running out of time [wher hatching!]

[kat]

Ari watched the wher hatching in fascination. She'd never before been up this close and personal to any kind of hatching. The experience of it was breathtaking. New lives being born into the world. Magnificent, mysterious creatures broke free from their shells and made their way to the people they'd chosen. However, once again she was so sure that she might actually bond one, but it wasn't to be. She was butted aside gently by a brown whom she could only define as being 'sweet' looking. He even gave her hand a lick, and she was about to fumble for her knife, her mind racing as she remembered that this was what she'd been told to do. Only, in the next moment, he started to move...away.

Ari's heart was still beating rapidly. He had gone past her, towards a boy whom she'd seen around the candidate's barracks. Gone towards someone else. Her heart slowed, and she realized that three of four hatched whers? Had already bonded. Then there was a bronze. She was startled at the size of him. Even for a hatchling, he was larger than the others. He intimidated her a little, for she'd seen what the smaller blue had done to Tal's leg. She had seen Nautic stumble from the grounds after an injury more serious. She was suddenly quite afraid that she might be caught in the claws of the much larger wher hatchling. Still, she steeled herself. If she was to stand here quivering like a leaf, what wher would want a coward for a partner.

Swallowing back her nerves, she stood where the brown and green had left her standing. There were three bonded. Four were left. Whom would those four choose? Her? Someone else? She just wasn't sure, and she tried to stop thinking so hard about it, because this analyzing was once again getting out of hand. Instead, she watched the bronze, trying to still her nerves and remember the friendly brown, who had just bonded but had also been larger than both blue and green. He'd licked her hand. She focused on this, and put on a brave face.

~~~~~~

For Tal, everything was just happening all too fast. Three whers were already bonded, and a fourth, a magnificent bronze, was standing there, undecided. Now, Tal had thought the other whers were spectacular, but this one was just as, and a bronze. The golden queen must have been so proud of herself. So far, there was nearly one of each color, and he'd overheard something about a golden egg here, too. What a clutch! However, reality was starting to sink in, too.

There were only seven eggs. The wher's clutches were not as big as dragon's clutches were. Someone would be left standing, as it were. There weren't enough to go around, were there? He wasn't sure, but he vaguely noted that some of the candidates didn't seem to be here yet. Did that mean that someone, or a few, would be left standing? Shards that would stink. For him or for anyone. Still, even in dragon Impressions, not everyone Impressed first go around. Maybe he was setting himself up for a fall, hoping too much that today would be his day.

His warm brown eyes watched the bronze with apparent interest, though. Whomever got to bond to it was a lucky one, indeed! He smirked wryly, wondering what the other eggs had in them. If one was gold, were the other two going to be green and blue? That would be the most likely assumption. Maybe another brown, though? He doubted two bronzes. That was unlikely. He let himself muse over this, but paid close attention nonetheless, and congratulated the two new wherhandlers sincerely.

[Ember]

Eikane sighed and shook his head at Dmitri's antics. he refused to go over and help for three reasons. One, the lad deserved it. Two, that meant getting close to hatching eggs...no thanks. And three...he was busy. He had to get down the basics of the scenes before they finished, obviously. What interesting scenes the were too! Dmitri getting sat on...priceless really. Then the sweet bonding of the green wher to that boy who had worn a scarf. Then....oh my.

Eikane burst out laughing as he realized what the blue was up to. He calmed his outburst quickly in fear of attracting too much attention but it was oh so hilarious. Dmitri...such a silly boy. He'd actually bonded to a wher! Eikane continued to chuckle quietly, unable to stop himself at his parter's predicament. He'd impressed an 'ugly'. If Eikane could write music, he'd right an epic song about that bonding. As it was...he'd settle for sketching it.

Hatchings did move fast though, didn't they? The egg he'd been secretly watching had hatched a brown and besides the actual scene of impression he didn't pay it much attention afterward. Most of the 'fun' was seeing what came out of each egg and not so much the life bonding that occured after. That was for people who it actually happened to. He sketched the bronze as it glared at his brother, amused that a baby would show such annoyance? anger? dislike? right away. Well then...he looked over the remaining eggs and decided to watch the Forever Egg. It was so plain...what lay hidden within?

[rii]

Quintrell remained on his back, still clutching his nose and was that–he pulled his hands away to see the red substance–yes it was, blood. He flailed his bloodied hands at Anz. Didn't the other see why he was fleeing!? "She's going to eat that idiot up there! I don't want to be around when she get's hungry for seconds!" He clamped a palm back over his nose, the other waving dismissively at the other candidate. Frantic to chill in record time. "Yeah yeah, I'll be fine. You?"

He still had to sneak away. So, while the other candidate pondered over his health, Quintrell flipped over onto hands and knees and prepared to get out in a quick animal-like dash. But he never got the chance. Movement from the corner of his eyes caught his attention, one of those.. things.. was coming near him. Quintrell eyes widened and he froze. Maybe if he didn't move.. the creature wouldn't see him.. and go by without mauling him to pieces. Noo! Nooo! Quintrell mentally shoo'd the brown as it kept coming, in a very distinct straight line, toward him. Away with you beast!

Then, as the brown nudged his hand, Quintrell couldn't help but slowly melt down into a sitting position. "Are you serious?" He puzzled, petting the orange-red snout, not showing the slightest bit of fear as he leaned forward, planting his own forehead against the brown's head. He peered suspiciously at the creature's eyes, inquiringly. What did it want from him? He didn't want to get stuck at the Weyr. Being bonded to some draconic beast meant he had to stay put, didn't it? And and.. Quintrell couldn't remember a thing from the Wher lessons. He had been trying to snooze through them. What did the brown want?

As for blood, well, Quintrell's hands were already bloodied, along with is face and lips from his collision with Anzalorin. When a rough tongue began to clean his hands, though, Quintrell realized with dismay that yes, he had to stay at the Weyr. He frowned pointedly at the creature, sniffing as if in sorrow–only to have the brown tackled him back to the ground and start licking the blood off his face.

"Nooo! It's eating meeee! Getoff Ge'off!" He pushed at Quintresk, grin wide on his face. The brown eventually did let him up, completely innocent of it's actions. Quintrell rolled his eyes, watching as the hatchling sat somberly at his side, long tail curling around them both. Well.. it wasn't so.. bad. But the brown seemed to be watching him, waiting for.. what. Quintrell idly scratched the back of his head before looking around for help–finding only Anzalorin nearby. "Uh.. am I.. suppose to go somewhere?"

[Requiem]

The expression on Dmitri's face could be called nothing short of bratty. He still didn't get that the gold could really just rip his throat out at any time...or gut him...or anything painful and deadly, really. Clearly he must not understand, because he subsided the pushing only out of a sense of futility, crossing his arms in peevish irritation. If he could have tapped his foot, undoubtedly he would have been at this very moment. "Well, whenever you feel like getting up. And they wondered why I didn't like uglies. Pushy beasts."

Turning his head, he caught sight of the collision and Scarf Boy leaving with a green - as if that was much of a surprise, Scarf Boy with a green - while he ignored the tail sliding across his chest. As if he could really move right now anyway. Wasn't that a bit of overkill? Oh, gross! Ugly breath on his face! It couldn't be the gold though, because her tail was by his face. Another one, then. What, was he going to become the couch for all the uglies here? Even though the babies were smaller, he would most definitely be squished. The tail was kind of pinning his arms, too, though, as he tilted his head away and glared at the blue out of the corner of his eye. The tapered snout struck him as unusual, but at such close range he was more concerned with the breath. If it licked him he was throwing a fit, gold paperweight on his legs or no.

No wher saliva, please thanks.

Ugly muzzle touching him. It was the gold's fault. She'd told her baby to come do this just to annoy him. Oh, he was declaring war on her. She'd better watch out! Once he freed himself, of course. But then she was moving, which earned her a confused look from the harper. He was bent on springing up and getting away before she changed her mind, but his legs were kinda...they had no feeling, really. She was a major fatty, she was.

Eeeeewwwwww. Wetness! And rough tongue, just not pleasant. "It's better than the face, but must you?" he grumbled. "Just because she's your mom doesn't mean you have to listen to her, you know. Never listened to mine." His didn't really want him, but that was beside the point. Dmitri wiped his hand on the creature's neck, pulling a face.

Silly thing. "Stop touching me alr-" He blinked, fully focusing his attention on the blue for the first time. That image was very clear. Dmisk. Oh. Bother. Rainbow eyes, the whole bit. He hoped Raebeli saw whers, because this one seriously needed a mindhealer, and no way on Pern was Dmitri bonding to anything and why would it pick him anyway? "No. Uhuh. I'm pretty sure you made her move. Thanks for that. But now you need to go find someone. That one over there that you so nicely ripped up. Yes. The one with the bleeding leg. I'm sure he'd be more than happy..." Another mental nudge, this one with considerable less patience than the first. Dmisk was not amused. Didn't His know that he wanted to bond quickly, so he could eat and sleep? That was how these things were supposed to work.

"Okay. I'll stand. But that doesn't change anything. That drawing one over there would be good, right?" Dmisk just eyed him, yawning once more, his wings flipping in impatience. Dmitri frowned down at the thing. "You're not as ugly as the other uglies, but I'm not good for you. Shoo now. Shoo." He made the motion with his hands, while subtly shifting around to put the loony blue between him and the fatty. Dmisk followed the harper with his head, leaning forward to lick at his hand again. Anytime now would be nice.

"Stop that! Don't you know how gross that is!" He was done. This wasn't very fun anymore. Dmitri turned on a heel and stalked out, his natural grace distinctly more predatory than normal when fueled by irritation. Dmisk's own dangerous gait rather humorously mimicked that of His as he followed the boy in silence. Eventually His would understand. Dmisk was annoyed that he was being so obstinate, but this one was the right one. The best one. And he knew from the brief touches of minds that His wanted him on some level. He'd just wait him out.

As if to prove what the wher already knew, Dmitri glanced back just at that moment. "I'll feed you just this once, but then you have to go find someone else." Dmisk's tail merely twitched in response, the unlikely pair continuing off into the night.

[Avu]

Offering another upset growl in his brother’s direction, the Continuum Bronze pushed himself out of the remains of his egg, thrashing his tail to the right, and then the left in a sweeping gesture that pushed away the remains of the shell before he stretched, displaying his size and muscle despite his comical hatchling proportions, before he turned his head to look condescendingly at the Candidates, baring his teeth and offering a low crooning growl in their direction; wasn’t he absolutely magnificent? Yes, yes, he knew he was~ He turned towards his mother and arched his neck, earning a pleased croon from the queen, who, ignoring Dmitri and his new Bonded, padded over to nudge the Continuum Bronze gently in the flank, urging him towards the Candidates with a soft conciliatory snort. Giving a petulant whine, the male turned back to his choices, whuffling quietly to himself before he shot a glare at Anzalorin. Too close to the brown, that one was. Not allowed!

The Continuum Bronze flipped his wings, and then started to march in his clutchbrother’s direction. He never got that far, however. He didn’t even make it three paces before oversized paws tangled themselves, and the bronze uttered a sharp, startled squawk as he faceplanted and tumbled over. His mother made a small amused noise, and, looking indignant, the male stumbled to his feet and hissed indignantly, spinning and almost taking off the Forever Green’s nose – so unobtrusively had she entered the world, silently pushing through her egg, that the Continuum Bronze had not noticed her at all and his snarl broke off in surprise as the Forever Green actually squeaked in alarm and ducked back into her egg, whining softly in confusion.

Huffing in annoyed bewilderment, the Continuum Bronze nudged her egg awkwardly with his nose to make her feel better, underestimated his strength, and sent the green’s egg overbalancing and tumbling backwards into the Sand. It split with a loud crack on contact, and as the Forever Green gave a startled peep, the Continuum Bronze decided that it would be in his best interests to leave. He concentrated on his feet – and only his feet – as he tripped and stumbled in the general direction his brother had gone, and therefore barged directly into Ariya without so much as looking up. Fortunately he hadn’t been going all that fast, and he sat back on his rump with a surprised huff before he tilted his head to squint at Ariya. Silly female, in his way! But…his target seemed so far away, and the bronze wasn’t even sure why he’d been going over there to begin with. This one’d do, then. The bronze gave an ear-splitting creel, and butted at her hand demandingly. Didn’t she see how long he, her Ariysk, had waited for food? Oh, he was starving!

The forgotten Forever Green gave a quiet creel as she squirmed awkwardly out of her egg and flapped her wings in agitation; a low murmured sound emerged from her throat as she sat up and her head popped comically up over the cracked eggshells. Her eyes whirled in confusion, and then she ducked her head, butting it against the vacated egg shyly. Ooh, so many people…wouldn’t one of them be her best friend, maybe? Her muzzle peeked over the edge of the egg again, and the Forever Green gave a quiet contemplative croon. Maybe…maybe…they could all be friends? She’d so like it if they could be; then she’d have ever so many friends…but – a rasping cough from her mother made the small female turn to blink shyly at the pale queen, and she gave another quiet chirping sound. She had to pick one? Oh, so difficult, so difficult…

Past Egg- Green Nautsk to Nautic
Present Egg- Shaking rhythmically.
Future Egg- Blue Dmisk to Dmitri
Paradox Egg- Brown Quintresk to Quintrell
Continuum Egg- Bronze Ariysk to Ariya
Warp Egg-
Forever Egg- Green; eyeing Candidates

[Avu]

Continuum Bronze
Name— Ariysk
Color— Bronze (#EBA333)
Impressed to— Ariya
Appearance— Ariysk is nothing short of a stereotypical bronze. He’s an exceptionally large creature, dwarfing the smaller of queens easily in both length and bulk. A very sturdy creature, this bronze is; he has relatively short legs in comparison to the length of his body, emphasizing this, and tail and neck are on the short side, too. Their appearance of being slightly on the disproportionate side is emphasized by the thick cords of muscle that wrap around legs, tail, neck, and the rest of his body; what could have been a streamlined form is turned into something of brute strength, power, that might have looked decidedly menacing had his posing not always been one of excessive pride and dignity, lacking maliciousness of any kind. Even so, his silhouette can cut an undeniably imposing figure – at least, until he decides to start strutting or something equally comical. His wings are on the large side, pointed and shaped oddly, rather like that of a hawk’s. Unfortunately, the membrane stretched across them are not thick enough to support his weight, and whether or not his wing shape would give him the same grace that hawks have will never be discovered.

The most Ariysk can manage in the air will probably be a gliding kind of leap – not long or high enough to pull any graceful tricks in the air or even really do much more than clear a few logs or some such obstacle in his way and land safely. He doesn’t make up for this lack of aerial prowess on the ground, unfortunately; he’s prone to trying to strut as much as he can, lifting each leg high, arching his neck and holding head and tail as high as he can, wings unfurled to prove just how amazing he clearly is; won’t everyone admire him? However, Ariysk is also the victim of an almost crippling clumsiness. Attempts at strutting will often lead to falling flat on his face or rolling down a hill; trying to puff himself up grandly and look proud and wise will result into catching his wings on a tree, misjudging the distance between a rock and his paw, or something – Ariysk receives bragging rights for being able to trip over a flat, completely stable surface, and for managing to look like he meant to fall at the same time. Because clearly he did – whers as amazing as he simply did not do anything by accident, after all!

His saving grace would probably be his coloring; very few bronzes match Ariysk in the shade of their hide. A very vivid orange-gold tinted bronze graces his form, but, unfortunately for Ariysk, he’s not too metallic. Oh, make no mistake, there’s no way he’ll mistaken for anything but what he is – his hide simply lacks the metallic quality that makes bronzes and queens usually gleam and shine with their own light: His hide is not quite matte, but he’ll never rank among the shiniest of bronzes. Rather, he’s more likely to lag in the back of that list. He will gleam – but only when well-bathed and oiled, and never will he glitter or glow. Darker, mossy bronze accents offers to offset the bright shade of his hide, appearing as speckles up and down all four of his legs and along the bone of his wings. The same freckles spot his muzzle and rump, making it look like he has a good deal more distance between his eyes than Ariysk actually has; Ariysk looks rather bewildered and childish should his freckles be pointed out. You’d do well never to mention such a thing to him.

Personality— Ariysk is downright arrogant. This bronze seems to have no idea of what is just or what is polite, and nor does he seem to care. In his eyes, he is Number One; His comes perpetually second, and any queens or greens in the vicinity that might have won his favor will come Third. He has no use for other males and, once he claims a piece of territory as his, which shouldn’t take long – whether be it the specific shade cast by a tree in the late evening, a chunk of riverbank, or a chunk of beach – Ariysk will not be above herding males (regardless of species; whether you be human or dragon, wher or Salamandyr, you aren’t safe if you’re male) out of his territory and guarding them just to make sure they don’t decide to invade again. That wouldn’t be good; it might make the females look at them instead of him and that was bad, bad, very bad. Fortunately for those males, Ariysk is not a violent creature, and will do no more than nudge them emphatically until they’re out of his ‘range’. Should they attempt to come back in, likely as not they will just be nudged right back out again; violence is unnecessary! Arrogant though Ariysk is, he isn’t a fan of violence, and will not condone it within his territory. Because it hurts people, possibly even females. And that would be devastating.

Not very intelligent, is Ariysk. While he has the capacity of understanding complex enough ideas, he simply doesn’t care enough to – because he is always right, and his ideas are the simplest of all because he doesn’t want to work that hard. Lack of mental exercise will mean that Ariysk becomes downright grumpy when he’s forced to actually think, probably much to His’ despair. A creature of brute force and little else, Ariysk is; while he’s certainly strong and stubborn, he’d much rather have His do any necessary thinking for him, and for that reason precisely Ariysk will never become a leader – or a good leader, in any case. His Chasing will be downright unimaginative, with no wooing for affections; he much prefers the females to fawn over him and can be quite miffed when they do not immediately do so; can’t they see how absolutely splendid he is? Don’t they want to coo and gush over him? Despite his lack of originality or actual intelligence, Ariysk is a stubborn creature indeed. Once he’s got his mind set on something, anybody is hard-pressed to change it – even His will have a hard time, even with bribery: Ariysk has a decidedly one-track mind.

It seems all too rare for Ariysk to be in a good mood unless he has an adoring female draped over him (or His a male; Ariysk views any conquests by His to be as good as his own), and he’s usually quite a character to be around, to say the least. Not at all appealing, is his company; he’s a pessimistic, self-centered creature at the best of times, often dismissive of anyone else’s misfortunes. He likes to cast himself as both the luckiest and the least lucky of all whers in the world – whatever his company is, just so he can outdo them. What, they just caught a green wher? Oh, that was nothing; he’d Caught a queen just a sevenday ago, he had. And if they’d just lost a green to a blue? Oh, they knew nothing of misery and defeat; didn’t they know he’d had a queen reject him in order to curl up with a blue? Weren’t females silly? As long as Ariysk has the attention, he does not seem to care about what lengths he has to go to in order to get it; lies and twisted truths are common for him, but most will tire quickly of his camaraderie, seeing how he demands the spotlight to be upon him at all times, no questions asked.

[glamourie]

“That’s ridiculous, whers don’t eat people,” replied Anz sternly as he rubbed at his nose. But his gaze fell on the other boy’s face and he actually rolled over onto his knees, crawling forward. He was totally oblivious to the happenings around him, more focused on his companion – the person he’d pretty much beaned. Guilt washed over him for his initial snap and he flailed his arms about. “You shouldn’t worry so much, I mean, whers don’t hurt people, they mostly just glare don’t they? I’m sure if they were that dangerous we wouldn’t be allowed to Stand and anyway I got mauled by dragons so – are you okay? I’m really sorry; I wasn’t really looking where I was going because I only woke up about ten minutes ago and that was because Sprite was howling –” His words, rambling though they were, came to an abrupt stop as the other boy started to move and Anzalorin looked up almost in dread; despite his words, he was in no hurry to get cut up again, be it by dragon or wher. He was crawling away in frantic hurry and Anz cocked his head to the side in surprise; what in the world was he doing? Why was he a candidate if he was scared…?

His question was answered by the approach of a brown wher and despite himself, Anz actually crab walked out of the way to get as far from the claws as possible. A hint of fear went over his face before he scrambled back to his feet, rubbing his nose, and he backed over toward the door to lean on one of the walls. He remembered what claws could do to flesh – no, no, he was in absolutely no hurry for a repeat occurrence. His gaze flicked to the boy whose name he didn’t know inquiringly, but the wher had stopped with him, and… crooned? Crooned? Why was it crooning? His confusion replaced his fear, as Sprite ducked out of her hiding place in his hair and climbed right to the very top of his head, an electric green-yellow spot for all to see. Her frill flared and she stood on her hind legs before throwing her head back in a loud howl once more. Perfect imitation.

Like, like. Not mean scary. Less mean scary. No fear. No hurt. Anzminelove no hurt. Calm, calm. We get scary also? Salamandyr before wher!

The other candidate seemed to be panicking though and Anz frowned, turning back to him before kneeling down to be at-level with the hatchling wher. “He’s not eating you!” he said; the blond was very reassured by Sprite. If she wasn’t scared, then he wouldn’t be, either. It took a lot to make Sprite stay calm, and he trusted her judgment. If she thought the wher was okay, so would he. “They bond with blood, I think – and then you’ve got to actually feed him. I mean, wouldn’t you be hungry if you just came out of an egg? I would be. Firelizards and salamandyrs are hungry when they first hatch so he must be too, you should um – follow where the other people who managed to bond to a wher went, I guess. I don’t know where you go. I didn’t go to the wher class; I probably should have but I was busy.” He was busy sewing a pink shirt, but that was irrelevant to the subject.

Hungry baby is? Hungry baby is? Sprite asked of the little wher, before giving another howl. Then she spoke pointedly to Quintrell – unusual for her, since Sprite was so shy. You feed baby. Give feeds. Food before sleep, food before sleep. To emphasize her point, she actually did a somersault on Anzalorin’s head, and then came to rest right on his shoulder again, wings flared. Baby good make pretty. Good. And that was the end of the matter as far as she was concerned.

And both Sprite and her mindmate were oblivious to the hatchling giving them a glare – or who he finally Impressed to. Anz gave a light nod toward the exit, and then smiled reassuringly. “Congratulations. That’s Sprite’s way of saying that too. She doesn’t talk to just anyone. Good luck navigating in the dark. You’ll probably do better than me.”

[kat]

Ari had made a conscientious effort to simply try and ignore the bronze wher hatchling. His size, his bulk, his stance and just about everything that was him made her nerves rattle. She thought that by concentrating on the other eggs, she might divert his attention from her. Never, not in a million years, did she think that the bronze would ever look her way. If it did, she was prepared to bolt, because against that bulk and size, what else could she possibly do? Nothing, that was what. However, because he nudged the little egg next to him, she was forced into looking in his direction. In time to see a small, non threatening looking green hatch out. That was more like it! It looked timid, and safe and--what?

The bronze was coming in her direction. It was practically all but prancing her way, looking confident and very intimidating. Maybe that wasn't fair, because of course it would look intimidating to her, no matter if it was or not? It didn't matter, though, because she was sure it would have to go through her to get to whom it was going to. She meant to back away, ever so slowly. Only she found herself frozen in place, and the bronze was only drawing nearer by the second. She should bolt, now! Before it reached her. She didn't want to be shredded! The sheer size of it, it was going to hurt. She prepared herself for it, it was looking at her, it wanted someone behind her, she was so sure of it!

It butted her hand. What? What did it want? It was looking at her and not moving, just sitting there and not moving. She swallowed nervously, and in that instant something snapped. She fumbled for her knife, and meant to make a small incision on her hand, only it slipped a little and she winced. That was a bit more than she'd been going for. That might even scar. She was leaning back a little as she offered her hand. What if that wasn't what he wanted? Maybe she'd made a mistake, like she had with the brown. Then what? She'd be forced to staunch the bleeding, was what. She'd be forced to--

Ariysk had no doubts whatsoever, not like Ari had. He literally seemed to stick her entire hand in his mouth, even though he didn't bite down. In that moment, she knew what his name was: Ariysk. Wait, that was only one letter away from her own name! That was a good thing, right? Ariysk was pleased with her--somehow she was made to know that she wanted him to be pleased with her. Only the feelings and emotions were so foreign, they rather confused her. He sucked on her hand, and she was so surprised she didn't notice he'd drooled on her. Didn't notice much, in fact, except that she'd just managed to bond to the least likely possibility. He was overwhelming, but he was hers now. Or, as he was thinking, she was his? Confusing. All of it, just confusing.

Ariysk was a bit annoyed that his seemed to be just standing there looking dumbfounded, even after he let her hand go. He growled impatiently and butted her off to the side, away from the front, and the others. Couldn't she tell that she didn't need to stand there waiting anymore? He, the mighty Ariysk, had chosen her. Silly, silly girl. He could see he had much work to do with this one. Still, she was pleasing to him, and he felt very devoted to her. Maybe even as much as to himself...maybe!

Ari allowed the bronze to keep butting her off to the side. What happened now? He was hungry, she could feel the demands strongly. Feed him? Where was the food...? She looked around, feeling panicky all of a sudden. However, the bronze was sending off so much self confidence that it was hard to feel that way. Food, she needed food--where did she get food? That was all she could focus on for the time being. What had happened hadn't quite sunk in yet. But when it did? She had another thing coming to her!

~~~~~~

Tal knew that whers of any color could go to either gender. Still, even he was startled when that muscular, powerful looking bronze decided to bond to the quietest, most shy girl he'd ever laid eyes upon. Even when he'd tried to strike up conversations with her, she gave quiet, short replies. How unlikely was that? Still, he had to shake his head in disbelief and smirk. There weren't too many eggs left here. He wasn't sure if he'd make the cut today, and he was sort of trying to calm that excitement at this point. Always next time, right? In the meantime there were three more left. Three more, and who was all here? A couple other boys and himself. Well, only the actual bonding would tell who got what--and who didn't. He congratulated the girl, but he was pretty sure she hadn't even heard.

Tal watched the tiny green, so different from her bronze clutchbrother. Totally different, all of them. As individualistic as the dragons, really. It was a pity more people didn't give them a chance. He wanted to laugh outright at Dmitri. Go figure, that lout had managed to bond a wher. Not that Tal felt he necessarily deserved one. The guy didn't seem like the most likable character. Still, it was the wher's choice in the end. He smirked wryly and turned his attention back to the whers who weren't bonded--the eggs and the wher, rather. One gold, one what? Blue? That was his guess. Woul the gold go and choose a male, then? Probably. What would the other two choose? His stomach turned a little. It would be sharding rotten luck to be the only wher candidate left in the barracks. Still, more would come, and there were always dragon candidates. Besides, it wasn't over yet! He watched the remainder with quiet intent.

[Kisha-Ra]

It was so frustrating! Yoalla didn’t understand how she could have been living at Selenitas Weyr for months and still manage to get horribly, hideously, lost the second she tried to go anywhere in the middle of the night. The place wasn’t all that different looking in the dark surely?

At least now she’d found the wherhandler’s quarters, although now she was no longer operating on the blind panic that got her out of bed, around the Weyr, back at the barracks (she really hoped no one had seen that or she’d never hear the end of it), and finally here, her confidence was draining away faster than water in bucket with no bottom. She stood just inside the door for a moment, indecisive, should she carry on or just slink away and pretend she hadn’t been interested? Neither one was going to save her pride now, and she did want to see the hatching, whatever was left of it, so she slunk along the corridor at high speed, looking a lot like a dog that knows it’s going to be in trouble in a minute.

She’d just have a peek around the entrance first, everyone would be busy, and if all the eggs were hatched she could run off quickly, go back to bed, pretend she’d never been out, and stick her head under the furs while she regretted getting lost. Perfect.

A glance revealed a wher queen standing over just two remaining eggs. Only two? Yoalla made a face from her position just outside the entrance and though a vile curse against the layout of Selenitas. However she still slipped inside very quietly, maybe no one would notice her, or think she’d been there all along. Even if they did notice how late she’d arrived she still wanted to see the last bit of the hatching, One of the last eggs was very large and golden, Yoalla wondered if it would actually contain a queen, as the last dragon clutch proved, it was unwise to count your golds before they hatched. The other eggs was smaller, black, and dotted with… swirling stars? Yoalla blinked and looked again.

(I apologise for the awful lameness of this post. However since most of the hatching went on while I was asleep last night and I’m just about to leave for 9 hours work, I figured I’d better post now.)

[Avu]

The Forever Green seemed to be in no hurry to get anywhere, and neither did either of the other two eggs. The small creature crooned quietly to herself, still staring uncertainly around at the people. So many choices – what if she hurt someone’s feelings by accident? But…that was even assuming any of them wanted her. So easy to think that none of them did, that they were there because there was a bigger egg twitching animatedly next to her and not really for her. She didn’t want to be accepted out of pity! That would be…so deprecating and she simply couldn’t take it if that happened. Her gaze became slightly desperate as it moved from one to the other. Oh, she didn’t want to be judgmental…the Forever Green sidled uncertainly around an egg – and then it exploded, sending her sprawling backwards in alarm as the remnants of the Warp Egg rained down on her and the broken remains of the eggs, leaving the Present Egg as the last, the unHatched.

The pale Warp Blue twisted in his eggshells and then flopped onto the ground, offering his sister a cheerful croon. The sound was raspy and rough from lack of use, but it was undeniably friendly; he had no qualms about crawling on his belly up to her and butting his head against her shoulder cheerfully, crooning again before he raised his hindquarters and flapped both wings in a blatant inquiry as to whether or not she wanted to play. The Forever Green ducked her head to nose curiously at him, and he licked her shoulder playfully and tried to bounce away. Unfortunately, the Warp Blue had not quite acquired steady footing and instead of leaping gracefully, he found himself tangling his feet together and literally tipping over and sprawling flat on his back in the straw, staring blankly up at the ceiling and unable to comprehend how it had happened.

Apparently entranced by her brother, the Forever Green slid up to him and nudged his side, her confusion giving way to amused delight as the Warp Blue squirmed happily and then rolled onto his other side, crooning and then clambering to his feet. His eyes whirled in happy colors before he darted forward, glancing back at his sister enticingly; wouldn’t she play tag with him? But his path took him through the Candidates, weaving and tripping and stumbling, and the Forever Green was simply not ready to do such a thing yet; she followed him a few paces, bouncing in his wake happily, before she slowed to an uncertain stop, eyeing the nearest Candidate uncertainly. Unexpected, this was. She hadn’t been ready to pick! But even if she was not, the Warp Blue was; skittering around Talien, he gave a happy chirp and pounced for Anzalorin. Falling short, the wher ended up bracing his forelegs on either side of Anz’s, chest and muzzle pressed against his legs.

Such did not ease his cheerfulness in the least, however; he tilted his head up and stared up at Anzalorin before he chirped happily again and then took a step back to lower his forequarters playfully. Oh, see? He’d found His, Anzask had; didn’t he want to play?~

The Forever Green stared blankly after her brother, and then tilted her head uncertainly. She…she’d wanted that one…? Or she thought she had, anyway; she wasn’t sure anymore. Maybe not. Hrmm. But her thoughts were shattered by the cracking open of the last egg, and the Present Gold squirmed free of her eggshells, opened her mouth, puffed up her chest – and uttered an earsplitting creel of hunger. The Forever Green creeled in response to her large, exceptionally pale clutchsister, and the gold squinted at her before she gave a dramatic huff and flapped huge wings, throwing up her head proudly and barely deigning to look over at her mother’s admiring, pleased croon nearby. Wasn’t she fabulous! The gold yawned, and then turned and began to preen. So pretty, she was…the Forever Green was left, staring at her sister, uncertainly hovering nearby. Now…what?

Past Egg- Green Nautsk to Nautic
Present Egg- Gold; preening
Future Egg- Blue Dmisk to Dmitri
Paradox Egg- Brown Quintresk to Quintrell
Continuum Egg- Bronze Ariysk to Ariya
Warp Egg- Blue Anzask to Anzalorin
Forever Egg- Green; staring at Present Gold

[Avu]

Warp Blue
Name— Anzask
Color— Blue (#a5c2d4)
Impressed to— Anzalorin
Appearance— Never able to be honestly called ‘beautiful’ or even ‘cute’, Anzask is quite the average (if incredibly small) wher, very much like those who earned the species the label ‘ugly’. Only those who like whers to begin with will be able to find anything good about this one; he was not built for looks, to be sure. A typical stocky body is offset strangely by long, thin limbs, ended by extremely large paws. Anzask’s claws are definitely something to shy away from, though, being long and curved: Deadly, and with an odd color – pure white, making any stains or imperfections that may come upon them to be very, very obvious indeed. Neck ridges that are decidedly strange, some of them blunt to the point of disappearing and others large and jagged, run down a thin neck, ending between wings that are excessively large, flopping membrane-covered appendages that will often draw odd looks, for they do not seem to fit a wher at all – their shape and size (in proportion to his body) suggest the wings of a dragon. Anzask’s head is also on the large side, giving him a permanently childlike appearance, emphasized by large, wide eyes and a shorter muzzle.

Unfortunately for Anzask, this blue’s odd proportions mean he’s absolutely graceless. It’s not uncommon for his muzzle to be slightly scraped up from the sheer number of tumbles he’s taken. This blue simply cannot seem to control his oversized paws and often trips over himself and over them. Oh, he does his best not to, but this means that he’ll go very, very slowly, for it requires a large amount of concentration in order to keep from sprawling or doing a completely inelegant faceplant; when he’s in a hurry, Anzask will probably end up half-rolling and half-walking to Point B; it’s probably safer for him to roll – not as far to fall. The only time that Anzask will ever be even remotely appealing as far as his movement goes is when he’s gliding; Anzask can glide and even fly quite well at night when the air is more gracious. His wings will, at first, be weak and likely he’ll have as many accidents in the air as on the ground, but once he becomes accustomed to maneuvering the unwieldy things, Anzask will abuse flight when he cannot go between; it spares his muzzle and embarrassment and it’s so much more fun anyway, isn’t it?

Anzask is incredibly pale. His color is washed out, a shade of blue so light as to be mistaken for white in the right lighting. This is emphasized by the tint of gray to it, but this is not a sign of ill health in Anzask as it is for most: His coloring is just like that, and no amount of oiling, fretting, or pampering will make his color deepen, or make that grayness vanish completely. Short of painting him, Anzask’s odd hide is here to stay. The oddness of it is only emphasized by the fact that, so vivid are his emotions, his eyes will whirl very rapidly and in very bright colors, a startling contrast to his hide, especially since the gleaming of his eyes, the sparkling and glowing, will never be matched by his hide, a very matte blue. With proper oiling and care, Anzask can acquire a decent gleam to him, but it will never be too impressive and in all likeliness it’ll fade sooner than later. Fortunately, Anzask’s hide is not entirely lacking in markings, or he would be all too easily mistaken for being a green instead of a blue given his size (or lack thereof). Blue freckles are sprayed across his face, fading into mottled dark blue that fades as it moves down his neck, until, at his shoulders, it vanishes entirely; the same dark blue mottled markings reveal themselves again on his rump, and fade out of view along his back and tail.

Personality— Anzask is a sweet creature. This blue has an undeniably playful streak, displayed by his attempts at enticing anyone he bumps into to play. Tag and hide-and-seek are his favorites, for they’re not unduly rough and very easy to play – so anyone can play! Very friendly, Anzask is; he accepts without question and never challenges what he is told. Why would they lie to him, after all? He doesn’t really care where anyone came from, or what their names are, or what they act like; he just wants to play. Is that so wrong? Of course not; everyone wants to play! Anzask is possibly one of the most innocent creatures ever Shelled; he’ll never understand the concept of hate, or true anger, and while he’ll be afraid of it and shrink back, he won’t understand how far it might go and fully expects playing to fix all problems. After all, if everyone would just stop fighting and play, wouldn’t that fix the war? It would stop, and people would be happy. Because playing makes you happy, of course. This makes perfect sense to him, and no amount of rationalization will make Anzask think any differently – he is not a creature of reason and fact.

No, Anzask is more likely to be found in fantasies and imagination. He likes to twist the truth – but not in a bad way; only to make it look a little better, be a little more interesting. The consequences for such can come around to bite him in the tail, since he stubbornly clings to his version of fact instead of allowing fact to run its course, but his intent is not malicious. Never malicious! Anzask will never consider the idea even for an instant of sacrificing someone else’s safety and comfort, will downright refuse to hurt anybody, and should he ever be in a fight, he will be purely defensive, dodging and ducking and sidling away in the hopes that the other will loose interest or stop fighting because fighting is simply so bad. Even for His, Anzask will rarely fight, unless it’s a play-tumble. Should His ever be in a position in which Anzask must fight in order to save his life, however, Anzask will – and likely feel acutely horrible for the rest of his life for taking someone else’s life or even crippling them. How could he, how could he?! He actually HURT someone! The idea of this agitates him incredibly, to the point that he’ll actually have nightmares – nightmares that, unfortunately, will probably be shared by His whether or not His feels the same about fighting as he.

Balancing out his playfulness and pacifism is the fact that Anzask is actually quite intelligent. His is not one based on numbers and statistics, though, and Anzask certainly is not capable of plotting or conspiring – his is a very primal intelligence. If something hurts, he won’t do it again because he does not want the hurt. If something resembles the thing that made the hurt, he won’t try that either, because it’s likely to hurt. Memories are always remembered with startling accuracy, and often combine sight, smell, and hearing instead of just sight (Whether or not these images are indeed real and not a figment of imagination, however, will have to be carefully decided; they are equally accurate), and his emotions will be extremely strong for His. Whether or not this is because, childlike, Anzask feels everything to a great degree or his Bond to His is simply that close, is up for debate – likely both. Because of his memory span and intelligence, Anzask certainly be capable of thriving between and will, indeed, often go just to save time once he learns; saves time and leaves more for playing, of course! Why wouldn’t anyone abuse between? The dangers inherent in this activity seem to evade him, though; His will be needed to caution him…for he learns from experience and one experience lost between will not give room for a second…

[Ember]

Eikane frowned slightly. Mean Forever Egg, hatching already. The colour that came out wasn't a huge surprise either. For a moment he turned his attention back to the bronze when it decided on someone. Interesting that. He'd bonded to a girl. Considering they looked like smaller, photophobic, ugly dragons it was a bit strange to him that any colour could bond to either gender person. He wished al lthe new wher handlers luck with their whers. Especially Dmitri! He'd have to go laugh congratulate him at some point.

Then there was another hatched. His sigh turned into a yawn as the Warp Blue wandered over to a candidate. That left one egg. He watched it hatch and chuckled to himself. A gold wher! What a sound too. If she was going to make a noise, shouldn't it be some dignified croon or something? Silly creature. He sketched her flapping her stunted wings briefly. It was a more striking image than her preening, in his opinion. Well, that was last hatched so...He folded his sketch pad and stood up. He wouldn't dally to see who got the gold. The only candidates he knew who he'd care to see what they impressed was Dmitri and maybe that smith lad.

He yawned again as he stood up and started heading to the exit. Well, that had been fun. Now to get back to sleep so he'd have energy for tomorrow. Maybe Dmitri would be less of a pain now with a wher to keep him occupied? For some reason he doubted it. Oh well. At least Eikane didn't have to live in the same barracks anymore. He whistled a little tune as he did the hatching sands shuffle. Oh yes, he was in a good mood now.

[Requiem]

"Stop it." The voice should have sounded familiar, but likely it was covered up by all the other noises. He wasn't screaming, after all. Or flailing. The screeches had stopped a ways back. Now he just kept repeating in the hopes that the blue that seemed to want to claim him - though why was completely beyond him - would let go. "Stop it." He rocked back on his heels, perhaps stupidly trusting that he wouldn't end up tripping over a rock or something. Walking backwards wasn't an easy task, but his head really wasn't capable of moving much at present. He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Stop it."

Dmisk, for his part, wasn't much interested in stopping. The problem of blooding could be solved later, but it was important to see all the brothers and sisters. How were any plans supposed to be made if they weren't counted, marked and observed? He could be just as obstinate as His.

The wherling continued backing into the den, the long curls of His clamped tightly in his jaws. This forced Dmitri into that odd backwards gait, half-crouched, lest he be dragged across the ground. The irritated resignation on the boy's face was rather priceless. He'd really rather still be under the gold. Really. Her fattiness was better than this it was. Dmisk gave the boy's hair a little yank for that one, apparently satisfied by the resulting yelp. "Stop it." The tone even more deadpan now than before. "If any more parasites come because you dragged me back, I'm dumping you in the pie filling pail."

Which was too small to fit all of Dmisk, but that didn't stop Dmitri from threatening the blue with it. Unfortunately, the wher didn't have the usual hatchling naivety...he was silently amused, though he didn't share that with His or anyone else. Nope, just kept backing up until he'd gotten His firmly back inside. The sudden release of pressure on the boy's head caused him to topple, and the blue was on his chest in a second, muzzle right by Dmitri's face. He sent a brisk message of polite welcoming to the gold who had hatched. Queen sister. Hrm. Then proceeded to watch his green sister in silence.

Dmitri flailed beneath him before his limbs fell still, clearly pouting. "I didn't mean sit on me. Eikane! Eikane! Come get it off!" Dmisk's clawed foot brushed Dmitri's head and settled over his mouth. The boy's eyes narrowed. Honestly!

[glamourie]

Another somersault (so uncharacteristically outgoing for Sprite) was offered by the electric green salamandyr before she flung herself up and onto Anzalorin’s head once more. She prowled about for a moment before diving beneath the blond strands and hissing (which made Anz jump – sweet little Sprite never hissed at anyone) in the direction of someone she didn’t know who just arrived. He spun around anxiously to locate the source of Sprite’s agitation and was presented with a candidate who apparently had more of a gift for oversleeping than he did. He offered Yoalla a pleasant nod of greeting, his head cocking to the side, and he mentally prodded Sprite for an explanation – why was she hissing so? It just wasn’t like his little sweet Spriteling. He wasn’t stupid – he knew very well what the glow of her hide meant – but… still, hissing? At least she was hiding if that was how she was going to behave, but Anz found it hard to be too mad at her; Sprite wasn’t mad. She was just antsy, all of a sudden, and it was a weird feeling that had him shifting back and forth. Fidgeting. He didn’t like this sudden weariness in his salamandyr at all. He’d almost be glad when she Ran just because it would take away some of the anxiousness. She was usually so sweet.

Sounds from back near the clutch had him turning around – finally. His gaze snared on the two wher hatchlings in interest. They weren’t nearly as pretty as the dragon hatchlings, but they seemed to be more peaceful, somehow. At least, they weren’t knocking him over. Anz generally was happier when he wasn’t knocked over and being clawed up…

!

The sudden movement of the crowd and then a sight of gray-blue flying right at his legs made Anz back up a step, just to see the Warp Blue come colliding with the ground right in front of him. His heart stopped – or so it felt like – for a few seconds as he stared at the disheveled creature on the ground. Then all at once he dropped to his knees, hands moving to push the little blue’s wings up and off the ground. He didn’t quite notice the blue looking up at him as he looked the young wher over frantically – had he hurt himself? That looked like a nasty hit, he was lucky he didn’t collide with him completely, silly beast! He could’ve really hurt himself doing that – wait. Anz blinked as the wher moved back and his head cocked to the side as a foreign feeling washed over him. It was similar to Sprite and the way her moods affected him but… stronger? And distinctly masculine in its own way. Had it – what the – had it just chosen him?

Scary ours? Sprite inquired, darting back out from Anzalorin’s hair to fling herself forward, daringly, onto the blue wher’s head. She didn’t keep herself in his line of sight for long, ducking behind one particularly large ridge before throwing her head back and howling. If he wanted to claim Hers, he needed to howl with her, he did!

A burst of confusion made Anz blink twice, and he watched as Anzask (how he knew the creature’s name was anybody’s guess, but he did know it, and that was what mattered) turned around rapidly, tripping on his own feet in the process. He continued to turn around, over and over, in an attempt to see Sprite on his back, but his ridge was in the way. Three full loops were made (he was oblivious to how odd it looked for him to be spinning around that way) before Anz’s hands came down onto his neck to calm him and make him stop. But stopping made him dizzy and he fell backward onto his haunches with a slightly confused squeak, eyes whirling contentedly. Was that a new game? Find the little thing. He wanted to play it more, he did – but first he needed to show her he was willing, yes yes. That thought in mind, the young wher actually leaned back and howled with Sprite, before positively leaping back to his feet. Play, play, play?

“We’ll play later. Aren’t you hungry?” Nope; he wanted to play. Well, that was a fast answer. Anz frowned, kneeling down before rubbing his eye. “I’m supposed to feed you my blood, aren’t I…?” Times like this made him wish he’d paid attention in candidate lessons instead of donning grapefruit. “I don’t have any knives or anything though…”

[Avu]

The touch on her mind made the Present Gold turn to stare at Dmisk and Dmitri before she gave an amused purr and rose to her feet and scrambled awkwardly across the Sands. Talien was pushed out of her way firmly, and offered a soft growl as she prowled through the Candidates, stumbling every so often, her gaze daring them to laugh at her. Very soon she reached the back, and then her eyes fell on Yoalla. A low hiss emerged from her throat and the Present Gold tripped past her, slashing at her upper leg for punishment. She wasn’t right. Bad person, for being not right. The female glanced condescendingly towards Dmitri and let out a soft chrrp of amusement again before her gaze slid around to the Candidates still Standing. Oh, how rude – all of them had been claimed already. But no matter – they’d still left the best one unclaimed, they had; the stupids clearly had no idea what they were doing. But she did, because she was the best of all of them, see, see? The pale queen growled softly as she started towards Dmitri and Dmisk, but before she got halfway there, a blur of green shot across her path.

Ignoring her sister’s shriek of indignation, the Forever Green slipped and tumbled over the Sands, her eyes flashing in alarm as she sped straight past Anzalorin and Anzask (of course she hadn’t wanted him, how could she’ve thought that for even a moment?!) and – faceplanted elegantly halfway to her target. Rolling, the Forever Green gave an embarrassed creel before she scrambled to her feet, wings splaying out and her entire body shaking to get rid of the straw that clung to hide and membrane as a result of her undignified tumble. Her eyes tinged pink; if it was possible for whers to blush, she would have, and then she scurried the rest of the way to Yoalla, creeling softly as her head butted against the girl’s knees, rubbing straw and egg goop across her new Bonded’s legs. Oh, how embarrassing that she’d fallen; everyone’d remember forever and they’d always make fun of poor, poor Yosk, they would. How terrifying! But oh; oh! Hers was hurt, poor Yoalla; how did they fix it?

The Present Gold drew herself up with an indignant hiss before she threw a dirty look back at Yosk, and then turned to stumble clumsily past Dmitri and Dmisk – and then she bolted for Hers, realizing that he’d been planning to leave. No no no; he was not allowed to go. Unfortunately for Hers, the Present Gold tripped comically mid-dash and her forward momentum had her smack directly into the back of Eikane’s legs, sending both of them sprawling, the gold ending up sitting on the back of his legs, blinking bemusedly before she crooned pleasantly, turning to nudge the back of Eikane’s head with her muzzle. Claimed him, she had. This one was hers. Eikask growled possessively, and then licked Eikane’s neck again. This one was Hers and see, she could sit on people better than Dmisk could. See, seeeee; she was clearly the best sitter ever.

Her mother’s croon was one of blatant amusement before she rose to her feet fluidly – where her daughter’s lack of grace had come from, she didn’t know; she personally blamed the father and the human taint – before she howled (she’d heard the miniature howls coming from the back of the room, she had; it amused her) once more and then sprang into action, her pale form darting past the Candidates; a quick sideways jerk of her head pushed the Candidates out of her way and she turned to dart out into the night. Finally! She was never clutching there again. Silly stupid babies, taking so long to Hatch and then attracting so many human stupids to come there…hrmph. So not worth it…

Past Egg- Green Nautsk to Nautic
Present Egg- Gold Eikask to Eikane
Future Egg- Blue Dmisk to Dmitri
Paradox Egg- Brown Quintresk to Quintrell
Continuum Egg- Bronze Ariysk to Ariya
Warp Egg- Blue Anzask to Anzalorin
Forever Egg- Green Yosk to Yoalla