Difference between revisions of "Clutch:50"

Egg Writers: Aishani, Alida, Aukiri, Jo, K'del, K'zin, Madilla, N'rov, Telavi

Candidates: Gallagher, Lansha, Pim.

Dragon Writers: Aishani, Alida, K'del, Leova.

Dragon Editors: K'del, Leova.

NPC Emits: Alida, K'del

Dragon Puppeteers: Aishani, Leova

Search Committee: Aishani, Alida, Israfi, K'del, Leova, Suireh, Taikrin

Black Blade Egg

This oblong ovoid is the color of oblivion, an eternal night untouched by memory or hope of light. Nothing marrs the utter void of this egg's matte surface, except in a narrow strip along the center of its long axis, where strange shapes and lines gather, interweaving. Their bizarre patterns seem formed from darkest scarlet and carmine blood, and where these indecipherable 'runes' meet oblivion's shade, they alternate brighter and dimmer as though from the pulse of some hellish, internal heartbeat.

Inspiration: 'Stormbringer,' Elric's evil, sentient black rune sword forged from demon essence/Chaos in the earliest days of the Universe. http://marofi.deviantart.com/art/Stormbringer-142685722

Credit: Alida

The Egg

The shell of this egg is smooth, white, and - well, boring. It's not fancy, nor elegant. It could even seem more at home in a chicken's nest than on the hatching sands, complete to the greenish-brown smear across its base, were it not for the obviously draconic proportions. Although it might also be the most painfully unprepossessing of the lot, despite any attempts to cover it up with sand, hide it amidst its clutchmates or otherwise make it more interesting, it's staunchly here to stay: a tediously stubborn stain on an otherwise striking clutch.

Inspiration: Eggs: the cheap and readily available weapon of humiliation. So innocent-looking, so delicious, and yet... a weapon.

Credit: K'zin

Secret Silver Egg

It's a sleek silver shiny thing: compact and streamlined, simple and small, easily dwarfed by larger eggs surrounding it. Nearly narrowed to a point at the top, the shell curves sharply down with a deadly shine to an oddly wide bottom that sits low and wood-dark in the sands. Though the egg never actually goes missing, it's never obviously evident either and takes some looking to find - either unassuming despite its gleam, or just too simple to conceal.

Inspiration: The punch dagger, or the push dagger, which is even sort of egg-shaped. Shani's favourite! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_dagger

Credit: Aishani

Opportunity Rocks Egg

The smallish egg might as well be a pile of stones, even a cairn, mottled as it is: primarily grainy shades of gray and brown, each roughly demarcated by shadowy, jagged lines. Some are larger, the size of a man's head; some medium-sized, a woman's hand; and some small pebble-sized flecks, tucked into the crevices, glint with the peridot and sapphire and hematite of forgotten gems.

Inspiration: Character #1: "So, do you have a favorite weapon?"
Character #2: "Opportunity."

--_The Dream Thieves_ by Maggie Stiefvater

Credit: N'rov

Rusty Spoon Egg

It seems the perfectly curved ovoid - from a distance. On closer inspection, the smooth outline seems corroded, leaving the ruddy egg pockmarked into an imperfect silhouette. At its widest point, flecks of bright orange excite the tarnished shell, but this detailing fades into a rusty monochrome farther up the egg, creating an ominously dull tip.

Inspiration: A far crueller weapon than a sharp, quick-acting sword, the rusty spoon is reserved only for those special enemies.

Credit: Aukiri

Everyday Poison Egg

Sawdust-shaded and small, there's nothing about this particular egg to inspire much. Varying tints of brown pattern themselves, like wood grain, from the nearly pointed tip to the rounder end; unpolished and unperfected, it's less the suggestion that this egg was made of wood, and rather more that it has collected the remnants of such, gathered together into a more solid form.

Inspiration: Wood alcohol (methanol) is the simplest form of alcohol, cheap and easy to produce. It's also incredibly poisonous: as little as 10ml ingested can result in blindness, while 30ml can kill outright. During prohibition, the US government went so far as to deliberately add even more poison to methanol-based industrial products... which killed plenty, but didn't seem to especially work in getting people to stop drinking the stuff.

Credit: K'del

Cut Through The Wind Egg

The shell of this egg is so smooth that the surface seems polished, the tip of its curve coming close to a point at the very top. A sleek blue that's almost metallic in color, it has faint swirling lines of a darker blue that can only be seen at certain angles, better during the day than at night. Though not typically egg-shaped, it's unassuming amongst the others, the sort of egg that takes on its surroundings.

Inspiration: Shuriken (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuriken)

Credit: Jo

Pensive Serpent Egg

The smooth, tanned stretch of shell has the faint striations and intermittent pinpricks of parchment; it also bears the serpentine curves of ink darker than harpers' klah, narrowing and broadening as from some left-slanted nib. Large as it is, there's room to roam, to follow those curves as far as the eye can see, to identify finer markings as the flicker of a tongue or ovals of green as some all-seeing eye.

Inspiration: The pen may be mightier than the sword, but the sword can chop the serpent in half.

Credit: Telavi

Mechanical Egg

This rather smaller, squat egg is closer to being round than ovoid, but what it might lack in stature, it makes up for in coloration. Near the broader apex of the shell, matte black dominates in a rather nubbly pattern, shifting in sudden transition to intermingled rich gold and brilliant silver that hold a near-metallic sheen. Shadows and highlights across the shell give the illusion of tubular depressions and even concentric circles in places, one single streak of silver against black hinting at a piece that might be convinced to move.

Inspiration: Babylon 5 PPG Plasma Sidearm:

Credit: Alida

Quiet Egg

Though it can't really be, somehow this egg seems quieter than its fellows. Perhaps it's the unremarkable size, curving neither too small nor too large, or the fuzzy whitish-grey colour that dulls its shell. It could be the the faint darkened line across the centre, the suggestion of standing across from a hushed and distant shore. Whatever makes it so, it simply seems silent - whether that feels lonely or oppressive or peaceful, that's entirely up to the viewer.

Inspiration: Charles de Gaulle said: "Silence is the ultimate weapon of power." |

Credit: Aishani

Sugar and Spice And All Things Nice Egg

Pearlescent and pale, in a sickly sweet kind of way, this egg is swathed in baby pink, the kind of coloration that could so easily be reflective - but manages not to be. Loping whorls extend about the rounded bottom, like a lacy decorative border, while a darker splotch rests towards the tip, red-tinted, almost the very shape of a cartoon heart.

Inspiration: Killed by kindness... which often results in the desires for real violence in the other direction!

Credit: Madilla

Peer Pressure Egg(s)

The four eggs in this cluster are all super unique: though all edgily pointy and attired in black, they're different shades of black from aubergine to clove, anise to ashes.

Inspiration: Wouldn't you do just about anything to win the respect of your peers?

Credit: Aishani, K'del and N'rov

A bronze, a brown, a nimble blue and a green, all sharp-edged and superior (Blue Knioth and Ghena, bronze Lythronath and A'rist, green Quinzeth and Klohi)

It's even as the candidates begin to arrive on the sands that the quartet of black eggs lead the charge, shells breaking away to reveal one bronze, one brown, one blue and one green, all sharp-edged and superior. It's the blue that leads the way after that, rather more nimble than his siblings - but all of them find partners in short order amid the milling white-robed candidates.

Green and local girl / Blue Sveianth and K'del's niece, Miravea

There's a yell of great pleasure from a local girl as she's claimed by the green that hatches from the Quiet Egg; meanwhile, the blue from within the Rusty Spoon Egg takes his time, sweeping back and forth across the sands before finally choosing his girl. That the tall, lanky, curly-haired girl is one of the Acting Weyrleader's nieces does not go unnoticed, but she seems delighted enough with her Sveianth.

Powdery blue and male Nabolese refugee

After many failed efforts to hatch that leave Black Blade Egg looking like a loss, a sudden talon-slice of hard shell from within sends shards of egg and one frail, powdery blue scattering onto heated Sands. Silently staggering to his feet, it takes the weakling many fruitless tries until he finally collapses before the right one: a dark-skinned young man from Nabol's refugees who scoops the dragonet up and carries him off the sands.

Deep cobalt blue and Nabolese sibling 1 / Green and Nabolese sibling 2

The frenzied rocking of The Egg sends it careening into the as-yet-still-unmoving Cut Through The Wind Egg. That is enough to finally set that second egg into motion; it rolls over itself, shuddering, and then promptly shatters - revealing the deep cobalt blue within. Moments later, it's joined on the sands by a green from The Egg, the two hunting together until they finally find partners in a pair of Nabolese siblings.

Brown and L'sen

Flaking pieces fall away from the Everyday Poison, innocuous in their way, at least until they're followed by a single brown-hued talon - and then, finally, a whole hatchling. The young brown shakes away the remains of his egg and then lunges into action. He takes his time, but finally, finally he finds himself young Leysen, who beams at the brown, and then up at his father in the Galleries: big L'sen grins at no longer so little L'sen, thumbs up sent and returned. Moments later, there's another brown upon the sand, hatched out of the Opportunity Rocks Egg.

Nabol refugee Makita and Sharp-boned green Kharyth / sharp-eyed bronze

Almost at the same time, the Secret Silver and Pensive Serpent eggs implode, depositing a sharp-boned green and an equally sharp-eyed bronze onto the sands. The two depart in opposite directions, the bronze first inspecting his sire and only then hunting himself down a candidate. It doesn't take too long before both are happily paired: triumph!