Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep (Dream Hatching)

[Ember]

Eikask was a rather protective mother. At least while the babies were still in their eggs and couldn't steal all the attention from her. She drifted among the eggs occasionally nosing one almost affectionately or tapping a gentle claw against one. She crooned at one knowingly because she'd begun to feel them a little while ago and well...that egg just amused her. She passed by the Nightmare Egg and had to pause. Well then. The soft clicking was unmistakable. Her babies would be hatching that night. She brushed Hers' mind with that knowledge and he looked up from his reading. "What did I tell you? I knew it would be tonight." You are the most clever, as always, Mine. Time to call the candidates while you prepare...please. "Yeah, yeah."

Eikane set about acquiring and setting out the food for the newly hatched babies. Unique to a wher hatching, he also set out a series of sharp knives for the sake of blooding the new mindmates. The babies could just bite their new handlers but that usually wasn't very pleasant. Besides, the knives were just cleaner. While he was doing that Eikask padded towards the entrance of the wher hatching room. She brushed Pidesk's mind and then, after considering it carefully, brushed Dmisk's. It was carefully blank of expectations. He would be there anyways. He always was, if only out of duty. She was being polite - offering an olive branch, of sorts - by informing him before the general broadcast. That done she tipped her head back and howled, broadcasting images of eggs towards the candidates. It was late but not super late - just past the average time that daylighters seemed to go to bed, meaning some would still be up.

The gold retreated back into the room, positioning herself next to her eggs regally. Her gaze caught Pidesk entering and she dipped her head in greeting. Eikask turned her attention back to Eikane and snorted softly while he fiddled with the lining of the knives. Surely they are perfectly straight and evenly spaced now Mine. The goldhandler sighed, caught out, and limped his way over to the gold. He rested a hand on her head briefly and the gold practically purred. Then the first of the candidates arrived and both of them refocused on the task at hand. Eikask huffed softly at the polite greeting to her from Casandra and deigned to nod at the girl. That one may be female but she was acceptable for her children since she knew her manners.

Eikane waited until more showed up before clearing his throat and starting his spiel. "Hello candidates. I'm Eikane, the gold is Eikask. She runs the show here so try not to piss her off because she's nowhere near as lenient as I am. If you see a baby coming your way don't automatically assume it wants you. They're babies. They don't know any better if they happen to attack you so don't make yourself a target. You'll save yourself a mauling that way. Hopefully," he added, shrugging slightly at the nature of hatchlings. "There's food over there for when you Bond as well as knives. Whers bond better when given the blood of their handler. It's usually your choice but some whers," he looked significantly at Eikask, "like to bite you and make sure it's done."

The goldhandler added one last "Pass it on to the others who come in, would you?" before the Nightmare Egg gave a violent shake and actually fell onto its side, cracks spreading out from the point of impact at a startling rate. It wouldn't be long before that one hatched. Probably...

~~~

Mutual Egg - Hatched green, Impressed to Minlara; blue, Impressed to Sena
Recurring Egg - Hatched gold, Impressed to Kaius
Nightmare Egg - Hatched brown, Impressed to Casandra
Lucid Egg - Hatched bronze, Impressed to Vivano
Prophetic Egg - Hatched green, Impressed to Sydney
Epic Egg - Hatched blue, Impressed to Cainith

((If you don't want maulage of your characters let me know!Also, if your char is at the hatching and is of Impression age they run the risk of being Impressed to. Just so ya know.))

[Ember]

Posting for Sebby~

Casandra's eyes flashed open immediately as a voice peirced her slumber. She didn't panic, though that was on the forfront of her mind. No, she must not panic, panicking would not do. She would be calm and collected- at least to some extent, though any composure she was able to maintain at the moment was sure to be lost in the confusion of the hatching.

She had made up her mind a few sevendays ago, she would attend the wehr hatching that at the time, had seemed imminent. Previously being bent on impressing only dragons, this change of mind was brought about her startling personality change that had occurred since the last hatching she had attended. Who would have ever thought the the she-bitch could turn a knew leaf? Casandra griminced as she put on the candidate robe, because it was a hatching after all, clutching the fabric between her fists. She was not proud of what she had been, and she was not proud of what she had become. Perhaps today would be the day where she could truly start over.

Slipping on her sandles, thankful that the hatching was not to take place on the burning hatching sands, she quickly excited the barracks and practically ran towards the wherhandler's apparetments. She was unsure of what to expect of this hatching, it was sure to be similar to a dragon hatching in some respects and very different in others. The only thing Casandra knew for sure was that she had to be their on time. She was sure that Gold's of any type would not want their babies choosing partners from humans who dared show up late.

Casandra arrived at the clutch without to much trouble and gave a quick bow to the Gold that was perched near the eggs, gaurding them. “Thank you for giving me the chance to stand for you're children,” she murmered quietly before taking her place around the eggs, watching them without blinking- she didn't want to miss a thing.

[Avu]

“YOU GUYS THEY’RE HATCHING LET’S GO RUN RUN RUN.”

Azazel squawked in dismay, toppling off of the couch as the cushions dipped under Sena’s weight; the girl had literally flung herself across it to grab Kaius the minute the broadcast had come. “C’mon,” she added, at a slightly more appropriate volume given the hour, “C’mon c’mon c’mon, I need you, let’s go.” One arm looped demandingly around Kaius’s shoulders, and Sena threw her weight towards the edge of the couch to pull Kaius up. Or just off. Either would work. Actually, waiting for half a second would probably also work, but Sena was way too excited to pause.

Except for Sydney, to whom she reached out her free hand, wiggling her fingers expectantly—she was thrilled that they had all been conveniently there when the Hatching was announced, and it was a little bit by design; she’d been deliberately camping out in the Candidate Barracks common room at night, after all.

They made good time getting there, considering that a human crutch was definitely a new one for Sena. And probably the human crutch in question, she expected, unless Kaius made human speed-crutching a hobby of his. Sena was faintly out of breath by the time they got to the wher Hatching Grounds, Azazel gliding along behind her with visible agitation and alarm as he looped them, anxiously clicking his beak. Sena shooed him into the Stands before she quieted to listen to Eikane, still attempting to hold on to both of her friends.

Regular Hatching talk it seemed, except with wher specifics of course, but otherwise simple. Don’t be stupid, don’t be overly optimistic, don’t bleed on the Sands, things like that. Sena flashed a shy glance at Eikask, offering the gold a nod and a smile that would hopefully convey respect or gratitude as well as acknowledgment—Sena didn’t want to actually talk to her because that felt like she was expecting an answer. Or had just come to chat to Eikask, which she hadn’t, so.

Instead she leaned over to whisper to Kaius and Sydney, “’s too bad there ain’t many eggs, looks like maybe some people won’t Impress…” Which, okay, Sena wasn’t exactly optimistic here, not for herself, but she wanted to Impress with at least one of her friends, and she didn’t expect to ever Impress a dragon so a decent chance at a wher was nice and all but still…she could do without the nerves.

((Avu to HQ, Operation: Maul is a go.))

[Zephyr]

Well, some of the candidates might have still been awake, but Kaius most definitely was not. At the moment, the boy’s head was bent at some awkwardly absurd angle as he sat near Sena and Sydney, his eyes closed, snoring softly, mouth half open. Sena had taken to camping out on the couch in the common room, or rather, forcing them to camp with her. Of course she knew that the eggs would be close to hatching, and she and Sydney were pretty excited. Kaius, on the other hand, couldn’t really care less. Sure, any life being brought into the world was a good thing, but it wasn’t the hatching of whers that got him excited. He had never intended upon attending the hatching, but he knew he didn’t have much of a choice. Sena had been using him as a human crutch ever since she hurt her ankle. He didn’t mind, of course, but when she suddenly started shrieking, and Kaius was startled into wakefulness, he wished she would use Syd as a crutch.

As soon as the girl started yelling, King was startled from his owner’s lap with a hiss, spreading his wings and doing awkward air tumbles before righting himself and sending an incredulous look towards Azazel, trying to seem more regal than the bird, but ending up more flustered than he had been. Blinking his eyes groggily, he ached to work out the kink in his neck, but Sena was already moving, and the tall boy had little choice but to move with her, unless he wanted her to fall on her face.

King seemed pleased with the picture and fell ungainly onto the blonde girl’s shoulders, wrapping his tail around her neck. She was as good a perch as his boy, and her neck was decidedly thinner. He didn’t have to worry about falling. The bronze mandyr was wondering where they were going. Wher hatching. Kaius said, still half asleep, moving along with Sena more out of instinct than conscious thought.

By the time the trio plus salamandyr made it to the eggs, Kaius was mostly awake. Thankful that Sena actually stopped, he bent his neck back and forth, enjoying the cracking of it before he looked to the eggs. They didn’t look much different from dragon eggs. Perhaps smaller, except for that big one over there. Kaius eyed the biggest one warily before trying to stretch out his limbs without making Sena fall over.

King crawled up Sena’s head, hooking his claws into Kaius’ shirt and crawling up, searching the boy’s mind imploringly. Nightbeast? The salamandyr said, not bothering to hide his thought from the girls. He rarely ever did anymore. It didn’t seem to matter since his started spending so much time around them. Kaius shrugged as the salamandyr settled behind his hair. “ Don’t worry. I’m not impressing.” That was true. At least in his mind. He was here for moral support as well as physical. That was it. Maybe he would enjoy watching the eggs hatch, even if he knew that he was a dragon candidate. Surely the babies would be able to tell that…right?

He blinked a few times before eyeing Eikask and nodding to her, murmuring words meant to flatter before his gaze falling back to the eggs. There weren’t many, but enough for his friends to impress. Sure, he would be happy if they impressed, but sad that the trio would surely be broken up today. Not that he couldn’t crash their apartment and camp out on their floor though, he thought with amusement, looking to Sena as she spoke. “ I’m sure you guys’ll impress.” He said softly, while King nudged Sena and Syd’s mind encouragingly, glad that his wasn’t thinking of impressing any of the stupid nightbeasts.

---

Saphor was awake, actually, she was getting Phaiden ready for bed. Unfortunately for the blonde candidate, the eggs decided to hatch at that moment, the mental nudge causing her daughter to go crazy. Of course she knew that she would take Phai with her to the hatching, even if she was just going to shoo the girl towards the stands. It was just irritating that the eggs decided to wait until the girl was almost ready for bed. Now she was never getting to sleep.

“ Get dressed then.” She told the girl, moving to prepare herself for the hatching. The blonde didn’t bother putting on any silly robes. Whers were notoriously less picky than dragons and even impressed to people straight off the street, so she just wore her regular clothes and was busy fixing her hair when her daughter bounded into the room, tugging on her hand.

Sighing lightly, she finished and then herded her daughter out of the room, making their way towards the apartments, with Phai half dragging her towards them. The girl knew the wherhandler apartments better than she did, since she often went there with Piden. Still, Saphor at least decided that she needed to lead the way, and lead she did. It didn’t take long, when they reached the hatching chamber, for Phaiden to see the eggs.

Saphor glanced into the darkess, locating a lurking Pidesk, but no Piden. Not yet. Irritation creasing her face, she nudged her excited daughter towards the bronze wher. “ Go find your father.” She said simply, bringing up the rear of the candidate group, nodding appreciatively but curtly towards the gold.

This would be interesting.


(( Maul away, Ember!<3 ))

[Aftershock]

Cainith snorted awake at the mindpicture and howl from Eikask, having more dozed off than actually gone to sleep... he had been trying to adjust his schedule as the hatching approached, just in case, and deep sleep generally did not come to him until well into the evening lately.

Having simply flopped back onto his bed & not even bothered to remove his clothes, or even boots, he simply got up, ran a hand through his mess of hair and smoothed down his beard as best he could, while Rollhead slipped off the feline skull he had found and taken to using as a bed and climbed quickly up the leg of Cainith's bed, then up the large man to perch on his shoulder. Cainith then proceeded down to the wherhandler apartments... he didn't have to worry about a Candidate robe, considering the double fact that he was too old to Impress a more picky dragon and the extra material required to make one for him, they had never issued one to him.

As he walked, the turned to Rollhead and warned, "You'd best be on your best behavior, Rollhead. This could be my last chance to Impress anything... and I've been a no-respect Candidate for too long now. If you mess this up, I'm gonna smite you so hard..." Rollhead returned Cainith's gaze, his frill lowered submissively at such a direct threat from his Goddess, and replied, "Rollhead say nothing, Goddess divine might attract best darkling. If no darklings come, it because none good enough for Goddess."

Making his way through the dimly-lit hallways, he finally reached the end where the hatching chamber lay, entering it carefully. Noting a few other Candidates already having made it, he nodded in greeting to any who looked at him and greeted him first, and returned Eikane's greeting before listening to his speech. Nodding towards Eikask respectfully, trying to send a pulse of friendship and confidence towards the gold wher, he settled in, watching the eggs... but especially the largest one. "This is it," Cainith thought to himself, "If I don't Impress here, this might be it for me..."

[Kisha-Ra]

Vivano absent mindedly hummed as he watered his plants, rather enjoying the mingled scents they gave off into the candidate barracks, whether or not anyone else did was a matter for debate but no one had actually come to complain to him and he’d been here quite a while now. A howl shattered the calm of the evening but Vivano was becoming conditioned to many odd and loud noises in the time he’d been in this Weyr.

The idea that this howl was more significant than other sounds came to mind with an image of eggs. He identified such as coming from a wher but not one he knew, unsurprising since the two whers he could be said to know were both wild. This “sounded” a bit like the wild queen but not quite, it did have the same sort of mental tone to it however, that, and fact that the image also informed him wordlessly that the eggs were now hatching, made Vivano deduce that it was the Weyr’s own wher queen that called him.

Naturally he placed his things down gently, dropping everything would only result in disaster, checked the location of his salamandyr, nowhere in sight thankfully, and took a few moments to change his shirt and run a comb through his hair. He was, after all, going to a hatching, at which he hoped to make a good impression, hopefully on a wher hatchling but if not then on their mother so she’d invite him along again.

His personal grooming complete Vivano set off for the hatching with speed. Along the way he was forced to stop and look curiously at the wild gold, what she was doing in the Weyr was something of a mystery but one easily solved by thought. ‘Here for the hatching, are you? It’s up this way, or that was where the clutch was last time I checked, doesn’t seem likely Eikask would move it at this date does it?’ Vivano wasn’t sure she didn’t already know but he was trying hard to make a good impression on the wild queen too, so he walked along next to her and held doors open for her in him most gentlemanly manner.

‘After you, my lady.’ Vivano told the wild gold quite seriously as they entered what he tended to think of as “Eikask’s room” and followed her in, bowing his head to Eikask and nodding seriously at the instructions he was given.

[Ember]

Eikane settled in to be completely ignored after his initial speech - no one cared for a cripple when there were oh-my-god-hatching-babies! anyways - and let Eikask appraise the candidates. The gold was pleasantly surprised to note that everyone so far was polite towards her. Mostly she just got vague nods but that was certainly more than she was used to. She felt a pulse of amusement from her handler and snorted softly. Fine, so she was pleased with this bunch. Big deal. And geez but that one is huge, isn't he? He could probably crush any thing he falls on.

The gold started in surprise at the appearance of her wild mother and issued a curious mental probe in the direction of the other gold. Eikask would have thought her mother would stay around the old weyr. Perhaps you are expanding your territory, mother? And why the visit to my hatching, when you've never attended before? The younger gold wasn't displeased, exactly, since she did posess some small amount of familial respect for her dam but it was still unusual. And the inside of the weyr had never been breached by her mother before other than for her hatching. Eikask felt faint stirrings of a desire to protect her territory.

Then, just like that, the gold was distracted by a pair of wings bursting out of the Nightmare Egg. In the dimly lit room it was difficult to see just what colour they were but Eikask rather thought they were brown. They gave a couple helpless flaps before the membrane on them tore and the baby creeled and burst out of his egg. The Nightmare Brown flailed about for a few moments, attempting to look at his wings. He flapped them again then huffed out something suspiciously like a sigh. That was unpleasant.

The brown started towards the crowd of candidates but was stopped short by an indignant screech and turned in time to see the Epic Egg flop over and start rolling. Towards him. Uh-oh. Granted, the egg wasn't rolling very fast and wasn't very big so the brown turned so the egg would impact his shoulder and stood his ground. The egg bumped into the brown and he grunted. The Epic Egg's occupant barked softly, potentially in gratitude. There was a hole in the egg where a claw poked out at the brown's leg gently but it was obscured by the Nightmare Brown.

[Avu]

Honestly, being inside of a Weyr was decidedly unpleasant. All closed in and what have you. Still, the gold wher had gone unnoticed for the most part—or had been summarily dismissed by the few that caught sight of her; apparently if you didn’t realize that she could actually walk without tripping she could pass for her daughter, or else humans were just stunningly unobservant—until she’d realized that doors were really very annoying. Whereupon she had spotted one of the humans from the jungle, and her intent was fortunately clear enough for him to understand.

Lady indeed, she rumbled with droll amusement to Vivano as the boy opened the door for her, slipping past him anyway with a flick of her tail to indicate her gratitude. So many humans. The wild queen expected it would be nice, if you liked humans very much. A brief glance around them—gaze lingering briefly on Kaius in recognition—before she blinked at her daughter’s address. Mouth opened in a sharp-edged smile, and she slunk around the outside of the sands to join her daughter.

Expanding was only a side effect really, she commented, settling near Eikask on her belly in the classical Sphinx position. Thought it’d be best to check up on her babies after the earthquake—oh so convenient they traveled in big groups, you know. And the Hatching…well, that was a side effect too. Another nice one, even if the surroundings were rather unappealing. The gold tilted her head, silently watching as the first of the babies emerged. A brown. She hummed in absentminded encouragement at him.

Her eyes went faintly green as the other egg rolled to a stop against the brown, and the wild gold tilted her head at Vivano, her ‘voice’ dryly amused, impressed yet, human? Amazed by her grandchildren?

[Kisha-Ra]

Vivano smiled thinly when he noticed Kaius had made it here, he’d wondered if the boy would come after their meetings with the wild queen and brown in the jungle. Though possibly he was only here to support his friend, apparently in more ways than one.

Humans, however, played a poor second fiddle to whers in the mind of Vivano, especially when there seemed to be some sort of exchange going on between Eikask and the wild queen that resulted in the wild gold moving over next to Eikask, for a moment he wondered what they were saying, but the newly hatched wher quickly gained his attention.

It was rather cute, much more endearing than a new hatched bird that was for sure. This little… brown it seemed to be… seemed rather put out by his own wings and that was just adorable, as was the young wher’s face when one of the eggs containing a sibling rolled after him.

The wild gold’s comment had him smiling again. ‘It’s hard to tell about most of them so far, my lady. You’ll have ask a little later.’ Vivano muttered, sure the wher would either hear him or sense what he wanted to say if she truly wanted an answer.

[Ruby]

Phaiden loved her daddy, but there was little question that she loved Pidesk more. So when a thought showed up in her head that she didn’t remember having – namely the Wher eggs, shaking – she knew exactly what was going on. No, she hadn’t seen the clutch, Eikask didn’t let anyone near it, much less little girls, but Pidesk was a proud daddy, and Phai was smart enough to know that there weren’t any other clutches in the Weyr at the moment. It HAD to be the whers! And hatching, too!

Lion confirmed this after just a second, adding a verbal hum and a mental pulse of excitement to the queen’s call. It was a bit much for the already tired eight turn old, who immediately started jumping up and down, doing her best to wiggle out of her sleeping clothes. “Mamaaa, you said I could go if they hatched while I was awake, you said! I’m still awake! Can we go? Pleeeeease? I’m not even all they way ready for bed yet…” Big eyes turned towards Saphor, and Lion added his own (albeit distinctly more terrifying) big-eyed gaze to the plea. The firelizard hardly needed to help, though – Saphor had practically already said yes. Phaiden squealed, flung herself at her mother to cling in a hug, then dashed off to her room with her brown in tow.

The next few moments passed in a blur. Before Phaiden knew it, they were in the apartments, in the room, looking at the real clutch. Saphor shooed her off, and Phaiden for once didn’t cling, peering around the taller candidates at the clutch. “Lion,” she whispered as she slid over for a better view, leaning her head sideways and keeping her voice low, “Go find Anna, she’ll want to see this! Distract Auntie Mae if you have to.” With a nod, the Brown popped between, off to find the other girl.


Phai had totally forgotten to look for her father, but a slightly rumpled Piden had followed Saphor in, just behind a gold wher he didn’t recognize. Snatching his daughter up from behind, her whirled her around once, then kissed her cheek and carried her over to Pidesk. “You stay here, with Pidesk. He’ll keep the babies away from you,” Piden said, ignoring the whined “But daaaadddyyy…” in favor of shooting Saphor a look that was somewhere in between smugness and interest. Since most of the other candidates seemed occupied, and Eikane never seemed to want to spend more time with Piden than necessary, the Bronzehandler headed for his childhood sweetheart (with a knowing grin when he caught Pidesk snagging an escaping Phaiden in his peripheral vision). “You don’t have to stand for whers, you know,” he quipped, sticking his hands in his pockets and facing the clutch, “And there are much less dangerous ways of flirting, Saphor. No need to put yourself in the way of baby claws to do it.”


It was M’gnum that had done it. Planted just the seed of an idea, which when left alone in Serissa’s blank hole of a brain had grown and flourished into a full-fledged obsession. He’d also suggested Healer Hall, of course, which was something she’d considered herself, but the other idea… whers. It had never occurred to her. The Council wasn’t letting anyone leave New Selenitas (something about secrecy, Serissa hardly cared) so healing was a bust, even if she had been dedicating herself to studying with Master Asharra more than she had previously… but whers. Whers were hatching. And although the ex-Bluerider knew nothing but a resurrected Ildyth would fix her, maybe a wher would plug the hole. It had to, right?

She remembered Nyssk, who had lost Nysania in the earthquake, and had tried in vain to locate the blue after hearing stories of re-impression. He hadn’t come, but then Eikask had laid her clutch, and Serissa had heard it was sired by Pidesk, Piden’s wher. She’d always liked Piden. Perhaps this was what M’gnum had been talking about – destiny or being meant for something. Serissa had never believed in that, but once she’d lost the one thing she had truly counted on, she had to trust in something. Might as well be destiny.

All that said, she still couldn’t bring herself to actually enter the hatching chamber. Luckily she’d trailed in after just about everyone else, and if anyone noticed the skinny, distraught ghost lurking in the corner they had been too polite to say anything. The day was here, the Gold had called, and she couldn’t do it. The candidates were there, and by the sounds coming through the closed door, at least one egg had already cracked. Daniel, perched protectively on her shoulder, voiced a confused sort of coo, trying to sort out what she wanted. “Go get M’gnum,” Serissa finally choked out, her voice strained. “Tell him I can’t. Tell him I need help.” If the Bronzerider was adverse to a determined firelizard waking him up in the middle of the night, well, he could just get over it. Daniel wasn’t about to quit hassling the man until he was standing right in front of Serissa, and that’s just the way it was.

((Maul away))

[Rowana]

"But Auntie Mae!" Annatolli whined even as Hoayamae held her hand and led her to her room. "I wanna stay up! The eggs might hatch!" It really wasn't fair she always had to go to bed when the whers were out. Whers were just as cool as dragons! Besides, Phaiden got to be up sometimes. It just wasn't fair! Mae shook her head firmly. "I've already let you stay up too late. Young ladies need to be in bed if they want to have breakfast in the morning."

"But Auntie Mae..." Anna's next protests were interrupted by something brown and frightening popping into existence in front of Mae's face. "YEAAA!" Mae waved her hands at the offending creature, which was indeed Lion the fire lizard. "You wretched beast! Don't you know better than to scare and old woman?" She turned as the fire lizard started flying away, only to realize she'd let go of the girl too. "Wait! Annatolli you come back here this instant!" Nhim chirped worriedly, but Anna had already vanished down the hall.

Anna didn't really like disobeying Hoayamae, but wher hatchings didn't happened every night after all! She could take her punishment when it was all over, especially if it was just more kitchen chores. Xelos whizzed ahead of her, chirping happily to Lion as he went. What a fantastic trick that had been! He aught to try such a prank on his less appreciative audiences sometime. Anna kept up a quick run, despite her small size and probably would have come popping into the Hatching Den if something hadn't caught her eye and made her stop.

"Hi lady," Anna looked up at Serissa curiously. Why was she just standing outside? She looked so very sad. This just wasn't right. Hatchings were supposed to be happy! "Aren't ya going in?" Anna asked hopefully. She leaned forward to hug Serissa's leg tightly and beamed up at her. "We can go see the cute babies!" Babies made everyone smile, didn't they?

[Ember]

It was a curious feeling to have her mother join her to watch the proceedings of the hatching. She kept shooting the older gold discreet glances until she got used to the sensation and the other gold responded. Eikask hummed in understanding at her mother's answer, tilting her head slightly to watch the Nightmare Brown and the Epic Egg. Well then...her babies always were the odd ones, in one way or another. Do your children always seem odd to you, mother? Eikask asked.

The brown sat quietly by the Epic Egg for several minutes but nothing more seemed to be happening. Occasionally, maybe, a squeak or a croon could be heard from either of them but for the most part they were communicating silently. Then with a flurry of rocking and shaking the Epic Egg exploded outward and the blue within gave a satisfied bugle. Ha! He bounced around the brown happily, making crooning taunts that had the brown dipping his head slightly. Just as Eikask was beginning to think the Epic Blue was unnecessarily mean he lightly bumped the Nightmare Brown as he passed.

The brown looked up curiously and something the blue thought at him must have gone over well because the brown crooned and stood up. The Epic Blue nodded faintly in satisfaction before leading his larger brother towards the candidates. The pair of whers moved their way amongst the candidates, criss-crossing paths and circling candidates as they eyed them. They stopped after a while to sit among their choices and...discuss them? The Nightmare Brown seemed to be arguing passionately about something while the Epic Blue quietly responded. They eventually seemed to come to some agreement because they got up to move again.

They paused when they heard a muffled warble from the Recurring Egg. The large egg had started cracking and losing chips rapidly. The blue and brown took one look at each other before high tailing it to the people they had evidentally chosen. The Nightmare Brown reached Casandra first and crooned. Hello, hello. I do believe I'll call myself Casansk, if you don't mind? He butted his head gently against the girl's legs before turning to watch his blue brother's choice.

The Epic Blue's path took him to the largest person in the room. That would be just perfect! Hey, big idiot! You're kinda my big idiot now, so feed your Cainsk! A bark from the newly named Casansk had Cainsk adding a not-very-repentant, Please. And hey, fitting that he and his brother have C names, isn't it? Meanwhile, the Recurring Egg finally disintegrated around a...well, around a gold it would seem. She shook egg shards off her body and crooned to all present.

[Ember]

Nightmare Brown
Bonded to: Casandra
Name: Casansk
Color: Brown #3D2B1F #800000
Physical Appearance: This brown is huge. It's really the only word for it. It's not impossible for a brown to trespass on the size range of a bronze but this brown is actually the size of a small gold. As if that weren't enough the brown is also thick with muscle. His broad features also happen to be very harsh and give him a decidedly intimidating appearance - well defined angles and eye ridges set a little closer and a little further down than the average wher. He also has long canines that are just barely visible when his mouth is closed and large, paper-thin wings that are constantly being torn so they often appear tattered. In build, he's really not the type of thing you want to run into in a dark corridor.

Not that you'd really see him coming in the first place. While he's not so dark as to be functionally black when in the light, he's nearly so in the darkness and tends to blend well with stone wall. He's a very dark grey-brown in colour from nose to tail tip. Not exactly part of his colouring, per se, but his eyes are always a very muted shade of whatever he's feeling. Kind of as if someone had placed something translucent over them. His only other colouring are the odd maroon markings on his body that look like paint has been chipped off his upper layer to reveal the one hidden underneath. There's a distinctive appearance of chipping all around his mouth and eyes and a large patch on his underside, between his forelegs.

As one might expect, this wher lumbers like the great beast he is. You might not always see him in the darkness but you can always hear him. If not because of his heavy, shuffling steps then because his claws click incessantly on the ground. His movements are relaxed and tend to be slow without quite dawdling. He can run when he wants and do so fairly quickly for something his size - his long gait and powerful muscles being responsible for that. Those same muscles weigh him down from ever being able to glide, though, even if his wings managed to stay fully intact for any length of time.

Personality: The term 'gentle giant' couldn't be more applicable to this wher. He has the rather cliched personality-appearance mismatch and he knows it. He knows he looks intimidating and he tries so very hard to make up for it if people let him get close enough. He's not exactly physically affectionate but emotionally? Extremely so. This brown is fond of nicknames and making sure his friends know just how much they are loved. He's not afraid to be a sap at all - something his Epic sibling sometimes teases him about. He takes any teasing about his fluffy personality good naturedly but with a small amount of whining.

Despite his happy-go-lucky, gentle exterior this wher is extremely insecure. Do people like him? What's his purpose? Is he really who he thinks he is? True to the name of his egg he sometimes wonders if the world he knows is simply one giant nightmare. Naturally this is not all the time. Usually an...episode of sorts of questioning everything about his life occurs when something particularly terrible happens. Terrible being relative, of course. His terrible tends to be linked more to emotions than events. Upset sibling, or handler, or mass upset? That's more likely to set him off than some vague war in the North - granted when war-like things effect home he can be set off too.

The brown is also incredibly bright. He's not as intelligent as his Epic sibling - who, by the way, is something of a hero to this brown - but he's right smart about emotional related things. Not a huge surprise there, considering. What is surprising is that, while he's usually really gentle he can also be frightful when mad. He deals with threats to himself, His, or his siblings quickly, efficiently, and with little remorse at the time. It is only afterwards that he feels any guilt over injuring or taking a life. Even then he tends to see it more as a necessary evil than a crime of any sort. This is possibly because he will never ever attack unprovoked.


Epic Blue
Bonded to: Cainith
Name: Cainsk
Color: Blue #CCFFDD #4682B4
Physical Appearance: As far as blues go, this one is only a touch larger than the largest green whers. He's best described as compact in build which, of course, lends to his small stature. He has a fair bit of lean muscle on his frame that falls just short of making him seem stocky. There are a couple physical curiosities about this wher. The most obvious being that he has two sets of ridges that slowly merge back into the usual one half way down his back. The far less noteable oddity is that his front right leg is actually slightly smaller than his left. It would take close comparison to notice but it's there nonetheless. His wings are a fair size for his muscled body. If not for the bulk of his muscle they would actually be overlarge for his size. As it is, they're just perfect to allow him decent gliding skills.

Even if this blue didn't want to be noticed, he wouldn't have much of a choice with his colouring. This blue is predominantly a pale, pale blue. There is precisely zero difference in shade of this colour across his hide. Not to say he's one solid colour, though. His only marking, if one could call it that, is his left hind leg. No, the marking is not on the leg,but actually covers the entire limb. His entire leg starting from just slightly below the joint is a steel blue in colour that is in sharp contrast with his pale blue colouring. The two colours meet but do not mingle in the least, almost like an artist had drawn a line between the two.

The Epic blue moves with a curious mix of almost paranoid twitchiness and nonchalance. Or rather, he's ready to spring into action at any moment without hesitation but he desperately tries to project that he's not. He strives not for grace in his movements but precision. Every movement matters in both its potential and its appearance. He also physically broadcasts annoyance or slight aggression unless he's overwhelmed by another emotion. As far as gliding goes, this blue is fully capable of it but generally doesn't bother. Not enough control of the outcome of a glide in his opinion.

Personality: At first glance, this wher appears to be nothing more than a brat. He frequently insults others' intelligence and actions and likes to tease the Nightmare sibling. He seems wholly interested in only himself. He will do the exact opposite of what he's ordered to do just because he can. This, naturally, isn't all this blue is but it's what most outsiderssee. His and his siblings are not these strangers, at least not in the long run. While initially he may treat them in such a way the close contact involved in wherlinghood will ultimately chip away any reservations about them. Then his front - make no mistake, that's what it is - will fall to pieces around them.

Underneath, this blue is surprisingly vulnerable. Those he has learned to trust hold so much sway over his heart that one simple misinterpreted comment can have him moping (albeit, privately) for days. The reverse is true too, of course. If they've said something nice, or are just happy in general, then this blue usually is too. He can't stand his siblings (the Nightmare sibling in particular) or His being upset and he will put aside his considerable pride to do anything that will help them. His determination to make it all better for his loved ones extends to any other goal he has too.

Goals such as an increase in his knowledge. This blue seeks to know everything he possibly can, often to his own detriment. He doesn't necessarily mean to get in trouble but it seems drawn to him like a magnet. Thankfully, this guy is rediculously smart. Smarter, generally, than most humans. He also doesn't know how to turn that big brain of his off. While he's not immune to bad choices (particularly if his loved ones are involved) he actually manages to avoid the worst of them. He's also smart enough to recognize right from wrong and is curiously adamant about protecting the right. And truth. And innocence. Hmm.

[Avu]

“Nightbeast,” Sena echoed, amused despite the nerves. Kaius reassuring the Salamandyr earned him a soft amused sound and she tacked on, “He’s got to Impress a dragon and conquer Pern with me ‘n Syd…it’s only possible if there are nightbeasts and day ones.” Logical? Nope, but then again Sena was very distracted—at the first wher emerging, she clung to Kaius even tighter, squeezing his arm in anxiety. The encouragement from Kaius made her smile at him and King—still obviously nervous, but at least she was doing a better job with it—before she glanced back at the whers. Now there was a blue, too, and…and another gold wher, full-grown, with Eikask.

What?

They didn’t have a second gold wher. Well, yet, but certainly not a second full-grown one just casually on hand. Sena blinked, confused, and then refocused in time to see brown and blue parting ways to find Theirs. Her stomach flipped uneasily at the brown’s Impression to Casandra of all people—not that she knew the girl well but what she did hear was not very nice and was that appealing to baby whers? And the other one, the blue, Impressing to the older Candidate, the one that resembled a small furry mountain.

“If there’s a trend in Impression, I don’t think I’m gonna Impress this go-round,” she whispered to Kaius, throwing another curious glance between the two new Bonded pairs. So weird. But—“Oh,” she added, at the sight of the baby gold, “Oh, she’s pretty. I mean, the other two were handsome too, but she’s just real pretty.” A glance around at the remaining Candidates. Saphor, Vivano, two kids that were only debatably Impression age, so maybe not, and her and Sydney. Which meant maybe two of them was bound to not Impress, not just to the gold but at all. Three eggs and one gold meant four Impressions if none of them went wild and…

Well, there’d be a dragon Hatching soon, right? Kaius would be Standing for that and Sena wouldn’t terribly mind being a Candidate a bit longer. And if Sydney Impressed she could always sneak out to visit her, right? Right. This wasn’t so bad.

*

The Candidate amused her. More than her daughter did, really, but then her daughter wasn’t aiming to amuse her anyway. The wild gold whuffed at Vivano, eyes blue. She’d remember that then—she’d ask when he was holding the door open for her to leave, how was that? It wasn’t a request, either; if any of Eikask’s babies had sense they’d Impress to him, but she expected him to wait for her to leave, too. (It wasn’t like she planned on sticking around long after the Hatching, after all, and the doors didn’t magically open for her. It probably had something to do with the lack of opposable thumbs.)

Eikask’s question made her tilt her head, and she rumbled, the equivalent of a laugh. Well they were certainly all unique weren’t they, she commented dryly. Flashes of her offspring—particularly those of the Weyr, since those would mean something to Eikask. Shy little green and that cold blue, his overly playful brother and that brown, and of course Eikask herself. Strange by what standards, daughter? Perhaps they would outgrow it, if Eikask trained them right, she added dryly, though she didn’t see the problem herself. They were getting along, weren’t they?

The two Impressions made her croon quietly. She had her doubts about humans, though, and her croon was not one of strict approval so much as of acceptance, before her gaze returned to the egg that spilled out…another gold. The wild queen tilted her head to one side, and hummed. Lovely, carrying on the family line. Her first? she inquired of Eikask, curiously. Daughter wasn’t old enough to have had too many clutches yet, far as she remembered.

[Aftershock]

Cainith sat silently watching the hatching, his attitude a combination of nervousness and resignation. He was hoping that he would finally Impress something and at long last leave Candidacy, but at the same time, he'd been disappointed so many times now, for so many years in a row, he was ready to be disappointed yet again.

He saw the Nightmare Brown hatch, and watched as the large baby wher was stopped in his advancement on the crowd by the Epic Egg rolling into him. This being his first hatching, he wasn't sure on newborn wher sizes, but the Nightmare Brown looked quite large, and Cainith couldn't help but hope it might come to him. Then, the Epic Blue hatched, and bounced excitedly around it's larger sibling, and Cainith smirked a bit to see the energy-filled little wher's happiness to be free from his egg.

Cainith then watched the two have what appeared to be a discussion, about the Candidates he assumed, before finally splitting off. Cainith's disappointment as the Nightmare Brown wandered over to Cassandra was cut short when he felt the unmistakable sensation in his mind as the Epic Blue Impressed upon him, becoming Cainsk. The images and sensations sent to Cainith's mind weren't very complimentary, but he didn't care at the moment... he was finally out of Candidacy! Reaching down, he picked up the the blue wher, uncaring if it still had egg goo on it, and looked it over. Cainsk, for his part, squeaked indignantly at being picked up like a canine, and sent an image of him safely on the ground with food being fed to him by Cainith.

Rollhead, meanwhile, looked over the new addition that he would be sharing Cainith's headspace with, and when Cainith picked Cainsk up, he sent to the baby wher, "You small. You not able to carry Goddess. You better get big, fast." Cainsk, for his part, sent an image Rollhead's way that showed Cainith trying to ride comically on Cainsk's back, then smooshing Cainsk, and falling over to then smoosh Rollhead. After this, he struggled mightily until Cainith finally put him down, and lead his new handler over to the tables with the food and the blades.

Figuring he'd get two birds with one stone, Cainith grabbed a knife, drawing the blade across his palm with a slight wince, then deposited the blade back on the table and grabbed a piece of meat with his cut hand, squeezing it a few times to soak his blood into the meat before bending down to feed it to Cainsk. The baby wher ate voraciously, though carefully, nipping off careful pieces and swallowing them completely before nipping off the next.

---

M'gnum had just returned to his weyr after a brisk swim in the weyrbowl lake, and was finishing drying himself off before climbing into his bed when suddenly Daniel popped from between in front of his face. The white-accented brown flit screeched at M'gnum, looping towards the door to his weyr, then back to flap in his face, trying to get his point across. M'gnum, for his part, watched the creature in confusion for a moment before figuring out that it wanted him to follow, and he slipped on a pair of pants and boots and looped his towel about his shoulders as he went to follow Daniel, figuring it might be something important, considering how depressed Serissa was the last time they met. Higginth, being Higginth, didn't stir himself from his lazing nap the entire time.

Following the firelizard as it flew through the hallways of the Weyr, M'gnum eventually found himself in the wherhandler apartments. Moving carefully to keep track of the dark-colored flit (though luckily the off-white markings made him easier to track in the dim hallways), he finally reached the end of the hallways, and Serissa tucked into her little corner outside the hatching room. As Daniel alighted on her shoulder, M'gnum looked at the pale Healer, asking, "M'lady Serissa, what need did you have of me?" The concern in his voice was evident as he looked at the woman for signs of self-abuse or anything sharp.