Logs:Teonath and Wyaeth's Clutch Hatches
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| RL Date: 15 March, 2008 |
| Who: Carisandra, E'dre, Fraya, Jaeni, Laylia, Leova, Lujayn, L'vae, Milani, Niena, N'thei, Satiet, Viviana |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Teonath and Wyaeth's clutch hatches. |
| Where: Hatching Sands, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 28, Month 8, Turn 15 (Interval 10) |
| The early morning sweepriders are gathering in the bowl, flight gear at half-ready when a rumble seems to vibrate the otherwise solid mass of High Reaches Weyr. Dawn crests in the haziest red line on the horizon, morning coming, but not quite here yet, but the growing thrum is enough for the watch dragon on duty to bugle in a loud, clear echo all over his home; at last there will be others to share the solitude of his ending night watch. In the distance, drums begin to echo, sounding off through a succession of towers to spread the news further than the lungs of one dragon can: High Reaches' eggs are hatching. In the galleries, Basquirin strolls up into the stands from the entrance to the bowl. In the galleries, Basquirin has arrived. Satiet has arrived. N'thei has arrived. In the barracks, It's early. Flaming early. Not even light out yet when Milani comes pelting into the Barracks and comes to a dead stop, breathing hard, eyes wide and looking across sleeping bodies on cots. She takes a moment to collect herself and pushes her hair back with both hands. Breathe, Millie. Breathe. Then she claps her hands briskly. "Everyone up please! Up and into robes! Guess what! The eggs are hatching! Out of bed, into robes, and line up by the door!" And she starts wandering down the aisles to shake shoulders and tug on feet sticking out of blankets. In the barracks, It's a nightmare, right? Leova groans and turns over, burying her face in the pillow. In the barracks, Fraya is in bed, sleeping. Curled up and looking peaceful with her blanket over her head. As Milani enters and starts yelling Fray groans, shifting to whack at the person next to her. "Shuddup.. 'm sleeping.." She grumbles, shifting a pillow over her head and curling up into a tighter ball. "I 'un wanna play games right now.. Shardin' tired. Lemme sleep..." Grumble. Looking less tired than some, but no less irritable than others, Satiet makes her way out of a tunnel opening onto the sands, a brisk walk carrying her towards her humming lifemate. "Always some new torment, isn't there?" chides the cool-spoken weyrwoman to the queen, who in turn returns a dry, amused look in the pull of her maw and glitter of her eyes. In the barracks, Lujayn has become entangled in her blankets over the past few restless hours, somehow finding minutes of slumber in between tossing and turning. The thrumming gets into her, and there's a moment of hazy half-wakefulness before Milani's sharp clap brings her straight up, fighting against the sheets to get out of bed and into her robes. And to wake those lazybone candidates! N'thei looks bleary-- like a lot of people, heh. He dressed in haste, fortunate not to have to groom himself over-much to look halfway presentable, a little water splashed on his face and his five-o'-clock-shadow ignored for more pressing matters. After a moment of indecision, where he could jog up to the gallery or step onto the sands, he elects for the latter. "New Torment ought to be our motto." An upward glance tracks Wyaeth to where the rangy bronze lands on the ledges, commands a view of the sands. In the galleries, Calliosae wanders up into the stands from the entrance to the bowl. In the galleries, Calliosae has arrived. In the barracks, Carisandra was flat out asleep. She'd forgotten to plait her hair and it's fuzzy all over. The clapping and Milani's clear voice bring her upright. But her eyes are still shut and her voice sounds as fuzzy as her hair looks "whazat? huh?" In the barracks, Niena has been restless all night, but just half hour before had finally dropped off into sleep. She was in the deepest part when Millie came in, and now she sort of stumbles up, eyes still closed, and begins getting into her robe. Once that's done, she lies back down and goes back to sleep. In the barracks, Viviana blinks twice and stretches like a little feline. Smacking her lips, she sighs. "I was having the most delicious dream about scrambled eggs .... eggs?" Sitting straight up, Vivy tosses her blankets to the side and is up on her feet, pulling her nightgown off as she steps on her socks to pull them off the easy way. Reaching into her press, she finds her robe with a bit too much ease. Someone has been practising perhaps? It's over her head in a flash but the sandals are another matter. "Sandals, sandals. Lujayn, it's eggs!" Emilly looks pretty much as calm and placid as ever and frighteningly awake, just waiting quietly at Sands' edge with the others who will be helping the Weyrlingmaster to clear the Sands, hands loosely clasped behind her back, face tilted up to where the dragons hum on ledges. Satiet, already most of the way towards Teonath, casts a quick glance back at the arriving Weyrleader, her pale eyes narrowing as she takes in his appearance. For her part, she could've been awake for hours already given her state of dress. "We keep it lively here at least," spares the goldrider, voice dry. "Good morning, Emilly. I see I'daur's drafted you into service again, I wonder if not because his new assistant might not know the meaning of an early morning wake up." In the galleries, Rubbing his own eyes, Basquirin half-stumbles around to find a seat in the hatching gallery, the dragons' humming quickly filling the air around them. As he walked, one could tell that there was a stiff limp to the stablehand's left leg - probably an accident during his duties, and probably something that would clear up in a sevenday or less. On his shoulder, an oddly cheerful Chubby hummed, his eyes for once whirling green as his voice joined that of the dragons and other firelizards, as if trying to lure the new baby dragons into the world. Basq finally finds a seat, landing with a heavy plop, and causing the husky brown firelizard to give a startled squawk of protest before humming again. Up on the ledges, Verenth emerges from the tunnel to the bowl, circling momentarily before he banks and lands neatly on on one of the ledges overlooking the sands. Up on the ledges, Verenth has arrived. Up on the ledges, Melata jumps down Verenth's side to the ground, as the dragon warbles a greeting. Up on the ledges, Melata has arrived. Emilly's gray eyes tilt downward to catch on Satiet and she smiles at the Weyrwoman pleasantly. 'Good morning, Weyrwoman. It's a pleasure to serve again," she says lightly and shifts her booted feet a little, turning to look towards the grounds' entrance with a hint of expectation. In the barracks, Carisandra is still sitting in her cot, eyes still shut. "robe" she repeats and rolls onto her hands and knees, crawls to the foot of the cot, opens the trunk, pulls out the robe and starts to put it on. "Oh." She pulls her nightshirt off and tries again. "Robed n ready." She sits back down on the cot, her head nodding forward and she's almost asleep again when the humming penetrates and she starts over. "Huh?" Public announcement: Satiet announces "High Reaches Weyr's eggs have decided to finally rock and roll in the wee hours of the morning and the drum calls and dragon gossip has made it cross-continent. We'd love to invite you all to make a sleepy way over to watch our hatching, cheer our fabulous candidates on, and partake of the breakfast-feast type deal afterwards. :) @tel #510 for the galleries, @tel #512 for the ledges. :)" In the barracks, Lujayn shakes off layers of covers like a shedding ghost, and the last layer to go is her nightgown, a moment spent in modesty-defying undergarments before she can track down that robe, fighting her way into it as she fought her way out of the sheets. "Check under your cot," She urges Viviana, stooping to find her own buried footwear. "Leova, get up!" She leans over to shake the girl, hands already shaking themselves. Despite his red-rimmed eyes and his scruffy appearance, N'thei finds a smile bright as the morning sun to flash toward Satiet-- which hasn't even risen yet, how unfair. "Awfully... this morning," is his quiet remark, meant to be half-heard while he follows at a more meandering pace toward Satiet and Teonath. Up on the ledges, Melata dismounts her dragon, sliding off his back as he touches down on his favorite hatching ledge. "Better than those sweeps," she confides to a nearby greenrider. "And at least the eggs had the good timing to decide to hatch /before/ I'd taken the Wing out." In the barracks, Jaeni wakes up, looking groggy as she takes in the activity around her. There's momentary confusion and soon the buzzing and full effect of Milani's words sink in. The blonde rolles out of the cot and finds herself going to the press, pulling it open and looking through it for her robe. "Leova, I still have your hair!" She calls over to the other girl, a vain attempt at humor. "Ah ha!" Then she's pulling the wrinkly white thing out and smushing it over her head. In the galleries, A'son has arrived. In the barracks, Louvaen's sleep has been fitful, and his bed is one with its covers twisted and half sliding off. The humming already has him blinking blearily, half awake and half asleep as he cuddles his pillow to his head but it is the sound of Milani's voice that pulls him the rest of the way into wakefulness. His breath gasps through his nose as he forces himself up, feet swinging down to the little rug beside his bed and into the sandals laid out beforehand. An arm hold s the edge of his blanket over his lap as he leans to reach for the robe draped over the press at the foot of the cot. It is tugged over his head, arms snaking through their holes as he yawns. Pausing a moment to rub at his eyes, the young man bends to do up his sandals. A soft smile comes to his face as a finger slides over the two beads strung on the right one's laces. In the barracks, Fraya slowly stretches out, grumbling louder. "Eggs.. Eggs.. Shardin' eggs at this hour..." She grumbles more and shifts slowly out of bed, slowly out of her sleeping clothing and into her robe. Yawning, she stretches out before leaning down and tugging on the bottom of her robe to adjust it. Fingers run through her hair in a small attempt to fix it before yawning widely. A glance at Jae and she grins, sleepily at that. In the barracks, Leova, shaken, reaches up to manhandle her attacker but, luckily for Lujayn, finally realizes what's going on and tugs herself out of bed, taking the covers with her. If she weren't so groggy, it would take less time to grab her robe and pull it on over her nightgown, pull her nightgown down from that, and then do a little additional adjusting. As it is, she walks off without her sandals before walking backwards again to step into them. "Hair?" Jaeni could just as well have said "Lunch." She tries to find Milani in time to mutter something about a wet washcloth. In the galleries, Eshandra strides up into the stands from the entrance to the bowl. In the galleries, Eshandra has arrived. In the galleries, Danika walks up into the stands from the entrance to the bowl. In the galleries, Danika has arrived. In the galleries, Carmen has arrived. In the barracks, Moving rapidly between all the cots, Milani chivvies some out of bed, pulls covers back bodily off of one. "Get up, get up, get up!" she sing-songs. "Hatching time!" And a moment later she's hustling everyone into a line. "Follow me please! We're heading over to the Hatching Grounds!" There's a smile here and there for particular Candidates, but otherwise, the assistant headwoman is intently focused on the job she has to do. In the barracks, Viviana dives under her cot, tossing one sandal then another onto her bed. Unfortunately, they are both right shoes and down she goes again, pulling out the two left shoes. Tossing the largest pair to her cot neighbour to the left, she makes neat work of lacing the sturdy soled sandals on to her feet. "No numbweed for me, thank you very much. Need any help, Lu? Leova, you look lovely. Not a gap in sight." Another quick tug at her braid to make sure it's neatly in place and out of her way and she's up and ready to go. Up on the ledges, Tiqueth emerges from the tunnel to the bowl, circling momentarily before he banks and lands neatly on on one of the ledges overlooking the sands. Up on the ledges, Tiqueth has arrived. Up on the ledges, Sarisia jumps down Tiqueth's side to the ground, the dragon's sparkling eyes watching closely. Up on the ledges, Sarisia has arrived. In the galleries, Danika quickly makes her way into the galleries, and as they start to fill with people she makes her way as close to the front as she can get. Her small size makes this easier than it might otherwise be because she can manage to make her way through gaps that others wouldn't. She takes a seat but that doesn't mean she stops moving - one foot taps a beat on the galleries floor. Up on the ledges, Verenth raises up on his haunches in greeting as more and more dragons arrive in this too-early morning. While the dragons mostly appear to be quite awake and quite excited and increasingly loud with their humming, many riders are not so bright and cheery. "Why couldn't the eggs waited a couple of hours," is one commong complaint. In the galleries, Calliosae wanders quietly into the galleries, her hands folded neatly and she takes a seat. Her eyes are on the sands and she seems to be humming a soft tune. In the galleries, Yawns and groans are the order of the morning, tousled-looking people filtering into the gallery with frequent comments about this forsaken hour for a hatching. There's at least one cluster of aunties who seem to have come for no purpose but to tell each other how hard it is to climb up the steps this early in the morning. In the galleries, Amaris has arrived. Unable to halt herself in time, the smile N'thei shoots is returned reflexively by one of her own, before it stops short, frozen briefly and then fading off. "At least it's almost over," notes the weyrwoman, coming to her customary spot against Teonath's back haunches, out of the way, but easily one of the best seats in the house. "One of these days," begins Satiet, her pale eyes traveling back to Emilly, "We might see one of your own on -our- sands?" The emphasis, filled with faint humor, lacks subtlety. In the galleries, Making their way through a sea of people are two rather conspicuous characters dressed in their 'Gather-best' for this event. One, an arrogant brunette, might be familiar to some in the stands, but the other--a man in his mid--late 40's--would be better known still for his vintages and brews. The party can start now, Carmen and Jatkan are here. Emilly looks back over towards the Weyrleaders and her shoulders lift a little. "Perhaps. If the fancy strikes one of them. The girls are all still of an age for it." Amusement plays briefly about Emilly's lips then she's quiet again, leaning in to nod at a comment from one of the others aligned to assist. Up on the ledges, Tiqueth backwings gracefully onto the ledge, his large wings raising up whatever dust there is around. In a flash Sarisia dismounts and joins the throng. "Nah, they like hatchin' when people are still asleep." She says with a grin. In the galleries, Dendra has arrived. N'thei basks sleepily in Satiet's caught smile, bloodshot eyes all set to shine at the goldrider while he walks wide around an egg or two and stops two arms' lengths from her, the second one just to be safe. There, he's appropriately positioned to look Weyrleader-y for at least as long as he can keep from nodding off. Amaris bounces about happily, finally rid of her temporary caretaker and taking a seat as close to the sands as she can manage. Pushing through a pair of eldery nannies she sits down abruptly turning back to make sure that she's not /too/ far from her fellow Istan's. In the galleries, Xielar meanders up into the stands from the entrance to the bowl. In the galleries, Xielar has arrived. In the galleries, Caitlyn strides up into the stands from the entrance to the bowl. In the galleries, Caitlyn has arrived. In the galleries, Fayre strolls up into the stands from the entrance to the bowl. In the galleries, Fayre has arrived. In the galleries, Down front, having sped over fast as all get-out to get a good seat, a young boy has abruptly drifted back to sleep. Five in the morning is just too early for some people. He doesn't even perk up when the din of drowsy conversation fills the gallery to a loud chatter. The eggs are doing their thing, some wobbling while others are still. In the galleries, Caitlyn hurries in with two folk in tow - Xielar and Fayre - the Istan bluerider still rubbing her eyes as she plows past some to obtain the best seats possible. SOmeone's a little grumpy at the early 'hum' call, it seems. Up on the ledges, Melata peers over the edge of the ledge as the Candidates arrive to the eggs. In the galleries, Fee has arrived. In the galleries, Rupa arrives looking haggard, definitely tired, as she trudges her way up the steps. She had led two blonde-haired kids up, though one of them had already disappeared. Fyra gives a good long breath before bounding her way down towards a seat next to her friend, making sure she's got a better view of the hatching. The greenrider merely flops into the first seat, running fingers through her hair as she blearily looks at the crowd around her, too. The star-studded darkness of the Second Star to the Right Egg is suddenly overwhelmed by an explosion from within, velvety shards shooting out to clatter against the shell of the ominous warning of red in the morning. Curled in the remnants of what was once her home is a delicately boned green, the yellowy-spring hue of her hide sparkling with a brilliance reminiscent of the pin-pricks of light that once graced her shell.
ContentsSpring's Sprightly GreenSass sweeps over this dainty dragon in star-dusted hues of spring's shimmering yellow-green, from the curious turn of a delicate head to the whiplash petulance of a slim tail. No wall flower, despite the subtle vine patterning that winds raggedly along her sides, bright hues dominate her small, slanted eyes, the sharp intelligence therein complementing her inquisitiveness, while a slim muzzle and non-existent eyeridges fill out the rest of her features. The gentle contours of her blonde-tipped neckridges, rounded rather than sleekly curved, play down a slender neck until they peter out where exquisitely lady-like wings meet her diminutive body. Stretched thin across her wingspars, chartreuse sheaths hang almost transparent, light and airy and meant more for agile flight than stability. That nimble demeanor is futher accentuated by her foam-pale paws, like tropical flowers blossomed on a vine, drawing attention to the graceful way in which she moves on the very tips of her ivory talons.
In the galleries, Xielar grumpily walks up to the galleries, shaking his head. "I'm just lucky I've got my day off today," Xie tells Fayre. He shakes his head again and continues walking up until he sees Rupa and Fyra. And then the Green is Hatched. "Shards," Xie manages to say, unable to sit down as he sees the green hatch. "Shells and shards," the Istan dock worker offers breathlessly. "-That- is one beautiful green." In the galleries, Now settled in a seat, Basquirin flinches a little at he shifts his left leg into what he thinks would be a more comfortable position for him. Stifling a yawn, his gaze notices what he thinks to be a familiar figure that he's seen before - though his sleepy eyes could be mistaken. "A'son, is that you?" However, it seems that his inquiry is interrupted when suddenly, with a crack, the hatching begins, and a green makes herself known on the Sands. "Wow." In the galleries, Fayre's attitude has markedly gone down since her and her Istan companions left their native Weyr. "I thought this place was supposed to be cold." She mutters grumpily, poking at the useless sweater she brought along with her. With a sigh, she ties it around her waist and hurriedly follows Caitlyn to a seat. "Ack, they're already starting. How come they're not all sluggish like us?" She grumbles, plopping down into one of the seats. "Poke me if I fall asleep, y'hear? Either of you two." Satiet is leaning casually against Teonath's back haunches, an appraising look sent the candidates' way as they emerge. Up on the ledges, Verenth flares his wings to welcome the first of a new generation of dragons to the Weyr...the fact that the first one is a green is even better. Niena is mosre sleepwalking than anything, swaying somewhat with her head lolling forward. The heat of the sands doesn't seem to be helping any, but finally something snaps her awake -- the shell shattering. There is a comical look of not exactly knowing where she is for a split second before she rubs her eyes and picks out the newly-hatched green. In the galleries, Dendra hurries up the stairs, managing to dress up even at this early hour. She runs her eyes over the crowd and spies Danika. Calling a greeting, she makes her way in that direction. Laylia trudges out, lifting a hand to rub at her eyes and try and get some semblance of wakefulness about her. The hot sands aren't helping, though she moves along with the line to follow suit with the other candidates and bows before Teonath. The lack of the sire being there might cause a little confusion, but she doesn't show it as a green bursts out of her shell. Out come blue headknobs, a smeared blue muzzle soon to follow. The Red Sky at Morning Egg crumples abruptly, folded to the sand while the dragonet gets his bearings. He's got pretty good balance for a spindly hatchling, though his wingtips drag twin trails in the sand while he scrabbles toward the line of candidates. Out of the group, he hones in on Wujaren with a croon of satisfaction. The boy, chubby and talkative and sweating buckets, blinks saucer-wide eyes while he tells his startled friends, "Marckilth! That's his name!" Only one of them has the presence of mind to congratulate the new weyrling, W'jar. Up on the ledges, Melata geeshes, "I've rarely seen eggs so eager to hatch...the Candidates aren't even all on the sands yet." Emilly continues to linger amongst the others helping out the Weyrlingmaster off to the sides, the riders-in-waiting standing at attention now as Candidates arrive and eggs rock in earnest and oh lookit that, an egg's hatched. Game on folks. Game on. N'thei's not far from Satiet, smothering yawns in his fist even when the candidates arrive, the first dragons hatch. Wyaeth's watches from on high. Fraya walks onto the sands, bowing towards Teonath blinking as she looks for Wyaeth, not finding the bronze she shrugs and continues in her dazed walk. A pause and she looks for Laylia and Jaeni. " Yawning, she continues her movements and settles beside Laylia, leaving room for Jaeni. In the galleries, Fee is guided into the galleries by a taller man in his early to mid thirties, probably a relation given he shares her dark hair and sharp chin. "We're late!" she remarks to him, trying to pull away to get a better look of the first hatchlings of the day. "Come on, don't be so slow." They make their way towards a gap between a few other people, and sit, Fee shifting in her seat constantly to get a better look. Lujayn moves onto the sands with long stride, keeping an eye out for her friends. She barely has time to make a bow to Teonath before the first egg shatters, and her attention splits dizzyingly between finding a group and keeping an eye on the little green. Spotting Viviana, Lu makes for the other girl quickly. "I'm awake now," She breathes. Jaeni follows along in the stream of candidates, still trying to unwrinkle her robe. She's tugging Aleudre along, keeping the older boy in line while he slows her by walking just behind. She bows to the queen as the entertain and then her eyes go completely wide as the green hatches out of the egg. Fraya is spotted and she edges that way, all the while keeping the tailor in tow. In the galleries, Danika turns around in her seat and waves to Dendra. "Hi. I came to help cheer on the Tillekians on the sand, there's a few. I'll point them out if I see them." There's room next to her, still, even though the galleries are starting to fill up. The delicate white of the Make It-! Egg's submerged base gives the barest hint of a twitch. It's just enough for the rose and sky-blue hues to appear to swish in a flutter of skirts that turns quickly into a pirouette that blurs rose and blue into rapid purple. Just a hop-skip away, the Spiraling Purity Egg's trembles, barely noticeable except when a glint of light seems to twinkle along the purely shaded surface. Carisandra walks onto the sands, her eyes scanning the galleries and ledges. Even with her hair pulled back, it still looks fuzzy and uncombed. Turning to face the eggs, she pauses to bow to Teonath and step forward to join the other candidates, standing near Niena. In the galleries, "Who's gonna poke me if *I* fall asleep?" Caitlyn mumbles to Fayre, then made a quick perch by a golden firelizard who arrives and claims her human. Infelice hums fit to burst, unwilling to miss the eggs, too. "Reaches is having a hotter than normal summer," she remembers to inform both her passengers absently, then suddenly clapping loudly as a blue is the first to emerge! Leova suddenly takes a deeper breath as adrenaline kicks in. She nearly steps on the heels of the person ahead of her and then slows again, glancing back for Louvaen before getting much further, and missing the bowing entirely. She settles for a jerky nod as she gets into the circle. Heat. Eggs. Hatchlings, now. In the galleries, "Eww, quit drooling on me!" This exclaimed while a petite girl in the upper rows shoves at a heavyset friend that's half-asleep on her shoulder. The girl snorts, wakes up, wipes the corner of her mouth, and then surprises herself with a sight of dragonets already. Up on the ledges, Sarisia watches curiously as the first impression is made. "Blue as the first 'pression, ain't bad." She says to her lifemate, settling herself in his clutches. Spring's Sprightly Green streeeeetches herself free from the shattered remains of her once-sparkling egg. Lazy little extensions spread her baby wings as wide as she can, while her fore and back limbs shake themselves in turn, incredibly cute and somehow comical at the same time. Viviana steps close to Niena. "Oh my, is it always like this? So fast?" Taking a step to the side, she makes room for Lu as well. "What did they say, what did they say, don't faint, don't run away, don't shriek ... you do look lovely, Lu and you as well Niena. Oh and isn't she the prettiest little green you ever did see?" Viviana is nervous, when Viviana is nervous, she unfortunately babbles. "Lovely indeed." The candidates' arrival and subsequent bobble-headed bowing garner Teonath's attention briefly, though her place on the sands remains at the fringes. Perhaps she lacks that over-protective gene, or recognizes the futility of such posturing. Whichever the case, the ice-tempered queen is remarkably serene in her celebratory humming. Still rocking slightly from its dizzying twirl, Make It-! Egg finally comes to rest balanced delicately on its flared bottom. With sounds of ripping and rending, the messy divide tears in two. Both halves of the shell - one pink and one blue - falls away. Revealed is a dark, glowering brown hatchling, looking for all intents and purposes to have been caught in some nefarious act.
Brash Brigadoon BrownSeasoned mahogany crafts the diminutive length of this brash and bold brown's hide, its rugged coloring as inconsistent as paint peeling and flaking off a wall. Patches of sun-faded brown only serve to highlight his smaller physique, the shadows along untried muscles brought into sharper relief by the uneven, weathered coloring. A stubby snout leads up to cragged eyeridges, a bridge above small, suspicion-filled eyes. From there, neckridges dot his thick neck like barnacles, cascading across his back and on to disappear along a rudder of a tail, too short for its body. While the sails of his wide wings billow over him, net-like in their lighter veining, his stocky frame still keeps close to the ground, anchored by stumpy hind legs that give him a swaggering gait. In the galleries, Fayre whistles quietly as a blue makes its impression. "Dang, at this pace our trip here will hardly have been worth the tro-" Her statement is interrupted by a loud yawn before she continues, "-trouble." She shrugs nonchalantly at Caitlyn, smothering another yawn. "C-couldn't Kintryth poke you? Mentally? I bet he's happy the first impression was a blue." She rubs her bleary eyes before squinting down at the sands. "I can barely tell which ones are shakin'. This ain't right. Darn blearly, early mornin' eyesight." Laylia trots over to meet up with Fraya, wiggling in place nearby her and Jaeni, and Aleudre since he's being tugged along. The little dragons are watched with a wary eye, in case they come spiralling too close for comfort. Still trying to wake up, she doesn't say much more than, "So early in the morning..." She mutters. In the galleries, Amaris is teetering on her feet trying to peer over the heads of a throng of tall boys. "I think the first one already impressed." She says to Fyra, tossing her hair back in order to get a better look. "Think there will be a mauling?" She asks quickly, a bit /too/ much excitement in her young eyes. Niena notices the others bowing and only then does so, then begins shifting nervously as she watches the green and now the brown on the sands. She does manage a "yes" in between Vivi's babbling when the girl asks if they're always this fast. Fraya suddenly perks up, noticing the dragons /now/. "Oh.. Oh shards..." She straightens, rubbing at her eyes and beginning to fidget. A glance towards Teonath and she relaxes. "I told you..." She starts, trailing off and shaking her head. Laylia and Jaeni get a look and she tilts her head. "Yes it is, and you better wake up Whatshername Laylia." Her tone is teasing and scolding towards her friend and she watches both the green and brown dragon curiously. In the galleries, Cait's eyes sweep the eggs again, and she suddenly focuses on the green hatchling moving about. "Oh shards, that green was the first to hatch! Boo. But yeah, the blue was the first to Impress! Poke me? Why?" she asks of Fayre. Moll is right on cue. That first Impression sets her in motion, has her leaving her place near Emilly to approach the new weyrling and lead the way off the sands with congratulations still ringing for the first new dragonrider. Up on the ledges, Verenth swooshes his tail back and forth as he starts to calm a bit. His humming as quieted as more of the eggs Hatch. In the galleries, Xielar finally sits down and pulls his jacket around him more tightly. He finally sits down next to Fayre and nods once to the gambling addict, telling her, "I can't either. This is just..." He blinks as the dark, glowering brown appears from the next egg. "Wow, I had no idea Reaches had such beautiful dragons," Xie replies, shaking his head in amazement. Spiraling Purity Egg tumbles itself over on its side, just barely avoiding a collision with a large black-and-white egg. Poised like a graceful dancer just about to start its set, the fragile egg twitches ever so slightly on its sand cushion, though its frequency grows as time goes on. As if hurried on by its sibling's own progress, the jagged stripes of the Beyond Belief Egg shift as the egg teeters back-and-forth and back-and-forth, like it's strung from the narrow apex. Whatever is stuck inside that egg wants out, the sooner the better to catch up with everyone else! Lujayn nods after every one of those, twisting around to see Leova and Louvaen somewhere behind. "And stay focused," She adds as much as a reminder to herself, forcing her eyes away from the other candidates and onto the eggs. "Oh, yikes, another one. Did that boy Impress?" She watches Moll, mouth open a touch mindlessly. Carisandra can't hear much except those closest to her with all the noise, in spite of it being so early. She hears Viviana's voice as she speaks to Niena, but not hte words. She stretches a little, trying to get rid of the last wisps of fog in her head. Louvaen takes a deep breath at the threshold of the sands. Here we go. A sandaled foot steps out. And then hes there, moving along amongst the friends hes made. His bows to Teonath and Satiet with crisp perfection. Features schooled to neutrality, he moves out quickly in step behind Leova. As he settles into place in the circle the humming, the sight of the eggs and already hatchlings so close by, cracks his expression. Another deep breath has a nervous grin rising on his lips. He turns to first one side and then the next to share an excited lift of his eyebrows with his nearest companions. In the galleries, Calliosae stares at the dragons quietly, turning a shade of pink and her cheeks puff up slightly before she lets out a breath of air to relax. Her hands grip tightly onto her skirt, turning a shade of white while her eyes scan the sands. Jaeni's eyes get even more impossibly wide as the next couple of dragons hatch. She inches ever closer to Fraya, as if she'll hide behind the other candidate if anything gets too close. When the green does her little move, she bats behind to Aleudre making an excited comment to him. Leova yawns hugely, blearily, distant chartreuse wings blurring into something like a fever-dream. She blinks for a better look. No eyeridges. And there's that brown. Big eyeridges. "Focused," she repeats after Lujayn as though learning the word for the very first time, and manages to meet Louvaen's glance before she yaws again. In the galleries, "That blue did, the green hasn't yet," Fyra replies with a snort as she sits back and crosses her arms. Rupa in the back has already started falling asleep, having seen one too many hatchings in her time. "I bet ya there's gonna be a mauling. Better be," she mumbles, her blue eyes glued to those roaming dragonets. In the galleries, Fayre blinks a few times at Caitlyn. "In case you get tired, 'cause I asked you to poke me if I fall asleep, but you said who would poke you if you fell asleep...ah, never mind. I'm confusing myself. All I know is, this is fast and it is early." She smirks sleepily at Xielar and reaches out to nudge the dockworker with her elbow. "I thought you said these things were boring. Ista's dragons are beautiful too, y'know." Still, she nods in agreement as she gazes at the brown. "He does look pretty sturdy, though. Think he'll be a good fighter." Fraya fidgets more, glancing towards her feet for a brief moment. "Shells, it is hot. I forgot 'bout that... If that doesn't wake you up, Lay.." She trails off, glancing slightly behind her towards Jaeni with a shake of her head. "Don Brash Brigadoon Brown, upon hatching, eyes the remains of his egg with a baleful, almost hateful stare; he's so intent upon delivering that look that he ignores the candidates entirely, until he's decided that the egg shards have learned their lesson. Hmph. As regally and arrogantly as a just-hatched dragon can manage, he sits, wings half-flared for effect, and surveys what he is obviously considering to be his domain. Viviana mutters. "How could they be so relaxed?" She shoots an accusing look Leova's way and Laylia's as well. Jangle of nerves is she as she bounces on her toes to release excess energy /and/ get a better look at the same time. "Isn't that brown a handsome beast? Look at his markings.." Fraya fidgets more, glancing towards her feet for a brief moment. "Shells, it is hot. I forgot 'bout that... If that doesn't wake you up, Lay.." She trails off, glancing slightly behind her towards Jaeni with a shake of her head. "Don't hide behind me.. I'll get mauled."* In the galleries, Dendra says to Danika, "I came to meet with a rider about a commission, and was helping with breakfast when the dragons started humming. It's been a while since I've seen a Hatching, and I'm glad I didn't miss it." She looks down at the Hatchlings on the sands and chuckles slightly at their movements. "No you won't, Fray. You'll fight 'em off. You're tough. You're the bodyguard unit of the FrayandJae team." Jaeni hisses, peaking over her shoulder to look at the brown hatchling. "He's really kind of scary. Look at him, he looks like he wants to eat those eggshells alive for breakfast with whatever meat they're going to feed him!" Spring's Sprightly Green sticks close to the shells she just broke free from, but move she must, for a shimmy that runs along her haunches indicates a withheld excitement that also needs release. Slender and sprightly, she uses the momentum of pent up energy to propel herself forward, bounding towards the white-robed people. She knows what to do! Up on the ledges, Melata mutters something about that just-hatched brown being trouble looking for a place to happen as he catches her eye. She shakes her head and goes back to watching the green to see where she goes. In the galleries, Caitlyn is boggling at the pace of the emerginh hatchlings...shrugging helplessly at Fayre and Xielar, then muttering at Infelice on her shoulder. The little queen's eyes whirl quickly even as she hums, and soon is nudging her human to look in the direction she is. Picking out a woman with red hair down Caitlyn barks out a loud, "Gooo Laylia!" Ahem. Laylia gapes a little as the first weyrling gets ushered off the sands, and suddenly there's two little ones wandering about. Slowly she's getting more awake, noting Viviana's accusing look but returning the look with a quick smile. "I'm awake, I'm awake. Honestly." She mutters a little and watches the green as she starts getting momentum. Up on the ledges, Sarisia can't help but chuckle at the brown's actions. Shoving her lifemate with her elbow she nods towards the brash dragon. "Seems a bit like you, eh?" Tiqueth however only grumbles, his eyes keeping focused on every dragon but the brash brown. Lujayn wipes sleep from her eyes, peering out towards the wandering dragonets. "Maybe they're too tired to know any better." She suggests, blinking in surprise at the green's energy. "At least she's up and at 'em." In the galleries, Danika nods at Dendra. "This gives me the chance to spend the whole day. This can't go that long can it? Then I can visit my family while I'm here." In the galleries, Fee points with a slender hand and arm, waving it to attract the attention of the man next to her. "Look, Ar. I think that one knows where it's going. Wish there were more blues, though." She bubbles in excitement, grinning from ear to ear. Niena rubs her eyes one last time, then clasps her hands in front of her. Although she glances at the fierce brown, she's focused on the little green dragonet. She is all tension now, looking halfway poised to leap out of the way of pell-mell hatchlings. In the galleries, Jolak has arrived. Leova twitches at that look Viviana gives her as though it scrapes across hot, sleep-sweaty skin. She fumbles from foot to foot. One dragon posing, and yes, she marks his wings, those wide netted wings. And the other in motion. Fast. Fast claws? She mutters to herself, something that has the sound of a chant. Fraya glances at the brown, shaking her head. "No I'm not, I'm the thinker. The.. The what's the word? Experiment maker? Shells, make Aleudre the guard.. He's the man." She giggles softly, watching the brown. "Don't you worry Jae, maybe he'll pick you and not seem so scary?" Grinning she glances at Lay, "Better be.. Don't want to drag you out of the way.." The hatchlings become the focus of her attention once more. Satiet studies the eggs, a little perturbed it would seem, then glances at the sleep-filled galleries. She murmurs a comment audible to those candidates closest by. "At least -they- all seem to be morning people. Dragons, whatever." Carisandra looks around as the full heat of the sands finally hits her. Watching the hatchlings as they hatch and impress with eyes growing wider, she leans towards Niena "If I wasn't awake before, I am now." She can't stop the smile as she watches the energetic green. Prancing daintily, the Spring's Sparkling Green dances across the sands, her expressive tail swishing this way and that. Choosy, her slim muzzle pauses at one girl, then tilts to another before a baby bugle of triumph precedes her quickened steps towards an awkwardly slender girl with vivid dark brown eyes. Young limbs, despite the prior grace shown, can't quite keep up with her desires, and she falls in a tiny heap in front of her chosen. Viviana grins at Laylia but in her nervousness, it's a deathly grimace. Rubbing her hands on her robe, she takes another deep breath. "So many running around, so many impressed, so much heat... relax, Niena, be like me.. cool as a cumcumber." Says she who has sweat trickling down her back. "A nice feminine green for Aleudre, give him a better perspective of things, that's what he needs." "No way, he'd scare me so much that I'd like, pass out or something. And Fraya, Aleudre is the porcine-man, not the man-man. You're the one with the guts here." Jaeni continues from time to time to peak out past Fraya. Then eventually after a few minutes go by, she'll step away to get a better view on her own. In the galleries, Xielar looks at the candidates and shakes his head, "That never changes though, does it? I mean, it's the same usual group of people worrying about getting blisters on their toes and getting mauled by some stray hatchling. It never changes." This is said grumpily to Caitlyn and Fayre before offering a wave to Rupa, Amaris and Fyra before looking back to the candidates and the hatching below. "Not that is bad or anything, it just... it's weird is all. And every time, -every- time people come in droves to watch." Grumpy and tired is an unattractive combination on the teenaged Istan. In the galleries, There are two little kids running down to the front of the gallery to get a better view, to press against the rails and try to count the dragonets as they hatch so busily. Boundless energy at this ridiculous hour, but their mother groggily drags down the tiers to haul them back toward their seats. Up on the ledges, Melata claps her hands as the perky green impresses. The noise is lost among all the other sounds of the Hatching Cavern. Fraya laughs as she hears Viviana's comment. "Oh, Vivi! So mean of you!" She continues to laugh though Aleudre is near her. "Maybe you'd pass out anyway.. It's that hot." Grinning she doesn't glance back. "Did the green Impress?" A pause and she laughs more. "I feel like I've left my 'guts' under my cot.. So right now.. I want to turn and run but Shanlee said the dragons would follow you if they want you.. So I'm staying here.." After Spiraling Purity Egg goes through its twitches, the sharp crack can be heard and the egg splits down its milky center to reveal a flash of green. It opens up like a stage, giving way to the thrusting claws of a green dragonet as she bats one half of the egg away from her.
Sparkling Waters GreenFragility, spanning from the gentle curve of her claws to the pert taper of her snout, washes over this green's slender frame in a gush of foamy sea. Small in form, but proportionate in each delicately cut limb, a sturdy strength ripples in the shadows of her muscles, bubbling up despite the initial perception of her overall frailty. Expressive rainbow eyes are set further apart on a diamond face, slim eyeridges trailing back into the soft curves of her neck, easily one of her most attractive features. Waves of aquamarine scatter across her liquid hide, cresting in and out along her neckridges until met by her wings. Strong and sinewy, incongruously solid wingspars rise; her true prowess found in the sprightly flutter of translucent sails.
In the galleries, "Whatever..." Caitlyn mumbles groggily to Xielar, then eyeballing who the little green attatches herself to, not recognizing the girl. She applauds, no matter - Impression is ALWAYS special! - then watching the brown dodder around. "Oh, another green!" she helpfully points out to her companions. In the galleries, Fayre winces as the pretty green takes a tumble. "Ouch. Maybe they're not such morning folk as we thought...though I guess they are just young hatchlings. Clumsy little things sometimes." She shrugs in response to Xielar, though her gaze remains firmly fixed on the sands. "Eh, this one is different, neh? 'cause it's in the morning. Good thing eggs don't hatch this early at Ista. Can you imagine groggy candidates trying to dodge our famous maulings while half asleep? Oy. Wouldn't be pretty." Carisandra is still slightly leaning towards Niena when she freezes, the smile frozen on her face. Eyes widen as she straightens up with a twitch. "Oh!" And she blinks a few times as she helps the little green back onto all four feet. She can't seem to stop patting and stroking the soft hide. "You- Your right. Of course, Iesuth." and she looks around with a growing urgency. She's really *really* hungry. In the galleries, Amaris is focused on the hatching below but seeing that there's no /real/ action, you know, the clawing kind, she turns back to Fyra. "Wanna place a bet? How many greens? If there'll be a gold?" She asks lazily, her eyes catching Xielar's wave which she returns. In the galleries, Jolak manages to make it .. albeit later than most of the others in the gallery, having to squeeze some where in the back to see. Nodding his head about, he squeezes his shoulders in between two fellows before answering, "Yeah. I'm here to support that girl down there--" he points to her head, which is pretty hard to see from over other people's heads, "--Fraya." He explains and then goes quiet. Sparkling Waters Green doesn't waste any time getting the goo off her hide with a quick shake of her entire, small body. There may be bits of shell left stuck to her wings and back here and there but there are more interesting things to investigate first. She doesn't give the remains of her shell another glance as she starts to move quickly away from it - that was her old world and this is her new one. There's a bounce to her step as she moves not towards the candidates, but instead approaches the place where her mother presides over the scene. So intent is she that she narrowly escapes colliding with a newly hatched blue crossing her path. The result is hardly a pause as she looks up at her and warbles a greeting in a voice as clear as a bell. Leova glances back over her shoulder at Satiet, blinking at her in a way that turns into a yawn, as through trying to figure out how that could be a consolation and being thoroughly, utterly baffled. Right when Jaeni starts talking about porcine-man her head swings back around. Not that that seems to help matters either. But that oh! gets her looking at Carisandra too, at least when there's nothing with sharp claws is too near her, and suddenly she grins too. So that's what it looks like. N'thei can only fold his arms, look around, nod approvingly so many times before he's just about done with it. He looks again toward the Weyrwoman, patience-wearing-thin smile, and just misses the chance to see Carisandra's Impression in the process. Fidgety much? Emilly spots another impression and calmly starts to move that way. She carefully dodges bits of shell and a group of Candidates to get around to Carisandra. "Carisa, dear, why don't you and your lovely green come this way with me? We'll get her fed and oiled and all settled," murmurs the elder greenrider softly as she guides the pair off the Sands. Laylia shifts her weight from one foot to the other, even though she's wearing sandals it's still quite warm and she's very uncomfortable. She points towards where the little green went off towards, and nudges at Fraya. "Look! Carisandra Impressed." She insists, even if Fray is already looking - yes, she's still not quite awake yet. "Congrats!" She calls out if she can be heard. Lujayn catches a breath in her throat, hands clasped at her waist. "Where's she going?" This said about the green, who Lu's lost sight of amongst the candidates, but recognizes the voice that speaks out. "Carisa?" She looks around, beaming. "That was Carisandra, I know it!" It's her turn to stretch up on tiptoes, bursting with excitement. Niena ohs softly -- so very close. She beams at her friend. "Congratulations -- she's beautiful." She turns bavk to watch the still-brooding brown and the newest green, whose bugle evokes a smile from the former nanny. In the galleries, Fee leans back against her companion, still bursting with enthusiasm, but tired, too. "I like the look on their faces," she remarks, in a soft voice. "When they Impress. Most of the time you miss it, but... it's nice. They look happy." In the galleries, "Hey Joe," Basquirin greets the man as he takes his seat, glad to see a familiar face amongst the crowd of plenty of visitors and plenty of people that he didn't quite know, despite living in the same place as they did. "It would've been nice if they chose a more convenient time to hatch, eh?" The stablehand comments to Jolak, before looking back down at the Hatching, and smiling. "Ah, Caris Impressed," he said, and claps for the newly-Impressed green rider. Up on the ledges, Sarisia watches as Carisandra impresses, her brow furrowing slightly. "Ain't that the one that's always commenting on you?" She asks her lifemate, sitting up a bit at the first familiar person impresses. "I'd a guessed she'd get brown." Fraya glances at the newest green, giggling. A head-turn to better look where that green went. "OH! Caris! Caris! I wonder what her name is?" She flashes a grin towards Laylia and she claps her hands. "Carisandra and that pretty green. How wonderful!" Giggling, she searches for that brown once more to watch him carefully. The single black talon that cracked through the Beyond Belief Egg manages to get a better cut on the shell. It gashes downward and gives the dragonet inside just enough room to breathe, to taste freedom! All at once, the egg breaks out from the bottom-- the whole base of it simply gives away-- and a gaunt-looking blue hatchling rolls out amid the remnants. He tumbles head-over-heels, does a remarkably agile little somersault and winds up teetering on his feet with a rough-edged trumpet to announce his arrival!
Witchlight Velvet BlueDark cobalt folds into uneven pleats across this blue dragonet's hide, azure shadowed into midnight, barely lightened by will-o'-the-wisp streaks of powder-blue that trail back from his headknobs toward his shoulders. It would be hard to call this piecemeal patterning handsome, but there's a velvety look to his overall shade, a regal mantle to his carriage even with the awkwardness of youth. His shape is jagged and bony, the kind of skinniness that will probably stay with him even as an adult-- claw-like paws with jet-black talons, bones protruding unprettily at hip and shoulder, boxy muzle with oversized nostrils. The witchlight indigo that shadows along his underbelly also eclipses the spread of his wingsails with spell-binding darkness, a sleek cloak thrown across a gaunt form. In the galleries, Dendra shrugs one shoulder. "Usually they don't last all day Danika, but some of them have run fairly long. But clutches are smaller now, so you should be free to visit your Tillek friends by lunch. And you'll be able to drink a full gallon of juice to make up for the heat in here." Sure enough, a thin line of sweat is beading on the Baker's face, testimony to the weather. With more enthusiasm than grace, Iesuth attempts to pounces on Emilly's feet, almost tumbling back to the sands. She bugles again - what fun! - and climbs back to her feet to stagger alongside her Carisandra, tail and wings dragging. In the galleries, Fyra returns to the wave to Xielar, glancing around the crowd momentarily away from the hatching. "Bets?" She snickers at the other blonde girl. "Fine. Two freshly baked bubblies from the kitchens saying that there're... five greens. An' one more saying that there's a gold, too. It looks like a big 'nough clutch." She shrugs a shoulder and drops back into silence, unusally intense as she watches the eggs hatch. Viviana leans over to look as all eyes seem centered Carisandra's way. "Oh really? A green? And such a pretty one. What's her name? Not Carisandra, I mean,the dragon's name. I know her name well enough, Caris, I mean, not the dragon." Pleading skyward, she mutters. "A gag, that's all I ask for, is a gag." Another hatchling is though, gags will have to wait. "Oh, I bet that little blue will be a dancer in the skies." Carisandra nods and murmurs. "Yes Ma'am. Thank you." She watches Iesuth as she starts to follow Emily, much more interested in her dragon than where she herself is walking. She chuckles as she has to hurry to catch up with the lovely green. In the galleries, Xielar looks down at the sand as Carisandra Impressed, blinking. "Wow..." Xie comments softly. "That green really did know where she was going through, didn't she?" He glances to Fayre before looking back to the sand. And then double-takes as the blue hatches from his egg. "Whoa...." Xielar replies, unable to say anything much more than that. "I... That's a handsome blue right there.." Carisandra meanders into the dark passageway. In the galleries, "Oh, another blue!" Caitlyn crows out as the velvetine hatchling, then eyeing him closely. "Jays, he's a knobbly one." Iesuth moves into the dark passageway. In the galleries, Jolak catches his name offered from his left side, having to bow forward to look passed a rather large fellow's chest, "Hey Basq." A hand lifted in a wave before he tries to weasel his way closer, having to excuse himself several times over. He manages to bribe someone to make space for him near Basq. Gathering himself into a seat he smirks, making another note to rub the sleep out of his eyes; "I almost didn't want to get out of bed to watch. But I promised a few of them candidates I would. So, here I am." He considers the sands, "Fill me in on what I missed Basq." In the galleries, Dagany strolls up into the stands from the entrance to the bowl. In the galleries, Dagany has arrived. Emilly walks into the dark passageway. Up on the ledges, Verenth bobs his head as another blue arrives. He leans over the ledge, as if to give encouragement. Melata laughs and pats his neck, urging him to settle back before he finds himself in the middle of the hatching sands. Brash Brigadoon Brown still hasn't moved from that spot where he oh-so-arrogantly planted himself, atop the disgraced shards of his egg. He seems rather determined to stay there, too, though the ongoing chaos that surrounds him earns glares in several different directions. So far, only his dam and sire have been spared, but each of the candidates has earned at least one of those looks. He folds his wings sharply, but the more annoyed he gets, the faster his tail moves--almost as if he's fencing with an imaginary opponent at his back. In the galleries, Amaris whips her head back to face Fyra as she places her bet. "Alright, I say there's gonna be a bronze, a gold and four greens. And I'll raise you three bubblies." She adds for good measure, catching the new blue hatchling. Jaeni waves briefly to Carisandra as she disappears with her new lifemate. "Look at that! She impressed probably like the prettiest green in the whole clutch!" Aleudre is elbowed again and she practically backs into him when that brown starts giving people the evil eye again. "You're right Fraya, I think I would pass out anyway." She frowns a little and breaks her gaze from the dragon, focusing instead on look at the skinny blue that just hatched. In the galleries, "You've only missed a couple of Impressions, a blue and a green, if my eyes haven't completely failed me," Basquirin replies with a smile. "Yes, I myself had trouble getting out of bed. However, I've been socializing with a lot of the Candidates, especially when they got assigned to help out in the stables," he shrugs. "I s'pose I just really want to see how they do. So how are you?" Still teetering, still working busily back and forth, the Beyond Belief Egg has practically tipped over in its rush to shatter. A gash has broken the surface, a puncture-wound as a single black talon cracks through the shell and claws at the free air. Niena gasps as she sees the newly-hatched blue. "He's gorgeous..." she manages to say softly. Then she turns to look back at the little green, following her progress. Leova holds her head in both hands. Bugling. Trumpeting. Warbling. Talking. At least that brown's not so loud. She mutters, "Wagging his tail." In the galleries, Fayre eyes the new blue carefully, her nose wrinkling up while a smile forms on her face at the same time. "He certainly is an interesting one though, eh? I like him." She declares loudly, as if her opinion mattered on such a topic. Her ears twitch as she hears betting all around her, but she shakes her head firmly. "No. Can't gamble this early in the morning. Gonna lose all my marks." She mumbles quietly to herself, her smile turning into a disappointed frown. Rather than spending his time traipsing about the sands from candidate to candidate, Brash Brigadoon Brown has remained where he was. Glowering from the center of his shell torn asunder, eyes whirling red picking over what is available to him, he launches himself forward without warning. The first few steps a pantomime of a gather dance until he realizes hes being watched. Oops! Embarrassing! Snarl! What ya scurvey dogs looking at?! Crabby, hungry and impatient to claim his rider he stalks in his swaggering manner over to a slim, bird-like man with dark brown hair and aristocratic nose, then reaches to shove his stubby snout hard into his stomach. In the galleries, Danika nods at Danika. "That's true, and anybody who wants to come back to Tillek can came with us. But I also have friends and family here, at High Reaches to visit." Lujayn is staring out towards the immobile brown, curiousity brewing behind gray eyes. "He's funny, isn't he?" She mutters, noting contrast between active sister and more sedate brother. Then there are yet more eggs shattering and Lu is hard-pressed to keep her eyes on everything. "Yeah," She agrees with Leova. "Funny." Viviana chews her lower lip, having being met with one of the brigadoon brown's glances. One step closer to her deflector shield friend. "Niena, wouldn't it be wonderful if you impressed a nice sturdy brown? He's so sure of himself, don't you think.." She takes one step behind Niena for safekeeping. "Regal, if all be said and told. And where is that delkightful little green. And that blue..." Laylia looks at the brown sitting on his fragments of shell, then snickers a little at the evil eye he's giving just about everyone. She shakes her head, and rubs her hands together, just watching the brown as he finally starts moving and picks. In the galleries, "/One/ bronze? There better be at least two!" Fyra chuckles again, glancing briefly at the other blonde girl. "An' I'll take that bet." She cross her arms and frowns as another chromatic hatches, instead. Fraya glances at the brown, giggling loudly and she turns her head slightly to eye Jaeni. "Well, try not to. That'd be scary, you know.." She murmurs, squeaking as the brown comes near the group and she moves to push Laylia out of the way as she moves herself. "Oh! Look at that blue.. He's.. Lanky, I think." A glance towards Vivi and she flashes a quick smile before peeking around for the green hatchling. Witchlight Velvet Blue rights himself after his acrobatic escape from his egg, warbles busily to himself while he gets all his limbs in good working order, stretches out his wings and his claw-like paws after such long confinement. Everything's all straightened out and working great, so the gaunt blue starts the hasty process of measuring up these candidates, of snorting now-and-then when he glances across one that's not up to snuff. He nears the line of white robes with bold strides, unafraid. In the galleries, "Rarely *ever* gamble," Caitlyn mumbles Fayre-wards, then oggling the Sands and their contents again. Aleudre blinks, the sleep not quite out of his eyes by the time Wroth is in front of him swaggering and snarling. "/You/?" He's incredulous at first before unmanly tears wet the corners of his eyes, rubbed away fiercely just as quick as they appear. "I /am/ looking lively and no I'm not crying." E'dre, through his shock, beams a smile at the brown and then at Jaeni by him before looking to be led off. Up on the ledges, Melata tries to figure out which Candidate is which from her height above the sands. She catches the motion of the brown as he charge forward to a male Candidate, then claps as she finally figures out it to be Aleurdre. In the galleries, Jolak shrugs, "Then I haven't missed all the excitement--" he notes with a good natured smirk, having to straighten a little further in his seat to see the sands above another's head. "Yeah. Some of them are really interesting folks--" a pause, a frown before he throws up a shoulder again at Basq's last; "Besides the lack of sleep so far, I'm good. You? I heard something about a black runner?" In the galleries, Xielar glances down as E'dre Impresses Wroth, grinning, saying to Fayre, "I would have bet on him Impressing Brown and won, I think. That seems like a neat pair." As Xielar gets more awake as the hatching progresses, his personality appears to be lightening a touch as well. An experimental shudder convulses the shell of the Pick a Card Egg, its occupant within sensing freedom close by. Perhaps the sudden tremble of the perfect pale platinum of the Stargazing Egg, much like a childish giggle, drives that need for a much quicker escape, for one thin crack traces over its right side, a chip flaking off there though as yet, it reveals nothing of its contents. That brown comes right over and impresses to the person she was backing into. "Aleudre?" She blinks, surprised and shocked, backing away in the other direction from him. While he's being led off she calls, "Of course you impressed a scary one! Takes one to know one!" She grins then at least, casting a glance to Fraya. "I bet you could get burns if you fell down and laid on the sands here." She digs her toe into the ground, lips pursing as she watches things hatch and break out of eggs, etc.. In the galleries, Amaris gets a bit up in her seat as she catches sight of E'dre's impression to the dragon. "Is he /crying/?" She asks with a wry smile, looking back at Fyra. "Kinda a wuss. And ya, I say only one bronze." And she settles back into her seat, waiting to see who's next to impress. Leova says after Lu, "At least he finally..." She drops her hands and takes a step out to look, one step forward followed by two steps back, only now she's laughing. "Aleudre, didja see? Aleudre. Perfect. Poor Aleudre." More laughing, enough that she's not minding the warbling and snorting and such too much, eyes slitted with pleasure. Rhythmically, the Pick a Card Egg begins to rock, tempo increasing steadily as the prisoner jailed within it fights to break loose again. Sharp motions fleck more chips from it, radiating outward from the first one to fall from its end. Laylia gets pushed, and gives Fraya a glower as she gets herself back to a proper standing position not terribly far from the brown who's looking up at his Impressee. She takes a few measured steps back at the rather mean looking brown, and back to the comfort area close to Fraya. "Congratulations, Aleudre." She offers quickly. In the galleries, Fee tastes names on her tongue, contentedly. "Iesuth," she murmurs. "That's kind of pretty. And oh - did you see that new blue? Prettiest of them all." To a murmured comment from the man with her, she rolls her eyes, shaking her head. "Of course I'm allowed to like all colours. But I do like blues. And that one is really pretty. He's /gorgeous/." Finally, escape! The Pick a Card Egg crumbles in the face of an increasingly furious onslaught from the dragon caged inside it, first silver claws stabbing through the end, and then sharp neckridges as the occupant flexes against the walls that bind him. It takes only seconds then for the egg to shatter completely, shards tumbling to the sand at the dark feet of a proud, amber-touched brown.
Gilded Machiavelli BrownAverage in length, this dark brown's rangy build, long legs and proud neck, raise his lordly face above many others. Though shadowed by the deliberate arch of his eyeridges, cool and calculating eyes still gleam with intensity of spirit, undaunted by a certain knowledge of how the world works. A slender, patrician muzzle is matched by burnished headknobs, elegantly curved over the gold-flecked neckridges stalking down his spine. Echoing those hints of brighter hue, the wings that mantle him are sunlit brown, as translucent as amber. Yet those stairstepped ridges descend further, past the furl of cape-like 'sails, and there his color deepens again: rich walnut rolling along compact shoulders and muscled flanks until its shading culminates in the black-brown of paws like scorched earth, even darker-seeming for the brilliant silver of his talons. In the galleries, "You bet on the brown?" Caitlyn inquires of Xielar, then looking to Fayre. And then another egg pops open, grabbing all of her attention. N'thei gives up the good-little-Weyrleader pretense. Shortly after Aleudre Impresses, he moves away from where he'd been so sentinel thus far. He comes up not far from the new weyrling with his pleasantest smile, all set to be useful. "I don't even want to guess how you shorten Aleudre, so why don't you just come with me?" In the galleries, "Indeed. The talk of the stables," Basquirin stated simply. He smiles, and chuckles as he sees the brown's Impression. "My, it truly must be a wonderful thing to Impress." He says, before continuing with his original conversation with Joe. "I'm fine, though I am also very tired. It will be a feast of sleeping," the stablehand jokes as he turns back to the hatching. "E'dre," says the young man, seeming half-afraid despite his joy, of actually /touching/ his new dragon. But the beaming smile remains steadfast throughout as he follows after the Weyrleader. Wait, the Weyrleader? Aleudre wanders into the dark passageway. Up on the ledges, Sarisia watches the new brown pair to be added to Reaches. As she catches sight of his tears she smiles, recalling her own impression. "Just like us." She says to Tiqueth, watching happily as the pair head off the sands. "But you're /much/ better." She adds as her lifemate grumbles his dislike at the comparrison. Viviana huffs as E'dre is chosen by a brown. "Well, I guess the dragon's do know best... but still.." Reluctantly and with a mininium of enthuisasm she can muster, she calls out a polite congratulations to the new pairing. "Now then, let's get a dragon for you, Niena shall we, you as well Lu...." Her eyes widen at the newest hatching. "He's ....oh my, something else. You'd want to watch your p's and q's around that one." Niena gasps as she sees Aleudre impress. "Congratulations!" she calls out, no longer quite as quiet as usual. But soon she's looking back wistfully toward the blue, then more closely toward the green, with a glance at the newest brown. Fraya laughs loudly, shrugging. "Care to try?" She offers with a playful wink. "I'd rather not test that out, you know. I'd rather avoid burning myself." Laughing more there's a glance towards the newest brown and she lets out a soft oh. "How lovely he is! Don't you think, Laylia?" Forget about the pushing, Fray has. She turns her attention to the hatchlings and fidgets more. Lujayn laughs, the noise coming unnaturally amongst nerves and excitement. "Haha - Aleudre, with that scary brown. What do we call him now?" She takes a deep breath, hands fidgeting at her sides. "Get a dragon? What about you?" Gilded Machiavelli Brown skitters sideways, away from the shards of his egg, sharp eyes fixing on his clutchsiblings, sizing them up. Only after he's taken their measure with a dismissive flick of darkened wings does his attention turn to the white-robed figures with a sparkle of interest, stalking away from the remaining eggs and towards the semi-circle of candidates. While not moving with speed, there's a determination and assurance in the way he moves as if he's going to barrel right over the group. Louvaen's grin is huge as he watches the playful Iesuth and her Carisandra move off the sands. It's Viviana, again, that draws his attention away, seeking out this destined-to-dance blue. But it's the brown, that glaring hatchling, which his eye crosses first. A step is taken backward, that tail given a cautious look. "Lashing," he offers his own word, a little less benign then Leova's wagging. But then the velvety blue is found amongst the rocking eggs, the acrobatic escape watched. "He's a gorgeous one," the young man notes. In watching the blue, he misses the moment when the brown goes to Aleudre. A grin is offered Leova at her words. "Looks like he'll have is hands full," is agreed. A grin is turned back towards the new rider, gaze diverted when another proud-looking brown makes his appearance. In the galleries, Fayre grimaces slightly and sits up a bit, since she's been eagerly leaning forward this whole time. "Eh, I don't like to bet at all when I don't know the candidates well enough. Hard to predict otherwise, and I don't know a wink about any of these young folk." She blinks a bit at the latest brown and resumes her enthusiatic, bent-back, leaning forward position. "My, my. All these browns seem a bit...trickster-like, don't they? No wonder they decided to hatch this early." Laylia crosses her hands over her stomach, looking at the new brown as it comes out of the egg. She snickers a little, "Yes, he is quite lovely. I like the claws." She comments idly, shifting nervously on her feet from one foot to the other. The white robe she's wearing is tugged at now and again, as if pulling it will cover her more. In the galleries, "It's certainly a life choice," Jolak answers Basq, adding in way of explanation over the noise in the cavern, "impression." He leans forward, watching the new impressees that are taken to the side. "We at least have to endulge in the feast before going back to sleep Basq--" he smirks, jesting before he sits back, arms casually folding over his chest. Jaeni utters something that sounds more than worried. "Why are all these browns scary?" It would takes a sharp ear to pick up on that as she watches the newest one eyeball the group of them. She swallows, again looking away, focusing on the blue. Focusin on some egg shells laying on the ground. Anything other than these dragons that seem determined to run them over. Wandering free from her egg seems to suit Sparkling Waters Green just fine but while she could stay all day enjoying the warmth of the sands other needs intrude as well. It's then that she really sees the white things surrounding her. A world with such interesting things to see couldn't be all bad, could it? She quickly heads towards a cluster of candidates, a note of familiar greeting sent to them as well. She stops short as they back away from her and she moves on to try to find the truly interesting one she knows is out there somewhere. She slows down her bouncing stride so she won't miss anything -or anyone- interesting. Once giggling, now still, the Stargazing Egg's occupant seems to have quieted as her neighbor's hatched, though once the surefooted brown is on his way, it can't be left behind. So the polished ivory brushed with dark silver begins shake from within, a glistening silver talon poking through the top and wrestling a breathing hole open. Wroth moves into the dark passageway. Up on the ledges, Melata is drawn to the Stargazing Egg as it seems to be about to hatch. However, she has more than enough attention to spare to the other occupants of the sand. Fraya gives Laylia a look, "Why where you looking at the /claws/? You're not /supposed/ to try and freak yourself out." Though she glances at the claws anyway with a soft oh. "Maybe they are lovely.. Better watch out though." Jaeni gets a look and a gentle smile. "They aren't scary at all. I think this one is rather lovely, you know.. Quite interesting.." She giggles, tilting her head. "Wonder who he'll pick..." A glance towards that green and her brows raise. Leova says, highstrung laughter subsiding into a snicker or two, "No idea," only to offer, "Weyrling? Hands full. Right." She wipes her own damp hands on her robe, shifting again, catching the fragile-looking green's call and giving her a wary look before checking on the others. Viviana shakes her head at Lujayn, her eyes wide. "I don't know, up close and personal, they are rather ..daunting, don't you agree." She sighs, watching the blue,then the brown, then the green. Vivy's becoming rattled and breathes deep and slow. Peeking over Niena's shoulder, she blinks. "There are a lot of them out there, got to keep on your toes." She manages a small smile in reply to Lou but it's not a full on two-dimple smile, she's too nervous to concentrate. "Don't look at claws, oh no, not a good idea." Right when the Hint of Courage Egg shatters, Rhonda sneezes loudly-- and maybe that's what sealed the deal. The lanky, new-hatched green no sooner gets her limbs sorted out than she rushes-and-tumbles toward the girl, nearly bowls her over. Frizzy hair in her eyes, nose running from her sneeze, Rhonda blinks dazedly at the dragonet while she murmurs, "Ishawith," over and over. In the galleries, "-I- would have, had I actually seen the eggs before this morning, or night, or whatever it is right now," Xie tells Caitlyn. He nods again in agreement with Fayre, watching the sands below quietly. There's Moll again, on hand to collect the sneezy weyrling with a quick comment of congratulations and a beckoning wave toward the ledge. "I don't think we have tissue, Rhonda, but come along anyway." Sparkling Waters Green is too determined to stop now. Wedge-shaped head dipping passed a blonde-haired girl, the little green is choosy as she ambles along. The patter of her steps slow as she goes, wings lifting to flutter when one step causes her to slip down in a kneel. It's only when she straightens that she reaches her joyful destination, eyes turning the color of calm as she offers her head to a black-haired and blue-eyed young woman. Laylia shrugs her shoulders lightly, "Because, they're ... the first thing that came out of the shell." She answers Fraya, and grins broadly. She then turns to watch the antics of the green that's got it in her head to choose someone. In the galleries, Caitlyn blinks aside at Xielar, again offering up her opinion in a shrug, then rubbing at her eyes and yawning loudly - trying to shake off her too-early rising. Something's caught the Witchlight Velvet Blue's eye, and he hauls his head around toward whatever it is abruptly. He stays that way for an impressively long time, given the chaos still unfolding all around him. Like one enchanted, he has to shake his head to clear his vision and begin moving again, a slow croon built up behind his muzzle. Up on the ledges, Melata sighs, "About time that green impressed." Her eyes move on to the blue, which seems to have someone in his gaze as well. Leova, checking on the others, manages to spot Rhonda if only while she's leaving. Leova waves in a way that nearly clocks her neighbor in the head, regardless that the girl won't see her, and turns back around with a sudden satisfied sigh. She takes a deep breath before letting it go again. Slowly. Still faster than the velvety blue is moving. Fraya claps her hands for Rhonda with a giggle before glancing towards that green again a pause and she looks in that direction with another clap of her hands. Then she glances at Laylia with a quirk of her brow. "Well.. Um. You should've waited?" She grins again, fidgeting with a glance towards her feet. "Hnn." Up again and she eyes the blue, shifting her feet. Viviana steps from behind Niena, kneeling fast, to catch the Spring Water Green's head in lap. "Ashmyth? Me? You are sure about this? Are you alright sweetling? OF course we'll have food. Would you like eggs..oh meat, yes, meat." The blazing heat of the sands is forgotten as she gently hugs the little green's neck. The breathing hole of the Stargazing Egg widens as the metallic talon rakes ruthlessly down to the ground, pushing herself free of her months-long cage and shaking her damp, glistening golden body free of any remnant shells to stand proud, curious, and lively in the lash of her tail.
Sun in Winter GoldStreamlined in lean athleticism, brilliant sunfire hide stretches thin across her fine, swift form, the blinding gold of light melting a once-frozen landscape. Winter clings to her sleek underbelly and the tops of her paws in mottled shades of white-gold and heated amber, unable to remain consistent as the sun's bold reach claims her hide. Appearing like glistening dewdrops, melted snow graces the very tips of her sharpened neckridges, their lethal descent traveling the length of her long back, past the outjuts of delicately sculpted wings, to smooth and trail off at her double-pronged, playful tail. Long, thin wingspars, wrapped in near-sheer hide, open to reveal buoyant frosted sails that appear as if they could unfurl further but are instead held close, swept back aerodynamically and meant for airspeed. Incongruously wizened ridges arc over her inquisitive eyes, prominent fixtures on an otherwise slim, youthful, and innocent face. In the galleries, Caitlyn nearly bounces on her seat, murmuring loudly, "Oooh, the blue's chosen! Oh, he's so pretty!" Her point 'helpfully' shows others just what she's talking about. ANd then a sunshine in winter gold erupts from that stargazing egg, and Cait's attention is temporarily given to her. "Ooo!" Emilly slips through the chaos again, her aim another newly Impressed greenpair. "Ashmyth is it?" Emilly's voice is still quiet and serene as she reaches Viviana's side. "This way, mind that egg shell there," she points out to the two. "There's food aplenty where we're going." Lujayn begins to say something, anything to get her energy out in words, but it all stops when it's not some face in the crowd that's meeting a dragonet, but Viviana. "Vivy," Her words are caught in a laugh, eyes watering. "Beautiful, congratulations Vivy," And not much more comes from her mouth, though it keeps moving. WHUMP! Lonesome Watcher Egg, so still up to this point, chooses this moment to fall over on its side in the sand with no warning. Perhaps stunned by that tumble, it stays quiet after that, regaining its bearings before it tries again. Niena beams toward Viviana. "Oh, congratulations! She's perfect!" She doesn't even need to raise her voice. Then, noticing that both people she was standing next to are now claimed, she edges over to fill in the gap. With no greens to watch she looks at the brown and the gold once, then her eyes are drawn back to the blue dragonet. When N'thei's agitation drives him to move and to move towards Emilly, Satiet's dark lashes throw wide, a tilt of her head cast in that general direction. While her expletive can't be heard, it's more than visible by those with a talent for lipreading, and as if watching a trainwreck, she can't pull her pale eyes away until N'thei's done what she thinks he's going to do. Quickly, her lips thin, slim arms crossing over her chest, and a deliberate turn brings her focus back to what is happening on the sands. In the galleries, Xielar watches as the gold hatches from her egg, blinking in surprise. "Wow... A gold... Look, Fayre, a gold!" He nods in the direction of the gold hatchling before looking to Viviana's Impression. "Wow, things are really hopping now, aren't they?" he asks the other Istans. Viviana stumbles as she rises, tripping over her own robe. Nervously, she makes sure that her newfound love is not damaged by her clumsiness. "Food, come, let's follow the nice rider, shall we?" Viviana strolls into the dark passageway. Up on the ledges, Melata grins as she sees the gold arrive. Elsewhere, the pickings on the sands seem to be getting slim, less and less eggs to hatch. Fraya claps once more for Viviana. "Oh! Vivy! She's /pretty/!" She exclaims, squeaking at the sigh of the gold, anything else from the girl is cut short with that squeak and strangled in her throat. Slowly she relaxes and nudges Laylia. "Lookit. She's going to go to someone. Maybe you're sour enough for her." The girl teases with a laugh, slightly bouncing on the balls of her feet. Ashmyth moves into the dark passageway. Laylia lifts a hand to give Viviana a wave, even if it's not a congratulatory shout. She seems pleasant enough, lifting a hand to toss her red hair over her shoulder as the runnertail keeps getting tossed on the wrong side of it. "Look, /lucky/ weyrlings having to deal with Vivy." She says with a snicker, and then looks at the gold and scrunches her nose at Fraya. "Really now." Gilded Machiavelli Brown turns aside from the group of candidates at the last possible minute - sharply enough that perhaps his wings kick up some of the sand into the air around them. His muzzle is canted as he freezes in place, watching the creeping progress of the velvet blue with a shuffling, visible wariness - though he echoes his sibling's croon with one of his own, the noise lacks a certain emphasis behind it. Sharp talons dig into the sand as he begins stalking away, hungry, swirling attention shifting back to the white-robed figures. N'thei finds a moment at some point, while he's on his way back from delivering Aleu-- E'dre to return Satiet's silent profanity with a careless shrug of his shoulders. His intent is clear with the gesture: After everything else, /this/ upsets her? In the galleries, Amaris smacks Fyra excitedly as the gold appears. "Guess we were both right on that." She says with a smirk, watching the little queen. "Wonder who's gonna 'press her." In the galleries, Fee lets out a little 'ooh' at the arrival of the gold, tugging at her companion's sleeve in excitement. "A gold, Ar, see! She's pretty - and she's not a blue." But her eyes don't stick to the gold, they wander, taking in each of the hatchlings in turn, and some of the candidates as well. "Where's that blue got to now? Oh-- there." Jaeni tugs on Fraya's sleeve. "Wow, look at her. Now that's pretty. Oh yes, very pretty." The gold is given a good look over before the blonde is nervously eyeballing the dragonets that are currently wandering around the sands. "Why can't they just pick some people already and... stuff." Nervous, nervous. Emilly looks between Weyrleaders as she returns from guiding Viviana and Ashmyth to the Weyrlingmasters and her lips purse faintly, but there's more pairs to catch and she's got to watch her footing too as more and more shell joins sand on the ground. Exuberant, reckless, the Witchlight Velvet Blue gives voice to his triumph when he makes his selection. A brassy bugle sounds when he locks eyes with his chosen weyrling, when he spreads his wings wide as if to show off for the red-haired, blue-eyed woman he's picked to be his rider. He rushes to her, his boxy head jutting eagerly toward her. Fraya makes a face. "Vivi isn't bad, Laylia. And really. I'm serious." She laughs and looks towards the brown. "I saw, Jae. She's pretty. Yup.. But you know how I feel about "Weyrwoman Activities". Shardin' boring. Boring. Boring. I feel sorry for whoever that gold goes to. Yup." She grins at Jae and looks around at the hatchlings again. In the galleries, Fayre's red rimmed eyes furiously dart around, trying to keep up with all the action on the sands. "Oooh, lucky weyrling. Seems like a good blue." She says in agreement with Caitlyn, affirming the statement with a nod. "Aye, a gold indeed," is her simple response to Xielar. She chuckles a bit and adds, "Someone's about to get a heap of responsibility with that dragon, eh? Bet the clutchparents are proud though." Up on the ledges, At Tiqueth rumbling Sari wakes up from her quick nap. 'What'd I miss?" She asks groggily, blue eyes straining to focus on the sands. "Oh, that's why." She says as she catches sight of the little gold. "Pretty one too." And her eyes set to scan the sands at all the remaining girl's, her gaze remaining on the vaguely familiar faces a bit longer than the others. Lujayn watches the brown's approach, warned against those scary browns already, though a bit of gold registers in her mind and she turns automatically to see this new hatchling. "And the blue...he ran off somewhere?" She asks Leova, feeling Viviana's absence now. Looking between gold and brown, her hands find themselves at her waist again. Sun in Winter Gold's curiosity doesn't remain still for very long, her tail capturing her attention first. With a crow of innocent delight, her sleek frame lowers to skulk after the playful flick of her tail, until a glance up brings the galleries into view and the gathered people looking down onto the sands, at her and then beyond her, a slight turn following the gaze of the audience to the candidates. How curious. How worth exploring. Up on the ledges, Verenth's eyes whirl swiftly in contented greens and blues as the young blue chooses his lifemate. He nudges his rider's back for a moment, accepts a pat to his muzzle, then returns attention to the drama below. Laylia looks a little confused as the blue makes his way over towards her, not just towards her, but rushing. She nearly sidesteps the little thing, but when it proclaims her as his, she leans down to wrap her arms around the blue's neck. "Avorath?" She asks, then looks to see if someone's looking to get her and her little blue off the sands. As stunned by the Lonesome Watcher Egg's last attempt as it was, the Orbital Oddness Egg is jolted awake from its long sleep, trembling and shaking as the sands piled around the egg slip and slide loosely; limbs stretching out until a foot *pops* out in a crackle of flying shell bits. But just as the unremarkable blue and amber egg animates, the Lonesome Watcher Egg isn't daunted by that unsuccessful and shocking first attempt for long. It rocks and rocks and turns end over end as it rolls past the Orbital Oddness Egg, but only shows a couple of very tiny chips and lines for all that effort. Emilly doesn't even get to re-take her position at Sands' edge when Laylia and Avorath meet and she slips behind Fraya to collect the new-bonded pair. "Congratulations Laylia, follow me please to get your beautiful blue fed." Louvaen is watching the still, cobalt blue when the slow patter steps of the little green pass near. He follows her with his eyes as she moves over to Viviana, and when the girl kneels a delighted smile is sent towards her. "Oh," he breathes again, a happy sigh. "That was adorable." And then he's turning back to the eggs, blinking a bit as he notices the lively athletic gold, then shifting his attention rapidly as another bugle sounds and the velvety blue rushes forward... "Laylia!" Happy excitement colors his voice for the older girl, a grand smile given in congratulations. Niena gasps. "Oh, Laylia -- you are so very lucky." Her voice is soft again, so much so that the new Weyrling may not even hear it. And then Niena turns back toward the eggs and, perhaps less hopefully, toward the brown and the gold still prowling. If it tries again, maybe this time, *this time*, it'll work, and it's said a third time's the charm. Lonesome Watcher Egg gives it a final attempt, the dragonet within throwing himself against both sides of the egg until the tiny chips and the slivers of cracks explode, surprising not only in its suddenness, but also in its loudness; for the sturdily massive brown within trumpets his arrival with all the strength of his very young lungs.
Booming Bumbler BrownWith outsized paws and bristling eyeridges, this huge, deeply dark brown cuts an impressive figure for sheer size alone. His features are roughly hewn, as though carved by someone who had only the most basic idea of what a dragon should look like: prominent brows and blunt headknobs that sweep back over a haphazard line of near-black neckridges; a short snout and square jaw that merge with a squat-looking neck. Painted a swarthy mud brown, his burly shoulders are nearly indistinguishable from the barrel chest and bulging belly that comprise his imposing midsection. Even his wings are tough, fibrous things, opaque rather than the translucent film of daintier dragons. But for all his massive, predatory breadth, his smallish, deep-set eyes twinkle beneath the overhang of those beetling brows, warm and gently naive in their child-like innocence.
In the galleries, ANd looking at the gold is abandoned when that lovely blue focuses on his chosen, his wanted - and Cait finally makes out who it is. She suddenly all loud, obnoxious cheering and clapping, calling out, "YeaaaAAAHHH! Awesome for both of you, Laylia!" Fraya almost screams at that blue, but she holds it in and /scoots/ closer towards Jae. "Look.. Look! It went to Lay! It was right next to me! Yay Laylia!" She scoots more, glancing behind her and grinning at Emilly before she turns to watch the hatchlings and fidgeting. "Shells, Jay." Avorath moves into the dark passageway. Leova's attention is caught by Viviana's departure, perhaps the more so for having missed her Impression itself. Such chaos. She keeps trying to keep her breathing slow, slower than the way the velvety blue is rushing now, even with that dark, gilded brown stalking the way he is. "Somewhere," she agrees. "In front of someone. Can't see. Can't see who, I mean." Another deep breath, this one teetering on the edge of a yawn but not quite falling over. She gives the snowy gold an odd look: was there supposed to be one of those? and keeps looking even as another is hatched. In the galleries, Xielar watches as Laylia Impresses Avorath and shakes his head, saying idly, "Wow, that happened so quickly." He glances back toward the other hatchlings still on the sands with the candidates and shifts, getting a better look. Sun in Winter Gold explores, unable to keep still now that she's discovered a world worth nosing her slim muzzle into. Up and down the sand she traipses, enjoying both the attention and the new sights from attempting to peer beneath the ill-fitting robe of a young Tillekian boy to skipping past and kicking up a cloud of dust at a former healer apprentice. A lively figure, it's almost hard to tell where she might go next. The Twelve Dancers Egg hardly teeters before the bronze inside simply bursts from the shell, splits it neatly in half while he steps from the fragments. He stumbles a few steps before he gets the hang of walking, at which point he marches directly over to a pair of boys. Unlikely friends: Henrist is scrawny with freckles, Satrund is older and muscular. The little boy gulps, the larger one steps forward. Fortune favors the bold! S'trun announces, "He's Sevierth!" A grin spreads while he walks away from his pale-and-shaken friend with his proud-and-gleaming dragonet. Lujayn's laughter turns to a little giggle, something she wouldn't be caught dead doing otherwise, but something about the curious gold, the showoff blue, and Laylia's good fortune has her giddy. "There he goes, Laylia's got him," The lively gold captures her attention again, roving across the sands. "Oh, that brown doesn't look scary. He's cute." About the newest hatchling. In the galleries, "That blue I liked went to a girl," Fee reports, as if no one else is watching but her. "And I think his name started with 'a', but I didn't hear it properly." She shifts away from her brother, stretching her neck to get a better look. "Lots of eggs gone, now." Kept busy, Moll pops up at opportune moments to retrieve weyrlings that haven't been caught by Emilly and N'thei. Back and forth, back and forth, she leads the new pairs to the ledge and returns to keep an eye open for Impressions. "Let's get food for he who is Sevierth then. This way, Satrund." Jaeni huddles closer to Fraya, the two of them now becoming part of an ever decreasing group of people. "Congratulations, Laylia!" She calls after the older girl. "Wow, who'd of thought? Where's Leova, did she impress, is she still here?" She asks her friend, peeking around at the remaining candidates. In the galleries, Amaris can't help but laugh at the little golds actions. "I think she's a bit confushed. Looking up the wrong robes that is." She says with a snort before kicking at the bench in front of her, making the boys turns back. "I can't see." She says roughly and after they giver her a scowl they separate a bit, giving her a better view of the sands. Booming Bumbler Brown comes a-tumbling out of his egg, trumpeting, and then quickly steadies himself on all four large talons, blinking at his sudden surroundings. His head swivels down to the remains of the egg he had bursted out of, giving the pieces a nudge with his snout. Woops. But he is not discoraged, as with a warm deep rumble to his dam, he begins to head off in the direction of the white-robed candidates. In the galleries, "This clutch certainly is full of fighters, eh? They're all so..." Fayre makes a few aimless gestures in the air, perhaps resumbling something of a square or rectangle. "Solid." She chuckles a bit, a glimmer of cheerfulness invading her sleepy eyes. "Well, 'cept maybe the gold. She's more silly." Fraya giggles softly, glancing at Jae. "Don't worry.. And.. I think Leova is over there." Finger point in some off direction, she's not looking. Instead she's looking at that new brown. "Shells.. He's big.." A giggle and she bounces on her feet. "I like that brown, Jae.. Do you see him?" Kind of hard to miss. She laughs softly, crossing her arms as she looks to the bronze who hatches and Impresses as quickly as he came. Oh there goes one now! Someone forgot to breathe, got overheated, maybe locked his knees, and the young man faints flat on his back on the sand. One of his friends rushes to try to support him, too late, and it's only a matter of time before someone's able to drag his light-headed frame out of the heat toward the bowl. Up on the ledges, Sarisia frowns as another brown joins the group of dragonets. "Is it just me or are there a lot of browns this time 'round?" She asks a loud, watching the clumsy brown as he sets off in search of his lifemate. Up on the ledges, Melata answers Sarisia, "There are a number of browns this time, I believe. More than usual, given the size of the clutches now a'days." Snap. Crackle. Pop. All feet present and accounted for, bright blue in shade, but the dragonet's body is still caught within, cracks and striating outward from where limbs came through. Finally a sweet-eyed blue face makes an appearance through the rounded tip of the Orbital Oddness Egg and the hatchling trundles onward, still egg-clad.
Between Earth and Sky BlueFrom a cherubic nose to a broad, steadying tail, an unending shade of a deep, cloudless autumn sky stretches across the softly rounded contours of this blue. Chubby legs, out of proportion with the length of his frame, lead down to paws that darken about the edges from where silvered talons extend, while stubby wings extend to reveal cloud-swirled patterns in the veining of heavily opaque curtains. Lazily sloping neckridges rise along his back, past wide shoulders, up along a short neck streaked with iolite, to crest softly over his headknobs, like worn out stepping stones towards the heavens, polished to a fine grey-blue sheen. There, a sweet, rounded face with a blunt-ended muzzle and low-sunken eyeridges hanging over small eyes culminate the image of a leisurely afternoon, filled with unfocused dreaminess.
A roundabout path brings the Gilded Machiavelli Brown past the candidates one more time, but takes him no closer to making a choice of them. His eyes unreadable except for the hunger that overwhelms all other colors, he still displays remarkable patience, playing his cards close to the vest until the last possible minute, when he, suddenly and decisively, lunges to kneel at the feet of the round-faced girl with the dirty blonde hair. In the galleries, Caitlyn looks rather 'puffed up' as Laylia and her blue move off the Sands - the Istan woman grinning over at Fayre and Xielar. "That was a grand pairing. Blues are always underestimated, I tell ya. They're the BEST." And as she turns back in time to miss the fainting human Cait *is* in time to see yet another blue pop from his egg. Will the woman never cease squealing with joy? "ANOTHER one!" As if all clutches are absent of blue dragons... Lujayn waves to another section of the candidates, "Leova's here," She mouths, but is drawn away to see a...walking egg? No, that's the blue, and one hand flies to her mouth to stifle what's sure to be an unwelcome chuckle. Kazarin is distracted entirely while the Ruby Road Egg wobbles and finally shatters, but he happens to be looking at just the right moment to see the clover green dragonet that falls out. Hardly a moment is wasted between the two of them. She is still shaking shards off her slick skin when they lock eyes, when he hurries to help her find her feet. "Don't worry, Kellnith, you look just fine!" K'zarin beams from ear to ear while he helps pluck shell fragments off her gleaming hide. Leova, hearing her name, waves outward into the chaos as though to hail a lifeboat. Finally she glimpses Jaeni waving too, and gives the wave even more emphasis before standing back on her heels and flexing her knees a few times so maybe she won't pass out too. Out of nowhere, maybe to Louvaen more than anyone, "Why do some of them make noise at Teonath," awkward with the pronunciation but more or less managing it. "How do they know?" But then she can't see Jaeni any longer. Just the dragonet in front of her. She stares. Fraya glances at the new blue, giggling softly. "Aw.. Look at him." She pauses turning her head to peer at the boy who's passed out. "Oh... I don't know. Maybe we should see later.. Write that down somewhere.. " She laughs softly, "And good. You shouldn't be scared of them..." She trails off, eyeing that brown near her. "Oh. Jae!" She giggles and scoots out of the way once more. There's a green again and she claps her hands. "Yay Kaz!" Moll's starting to sweat pretty good now while she rushes to be at a new weyrling's side before there's time for the daze of Impression to get the better of them. "Does she look just fine?" she asks in a quiet voice to the candidate nearest to K'zarin and Kellnith, then a bright smile for the weyrling who never heard a word. "Come along!" There is yet no movement from the Deceitful Demonic Shadows Egg. It sits in a serene silence that seems strangely out of place with its garish colors. There may be chaos around it, but this egg shows no signs of participating, unlike its neighbor, a mud-splattered, sandy brown egg. The most delicate of shivers passes through the Clay Sentinel Egg barely stirring its surface in a visible manner, but enough to displace sand grains around itself, more like the tremors that presage the explosive force of an earthquake than actual motion. In the galleries, Amaris catches sight of the boy as he faints, her eyes glued to him as he's dragged away from the sands. "The boys are acting like babies today." She comments as the poor candidate exits the sands. With a yawn she stretches her arms, blocking the views of those behind her for a good while before dropping them down to her side loudly. "Sure is early." Up on the ledges, Sarisia gives Melata a nod as she answers her. "I figured there were, I mean," And she gives a shrug, a sly grin in place. "For the bits I've been awake for that is." Booming Bumbler Brown's large foot comes down on a large piece of shell with a loud CRACK, and he stops with a rumble of surprise as he looks down at the broken shards. He doesn't hesitate this time at it. Instead, he lifts his claws and side-steps it before he causes more of a mess. With another resounding rumble, louder this time and aimed to the candidates, he starts bounding his way out with more determination. Up on the ledges, Melata shakes her head at Sarisia, "It isn't /that/ early...the sun /was/ coming up." How many grimy palms have wiped nervously across white robes by now? There are a few candidates starting to look dazed as the heat and the hurry of the sands gets to them, more than one with a glassy sheen to their eyes while they watch the dragonets scurry from their shards to their new riders. And what does Jaeni do when the dragonet lunges into a kneeling position in front of her? She screams like a maniac. Because of course, this is one of those browns from earlier that wanted to eat her. And that's what he's come to do. She's thrown her hands up in front of her face protectively and that's when the scream ceases. She pulls them down carefully to peek at the brown. "Oh, Zechoth. Of- of course. We'll eat. Maybe more like you're eating. Oh. Oh." She's delighted now that the terror has been swept away. A long look is given Fraya before she allows herself to be led of the sands, Leova is given another one too. Louvaen snaps his head around at the loud exploding egg, eyes lingering on the trumpeting brown that emerges. The exploring gold then catches up his attention again, a soft chuckle sounding in his throat as she explores the younger Tillekian's robe. The marching bronze is watched intensly, a smile given to his chosen Satrund before Lou looks away... to rumbling brown, to newly hatched blue, to the gilded brown that lunges to... Jaeni! Congratulations!" he calls, then leans closer to Leova at her words. "I don't know," wonderingly, musingly. "Maybe, she speaks to some of them?" In the galleries, Xielar rolls his eyes as he listens to Caitlyn's remark. "Whatever you say, -bluerider-," Xielar tells her pointedly. The dock worker pauses as he watches the progress of the hatchlings' walks around the sands. "Is it just me or do candidates talk a lot?" he asks Fayre, nodding down toward Fraya and the others on the sand. He grins, however, as he watches the brown's surprise at the sound of his foot against shell. "He seems pretty interesting, don't you think?" Niena giggles as she watches the mobile egg. "He's adorable!" She says to no one in particular. Then she glances over toward the aristocratic brown as he stumbles toward Jaeni. "Congratulations!" she calls out, then once again divides her attention between blue, brown, and gold, especially the blue. In a rare moment of regal quiet, Sun in Winter Gold pauses, her slender neck striving to stretch as high as her wing tips reach while her head cocks from side to side in thoughtfulness. Rainbow-filled eyes, inquisitively bright, gauge the offerings before her -- and then her mind is made up, decisive movements animating her low-held, racing body to traverse across the breadth of sands to eventually stop at the feet of a tawny-haired, grey-eyed girl filled with sly, playful mischief. Claimed. N'thei passes Moll while she's doing the same thing, leading people to and fro. He's fallen into the swing of this task quickly, even if it means he's doing a bang-up job of pointedly ignoring looking in Satiet's direction. He's just in time to stop at the side of the new brownrider; "Jaeni? Ze-somethingth?" He steps up beside the blond, beside her gilded brown dragonet. "This way." There's every expectation that she'll follow unquestioningly, for he starts promptly toward the ledge. In the galleries, Fayre's mouth pulls into a tight grimace as one of the candidates falls. "Well, better than a mauling, I suppose. Surprised more haven't gone down, considering the heat plus the early morning hours." A grin twitches at her lips at Caitlyn's joyous reactions. "Not that you're bias, eh?" She nods sagely at Xielar. "Well, yeah. They gotta do something to control their nerves, y'know? I babble on like a fool all the time, so I can't really blame them." Jaeni walks into the dark passageway. Satiet does a good job of pointedly ignoring N'thei - that is until Jaeni screams and it not only causes her to swing her head that way, but Teonath also. Bloody murder, where? The Straw Spun Egg leans to the side slightly as if bent over by some wind that only it feels. The angle of that lean sharpens suddenly, and deep striations slide up along wheaten blades of grass that part suddenly to release a slight, vapor blue dragonet. Just as his feet hit the sands, his shell topples over on top of him, disintegrating into a rain of a million sunny shards. Blinking muzzily through the fading dust of his egg, the tiny blue takes off with a sudden start for Igoro and despite his size, knocks the candidate flat on his back, trumpeting gladly. "Sure! Sure! Let's eat, Stilkith!" I'ro laughingly agrees. Moll finds a moment to send a hurried smile across toward Emilly before she rushes to collect I'ro and Stilkith-- lots of Is in that. She leads them across the sands, avoids getting the paths of the other staggering dragonets along the way. Zechoth moves into the dark passageway. Up on the ledges, Melata listens at the trumpets as the gold impresses. Leova keeps staring, even as she flexes her knees. Flexes her knees. Flexes her knees. Finally she thinks to blink, and swallow, but just then Jaeni shrieks and she about jumps, a shudder of a hop that has her missing about everything else. Even the huge brown's rumble just blends into it all. She gets just the one glimpse of Lujayn and swallows again. Lujayn nearly jumps out of her sandals at a loud shriek, and hardly seems to settle when the noise abates. Blinking several times, she looks as unsteady as the poor lad dragged to the bowl, and for a moment her eyes are closed to accompany a look of profound confusion on her face. "Oh, yeah," Eyes snap open again, every inch of her body shaking. "That makes sense, Rielsath." Legs shaking, she bends to steady herself against the gold's athletic frame, grinning from ear to ear. Fraya giggles at Jaeni as she screams, clapping her hands nonetheless for her friend. It's then that she looks around for the gold and another clap for that pair. "Yay! Lujayn! I feel sorry for you!" She glances around, alone now. "Well, shards..." She puffs her cheeks up and makes a small pout. There's silence from the girl for once. She is eyeing the dragons left now, curiously. Up on the ledges, Verenth leans forward once more, as if he wants to go flying down to the sands of his hatching to 'help'. And, once again, his rider thumps him across the neck to tell him to behave. In the galleries, Xielar shrugs back at Fayre, saying "I think I'd be too busy looking..." He blinks suddenly as he watches the gold Impress Lujayn, "Wow... I guess the Gold's made her choice then..." He trails off again and watches the rest of the sands, curious eyes going back and forth between hatchlings and candidates. N'thei returns in due time to catch Lujayn's Impression to the queen, to file away the name Rielsath somewhere. His self-appointed task keeps him from having to register much expression for it, and it also gives him the luxury of being among the first to approach the new goldrider. He says something in an undertone, to her? To himself? Then; "Persie and I'daur will take care of you two just off over here." He's already set to turn away from the pair and lead on. Up on the ledges, Sarisia grins more broadly at Melata. "It ain't done raisin' though." She says to rider but then she sees the gold impression and nods, not entirely sure who the candidate is. "Nice name though, for a gold." She adds with a nod. The stillness is shattered. The Deceitful Demonic Shadows Egg splits into two jagged halves, red-and-black bisected with a muted crunch as a hatchling-sharp talon breaks the surface. The stickiness of the shell leaves it clinging a moment longer, leaves bits of it stuck to the hide of a parched brown dragonet that stands with uncanny agility amid the ruin of his egg.
Rain-Dappled Desert BrownLean physique dappled with gray, this brown dragonet may be as awkward as any at birth, but the potential grace with which he'll move in adulthood is etched on every parched line of his body. Although long in length, he's narrow in form with a scraggy ranginess that elongates the look of limbs already ungainly from birth so that his wings seem ridiculously oversized and his legs look comically small, skinny-but-promising. His hide is an unadorned landscape of parched earth-brown, little to break up a seemingly endless vista of cloud-shadowed desert. Brindles of gray blend seamlessly into his baked-clay coloration, the cool undertones difficult to discern as he's newly hatched and still glistening but becoming more pronounced as he dries-- the first splatter of raindrops soaking into a parched landscape, the liquid gray filtered into the cracked sand.
Balinne has arrived. Trinly, a pretty girl whom everyone had practically stamped as a future greenrider the minute she arrived, watches her circle of friends dwindle while the hatching progresses. She's wilting in the heat, but she manages to shine a smile every time another green dragonet is shelled! Leova sidesteps a little closer to Louvaen with Lujayn and the others gone on her other side, taking refuge there from which to look at the rest of the sands. "Maybe she does. Speak to them. Maybe... Oh. Would you look at that." Niena smiles over to Lujayn, again saying "Congratulations -- I bet your grandmother is so proud right now." Then, "Oh my, another brown." She looks toward the remaining boys then, in afterthought, at the remaining girls, before tearing her gaze back toward the comedy team of blue and brown still at large. Much like his egg did before him, Booming Bumbler Brown WHUMPs across the sands, his trundling gait throwing sand clouds in his wake to obscure the vision of whoever might be in his way: dragon or human! But his whumping around becomes purpose-filled, his hulkish frame moving with surprising speed across the way until he's butting into the side of a girl with light brown hair and large, round eyes. Flop. The Smoke and Fire Egg just falls over, just like that without any warning. It lies still for a few seconds then starts to rock and roll back and forth hard enough that it seems to be casting up actual smoke all around itself. Moments later the middle seems to just melt out of existence and two long, incandescently green wings rise from the egg's center, the rest of the shell crumbling into so much ash as a regal, aquline face observes the world around. Sliding nimbly forth, the intensely viridian hatchling stops in front of lanky, lean Sheldor from Nabol and fixes him with an intent look, then imperiously leads the way off the sands. "Idriloth needs a bath /right away/!" declares Sh'dor. Lujayn nods, more focused on the gold at her feet than anyone approaching. There's a nudge from somewhere inside and she looks up, suddenly aware again. "We- she's awfully hungry," She explains, starting right away for somewhere that can provide the needed meat. Lujayn walks into the dark passageway. A tall young man standing at the end of the loose candidate circle shifts his feet against the heat of the sands. His dark eyes move about towards his fellows before the clutch reclaims his wary attention. Rielsath moves into the dark passageway. Between Earth and Sky Blue stumbles and trips a few more times as he weaves his way a little drunkenly around the immediate vicinity. Whoaaaa. Finally he stops to take a deep breath and re-orients himself. His egg-clad shape waddles onward, nosing interestedly into the half-empty remaining shell of one of his clutchmates. A big long crack slo.ow.ly slides down the shell still clinging to his body as he continues to explore. Fraya turns her head slightly to watch the brown, letting out a soft scream as she's nudged into. There's a moment of shock, her mouth opens slightly and then closes. "Ah.. Wait? What? Food...?" She blinks, slowly turning her head and dropping to her knees to peer closely at the brown beside her. "There's.. Oh.. Rhadruth? No /wonder/ you sound like.. Shells.." She trails off, stuttering. "Shells.. Rhadruth." That's all she can say, apparently. Seized with violent undulations, the Clay Sentinel Egg turns about on its axis, its surface shifting and changing like the crazy froth atop a storm-swept sea, faint cracks sliding through its array of colors. Emilly returns from dropping off another pair and dabs at her forehead lightly with her hanky and my goodness if there isn't another pair to pick up. She heads right on over to Fraya and Rhadruth to lead them off away from the heat. "Fraya, what a nice big fellow you've got there, just this way both of you please, I'daur and Persie are waiting for you with food and oil." Pressing inward slightly as if all the air has been sucked out of it, the Clay Sentinel Egg suddenly explodes upward, a shapely green head erupting from beneath the surface of its topmost point. Bright orange eyes, intent in regard look around briefly then with another effusive shake, the rest of the egg is pushed aside to reveal the drab olive hatchling within.
Beyond the Limits GreenThe dusty olive of a fitted wool coat shapes this lithe, lean-limbed green, her narrow and angular face refined with a maturity beyond her years. Large eyes of uncommonly intense color convey strong emotions and the sense of hidden schemes, keenness whittling the jeweled facets sharply. Down her long gracious neck and across lithely sculpted shoulders and haunches, the patina of densely woven heathered gray alternates with twists of burnished green, shadows dark as charcoal gathering about her joints. Long-sparred wings of sage, appearing too delicate to enable flight, spread to reveal an undercurrent of ropy resilience through muscles and tendons that are draped with the fine sheen of a faded silvery sisal lining. A nonchalant strength slides fluidly through her gangly frame, sporadically visible in the ripple of muscular movement and in the swish of her elegantly long tail.
Fraya walks into the dark passageway. Moll's newest charge lags behind some, and she has to double-back to collect Sh'dor and Idriloth and usher them off the sands with a remark about getting baths when the time comes, about finding a better time-and-place to pause. Rhadruth moves into the dark passageway. In the galleries, Amaris's curiousity perks up at the gold impression but only momentarily. In no time she's facing Fyra, brown eyes scanning her friend's face. "New queen for Reaches.' She says obviously before picking at a thread from her dress which is poking out of the hemline. Niena beams over toward Fraya. "Oh, he's just wonderful. I'm so glad he found you!" She almost-but-not-quite jumps up and down for her friend. Then she's once again watching the blue moving egg, the brown, and suddenly -- the green. She turns all her attention to the most recent arrival. Louvaen looks over as Lujayn is claimed to the gold, a deep breath taken as he witnesses the new queen's Impression. Smile settled on his lips with the exhalation, he gives a little nod of his head towards the athletic pair. Flicking his eyes to Leova, he gives a little shrug and then takes her last words as an indication to look towards the hatching brown. "That's the quietest brown yet, I think," he murmurs. But that said, his attention shifts to the loud brown, the egg-cracking brown, as he moves to Fraya. "Oh, Fraya! Wonderful!" he calls happily. Rain-Dappled Desert Brown never misses a step. Even fresh from his shell, his movements are guided and certain, his path pre-determined. His too-large wings fold along his sides, the tips leaving twin trails in the sand while he walks surely away from the two halves of his egg. Amid the dwindling chaos, he's a bastion of calm. In the galleries, Xielar looks on as Impression after Impression occurs smiling. The dock worker does appear to be awake now, despite the early start to the day. He holds his head with his hands, arms resting against his legs. "Wow, that's a pretty green," Xie offers to Fayre. Between Earth and Sky Blue bumps into another bit of egg and falls down onto his rear end, blinking widely. The net effect: that crack in the shell 'armor' around him falls to pieces, freeing his wings. Immediately aware of the sensation, the low-slung blue gets to his feet, undaunted by the fall and spreads his wings wide, staring at them in dreamy distraction. Suddenly something snaps him out of it and his focus becomes intense as he trundles towards a specific Candidate. Turned on its side, the Amazing Escape Egg has lain very still for a very long time. Finally it begins to shimmy and shake from side to side in silent desperation as if bound tightly in chains it cannot break free of. A few nearby candidates eye the egg nervously, uncertain whether or not to move to help or not. Overly excited, pudgy Ferean strides forward only to come to a sudden halt as a sinuous celadon shape worms its way free through an expected crack at the very top of the egg. Turning nose over tail, the green stares up at the ceiling for a moment as if catching her breath, then rolls once more to sit up and stare F'ren right in the eye. "Yes. I'm all yours Haraith!" In the galleries, Unlike Xielar, Fayre seems to be growing more sleepy as time goes on; perhaps it's the sweltering heat of the sands wearing on her. "Not used to being in the heat in something other than my sarong. Oy, I thought it'd be cold in High Reaches." She nods at the dockworker and a tired smile forms on her face. "Sure is. They're almost all gone now, eh? Both dragons and eggs." Leova swallows. "Still quiet," she says, glancing from the dappled brown to Fraya's back and back again. Calm. And the stumbling egg. And the heathered dragonet whose wings she can't quite see, yet. But then the egg stops being a leggy egg and starts being a dragonet and a dragonet in motion, and she watches out, in case. Not too many eggs left; Moll looks a little relieved when she finds a moment to check the numbers. But there's only a second before she fires back into action and crosses the sands for F'ren and Haraith. "Well, you're all ours for a while, but we'll sort that out later. This way please." In the galleries, Caitlyn seems rather surprised to see Lujayn paired with the new little gold, but she hardly has time to spare when her gaze fixates on that silly blue once again - the Istan once again cheering as he makes his choice. "Aallriiight!" She turns to grin at Xielar and Fayre, and suddenly pokes the woman in the side. "Stay awake, you! If I can, *you* can." Grin. Clumsy bumbling around on the sands is concluded with a bad fall, a trip over a piece of abandoned shell that has the Between Earth and Sky Blue nose-planting in a hillock of sand. Nevertheless, he picks himself back up again, sneezes the sand from his nostrils and presses on doggedly towards a willowy young women with sea-green eyes and sandy hair. Down the line of remaining candidates, the Rain-Dappled Desert Brown spares barely a glance for each of them, only enough to know that he needs to keep going. One after another, he passes them by without a mark of hesitation-- they simply are not the one for him. He's getting to that one, step-by-methodical-step leading him closer. Louvaen watches the gren shake herself free of her shell, then lets his gaze linger on the calm brown leaving his egg so surely behind. The green's claiming of pudgy Ferean is watched with a grin before he turns to tile a curious look to the trundling blue. "Niena! Congratulations!" he calls when the willowy blue looks to her. Beyond the Limits Green takes a moment to gather herself together once she's egg free, observing her surroundings intently. Her gaze shifts from the immediate panorama of broken eggs and wandering hatchlings up into the stands and she takes it all in, absorbing sights, smells, sounds. Finally, she gets to her feet, stretching long, lean limbs experimentally and with a little nod, begins a methodical examination of every remaining Candidate on the Sands. Niena suddenly stumbles forward, all her usual grace forgotten. "Masoth? Yes, we can do everything together!" Sweaty palms are rubbed along the wrinkled hem of Cesaira's no longer quite white robe. The popping of the Shades of White Egg nearby only increases her nervousness as a pudgy, pale cornflower hatchling tumbles out of its pure-hued confines. Taking a few steps back, the girl looks like she might turn and run as the green bears down on her. Something stops her in her tracks though and she lifts a hand that her very own Pirioth slips her head under, crooning delightedly. The new rider only remembers to call out the blue's name loudly to the stands as they turn to leave, chin lifted with pride. N'thei selects Niena out of the draining mess, his smile catching on her stubby blue dragonet. "I'll have to catch his name another time, Niena." He takes a quick study of the girl, probably just to make sure she's not about to faint or anything, then flourishes in the direction all the other weyrlings have been lead so far. "Come this way, Persie and I'daur are all ready with food and oil for you two." Niena walks into the dark passageway. Beyond the Limits Green completes the circuit of the remaining few, nimbly side-stepping a large shell remnant and turns her head over her shoulder almost coyly at those she just examined. Maybe she'll make up her mind, maybe she won't. But something, something indefinable is drawing her back towards those white-clad figures and she must turn back, must complete her quest. Yes. /There/. Masoth moves into the dark passageway. Moll blinks and arrests her jog when Cesaira calls out so jubilantly. "You could have waited," she says with a laugh, already halfway to the ledge when the weyrling makes her proclamation. "Kids these days." Leova looks and looks. The sands are cleared almost to shards, and it makes it easier to see Niena with her new lifemate before hard, but harder to look around. Who's left. What's next. Though the cornflower blue chooses quickly, the other two draw things out. She waits. Ready for examination. Ready to step back. Ready to run. Calm certainty has lead the Rain-Dappled Desert Brown to his choice. The oversized wings that trailed in the sand since birth flicker with contained excitement, the rainbow eyes that whirled with flecks of reddened hunger now turn upward with adoration in the facets. Satori: he has made his choice in a pale man of messy hair and hazel eyes. In the galleries, Caitlyn's poke has its intended effect and Fayre jolts, fully awake. "Ack! You've got a strong finger, Wingleader. Darn dragonriders and their muscles." Her stomach suddenly rumbles loudly and the pudgy assistant headwoman looks sadly down at her pudgy tummy. "Oy, hope we get to eat soon. Wonder what the feast will be like this early in the morning." After much careful observation of the sands and every candidate thereupon, the Beyond the Limits Green has concluded her quest and she pulls her feet in under herself and walks very decisively, unwaveringly straight towards a tawny-skinned young woman with tumbled auburn hair and amber eyes. In the galleries, Xielar chuckles softly as he listens to Caitlyn and Fayre, looking to them before noticing the other hatchlings making their choices on the sands. A few experimental shakes disturb the Blood, Hair and Fingernail Egg from its comfortable resting place on the sands. One more shake and then it goes still until all of a sudden it explodes outwards with all the strength of a gale force wind, shell fragments flying every which way, some dangerously sharp. Pouncing onto the sands with aplomb, the flame-tinged bronzeling within, glares around the immediate are for a second then leaps in a few short bounds towards a cluster of female candidates. No. All wrong. Another group proves as unyielding of an adequate choice. Finally, he spots him, standing all alone, head bowed, tiny Eledro, the youngest of all the candidates. Pale-haired E'dro's head jerks upward wide-eyed before the dragonet even reaches him and with tears streaming down his face, cries out: "Hroxeth! You found me!" Moll collects the weyrling from the very last egg with a smile both congratulatory and relieved. The three of them march off the sands together and stay on the ledge this time with Moll trying to repeat the name Hroxeth to herself with little luck. Turns out, maybe Leova wasn't ready at all. As all the world drops away, her breath holds without her willing it. And holds. And she's staring. And then she reaches out to her Vrianth with both hands. And breathes. "You." In the galleries, Fee positively beams as the last weyrling gets walked away, turning to her companion to tell him, "That was /gorgeous/. Thanks for bringing me, Ar." He offers her his hand, smiling, and together, they wander out again, the girl bubbling on about the hatching, the man listening in silence - but still smiling. In the galleries, Fee walks down a short flight of steps and heads out through the entrance to the bowl. In the galleries, Fee has left. N'thei finally wears a more familiar expression, one edged with a smirk, when he walks up to Leova in the middle of her staring-and-breathing. Another undertone, another unheard murmur, then he opens his palm toward the ledge where the other dragonets and weyrlings have gone. "Come." Louvaen watches Niena go with a smile, watches the next blue's Impression. Looks out what once was so many eggs, now mostly shards. He fades a step closer to Leova, turning to look towards the two methodical hatchlings. The green. The brown who comes to look up at him. Louvaen's posture freezes. Eyes widen, and then sink shut under peaked brows. A breath is taken. Held a long moment. Let out raggedly. But then a wondering smile curves on his lips and his eyes open again, rimmed heavily with moisture. A single sharp exhale carries the sound of an incredulous laugh mingled with something like a relieved sob. Sniffing once, the new rider reaches out to touch a gray dappled ridge. "Bremuth," L'vae welcomes with a think voice. "I can't wait." Bremuth rests with supreme patience while L'vae holds his breath, strangles his sob, mists over. Only after hearing his own name again does he move from his haunches, does he refold his flickered wings and tilt his brindled head with a questioning look at his weyrling. Emilly works her way over to L'vae and Bremuth with a little smile. "Bremuth did you say, Lou-- hmm, we'll get that sorted. Please come this way for food and oil. The Weyrlingmasters are just over here ..." and she gestures lightly with one hand to guide the two away. In the galleries, Fayre's shoulders slump slightly as the action of the hatching begins to wind down. "Oh. Have they all impressed, now? I can't tell." Her chestnut eyes light up and she eagerly continues, "Does that mean food now?" Leova maybe doesn't quite get the words concept either, yet, but something of what N'thei says must get through. She laughs. Low. Exhilarated. And takes her Vrianth with her, along with Bremuth and his L'vae, a hand riding the curve of her dragon's long neck. She doesn't need words for that. Leova strolls into the dark passageway. Vrianth moves into the dark passageway. In the galleries, Calliosae glances towards the Sands, assuming it's finished and the young harper stands slowly. In silence, she turns and heads from the galleries with a bright smile upon her lips. As the last egg hatches and Impresses, Satiet pushes herself off of Teonath's back haunches, a sidelong -look- for N'thei, wherever he might be, before the porcelain features smooth politically and she turns to the remnant candidates to give the speech of sympathy and welcome. The latter invitation lifts so her clear, cool voice reaches to the galleries, "You are all welcome to join us in a breakfast buffet in our living cavern and," the raven-haired woman's lips twitch, shaping into a lovely, if crooked, smile, "We apologize for the ill-timing of these eggs." In the galleries, And in that crazy, compressed amount of time...it's all over. The Istan applauds for the final Impression of Bremuth and his young man, then looking at Fayre. Little Infelice has stopped humming, perched proudly, quietly on Cait's shoulder. "Uh...I think so. And yeah, there's *always* a big feast afterwards." A wry grin for the pudgy woman, and it's then shifted to Xielar. "Up for some breakfast? On 'Reaches!" L'vae laughs again, the sound thick with emotion. "We can go. We'll go," he assures, is wonderingly assured. Looking over at Emilly, he grins. "L'vae. Alright. Thank you." He steps out beside his brown, his Bremuth, to follow. L'vae meanders into the dark passageway. Bremuth moves into the dark passageway. In the galleries, Calliosae walks down a short flight of steps and heads out through the entrance to the bowl. In the galleries, Calliosae has left. Taking time to watch Emilly and the last weyrling leave the sands, N'thei returns conveniently after Satiet's delivered her speech to the remaining candidates, for whom he has a summary glance but no rousing speech or anything. "Breakfast buffet?" Unapologetic, he offers his elbow toward the goldrider in a stately invitation that looks very proper for those in the galleries, for those that can't see the baiting twitch that drags at the edge of his smile. |
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