yet to hatch. The greens weaved in between the candidates and walked right beside him...and then moved past, still searching for their riders. Tamren breathed a sigh of relief. He kept an eye on them as they went, and he gave a smile when one of them Impressed to Carissa. He waved at the new weyrling with a grin.

After that, he looked back at the brown--he was still sitting, perhaps waiting for something. His cyan sister was strutting over to him, by all appearances trying to flirt with the brown, who took it with surprisingly good grace. She turned away, though, and another egg began to crack open. Two of them, in fact--a different egg had splintered, allowing a blue hatchling to flop onto the sands, but the egg that the brown--and Tamren--had been staring at did not reveal a blue. Instead, it was a bright yellow male that climbed out of the egg. Huh. It was...quite happy, wasn't it?

Well, one good thing about the remaining dragonets--they were much better behaved than the whers. The blue pushed past his exuberant sibling and walked to the candidates. Tamren could tell that he had settled on Toreld. That was another pair down. The cyan was moving among the candidates now as well, and she collided with the green that was still searching, resulting in what looked like a catfight as they tried to disentangle themselves. They didn't make any effort to stay out of the way of the candidates, either, bowling over more than one during their squabble, until they finally broke apart. The cyan bonded soon after, while the green ran back towards the clutch and crashed into the largest egg that Tamren had been eyeing. Hey, she needed to watch what she was doing. That was his possible-future-bondmate she was messing around him with or crashing into. Probably. I mean, maybe. It was certainly possible.

Kalesk was still prowling around the sands, and the dark wher she was stalking was off running again; Tamren turned his attention away from the dragons to watch what was happening. He realized that both candidates that had been standing beside him were gone now, having Impressed, and he was feeling a little exposed. While the wher leaped at another candidate and tore at her stomach, Tamren was left alone. Faranth, this was not pleasant, though. How could one small creature cause so much damage?

It was causing more and more damage, while Kalesk and a blue wherling both tried to stop it. One girl was knocked to the ground, and before Tamren could even register what was happening, the blue had stumbled right over her throat. It was a fatal wound, even he knew that much. He quickly looked away, but it didn't help block out the screams. That...that had gone badly. He wasn't paying attention to the blue anymore, but he felt a cold sense of rage and frustration when the dark wher--apparently it was a brown after all--managed to successfully bond. Whether his new handler could control him or not, it didn't sit well with him that the wher seemed to be getting out without any proper punishment for all the chaos he'd caused.

And things were chaotic. The vast majority of the candidates had been mauled to one degree or another--Tamren had actually gotten off easy so far--the sands were filled with blood, a girl was crying over the body of the girl who'd died while healers were still trying to help the gravely injured, and eggs were still cracking open. In fact, out of the corner of his eye, Tamren saw one of Callistath's eggs crack open, though he couldn't tell anything about the dragon inside. That was a mystery. The brown hatchling had gotten up, calmly untangling himself and his green sister, and it looked like he was finally ready to go to the candidates himself. It was about time, Tamren thought.

The hatchlings looked quite distressed by the dead body, though the green definitely more so. The yellow was on the move as well, doing his best to comfort some of the more traumatized candidates. Eventually, he made his way to the back row and found his rider, and all the while, another egg was cracking open. This time, it was a cyan who emerged, sniffing the blood in the air and seeming quite nervous. Tamren figured she wasn't the only nervous one on the sands. It didn't help matters when she tripped over Orkia's body, and she shrieked in alarm. The candidate shook his head and watched; it seemed somebody else was coming onto the sands to take care of the body. That was good, at least. The faster it was out of the way, the faster things could start to calm down.

He glanced back at the brown and the green. Hmm, perhaps he wasn't going to go searching quite yet after all. What was he waiting for? He did push the green towards the candidates encouragingly, at least. She reluctantly left him behind, and though Tamren's attention was mostly on the clutch, he did notice when she picked out one of the girls near the back of the group. It seemed the boy who had been injured had Impressed as well.He also noticed that the cyan who'd tripped over the candidate earlier was beside him now, as well. Tamren eyed the female warily.

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

Things were happening up near the front, where the dragon eggs were. Phaenna could tell that two greens had hatched and were moving around among the candidates, but considering the sheer number of bodies between her and them, it was difficult for her to make out much of anything. She didn't mind, though. Even if it had made it harder to see the hatching properly, it seemed like the back row was one of the safest places to be this time around.

After a pause, she managed to figure out that one of the greens had Impressed, while the other was still looking. There was now a blue lying on the sands as well, and she caught glimpses of a bright yellow as well. That made Phaenna glad. From what she knew, yellows were happy, cheerful dragons, and if this hatching needed anything, it was a bit of joy. She smiled brightly as the blue hatchling Impressed, and then the cyan and green were getting tangled up and fighting, and the candidates were caught in the middle. Phaenna watched as they finally split apart, though while the green went back towards the clutch and the cyan found her rider, she was not the only one watching.

It seemed the dark-colored wher was watching them as well, as they split apart it dashed off again among the candidates, where its golden clutchmother couldn't catch it without causing more damage. There was a lot of screaming now--it was clear people were being hurt, and there was nothing Phaenna could do about it. She was weak, and helpless, and scared, and all she could do was stand there. She hated it. There was another sudden commotion--up in the front of the crowd, a girl was dying as a wher accidentally slit her throat, but this time, at least Phaenna was not standing right in front of them as it happened. She knew that something was going on, but she wouldn't realize that there was a dead body on the sands until much later, which was probably just as well for her mental stability.

She did see the blue wher approach the candidates in the back though, and she noted his distress, but then he Impressed to the injured Pyrus and she managed a smile. He'd clearly been hoping to Impress, and it was a relief to see something good come out of that whole mess.

The blue was not the only wher to make it back there, however. The dark, violent wher was running for the back row, and Phaenna felt a sudden, sick sense of dread. The dark, blood-colored wher dashed straight into Kaydian, the candidate standing right beside her, and she gave a yelp of fear as it bit into his thigh. Perhaps the noise had drawn the wher's attention, or maybe he was headed in that direction anyway; either way, Phaenna was his next target.

There was no time and no room to move away, and she never even thought about using the knife she had so grudgingly carried onto the sands with her. Her thoughts were not about defending herself, just trying to minimize the damage once it was done. The wher dug its long, bloody claws into her legs, tearing deep gashes into both of her lower limbs, from knee to ankle. She let out a scream as she toppled over onto the sand, but the wher didn't stay to finish the job; he was already moving on to Matilda and Garund.

Phaenna's eyes filled with tears from the pain--her legs were bleeding freely, and she was just noticing how terribly hot the sands were down here. She wondered briefly what to do now. Should she call for a healer? She didn't care about the injuries preventing her from Impression--her good luck charm had most certainly not had any effect on this hatching--but she took a look around her and decided against it. There were so many people hurt, so many people who needed help from the healers. She wasn't even sure there were enough healers to go around, considering how many injuries there had been from maulings. Her legs hurt, and there was plenty of blood, but Phaenna was still sure that there were too many people worse off than her. Why should she distract a healer from somebody who really needed the medical attention?

The events of the hatching largely forgotten for the moment, Phaenna sat on the ground and decided what to do. Nobody was really paying attention to her at the moment. She shrugged off her candidate's robe, feeling slightly guilty as she ripped off the sleeves. She hadn't paid for the robe or anything, and she disliked damaging it, but perhaps the Weyrfolk would understand. She couldn't just sit there and bleed, after all. She clumsily wrapped each sleeve around one of her legs and tied off the ends, as tightly as she could. At least that took care of the blood. Maybe it would do for now. She had to get up, though.

Slowly and extremely unsteadily, Phaenna climbed to her feet once again, biting her lip the entire time to keep from screaming again. Faranth, it hurt! But she thought of Pyrus, and the girls who had been injured badly and maybe even killed. She decided she would just have to deal with it. She could stand up, if just barely, and if she could do that, she could let the healers do their jobs without distraction. It was only after she stood up again that she realized the dark wher had, in fact, bonded. She really hoped she wouldn't Impress a wher now--she didn't want to share a class with that creature.

That was enough about whers, though. She wasn't standing as a wher candidate (not really, anyway), she was standing for a dragon, and dragons were what she should be focused on. There was still a brown and a green up by the eggs, and yes, that was definitely a yellow, as well. In fact, that yellow was slowly but surely making its way to the back row of candidates, calming and reassuring people as it went. It brought a smile onto Phaenna's face, especially when the yellow stopped and Impressed to K'ian right beside her. "Congratulations," she said, since he was right there.

Soon the green was coming closer as well, and Phaenna thought there was another cyan hatchling as well. Pyrus and Kairhi had both Impressed; now it seemed it was Mairhi's turn, and that was another weyrling pair joined forever. The entire time, Phaenna's legs were throbbing, and all she could do was ignore it. She had to find something to distract her--and Yusk did that quite nicely. She didn't know the green wher or her handler personally, but she took comfort from the wher's gentle nudge all the same. Visit, if she didn't Impress? That was nice. But she wanted, really really wanted, to Impress. She just didn't think it was possible.

[Boo]

A scream ripped across the sands as Tareniss gathered her children close to her. She couldn’t leave her husband but she pulled her two oldest children into as best a hug as she could, sobbing her eyes out. She didn’t want them to see this. All their lives she was supposed to protect them but she’d not even been able to do that. The woman turned to the Weyrleader behind her.
“These are just children no older than my own! How could you all let this happen?!”

Yet the person she really wanted to question was D’lios.

The question caused Rayna’s breath to catch in her chest as images of D’ren flew through her mind. Eyes wide and staring she then looked at the woman.
“We all must make sacrifices.”
“And what about the children who only wanted to stand for dragons?”
Rayna remained as calm as she could and immediately distanced herself from the situation.
“They could have chosen not to stand. They didn’t because they wanted to become riders so they could protect people like you and your family.”

Tag: P’ryt?

As the candidate had spoken with him, he had nodded his head and smiled easily.
“You may be right at that. Perhaps you will attract a wher here.”
Not that that was an entirely good thing at the moment. Although he was closer to the stands, he was still very much aware of the position of the whers.

Hulair twisted when he heard his wife scream out and knew something had gone horribly wrong. Tensing as she addressed the Weyrleader and Weyrwoman he turned back to the front and saw, through the legs, a girl no older than his own Talair. As he looked the body seemed to replace itself with hers and he stood still, horrified.
“You’re no older than my own daughters… She could have been my daughter.”

The horror of that moment hit him like a pile of firestone and he turned to Otto, “No matter what, I will make sure you get off these sands as safely as possible.”
Otto, in that moment, was the one who needed protecting. Suddenly, Otto was the representative for his family and if he couldn’t protect them here and now, he would sure as threadfalls do it for Otto.

He was ready to wrestle a dragonet or wheret to the ground if they dared try to attack them.

Tag: Otto

No. Just like many of the other candidates, Seidon’s eyes were wide. D’ren had died after impressing an iron. He had died an ironrider and was remembered as such… Who was this girl? He didn’t even know her name… Suddenly, he was gripping Lili’s hand even tighter and was standing shoulder-to-shoulder. He pretended he hadn’t seen Orkia’s body, closed his eyes against it and ignored the screams. A wher had done that and no matter that it had tried to make amends…
“We’re walking off these sands with our bonded’s.”
His voice felt weak and distant but he would not leave even as Yusk walked through the candidates. Her feelings did nothing to mend the pain he felt. Had Yusk been like these whers before she had bonded to Yuri?

The yellow walked closer to him and then leaned in, nuzzling him. He let out a stifled cry as the dragonet licked his face and moved on. Disappointment filtered through him as he craned his neck to see…

Kaydian?

No. Bitterness filled his heart for that moment. Kaydian had Impressed before him and now he was being abandoned again. Lili would Impress. His old feelings welled up inside him as he forced a pained looking smile and waved a hand at his former roommate. Kaydian had always been good but Seidon found it difficult to look past that.

Tag: Lili, K’ian

“NO!”
This shout came from the healers area as Tedaon threw a bag on the ground. He had failed all the children. He who had the least to live for was still here whilst a child lay dead on the sands. He hissed his anger once more, standing a little way away from the two young girls who had been dragged off the sands. He would have stomped right out there to the sands then and there, screw the rules, and tried to heal all those who were injured but he saw that Pyrus was walking off the sands.

Calming himself, he did stomp but this time over to the feeding section to sit with those that had Impressed. His eye caught the brown and he froze, glaring. They were trouble, the lot of them. Reds everyone was prepared for but brown dragons and whers alike hid their nature under falsities and kindness.
“That thing should never have been allowed to live,” He hissed at Randiel, “You’ve bonded to a murderer.”
He then stalked over to Pyrus. The blue would not have killed had he not been confused. Although there was still murder on its conscience, it had not been premeditated. Still, he tensed at the sight of the bloodied blue wher.

“How’s your hand?”
Or lack thereof but he wasn’t going to say that, not just yet. There would need to be a lot of work done to fix this.

Tag: Randi, Pyrus, Lyrnn?

[/blockquote]

[Raining]

Saosk settled beside the trio, only looking slightly bristled to be around a certain green. As soon as he finished talking to Mouse however Gennesk ordered him to not talk. Or at least not speak so loudly, he wasn't broadcasting for all to hear! He was talking to Mouse >C.

Though he was aware of his almost "language" slip up, that Saowyn even acknowledged. SA...SAOSK KNOWS! SAOSK BE HERE FOR PROTECT, FOR TINY MOUSE he replied back... as quietly as he could manage, without the use of colorful language.

He hesitated when Mouse snugged against him, his eyes were a content green (almost blue even) but his expression just looked sour. His eyes were traitors. He brushed Mouse's mind as affectionately as he could, after all stomping Gennesk couldn't hear OR feel that. DON'T WATCH TINY MOUSE. LOOK AT STOMPING GENNESK AND LISKBI- AND SAOSK. he told her in his harsh whispering mind voice. He didn't want to be for stomp. He flared his wings, wiggling them in front of the girl, hoping to distract her.

In Saowyn's mind, TINY MOUSE SCARED, SAOSK NOT KNOW WHAT HE DO?. Saowyn weakly laughed, 'you're doing fine, keep her attention on you.' she told her wher.

She herself had to keep looking away from all the carnage, there was so much blood... so much. She was here for one reason, and that reason was still on the sands, unimpressed. But she almost wished he weren't down there mixed in with all this violence.

[Azhdarchid]

[ Q'sis ][ Unath ][ Qunath ]

Unath's eyes widened as a slinky purple's tongue made contact with her robust chin. She pulled her head back, tucking her lower jaw to her neck to get a look at the source...and blinked at him as though she had never seen him before. This despite the fact that her paw remained on his chest, pinning him to the ledge. Her claws contracted against his keel, scritching his hide- tickling, even -and then she bared her fangs at him in a little grin. When he had made his compliment, and stopped talking, her expression slowly faded, and she went back to ogling him blankly.

I like you, she suggested. No flirting, but no shying back from the statement either. She had always been the fearless one. She glanced past Wenth at her twin for concurrence.

Q'sis, who had started drumming his fingers on Samael's arm the moment Unath had first approached her new favorite dragon, settled back into his seat now with a muted sigh and a twitch of his lower eyelid. Unath, though she had started to extend her small mentality into Shobhaith's, suddenly withdrew, and her head lifted to look back at the Hatching. Her rider sat up straighter: not for the gore or the dead, but for the single oozing tail disappearing behind a cracked eggshell. He had seen it clean through his tan's eyes. He grit his teeth, and Unath's head went into a pan, searching the Stands themselves now. Identifying the location of Weyr-holder D'lios.

And with that the tan was dropped back into herself, and she looked back down at Shobhaith. Oh.

***

"So it is a Hatching then?" Ghols chuckled, bobbing back from his batting hands and electing to perch both of hers on his shoulders. "'That is the risk you face' and all that," she continued, voice briefly dropping in mime of a Candidatemaster. "I saw one where a guy lost an eye once! And it was just sitting there on the Sands shriveling up. I figured one of the hatchlings would eat it but they never did." She shrugged. "And that is my story."

Leaning forward, she whispered in the purplerider's ear. But Ghols was pretty bad at whispers, and secrets. "So who is this guy next to you? Because...whoa. Have you seen this guy?"

You could have an ounce of extra sympathy. The poor dears...oh, what if K'ius' friend should be gravely injured? I would not wish that upon him even if he is clumsy.

Awwwwwwh come on. First of all, he will be fine. Might make him less squishy too. Second of all, I mean, he is perfectly right that they are monsters. You are pretty much the only one that never came out a monster and you chose me, so I like to think we went the other way 'round...

You mean, that I am the civilized creature and you are the monster?

Oh yeah. Ghols smirked, flashing her pearly white "fangs."

I am afraid you are far too charming for all that, much as you would like it, Arcuth sniffed.

Fine. Anyway, just an ounce?

Well yes. You would not want to become a blubbering indecency.

***

"That Candidate," L'xon said, very directly, to Candidatemaster Jasmine. He pointed the correct whiterobe out, though in the murk of the red Hatching all the whites turned gray and heads were barely more than splotches above bodies. Most of the Candidates were covered in blood, now, too, and though no two patterns rained alike it was all fairly obfuscating. "Newtollen," he clarified. "He got sent to me a couple months ago for some recuperation." No, L'xon remembered it clearly: Newt had been tasked to recuperate, but chose him on his own.

Folding his arm in to balance his elbow on the barrier, he tried to meet the yellowrider's eyes. She was one of the few with bright hair like his, and it might have appeared like two golden birds having a conversation on a branch amidst a sea of brown and dun-colored fellows. Lxon's face was controlled concern. "I got a look at him then and he was not worth a damn to anyone, least of all a hatchling." Deflect, Lex, deflect. It was all true, what he was saying. It was not a problem to say it. "It does not seem like that has changed between then and today. He needs more time. Him and maybe that other one. They're holding hands. You have the green out collecting people. Have her collect him, too."

[ tags: (Unath) Shobhaith, (Ghols) K'ius, (L'xon) Jasmine ]

[Dragonwher]

Randiel had held his feet for all of five seconds it seemed. Right before the strange redbrown wheret decided he was gonna lay on the sand again. Via the powerful baby yanking him down with vicious force after having caused more chaos and mayhem. Though when he felt the paw on his throat Randiel tried to go positively still in spite of feeling the sand baking the backs of his legs and his arms. When he felt the thing loosen the straps of the armor his eyes went wide and his pulse seemed to quicken, hoping the beast didn't notice as he thought how in the fardling SHARDS does this thing know to undo armor straps?!.

Then he had to bite back a scream as the thing shredded the now loosened leather armor as well as his torso. He didn't really notice much beyond the red haze of pain in himself and rage emanating from the creature. Then after his chest and it felt like his shoulders and sides were carved open the beast actually licked him. At about the same time Kalesk had charged over to concievably end the wheret that Randi couldn't tell the gender of. Though he gave a hiss of pain as the thing put a paw flat on his cut to Between and back chest. Then he would go from squinting in pain to a poleaxed look of shock as the thing spoke the name it gave itself reverberated in his mind Rask.

Even as the murderous whe-no Rask stated he was hungry, Randiel had tried to give Kalesk an apologetic look for the thing that she wanted to kill affixing itself to him. Then as the Wheret fully cemented their bond Randiel did something he hoped to Faranth no one took him to task for but he felt the brute needed it just as he thought Kalesk would appreciate seeing it. Sure no pernese had the concept of the sarcastic phrase 'yer hungry? have a knuckle sandwich!'. But that was certainly the impression intended with the fist swinging up and colliding with the side of his new partner's rocklike skull. The swinging hit happening just after Rask had bitten into Val as Randi managed to force himself to a kneel before trying to clonk him one.

Upon realizing Rask had bitten Val Randiel stood up and glowered at the Wheret he'd clonked not just for biting Val; but for everything the little beast had done. Up to and including making a bloody mess of Randi, though that part he was beginning to deal with; ignoring the thinned by distance wail that could only be his adopted mother or sister was a bit harder. When he looked at Val then back at Rask he growled out in a voice harsh with resisting the urge to scream "Tell the boy you just bit yer sorry Rask; NOW". Instead Rask shook off the thwacking he'd gotten from Randi and looked up at him Why should Rask?. Then the wher muttered something he thought Randi wouldn't catch despite their bond least Rask not like crybaby wher is be acting over weak girl.

That would cause Randiel to glare more, and flex his fists like he wanted to knock Rask upside the head again for his nasty comments. But refrained; bad enough he'd decked him once in full view of everyone, doing it twice would be looked at poorly he was sure. Though he did put as much of his dislike and anger at Rask's antics in his tone as he tried again "Rask, this is NOT open for debate; you WILL apologize". Which finally got a movement like a sigh of petulant resignation as Rask barely brushed Valasco's mind Best-notwher Randiel want Rask be say Sorry. Then he withdrew quickly as Randiel coughed a bit and gave Val a 'sorry for his attitude' look. Then he muttered "come on Rask, NOW we're getting off the Sands...I need to have the marks you gave me looked at while I'm feeding you...". Well least Randiel had the answer to whether this wheret the color of dried blood and magma was a Red female or a Brown male now. As the deceptively sedate wheret skulked along after Randi, no apologies made for trying to carve Randi up mere moments ago. Randiel just hoped it would be easier to get Rask to apologize for things he did to others but the rumbled Rask not be think so proved it would be an uphill fight.

~~~

As things got worse and a girl was actually killed Mir made a sharp short panicked yelping gasp. Then it became a thin scream of fear for her adopted son as he was dragged down and torn into. But when she turned away to bury her face in her husband's chest she would miss Randiel getting up and showing he bonded to the wher that had appeared to try and kill him. But Andel saw this and whispered "hush, its ok Mir Randi is up and moving, he's Impressed to the same Wher we thought had killed him". Unlike Mir Andel had kept his fear and panic down in the depths of his mind repeating 'this is the life my son chose' like a mantra to keep him from falling to pieces.

Though he hoped no one would take him to task for doing something that was likely borne from pain and an attempt to knock some good behaviour into its head. As he watched Randiel trudge to the Healer area/feeding space he nudged the crying Mir "look dear, he's up and walking to help and to get food for the Wheret; maybe it'll calm down now?". Mir whispered something that sounded like 'dear Faranth I hope so' then shook her head when Andel asked if she wanted to step out of the Stands to wait out the hatching.

Like her mother Mira had let out a thin screech of fear as the murderous wheret had dragged her brother down after a blue had accidentally killed a girl. Before Malinoth could recocoon her however she saw him get up and seem to argue with the brownwher after socking it on the side of the head. Then walk to the healers and feeding area slowly with some pain. As Malinoth successfully recocooned his rider Mira was a confused mess of panic elation and fear. Malinoth's words worked to clear her mind however Mine, he's cut but he'll be safe, that wher quite likely will grow out of his violent tendencies. Probably through Randi doing more of exactly what we saw. Yes its sad a candidate just died but Randiel will live.. Mira could only send wordless love to Malinoth to show she was working on being ok now. helped again by her flits as well, though she did wonder why Aela and Farkas stayed behind...

~~~~

Randiel had hardly reached the Feeding area, bloodied clawmarks and all with the wher that did it in tow before a healer spoke to him. He had assumed the healer was there to bandage the likes of him and the other injured folks up. Instead he got venom spat at him, which was answered much in kind as Randi grabbed a bucket and began passing chunks of fish to Rask "strange words for a healer, one would think you'd prefer not to see a repeat of that double dragon hatching. I did not choose Rask he chose me" Randiel was careful to enunciate the wher's name in place of the sneering 'thing' term Teadon had spat out.

Though he tried to swallow his raw temper and looked past Teadon one last shred of his own venom occurring "would a healer with free hands be able to help me?. The claw marks are light but the healer beside me is a bit too busy being talkative to help" that small bit of emphasis might suggest it was truly a backhanded snipe in return for the verbal venom clearly. As he heard Rask move he put his hand on the brown's snout and pushed him back into a sitting position as Rask was locked onto Teadon. Though strangely the brown wher's eyes were a humoured whirl of color as he spoke to Randi, not commenting on being stopped Rask's make funny, make Rask be laugh. The...compliment; such as it was on Randi's antics, did not make the boy smile just yet. He was still angry, sore and getting used to having bonded to someone like Rask. What he didn't know was Rask had just broadcast his words to Teadon as well; purely to peeve him off more. The odd laugh that emanated from Rask next, sounding like 'ahr ahr ahr' in a sort of quiet mental chuckle; was also meant to annoy Teadon. Though it confused Randi...as he was unaware Wher's could laugh like that.

(tag Teadon, I'm cool with the venom Randi can give it too XD)

[Maggie]

Kaydian wanted to cry. The hatching was not at all going well. Everything was going wrong. People were bleeding, whers were attacking people, everything was scary and sad... He wanted Yusk. He wanted the safety of his nice, clean, organised room where he could bring Seidon nicely prepared food from the kitchens after having had a nice conversation with Yentil and Maelie... Also, he hurt. Everywhere hurt and he was scared and it was getting harder and harder to think of nice, fuzzy warm thoughts. He tried to remember Yusk's songs to sing to himself...

And then suddenlythere was a voice in his head. It was like Yusk's voice, like Weslieth's voice, just better. It was like suddenly being warmed by a lazy afternoon sun when he had no chores and could just relax, but it was even better. He smiled, although his eyes were still filled with tears. K'ianMine, you're great, you're fantastic! K'ian, his name was K'ian, now and he was a dragonrider. A real, strong dragonrider who could leave the sands with his head held high. He reached out to touch Kamikith's nose gently, hardly able to believe his eyes and the voice in his mind.

"Kamikith?" he asked quietly. The yellow cooed at him and K'ian beamed. Later he would worry that Yentil wouldn't like him anymore because he was a rider or that Seidon wouldn't want to talk to him or that he would never be Yusk's baby again, but right now, all he could think of was how beautiful and miraculous the sun-coloured dragonet in front of him was.

Yup! I'm so glad you waited all this time for me, we're going to be the best team ever! Everything is going to be just fine. If dragons could smile, Kamikith would have beamed at his new rider. As it was, his eyes whirled a very happy green that clashed horribly with his hide. K'ian put a hand on his dragon's back, searching the remaining candidates for Seidon.

"He's going to be in our class too," he said stubbornly. "We were roommates. He's amazing and strong and he's going to be the perfect dragonrider." He gave Seidon a small wave. He just knew it, he had to Impress!

Kamikith nodded. You will be a perfect dragonrider too, you know!

K'ian beamed at him, leading him over to the feeding area. He gave K'var an awkward bow. "Um, Kay-- K'ian and Kamikith reporting for feeding," he said shyly.

***

Gennesk hummed at Mouse gently. Whers did die and that wass scary, but it was also normal so everything was going to be ok. Mini-Mouse is be listen Saosk. Saosk is be learn quiet, is be for fast learn. Saosk and Lisk for play! Mini-Mouse is be want leave? Babies is be for see later? He tried to keep her distracted, slowly edging his bulk between her and the sands to cut off the view of the worst of the carnage. Mini-Mouse is be for remember. Remember is be help, he told her solemnly. He wasn't good at remembering things, but he knew that a few of the handlers at High Reaches had kept lists and stories about the wher Candidates and wherets who had died at hatchings they'd attended. Task could recall ever one he'd ever see die, how they died and what they could be praised for, in their short lives. It was something Talin had demanded of him and she as well could name them easily. He could teach Mouse to do the same and to value life more for it being short. Not that she needed that, but Gennesk did think it was a genius plan. Almost as genius as him getting Lisk and Saosk to declare a truce. Now he had to figure out what he was going to do with the other screamy baby wher who was somehow related to Task now and therefore might be hanging around.

***

Idra permitted herself a very rare grin as she saw her sister Impress. Her heart swelled with pride and relief. The only person she truly cared for would be off the sands and safe, her place in the world secured by a demure, beautiful lady of a cyan. That in and of itself made her thoughts more positive than they had been since she got to Dalibor. She smirked as she saw her cousin Impress as well. Maybe with a yellow cheering him on he would be less terrified and easier to talk to. Since he was in Davalla's weyrling class, they could even keep an eye on him. It was perfect, minus the pain.

The girl's death had had little effect on Idra. People died every day, sometimes violently. Whers were murderous creatures, it was bound to happen. She mused for a moment, seeing the reactions of those around her, that she should maybe be more shocked, more empathetic, but she just couldn't muster the emotions. She had always been different that way. Davalla was safe as was Kaydian, although that wasn't his name anymore. That was what was important.

***

TAMRI-MINE RASK MUST BE PUNISH FOR CRIMES! RASK HURT TAMRI-MINE RASK BE HURT! Tamarine winced, shoving another small piece of fish at her wher whose eyes had gone back from a sullen yellow to a deep red.

"Rissy I'm fine," Tamarine sighed. The nickname earned her a glare from the tank-like cyan. She motioned at N'yn and Seph who were cleaning out her cuts and taking a look at her bad leg. "My leg was damaged before, it'll be fine as it'll ever be in a few days. You have to concentrate on eating and getting strong. It's not worth it to start a fight now." Tamarisk grumbled, gulping down more fish and staring wrathfully at Rask while her handler was tended to.

[Zephyr]

(( Tags; Nori/Kahrie/Weslieth/Delilah))

The blood rushing in his ears was so loud now. He couldn’t concentrate on anything but that and Norilana laying in his arms. He didn’t want to focus on anything else, not when she was so light, and he could feel her drifting away. He couldn’t let her. He had to keep her talking, keep her going. He had to work not to let a frown crease his forehead when she spoke. Lanorun and Joshu were a tad more protective of their little sister than Ranthian was…not that he wouldn’t give his life for any of them, but he also understood that she needed a life. Ran had heard of Jafari, but he’d never met the wher candidate…he didn’t know how his brothers might have felt about their baby sister meeting boys, and he didn’t know what was up between the two of them…

…but he made a mental note to thank the other kid for giving his sister something to hold onto.

“Your dragon’s going to be the best, no matter the color.” His hand shook as he raked long fingers through her hair, mumbling the words into her temple for only her to hear. “Adventures, eh? Can I come? We can fly all over, meeting different people. It’ll be…” And he had to steel himself, keep his voice from breaking. “It’ll be the best.”

He hummed into her skin in acknowledgement of her words. Right now, impressing to anything, let alone a brown, was something that couldn’t be further from his mind. Impressing wasn’t an option…not when he only had eyes for Norilana, not when her life could be taken from him by a moment’s inattention. Ranthian had been doing so well, keeping his voice from cracking and his eyes dry. But then she had to keep talking…and told him she loved him, and he couldn’t…

He just couldn’t handle it.

Tears welled in his eyes, and his vision was going blurry. That was probably from the tears, but it could have been the blood loss from the bone deep gashes in his arms, or the two fingers he’d lost…but he was patently unaware of this, so close was he holding his sister. The tears wet her forehead as Ranthian pressed his face against her hair, and for a while, he couldn’t say anything to her. He had to be strong for her, couldn’t waver…not even for a second.

So he forced the quivering sorrow from his voice as he spoke, voice whisper soft against her temple. “I love you Nori. So much. Stay with me. Don’t you go anywhere..” It was an order, albeit an unconvincing one as her blood seeped into his clothing. “We need you.” The candidate hissed breathily. And they did need her, didn’t they? He and Joshu and Lanorun needed their baby sister. She kept them together, kept them a family, even when sometimes Ranthian wanted to scream at them all until he was hoarse…they were his and he was theirs, and they needed to stay together.

He was still trembling against her, teeth grit as he held her as tightly as he dared, when the girl next to him took notice of their predicament. He didn’t want to pay attention to her as she took a step towards them, didn’t want to listen to the words coming out of her mouth. He didn’t care…but when she spoke, and he realized what she’d said, the boy uttered a strangled growl, flinging his gaze to her and boring into her. “Nori isn’t her.” Ranthian snarled ferally, his words clipped and angry. There was more he wanted to say to her, but he didn’t want Nori to hear his rage…and it wasn’t Kahrie that Ranthian was angry with…not really. He was pissed at the whole situation, and taking it out on the first person to approach him was preferable.

Even if he could see the sense in her words, they rankled him, and pride flared up like a nasty habit. He didn’t want her words, didn’t want her help, and he didn’t want her touching his sister. He was a dog, wildly possessive over something that was his, or at least more his than she was this girl’s, and she had no business interfering in family business. Ranthian wanted to rip into her, make her feel the pain that his sister was feeling, and see if she was so cavalier then…but he stopped himself, had to keep his breaths slow and even.

This girl was not the enemy. He wasn’t really angry at her, and biting her head off wouldn’t make him feel any better or fix the current situation. She spoke sense, but Ranthian was in denial. This was his baby sister, and he’d fixed her up the best way he could. “Can’t.” He finally growled, voice thick and gravelly. “We’ll be attacked.” He didn’t know that the worst of the hatchlings who had been in the sands had impressed…all he knew was that his sister was precious indeed, and he was not going to take any chances.

Then there was a voice in his head. It was as unwelcome as Kahrie’s attention, but at least he recognized it. Relief washed over him in a wave, and he realized that if Weslieth had been there, he could have kissed the dragon. They just needed to hurry, because he didn’t want Nori’s life slipping away from him. The time it took Delilah to come around to them and press the clean bandages to her abdomen felt like an eternity, and Ranthian was grinding his teeth in the interim. When the blonde woman was suddenly in front of them, he huffed lightly, and cuddled his sister closer, pulling his ruined robe off of her so that the healer could work.

“Where’m I takin’ her?” Ranthian growled lightly, trembling as he lifted his sister up in his arms. He encouraged her to wrap her arms around his neck as Delilah kept pressure on her wounds. He was also careful not to put too much pressure on her back gashes. The thought that there was a place for healers next to the stands had totally slipped his mind in his panic, and as he waited for the pinkrider’s instructions, his sister spoke, and Ranthian’s eyes opened wide, attention shifting down to her.

He stared for a second, before an incredulous laugh bubbled up from his chest, bordering on hysterical. She was bleeding out in his arms, and she was making terrible jokes. He forgot about the world again, lost in his sister’s will to live. The boy smiled. “That’s a good one, but I’ll do ya one better.” He paused for a second, flashed her a grin that was nothing short of utterly mischievous and huffed. “How do you keep a canine from smelling?” He waited the requisite number of beats before continuing, his smile quirking up at the corners. “You hold its nose!”

Ranthian was determined to keep her focus on something other than the pain, and if Delilah’s dragon could help with that…well, he’d kiss the pink too.

[Ondine]

Ondine followed Yuri out onto the sands, having seen the most dangerous of the dragonets and wherets impress in short order. Nori needed help, even though she watched as Delilah bustled past them, she still continued onward, giving the candidatemaster a squeeze on the shoulder as she left his side. The poor guy was torn up about this, she could tell that easily, and one of his charges lay dead. Another had lost a hand, a third was being sent to the infirmary after having had wounds in her throat cauterized, and nearly all of the rest had some injury or another, from bites to slashing. Bones broken left and right. She'd never seen a hatching this bloody, and she'd been a healer at every one of them since she had graduated from Weyrlingdom. Shards, shards and shells, but it was hard to keep smiling right now.

Delilah was already working when the younger journeywoman arrived to help her, silently taking up part of the burden and duty. At least they were being protected by one of the clutchmothers, although she had no doubt that should things go to worse, that might not even save them. The whers that had attacked so many had, after all, escaped from being destroyed by their mother even by the slimmest of margins. She kept smiling even as she worked with measured haste, but the smile was nearly a grimace, pained and bright. They had to save her, do what they could. They had to. She had brought a stretcher, and as soon as she wasn't going to die during transport from all of the bleeding, they could get her out of here. “That's a cute joke. Where'd you learn that one?”

------

Lyrnn had been waiting in the healer's area for the first of his new wherlings to arrive, and they had finally begun to trickle in. One had lost a hand entirely, two were bonded to to vicious whers who would likely be taught more about control than they would about killing, and another who had done his best to defend, but had killed an innocent by accident. So far, they were...a mixed bag. K'var was sending the wherlings to him, and he greeted each one with a bucket of food. He spoke to each one as they arrived, Lyrsk by his side and evaluating each and every one. The Wherlingmaster might not have wanted to teach the two challenges, but by Faranth and all that was good in the world, he'd do the best job he could. His voice was level, if somewhat hoarse, but that was just the way that he was. “Welcome. I'm your Wherlingmaster, Lyrnn, and this is Lyrsk. Most of you are injured, the healers will do what they can after you feed your bonded. Afterward, I strongly suggest you check into the infirmary. For now, make sure your wherets eat until they're full. Watch to make sure they don't choke if it's fish. Once they're done they should be tired, just let them fall asleep. We'll go over the rest once everyone has arrived.”

But the one thing that he couldn't ignore was a spite-filled and hateful comment from one of the healers. He knew the reason, a candidate had just died out there on the sands. One wasn't usually a healer unless you had a serious desire to do exactly what the title suggested. Seeing someone die before you could help them hurt, and death was never something to be welcomed. But all the same, that was his wherling that he was insulting, and the comment went too far. He turned to the healer, calm as he could be, “Don't speak to my wherling like that. What's done is done, and before we spit on a killer wher, that's what we demand whers do. To shield us in the night.” He shook his head and turned back to Randi, “You're hardly the first to bond to a wher that killed off of the sands. And dragons aren't innocent there either. If you need to talk to me, my door is always open.”

------

Maihri didn't have long to wait after her twin had left the sands before a healer came to relieve her of her duty. Holding her side with one hand, she kept the pressure on and merely smiled through the pain. It didn't hurt as much as some of the stuff that she'd done when she was younger. Besides, anyone who went through guard training had to be able to take a little pain. She'd be fine, and come out smiling on the other side with a dragon or a wher. There was no way that she was going to be separated from her twin, so it would definitely be a dragon. Had to be. There was plenty going on here even without her sister, and she kept her eyes wide as...

...as Orkia died. Her heart leaped to her throat and part of her went numb, staring at the body as it slowly bled out, and only barely kept herself from screaming. No no no, why did she have to die? Maihri stared blindly ahead for a few moments, mind ground to a halt as blood continue to drip onto the sands. She could leave. She could flee the sands where death had visited, and no one would fault her for it. Death was different than injury, and not something that anyone could come back from. Orkia could never laugh or smile again, could never eat, cry, or grow up. Who would blame her for running if she left right now?

She would.

Her sisters would forgive her, her mother might understand, but she'd never forgive herself for leaving. She was a guard trainee for this reason, right? She had to be able to stay even when the going was rough, when even her cheerfulness was dampened. Mama didn't raise no wherrylivered coward, I gotta stay. That decision affirmed, she looked around for all of the other dragons that were around. If there was any consolation to be had, it was that the deadly whers seemed to have left. But the yellow helped to restore some of her spirits, it was kind of hard not to, especially when it was just so cheerful. She grinned as much as she could, thinking happy thoughts about how life was gonna be when she got her own dragon, and-

The green that came around the corner seemed to slam straight into her mind, and for a moment Maihri stood completely quiet as her entire being reorganized around the part it didn't even know it was missing. And then there were emotions and pieces that fit into her own like parts of a puzzle that had always been unsolved, but were now slotted into place. Come on, MairhiMine![/i] The dragonet was urgently speaking to her, rushing over its words as though the most important thing in the world was yet to be said. Your Querenth wants to leave, this space is too small and cramped and my siblings are such wherrybrains! [/i] Maihri stared and gave a small giggle at the flit of affection that came with the final word. Oh, but she loved Querenth already. Oh, I know! Let's race to the meat. Winner gets extra.[/i]

Oooooo, how dare she suggest that she was going to win! Maihri puffed herself up with a grin and tried out this new telepathy thing, Oh really Querenth? Better win, you're going to need that food to beat me! With that, she dashed off across the sands, and the green womped happily after her, dashing as fast as she could after her bonded. Gonna beat you Maihrimine! I'm faster! Oh! The girl giggled and accelerated, outpacing her dragonet and screeching to a halt with a breathless smile as they arrived at the healer's corner. Only a few moments later the green came to a halt as well, nearly tripping into her bonded's legs, and then gazed up with whirling blue eyes. Oh I just knew you were the right one for me! You beat me! We'll have to make sure you keep that up though, can't ever get weak. We'll have to run every day of course. Oh who is she? She looks just like you Maihrimine! She'll join us for our running. And Atenath of course. My sister can be such a wherrybrain sometimes though, she doesn't run enough, too concerned about other things, can you believe that? Can I have that meat now please? Gotta keep up my strength!

The rapid fire talking was exactly like what she and Kaihri had always done to Rhikail, so that wasn't anything new, and Maihri only giggled all the harder before getting the pail of meat from K'var. Silly, that's my twin! She's Kaihri. And of course she'll join us, she likes to run as much as I do! Here, you can have my extra meat, after all, the loser needs to get better than the winner right? There was a small moment of shock before Querenth beamed a little more, That's silly of you, I hardly need any advantage. But I suppose that I will have to accept. Oh yes that one. Faster Maihrimine, we have places to be after this! As her dragonet spoke, a thought struck the human. She glanced across at her twin, and she grinned. Yes, that was an idea. Who says they couldn't keep doing what they had been, even when they had dragonets?

[Lan]

Matthaus grimaced as the tiny creature bit down hard on his leg, but he tried to keep himself focused. Stay positive, stay positive... the wher left him and he tried to ignore the pain in his leg and the hotness of the blood that began to trickle into his sandal. Around him the rest of the candidates were being decimated. Stay positive, stay positive... But he didn't know how to be anything but neutral. How could anyone stay positive in this? Only a crazy person could... maybe all dragonriders were crazy.

F'ton stood as Joni was attacked, hands balling into fists. He watched her, helpless, and up in the stands he felt Poseith stand as well. Together they watched as the small black wher sought to tear their family away from them. For the first time in his life, F'ton felt the desire to kill something...

But a blue wher came to her rescue. The ironrider gave pause, not quite willing to breathe yet, and then Joni brough a hand to her face and seemed to relax. F'ton exhaled.

Up in the stands K'oa nodded, settling himself back in next to Willow. As the chaos grew more heated, however, he set a rough hand gently on her shoulder and squeezed. If she moved away he would pull away as well, but until then he tried to be a shelter from the storm.

Nimara's hands gripped her trousers at the knee, her heart stopping. There had been a sickening snap, a loss of a life. In the dragon ledges Waroth gave a mourning roar. Before she could grasp her wits, however, Yuri was already in action. Watching him move from the healer's camp to the unmoving body out on the sands grew harder with each step as her vision melted away into waves of salty liquid. Her heart hurt, and Waroth's hurt even more. Her hurt was turned to anger... which woud lead to the suffering of whatever dared touch another one of her kids. A snarl escaped her curled-back lips and glimmering canines prepared themselves to sink into whatever creature dared take one more thing from her.

A girl was dead. Yentil was not surprised. She stood up, her work with the meat done for the moment, and wiped her bloody hands on her apron as she looked out over the sands with a deadpan expression. Death was not unfamiliar to her. She had seen people she liked succumb to death in the flames of the kitchen fires however many turns ago. Still, the look in a man's eye and the way the green wher moved with such... she didn't know how to describe it. She almost felt... bad. She did feel bad. Sorrow threatened to overtake her, but she swallowed it down to the pits of her stomach. No time to get sentimental now. Her lips curled into a frown.

---

|| ooc : so I have problem with getting caught up and feel free to order Tesla about and tag her, okay? SHE IS THERE WAITING TO ASSIST AND CRYING PROFUSELY, PROBABLY. Also, anyone with a dragon or wher that needs healing can feel free to tag Lonet, mmkay? 8D Awesome. TOGETHER WE CAN GET THROUGH THIS INSANITY.

[Cathaline]

Jazz's brow furrowed at L'xon's words, and her eyes went distant, the way humans often did when they were deep in conversation. On the sands, Kalesk moved slightly, prowling back toward her left. She gave Newt a gentle nudge in the shoulder, and then looked up, directly at the bluerider in the stands.

Relaying secondhand from Weslieth, Jazz told him, "She says...he was not ready to stand, but he came here anyway. If he runs away now, he will never recover. He has to face it or he will be no good to anyone, ever again. He walks away under his own power or not at all. I'm sorry. She has the sands; she outranks me tonight. We can't take him away unless he's the one who asks to go."

Cocking her head, she added, "He's stronger than you think. Newtollen. Not as strong as he wishes he was, but I think if any one of them knows how to survive a hatching like this, it's him - physically, at least." Mentally...she couldn't speak for the boy, but Jazz knew enough about the wher side of things through Yuri to know that Kalesk had Very Definite Opinions on her candidates. If she thought Newt needed to stay, she was probably right.

---

When Kalesk moved, the icy wher shifted back into position, staring intently at the flurry of effort in this bloody area of the sands. He was disappointed when Yuri and Yusk flung the sheet over Orkia's body; it meant he could no longer examine her and consider exactly what he would have done differently. Though he had to admit, such an injury was very sensible. Good way to kill. He was going to have to remember that one.

Now, Norilana's injuries - that was just stupid. If it had been up to the blue, he would have driven a talon under her ribcage and sought to puncture her heart. Much faster. Much less painful. It did not occur to him that the intention was to cause pain; he was not sadistic, just cold. She might bleed to death, but it would be slow and give an opportunity for her to be saved, just as the healer was doing now.

Kahrie's reaction was more palatable than all the tears, and as Delilah gently guided Ranthian and Norilana toward the side of the group, the icy wher padded after them and stopped in front of the girl who had caught his attention. He gave her an approving, friendly-ish butt to the ankle, and then vanished into the crowd.

Meanwhile, the green picked herself up. Wow, that had been a serious effort, getting out of the egg. Good thing she'd been clever enough to get an early start! If she'd waited to start clawing and shaking away until she heard the distant screams, she never would have escaped in time. As it was, she gazed disapprovingly out at the sea of reddened robes. Hmph. They'd practically all been touched. She wasn't squeamish, but she did rather resent the fact that several were too shaken or injured to be considered. How dare her siblings take away her choices like that? When everyone surely knew she was the smartest wher ever hatched, and deserved the pick of the crop?

Well, there was no time to waste. Puffing herself up, she swanned out of the nest and into the group of candidates, where she gazed up at Joni. Buck up, would you? Honestly, how had this kid survived her brother when everyone knew sniffles were attractive to murderers? Seriously, everyone knew that. Common knowledge.

Then there was Quellyn. Way too small to be out here. If she were in charge, she would have shut down this problem before it began. Maal and Draolor too - who was letting children onto these sands?! Obviously the baby green herself was not a child. She gave an angry yap to all three of them, hinting that perhaps they should consider going away and growing up a little before they gave this another try, and then sauntered off down the row.

Near Kira's feet, she met her blue brother, examining the pool of blood where Orkia had once lain from yet another angle. It rapidly turned into a squabble. The green commented on the stupidity of the candidates in general, and how unfit they were for basically everything. The blue coolly returned that he thought they were fine, actually - a little emotional, but not letting their base urges get the most of them. If they hadn't run away wetting themselves just yet, they couldn't be all bad. This was extreme praise for someone who cared so little about their feelings, but the green was highly offended that he disagreed with her opinion. The blue said, well, your opinion is wrong, and gestured with a paw to the straggling procession of new Impressees off the sands - if the candidates were so bad, how were some of them becoming weyrlings?

He'd said that she was wrong. Filled with fury, the green struck out, clawing at his face. The blue danced back, and morbidly commented that if she wanted to take out an eye, she could do better than that. She returned that she didn't want to take out his eye, and was he daring to question her technique, now? How dare he! She was the greatest and most brilliant wher ever, with the biggest brain!

She swished off, her whiplike tail catching Kira's legs as she went, and stalked right through the candidates and all the way up to the wall separating her from the stands, where she stopped. JOSHU![/i] she shrieked, as loud as she could, to make certain he would hear her. Why was he all the way up there? Why hadn't he come down yet? Couldn't he see that his family needed him - and that his family had just grown by one? She could sense his sharp mind underneath all the fear and rage, and she wanted it, please. Come on! Jossk ready go! No waste time like stupid Rask, already know you up there! Hurry up, come hear Jossk's plan![/i] The plan involved eating, and then sleeping, and probably she guessed they'd have to pay some attention to his siblings at some point, but it was a very solid plan, okay? Because she was really smart.

Green JOSSK, Impressed to JOSHU

SPOILER: Click to show

GREEN JOSSK, Impressed to JOSHU

Jossk is by far the smartest green wher in the world, and boy, will she not let you forget it. She is pretty much on a constant ego trip, and although she prides herself on using her cleverness to solve problems, any insult to her intelligence will be met with her claws. She’s not very strong, mind, but she can be mean when she puts her mind to it. Most of the time, though, she puts her mind to logical issues and tactics. She loves puzzles, mysteries, figuring stuff out, proving herself right - oh, yes, she loves to be right. Although generally arrogant and lofty, about as pretentious as a wher can be, she will throw childish tantrums when proven wrong. Jossk worships Joshu’s brain, but she is not above squabbling with him when he is Clearly Wrong, as he is about so many things. First of all, that his only worth lies in knowing how to cook. Joshu is much more than that, and physical handicaps are not going to prevent either of them from achieving their potential, do you hear her?

A lovely shade of medium green, Jossk is average-sized and noticeably stick-thin, at least as far as whers go. (1DA237)

Not much drama among the candidates, for now. Plenty of time for them to settle down, recover, decide whether or not they wanted to go. Plenty of time for the healers to collect their charges. The tiniest egg, the little speck on the right side of Kalesk's clutch, finally split open, and the tiniest gray stepped out of it, distinctly ruffled. He had been prepared to hatch some time ago, but felt a pressing need to wait until the chaos died down a bit. He abhorred chaos, and he gazed out at the candidates with cool dismay. Perhaps he should have gotten over himself and come to save them, but it appeared that Justice had carried the day, via Impression. Yes, Impression was the one thing that could have salvaged the gray's brother. Pity it had taken so long.

And a pity the candidates were taking so long to recover. Their lines were ragged now. This was upsetting, and so the gray kept his distance, striding to the front of the nest and hopping up on the tiny barrier to peer out. He was a beautifully-built little thing, dove-colored and pure. It would have been easy to mistake him for a puppy if not for where he'd come from.

Newt instantly brightened, and Kalesk snorted and turned away from him, striding back to preside over her nest, taking her place at the back, out of the way. "Look," Newt whispered to Letorin. "This is why we stayed." Sure, there had just been a yellow dragon, which was almost as rare as a gray wher except that dragons hatched more eggs and thus had more chances to produce one, but Newt had barely acknowledged the yellow - or the brown, or the purple, or any of the dragonets at all, in fact. He practically had stars in his eyes for the gray, though, and he shuffled slightly closer to Ryiah, trying to see that itty-bitty form a little better. Thank goodness the broken glasses were no more than an affectation.

The red egg at the front of Callistath's clutch hatched - backwards. The dragon inside scrabbled out through a hole and darted behind the two eggs beside it, and slowly raised its head to peek over, deliberately hiding. It wasn't afraid of the candidates. That would be ridiculous. It was brooding. They were sure to judge; everybody judged. Everybody was exactly as critical as the dragon in hiding, clearly. Although soon action would need to be taken - although action was practically this dragon's watchword - it took a moment to brace itself against a tidal wave of insecurity.

Yes, the sands were calm - quite calm. The only question was, was it the calm after the storm, with rainbows to come, or was it the eye of the hurricane? To judge from Zucherroth's posture, if anyone happened to glance up at the white's tense shoulders, they should not get comfortable just yet.

[Gray]

The sands were so hot. Sweat was starting to soak through her robe in some areas, and strands of dark hair stuck to her. It was starting to hurt her hands, the gritty little bits digging into her palms. Sitting forward carefully, she dusted them off on her leg, her breathing a bit shallow. Pain. She could deal with pain. She was like, 100% sure her foot was broken. That wouldn't be too bad, surely she'd have plenty of time before the next hatching for it to heal, right? Yea. She would. Matilda had to focus on that.

The dragonets that were on the sands didn't seem too violent. The brown seemed the most courteous and calm of the lot. Matilda noticed it was much easier to see from here. But then again, there were holes in the crowd now. Leaning on the knee of her good-leg, she blinked sweat from her eyes, trying to follow the movement of the dragons with out causing herself more pain. She had grown accustomed to what she was feeling now. It was there. It hurt. But she could grit her teeth and feel past it.

The distraction of the yellow's impression helped a lot. Slapping one hand against her good thigh, she clapped the best she could. The other green followed soon after, and there was little fanfare. Had all the chaos gone? Were they safe? Matilda wasn't going to decide an answer either way. There was already so much time left. Far too much time to tell.

Yusk's appearance was a welcome one, and when the wher brushed her, she smiled a bit.
“Thank you Yusk.” The motherly green was a favorite among most for that very reason. She cared about the candidates. When the green continued her rounds, Matilda lifted a hand to motion to the group of healers.
“I could use a crutch, if there is one available.” She finally decided to call out to them, having decided that there was no way she could stand comfortably on one foot.

Her attention seemed to be a precious commodity, because the moment she had called out to them, she looked back to the crowd. The blue had moved on, and Matilda finally saw the stick-thin green. Her mouth tipped down a bit as she and her brother squabbled, but they quickly separated, the green looking rather offended. Matilda gave a dry chuckle. She knew where her bonded was though and thus was their problem now.

The eggs seemed to be doing something though. Canting her head to one side, Matilda watched them as eggs broke. Through a forest of legs and bodies, Matilda kept her attention on the eggs. Was that a gray? Man, they were so tiny. She was sure she could cradle the little wher in her hands if she wanted too. How fascinating.

[Kiran]

Jafari watched the green go past him. Another one gone, off to Impress someone else, he supposed. That was okay. There were still. More. Eggs. He still had a chance. And that hope and knowledge made his heart leap with anticipation and hope. Yeah, he still had a chance, he was worth a wher! His friends all adored their Bondeds, did interesting new classes, were... Were adults, who did amazing things and protected people. Jafari wanted to do all that, too. He didn't want to be left behind. His voice may have changed and he might have been that much closer to being his adult height, but right then Jafari didn't feel all that much like an adult. He was just a kid, trying to keep up and be accepted with the rest of them.

His eyes were drawn hungrily to the eggs on the sand as yet another one hatched, the smallest one. And it was a gray! The tiniest little thing, so perfectly formed. It was beautiful. Jafari's hands clenched with hope once more. But it was walking along the line, not really caring for any of them. Jafari couldn't help the worry that creased his brow. Again. Not this one, either, probably. His eyes went and fixed on the nest once more, hoping that the rest of the eggs would hatch quickly so that he could find His.
---------
Kira's eyes were drawn down to the blue wher at her feet. He seemed impossibly intrigued by the blood left on the sands, like he had been fascinated with the candidate's body. That made her worried - was it one that was likely to become dangerous? Would it turn and spring upon the candidates? So far he seemed positively sedate about the whole matter, but with whers... Who knew?

A flash of green at the corner of her eyes drew her gaze. Another wher was coming for them. Her heart caught in her throat. Was this it? Had a wher come for her? She wasn't getting a dragon, then. Kira couldn't help but feel disappointed, right up until the green ignored her and went for her brother. A gasp nearly escaped her at the brief bout of violence that erupted between the two. Her eyes went to the cyan dragonet. Was it in any danger?

Thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case as the green stalked off, whipping her ant the legs. Kira let out a hiss of pain and fell to her knees for a brief moment before getting herself up again. That had stung! But she didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed by the wher passing her by.

[Zephyr]

((Tags
Addy; Sora
Kai & Sho; Unath/Ghols))

The candidate looked at Sora out of the corner of her eyes. She didn’t quite believe her own words, but at least she hoped she’d inspired some sort of confidence in the other girl. She might not even take her advice or want to hear it, but that hadn’t stopped Addy from giving it. It would even stop her from standing a little straighter, Yusk’s supportive touch still ringing through her head.

This was possible. They could make it out of this without dying…with dragons even.

It was hard though, to keep looking on the positive when she heard Sora’s words. They were quiet, probably not meant for anyone else’s ears, but Adelaide heard. She didn’t turn her head, didn’t give any acknowledgement that she’d even heard the words, besides a near imperceptible shift in her body language. Her shoulder’s sagged, and a sob threatened to rip its way from her chest, but she kept it in. Her hand was on fire, and people around her were dead and dying, and she just didn’t know.

Would they make it out with a bonded? Would they even live through the night? The thought send a shiver down her spine, but she forced her eyes forward; forced her attention to remain on the nests. Things were calming down, but even with the impression of the cheerful yellow and the perfect, tiny grey wherlet on the sands, she couldn’t find it in her to relax. There were far too many eggs left and far too many hiding dragonets for her liking.

Things were far from over, and she steeled herself.

---

Some dragons might have been freaking out, being on their backs beneath another dragon so much larger than them, but Shobhaith was beyond words thrilled with his current position. It wasn’t that he trusted Unath enough to know that she wasn’t going to slice him open, but he had a feeling she wouldn’t. He wiggled a little more as she scratched at his chest and his expression brightened at her goofy grin. The purple twisted his face in an approximate mimicry of Unath’s expression, his tail tapping a gentle rhythm against her flank as she spoke.

I like you too, not every day I find myself beneath the prettiest dragon in the weyr. It wasn’t too much of an exaggeration, Shobhaith found every female to be the prettiest dragon in the weyr, so when he said such things, they were with the upmost conviction.

He could tell the moment she was gone, and he blinked up at her, eyes flickering across her face. Something was going on…that much was clear, and the purple tried twisting his head around to see what the tan was looking at, but he wasn’t in a good enough position. He doubted he could get it out of the tan, whatever it was. Instead, the tapping turned a shade more soothing and the purple lifted his head to run his tongue around the top of her muzzle now and down along the side in a sloppy, indulgently goofy kiss.

The dragon was torn though, between telling K’ius that something was about to happen and letting him be while he was at least somewhat relaxed and not fearing for his best friend’s life. He searched out Kai’s mind, but the boy was busy with Ghols, and he knew he might regret this, but his rider hadn’t been happy enough lately for him to risk worrying him when he had no idea what was going on…so he left Kai to Ghols for the moment.

Speaking of, the girl sure had a morbid sense of amusement, didn’t she? K’ius quirked a brow up at her as she hovered over him, and though he’d gotten her arms from around his neck, he thought about shoving her the rest of the way off but figured it was more trouble than it was worth, and maybe she was making him feel a little more generous than he’d been feeling previously, even if he’d never admit it to anyone. Certainly not her.

Kai laughed. Ghols actually made him laugh with her story. “I bet you loved that. An eye on the sands. What did Arcuth think of your story? I bet she was horrified.” He bet that Arcuth was horrified with a lot of things Ghols did…but the pink loved her, the way Sho loved him, and Ghols had a good heart. He appreciated her jabbering, even if he didn’t say anything.

Well, he appreciated her when she acted with a tiny bit of normalcy. He squirmed under her, twisting his head around to try and look at her. “What are you even talking about? Stop that! I don’t know who you’re talking about, and if you don’t stop, I might throw you right into the sands.” They both knew he wouldn’t. Kai liked Ghols far too much for that.

Secretly.

[turkoizdog]

Pyrus heard much chatter about his impression as he walked back to the healer's area. He figured, with the death, nobody would have noticed, but he supposed his mauling made his impression all the more victorious.

How’s your hand?

Pyrus found himself greeted by Tedaon, the very same handless healer who had helped him earlier. The man seemed to have taken particular notice of him, likely because of the whole oh-god-my-left-hand-was-removed thing they had in common.

"It didn't hurt before." he told the healer "But it's starting to now." He paused, wondering if he should ask the question that had been on his mind since he noticed the healer's predicament mirrored his own. "How... how do you deal with it?" he asked simply, looking down at his hand, forlorn. He knew Tedaon wasn't the only other handless man in Dalibor, but at the moment, he was the only one around, and his presence made Pyrus feel less alone in this newfound disability.

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

Now that the rampage had ended and the injuries and blood cleaned up, Zynn felt more comfortable turning around and checking out fully what was going on. One wher, the black, had spent much of this whole mess begging the healers for healing, and it seemed with the candidate injuries, the healers were reluctant. It did seem strange, but Zynn wondered if the black was going to impress a healer. Part of him hoped that after healing, it would return to give the candidates another chance -- he wouldn't mind a black himself, and there had already been one stands impression -- but then again, whers had odd choices sometimes. He thought back to the hatching where every impression was in the stands, wondering what the chances really were.

The green that had hatched didn't seem to do much at first. With its spindly legs, it was a wonder she could carry herself, but she did, picking herself up and heading his way. She walked straight up to Joni, huffed at her, and walked right past him without giving him a second glance. Well, that was rude. He greatly preferred the whers that paced, giving each candidate a good look or sniff before moving on to the next. Running around here and there was highly disorganized, and at this rate, it would take the green forever, to find hers.

But she did, rather quickly compared to many of the others, and then there was just the black and the icy blue, who had by now spent so much time staring at the dead girl's body, and now the spot of red sand where she had been, that it was evident that this wher was downright morbid. He hoped the blue didn't have murderous tendencies, and they were just cold critical thoughts, like a teenager who thought death was cool and edgy but couldn't deal with pain.

Zynn looked up to see the four eggs on the sands, and a tiny gray crawling out of the fifth one. If he hadn't been in the second row, he probably wouldn't have noticed it; he looked about the size of a rat, but his color and shape were smooth and really rather beautiful. Grays were rare, and while Zynn held no preference for rare whers over more common colors, he had to admit, the little thing looked rather cute. He wondered if the gray would be able to fit into his pocket, a smile creeping up on his face.

[Tigersilk]

It was hard to remember out here in the bloodbath sometimes, but they were suppossed to be thinking positive thoughts in order to get bonded to either dragon or wher. So Kahnasunita tried to find good things to focus her sisters' attention on in the middle of all the violence. Like that pretty purple dragon that passed by them (getting a 'who's' out of Annuziata) with his new rider. Or the green dragon still looking for Hers. Or the flirty blue Wher that tried to act as champion for some of the other Candidates and battled both the evil-minded black wheret (until it Impressed) and its sadistic dark brother....until it ran over that girl in its battle heat and accidently slit her throat, before running back into the crowd in shame. Sunita mourned the girl's death in an abstract way; she and her sisters had only arrived at this Weyr three days ago (jetlag made telling time difficult) and had no real time to get used to anything or anyone yet. She'd maybe said at most a word or two to the dead girl while in the barracks, nothing beyond that. Nothing that would have formed a connection between the girls.

Sunita looked at her youngest sister to make sure that what they'd seen of the other girl's death wasn't more than she could handle right now. Apparently she was holding up okay for now. "It was an accident. It didn't mean to do it," Jasjitta said softly at her side, more forgiving of this little wheret than of certain humans she knew. Jas had always been facinated by whers, and was more interested in the beautiful power of the prowling Kalask than of some of the other babies crawling through the Candidates. Or of the girl next to them deciding to leave the Sands, unwilling to face more injuries just to have a lifepartner for herself. Though the yellow wandering around was an eye-catcher for sure.....

Sunita noticed Jas looking at the green Wher following the man who she thought was the Candidatemaster for the Wher Candidates (she didn't immediately recall the man's name). "Maybe in a do or so, after this is all over, maybe you could go say hello to her," Sunita told her little sister. Give her something to look forward to after this night was through. All the violence so far hadn't made her fear the creatures, if her big sis intuitions were correct.

Of course, the real trick of the night was going to be survival, regardless of whether any of them got to Bond with anything. And making sure all three of them survived this nightmare was going to take all of their wits to do, and then some. Because Sunita couldn't shake the feeling that the worst was yet to come.

[Tigersilk]

Meanwhile, high above the Hatching Grounds, a more private war was being fought.

The two Cyan riders were busy fighting the latest battle of their seemingly never-ending war, verbally sniping at each other from the safety of their respective partners. The patterns were set back when they'd shared a room in the Candidates Barracks. The two girls had not taken to each other at their first meeting; they simply brought out the worst in each other. Frankie was veeeerrry good at winding Rushera up, and Rushera was unable to let anything go that angered her to save her life, willing to fight at the drop of a hat. It took maybe 48 hours from their first meeting to physically going for each other's throats. That catfight had ended in a draw, both combatants too exhausted to continue. Afterwards they kept their fights verbal; their desire to become Dragonriders overriding their desire to tear each other apart.

After they became Weyrlings from the same Hatching, they found themselves roommates again, partially because their dragons liked each other quite well, partially because no-one else really wanted to room with them. Their battles became more subdued, neither wanting to distress their young partners to death. Or get caught by the Weyrlingmaster and severely punished by him. Not that that could ever stop the two from waging their war, ever. Deep down they - and possibly their dragons - got a perverse enjoyment from the fight, and probably wouldn't stop fighting until one of them died.

"Getting turned on by this, are we?" Rusher growled, gesturing at the bloodbath. Rushera long knew of Frankie's fasination with nature in the raw, and also knew Frankie didn't like being reminded of her arousals by another seemingly interested female.

"Why, are you wanting some later?" Frankie knew of Rushera's having to unhappily bed down various miners in her time as a barmaid in Crescent Hold, and knew Rushera hated to be reminded that some of those bedpartners were females.

Back and forth the private battle went. "You should've been a wherhandler; that dark beast is right up you're alley, trying to kill everyone down there," Rushera sniped, referring to the wheret battling a determinded cyan dragon bent on killing it.

"Like you care about anyone down there," Frankie shot back. Besides, that little black one that was acting like it was the thing that lurked under frightened children's beds was closer to her liking.

"You should have gotten THAT cyan; she'd teach you how to act like a proper girl in no time," Frankie purred, referring to another cyan, the one acting like she was a delicate Lady Holder herself. One of the kinds of females Frankie knew Rushera hated.

"I like the cyan I have now, she's already the best of any color around," Rusher snapped back. Her Vayuth didn't go into hysterics over stupid things like breaking a fingernail, like other females always did. Vayuth only came close to that when Hers - and only Hers - was in danger. That someone actually loved her enough to make her the center of their universe was a sensation Rushera still reveled in. No-one, not her brothers, and certainly not her parents, had ever showered such attention on her before, and Rushera was determined to never loose that attention, ever. No matter what.

When the girl was killed by a clumsy wheret, the two women happened to look at each other at the same moment, locking gazes for a minute, an agreement soundlessly reached, before they returned their attentions to the spectacle below. Neither of them cared about the dead girl; they didn't know her, so her fate didn't matter to them. Frankie enjoyed watching the macabe dance unfolding before her too much to emphasize with the Candidates' terror; Rushera still couldn't stand any female who wasn't Vayuth. And neither were in any hurry to change that about themselves.

[princesal]

It felt like calm had started to fill the Sands. To Otto it was like a breath of fresh air sweeping in, taking away so much negativity that had blossomed. The man who he was leaning so heavily against, he was forever thankful of. Not only did he offer help when Otto hadn't asked for it, but he seemed like a strong and confident man. Otoatavatah felt safe, it was a great feeling, and even when fear seemed to waft over Hulair, Otto didn't share it.

What had him looking at Hulair suddenly was his declaration to keep him safe. The smile Otto gave him was huge, as if his entire face had lit up. "Thank you. We'll help each other. I think everything is going to be much better. They're only babies." He was still smiling when he fell silent again, giving Hulair's shoulder another squeeze, and then looking back at the eggs. He felt really confident in his thoughts.

Sure his legs were pretty savaged, but the hatching would eventually end (hopefully both with he and his new friend Impressing too), and he'd be able to get off the Sands and get them better looked at. Otto was pretty positive that if it was anything that would have ruined his chances at Impressing, that he would have been taken off the Sands. He was sure that the fact that he was standing (with help) showed that there was more blood than anything, and it couldn't even possibly be near as bad as all the blood would have had people believe.

That still didn't mean that he wanted to shift his weight. Moving to where they were now, at the back of the group of candidates had been plenty difficult, and he had reason to believe that if Hulair let go of him, that it'd be like he was trying to stand up on a boat in the water. But everything was going to be alright. Even now dragons were impressing, a cute tiny whers were wandering to the Stands and Impressing.

"See. It's all getting better." He whispered, and concentrated on sending out welcoming thoughts to the new babies. Even if none of them were for him this time, there was no reason to not greet them all into the new world.

Tag: Hulair

[lee]

JUST when Joshu had worked himself up to walk right out of the Weyr and possibly burn it down...JUST when he'd started trying to figure out how to swoop down, snag Nori and Ranthian and holler at Lanorun to make a run for it....Someone shrieked his name, in a distinctly feminine voice. Joshu jumped, startled, and his head swung around in confusion. It hadn't been Nori, whose progress he had been watching so intently it was painful. She looked so small cradled in Ranthian's arms, and he couldn't even crack a smile at the fact that somehow, even during a hatching, the younger boy had figured out how to lose his shirt. It hurt, watching them from up here, and he couldn't tear his eyes off of the ice blue wher padding silently behind them. Did he plan to attack?

But something called his name.

He frowned accusingly at the bronzerider whom he had arbitrarily decided was at fault for everything, and opened his mouth to ask what was going on.

JOSHU! Come on! Jossk ready go!

What?

Joshu's eyes finally focused, finally found the skinny green wher. He stared down at her, baffled. "What?"

No waste time like stupid Rask, already know you up there! Hurry up, come hear Jossk's plan!

Oh Faranth. She was talking to him. But that couldn't be. "What?" He asked again, stupidly, blinking, too torn up with terror for the wounded siblings leaving the Sands to process at a proper pace. "What? No!" No! He couldn't go down there! He wasn't supposed to Impress! Especially not now, and not him. He stared at her in horror, turmoil cloding his thoughts as he gaped. Jossk snorted. Fine. Jossk come get. She was a brilliantly clever creature after all, she could figure out how to get up there. She backed up a few paces and charged, leaping to scrabble up the side of the Stands...

...and didn't even come close.

But Joshu, in a panic for her wellbeing, borne of instinct rather than coherent thought, automatically lunged to keep her from smacking into the stone, and the pair of them tumbled into a completely useless heap on the scorching sands. Jossk sat on Joshu's chest, looking entirely too smug for his tastes. Good plan. She said decisively, pleased with herself. Joshu just stared at her. Worked. Next plan!

[/i] She swung her head up and down his arm, decided on the little patch of his right hand that wasn't threadscored, and happily, cheerfully, chomped. Joshu yelped, but he felt something, like a sigh or a settling, and he sat up, aghast. "Wait! Wait--nae, nae me, should be--..." He turned, pointed, expressively, to where Lanorun stood. Jossk hissed, eyes swirling suddenly.

Saying Jossk WROOOONG? It was dangerous, unhappy. She loved Joshu, of course, and she knew his brain was better than that, right now he was just sad-stupid because of his siblings, which is why he needed her, but she still wasn't going to put up with him saying she was wrong. "N--no?" Jossk, pleased, butted him with her head and pranced off his stomach, allowing the man to slowly roll upright. His cane wasn't so far away, and Jossk--because she was a smart, smart wher--had already started dragging it over. Joshu took it, and as Jossk tilted her head at him expectantly, felt a sudden, strange affection for this creature. He could hear her plan, which was odd--the hearing, not the plan--and shook his head slightly, as though doing so would somehow dislodge the thoughts that weren't his.

His family had increased by one. She told him that as surely as he knew it, though it hadn't been words. And the fear Joshu had that his would somehow, somehow isolate him further from the three siblings who already stood far away from him...it didn't dissipate, but it lessened. But Jossk, though she was enjoying watching his brain figure things out, decided they were wasting time. Time for next plan, food, so need to get up. Stick and Jossk help. Ugh, the wheret let out gusty sigh, So much work. Tired-ing. Despite himself, a single, cracked laugh burst through Joshu's lips. This tiny, skinny thing could hardly hold herself up. But he carefully, slowly pulled himself up to standing with the help of the cane and the little green leaning on the peg leg for leverage.

Next plan. Need food. Know where to get it too, over there. Come on! Say hi to siblings on way. Yours, she felt the need to clarify. Mine by food. Not sure if want to say hi.

"No," Joshu murmured, sort of lost in a sort of rattled wonder and upheaval, "Not want." He frowned at this, and corrected himself, appalled at the speech pattern he'd unthinkingly adopted, "I mean--I donnae think we need t'say hi tae yer siblings, quite yet."

But the fact reminded him there were others to face with this new...thing... Bond. Jossk supplied helpfully, obviously pleased with herself to fill someone else's gaps in knowledge. He wasn't afraid. Just...defeated. He made his way, Jossk weaving in and out of his legs and informing him about all the things she was right about--which was everything--he paused when they came to the Healers, where Ranthian stood with his back to his brother, attention rapt on the girl in his arms, and Joshu could hear her dreamy whisper, the start of a giggle, and her heart broke his. What could he say? What could he even offer the two of them, standing there in battered ruin. No, only Ranthian was standing. How could he even begin to apologize? He opened his mouth, and no sound at all came out. His hands clenched and unclenched spasmodically, and Jossk leaned hard against his good leg. Stupid. Say Hi.

But he couldn't. Not yet.

There was something special about his younger siblings. He and Lanorun, he knew, had been parents more than they'd ever been kids, but these two had some magic, some thing, and he didn't quite know how he fit into it.

But he wasn't such a coward to walk away without words.

He reached over, fingers featherlight on a patch of Ranthian's uninjured skin, and a quick squeeze, and Joshu raised his eyes to the younger boy and tried to smile, but it was only an approximation of a grimace, and he was sorry--so sorry--that the youngest brother bore this alone. And he'd done it brilliantly. How could Joshu even tell him that? He couldn't touch Nori, not without interfering with the healers, and he wouldn't do that. Doing plan out of order. Jossk spoke up, clearly miffed. EAT first.

Joshu, startled out of his bleak, black thoughts, looked down, and Jossk looked back up at him and he felt torn in two, but Jossk was clever, she totally knew how to fix this, guys. Just as she had shouted to Joshu in the stands, she 'shouted' to the clump of whers that were watching, ignoring the wherets eating hungrily, but addressing the big ones. HEY. WHO IN CHARGE? Jossk eat over here. Bring food. pleased with his brilliant solution, Jossk sat her butt down, exhausted from all that hard work of solving problems. Jossk fixed it. Joshu stay, try not to be stupid-sad, okay?

Too tired to feel hope that this would be allowed, Joshu--who had exactly zero wher training, or Candidate training, or even a basic harper education--had no idea who to ask, so he sort of mumbled to the world at large, "Is...that okay? Can we stay?" Were it just him, he wouldn't budge, wouldn't move from this spot for all of Pern, because his family was here.

But there was a new member of his family, and she needed him just as much.

Assuming he didn't mess that up to--"OW!"

Jossk licked her claws, one of which had just been poked rather severely into a squishy part of her Joshu. She just looked at him mildly. Joshu be wrong. So Jossk fixed it.

tag: Ranthian, Nori, Delilah, Ondine, Lyrsk + any adult whers chillin' over there, T'yandon sort of
[/size][/blockquote]

[Reky]

For now, the chaos had subsided. The dangerous little whers had bonded and were safely being fed something other than candidate flesh, and Inrahim took the moment to carefully breath. In, out; he felt uncomfortable with himself for being so tense. He'd done hatchings before, in his day. It wasn't that long ago. There was no trick to it - just to coast along and hope. Nothing he could do would sway his odds, as far as he knew. Self-realizations or not, his fate was predetermined by whatever was in those eggs.

In, out. He managed to raise his hands and clap for Jossk, though he had to crane his neck backward to see where she had gone. He was feeling more solidly in the present. The past had, again, passed him by, and now he could be a little more hopeful about the near future. There were still a handful of wher eggs, and a good number of dragon eggs as well, which could mean a good percentage of good things were one their way, or bad. So far, he had only been bumped into, and Quellyn was mostly alright. They were doing good. In, out.

---

Risny, now, had a clear view to the dragon eggs in front of her. Norilana and Ranthian had left. Some petty part of her wrinkled her nose at that - cowards - but the smarter part knew that Norilana was in very bad shape. Risny, too, was sufficiently battered, enough that she'd be dragging her feet to the healers when this was all said and done, but for now, she stayed. Yusk had offered to help her leave, but what was the point? She'd still be on the sands. She'd still be in the cavern. It didn't make a difference whether she was a dragonlength from Orkia's blood or where she was, right next to it.

This resigned tiredness pervaded her. Her eyes were puffy from crying and her body ached dully. She wanted to close her eyes and sleep, but she had to watch the eggs. She put all of her energy into that. No fretting, no wailing, no noise at all - just watching. She saw every little shake. Then, the two strange, hiding dragons came, and she squinted her eyes at them. They needed to hurry up, she thought. They couldn't just hide there. What color were they? They couldn't stay there forever, that was rude. She wanted them out. She wanted to see them. The faster she saw them, and all of the rest of their siblings, the faster she could leave this wretched place.

Come on, she willed. She felt better because she was a little bit angry and impatient. It was more familiar to her.

[/blockquote]

[Azhdarchid]

[ Q'sis (briefly) ][ Unath ]

Q'sis flinched, though there was no event below to warrant it, nor sand in his eye.

Unath looked at the trail Shobhaith's affection had left down her side, then mouthed at the young purple's arms and nibbled at his ribs and stomach. Then she flumped down on him, her full body weight this time, crossing over his mid-abdomen like a speckled restraint. Tucking her head over his chest, neck writing a crescent, she shut her eyes and rumbled contentedly.

***

"You do not have to make assumptions about Arcuth like that," Ghols complained, immediately harsh on the slandering purplerider. "I do not care what you have heard. She likes that I am so pragmatic. That is why she chose me. Arcuth will never be anyone's pillow." She jerked a thumb behind her, at the ledge where a party of tans were either perusing, ignoring, or sleeping on K'ius' dopey purple.

But his response to her actual inquiry was less entertaining. Still, maybe he genuinely was that dumb, so she placed her hand on his face and shoved it back toward the Sands, then leaned down to whisper at him again. "Uhm the guy sitting next to you that is built like a herdbull and a half. What do you think?" The pinkrider snickered, since she had long ago lost the innocence requisite of a mere giggle.

***

Being under the eye of a gold watchwher at her most territorial was not an experience L'xon had ever thought himself likely to incur. By his own estimation, he would never do anything to earn her arresting attention. Halventh pretended ignorance of the entire exchange, but one of his sparkling blue eyes fixed on the wher for as long as she stared at his rider. L'xon, the dragonrider, did not fear even this queen.

But he had to wonder what she'd said to Weslieth, what had made it from Weslieth to Jasmine, and what Jasmine was inclined to voice to him now. He drew up his chin at the notion that he doubted Newtollen. That had been more words than sentiment. To reveal as much now would be- well, the bluerider excised his old specialty: a nod, and silence.

But did Kalesk think Newtollen needed to be here to Impress, or because it fit some cruel wher's definition of a character-building experience? What would a wher know about running away from anything?

[ tags: (Unath) Shobaith / (Ghols) K'ius, maybe N'tharon if he notices the conversation / (L'xon) NO ONE REALLY HOW SAD ]

[Rii]

Nori wrapped her arms around her brother’s neck as he lifted her, clinging with every bit of strength her blood loss-weakened limbs could muster. She didn’t care if it hurt to have his arm over one of the gashes on her back, it was a hurt that meant at least one of her brothers was still there when focusing on the world around her was getting a little bit difficult. Casting around, her eyes focused on Lanorun and gave him a pained smile, hoping he’d be groaning over her joke like he so often did too. It had actually prompted a laugh from Ranthian.

More, it prompted him to joke back. Nori cracked up laughing, but that hurt more so it didn’t last, cutting off in a stifled sound of pain that she couldn’t quite swallow. “Heard’t at… at… somewheres,” she trailed off, unable to think of the sources of her jokes.

Casting an eye at the stretcher another stranger-person had brought, she shook her head a little before pressing her temple against Ranthian’s chest. “Want t’stay with Ran,” she breathed. “Please?” The logic of how much faster and easier it would be to be toted off on a stretcher was beyond her grasp. If she lost her hold on her brother then she didn’t really know where any of them were. “Please,” she repeated, begging the healers on the Sands to understand that she wouldn’t - couldn’t - let him go, not yet. “I can’t, I’ll lose hold of him an’ they’ll all be gone…” It wasn’t a particularly coherent request, but coherency was starting to escape her.

Of course, it was probably going to take a crowbar to pry her loose of his grip. That escaped her, too.

((A/N: Annnd somewhere in here I will assume Ran makes the hike to the healer corner just because it’s Lee-acknowledging time!))

She was only somewhat cognizant of movement, but they had to have moved because she felt them stopping. “So… when is a door… not a door?” she murmured in a distant voice. “When it’s… ajar.” Another pained giggle. She’d no idea that Joshu was there and listening, or she would have tried to say it louder. Nice, happy thoughts. Pretty clothes, and firelizards, and bubbly pies, sweet and hot from the oven, with Joshu beaming and warning her not to eat them just yet, they were still too hot. Her eyes drifted shut and she smiled dreamily, imagining that she could hear the rumble of his voice.

She did hear his voice after a moment, although it seemed awfully far away. A whole few armslengths or so, even! “Joshu,” she muttered, then opened her eyes to look up at Ran’s face, so close to hers. “Is Joshu here too?” Or am I just… imagining it? I know Ran’s real, anyway. Yes, Ranthian was real, she could still feel his arms. “Where are we?”


[tags: Ranthian, healers, Joshu]

[maruset]

Iola was having a bit of a flashback to her own Impression, and mentally leaned back on Jainath. The copper responded by wrapping her rider up in a mental hug.

We have not forgotten the ones we lost then, Iola. We will remember the ones lost here as well.

Though Iola could tell that this was upsetting to her dragon as well. The copper loved children, and the idea of them being hurt and killed was upsetting to the dragon. After this hatching was over, Iola was going to have to see if the people with the creche would like to bring the children to vist the dragon again. Jainath would love that, and it would help sooth some of the hurt of watching others go through this.

Though it seemed like things had calmed down. Callistath had finally made some move, which had Jainath grumbling a bit. She apparently thought that the gold dragon should have made some attempt at control already.

Stop that right -now-! Iola finally said in a sharp mental tone. It got a startled reaction from her dragon, who half stood. Iola didn't often take that tone with her dragon, but she was getting very tired of this. This is their hatching, you will stop nitpicking at everything that Callistath does. I know you are angry at her, but.... The hatchlings need good thoughts. Let's focus on that instead.

There was quiet from Jainath, then she settled again, quiet for the moment, eyes showing her slight distress. Which made Iola feel guilty. She poured her affection for her dragon through their bond, and hoped that this hatching would go smoothly so that they could leave.

Rubbing her face, she looked at G'lin. "This has been....Yes."


***

Keeping one eye on Newt, Letorin did hear the words that the other said so softly. Though there was no move to follow up. So Letorin stood calmly next to his friend, keeping his fingers curled around Newt's. It seemed to be helping, and he was getting some comfort from it as well. There was a squeeze in reply to the other's words, offering support either way.

He was also watching the eggs and the hatchlings as best he could. During hatchings, Letorin let his eyes roam normally, trying to catch as many details as possible, even if he didn't process them all until later. The amount of people who had been hurt in some way or another was a bit disturbing, especially since most of the candidates were behind him, and he didn't think that they had been any less devastated by the newborns.

The yellow, who had been -gorgeous-, headed into the candidates, and then Yusk and Yuri were there, collecting Orkia. Eyes burning a moment, Letorin swallowed down the lump in his throat and took a slow, steadying breath. Running a thumb along Newt's fingers, he focused on the eggs again.

Things were actually going smoothly, and Letorin's breath caught as the gray hatched. "Lovely," he murmured back to Newt, waiting to see what would happen next.

***

Valasco eyed the wher a moment, then nodded at the new handler. The other was one of those sorts that tried to do the right thing, and Valasco could respect that. So he gave Randiel a nod. "You are going to have your hands full with that one," he said softly, not wanting to be too loud on the sands.

He was going to have to go chat with the guy later. Maybe see what the shards that wher was thinking when it decided to go tearing through the place. Good practice for later, if nothing else.

Not that Valasco was sure if he was going to get a wher this time or not. But if not, he'd be happy to see what it was like dealing with them. Especially a aggressive little beast like the anklebiter.

He did give the other a nod, then the new handler walked off the sand.


(tag: G'lin, and Newt)