Dance Until the Sun Comes Up (Dances Hatching)

[rii]

Hand. On his arm. Kostya's eyes slitted open and his gripped Marsayis's arm in return, legs sliding over the edge of the bed as he rose into – his friend. He hadn't really expected it to be anyone else, and he had been on the verge waking up on his own due to the alarming amount of voices broadcasting about the damn wher eggs. Dressed in only a pair of shorts, Kostya fell into step behind Marsayis. As if he had a choice against the determination that the other candidate hauled him forward and through the night.

Kostya had have a mind to pin his friend to the wall. Because, damnit, if someone was going to wake him up in the middle of the night someone was going back to bed with him. His pale eyes mindlessly watched the view in front of him, the movement of muscles along the back of the waist, skin just above the hem of pants. In the back of his mind the question raised about when Marsayis bothered to get dressed, but the other half of his mind answered immediately. Night time. Marsayis was awake during these ungodly hours. Such an annoyance his friend had gone all nocturnal..

A sway of movement, release of limb, and Kostya found his view gone and suddenly skirting behind him while mouthing off at some irritation. Ngh. Couldn't Marsayis wait until Kostya had even fully awaken to provoke a fight. So what was the poison for this outing? Kostya finally turned his gaze outward to take stock of his surroundings. Elysia was certainly the most eye-catching in the dark room. Nice, he appraised, but a touch too old for his liking. Scar face didn't draw any interest, neither did the flower girl, the gold handler, the bald kid. Hm, Piden was good looking enough. Karou was given a brief look over, but she paled in comparison to Elysia in the moment. A cheery blonde dismissed (who was happy at this hour and with all the noise). And – oh see, there was his current favorite – impressing to a little green wher. Mm, Kostya did so approve that the tinker was a greenie.

Wait.

Baby.. green.. wher.

Kostya's head snapped to the eggs, top lips drawing up in faint sneer. "Sayis." Why. Why were they so close to the hatching. Kostya took a visible step backwards, bumping into his 'friend'. His hand drew back, gripping at the other male's hip. "We leave. Now."

[Rei]

Darmori jumped backwards as the first egg split to reveal a green. He had felt Eikask’s disproval over Harmony but there was really little he could do about it. Unfortunately. He wouldn’t have left her cause she would have just found him anyway and locking her up was completely out of the question. Sigh. Such was his life. Still the candidate had more important things to focus on than Harmony for once. The green wher seemed to bound off just as the second egg crackled revealing a bronze. Darmori looked over his shoulder to catch the impression of the green and then turned his attention back to the bronze. Oh Faranth. Did maulings happen in wher hatchings? The candidate swallowed the lump in this throat just as he heard a bunch of words that sent a surge of anger through him, except it was not his anger. Harmony's. Uh oh.

Crimson eyes gave Marsayis a death glare. Fat? Fat? How dare he! Her claws dug into her human pet's shoulder and she was about to shriek when hers clapped a hand over her muzzle keeping it shut. She grunted indignantly and was about to let that particular insult pass when Dementia spoke up. Alright that was too much. Her tail swung and slapped her bonded’s hand with a sharp crack causing him to give a surprised cry and let go. That was all the time Harmony needed to leap from hers and flare her wings into a glide to latch onto Elysia’s chest her target clear. Dementia. How dare you. She hissed poisonously claws digging into the greenrider’s chest and easily piecing the thin fabric to dig into skin. Smash you will. Pay for those words. With that she leapt forward from the woman's chest toward the smaller dangling gold with the intent to maim.

Darmori stood stock still for a moment torn between the babies hatching before him and his darling angel intent on murder. Faranth’s fire and brimstone. With a muffled curse the candidate stepped away from the eggs and sprinted towards the pair near the wall. “Mony honey stop that! Bad girl.” Too bad he was to far away to stop her immediately. He just had to hope she didn’t get hurt cause that greenrider looked pissed. Not to mention she was attacking the tall guy's gold. Oh crap, oh crap.

~~~

Elysia smiled brightly at Dementia’s greeting. “I love you to sugar.” She purred with a smile towards the gold, knowing full well it would just set her off more. In the next moment she ignored the little creature to flick eyes from the clutch and back to her ‘weyrmate’. His words where accepted with a shrug and a short. “Intentional? Why Dem you think on things too much. This was the only thing I had laying around and I wasn’t allowed to miss the hatching.” She gestured vaguely in Amour’s direction. “My little bastard wouldn’t let me sleep so the sooner I got down here and the beasts hatched the sooner I can go back to sleep.” That was all the explanation the greenrider was giving and he should be glad she gave him one at all. Oh it was nice to have eyes on her but that wasn’t the intention. Besides Piden everyone else seemed to interested in the little uglies anyway.

Crossing her legs at the ankle Elysia smiled at the thought of mauling. “Oh blood at this hour? Might be worth getting up for then. I....” Whatever else she was going to say was forgotten when a weight impacted into her chest and she felt pain. Wincing her hand shot automatically towards her breasts and stopped inches before striking the large yellow thing currently clinging to her. Anger flashed across her dark eyes briefly but something kept the greenrider from grabbing the thing and flinging it. Someone’s pet. She reminded herself biting her bottom lip. Still it was hurting her and she wanted to break it’s neck. Fortunately for Harmony the gold took that moment to spring at Dementia. Elysia took a sideways step away from Dmitri immediately after the gold released her, hand brushing her sore chest where Harmony’s claws had pierced her skin. Immediately her eyes went to the candidate who the nasty thing belonged to. Because calling that monster angel so seemed to be stopping her rampage. Idiot.

Amour threw a briefly worried croon at his when he felt the flash of pain but the sight of the green hatchling derailed his concern over her. He trilled to the baby as she howled. Oh no don’t cry. Poor beautiful baby. Hers had to be here. See see? Look he knew it. He gave a happy croon as she impressed and then the browns attention went to the bronze. His turn. His turn. See easy just follow his sisters lead ~

[Ember]

Eikask accepted the praise of her babies with a gracious nod but her attention was oddly drawn by the rude one from the touching. The queen had a strong dislike of Karou and she was quite displeased to see her at the hatching as well. She was not mean by nature but she genuinely hoped none of her babies were silly enough to pick such a handler. The gold also didn't like how the girl thought she could harm the other candidates. Growl. She wasn't allowed to do anything about it though, not when she knew Hers would protest about it. She settled to watching her babies again, ignoring the distractions around her as best as possible. Her bronze baby was met with approval.

At the attention from his mother, the Jive Bronze bounded over to the gold and dropped into a crouch. Hello, hello! He reached out a paw, claws curled in so as not to hurt her, and tagged the gold. Eikask snorted and nudged her son. What was he doing? He should go find His! The hatchling didn't seem too concerned with doing that though. When the gold proved unwilling to play he bounced away, look amongst the people to see if there was anyone willing to play. Eikask snorted and accepted Dmisk's apology. That was fine since she didn't like that woman either.

Eikane caught Nautic's gesture and smiled in return. Poor Nautic, being woken up mid-nap by a noisy gold. He ought to have stopped her from howling but he hadn't realized her intentions in time. The goldhandler watched the Jive Bronze wander through the crowd and he felt proud of Eikask. Such lovely babies, and so far there were no wher-induced injuries. That girl might have been injured by that other one but he wasn't certain from where he was. If she was injured, Eikane may have to have some words with the other girl. Accidental maulings were likely but purposeful injury by other people? No, he wouldn't tolerate that. Besides...any blood on the ground meant he had to clean it up.

The Jive Bronze noticed a rather playful person and bounced over to Nautic and Raebeli, letting out a playful bark of greeting the the two people and the green wher. Would they like to play? Oh, but what was this? There was trouble! He crooned apologetically at the trio before heading past Ximera and nudging her gently as he went. Please cheer up! Things would look up, he was certain, but first she had to stop being so sad that she leaked. He wandered over to the mandyr fight with purpose and sat at Dormori's side, looking up at the humans. He addressed both queens. Wouldn't they please stop fighting? They were upsetting His and this was a hatching. He didn't want his clutchsiblings disturbed either. He then looked at Darmori and apologized for his odd way of claiming. He'd meant to tell him first, really. He wasn't mad, was he?

Eikask could do no more than shake her head like Hers often did and return her attention to the hatching eggs. The Foxtrot Egg broke apart just as she looked at it and a thin green slipped out of the remains of her egg. She paused for a moment, catching her breath and hoping no one saw how silly she looked just then. When she thought she could get up and properly show herself off she attempted to stand and found herself stumbling into the Waltz Egg. Oops. Oh well, it was time for her clutchsibling to hatch and admire her anyways. The Waltz Egg broke apart and a pale blue wher sat blinking where he'd hatched.

The Waltz Blue crooned pleasantly at all before deciding he was quite hungry. The nest was quite comfortable just to relax in but when food called so strongly he couldn't resist. He ignored the people around him, even shoving Karou out of his way by accident in his rush to the food. The chubby blue laid down, a bowl of meat between his paws, and unceremoniously began eating. The Foxtrot Green was less than pleased. She screeched at the blue for a couple moments before realizing he was not paying attention. How dare he ignore such a pretty thing as her! She walked towards him a bit and then startled growling and jumping up and down where she stood. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

----

Tango Egg - Hatched Green; Impressed to Tekivix
Foxtrot Egg - Hatched Green; Throwing a tantrum
Waltz Egg - Hatched Blue; eating
Quickstep Egg - Unhatched
Vienesse Waltz Egg - Unhatched
Paso Doble Egg - Unhatched
Jive Egg - Hatched Bronze; Impressed to Darmori

[Ember]

Jive Bronze
Bonded to: Darmori
Name: Darmosk
Color: Bronze #CC5500, #C69633
Physical Appearance: Large is this bronze. He is a very sturdily built wher, with well muscled legs and a heavy chest. His muscle distribution is a little odd. Most of his strength is focused in the front of his body while his hind quarters are less bulky. His tail is too long and thin for his body and looks out of place. It has a tendency to curl around anything nearby, including the legs of complete strangers. It is surprisingly dexterous and if this wher works at it he'll be able to actually grab things with his tail though it lacks the grasping ability of fingers. This bronze's wings are large enough to allow gliding though he'll have quite a bit of trouble with balance in the air. His claws are wickedly sharp and should be avoided at all costs.

Is this really a bronze wher? The size alone ought to be indicative of his colour, if not his hide. The reason it's questionable? He's a dull orange-bronze colour that lacks a lot of the noticeable shininess of other bronzes. It's still there and definitely noticeable on the brassy colour that seems to drip from his back and head like melted metal. It quite literally looks like it was poured on him and solidified as it ran. There even appear to be droplets where it might have splashed. It covers part of his wings, his tail, his head, and his back but the predominant colour is still the orange-bronze.

Personality: This bronze is everything one of his colour usually isn't. He's hyper, playful, and sweet. There is absolutely none of the typical egoism of a metallic draconid. He hasn't got a mean bone in his body though he's quite capable of defending himself and the ones he loves if he needs to. He's a bit fatherly in the sense that he'll defend those smaller than him and he likes to teach them how to help themselves. It's very hard to get him to focus for any length of time as he much prefers to play games with the other whers than pay attention to boring old lessons (though teaching lessons he's quite willing to do, adding his own spunk into them). His seemingly boundless energy will make him very tiring for his bonded to look after. Just look at him can make one tired!

This bronze is not a stupid creature and if His was able to get him to direct that intelligence this bronze could do great things. Unfortunately, he runs almost entirely on his emotions and instincts. With time and patience it may be possible to cultivate his intelligence. This bronze's interactions with others are fairly simple. Friends are any who do not mean harm to him, His, or other friends. He often seeks these friends out to play with them. Enemies are any who would do harm to friends and him and his bonded. If they try to hurt ones that this bronze likes he will retaliate and he can be scary when fighting.

[glamourie]

Calamari, am. Lovely pret- noooo why stupid mineee... Calamari’s complaints were loudly voiced as he turned and flared his frill furiously at Marsayis. Deliberately, he darted out of the candidate’s reach, his wings flaring in anger. Why was he insulting the pretty, why why? He’d offended her, oooh, You stupid! Stupid! Why always stupid? Blame the slave. Bad influence. APOLOGIZE. The second statement was voiced to Marsayis and Marsayis alone, but Calamari’s anger was unmistakable: he flared his frill wider, eyes going scarlet, and he stood up on his hind legs in defiance. The fact that His was highly amused by his fury didn’t help anything, either; the more angry he became, the more amused he could feel Marsayis becoming and he was actually considering leaping over and biting his slaveling. It would teach him to be so disrespectful of the prettiest salamandyr ever hatched (well, that he’d seen – he was rather fickle and it was entirely possible he’d lose interest in Dementia soon enough, since she was a gold and thoroughly out of his league).

The gold’s protest was amusing. Calamari’s fury was even more amusing. The candidate turned his head, and he likely would’ve responded to her, had the fatter gold not suddenly sprung to fury and... attacked? What in the world?

“I’m pretty sure she was just defending herself, not insulting you, stupid little worm,” he commented irritably. He was almost completely oblivious to the scantily clad greenrider (his mind blinked with ‘Old’ in description of her – ick), and the fat little nuisance on her chest was far more amusing. His gaze flicked back toward the other salamandyr before he dryly replied, “Don’t take it personally, I didn’t realize you were the loud one. I figured the fat one was the one that had the big mouth. It’d have matched her body better than yours.” His head cocked to the side and then he turned back to his friend, who looked for all the world to be horrified. (Yes, Marsayis was oblivious to the hatching going on around them – whers were ugly little menaces, why would he even acknowledge them?)

The question/comment made him snort and he raised an eyebrow. “Catch my little pestilence and we will. He’s being obnoxious though, apparently he likes the non-fat gold and keeps,” Marsayis turned and swatted at Calamari, who darted out of his reach again, “resisting being snatched. Help me and we can leave faster – stupid – irritating – when I find out who got me that egg – Mari, I’m going to squish you like the insect you are – pain in my backside – why did I have to –“ Each word was punctuated by him swatting around on the shelf that Calamari rested on, with the brown easily darting out of Marsayis’s blind groping. After a moment of irritation, he actually turned to Kostya and growled, “Find something I can stand on, and I’ll grab him. I don’t want to be here anymore than you do.” It wasn’t a request – but did he ever make requests?

[Avu]

In theory, Impression was seamless, the fitting of one mind with its missing half, smooth, effortless, beautiful, perfect. In practice, Vix found, it was less so – at least, for him, perhaps as a side effect of Turns of isolation. The instant that the rush of awe faded, panic came, and he pressed his hands against Tekivisk’s chest, trying to melt into the wall. That someone loved him so much was difficult to handle, as was the feeling of his own affection for her, for a creature he didn’t know (but he did know her, somehow?) and hadn’t ever wanted…

And she wanted his blood.

Her tongue rasped against his palm, Tekivisk whining in soft reassurance as she sought closer contact, and Vix blinked at her. “I can’t Impress,” he whispered, mostly to himself. “I mean, I’m not…” He scowled, angry to hide his nervousness, and shoved Tekivisk backwards, off of himself, so he could use the wall to brace himself into a standing position. “Okay. Okay, okay…fine. Fine.” He swallowed, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, and awkwardly reached down to pat Tekivisk on the head – the green was standing with breath literally held in her anxiety. At the touch, she relaxed visibly, and crooned, licking his hand again.

“Uh, okay…food first, okay? I don’t have anything sharp on me.” Nor did he want to blood her. Wide eyes peered up at him, trusting, adoring, and Vix swallowed again, turning away from her as he guided her back to the bowls of meat that had been set up, watching the Hatching as if he actually cared. His eyes were glazed, almost unseeing; bronze and blue and green meant nothing to him. Well – not that green, at any rate. The one at his side meant much more to him, already, than he cared to think about. He sucked in a breath as he grabbed a bowl of meat, leading Tekivisk towards the spectator’s seating, and sat down abruptly.

The green crooned, clearly happy again; her head was uplifted, eyes bright, and she was taking much more interest in the proceedings than Vix was. Her blue clutchsibling was offered a pleasant coo, but Tekivisk wasn’t allowed more than that; Vix had, looking a little nauseous, picked out a lump of meat and offered it to her. Tekivisk examined the situation carefully; the position of his hand was meant to drop the meat, not place it in her mouth or hand it to her, and she compensated accordingly, sliding forward until her chest was wormed between his legs, and tipped back her head.

“I,” Vix said, and cleared his throat to make sure he had her attention. “Chew.” It came out sounding sharper than he’d intended, so he added, “Please.” Felt strange, being polite – Vix rarely bothered, even if he wasn’t exactly outright impolite either, most of the time. But…ugh. He couldn’t be rude to Tekivisk, that was…the green crooned with her mouth open, and Vix exhaled and dropped the lump of meat into it, raising his eyes away from her as she chewed obediently, the wagging of her tail able to be felt against his legs.

Absently, he dropped one hand against her neck, resisting from the instinct to jerk away – it was easier to pretend it wasn’t real when she wasn’t right there, curled so securely up to him and so affectionate. Ngh.

[ryanne]

The little bronze was clearly playful, greeting his mother before even looking at the candidates. Dinag's breath caught in his throat for what seemed like the millionth time (this hatching was going to be the death of him). What if the bronze decided that he didn't want to bond? They'd already had one wher almost go wild... What if the next one left? Remembering to breathe, he took in a shaky breath and watched as the bronze happily left his mother to start looking at the candidates. Shards, he really needed to calm down. This hatching was important, but if he kept forgetting to breathe he'd pass out before all the whers were even hatched.

Really? The little girl he met in the jungle was going to Impress? Dragons and whers were known for their odd choices every now and again. Though Dinag thought the girl was a little off, she was quite endearing. For a moment there, he mentally urged the wher to Choose her. If nothing else, she would be a fun addition to their training. But just as quickly as that thought reached his mind, the bronze bounded off again. Dinag had already tuned out the salamandyr fight-- completely focused on the hatching in front of him.

And just like that, the other wher Impressed. And there were no others out of their eggs. The suspense was killing him.

And then out came another green. She was so little. Dinag smiled at the delicacy. Even whers had their own beauty and characteristics. And then she stumbled and out came a blue. Well, that was one way to hatch. The blue, however, had no interest in the candidates. Dinag grimaced as the blue just helped himself to the food after knocking over a candidate. Shards, that wasn't the way it was supposed to happen.

Apparently the green agreed with him. Her shrieks were not pleasant to the ears, but Dinag couldn't help but laugh. Barely out of the egg and the wher was already scolding her clutchbrother.

[Requiem]

Dementia hissed sharply, making a swing at her stupid ugly not-daughter with her claws before Dmitri's hand shot out, snatching the fat yellow mandyr directly out of the air. "No, she wasn't talking to you, Harmony. Cool it." Flicking his wrist, with an added mental command to his Men, the smaller gold coiled back around his wrist and glared balefully at the hand fisted around the flit-sized salamandyr. "Stay, and not a word. Got it Men?" She hissed, but obeyed.

Dmitri flicked a glance at Darmori. Kid really couldn't control his mindmates, now could he? Pathetic. "If I let you go, are you going to behave? Because I'm not handing you back to Yours if you'll just launch yourself at Men again. Not all creatures get squashed peacefully.

The smaller of the golds sniffed haughtily at the nightbeast. Her nightbeast was bonded to Hers, and was the only one who could make her do anything. She had no respect for a nightbeast bonded to Harmony's. Besides, couldn't he see Hers had the situation under control already? Hers was actually useful. When was he going to let her speak, though, this was aggravating. To express her displeasure, she began nibbling at his wrist. Talk, talk now? She brushed Calamari's mind approvingly, also making her approval of the apology from His known. Didn't need words nope. Dementia returned to her death glare at Harmony. Diiiiiieeee ugly non-daughter diiiiieee.

---

Ximera sniffed, rubbing at her eyes as the bronze brushed against her and touched her mind lightly. Cheer up. O-okay. She looked down at her flowers, that had somehow survived the fall intact, then pushed herself to her feet, managing a bleary-eyed smile for Darmori. Oh, he'd Impressed! And so had the kid she didn't really know this was good yes. Nodding firmly to herself to that effect, she watched the hatching continue wide-eyed. Two more. A green and a blue, though...oh now! The poor girl, that blue could've hurt her!

If it crossed Ximera's mind that this was the same girl who had just knocked her over so rudely, she ignored it. Surely it was an accident anyway. No one was that mean on purpose, right? Crouching near the girl, she offered her the hand not occupied by flowers and Laddie. "Are you okay? Let me help you up. The babies don't no better...might not see you and trample on you, and that would be bad." Flashing her a reassuring smile, the smile faded to one of mild scolding, eyes flicking up toward Dinag.

"Hey! Don't laugh! That's mean! I thought you were a nice guy, too, hmph." She wriggled her fingers invitingly to Karou. "Ignore him. Come on."

[raii]

Pretty little green. Much too sweet for Karou’s taste, and had such a hideous color. Karou, being somewhat shallow and superficial, was glad that the creature passed her by. She was all for non-clutching females and all, but that one seemed to lack the beauty, elegance and superiority that Karou needed. Perhaps that was why Karou never Impressed. Too critical, maybe?

Or maybe just too mean.

The bronze was another strange one. He was lovely, but strange. Took his time, seeming more interested in playing than finding his. Eventually he settled for the boy with that ugly gold salamandyr. Oh, salamandyrs. Poor little boy, having such a rude nuisance of a pet and now this handful of a wher to juggle. That would be quite a bit of work. She was only glad she didn’t have to deal with that.

The next hatched green seemed elegant and pretty, and the blue who hatched after seemed worthy as well. Until he shoved past her, knocking her over. The nerve! Of course, she could shove others aside, but she refused such treatment. She glared at the blue. She would tell whoever he bonded to a thing or two about politeness. It would be interesting if he bonded to the girl Karou had shoved aside, though.

The green started shrieking, no doubt at the blue’s antics. I’m with you, there. Karou imagined the green was upset over a reason other than the blue knocking her aside, of course, but that mattered not. The blue was rude, the green was moody. A fine quality in her, of course. It gave her a certain…individuality. In anyone else, be it dragon, wher, flitter, mandyr, or human, it was an awful trait. Karou was just being moody because she doubted her chances at Impression. Again. Truthfully, she’d be happy for the green or the blue, or even the bronze or the first blue!

The girl--the one who she'd knocked over--offered her a hand up. Karou pointedly ignored it, pulling herself to her feet with semi-gracefulness. "I'm fine, and I don't need your help, kid." Karou said with a glare. To her, people only helped if they saw her as weak. She, a nineteen year old, certainly wasn't weaker than some mildly insane kid. Karou turned to the laughing boy. "I'd shut my mouth, if I were you, deadglow." Ah yes, Karou and her ways of antagonization. Being a bitter event like a Hatching only made her meaner.

[Rei]

Darmori stopped dead in his tracks as Dmitri grabbed his gold out of the air. Well that was one way to deal with Harmony. The candidate’s eyes went to the harper and then immediately to his feet. Uh whoops. He tried to control Her. He really did, but well he loved her so much and he never had been good at controlling anything. With his eyes fixed on his feet he didn’t notice the bronze hatching until talons came into view along with a question to his mind. Was he mad? Huh what? Darmori blinked in confusion the same emotion rolling from Harmony as he turned to look down at the bronze wher hatchling at his side.

His jaw dropped open in surprise. What. No way. Him? The bronze wanted him? The orangish colored hatchling crooned softly in return bumping his head against his happily. Of course he wanted him. What a silly thing to think. Could they grab his new sister and go eat now? He would like very much to play but he was so hungry. The new bronze wherling blinked again hand reaching out to caress the hatchling’s head, tears forming in his eyes as he met the rainbow gaze of the bronze. “Nah. I’m not mad Darmosk. How could I be mad at you?”

Harmony went almost immediately limp as she was grabbed. Scarlet eyes glared at Dementia before Dmitri’s words derailed her thoughts. Wasn’t talking to her? Momentarily mollified her eyes changed color to apologetic and she gave a soft croon, her tongue lapping at what skin she could reach. Mony is sorry. No like insults. Hurt. The chubby gold visibly deflated. Can let go. No squash. She really wouldn’t squash her now, truly.

Confusion coming across the bond as another entered into it had her repeating the feeling confused by the intrusion until he caught sight of the baby bronze sitting next to her Mori. A chirp left her throat as she gazed at the ugly thing sitting by the feet of hers. What was that? It was a little nightwalker. At first she wasn’t sure what to think of this new development until the little thing called her sister and that cemented it. She would accept the ugly because it seemed to love her too and this was good enough for the gold.

~~~

Elysia’s eyes flicked to the scene in front of her and immediately disregarded it as she noted that Dmitri had things under control. Good maybe now she could watch the hatching in peace. The greenrider outright glared at the boy with the new baby bronze trotting at his heels, her immediate distaste for him very apparent. Ick. Figured the idiot went and impressed another metallic. Bored she let her gaze wander back to the rocking eggs watching as a green and then a blue emerged from the shells. A brief brush was given to Amour's mind as she crossed her arms over her chest. Have you seen enough yet? Some protector you are letting me get mauled by some fat excuse for a disabled firelizard.

Amour upon the gold handler’s shoulder gave a loving croon in the direction of his. Pressing upon her how wonderful she was, now much he loved her and how sorry he was that the gold one had used her as a springboard. However further thoughts towards Elysia where broken off as the green broke shell followed by the blue. He chirped and twittered to them, completely engrossed and therefore ignoring his. Oh the green one needn’t be so loud they where all looking at her and how lovely she was! To the blue her offered that perhaps he should slow down and let his feed him instead? Wasn’t that how it was supposed to work?

[Ember]

Eikask should have been paying attention to the people and her babies but there was a bit of commotion in the nest that had drawn her eyes. The Pado Doble Egg was shaking and cracking. The gold had never been fond of that egg. The baby within worried her somewhat, though she could handle it if she needed to. She brushed Pidesk's mind in warning but the egg stilled at that moment. Hmph. Well fine then. If it didn't want to come out that was just fine by her. Hers brushed her mind questioningly and she crooned at him. Nothing wrong!

The green stopped her bouncing as she realized that there were some people who were paying attention to her. Oh, weren't they all just such good and smart people! She crooned at them all, tail curving into a curious S behind her. She pranced among the people to show herself off. See, see! She was wonderful, truly fabulous~ She approached Ximera and Karou and purred up at them. They agreed right? She pranced away again to show herself off to Nautic and Raebeli, and even went to the mandyr group. She was so much better than her clutchsister who was so ugly!

The chubby blue kept on ignoring everything around him while he ate until a firelizard pointed out that he should probably find His first. Was that really how it worked? Interesting. Okay. He could do that. He stood up and gracefully made his way towards His. For all he was a bulky wher, he was almost a wonder to watch in movement. He walked up to Karou and lowered his head. He was sorry for knocking her over. He adn't meant any ill by it. Now would she kindly stop pestering His? She'd only been trying to help so there was no reason to be so grouchy, was there?

To Ximera the Waltz Blue crooned. Hello, hello. He'd just been so hungry he forgot how Impression was done. Not that he'd ever done it before but...oh, she knew what he meant surely! Come, come, her Ximesk was still hungry and oh, but he needed her blood too! What came first? The Foxtrot Green watched in annoyance as her silly blue clutchsibling dared to Impress before her (nevermind that others had already). She'd hatched before him! How dare he! Ooh, she was jsut so upset! She was prepared to throw another tantrum when her clutchmother barked at her. Enough! Just go find Yours!

The green huffed and angrily slashed out with her claws at Karou's legs. Such an unpretty person. Unnacceptable! She wandered towards Elysia and hissed as she realized that she was already taken. What a shame, because she really was worthy enough to be Hers. The Foxtrot Green changed tack. Fine. None of the women seemed worthwhile so she ought to give the poor guys a chance. She looked around them and was very displeased. They were all...oh, what was that? That one was acceptable. More than. Crooning lovingly, adoringly, she approached Kostya and proclaimed herself Konstask. For the pretiest creature in the world, only the second prettiest creature would do. He obeyed no one's orders as Hers!

Amongst the eggs it wasn't the Paso Doble Egg that broke next. A pair of legs broke through the shell to the side and were moving quickly, as if trying to run. They looked black in the darkness, so they could have belonged to any colour wher. Eikask watched with amusement as her baby struggled pointlessly to run sideways while mostly still in its egg. Even Eikane chuckled a bit at the sight.

----

Tango Egg - Hatched Green; Impressed to Tekivix
Foxtrot Egg - Hatched Green; Impressed to Kostya
Waltz Egg - Hatched Blue; Impressed to Ximera
Quickstep Egg - Broken; flailing legs
Vienesse Waltz Egg - Unhatched
Paso Doble Egg - Unhatched
Jive Egg - Hatched Bronze; Impressed to Darmori

[Ember]

Foxtrot Green
Bonded to: Kostya
Name: Konstask
Color: Green #33AA44 #014421
Physical Appearance: This green's vanity is not without good reason. It is undeniable that she is a pretty green. She is thin and long for a wher with wings a bit on the small side for any prolonged gliding. Her tail is unusually thin and whippy and it tends to make strange s-curves in the air as she walks. Her ridges are smaller and rounder than most whers. This combined with her proportions gives her a delicate appearance. The way she walks or runs is light and more like prancing than anything else. She's very graceful and this shows in the way she holds herself. She is incredibly quick when she wants to be.

The Foxtrot green has a lovely emerald green colour as her base colour, though a large amount of it is covered by a dark forest green all along her back, the outsides of her upper legs and half of the top of her tail. The forest green starts at a near black along her spine but lightens until it blends with her base colour along her extremities. Her wings are a mix of the two greens. Where the bones in the wing are the forest green colour is, but along the membrane is the emerald green colour. While her neck and head are mostly free of the forest green she does have a patch around her right eye. Most of it is roughly circular but there's a thin line from the right edge of her eye that goes down towards her snout.

Personality: The Foxtrot green is best defined as vain. Everything about her personality centers on the belief that she is the single most gorgeous creature. She looks down on others because of this but more so those from other species. She is capable of recognizing beauty in others and this determines her level of respect for them. Hers she will treat with the utmost respect at all times for they were chosen because they were the second most gorgeous being. Her vanity leads to choosing a single mate hard. Under Run lust she is willing to lower her standards ever so slightly but at other times she is in desperate search for one who she believes can match her.

This green is very easily upset. If she is sufficiently bothered by others she will throw a tantrum consisting of much growling and bouncing in place. If no one consoles her immediately after her tantrum she will sit down with her back to as many of the offenders as possible and sulk for as long as it takes for someone to acknowledge that someone has wronged her. Being the stubborn green she is she is quite willing to wait all night if she must. She also likes to do tricks to show off her beauty and skill and she fully expects everyone to admire them or she will throw a tantrum.

Waltz Blue
Bonded to: Ximera
Name: Ximesk
Color: Blue #99FFBB #22786F
Physical Appearance: Where his clutchbrother looks thicker due to his build and muscle this wher is undeniably chubby. He looks rather awkward being small in size and yet still having a fair amount of excess fat. Though he'll never be able to melt all of it off, it is possible for this wher to make his figure more lean if he finds the motivation to do so. Under his weight is a relatively thick boned structure that adds to the impression of this wher being larger than he really is. While slow this blue exhibits an odd grace on the ground that is rarely matched by others. This blue has huge wings for a wher. While his aerial grace will never match his movements on land, it will give him a speedier form of movement other than his slow, lumbering pace on the ground. His headknobs are rather small in size and go relatively ignored when looking at the big picture.

This wher is a very pale blue, much like his dam's pale colouring. He seems to emit a faint glow though rest assured that this is just an illusion. He'd be nothing but a pale wraith if not for the medium teal markings on his hide. His entire head is this teal but along his neck the colour splits into thick, wavy lines. One stretches down his left front leg and curls around until it ends on the leftmost claw. Another one marks his underside right down to the fork in his tail. Two more travel over his back almost like racing stripes and end on his rump. The lines gradually thin as the reach their pointed end though they don't lose the wave throughout.

Personality: The Waltz Blue is a peaceful creature by nature and dislikes violence. He is content to amble about with His or even just on his own. He'll often take the time to literally smell the flowers and will often cause His to be late. He knows he is late but he simply doesn't care to ever be on time. His is welcome to try to trick the blue into believing it is later than it truly is but it won't work. If nothing else he has an excellent grasp on time. This blue also loves his sleep. Once asleep he is almost impossible to wake without the use of his favourite thing - milk. For whatever reason he loves milk and can never resist the temptation to drink it.

This blue is completely undescriminatory to colour or species. He treats everyone with a high degree of respect and expects at least some of it in return. He has no problem scolding a gold if she is not showing him the basic level of respect. He is a sweetheart and shows a lot of care to others. Unfortunately, he is not the brightest mind among whers beyond his time-telling. He is rather simple and will have trouble understanding many things. Doing things in order will be the hardest task for him. It will take much repetition and patience to make him understand.

[rii]

Catch it? Catch it?

Kostya's pale eyes instantly honed in on the nuisance that had attached itself to Marsayis during the last gather. Fishing bait. That's what he was doing to make out of the stupid brown worm. Smoke up whatever fish he caught and very slowly enjoy the meal. Kostya slowly back pedaled away from the hatching whers – strangely enough keeping his body broadside to shield the view of Marsayis. Really, the last thing he needed was his friend to get bonded to a wher and seal their fate of being bound to the Weyr.

"Can't you –" Turning, Kostya's hand made a similar snatch at the evasive brown salamandyr. "–wait until after the hatching to catch and skin him."

Oh hell. More little whers hatching out of their eggs, Kostya eased closer to the wall while warily watching the little ones. Marsayis's words drew a half-glance and without a word Kostya slipped off; skirting along the edge of the area to find a chair. Only the green at the corner of his eyes drew his attention – the intrusion of thoughts in his mind met with a narrowing of eyes. Beast. His foot shot out, catching the foxtrot green in the shoulder.

She positively screamed at him. Not in any pain – but rage that her chosen one was attempting to refuse her! She raised up on her back legs, falling down on her front in the clear beginnings of a tantrum but – no, no, no hers was just walking away! Springing forward her teeth found the meat of Kostya's calf, tripping up the candidate and slashing open the bare skin with ease. Coiling with the captured limb, Konstask leisurely ran her tongue over the warm blood, purring in dark delight. Hers. She would not be refused.

Kostya eased himself up to sit against the wall, narrowed eyes on the creature lapping up his blood. Hn, the viciousness behind her ire was something of a redeeming quality. Konstask preened, dark blue eyes matching his slitted quality as her tail curled much like a feline's at play. Now that that matter was settled, she was hungry. "Well don't eat my damn leg, bitch."

That was not nice, hers. Konstask's claws tightened. He had much to learn in how to treat one as lovely as she. "If you make it so I am unable to walk there will be no getting you any food." Fair enough. Konstask released his leg, raising up on her own to observe the rest of the room. Her long tail brushed along Kostya's legs, her flaunting him to all the other whers. Raising happily up on her back legs, the foxtrot green rubbed against Kostya's hip before padding toward the food bowls.

[ryanne]

Dinag’s eye moved from wher to wher, hoping that one of them would show any interest whatsoever in him. It took him a moment to register that the knocked down candidate was actually talking to him. Then little Ximera proceeded to scold him. Mouth agape, he shook his head. “I wasn’t laughing because you got bowled over,” he finally stated, “I was laughing at the green. She’s a forceful little thing.” He rolled his eyes at the girl then turned to Ximera, “I’m not mean, I promise. I was just watching the wher.” For some reason, he didn’t want the young girl to think poorly of him. She was such an odd bundle, but good-hearted in his opinion. He would hate to offend such an innocent soul.

The green then bounced straight up to Ximera and the other girl, again not paying a lick of attention to him. Dinag was starting to get discouraged. Alternative plans began to flutter in his mind, back up plans that he’d created just as he’d created this one. He could keep traveling, or maybe even wait for a dragon hatching. Shards, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, but he knew better than to let himself get distracted now. There were eggs shaking and whers Impressing. Maybe if he kept his mind on the hatching he would still have a chance at Impressing.

As much as he refused to let himself give up, disappointment was beginning to set in. The hatching was basically halfway over and none of the whers had looked at him twice. Up, and there the blue moved, deciding to go look at the candidate he’d knocked over. Great. Now that uppity kid was going to Impress.

Surprise lit his face when instead, the blue turned and crooned to Ximera. A much better choice, in his opinion. He grinned at Ximera, happy that the girl had Impressed. He was also happy that the blue decided to find His instead of just gorging himself. In the back of his mind, he still counted one more wher that had passed him by, another decreasing of his chances. But there was nothing he could do about it. Instead, he just continued to stand there, watching the green and flicking his eyes back to the eggs. Come on, he urged the eggs mentally, hatch, Impress. The tension was killing him.

He watched the green as she was scolded by her mother. Maybe this time around she’d pay him some attention. He winced when she lashed out at the girl who’d also been knocked down. Dinag wasn’t particularly fond of that candidate in the first place, but no one deserved to get mauled. He would have offered to help her, but he’d seen how rude the girl was to Ximera. Obviously the kid could take of herself. He was never one to offer himself up for a tongue lashing anyways.


And then the green Impressed to a nearby male. Dinag bit his lip and hoped that the next wher to hatch would be his. He watched as the little legs burst through the egg, then bit back a laugh as they began to pedal furiously. Someone needed to help the little one out of the egg, but he wasn’t going to offer himself up to be mauled. Either the clutchmother would do it, or the little wher would figure it out him/herself.

[Requiem]

Ximera blinked at Dinag, not noticing immediately that Karou was brushing her off, until she felt the glare leveled down at her and the girl backed up, slipping her hand behind her back quickly - almost as if burned. "I-I'm sorry," she murmured, eyes flicking briefly to Dinag, almost pleadingly. Instead of asking for his help with the abrasive older girl, however, Ximera shook her head and smiled apologetically. "I misunderstood. Not your fault. I'm glad you're not mean, though," she added, her smile brightening almost to its normal intensity.

Blinking at the green that approached her and the girl she'd somehow offended - she wasn't sure how but she knew she could fix it! - the candidate smiled down at her. "Yes, very pretty," she agreed good-naturedly. But the flowers were for her wher. (It had never crossed the innocent, optimistic mind that there wouldn't be one for her.) The green didn't need the flowers to be pretty, though. Ximera grinned as the green found Hers...even if the boy didn't look too happy to be here. Or to Impress. On the inside, though, she was sure he was elated. Who wouldn't be, to Impress so beautiful a wher?

A croon drew her attention, and she looked down at a beautiful pale wher, blinking at the polite thoughts sliding through her mind. Rainbow eyes, she knew what that meant! With a delighted squeal, Ximera fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around the lovely little wher baby. "Ximesk! Happy hatchday! I brought you...oh, but those aren't for eating," she finished, smiling awkwardly. The blue blinked, carefully opening his mouth back up again before he could damage them. They weren't? "No. They're for looking. See, aren't they pretty? Oh, and this is Laddie. Laddie, meet Ximesk," the girl stated cheerfully. Was Laddie for eating? "No, no, silly," she responded with a laugh. "You're hungry, aren't you? I don't know what comes first, but I don't have a knife, so we'll go eat whether it's the right order or not. Okay?" Ximesk was more than fine with that, crooning and rubbing up against His before bidding Dinag and Karou both a polite farewell.

Ximera paused just long enough to gift Karou one of her flowers. "I'm sorry that I did something to upset you, miss. They're night flowers that grow way up high. I hope we can be friends!" Flashing a smile at Dinag, she winked. "I'll wait for you by the bowls when you bring your wher over, Dinag." A brief hug for the male, and she followed Ximesk back to the meat, where he dug in hungrily.

---

"If you say so," Dmitri responded, watching curiously as the gold licked at his glove. Were all gold salamandyrs bipolar? Or was it genetic and Dementia had passed it on? Hard to tell. His own gold latched deeper onto his hand in protest. "You can talk, but be nice, kay? Or Eikask might decide to eat you both, and I know, I know, every Queen thinks she rules the world but Eikask is big enough to maybe succeed. Humor me, Men? Your silly harper worries about you even though he doesn't need to." So saying, he loosened his grip on Harmony and extended her downward to Darmori. "Congratulations, by the way." 'Lations MonyPerson, Dementia offered...reluctantly. She didn't speak to the ugly wannabee non-daughter, because she had nothing nice to say, and no, she was not forgiven merely because she was stupid and didn't know when she was not being addressed.

Calamari, name is? she questioned the brown abruptly, unwinding from Dmitri's wrist and skittering up the wall. The gold's eyes slitted as she perched on the shelf - she had no desire to be around Harmony if she was forced to be nice - her tail winding about her haunches as she considered if this male might be useful to her or not. Dementia I am. Yours try steal. Smart Yours, but Dementia want stay. Come, find safe place. And by extension keep Calamari's here. If His Impressed one of the nightbeasts, the brown would be of much greater use than if he was bonded to a daylighter. Dementia scampered over the groping hand of Marsayis, flicking her tail at Calamari coyly.

Come, come. The gold hurried, gliding as needed, until she'd come around near the gold wher, lighting on Eikane's shoulder. 'Lo old harperman. Pretty pretty eggs goldnightbeast. Many good nightbeasts make, she praised Eikask and Hers silkily.

Dmitri watched his gold for a moment, shaking his head, then returned his attention to Elysia. "You all right?" he questioned softly, eyes flicking over the candidates that had Impressed thus far. No real maulings yet, unless you included the green forcibly blooding the boy who had tried to flee a moment ago. Oh well. One could only hope.