The Ties That More Than Bind Green Alaith
| The Ties That More Than Bind Green Alaith | |
|---|---|
| Impressee | Zhia |
| Hatching Date: | 20 October, 2012 Day 11, Month 1, Turn 30 |
| Current Age: | 38 turns |
| Egg Name: | Everything the Light Touches Egg |
| Size: | 23.5 feet |
| Dam: | Morning Over Mists Gold Elaruth |
| Sire: | Boulevardier Bronze Bijedth |
| Lineage: | Here |
| Clutch: | Clutch:45 |
| Egg Credit: | Selene |
| Dragon Credit: | N'rov |
| Puppeteer: | N'rov |
She's a curiously unnatural green, as yet more stilted than fluid of motion, with large glowing eyes whose colors seem a trifle muddied for all that their whirl is difficult to subdue. All six limbs are longer than they need to be, as are, for that matter, her copper-tipped claws; there's also an odd birthmark along the left side of her neck where it meets her shoulder, as though the otherwise flat, textureless mid-green of her hide had somehow been scraped to something paler. Elsewhere, emphasizing the wiriness of her frame, that solid hue is not subtracted but overwritten: with fine, never-crossing lines of coppery and silvery green. Silvery bars align with the leading edges of her neckridges and make them seem sharper than they are, while tiny, mostly-silver dots interpose between the dramatic coppery scrollwork of her narrow, tapered, still unmastered wings.
Contents
Everything the Light Touches Egg
A deep, warm red is the dominating color of this egg. Rich and unyielding, it envelopes the ovoid. Burnt orange etches out some long, vaguely fluffy shapes from the apex on down towards the wider midsection. One side of the egg has a splotch of saffron yellow; almost a half-circle that is fuzzy at the edges, as if the heat rising from the sands is making the view hazy. The reds and oranges darken into black along the bottom third of the egg, though the darkness does rise up against the yellow backdrop like shadows walking a landscape.
Silence. The Everything the Light Touches Egg does not yield, will never yield. But it does splinter, its hairline cracks breaking and then new-made pieces scraping against each other as they fall into something like a muffled keen, a wiry green dragonet releasing herself into the world in a purposeful flurry of tapered wings and copper-tipped claws. She breathes in deeply, reflex letting the hot air dry her lungs, and sweeps a cool brownish-red gaze over what chaos lies before her before moving towards the candidates: not those nearest to her, but those /furthest/.
The Ties That (More Than) Bind Green Hatchling
She's a curiously unnatural green, as yet more stilted than fluid of motion, with large glowing eyes whose colors seem a trifle muddied for all that their whirl is difficult to subdue. All six limbs are longer than they need to be, as are, for that matter, her copper-tipped claws; there's also an odd birthmark along the left side of her neck where it meets her shoulder, as though the otherwise flat, textureless mid-green of her hide had somehow been scraped to something paler. Elsewhere, emphasizing the wiriness of her frame, that solid hue is not subtracted but overwritten: with fine, never-crossing lines of coppery and silvery green. Silvery bars align with the leading edges of her neckridges and make them seem sharper than they are, while tiny, mostly-silver dots interpose between the dramatic coppery scrollwork of her narrow, tapered, still unmastered wings.
Temperament
The thing about the ties that bind, the thing about Alaith's nature, is that they're what keeps you close. At first you may only see her ties as ribbons, adding beauty to your life, or else as fetters that chafe, where the more you struggle the tighter they get. Yes, they can be restrictions, keeping you (or her) from what you want to do... yet they can help you out (the belt that holds your pants up?) or guide you (runner reins!) or spur you on (cracking the whip!) or play with you (jump rope!) or communicate in other ways (one tug means yes, two tugs mean no). Best of all, they hold you close like the riding straps you'll learn to make, so together you may fly far and fast without falling.
Your Alaith hatches as a tiny little thing, even for a green... which means that she's going to have a whole lot of growing to do in order to reach her future long-and-lean self, which in turns means aches and pains (especially at night) and itching (practically all the time, though the locations vary). Not only that, but her talons grow even faster than the rest of her! The mark on her neck, the one that corresponds to the mark on her egg, will feel somewhat vulnerable and need more oiling than the rest; it's unclear whether that will fade with time. Even with all these physical distractions, though, she'll be intensely curious about not only her clutchmates and other dragons, but humans and how they work (especially those affiliated with you, including friends who didn't Impress). What motivates them? Why do they do what they do? Can they affect her, and how can she affect them?
Tied with that is Alaith's concept of personal space, yours and others'. She guards yours fiercely... which doesn't mean she won't encroach on others' quite deliberately; /they/ may not care, but every step she takes over (what she thinks should be) their line is a personal success. She'll be apt to agitate for a weyr of her own sooner than the rest, even though she very much enjoys visiting (inspecting, invading) others'. In other words, Alaith wants somewhere that's the equivalent of your spot by the lake, only it's somewhere that you'll share, somewhere that she can control. When she does choose to share, it's a mark of personal favor. When she doesn't... well, it's perhaps the first thing that will drive her into a spat as a hatchling: someone getting into her /stuff/. At least those spats tend to be short-lived? And, to be fair, some of the mischief she's apt to get into may involve /other people's/ stuff...
Alaith will never be the most agile, but she'll grow to be fast, fast, fast with sprinting acceleration like few others'. If you work with her (and she's not at all afraid of hard work, much to her future wingleader's pleasure), she'll learn to manage her long, narrow, dam-inherited wings fluidly. She's likely to keep her curiosity about others, and issues of space aside, that interest can be an advantage to a dragon pair in Interval and give you insights, as well. For that matter, Alaith's likely to help you with what you want even as you help her, and to interfere even as you're interfering: in work, in mischief, at play. And she'll give you all the attention you could ever need.
Speaking of play, speaking of attention: flights? Good times! After letting males court her for a few days, Alaith will likely go up with enough dramatics to make her sire proud, and often at the most inconsiderate of times... but it can also be freeing, refreshing, perhaps even something you may look forward to: time off from work, just the two of you, indulging before the pyrotechnics start. The flight itself can start as a tug-of-war between her and you, but in the end, each flight (each game!) is new and fresh and exciting. And if she really, really likes the male who winds up with her... Alaith might even let him sit on her ledge that night. /Maybe/.
In the end, if Zhia's a free spirit, Alaith's your playmate and your sister and your taskmistress.... in movement and stillness, in work and in wildness. When the colors of her eyes are slightly muddied, it's because they reflect complicated emotion. Alaith binds you, and she frees you too.
Public Impression Message
Warmer, warmer, cooler, warmer, hot, hot, /hot/: the little Ties That (More Than) Bind hatchling shifts not just incrementally but with a whole-body movement, pointing towards the laundry girl with the long, long hair. She moves towards her, closer and closer, nosing at the girl's arms and then towards her face as though she'd wrap herself up in her chosen if she could. /Her/ chosen, because no one else will do.
Private Impression Message
You can feel her soft, cool, deliberate voice, only she doesn't exactly speak in words: /Hold still/. It's as though someone were rummaging about your head with fine coppery gloves for protection (hers? yours? there's no time to think about it more), finding closed-in places and slowly, intently, unwinding you into openness. Here: your own personal stain you hadn't wanted anyone to see. Here: the need for attention that you can admit, at last, to her. Here: the half-stifled ambition to go further, to do /more/. (Here: one that she closes with thin blue-violet thread. It's hard to say what it was, and does it even matter now? but she doesn't hide that it's /For later./) You're beginning to realize what this might mean, only she hasn't said her name, and who is she, anyway? Who is... « Alaith. Alaith, Zhia. » She doesn't ask for peace, though there's some humor there that suggests she might have. Her mission done, all at once she's a baby again, and hungry. And you can feel it too.
Mindvoice
Coppery wires, fetters, ribbons, anything that will twist and turn and hold... or release. (Don't streamers attached to bike handles make it feel like you're bicycling faster, more excitingly IRL?) Even in motion, the copper develops a patina corresponding to the colors of dragon eyes: blue and green for pleasure and excitement, but you'll likely see frequent flashes of neon orange as well. When she speaks words, it's in a cool mezzo-soprano.
Dragon Inspirations
Circuits have to do with limits, and circles, and circuit boards (which, along with her egg, influence her appearance). 'Alai' has to do with speed and restraint, influencing her name. In thinking about what you wished for, they all came to mind, and meshed with each other in her temperament. We hope Alaith meshes with you, too!
Egg Inspiration: The Lion King.
Name Meaning
Jai alai is one of the fastest sports in the world (a ball was once clocked at 188 mph) ... albeit in a closed room. In Tamil, 'talai' means to entangle, fetter, or restrain. The combination of speed and fetters seemed intriguing for free-spirited Zhia and, best of all, there's the way your names sound together. (Also, 'from Z to A': get it?)
| Clutch 45 | |
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