The Two Roads Clutch

[Rei]

The Two Roads Clutch
Proudly presented by Gold Jingth and Brown Chaoth

Burimyu's long unused hatching sands had been painstakingly cleaned and raked. The work beginning as soon as Jingth had first begun to glow. Now pristine and ready they have accepted the first eggs in who knows how many turns. Gold Jingth remains curled about her clutch like a silent sentinel. Waiting for the rapidly approaching day when little dragonets will again stumble across these sands.

01. Road Not Taken Egg
two roads diverged in a road, and i—
i took the one less traveled by

The Road Not Taken Egg is softly rounded, dapples of green painted in thick oils over the surface, yellows and blues working their way into the medley of shades. Delicate twists of pink and purple linger just out of sight, a whisper of gold twisting through the greens. Starting at the base of the egg is a tan line, about the thickness of two fingers, that unhurriedly wanders through the green curves, snakes around the egg’s smooth surface. At the top, it splits abruptly into two—two new tan snakes equally thick, equally unaware of their chosen paths; two lines that dip and weave around each other like a dance before vanishing into smoky green.

A touch to the shell earns a soft smooth consciousness, mellow and quietly content. Peaceful, soft; it’s what most people are when they’ve just woken up and aren’t in touch with the world yet, for a few minutes; it’s a yearning for an eternity of love, of life, of peace.

02. Forests of the Night Egg
in what distant deeps or skies
burnt the fire of thine eyes?

The Forests of the Night Egg is upright, light and almost balanced on a tip in the sand. The deepest black covers most of the shell, licking like liquid midnight against the sides. However, deep, rich orange flickers into visibility, dim illusions painted like shadows on the smooth shell, lacerating the black into a tiger-print pattern, so dark it’s only visible from right beside it. Even darker are the smudged forest green patterns that fade translucently over top of the black, shimmering like a mirage. Very clear, though, are the two yellow spots, close together, with black splitting each clear down the center.

It’s not even necessary to have direct contact with the shell of this egg in order to feel the slide of mind against mind, blooming, hard and cold as ice under a layer of thin persuasiveness. But many-layered is the mind, unwavering as its front may be; that which meets the touch at first is not all that there is…

03. Book of Transformations Egg
i see the milestones dwindling
towards the horizon

Chaos is a swell of vibrant colors twisting together like an inferno across the Book of Transformations Egg. Chaos is red dripping pink into blueness across one side of the egg, a vortex of colors up close and a nondescript blue at a distance. The egg has no beginning and no end, only a melting of a thousand shades of the rainbow, stitched together with a black thread that snakes up and down and around the shell to bring it all together to form a single object, perched precariously on an incline—a whisper away from another transformation, a tumble into the sand.

Touch a palm against the Book of Transformations Egg and the result will come rapidly; a curious intelligence pressing inquisitively, a flicker of light behind one’s eyelids like the imprint of the sun. It burns into the retinas, lingers long after one drops their hand away from the egg’s surface and moves away.

04. Last Scene Egg
all the world’s a stage,
and all the men and women merely players

Painted rubies and glossy browns drape themselves across the surface of the Last Scene Egg, an elegant stage with vertical lines flickering through the entire creation, giving it a very tall appearance—a stage upon which golden figures link ‘hands’ around the width of the egg, all of them in the process of bowing down. Each figure varies slightly in shade, so that on one side a very pale gold makes up an entire figure, while on the exact opposite side, the darkest, burnished bronze-gold appears, with the many middle shades in between.

A touch of the Last Scene Egg will elicit a keen curiosity; an entity very much in tune with its surroundings and the minds of the Candidates. It’s impossible to hold on to or pinpoint; there is no beginning and no end, merely the feeling of a slippery consciousness in and out as fast as blinking.

05. Darkling Thrush Egg
so little cause for carolings
of such ecstatic sound

The Darkling Thrush Egg huddles quietly, safely encircled in soft sand. Bleak grays and browns blur across the surface of the shell, appearing rough to the touch, smoothing to silk when tested with a fingertip. White smears across the background and curls softly around the gray and brown, a cold, unappealing creation hunched over itself. Low on the egg’s surface, though, appears a small, blotchy shape; a bird white enough to blend into the background with dark ticking and a beak of faded gold. Very clear are the two eyes, dark spots peering intelligently out of the shell.

A stroke of the palm down the glassy-cool shell earns an odd sort of reticence from the creature within, a distance, a pulling away. The mind within is tentative and careful, meticulously evading foreign minds while thoroughly examining others. Linger longer, though, and the hesitance turns softer, a little more welcoming.

06. Deepest Secret Egg
which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide.
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

Settled comfortably in a small scrape of sand, the Deepest Secret Egg is nigh upon indescribable—its entire round form is a flush of vibrant colors. Deep, rich blue curls along the bottom of the egg like smoke, dragging upwards in thick painted lines; fade into deep violet with a scatter of white stars around the middle like a belt. Blue and black intrude on the violet, a small piece of the night sky caught and painted onto the egg. The violet rapidly turns into a pink-red flush near the top, deeper maroons settling around the shell in small swirls. Thin white lines curl close to the maroons, offering a three-dimensional appearance. The very tip of the egg turns into a startling gold-orange; the tip of a lighthouse, glittering.

The Deepest Secret Egg is very…strange to the touch, a kind of not-velvet, not-sandpaper, bumps and ridges appearing in small imperfections along the shell. However, those will soon be washed away in favor of the sheer willpower radiated by the creature within—determination to be seen and felt and known melting into dreams of a brighter tomorrow.

07. Chambers of the Sea Egg
till the human voices wake us,
and we drown

Quiet, serene beauty is found in the Chambers of the Sea Egg; a shimmering silver-blue claims the majority of the shell, smoothing into white peaks and dips. Silver swirls paint themselves hair-thin across the shell, giving a sense of constant, never-ending movement. Near the base of the egg is a swirl of tan, a color that dips into a light green near the bottom and is edged in small markings like scales. Browns and reds curl up from the base of the egg as well—none of them identical, in shade or in pattern.

A touch against the velvet-smooth shell of this egg will earn a flicker of consciousness; as bright and blinding as a flash of light. It will be accompanied by pure, bright curiosity, a soft playful hesitance coiling around one’s consciousness for a fleeting moment before it drops away again, mischievously lingering in a second bright flicker of aliveness.

08. Trepidation of the Spheres Egg
so let us melt, and make no noise,
no tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move

The Trepidation of the Spheres Egg is a wash of lovely reds and pinks; it looks as if a rose, in the process of blooming, had been plucked and printed onto the egg’s shell. The main color is a color between pure red and pink, lavished with deeper reds that curl from the base, winding themselves around the light pink that drips from the top of the egg. The two colors twine together and melt into a single flawless color around the center of the egg. Further, a handful of white speckles has been liberally splashed across the shell of the egg, scattered like freckles or highlights. The entire egg has a peculiar shimmering quality to it as well, like light is being reflected upon it.

Stroking a hand down the side of the Trepidation of the Spheres Egg will earn the curious sensation of falling, of one’s feet being swept out from under them unexpectedly—a breath-stealing sensation. It is only a moment, but it will be enough to be dizzying or even nauseating for those that were not forewarned by previous Candidates of it.

09. To Be Alive Egg
if we’re not supposed to dance,
why all this music?

A vibrant splash of color appears on the Sands in the form of the To Be Alive Egg. With a base in the shade of a highlighter yellow, it’s guaranteed to be blinding. Lime greens and neon purples dance around each other, snaking up the sides of the egg. At the top of the egg, a pop of bright red and blue flashes outwards like a firework, and a scattering of harsh white speckles curl around the middle of the egg and ghost over the bottom half of the shell. The entire egg has a highly glossy appearance, almost as reflective as a mirror. As it hardens, the illusion will only become more prominent.

Touching the To Be Alive Egg will feel rather akin to being plunged unexpectedly into water—not unpleasant, but startling, a mentality very much bright and very alive. The creature within is not unfriendly, and yet no matter how long one’s hand rests upon the shell, very little information will be gleaned—only a general sense of arrogant glee.

10. Touch the Skies Egg
we never know how high we are
till we are called to rise

Curled serenely within a generous nest of sand, the Touch the Skies Egg splashes a gentle blue onto the Sands, a gray-tinted, unassuming shade that swirls into darker and lighter ribbons. The ribbons flow around the shell, curling upon one another in a frozen game of tag, melting as pale as white and as dark as navy. If one takes the time to trace them, they will discover it impossible to find the beginning or end of any ribbon—that, in fact, it is all one endless line that curves and dips across the shell. Near the bottom of the shell is a dark smudged mark, very akin to a handprint—as small as a child’s.

Like the shell itself, the creature within the Touch the Skies Egg is not a flashy one. Touch the shell and a thrum of intelligence can be felt, but pushing will not get far at all, instead simply earning a quiet, neutral politeness. It cannot be mistaken for shyness—is definitely acknowledgement and dismissal, wrapped into one. [/font]