when will the flames at last consume us (hatching)

[Lotty]

What the shards? Unexpected...to say the least. He had been here what? A few minutes? Next thing he knew there was an extra firelizard on his shoulder...and it was dwarfing his tiny Eyesore. What was he even supposed to think about this? The blue was absolutely livid and the nip at his tail was just added fuel. The flurry of wings that resulted swirled around his head and there was a sudden pang of regret in K'sel's stomach. He apparently did not find his dear ol' buddy Eyesore the proper trainee. No, instead he had another personality to clash with the cast of characters he already had. This was just terrific he brusquely groaned to himself.

Around his shoulders the firelizards chased each other. First Eyesore spun around to lash back at the bronze and then the hatchling would spin around his head to try and tag the blue back - though certainly with none of the viscousness that the tiny incumbent displayed. Like magic the bronze always seemed to come out ahead much to a certain firelizard's distress. Finally the merry-go-round of alternating colors was too much for the teenager and he threw his hands up in the air -as if the scene wasn't ridiculous enough - and commanded the bickering "children" to stop with a growl, "Cut it out!"

Only one remained. Eyesore flicked between and with a chitter that sounded eerily too much like a laugh, the winner settled into place on K'sel's shoulder; his long tail leisurely wrapping around the young man's neck giving him something of a new necklace. Now how about some food? That would be good yes? A bit of a nuzzle against his new person's cheek and that would be the deal maker surely. The brownweyrling found himself driven to the food bowls and obediently scooped up enough to feed the new flying stomach.

He felt like he was betraying his best friend and his favorite piece of decoration (the blue was the perfect splash of color on those days that he fell into the trap of wearing too many blacks and grays) but somehow he was able to get over it. It might have been the splash of emotion and hunger that was creeping up on him, his own relative apathy, or the firelizard's charms but either way it seemed like some kind of sleight of hand.

"Mojo," he blurted. That was the word for it. This guy had mojo and thus he was christened. Situation under control he was able to turn his head at his favorite enemy and stick out his tongue. Shame she was busy playing with children....she must really like kids since she did tend to hang around him a lot.

[absinthe]

Amelie laughed out loud as the kitten in her arms seemed bent on chewing up her fingers. She didn’t seem to mind, and even set to playing with him animatedly. He looked like he was content to lie in her lap and have her play with him as well. The apprentice healer’s attempts to pay attention to the Hatching were quite sporadic at best now, but when the telltale sound of shells cracking reached her ears, she did glance up from the cute little pile of fur in her lap to see what was going on. Ooh, three more had hatched, and apparently the little bronze had Impressed while she’d been distracted. Oops. A glance toward the lad who had escorted her here quickly proved that he was still there, patiently waiting to see if he would acquire one of the winged creatures.

Junaes had all but forgotten about Amelie and her new kitten; instead he was busily watching the clutch as eggs broke and hatchlings were revealed. So far none of them had glanced his way, but the candidate wasn’t about to be discouraged. Vaguely he wondered if whether or not he Impressed a firelizard here was an indication of how his luck would run when it came time to stand before a dragon’s clutch. Maybe he would ask someone later but for now he lined up a few scraps of meat at his edge of the blanket and kept a few pieces handy, just in case. The two greens playing together were quite cute, and he was content to watch them for now… and there were still quite a few eggs left unhatched. A good sign. If he noticed R'wign speaking, he didn't look up; Junaes knew that the brownrider's words weren't for him.

[mierce]

Evrgarde woke up to a strange sensation going up her spine. It was not unpleasant—in fact, it was quite warm and fuzzy, and that above all was the most terrifying. Tossing her blankets of furs off to the side she glared at the door, knowing full well that the blue on the other side could feel the weight of her stare. Absolutely not.

A green orb encased in blue appeared in her window. Aw come now. Let’s go see~~~~

She turned her head ever so slightly so that she was facing the eye directly. I want nothing to do with chittering pests.

Iorath chuckled deeply in her mind. You’re so unfriendly, I doubt any would really want to bond to you anyway. He stuck his eye closer so that the sheer size of his head blocked off the remaining ambient light coming in through the window. If Evrgarde hadn’t been expecting a dragon eye filling up the hole, waking up to it would have been downright horrific.

Well, /you/ still bonded. She slipped out of bed but didn’t make any movements towards the door.

Alas, that was before I knew better. Just a tinge of mock regret in his mindvoice.

“If you want to go, go yourself,” she said aloud as she padded into the bathroom to wash up. “I’d rather go hunting.” She felt a wave of amusement come from the blue and quickly added, “Even if it means going on foot.”

Pleeeaaassseeee? Please please please please pleasepleasepleasepleaseplea---

“ALL RIGHT!” Evrgarde flew out from the bathroom in a rage, arms waving wilding in the air. She gave Iorath and most threatening look she could without her eyeballs popping out. If the alternative is you being annoying as a sharding mandyr, /fine/ I’ll go.

Yay! <3

A short while later and the bluepair found themselves approaching where Ellie had set up camp with her clutch. Iorath landed as close as he could to the crowd that had already formed, then carefully ambled over after folding his wings neatly against his body. Evrgarde, on the other hand, linger back. Her blue sent her a mental image of the colors and of the flitters that had begun to hatch, but she mentally brushed it aside. Arms crossed and scowl firmly set in her features, she had her back towards the entire fiasco. She had come, but damned if she was going to actively participate.

-----------------------------------------------------

MINI DRAGONS! MINIDRAGONSMINIDRAGONSMINIDRAGONS!

Cerdic flew from the kitchens form where he had procured two heaping bowls of meat. Surely he’d impress at least a flitter! Maybe two! What about three or four?! Oh my! He could have his own little squadron of mini dragons before getting a real one! The thought was absolutely delightful. I wonder how many I’ll need before they can pick me up? The image of a hoard of flitters lifting him up in the air was so hilarious, he wanted it to be true so badly. So so badly…

Much to his dismay, it appeared as it quite a number of people had already gathered for the hatching. Eee…. He needed to get up front! “’Scuse me please~. ‘Scuse me. Coming through!” Ducking under elbows, twisting between torsos and turning to the side to squeeze between whatever gaps the spectators had left, Cerdic made his way towards the front of the crowd. Well, sort of. There were a few he couldn’t quite get passed without being outright rude. Fortunately he wasn’t too short and could get a pretty good look at the eggs. So colorful!

Alas, quite a few had hatched already he had was concerned that he had missed his chance. Holding up both bowls over his head, he started waving awkwardly towards the newborn flitters. Look here! Look here! Look!!! FOOD!

[dragon]

Llannu scritched on the limp lump of kitten in his hands a few more times, his attention shifting to glance at the girl who answered his question. That hadn't exactly been who he'd been asking, but any answer was better than none, in his opinion. With a small nod, his attention shifted back to the basket, fascinated. As good as the kitten was to hold ... he couldn't help but be drawn like a moth to flame toward the basket.

All the stomping feet around and people milling around, some talking altogether too loudly, it was hard to maneuver on his knees. But Llannu managed, wiggling his way closer to the basket, trying to get a better view. Occasionally he leaned to a side to try and see better around someone's leg. Completely fascinated, he forgot about scratching on the kitten, and ultimately ended up putting the limp creature down on the blanket again to crawl toward the basket.

A lad as long and lanky and all elbows and knees such as Llannu made for a really strange appearance, crawling across the ground on the blanket. But his attention was stolen ... those little babies just appearing out of those little shells and then flopping around until they took wing.... how could something so young and small already know how to fly?? That was a skill that took awhile to learn, wasn't it? Birds didn't fly right away. Shards, dragons didn't fly right away. He'd seen that for himself. So why did flitters?

The two greens that were still there after the first three left held his attention. Why were they just sitting there together like that? Were they scared? Llannu pursed his lips thoughtfully, before his brows crawled up his forehead and toward each other. They weren't hungry? Were they defective?

"Is there something wrong with those two?" Llannu asked, curiously.

[glamourie]

Lao’s arrival earned a pleasant flute from Ellie, who leaned over to nudge the bronze green gratefully. She saw no point in correcting his belief that he was a green; if he thought that, then he would be less inclined to act like a bronze around her, and she favored browns over bronzes. She also had no problem with greens. Neutral, she was. Her eyes whirled and she indicated the Down Once More Egg with her wing. So far not the slightest twitch. The two greens in the clutch were spared the most affectionate of flutes; weren’t they cute? Ellie curled her tail around the handharp in the clutch, the end of her tail lacing between the strings, and she leaned down to nudge at the two females who seemed content enough to curl together and chatter back and forth conspiratorially. They were obviously quite devious and what they were up to was not likely to be good in the least. Firelizards that plotted from the moment of hatching – tch.

Charming’s chirps earned a musical, encouraging flute from Ellie; she was sure there would be at least one good brown in her clutch, as always. Good browns were always favored – like Charming was. Yes, she remembered that he was one of her babies – probably wouldn’t ever forget such details, Ellie. The inquiry made her cock her head to the side though before she sent an image of a very green firelizard before chirping to Lao. He was a green, see, see? Charming must just have been confused. Obviously Charming was her clutch’s sire – not the green. (She didn’t really believe that, but if it made Lao happy, that was good enough for her.)

The first of the greenpair to separate was the larger one – the Prima Donna Green. She wasn’t really ‘large’ at all though, instead lean and limber, and long. Very strange to behold, she made quite a show of flying up next to Charming, flapping her wings, and proceeding to fall off the side of the basket. Onto the blanket she tumbled, looking stunned for a split second before screeching at a level audible enough to make some people cover their ears. She flopped up to her legs, looked back and forth frantically, flared her wings and then cooed quiet and sweetly; what was going on, hmm hmm hmm? What was going on? If her squawking wasn’t enough to make people stare – her coloring would’ve been. She was a myriad of green that, quite frankly, looked like she wore some kind of polka dotted clothes rather than anything matching. Shamelessly flaunting her wings, she gave a sharp chirp back to her companion, the Angel of Music Green.

These two were definitely not twins. Far less elegantly proportioned, the Angel of Music Green was smaller and her hide was a grayish green that was far less dazzling than her clutchsister’s. She was nevertheless just as energetic, easily flinging herself up onto the side of the basket to chatter anxiously to her clutchsister before a sound distracted her – mewling. WHAT was THAT?

That was the sound of the cub in front of F’lix obviously trying to decide what exactly the stranger was babbling on about. She lifted one paw, licked it, and daintily began to clean her face, all the while watching him with the intensity of a predator. It wasn’t until the firelizard pair actually became into view that she became distracted, and instead of following F’lix, the cub leaned down on her haunches, crouching low, her tail twitching as she watched… watched and waited. Her hindquarters waved back and forth with her tail and her ears laid back, listening intensely to the sounds of her prey moving around in the basket…

And then she sprung.

Glancing down at the shoes, R’wign leaned down to rest his chin on M’ta’s shoulder and nodded encouragingly. “I don’t feel bad. It’s that – K’sel or whatever – kid’s fault for coming in the first place,” R’wign said; he was just glad he hadn’t managed to Impress anything. Yet. Hatching firelizards were a curse for him. It was like some kind of disease. He walked into a room with hatching flitters and they all gravitated toward him in infatuation. He didn’t know why since he wasn’t anything special but firelizards, for one reason or another, loved him. “What’s a Miguel? How do you know all these people’s names? You make me feel like I live in a hole. I don’t know anybody’s names if they’re not patients and I just mentally label them with numbers. It’s easier that way.” That way if they got sicker, he never thought of them as people. That was somewhat cruel, but it was easier to imagine them as bodies with numbers than people with feelings when patients were sick or injured. “What do you mean there’s two greens playing – ”

Across the blanket went the feline cub, ignoring F’lix entirely for the moment as she flung herself right at the Angel of Music green who leapt away from her, squawking indignantly. The feline knocked the basket onto its side, earning a loud shriek from Ellie – not that the cub noticed. She immediately took to batting at the Angel of Music Green’s tail, in the process climbing on top of the clutch and cracking several of the remaining eggs. Her little claws came out and she swat-swat-swatted, before the Prima Donna Green, in her infinite wisdom, came down to land right on the feline’s head. The Angel of Music Green dove around for a moment, thoughtfully observing her sister’s behavior, before ruffling her wings indignantly.

That was not a very smart thing to do. Cat, cat, caaaat! As if in terror, the Angel of Music Green screeched loudly (quite abruptly at that) and slammed herself into Merridan’s head, clinging to her hair desperately. Cat, cat, caaat!

Alarmed by her sister’s behavior, the Prima Donna Green zoomed away from the feline as fast as her wings could carry her (which was impressive for such a small creature). She bolted through the crowd chattering incessantly in varying audible levels – loud and quiet with no rhyme or reason to the way that she ‘spoke.’ She continued flying blindly, turning her head to squawk back in indignant rage at the feline (how dare it touch her – what was it thinking – how rude) when she flew straight into Evrgarde’s stomach. Falling backwards pathetically, the green shut up for approximately thirty seconds as she came to her senses from the impact, before she launched into a tirade not in rage but rather anxiety – the firelizard equivalent of a long, drawn out explanation. Her wings stretched and she flew up easily to Evrgarde’s shoulder before she chattered noisily, ending with a loud squawk and a quiet purr – that thing had tried to eat her, it had, and her sister too and she didn’t want her sister eaten and OH on the subject, she was very hungry, food now please?

“Uh.” R’wign blinked, peering around M’ta at Ellie and the clutch – which lay disheveled beneath the feline cub, who looked more than a little confused. She batted absently at the Think of Me Egg before turning to look back at F’lix inquiringly, while Ellie squawked and flapped her wings in obvious distress. Her babies! Her babies! “We need to get the cub out of there before Ellie has hysterics…”

R’wignmine doesn’t scare easy, Checkoth corrected Chaoth, but not without a hint of laughter in his voice to take away any sting. He startles well. There’s a difference. Scaring is a lot more permanent. We should fly after the hatching. Yours has another little, it looks like…

---

01. Think of Me Egg
02. Angel of Music Egg Impressed: Green ? to Merridan
03. Phantom of the Opera Egg Impressed: Bronze Mojo to K'sel
04. Music of the Night Egg
05. Stranger Than You Dreamt It Egg
06. Prima Donna Egg Impressed: Green ? to Evrgarde
07. All I Ask Of You Egg Impressed: Blue Lord to Miguel
08. Masquerade Egg
09. Poor Fool Egg
10. Point of No Return Egg Impressed: Green Shrew to Emiliah
11. Down Once More Egg

[glamourie]

Angel of Music Green
Name:
Color: Green #7B947D
Gender: Female
Age: Hatchling
Based off of: The March Hare
Written by: Requiem (personality)
Looks to: Merridan
Appearance: Although this green is technically average-sized for her color, you’d never know it from the way that she looks. She’s proportioned oddly enough to merit weird looks and possibly the term ‘freakish.’ Most notable about her looks is that she has very long hind legs, which are definitely too big for her body and make it look like she’d make an excellent kickboxer or something equally odd. Her forelegs are considerably (and comically) smaller, so she’ll be incapable of running on the ground (but hopping is a possibility if she tries – and she might even be quite fast when she chooses to put forth an effort). Her wings, at least, compliment her: they’re wide and long enough to make her twists and turns devilishly fast and terrifying to watch; she’s thin enough in body to pull off the fastest, most agile patterns in the air that most people have ever seen – and she’s graceful, elegant even to watch, like a dancer through the sky. Her face is slightly wider, more round than that of most firelizards, and this can be extremely odd to behold. She has small, beady eyes as well, which look bizarrely small for her face – as though somewhat out of place; surely a creature this size should have bigger eyes? Apparently not; she sees just fine with the ones that she has.

Her coloring is a very bland shade. The color is a grayish green that could be called ‘boring’ and not be inaccurate – it’s actually on the darker side of the spectrum as well and has a vague resemblance to the sky in the middle of a storm, right before a tornado spawns. While most of her clutch siblings have vibrant or eccentric markings that make them stand out, she really doesn’t: her whole body is the same gray-green shade that makes her able to very easily meld into the cold stone walls of Selenitas, or into dense foliage. What is pretty about her though is the highlights that her hide possesses, which are nothing short of remarkable. When light dances off her hide, the color her skin glimmers could only be described as metallic seafoam – it looks as though someone took the froth of the ocean and melded it into a metal, and then melted that metal down into hide. Watching her dance through the air on large wings is enough to be blinding, for the color shows up all over her, and even the vainest of creatures is liable to look twice, so enthralling can she appear. She’s beauty beneath the surface and living proof that there’s more to everything than meets the eye.

Personality: Her appearance is weird enough, right? Surely any more oddities would be overkill. Overkill or not, though, this firelizard is most definitely different. For one thing, she absolutely loves tea. If there's any in a room, you can bet she'll be trying to climb right into the cup - or the kettle - and Hers will have to be careful that she doesn't boil herself. Fortunately, she's easily distracted - and confused - so it's not that difficult to get her concentrating on other things. Especially if there's an hourglass anywhere in the vicinity. The green is fascinated by the steadily falling grains of sand, and will press up right against the glass, trying to play with it. Of course, this often results in tipped hourglasses and broken glass everywhere, and it won't be unusual for her to cut herself on the shards...often. Quite distressing, too, because then there's no more falling sand, and you can bet she'll make her displeasure known quite vocally.

In fact, she's vocal about most everything, chattering constantly about nonsensical things. When she bothers to send images - which happens very infrequently - they come in a confused jumble of impressions that is about as effective as attempting to cut stone with a feather. (Something she might well attempt on a whim.) You see, this firelizard gets the urge to fix things on a regular basis. The only problem is, half the time what she's trying to 'fix' isn't really broken, and her idea of how to fix it usually leaves much to be desired. This results in odd acquisitions - thefts, really - of tools she feels she needs...only to forget what she originally took them for. Thus she has a small hoard of odds and ends with no rhyme or reason to them steadily growing in the stables, which happens to be her favorite place to sleep for whatever reason. Nor does she seem to notice the straws of hay that become attached to her, spending her waking hours consistently sporting at least one - usually on her head.

Her noisy, erratic behavior, needless to say, can get Hers into a good deal of trouble. Broken glass, stolen objects, excessively long explanations of her activities and future ‘fix it’ plans, divebombing teacups… Oh, but she loves Hers, though, and will roundly scold and flash images at anyone who distresses her person. She’ll never be very reliable or good at following instructions, however. It’s not that she doesn’t want to. This green just tends to get the instructions all jumbled - out of order and upside down - or becomes distracted from them altogether.

---

Prima Donna Green
Name:
Color: Green #056100
Gender: Female
Age: Hatchling
Based off of: The Mad Hatter
Looks to: Evrgarde
Physical Appearance: Quite the quirky little firelizard, this one! For a green she’s on the long side (emphasis on long, not large), with extraordinarily odd limbs. Her wings are much too long for her body and could easily wrap around her several times if she were able to totally bend that way and she’s not likely to be averse to trying with the proper incentive. Her legs, too, are on the long side for a firelizard, which means that when she ‘stands’ she’ll look ridiculously tall and awkward. Not that she minds much. Comically, this ‘long’ appearance also applies to her tail which is ridiculously long for her body and looks positively silly when she waves it around. Overall, her body itself is very slender; it looks as though someone took the body weight she should have possessed for her limbs and stretched it out like a ribbon. She has an unusually large headknob that can draw second and third stares as well, since it’s just so weird for a firelizard and can make her head look on the large side. She looks topheavy, as if she’d fall over onto her face if she wasn’t extremely careful. She has no ridges to speak of and her claws are on the very small side for a firelizard, though her eyes are large and her entire facial structure is comically clownish – nothing quite fits right, but isn’t odd enough to be ugly either.

Her coloring is very weird to look at, though it compliments her body. She’s several different shades of green all melding together at once. For instance, her face is a dark green that spreads over her ‘hands’ and ‘feet’ as well as her belly, and the underside of her tail. The top of her head and her headknob are a green so dark as to look black and the color spreads around the crown of her head so that it looks almost as though she’s wearing a big, gaudy hat. Similarly, dark shades of green (although lighter than the ‘hat’) wrap over her shoulders and down her back, splitting over her legs; the resemblance to a coat is very strong. This color combination in and of itself wouldn’t be so odd, but what sets it apart is that… her ‘clothes’ are polka dotted. The ‘hat’ has almost-white spots all over it, each one of varying sizes and spread out enough to look downright weird. Her ‘coat’ on the other hand has thousands of very small, almost perfectly symmetrical spots that covers down her back and makes her look like a green salamandyr more than a firelizard. Goofy, who, this one? Well, maybe.

Personality: Dramatic, exaggerated and eccentric: this firelizard is one of a kind, not to be underestimated and also not to be predicted. She is, simply put, odd. Nothing about her is even slightly easy to understand. For instance, when she chirps, she has an equal likelihood to be quiet or loud and is often inexplicably noisy. She also likes to chirp and chatter for no reason at all, seemingly endlessly – it’s rare for this firelizard to ever be quiet. Hers will have to get used to her being noisy all the time, with varying pitches, and good luck trying to convince her to be less loud – ever. She doesn’t understand the meaning of being “quiet” or the word “hush.” There’s simply no reasoning with her – when she wants to be loud (which is randomly decided on a whim), she’ll be loud. And she’ll thank you for understanding that she wants to be loud – or, rather, she won’t acknowledge Hers for complaining at all. What? She’s not being loud, she’s being normal, obviously Hers needs to learn to judge sound level better. Or maybe she’s not being normal at all but is that such a bad thing? Look, dancing bugs, those are far more important than this conversation. Must chase!

Energetic, this is one firelizard who is never likely to fade into the background. Some might call her nosy. She’s fearless (or maybe not too bright – it really depends on your perspective) and tends to bolt up toward anything that interests her, flying in rapid circles and up, down and all around. Head-on collisions are not just common, they’re an everyday occurrence and she didn’t even seem to notice when she flies into things… or people. She becomes very excited easily, squawking and shrieking her interest, and she’ll frequently make aerial displays to show off. One of her favorite things to do is celebrate as well and any time there’s a party of any kind going on, that’s where she’ll be – up in everyone’s business, chirruping away. And everything associated with parties thrills her – bright colors (she steals ribbons), music (she can’t sing but Faranth help those who hear her try, which she does regularly) and food. Human food is delicious. Especially tea. She can never get enough tea and unfortunately has a habit of spilling it everywhere as she tries to get into it on sight.

Interestingly though, it won’t be unusual to see this green wearing odd things on her head like a hat. She’s very fond of stealing ribbons and somehow twisting them into head ornaments attached to her head knobs, with the style changing as her ribbons get damaged or dirty. Sometimes she’ll wear the same ribbon ‘hat’ for ages, sometimes switch multiple times a day – but it’s one of her favorite things to do, acquire hats. Hers will have to get used to her antics… and maybe buy her a doll hat some day. She’d like that.

[Requiem]

Amused by R'wign's comments, M'ta wrinkled his nose, brushing his cheek briefly against the man's. "You know full well you can't predict what Impresses to you," he stated teasingly. The healer had a full fair of firelizards with quite the range of personalities. "Besides, I said I felt sorry for the blue, not for him." Which was true enough. The flitter had already vanished in a fit of picque. Understandable. Getting beat out by a hatchling couldn't be good for the poor thing's ego. He mentally shrugged.

Which was followed up by a physical shrug. "Miguel's Laurie's son. Who doesn't know Laurie?" The greenrider had been highly visible when she was alive. He remembered the child from several turns ago when F'lan...another man no longer around...had been putting on a show for the child. And the young dragons, Phremath and Jessereth. "Anyway, Behruth keeps track of the weyrlings. He likes hatchlings." As evidenced by the steady croon that hadn't faltered since the moment the hatching started.

Oh, not good. The feline was on the prowl. M'ta pulled a face. That one was more trouble than she was worth. While he didn't mind active animals (note: PMS) aggressive ones with no real love for people weren't his favorite. They just gave him headaches. Particularly since Behruth was worried about the little firelizards now that the feline was jumping around amidst the eggs. He caught himself thinking of how much better his little girl was than her sister. Perfect. Clearly, PMS's affection was beginning to cross over. Perfect.

M'ta nudged at R'wign's arms, easing up into a crouch. He made a soft half-growling, half-purring sound deep in his throat, edging toward the kitten. Either she'd stay, or she'd leave, and, either way, the clutch would be left alone, right? Hopefully she'd stay, though. He was familiar enough to her, even if she wasn't remotely friendly. The brownrider pounced forward suddenly, careful to avoid the clutch, his arm snapping forward in an attempt to catch the little menace by her scruff.

Behruth's tailtip twitched in mild agitation, the brown shifting against his clutchbrother, but he still directed a croon at Chaoth. Such a cute little, too. Look at its legs! I wish Mine wanted another flutterbye, but he's grouchy.

[Rei]

F’lyn watched the two greens play and chatter with a small smile. What an adorable pair. A movement caught his eye and he held his breath as a feline cub launched herself at the green pair upending the basket of eggs in the process. Pandorath’s anxiety for the babies was almost overwhelming and the mother of the clutch was by this point close to hysterics herself. Moving forward slightly to get a better view the blue rider was torn between trying to shoo off the kitten or placing the basket right side up. Finally one of the brown riders made a move toward the kitten. Leaving F’lyn free to try and make the scenario a bit less chaotic.

F’lyn edged over to the basket and cooed soothingly to Ellie. “It’s ok little lady. I’m just going to pick your basket back up ok?” Wouldn’t do to have an irate gold attack him for mistaking his kindness as egg stealing. Helpfully Pandorath also sent a soothing mental picture to Ellie explaining the intentions of his bonded. His was a good man. He wouldn't touch the eggs. All would be ok.

Tentatively the blue rider reached for the handle of the basket. His blue was right he eggs he would not touch. He didn’t want to hurt one accidentally or injure it further if it was already hurt. No best to leave the eggs where they now lay. Gently he propped the basket back up and just as quickly withdrew. No sense further adding to the chaos by standing in the way. The little egg bound flitters still had to hatch and impress anyway. Hopefully none the worse for wear from their tumble.

------

Crystoph was more interested in the cause of the trouble than the eggs at that moment and he stooped down to peer more closely at the kitten. Saucy little thing wasn’t she. A troublemaker with a mind of her own. He quite liked her to be honest. What spoil sports. It wasn’t the kittens fault for acting on her instincts. They should be smart enough not to have the cubs around tiny winged things anyway. Flitters probably looked like a good meal to some felines. Perhaps she was just hungry or maybe she was just curious. It didn’t seem fair to the candidate that the little cub should be harassed for doing what nature told her she should do.

Scooting forward Crystoph outstretched a hand toward the kitten, keeping it well out of reach. He would let her decide whether or not she wanted to come forward to sniff him. “Hey there gorgeous.” He purred silkily. “You hungry? I bet this stuff tastes better than nasty old flitters anyway.” Winking the candidate offered his bowl of meat. Maybe she could be drawn closer with food? As long as she got away from the clutch everyone could unbind their panties and settle down.

[Ember]

The blue hatchling amused Nephele. No sooner was the bowl out of her hands than the blue was in it. The hunger of baby draconic species was always a bit surprising. She almost felt sympathy hunger just thinking about it. The boy's smile brought her out of her thoughts. His words worried her a bit. "No problem," she replied easily. Did his comment mean his father didn't approve of firelizards? Hmph! They could be helpful sometimes and they were great companions. They were an rare commodity in the North and not everyone owned one in the South either.

She smiled encouragingly (and resisted ruffling his hair) at Miguel before answering his last question. "I'm Nephele. The green over there is my dragon, Nuoth. And who might you be?" She really ought to get back into the weyr gossip but...she didn't really care to hear everything about others. She wasn't exactly the nosy type but it paid to be well informed. The sudden noise from the blanket made the girl blink and turn to look. Even Charming was getting upset over something.

The brown had been content at watching the two greens 'whisper' to each other. Would they prove to be as interesting as their bronze brother? He would just have to wait and see! Charming chirped in confusion at Ellie. But..he was obviously a bronze...He was somewhat molified by being called the sire, even though he knew he wasn't. Well if the bronze wanted to be called a bronze, he'd just claim bragging rights regarding Ellie's clutch. Adoptive father!

Having claimed the clutch, the brown watched over the greens...much the same as before. Nothing bad was going on so there was no need to do anything more than watch. In the end he was glad he'd been keeping track of the greens. They'd atrtacted one of the furries over. He leapt off the toppling basket with a surprised squawk. Bad furry! He registered the greens' escape and swooped down towards the cat. He wouldn't hurt her, but she needed to move. The brown tugged at one of her ears before darting a bit away from the kitty.

The brown noticed the people gathered assisting and left the kitten alone to check up on Ellie and her clutch. As long as none of the babies were hurt then the danger was mostly in the past. The humans would be more watchful of the furries, yes? He fluted questioningly at Ellie. Egg babies alright?

[Rowana]

One second, Merridan was watching the amusing green hatchlings, and the next one of them was attacking her hair. "Hey!" She reached up, but was too late to catch her. The terrified green tangled in her short locks and Auran was taking it personally. The older blue hit the hatchling hard with his wings, chattering at her angrily. How dare she! How dare she! This was his spot! The green tumbled from Mer's head, kitten forgotten in light of this new terror. Scary blue! Make him stop!

Mer just managed to catch her. "Auran, stop it!" Auran ruffled his wings and settled down, glaring at the new comer with distaste. He didn't see why he should get yelled at. She was the one stealing his perch after all. The green huddled away from him for a moment, but was soon distracted as Mer dangled a cube of meat in front of her nose. Food! That was good! She grabbed the meat and began to eat happily, almost as if she had forgotten all about the kitten and Auran.

Mer shook her head at the jumble of emotions coming from the little creature. She was so different from Auran or Chaoth it was amazing. Clearly she was going to take more work to keep under control. Is she alright? Chaoth asked curiously. Mer shrugged. She seems fine now. Chaoth crooned. She is lovely, he agreed with Behruth. Mine loves little flyers. Maybe we will get even more. He watched the hatchling happily. I would love to fly after, he added to both the older dragons. Maybe you can teach me to startle Mine. It could be fun to hear what she sounds like.

Mer had nearly finished feeding her new companion, who was digging around in her shirt looking for more. She pulled out the hide roll of flowers and started pulling them out one by one. This would never do! Flowers needed to be outside, she was sure of that. She would just fix them for the lovely girl who fed her. She would be so happy! "You little..." Mer pulled her away and hurriedly collected the flowers back up. "Don't play with that." Auran hissed. See? She was trouble already. "That's it," Mer held the green up and stared at her round face. "I'm calling you Vikky, alright?" Vikky chirped happily and squirmed. Of course it was! Now if only she could get back to fixing those flowers...

[Kisha-Ra]

Lao looked comically crestfallen by the whole business now. Not even the slightest shake from his egg? Ooooh, he only wanted it to wait until he could bring his, it could hatch now. It really could. Any time now. Lao turned his head to look down his muzzle at Charming, was that brown stupid or what? He was a green! Everyone knew greens laid clutches, not sired them. Silly, silly brown, Lao chattered scoldingly for a moment before sneaking another look at his egg. Still not moving…

Oh yes, Ellie’s babies were very cute. Maybe his baby could play too, if it would just hurry up. Lao crooned softly at Ellie, see, wasn’t she just the best queen ever? Alright he was rather big for his colour but it should still be obvious that he was a green, even to Charming. Well maybe he managed to fall on his head or something if he couldn’t even remember that he was Ellie’s mate, Lao would never forget something like that if he was male! Hang on, who was his mate? The confused bronze looked around as if he might find an answer. No mate waiting, only a feline.

Feline!

Lao hissed and mantled at the kitten. Leave those babies alone! Ha, they flew away, greens were fastest! See? What did the cat think of that? WHAT? It was getting in the basket?! Wasn’t it bad enough that it had knocked everything over? His egg might be hurt now! The bronze leaped for the kitten’s face, screeching a firelizard battle cry. Yes here was a big green for it to chase! What did it think about that?! Lao twisted away from the imminent collision and looped back around to hover menacingly, he was the biggest green ever hatched and he knew it!

Yoalla just groaned feelingly at the whole situation. Who thought it would be a good idea to bring the sharding felines along to the hatching anyway? Well specifically that sharding feline, it’d look better on a bowl, with gravy preferably, not that there was that much meat on it. Maybe it was Lao’s extreme impatience on the matter of the egg he’d claimed as his clutch, but more likely she was tired of all this and wanted to go back to bed, but Yoalla was suddenly desperate for the rest of the eggs to hatch, or even just Lao’s, she’d be able to go after that without hurting his feelings.

[rii]

F'lix deposited Lilitu back onto his shoulder, the dark green instantly snaking back up into his black hair to resume her threatening hisses. Occasionally her venomous green frill flared at any firelizard she felt had dared too near to hers. Lixhers. She would share with no one. Her dark body had tucked into tight ball, not retreating, just coiling her strong frame into a appealingly harmless posture. She would have sprung forth in another string of curses if not for the fact F'lix silently promised to stuff her into his pocket if she did.

A rather sly smile began to show as F'lix noticed the kitten's posture. His eyes narrowed, amused, as he shifted his attention to what had drawn her interest. He could have stopped her from pouncing the baby fire lizards, but why would he do that? They were just firelizards and it was much more entertaining to watch her harass them. Bad, bad kitten. Such a fuss the lizards were making, F'lix clicked his tongue at the ensuing chaos. Though he had noticed M'ta creeping forward for the kitten so didn't make any move on his own.. it seemed everyone was trying to help.

Even Simper.

The blue wormed his way out of the pocket and bounded cheerfully into the fray before his mindmate could notice. Left, right, up, down–the blue bobbed and weaved his way around the moving feet while frilling and crooning pleasantly at the firelizard making threatening dives at the kitten. Could he play too? Love~ He happily spoke to them all, leaping in the air as he ran–landing in a rolling stumble that put him amongst the cracking eggs and near the paws of the kitten. My, what sharp claws she had. Cublove! Simper's? The blue dived at her, snaking between her small paws and rubbing himself up against one of her front legs. Saveyou, saveyou.

Upon hearing the little mindvoice, F'lix visibly grimaced. Amongst the throng of flailing wings and hands was his accident prone (or rather, welcoming the danger) salamandyr. Stupid, stupid fool. "Lili.. "

Simpering fool. My fool. Come 'way from pretty asshats. Tree licking parasites. Mine you. Listen now.

But there was too much going on for Simper to pay attention to the call, completely distracted as more firelizards swooped at the little kitten. Simper attempted to scamper up the cub to reach Lao's diving claw–frilling so happily at the screeching bronze green. But no, the flyer had turn away at the last moment. Simper sadly folded his frill back against his body. No play..?

[glamourie]

“I knew Laurie. I don’t pay attention to other people’s children,” R’wign replied to M’ta – but that was all that he said, for the other brownrider was reaching for the cub and… she was being bombarded with reactions. He released M’ta so that the other brownrider could get to her. Despite his blatant dislike of felines, Empress’s cubs were practically family; she’d given birth on his legs in the infirmary like a twit (he wanted to shun her for that) so he was practically the father… he’d definitely treated the cubs like they were his own children, wrapping them in blankets to keep them warm and spoiling them rotten. He was protective – just as protective of them as he was of Ellie’s babies, perhaps more so; they couldn’t leap between to get away, after all.

And right at that moment, the little cub was wishing that she could. She instantly curled into a ball as Charming flew at her and tugged on her ear, and she mewled in surprise. Her ears flattened back against her head and she crouched down low to avoid Lao’s dive bombing attempts, the boy offering her meat totally ignored. The firelizards were what had her attention, and she rapidly backed up to get away from them, her fur standing on end and her tail widening to a rather comical size. Her back paws collided with the Think of Me Egg, cracking it up the sides to reveal a glitter of green hide, but she didn’t appear to notice. The proximity of a bluerider had her hissing at him loud enough to be heard and she leapt back, spitting comically at the ground. Her back legs smashed into the Down Once More Egg, cracking it up the side to reveal a brown leg that immediately shot out, foreclaws digging into the ground. Her own claws came out and she swatted at Lao defiantly, fully intending on hurting the shiny for daring to come near her. Bad shiny, bad.

She would’ve gotten him, too, if not for the sudden grip on the scruff of her neck that slackened her body into a half curl, little claws still out. Her ears laid back and she dangled limply from M’ta’s hand, a low and steady growl escaping her throat the clearest indication of her fury. Her ears gave another twitch when a very distinct mrrow sounded from behind her.

A near mirror image of all three of the cubs came prowling up along the blanket. Ellie and her clutch were ignored (the queen flew over to examine her damaged eggs obsessively; with her claws tapping the shells to make sure that the babies within were unharmed). The feline launched into a full on run as Lao came into her sight and she pounced with precision that the baby could only hope to accomplish in adulthood. With remarkable ease, she knocked Lao from the air to the ground, but instead of biting or clawing, Empress in her infinite wisdom chose to sprawl out on top of him, her midsection over his back so that he could not fly away. Her ears laid back and she mrrped to herself, obviously not impressed. How dare Hers leave her behind? How dare he bring her babies up here for the dumb not-hers flyers to harm? And why was this one still persisting? She had no intentions of harming him (and she was a small cat, all things considered) but he was quite lucky for that; no one was allowed to hurt her babies. Not even that one. Her head turned around and she looked at R’wign before mrrowing at him. That other one was in his lap. That was her spot. Not at all satisfactory. Well, fine. She’d sit on the flyer then until the annoyance moved out of her place. Hmph.

Still dangling from M’ta’s hand, the feline there gave a low, pathetic mrrp at Simper. She opened and closed her mouth in a quick snap in his direction. He looked delicious, but she couldn’t quite get at him. Her tail curled up against her belly, legs curling in, and she hissed – it was the best she could do from her position, and it was quite obvious she did not like it at all. And her mother was here. She’d caught the evil flyer, so couldn’t she go bite it at least? At least?

The eggs, still strewn across the blanket, rocked and shuddered in no particularly rhyme or reason. Ellie nudged the Down Once More Egg anxiously, but while she was checking Lao’s ‘ugly egg’ out, the Music of the Night Egg shattered elegantly. The baby within shuddered for a moment, a very pale brown. He anxiously twitched around before bouncing twice in his spot. He proceeded to launch into a series of squawks that was probably bizarre to hear for any who weren’t used to a lot of firelizard noise – he was obviously repeating himself. His wings fluttered and Ellie turned back to look at him, chirping inquiringly; she was focusing more on the unhatched babies than the adult firelizards (if the cub hurt them she’d bite it!) but that one was… frantic. Yes, frantic. The nearly white brown flapped his wings, squawked his distress and rolled around the ground before… running on all fours in an awkward bunny-hop across the ground, away from the nest.

Must hurry, must hurry! A low trill escaped him and he scrambled past the feline pinning down the bronze firelizard… and then came to an abrupt halt. What was she doing? Chattering insistently at Empress and Lao, the Music of the Night Brown flapped his wings and bounced around. Didn’t they understand that it was a necessity to hurry? The food was running out. Must go faster, faster! He flailed his wings around and then bolted forward toward the crowd. He scurried as fast as he could before throwing himself onto Dyudahlii’s leg. Looking up at her, the Music of the Night Brown chattered animatedly. It was important to hurry, hurry, hurry – he didn’t want to not get any at all. The food was running ouuuuut…

The Think of Me Egg, in the time that it took the Music of the Night Brown to select his, had rolled over to spill out a small and sleepy looking green. Rather than wake up completely, the baby crawled across the blanket, chirping nonsensically to herself, in the direction of the people. However, Empress’s fur made her leap to her feet and she squawked in absolute horror in a remarkable imitation of her two green clutchsiblings. Zipping through the air, she slammed into Yoalla’s stomach, climbed up the girl’s front and chattered hysterically while flashing images of teeth and claws that were obscured and made no sense. Her own little talons dug into Yoalla’s chin as she latched, lost in a full blown panic about being eaten by the… very bored looking feline, who was totally ignoring her. BUT IT WAS GOING TO EAT HER OH NO OH NO OH NO!!!

“Empressssss,” R’wign cooed, leaning one hand over toward the feline. “Stop sitting on Lao and come here, gorgeous. Please?” The look she gave him was definitely displeased. “You can sit next to me. Empressssss…. Don’t be difficultttt….”

Mrrow. As if she could be any other way.

He was about to say something else when flowers seemed to be yanked out of Merridan’s shirt. Blinking twice, R’wign cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “You know, most women stuff with fabric, or chamberpot tissue – not flowers. I can’t imagine that stuffing with flowers is comfortable. I heard some candidate boys used grapefruits, you might try that if that’s what you’re aiming for but I always took you to be okay with not having much… well, much.” To indicate what he meant, he reached his hand away from waving at Empress (who was ignoring him in irritation) to indicate his flat chest.

We will fly after and I will show you how to scare Yours, Checkoth happily agreed. Mine never wants more. He has too many, he says. Why’s Yours got the smellies down her extra layers, Chaoth? Mine thinks that’s very funny. He also wants to know if they’re also for Ruthclutchbrother’s, and I hope they’re not because Mine got really jealous and angry at Uminth’s last time he saw her because she brings smelly-sneezies to Ruthclutchbrother’s....

---

01. Think of Me Egg Impressed: Green ? to Yoalla
02. Angel of Music Egg Impressed: Green ? to Merridan
03. Phantom of the Opera Egg Impressed: Bronze Mojo to K'sel
04. Music of the Night Egg Impressed: Brown ? to Dyudahlii
05. Stranger Than You Dreamt It Egg
06. Prima Donna Egg Impressed: Green ? to Evrgarde
07. All I Ask Of You Egg Impressed: Blue Lord to Miguel
08. Masquerade Egg
09. Poor Fool Egg
10. Point of No Return Egg Impressed: Green Shrew to Emiliah
11. Down Once More Egg cracked; brown leg sticking out

[glamourie]

Music of the Night Brown
Name:
Color: Brown #FDE7C8
Gender: Male
Age: Hatchling
Based off of: The White Rabbit
Looks to: Dyudahlii
Physical Appearance: Small and decidedly oddly shaped is this firelizard, like staring at a round little… ball. Yes, ball. His body is positively roly-poly and his legs are slightly too short for his body, though the hind legs are significantly longer so that when he’s on the ground, he has the awkward dragon bunny-hop down to perfection. In fact, there’s nothing awkward about his hopping at all – he’s downright fascinating to watch on the ground and he spends more time on surfaces than he does flying (quite an odd trait for a firelizard if ever there was one). His wings are wide and long, but they’re usually clamped so tightly to his body that it’s difficult to identify their presence at all and he has very large, innocent-looking eyes that are deceptively bright no matter how foul of a mood he happens to be in. Interestingly, his claws are almost nonexistent, giving him a completely harmless look – as if he’s incapable of harming anyone, even in defense of himself. The lengths of his body combined together make it ridiculously easy for him to wrap his wings around himself, tuck his legs in, curl his tail over his body and roll into a ball that is almost impossible to identify as a firelizard. That he has very small ridges only helps this impression, and he’s small enough to be mistaken for a blue when he’s tightly balled up. This can be very strange to look at for those who are unfamiliar with him.

Equally strange is this brown firelizard’s color – which is actually so light as to appear almost white, or perhaps beige; certainly “brown” is not a color that most would identify with him right off the bat. The only markings he has are very sparse as well, adding to the bizarre look of his hide. His tail is entirely white, with the color spreading out in a wide, awkward circle at the base, as if he accidentally dipped it into a vat of paint. On the other hand, a thin dark brown ring surrounds one of his eyes, almost like a monocle; it’s extremely odd to say the least. That same shade of dark brown curls over his breast down to just above where his left back leg connects, stopping to form a very blatant dark brown circle. The very thin line almost seems like a chain and if one stares at him closely, there’s a network of ‘hands’ inside the dark brown circle in a shade of brown similar to gold, making it resemble a Terran clock of some kind. He has a medium brown ‘collar’ around his neck that resembles a bow, giving him a comically sophisticated look. Do try not to laugh.

Personality: This firelizard is, to put it gently, impatient. He has no tolerance for waiting on anything and will continually chatter and squawk when there’s something he wants. Constantly in motion, he appears to be overly energetic and eager, flying around entirely too fast for a creature of his color and periodically flying into things as a result; he’s not the most graceful of creatures. It’s very easy to fluster him and he can come across as quite a nag as a result. Everything is a matter of dire urgency, and there will be no waiting! Must hurry, must hurry! The frenzy in which he dives into everything (if you’re going to eat, eat fast, there is no time to waste!) can be maddening for those who aren’t familiar with him. It will take His a long time to adjust to the constant flurry of panicking that is his personality, as everything is a crisis. Everything. Being this paranoid will no doubt stress His – so it would do well for His mindmate to learn to keep a distance from his emotions. If firelizards could get ulcers, this little guy would definitely give himself one – he just cannot stand being late to anything, or procrastination of any kind. Responsibilities must be taken care of before any kind of playing can commence. Always.

While it might seem that this firelizard is uptight (he is), he does have other traits that redeem this seemingly incessant nagging habit. For example, he’s extremely reliable: if His ever asks him to do anything, he’ll not only remember to do it, but he’ll do it to the best of his ability in a timely fashion. This goes for creatures other than His, too. If he isn’t too busy, he’s always willing to deliver messages, retrieve items or help others, though he’ll always make sure that His is okay with his time being spent for others (he’s fond of asking permission to do anything). His memory is exceptional, too – he never seems to forget anything, whether it’s a compliment, an insult, or a kind act. He’ll always remember and usually treat those around him based on their past interactions with him (so he holds grudges for a long time but when he makes friends, it’s usually near-permanent, too – he’s loyal). A friend is a friend for life.

In a nutshell, this firelizard can appear very bossy, very noisy, and definitely irritating, but – he also exemplifies the belief that slow-and-steady wins the race. He always does as he’s asked by His, he’s fiercely loyal and dedicated, and he can be counted on to remember everything. And aside from a tendency to squawk, shriek and panic whenever the subject of procrastination is brought up (bad!), he’s also usually pretty pleasant to be around. He’s very affectionate to His, after all; he wouldn’t bond to someone that he didn’t love completely. He only wants the best!

---

Think of Me Green
Name:
Color: Green #BDF9AD
Gender: Female
Age: Hatchling
Based off of: The Dormouse
Looks to: Yoalla
Physical Appearance: Absolutely tiny for a firelizard, this is one creature that will probably be overlooked most of the time. In fact, she’s about as large as an average-sized bronze salamandyr, to give an idea for how much of size she’s actually lacking. Aside from being dinky, she’s relatively normal in proportions, even being describable as ‘petite’; her facial structure is slender and pretty, complimenting slightly slanted eyes that give her an exotic appearance, though her snout is on the longer side (but not unattractively so). She has a long and slender tail that is more of an accent peace than anything useful; it tends to drag behind her when she’s on the ground, lacking in most mobility, though it’s certainly cute to look at. Her legs are slightly short, but not enough to be noticeable except when she tries to ‘stand’ (something that she does surprisingly often). All-in-all, she’s a diminutive little creature that even those who hate firelizards are liable to find cute to look at. Her most unique trait though is that she has small, curved under claws that ratty-tat-tat whenever she runs across hard surfaces – which she does quite a bit. Flying, she tends to rattle her pinions as well, completely unintentionally – it wouldn’t dawn on her what she’s doing or that she can be annoying. Isn’t she cute?

Her coloring is quite pretty, too. Pale green covers the base of her body, like a dusting of ivy over her skin. This light coloration shimmers silver when she’s caught in the light, so that she resembles a pixie dancing through the air in flight. Over her back is a shade darker of green, interspersed with the light, as if someone took a paint brush and dragged it down her back. Interestingly, the same dark shades look like ‘gloves’ over her hands, adding accent to her otherwise ‘cute’ but not elegant appearance. However, the most unique feature she possesses is her tail, which has dark ringlets all down the base of it like a terran raccoon – strange and lovely to behold, this matched with her small size can make her an extremely charming firelizard. Since she’s so pale, at night it will be very easy to see her darting around like a light in the darkness. The metallic silver-hint of her hide shines all over her body where the lighter colors are, while the darker shades glimmer emerald green – a picture of leafy brilliance. She’s definitely not a green to be scoffed at!

Personality: Perhaps one of the more boring firelizards to hatch, this little female is definitely not energetic. In fact, she spends more time sleeping than awake – and she likes to sleep in the most awkward places, including curled up inside of goblets more often than not. One of her favorite things to do is to curl up in a mug filled with lukewarm klah or wine, her tail hanging over the end of the goblet, and sleep. This can be extremely annoying for people who spend much time in the main hall because there’s a good chance that everyone there will experience a firelizard-tainted drink at least once, and Hers will have to keep a very close eye on her to prevent her from becoming a nuisance of herself. She also has a habit of drinking whatever she’s sleeping in and unfortunately, since she likes to sleep in wine goblets, it’s really not rare to find this firelizard completely buzzed. (Cue bizarre images sent to Hers that are totally irrelevant to any conversation being held and active squealing for no apparent reason – this isn’t a firelizard who holds her liquor well.) The ultimate gift for this little green is to give her a goblet of some kind to sleep in… yes, with liquid; if it’s empty, she doesn’t want it at all. Strange, who, her? Well, everyone has their preferences!

Subdued in personality, some might find this green to be very boring to behold. Aside from sleeping all the time and sending subdued, confusing images, she tends to ‘sing’ when she is awake – though high pitched, off key and nightmarishly so – and frequently lays around, ignoring her surroundings. There’s a reason it’s easy for her to fall asleep. There’s very few things that she has an opinion about and she doesn’t usually inject herself in conversations; she’s a bit of a wallflower primarily due to not paying attention. She’s also not the smartest green to ever hatch so it’s not as though she’ll ever understand complex instructions or… much of anything. Perpetually lost in space, one can expect this firelizard to, when she’s actually awake, have absolutely no recollection of the conversation at hand. Or anything going on around her.

The one thing that can spur a reaction out of her, though, is the mere mention of avians. Or the word, really. Say it around her and she will fly into an absolute panic, screeching at the top of her little lungs and she’ll disappear between to escape the predator – for as long as she can remember that an avian might be nearby which really is only about five minutes, but it can be quite bizarre to behold. Avians are evil and she’s not going to be anybody’s snack!

[Rei]

F’lyn had avoided angering the gold. In fact Elegance had not even registered his presence. Of that he was glad. He could go back to being a passive observer. Much like his blue was. Moving behind a few of the milling observers he found a comfortable position from where he could observe the remainder of the hatching. Felines aside, the babies where all impressing well. They seemed to all know who exactly they wanted. It reminded him of dragon hatchings in a way. The hungry creeling hatchlings searching for theres among a crowd of people all expectant and anxious. Would the humans meet expectations or fall short. Ah the fears of candidacy on a much lower scale.

Pandorath in the back of his mind gave a rumble of amusement. Silly his. Why the comparison? It was time to celebrate life. Much like the birth of anything. A new beginning. His should just enjoy the babies. F’lyn smiled broadly and shook his head imperceptibly. Simple as that huh? Of course my friend. I was only making comparisons anyway. You know how I am. He paused as he watched the impressions. Teri? A quick flash of the sleeping baby accompanied by a slight pulse of annoyance. Slumbering peacefully of course. He would let nothing eat her. Of course not. Are you enjoying the hatching? The response was immediate and thankful. Of course didn’t he always?

-----

Crystoph watched the barrage on the kitten with slight worry before things calmed down. Frowning the candidate backed away from the scene to stand at the edge of the crowd. Taking a deep breath from the clear air, the red head examined the scene from a distance. Most of the babies had impressed anyway. Probably yet another failed hatching for him. What if he was defective? Perhaps he had been the one keeping Mik back. Mik had impressed without him there after all. Maybe it was him the dragons didn’t want. Suddenly losing interest in the hatching the candidate bit his lip until he tasted blood. What would he do if he failed this time? He had been raised for dragon riding, groomed from a young age for a war he might never participate in.

Suddenly Crystoph felt very out of place. With nary a friend to speak to, what was he to do now? He wanted to walk off to brood but didn’t want to do it until the last flit had impressed. If anything he wasn’t a quitter. A bit disillusioned perhaps but not a quitter.